California

"Oh, blessed smog! I'm home!" Arwen stepped off the plane her father had chartered to bring the family to meet her. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of home. Traffic. Planes. People. Home.

Within an hour the whole group had gathered at her parent's home, all 67 of them. Throughout the day she was never alone. Always someone who wanted to touch her and make sure she was real. Always someone who needed to hear her voice as she told about what had happened. Well, as much as she could. She couldn't explain exactly how or where she and Dr. Jackson had become stranded, so General Hammond had made up a cover story about a plane catching on fire and they'd parachuted out, getting separated from the rest of the group.

A few times, she'd had to escape to the bathroom and lock herself away from the pressure of people. She and Daniel had been alone for so long it was overwhelming to be suddenly thrust among such a large, noisy group.

By evening, she was exhausted and her parents shoved everyone out the door, promising they would get together for a picnic at the beach over the weekend.

Arwen hugged her parents goodnight and retreated to her room – still pink and frilly from the last redecorating she'd done when she was thirteen. Leaning against the closed door, she finally broke down into tears.

XXXXXXXXXX

Arwen awoke the next morning to find herself on the floor. The bed had been too soft and uncomfortable, so she'd pulled down her pillow and blanket and curled up on the floor under the window. She was used to being able to see the night sky, not that she was able to see much through the smog and city lights, but she felt closer to DJ, hoping he might be watching the same sky.

Never in her life had she felt so alone, so scared. How was she going to get on with her life without him? How was she going to deal with seeing him almost daily on base? How, in God's name, could she survive seeing him with Sam? It was too much to think about.

She opened a dresser drawer and was amazed how her mother had found the time to shop during the time between her phone call to them and when they picked her up at the base. Her dresser was filled with new clothes, all too large since she'd lost almost twenty pounds. Digging through, she found some pants with an elastic waist and a t-shirt and headed for a shower.

Emerging from the bathroom, she caught the heavenly odor of frying bacon and coffee. Those smells always meant home to her. She'd never known her father to have anything but scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast – something she found interesting for a master chef and owner of several upscale restaurants. Bouncing down the stairs, she rounded the corner to see her mom leaning over her dad's shoulder, pouring coffee into her father's cup. He reached around and gave her a little smack on her backside and she retaliated with a punch to his shoulder. Both turned toward her, grinning, when they heard her enter.

"Get a room, people." Arwen rolled her eyes and pretended to be disgusted with their behavior. Down inside, she was mourning because she had wanted this with DJ.

"Sit down, honey. I'll get you some breakfast." Her mom gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as they passed each other.

"Arwen, I can't take the next couple of days off, but I'll make arrangements to have someone else manage the restaurants while you're home. We can do anything you want for the next two weeks." Bob reached over the table and squeezed her hand.

"Dad, I really just want to spend time with you guys in normal daily life. My life hasn't been normal for months and I need to see 'normal' again. I don't want to do anything special, just be part of the family again."

"Whatever you want, sweetie. Maybe I'll take a couple of days next week and we can drive up the coast to San Francisco, just the three of us."

"That sounds great, Dad." Arwen didn't think so, but her Dad seemed to need to spend some extra time with her and she wouldn't deny him that.

"I thought we could go shopping later this morning. I had Ashley pick up some things for you, but you've lost so much weight, I don't imagine anything fits well."

"Fine. Mostly I just need some quiet time, OK?" Arwen looked at both her parents and saw the silent communication between them. She wished she knew how they talked without saying a word.