Please fight until the last light has faded.

Once again, I found myself fighting for my life, once again, I found myself drifting in the endless void, and once again, I found that warm, blue-white star waiting for me. It was closer this time, warmer, almost embracing me with its brilliance. I felt safe here, cared for. If this was eternity, it wasn't all that terrible.

And then, suddenly, it spoke.

"John?"

Well, that was new.

"John, are you there?" the star asked. I knew her voice immediately, and I couldn't say I was surprised at this point.

"Intrepid? Is that you?" I called out.

"Of course it's me, silly," the star answered with a slight giggle. "Who else would it be? C'mon, we've got to go."

"Go?" I repeated, confused. "Go where? We've got all the time in the world…" God, it felt so warm, so comfortable, so cozy…

"No, we don't, we've got to get ready to go to the office!" Intrepid repeated, more insistently. "John, get up. John!"

My eyes snapped open as I awoke from the dream with a start, finding myself staring into Intrepid's beautiful blue eyes.

"Huh?" I groaned as I blearily gazed up at her. I guess it really was her voice in my dream. "Sorry," I muttered, "Must've been sleeping pretty hard."

"You were out like a light," she grinned as she planted a soft, tender kiss on my forehead. "Are you always that difficult to wake up?"

"Not usually," I smiled back as I reached up and pulled her back down for a more proper good morning kiss. "Tends to be the opposite problem, hardly get any sleep."

Intrepid hummed happily as she lay down on the bed next to me, propping her head up with her hand. "Oh? Did I just wear you out last night?" she asked, a wicked grin on her face.

I felt my cheeks flush as I grinned sheepishly. "Maybe," I meekly admitted, although I had a feeling that it wasn't just the exertion that left me so soundly asleep. I hesitated, not quite comfortable revealing how I truly felt. But I'd come this far with her; she'd always been there, no matter what or how crazy I sounded. If I couldn't trust her now, I couldn't trust anyone. "I, uh, I've been having nightmares ever since that expedition. We're fighting in that Siren base until one by one, I'm all alone, suspended in this void…forever. I'd then wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, usually falling out of bed in the process. But as we've grown closer, the nightmares faded, bit by bit, until last night when it became more of a…pleasant dream than anything else."

As I rambled on, Intrepid listened intently until I was finally done. Once I'd finished, she smiled, reached over, and cupped my cheek with her hand. "I'm glad I could help, John, and I'd love to stay in bed with you all day and talk about things, but…" she sighed and glanced over at the clock on her nightstand, "if we don't get ready, we're gonna be late."

I looked over my shoulder at the clock and swore. "Yeah, and I still need to grab a clean uniform from my apartment before-"

"Your appointment with Bremerton," Intrepid finished with a smile. "If you head out now, you should make it there just in time."

"Hate to run out on you like this, but yeah, don't want to be late," I smiled as I leaned over for one last long, lingering goodbye kiss. "See you in the office."

As I threw off the covers and headed out to retrieve my uniform, Intrepid called out after me, "Tell her I said hi!"


Showered, shorn, and with a new uniform on, I made it to Bremerton's office with just a few minutes to spare. The pink-haired cruiser beamed at me when she looked up from her desk and saw me standing there. "Good morning, Commander!" she chirped as she gestured to the now-familiar couch. "You're looking well! Actually, I think this is the best I've seen you since you got back."

"Had a great night's sleep last night," I said as I got comfortable. "Probably the best I've had in months."

Her smile only grew wider as she got out her notepad. "That's amazing!" she declared, clearly pleased with my progress. "Did you change anything to help you sleep better? Anything with Intrepid?"

I could feel my cheeks starting to burn as I tried to diplomatically answer the question without giving anything away. "Yes."

Brilliant.

It worked if only to confuse Bremerton for another few seconds. "Yes, Intrepid helped, or yes you changed-" That's when it clicked into place for her and the smile turned into a knowing smirk. "Oh, Commander…did she…?"

"No, she did not wear me out," I answered, a little more defensively than I had intended. "But I think she helped. After work last night, we went to her place and had a little 'reading date' and dinner, one thing led to another, and…" My voice trailed off as I left her to fill in the blanks.

"Intrepid, you sly dog," she chuckled as she shook her head. "And was that what helped you sleep better?"

My cheeks felt as though they were going to burst into flames as I shrugged. "Yes and no," I said slowly. "I think it was more that intimacy, that closeness that helped rather than any kind of physical exertion. Intrepid's helped me…if not find myself, then rediscover myself and while I'll always wonder in the back of my mind, how much of my memories are my own or if there's more to me, I think I'm comfortable in who I am now. More than I've been in a long time."

Bremerton proudly smiled at me as she took notes, hopefully about my mental well-being and nothing more. "Good!" she beamed. "I think we all have our issues, but it's good to hear you're beginning to work yours out."

