A/N: Thank you 29Pieces and pallysd'Artagnan for reviewing!

"Long Time No See"

2375

Raffi sat on the floor with her one-year-old son, taking a break from her work and dancing a plush teddy bear on her knee. She grinned as Gabriel laughed. He rolled toward her, but instead of reaching for the teddy, he stretched grabby fingers for one of her PADDs.

"No, no, that's Mommy's," she said, snatching it out of his reach and setting it on her left. She didn't need to bring her work home with her, but she had a hard time not. Researching was her thing, and nothing else gave her a sense of flow like it did.

Though that flow was more often interrupted when she did bring her work home.

Gabriel, deprived of the PADD, turned his attention back to the teddy bear. Raffi hopped it across the floor to bop him on the nose. He let out a squeal.

The door beeped with a visitor, interrupting their play. Raffi handed over the teddy and got up to go answer it. She swiped the console to open the door and lit up at the sight of the figure standing on her doorstep.

"Rios?"

He greeted her with a wide grin. "Hey, Raf."

"Oh my god, what are you doing here?" she asked with a delighted laugh, reaching out to pull him into a hug.

"I've been assigned to a ship, but it's still under final construction at the Fleet Yards, so I'll be hanging around Mars for a bit."

Raffi shook her head in disbelief. "Well, come in." She stepped back and gestured him inside. "Do you have somewhere to stay?"

"The ibn Majid," he replied, setting his duffel bag on the floor. "The living quarters are all functional; it's just some of the other ship systems still getting fine tuned. But I thought I'd drop in and say hi."

"Momma!"

Rios looked toward Gabriel and then arched his brow at Raffi. "And who is this?"

Raffi gave him a playful swat on the arm. "You know who it is. I sent you the baby announcement." She went over to sit down by her son, jerking her head back when he shoved the teddy bear into her face.

Rios gingerly picked his way over the PADDs laid out on the floor to find a spot to sit as well. "I got a picture of a tiny, wrinkled sausage roll."

Raffi sputtered indignantly, to which Rios just grinned unabashedly.

"I see he's inherited your hair," he went on.

Raffi ran a hand through her boy's frizzy curls. "Baby, this is Uncle Rios."

Gabriel was too young to understand anything more than that he had a potential new playmate, and he flung a stuffed Flotter at Rios, who picked it up and bounced it on the rug between them.

"So things are good?" he asked.

Raffi nodded. "They're great. I just made lieutenant junior grade and my supervisor thinks I'll make lieutenant within the year. I love my work. I have Jae and Gabriel to come home to. Everything's perfect. You?"

His lips twitched and he tried to deflect his gaze toward Gabriel. "I graduated my advance training courses with the rank of lieutenant."

Raffi's expression went slack for a moment before she let out an exaggerated groan. "Son-of-a—"

"Hey," Rios cut her off, flicking a pointed glance at the kid.

She covered Gabriel's ears and leaned forward. "You're a damn teacher's pet, you know that?"

He arched a dubious brow at her. "Pot calling the kettle black there."

Raffi huffed and released Gabriel as he started to squirm. "Can you stay for dinner? Meet Jae?"

"Sure."

Raffi canted her head. "I don't suppose you'd want to do the cooking?"

"I just got off the shuttle, you want me to slave away in your kitchen?"

"You used to enjoy cooking."

"Typically the guest is the one the host cooks for," he rejoined.

Raffi rolled her eyes. "I've missed your cooking, alright? But if you'd rather have something from the replicator…" She trailed off and shrugged.

His mouth quirked, and then he shook his head with put-upon exasperation. "Why do I do these things for you?"

Raffi bit back a grin—unsuccessfully. "Because I'm just that persuasive."

"Uh-huh."

But Rios was smiling too as he went back to playing with Gabriel.