The timeline was reset and this time a ship flew out to the Orville with the new Captain and Commander, who took charge almost immediately. A first step they took was placing the docking bay under stricter security.

Analysis has shown the optimal path forward was still to continue with what he tried the previous times. Getting Alara Kitan and Gordon Malloy to talk about that day. The immediate concern is the Moclan situation. If there's anything the three bridge lieutenants agree on, it's their opposition to surgery on the child, a girl named Topa that will make her a boy. Again, Malloy and Lamarr showed Bortus an old motion picture about a reindeer with a red nose. Again, Bortus somehow comes away from it with the conviction that Topa should choose her own path. There were differences from previous iterations. Alara publicly expressed disappointment in that decision, something she hadn't done before. Gordon and John grunted agreement, then one of them mentioned something about her boxing Bortus as a joke. They all became silent after that as if realizing what was happening.

Findlay is made his advocate and goes down to Moclus with the "three stones" as he nicknames them, in another attempt to get lieutenants Malloy, Lamarr, and Kitan to talk. To his surprise there were murmurings among them, and some head nodding. It lasted less than a minute, but at least it was something. At the Moclan tribunal Findlay argues that Topa should follow her own path. Another bust.

Bortus thanks him and life goes on.

As in the previous iterations when they came across the large generation ship, he simply went over with Isaac, Dr. Finn and Gordon Malloy, reenacted as best he could the events that originally occurred (minus the shooting and torture), then went to the ship's bridge and proved it was a ship by opening up the sunroof. *Yawn*

They are coming up to the time the reset occurs. It has to be prior to Pria Levesque showing up and really aggravating the timeline even more. "Christ, I hate that woman," Findlay thought to himself. Her actions were accelerating what was referred to as a "bleed through" effect, increasing the risk of events in a previous iteration influencing the subsequent one. Brief flashes of memories or feelings of déjà vu became more likely with each reset. To minimize that risk, a hard reset prior to her appearance was now mandated.

Some differences already crept in the prior iteration. In every iteration, the crew got used to their aloof captain eventually, and Gordon felt more comfortable, joking and pulling silly pranks, even on the bridge. Xistan did not react as usual, but Gordon was used to that. It seemed to lighten the mood on the bridge and even Alara allowed herself a smile when Gordon wasn't looking, Findlay noticed. In this iteration, the relaxed attitude came about earlier than previous ones, as if the crew subconsciously was used to the new command officers' presence as if they'd known them for a while.

At that iteration, the hard reset was not in place.

Xistan was not on the bridge, but Findlay was. He just announced he was going to leave the bridge and put Bortus in charge, when Gordon smiled and said, "You should wait a minute, Commander."

Findlay, a bit surprised that Gordon felt comfortable enough with him to have him stay for what he realized was actually going to happen. Something that didn't happen in the previous timelines.

"Okay, Gordon, why?" Findlay responded, purposely using the man's name instead of his rank to indicate he didn't mind the interruption.

Gordon still smiled. "You'll see."

And so he did. Isaac came in wearing Mr. Potato Head pieces on his "head", walking to his station as if nothing was amiss. Findlay had heard of this, but didn't actually see it, and a laugh escaped his mouth before he covered it with is hand. This caused everyone on the bridge to look at him in surprise before resuming their staring at Isaac.

Isaac stopped at Findlay's laugh and turned to look at him. He already sensed a difference in the crew reaction to him, but was going to ignore it and sit down. Seeing everyone in the crew star at him would have alerted him anyway, but Findlay's laugh alerted him immediately that something was amiss.

"I don't understand, Commander, why is everyone staring at me? Is there something unusual about my appearance?"

"You seem happier than usual!" Alara observed. Gordon's smile got wider in spite of himself, and John even smiled at that.

Findlay regained his composure and asked Isaac, "Isaac do you notice that there toy face pieces on your head?"

"How can you see with those things on?" asked John Lamarr.

Isaac pulled an ear off and said, "I use integrated sensors to observe. My 'eyes' are just there for facilitating encounters with biologicals. Evidently these pieces were not considered a threat."

