"That's right" Kristine watched Dave's bottom jaw sink like the titanic "we're going home"
"Did you hear that, Rimmer?" Dave gasped, "We're going back to earth"
"I know" Arnold answered, "I heard Kochanski tell you"
"I told Yvonne too" Kristine smiled
"What did she say?" Arnold enquired
"Nothing" Kristine responded, "just asked me where I was going next"
Suddenly Dave's face lifted again and a smile emerged
"Kristine" Dave asked "when we get back to earth…" Dave didn't know how Kristine was going to react to his question so he took a deep breath and just asked her "… will you move in with me?"
"Oh, Dave" Kristine answered "I…"
"Don't answer now" Dave smiled "think about it"
"Okay" Kristine answered, "I think about it I promise!"
Kristine stuck to her word, for the next seven days that's all she did think about. When she was on duty she thought about how wonderful it would be, when she was off duty she wondered whether it was a good idea and when she was drinking in the pub she wondered what her parents would think about it. They would never approve, they wanted her to be with a high flyer in the Space Core. Not the lowest rank on the ship.
Kristine was mid thought when she was called into a very important meeting. In the meeting she managed to keep her attention on what was being said, which was a small miracle. The only reason she actually paid any attention during the meeting was because within the first five minutes he had told them that because of how well this mission had gone. Every one on the ship was awarded three years off.
"Three years" Kristine gasped, "is that paid leave?"
"Yes Kochanski" Hollister answered "three years paid leave"
the rest of the meeting simply told them that their next of kin had been informed of their return and they would be called up again in three years time.
The news spread like wildfire through both the 'grapevine' and official meetings. The last week of the mission went so quickly and before they knew it they were standing in the arrivals bay in terminal seven of the Jupiter Mining Cooperation Head Quarters, London, England. Huddled in one corner of the room were Kristine Kochanski, Yvonne McGruder, Arnold Rimmer and Dave Lister.
"You haven't answered my question" Dave reminded Kristine "will you move in with me?"
"Not yet Dave" Kristine answered "can we date properly for a while first?"
"Sure" Dave responded obviously very disappointed "if that's what you want"
"How are we going to keep in contact?" Yvonne asked generally "let's go and get mobiles now" Dave suggested, "We'll swap mobile numbers"
Since their last 'visit' to earth The Jupiter Mining Cooperation had rented some of their building out to the Car phone Warehouse. The four of them went in and bought a mobile phone each. They swapped their new numbers and waited for their next of kin. Three hours later the four of them were still waiting. Eventually Kristine's father turned up
"Hey Krissie" Mr. Jonathan Kochanski sung, "How are you?"
"Dad" Kristine ran into her father's arms and held him tight "I missed you"
"I missed you too darling" Mr Kochanski smiled "I'm sorry I'm late, I lost track of time and then when Rosie got back I came out to get you"
"This…" Kristine grabbed Yvonne's arm and pulled her forward "is my best friend Yvonne McGruder"
Yvonne and Mr. K shook hands "this" Kristine pointed to Arnold "is Arnold Rimmer, Yvonne's boyfriend"
"Nice to meet you Arnold, Yvonne" Mr. K smiled
"Now this…" Kristine pulled Dave forward and took a deep breath "… is my new boyfriend, Dad, this is Dave Lister"
Mr. Kochanski forced a smile as he stared at Dave. His Rasta plaits fell both in front of and behind his shoulders. He was wearing his read London Jets Zero Gravity football t-shirt with curry stains all over the front. His khaki combat trousers had tea stains all over the crotch and it terribly like something slightly less desirable than tea. His greying black leather jacket was cracked and torn at one arm, it just sat on his shoulders
"Not wearing your uniform David?" Mr. K asked
"I don't' wear it anymore than I have to" Dave answered, "it makes me itch"
Mr K looked at Kristine Yvonne and Arnold in their smart Red Dwarf uniforms. "What do you do then David?"
"Third technician" Dave answered "and call me Dave"
"What rank is that?" Mr K paused "Dave"
"I rank 169" Dave smirked "that's the lowest"
Mr. K shot a look of disappointment over to his eldest daughter and looked back at Dave "do you have anywhere to stay?"
"No sir" Dave answered "no where"
"Where were you planning on staying?"
"I'll find a comfortable park bench somewhere"
"It's okay" Mr K told him "I won't have you out on your own at night, you can sleep in the spare room tonight, come on"
"See ya Kriss" Yvonne shouted, "I'll call you"
"Yeah" Kristine gave Yvonne a hug "speak soon"
Kristine and Dave jumped into the chauffer driven black Mercedes stretch Limousine followed by Mr K
"I've never been in a stretch limo before" Dave commented en route "it's nice"
Dave knew that Mr K wasn't very happy with Kristine's choice of partner. In fact Mr K was furious with it but not as to be rude he carried on asking questions
"Dave" he asked, "when's your birthday?"
"I don't know" Dave answered, "I was abandoned"
"Abandoned?" Mr K gasped "why?"
"I don't know" Dave wiped the tears from his face "no one ever told me"
the rest of the journey went past in silence when they eventually got to the Kochanski family's six bedroom mini-mansion you could hear Mrs. Kochanski yelling from the end of the very long driveway.
"I guess Rosie told mum about the baby" Kristine sighed "and I bet mum went mad"
"Well can you blame her, Kristine?" Mr. K asked, "She was silly enough to fail her exams and become a waitress, if she'd have been like you…"
"She's not me, Dad" Kristine interrupted "when are you going to understand that, she's not going to become a high flyer like me, its not her personality, she's going to need a lot of help with this baby"
"You are not putting your career on hold, Kristine" Mr. K insisted "she's the one who got herself pregnant, she's a failure"
"No she's not, dad" Kristine would defend Rosie to the end, she understood that her younger sister was good at some things, but not at the same things as Kristine "you should be proud of Rosie, just like you are proud of me and Moose"
Moose was the youngest of the Kochanskis and the longed for little boy. Moose got away with everything, including living on his parents
"You're proud of Moose" Kristine pleaded "and he just eats, drinks and smokes away your money"
"He's my son" Mr K answered softly "I'll always be proud of him"
Kristine was shocked by her father's attitude; she knew that her father treated them all differently. Kristine was the eldest of the Kochanski children and the brightest of them too. Moose, or Matthew wasn't very bright and always got his own way. Rosie was the middle child and the Kochanski's were so disappointed that they didn't get a little boy. Dave just sat there and took it all in, during the conversation his facial expression changed many times from happiness to sadness, shock to smirk and astonishment to humour.
