Very early the next morning, Jack rolled over, intending to wrap his wife in his arms, but he found her spot empty.

He rolled on his back and saw her silhouette next to the window, staring out at the evening's final stars.

"Ani?" he called softly. "Come back to bed."

Ani closed her eyes briefly and turned back to him. "I can't sleep Jack… I don't know what it is… it's the strangest feeling." She turned back to the window and Jack groaned lightly as he got out of bed.

His arms wrapped around her and Ani leaned into him. "What's wrong?" he whispered in her ear.

Ani had been fighting this all day. She didn't want to give in to her insecurities, but her emotions were running high right now with the threat of Jack never returning to her…

"Syd… and Z…" she said softly as she felt the first tears fall. Jack felt her tense and knew why she was upset. He too felt the pain his wife was enduring.

"I know," he said as he turned her in his arms and held her to his chest. Ani cried then… openly cried for the first time in a long time.

"It's not fair Jack! We've been trying for so long!" Jack held her as she let her frustrations out. "Is it so much to ask to want to have a baby?"

Jack kissed her forehead. "I want a baby as much as you do… believe me. We'll have our chance."

"Not unless one of us loses our powers," she said as her sobs faded. "We're incompatible."

Jack held her away from him and stared into her baby blue eyes. "Don't think like that…. Ani, I love you… that's all that really matters. And someday whoever's up there will give us a baby."

Ani sighed and hugged him tighter. "But what… what if you're mission fails? I don't know what I'll do…"

Jack kissed her lips gently. "We won't fail… Sky won't let us." Ani chuckled a bit at that. "I promise to make it back to you." He placed his finger under her chin, tilting it up. Without another word, he kissed her deeply, picking her up in his arms and bringing her back to bed…

Later that morning, Ani stood with Syd and Z in the shuttle bay watching their husbands get their final briefing from Commander Cruger.

Z placed a hand over her slightly rounded stomach, and for the first time Ani noticed the little bumps currently occupying her two teammates' abdomens. A movement in front of her caused her to turn her attention back to the guys as they walked towards them.

Bridge embraced a tearful Z, as Sky did the same to Sydney. Jack stopped in front of her and took her hands gently in his.

"We should be in contact in a few hours," he began. Ani nodded her head and brought her arms around his neck, holding him tightly.

"Be careful," she cautioned. "He's tricky," she said softly. Jack nodded and pulled back, kissing her lips softly. "I love you."

Jack held her face in his hands and kissed her once more. "Love you too." He then turned to Z and Syd, while Sky approached her, embracing her.

"Take care of Syd for me," he said softly.

"I will," she replied. She felt Sky's emotions turn to sudden fear and she took his face in her hands. 'You'll come back Sky… don't think about it,' she said telepathically.

Sky nodded, understanding that she was feeling his fear… he feared he'd be taken like his father had all those years ago…

'I know,' he replied. They hugged once more before they switched teammates again. Bridge gave her a tight hug and they all broke apart.

The girls gathered together and watched as their teammates boarded the shuttle and took off…

Hours later in the far reaches of the Milky Way, Jack was staring out into the vastness of space going over his plan of attack in his mind.

They would cloak the ship, find Jervix, intercept, contain him, and go home. It seemed simple enough, but he knew that some things were bound to go wrong.

The thought of impending doom brought the harsh reality that they may in fact fail. From what he had learned of Jervix from Ani, he was defiantly not a force to be reckoned with.

The thought of his wife brought a pain to his chest. He didn't have the heart to tell her of his plans to leave SPD when this was all over. Her fear of never being able to conceive a child was a shared one, but he refused to believe in the scientific evidence she had found. He had seen too many things in his life to think that miracles weren't possible.

When they got back to New Tech, he and Ani would move away from SPD regulations and stresses and start their family…

"Jack?" Sky's voice came through the communicator on the wall. "I think you should come look at this." Jack heard the urgency in his second in command's voice and ran to the bridge of the ship.

"What's up?" he asked as he sat in his seat in between Bridge and Sky.

"An energy reading coming from ahead of us," Bridge said.

"Can you sense them?" Jack asked. Bridge shook his head.

"They're too far out for me to get any kind of aura," he replied.

Jack nodded and watched as Sky pulled up a type of visual. His eyes widened as he saw a ship heading towards them.

"It's moving fast," Sky said.

"Any sign as to what kind of ship?" Jack asked as he pulled up the visual on his monitor.

Sky punched in a few codes. "Nothing in our database… Bridge?"

Bridge pushed a button and turned to them. "Nothing," he said.

Jack opened up a communications line…

Kat Manx stood at her console, idly cataloguing data when an alarm sounded. Immediately she pulled up a visual of Jack.

"Hey Kat," he said. "We've reached the outer rim of the Milky Way and there's a ship heading our way."

Kat confirmed their coordinates and began typing furiously. "It's him," she said at last. She watched as the ship inched closer. "Put up your cloak and shields," she said after a moment. Her eyes widened as she saw the ship increase its speed. "Do it now! He's nearly on you!" she yelled.

Jack followed her orders as the alarms on their ship began to sound erratically.

Sydney chose that moment to enter the Command Center and nearly fainted when she saw the screen. The boys were frantically punching buttons and yelling at each other.

"Kat, what's happening?" she said near tears as she took her place at her console.

"Jervix found them before they had a chance to put up their cloak," Kat replied as she slammed her fist in her console. "Their shields aren't strong enough. I can't get this thing to upload!"

Syd immediately went to work, furiously entering various keystrokes in hopes of transferring extra power to them.

"Kat! Something's wrong! I can feel it!" Ani cried as she entered command with Cruger and Z in tow.

"Jervix found them and they need more power for the outer shield," Syd said calmly as she attempted to figure out what to do.

"What about a satellite? Or a nearby planet?" Z suggested. "Anything!"

Ani pulled up a chair at her console and recalled their coordinates. "There's a satellite a few miles south of them," she said. Ani passed the coordinates to Syd, who then routed them to the ship.

"Sky," Cruger said. "We're sending you some extra power for the shields."

Sky heard the crackled transmission and tapped into the signal. "Bridge! What's our intercept time?" he said as calmly as he could.

The green ranger stared at the screen. "60 seconds," Bridge said in shock. "They must have some kind of hyperdrive…"

"Brace for impact!" Sky cried.

Everyone held their breath as Jervix fired…