"Thanks to you," I grinned.

A coy smirk spread across Bremerton's face as she leaned back. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

"Uh-huh," I deadpanned. "Granted, I ran into Intrepid on my own, but I get the feeling you were waiting for the right opportunity to set us up."

"To be honest, I really hadn't," she admitted, "But once you two did hit it off, I realized how good you two could be for each other. Nice to be proven right once in a while."

"With you putting your thumb on the scales from time to time," I grinned.

"I wanted to speed things along," she shrugged. "Speaking of speeding things along, got any plans for your second date?"

Now it was my turn to act coy. "Maybe," I smirked. "Working on something, but I don't want to tip my hand just yet."

"Alright, alright, I won't pry," she teased. "Can't blame a girl for trying, though. How are you two working out in the office?"

I exhaled loudly as I leaned back on the couch. "It's only been one day, so it's hard to tell, but pretty good so far. We work well as a team and it's nice to have her company throughout the day. I don't think I'd have her assigned as permanent secretary, though."

That answer seemed to surprise Bremerton, who raised an eyebrow at me. "Why not?"

"Because that's not where she wants to be," I answered honestly. "She still needs to go out there and prove herself. She wants to be on the front lines winning this war, not stuck in an office filing commission reports all day, and I can't blame her. So I wouldn't ask her to give up on that out of a selfish desire to spend more time with her."

She considered my words before slowly nodding. "Understandable. Have you thought about heading out with her instead?"

I hadn't briefed the base on the full details of Operation Siren, so I kept my answer as vague as possible. "It's definitely a possibility I've been thinking about, but I'm still working out the finer details."

"I'm sure you two will work something out," she said reassuringly as she looked down at her notes. "Any other current concerns or anything you want to get off your chest?"

"Just my heartfelt gratitude for getting us together."

In a rare case, Bremerton blushed as she looked back down at her notes for a moment. "Don't need to thank me, Commander. Intrepid's my BFF and I'd do anything for her. And you, too."

I smiled softly and shrugged. "Well, it's there anyway."

"I appreciate it, Commander," she replied as she looked back up at me. "In any case, I'd say you're handling your issues fairly well with Intrepid's help, but if it's alright with you, I'd like to continue our sessions on a weekly basis."

"I'd love that," I smiled.

She looked down and scribbled something in her notepad before she grabbed her phone from her desk and got texting. "Great! I'll work out something with Intrepid and I'll see you next week, then!"

I chuckled as I got up from the couch. "I'm sure we'll run into each other before next week. See you later, Bremerton."

"Later, Commander," she smiled. "And you can call me Bremmy."


The rest of the week went by in a blur as we all settled into our new routine. Intrepid and I continued to work well together in the office, and we spent our free time in her apartment, reading, talking, and…otherwise occupying ourselves. Things were good-no, they were great, and that Friday, they were about to get even better.

While Intrepid and I were enjoying lunch that day, I got a text on my phone. While this wasn't an entirely unusual occurrence, the text was a unique one. It was from Admiral Sprague and simply said:

Today. 1600. Four hours.

Somehow, I managed to keep enough of a poker face as I acknowledged the text and sent follow-up texts to Essex and Bremerton. Intrepid, however, did notice that my attention had been diverted from my meal and decided to comment on it.

"Everything okay?" she asked, a look of mild concern on her face.

"Yeah," I replied, trying to sound dismissive. "Just a few things from Admiral Sprague, nothing major."

To my relief, she didn't question it further and went back to her sandwich. Until she spoke up again. "So, when are you going to take me out on our second date?"

My heart rate spiked and I pretended to give a coy smile. "Soon." Hopefully, I didn't start sweating. "Just waiting on a few things to come through."

"I see, I see," she nodded slowly as she gave me a flirtatious smile. "Care to give me any hints?"

"Don't want to spoil any of it." That part was entirely true.

She reached over across the table, her fingers intertwining with mine. "Not even a hint for your girlfriend?"

I smiled warmly at her, lifted her hand to my lips, and kissed it softly before I answered with a deadpan "Nope."

Her face fell immediately and she shook her head. "For shame, John," she playfully chided, "For shame."

"I want it to be a surprise," I countered. "I want to see the look on your face the same way you got to see the look on my face."

Intrepid thought it over and nodded once. "That's fair," she agreed. "But now you realize you've got to live up to the hype and mystique you're building here, right?"

"I do," I nodded. "And I think, I hope, I'll live up to it."


Three and a half hours later, the door to my office swung open and Essex and Bremerton strode in, Essex with a serious expression on her face and Bremerton with an excited grin. "They're ready, Admiral," the purple-haired kansen announced, and I got up from my seat.

"Excellent," I answered as I ushered the two women in before looking over at Intrepid. "You ready for our date?"

The surprise on her face was total and absolute. "You mean now?"

