SOL 135; HAB INTERIOR

Liv blew out a breath as she finished the last layer of resin on airlock three. She had just finished the last airlock check, doing repairs as out, rotating the airlocks seemed to be working in their favor. The day had been quiet, just a few check ins from NASA. NASA was in the works of trying to send them a supply probe that would feed them through to Ares IV. They said they would try to have it out in the next month or so, taking at least ten months of travel time to reach them.

With having the supplies from that as well as Mark's other copy of his data stick they would be all set. Mark had also convinced them to send any more season of the shows that they had been watching along with more seeds to plant more than just potatoes. Of course it would be trial and error to see what would grow in their martian dirt but Liv was willing to take the risks. NASA had been generous enough to include more resin and more HAB canvas that they might eventually need to keep the airlocks in check.

What could possibly go wrong?

Everything was sure to go alright.

It had to.

Their lives depended on it.

She had been in the rover when the good news came through. Besides waiting for the news she had also been waiting for another email from her parents. The first one she received had her sobbing in the rover for a solid twenty minutes before she calmed down enough to read it. Her parents had ground her for the rest of her life, with Liv had laughed at. They were doing good, well as good as they could be. They had packed up her apartment and put all of her things in a storage unit and worked out everything so that she wouldn't have to do it once she got back to Earth. Her plants had died but her parents had already planted new seeds in their place. And, her older sister, Jessika had married her partner and they were expecting their first child together. Liv was pretty excited to be an aunt.

JPL; Launch went through! We'll be keeping you updated as it get closer but expect it to be there around Sol 433 or so. It has everything that we talked about before and some surprises from your family and some from the crew.

Liv came back to the HAB, something akin to a smile on her face, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Happy tears that is.

"Mark! Mark!" She couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice as she made her way into the main part of the HAB, pressing on the locks to release her helmet. She struggled for a second to get it off her head, too much in a hurry to slow down in the slightest.

"The launch?" He asked as he finished up on the row that he was on.

The blonde nodded as she took off her suit, tugging her hair free from the tight bun she had it in. "Everything went as well as it could. They said it should get here around sol 445 or so. But it worked!" She was pulled into a tight hug that made her stomach flutter.

"I told you it would."

She let out a laugh as she brushed the tears that had fallen from her eyes. "I'm just glad something is going our way. Sure, we still have a shit ton of time here but at least we won't die from fucking starvation."

"Agreed, but we might get sick of potatoes. Which sucks because my mom makes the best shepherds pie in the world."

Liv, having pulled herself out of his warm and comforting embrace and just shook her head, looking up with him with a gleam in her eyes. "Hopefully we'll be okay with it in a few years."

"I can't wait to see everyone again."

"Me too Mark, me too."

"Wouldn't it be amazing if the Hermes and the crew could come back for us?" Watney said from his bunk. Liv let out a scoff.

"How would that work? NASA would never let them do that."

"Think about it, they're closer than the probe is, and they would agree to it in a heartbeat. You know they would." Mark replied as he brought back their dinner plates and handed Liv's hers.

"No, i know they would, but hell would have had to freeze over before NASA even thought of letting them do that." the blonde spoke as she grabbed her water packet and took a drink, tapping her fingers against her thigh. Oh how she wished the crew could turn the Hermes around and come back for them. She missed all of them so much and hoped that they weren't being to hard on themselves.

"Thankfully the probe worked. I can't imagine what NASA would have to do if it didn't."

"You know, i just realized that we're going to be fucking rich when we get back. Extra money because they thought we were dead, for finishing the original mission, for surviving four years on a deserted planet. We're going to be set for life!" Olivia spoke around a mouthful of potato, waving the fork around to emphasize her point.

"Hell, we could even sue NASA if we really wanted to." Mark agreed as he turned one of the laptops towards her, season one of Dexter was pulled up. It was one of Liv's favorite shows from when she was a kid and she had been surprised to hear that Mark had never seen it before. Thankfully she had been wise when downloading her shows and she made sure that she had gotten all eight seasons of it on her data stick.

"show and a movie?"

"Show and a movie." Liv replied with a grin on her face and a nod.