"Okay," Findlay said, smiling. "Bortus, you have the con."

An alert was heard on the bridge. Pria Levesques's staged "accident" occurred and the events that happened in the "original" timeline were replicated to an extent. He had slept with Pria, somewhat duplicating Ed Mercer's actions (she was either intimidated by Xistan or wasn't interested). The ship was "saved" by from destruction, an event noted by the Time Bureau as key to saving the universe, so this new timeline was designated as "original" by the Bureau and Pria Levesque was left alone since the wormhole was destroyed by the Orville leaving one less opportunity for outside forces to tamper with it.

Still, it caused complications in the analysis, so the decision was made to avoid it in any subsequent iterations.

During this iteration, something even more notable than Gordon's practical joke occurred. After daring Isaac to come up with a joke on him, Gordon woke up missing a leg. He hobbled to the bridge, outraged at Isaac and yelling at him. Since Isaac also hid his leg, the decision was to have Gordon go to sickbay to get a new one. Findlay always wondered if Isaac took into account the fact that the ability to regrow Gordon's leg was available. Not too long ago, that "joke" would have been horrifying!

"Lieutenant Kitan, help Lieutenant Malloy to sick bay," Findlay ordered.

Looking like she sucked a lemon, Alara answered stiffly, "Yes sir." Glaring at Gordon, she walked up to him and stood right next to him. Instead of protesting, he put his arm around her shoulder without a word and also looked straight ahead.

Alara had a mean thought. "It would be easier if I carried you," she smirked, expecting a volley of protests from Gordon. She figured he would find it too demeaning to his "male pride" resulting in a stream of protests and insisting on hobbling along, but the sting of her remark would be there. Oh, she was going to enjoy this! The bridge crew waited in anticipation of the fireworks.

The thought of tormenting Gordon so filled her with glee that she almost missed his answer. He looked at her with the calmest expression she remembers ever seeing on him and answered softly, "okay."

Huh?! She blinked, looked at him, stunned when realized what he said. "Oh," was all she could say. "Gordon I was just joking," she stammered. With the bridge crew looking on, surprised at Gordon's answer, she felt foolish and small.

His expression changed to one of disappointment, but he chuckled and said, "You really have to work on that. I mean, I appreciate the attempt, but joke telling apparently isn't as easy as it sounds. It really sounds like a good idea to me, I mean it makes sense. You are very strong after all…," his voice trailed off.

Alara's heart was hammering in her chest. What is this? She despised Gordon! Well, not despise exactly. She stood there, Gordon holding on to her with an almost intimate embrace, almost paralyzed with the swirl of conflicting emotions she was feeling.

She nodded numbly. Gordon took that as an assent and shifted his position to facilitate her lifting him. Almost automatically she did so, and his embrace got tighter when she had him lifted up. Gordon looked away from her and looked forward, missing her face getting flush at holding each other so closely.

The crew looked at them with wide eyes, then at each other. Findlay admonished, "Okay, show's over. Back to your stations."

She took him to sickbay with Gordon cradled in her arms, he is holding her tightly, almost intimately. Alara felt embarrassed when she saw Claire smiling with a twinkle in her eyes as they entered. The nurses and a patient there also smiled at them. She could only wonder at how Gordon felt.

She headed toward an empty bed. She hesitated before setting him down. She wanted to keep holding him all of a sudden, and for him to keep holding her. What is going on with her?

As she gently put him on the available bed, he looked at her kindly. "Thanks, Alara," he said warmly, not looking embarrassed in the least.

"You're welcome, Lieutenant," she answered calmly, hoping she was hiding the cacophony of emotions she was experiencing.

Gordon chuckled, giving her a big smile, his eyes showing amusement and warmth that made her stomach tighten.

She blinked her eyes to keep the tears from forming, confused. She turned and walked out before she lost it completely.

She made a beeline to her office to calm down before she headed back to the bridge. "Get it together, what's the matter with you?" she asked herself. Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed down and headed to the bridge.

As she was walking to the bridge, it hit her how she feels about Gordon. Oh, my God, I-

Then the reset occurred.