"Right now," I confirmed. "I told you I wanted it to be a surprise."

She chuckled and shook her head slowly. "Consider me surprised. Does this mean I need to go home and get changed?"

I shook my head and grinned. "Nope, they'll have…an outfit waiting for you when we get there."

"An outfit?" she repeated as she found herself with more questions than answers the more she asked about it. "Just where are we going?"

"You'll see," I winked. "Shall we?"

"If for no other reason than sheer curiosity at this point," she smiled as she stood and linked her arm in mine. "Lead on."

We headed down to the building entrance, arm in arm, where we found a car waiting for us. After I let Intrepid in, I got in behind her as I knocked on the window. As our manjuu driver sped off, Intrepid stared intensely at me.

"Seriously, John, what do you have planned?"

"You'll see," I smirked. While I was still very confident this would blow her away, there was still that little doubt in the back of my head that I was overselling this. In either case, we would know in just a few minutes whether I had played my hand correctly or this was all about to blow up in my face.

As the car left the base and sped off towards the airfield that housed our spy planes, Intrepid become more and more focused on where we were headed. "...I thought you said you were taking me on a date," she muttered, casting an accusatory glare at me.

"And we are," I reassured her. "It's just…not your regular sort of date."

Her silvery eyebrows furrowed at me before she turned back to the window. "I know this place, this is the airfield we use for our spy planes."

"Correct," I confirmed with a nod. "And, just out of curiosity, do you know how high they can go?"

"About eighty thousand feet, but I don't see…" her voice trailed off as she began to put things together. "Wait, but these are automated."

"True, but they still have their cockpits from when they were manned," I smiled. "Have you ever worn a spacesuit before?"

Her eyes grew as wide as dinner plates and she reached over to thwap me on the arm. "Shut up," she gasped. "You didn't. We're going to space?!"

"Not quite," I grimaced slightly, "But as close as I can get you, which is eighty thousand feet."

I thought I saw tears(hopefully of joy) welling up in her eyes before she lunged forward and embraced me in a fierce hug. "Thank you," she whispered in my ear. "This means so much to me."

"Anything for you, Intrepid," I whispered back, turning my head slightly to kiss her cheek. "My beautiful Fighting I."

"'The Fighting I', huh?" she smiled as she leaned back into her seat. "I like that. Now I just need to come up with a pet name for you…"

As the car came to a stop at the hangar, I looked over at her and grinned. "Got plenty of time to think about it on the flight. C'mon, let's get suited up."

We were led into separate dressing rooms by the manjuu and assisted into our spacesuits, making sure it was sealed before being led back out into the hangar. I still don't know how Intrepid managed to get her ponytails into her spacesuit, but she did, and without obscuring her vision, either. She smiled and waved eagerly at me as I approached, and I waved back. Until we were in the cockpit and hooked up to the radio system, we wouldn't be able to hear each other.

That didn't prevent us from holding hands as we walked over to the airplane sitting on the tarmac. Slender, jet-black with a huge wingspan, it looked more like an incomplete airframe than a fully functional spyplane, but we'd been using them for years without incident against the Sirens, so clearly it was a sound design. I gestured for Intrepid to take the forward cockpit since that would give her the best view, as I climbed up into the copilot's seat behind it. As the manjuu began hooking us into the aircraft, I heard the radio crackle in my ear, and then Intrepid's voice. "John? John, can you hear me?"

I fumbled with the radio for a second until I was sure I had everything turned on. "I can hear you, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear!" she chirped happily. "I can't believe we're about to do this!"

"Same," I chuckled as I gave the thumbs up to the ground crew and they lowered the canopy. "I really do hope that this is everything you hope it will be."

There was a moment of silence on the other end as Intrepid gave her own crew the thumbs up and her canopy was sealed. "No matter what happens, even getting this far, trying this hard, was just so amazing in and of itself, John. I can't even imagine what it took for you to get this arranged."

"Just a broken SD card," I chuckled under my breath.

"Say again, didn't catch that," Intrepid called out and I just shook my head.

"Nothing," I answered, "Don't worry about it. Let's just say I'm sworn to secrecy."

From where I was sitting I saw her shoulders raise slightly in what I assumed to be a shrug. "Whatever you say. How long is this trip, by the way?"

"Four hours," I replied as the plane lurched forward, taxing for takeoff. "We're not doing any official recon here, just taking a nice scenic tour of planet Earth." And, if my luck held out, we'd get one hell of a light show to boot…

A/N- Here we go into SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE! Or as close to space as they can get. In other news, a reminder that the character poll is now open(you can find how to vote on my twitter admiral_fluffy). Current standing is Dido and Alabama tied at 7, Gangut right behind at 6, AvP at 5 and Chikuma at 2. Less than two weeks left before the end of the poll. Until next time, fair winds and following seas!