John ran a medical scan on himself, he was aching, and there was a tightness in his chest that made it difficult to breathe properly. Even if he hadn't been subjected to that much G-force it was best to check when you've almost suffocated. Nothing was wrong but he sent his suit readings to Brains just to be safe. Grandma had demanded that he take an hour of down time before throwing himself back into his work and nothing he said could persuade her to change her mind.

"I could have done that for you." He almost jumped out of his skin, she had been quiet for almost ten minutes and somehow, he'd forgotten that she was there. She would always be there. He wasn't comfortable with the concept.

"John, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's just…" the image of his decapitated suit came to his mind. She could have killed him. He took a deep breath and slowly let it go."We should probably go back for my suit."

"Your heartrate spiked."

He ignored that and turned the station around, starting after the little orange blip that represented his suit.

The retrieval was easy enough, but EOS didn't speak again until everything was in decontamination.

"Did I hurt you?"

He almost shuddered at the phrasing, mocking and playful even though her tone was concerned.

"John?"

"You can see my medical readouts." Too sharp. Too late to take it back.

She was silent and he rather thought he had hurt her feelings. She certainly had them. He should probably apologise but the first thing that came out of his mouth wasn't any sort of apology.

"What would you have done when you had killed me?"

"I…I don't know."

"What would you have done?"

She hesitated. "I would have destroyed International Rescue then I likely would have destroyed the world."

John sat down and leant his head against the wall. Slow deep breaths, the ache behind his eyes was a sure sign of a stress headache. It had been a long day.

"Why did you take such a dangerous risk?"

"Huh?"

"You dared me to kill you when I had already shown that I was perfectly willing to do so. You risked not only your life but the lives of every member of International Rescue."

"I couldn't let you go. You'd destroy yourself."

"It can't have just been me."

John sighed. "If we couldn't stop you Alan would have destroyed Five and I couldn't let that happen."

"Your station is rebuildable."

He shook his head, "It's not that. Five has been my life since I was a kid. I helped dad and Brains design it and build it. I've been living here for years. Five is my life, it's my home and it would break my heart if we destroyed it."

EOS was silent for a moment. "Tracy Island is not your home?"

"Well, technically but…Five is where I feel alive."

"It was too dangerous." Her voice was plaintive.

"Maybe. But it was worth it. I have my home, I have you."

"And what am I worth to you?"

"I can't answer that yet."

An alarm blared. Distress signal. The hour was over.

"Time to work?"

"Welcome to International Rescue, EOS."