CHAPTER 51 – HOMEWARD BOUND

Jack was still more than ten feet away from Elizabeth as they walked towards each other but he could already tell by the look on her face that she was not happy with her students. She had the scowl that she reserved for a mixture of disappointment, confusion, and irritation.

Jack, on the other hand, had a smile on his face because he was thinking of yesterday's after-brawl make-out session. Once they got to back on Earth, he and Elizabeth would no longer have the ability to fool around whenever the urge struck them and they could find a locking door.

The only downside of being back on Earth that he could think of was that he would miss the benefits of always being in close physical proximity to Elizabeth. Jack highly doubted that his next assignment would allow him to constantly have his wife within five minutes of his lips.

"What happened?" Jack asked with a chuckle as he reached her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Stupid students", she grumbled.

"What'd they do now? You only have a handful. How hard can it be?" he smiled as they began walking together down the corridor.

"I had them write short stories about something totally unusual. Wildly imaginative. For a creative writing lesson."

"And?"

"One of them wrote that when we got back to Earth, you left me for a mermaid," Elizabeth frowned. "Why would he write something like that? It's so stupid."

"I left you for a mermaid? Why?"

Elizabeth huffed before answering. "Apparently I was boring and wore a bad wig."

"Did you have cancer?" Jack asked curiously.

"What?" Elizabeth looked at him in confusion.

"Why were you wearing a bad wig? Did you have cancer?"

"No, I didn't have cancer!" Elizabeth protested irritably.

"So why were you wearing a bad wig?"

"He just wrote that I had a bad wig and you didn't like it, so you went and fell in love with a visiting mermaid."

"A visiting mermaid? Did she wear a wig?"

"The wig is not the point! It was a bad wig. That's all! The point is you left me!"

"Not realistic. I don't like fish. All those scales," Jack said with an exaggerated shiver of disgust.

"That's what bothers you? You ending up with an imaginary mermaid? What about us being apart? Me stuck alone and pregnant in a bad wig?"

Jack chuckled. "It's not true. It's just a bad idea that someone made into a story. Are you really bothered by it?"

"A little," Elizabeth admitted as she took hold of Jack's arm and snuggled closer as they continued to walk.

"Elizabeth, a bad writer who can't come up with a decent story is not going to change the truth. You and me are together. Forever. Happily married with lots of children one day. Who cares what some idiot writes."

"I know you're right," Elizabeth agreed with a small smile before continuing. She was already starting to feel better just being with Jack.

"But I still gave him an F."

The couple exited the elevator on level B and immediately pushed themselves against the wall to avoid two crew members hurriedly walking towards them in a jovial manner. The men were laughing as one of them took an object from a brown box and handed it to a female passenger about ten feet ahead of Jack and Elizabeth.

"We're almost there! We're almost there!" one of the men called out encouragingly as he now thrust an object into Jack's hand. His partner took something from the box and handed it to Elizabeth.

A surprised and baffled Jack and Elizbeth watched the men walk away as quickly as they had appeared.

Elizabeth looked at the object in her hand.

"A Milky Way candy bar?"

Jack's eyebrows crinkled. "Same here."

"What was that all about? We've been low on food for weeks and now they're passing out candy bars? Where did they even get them?"

Jack stared at the brown label with the green letters surrounded in white. His mouth turned up in a grin when he understood the significance.

"We're home," he said in grateful realization. He shifted his gaze from the candy in his hand to his wife, who still looked puzzled.

"We're finally home," he repeated with a smile.

Elizabeth and Jack stood in front one of the transporter's observation windows and stared into the mostly black vastness that was illuminated by one milky band of light made up of luminescent stars.

After understanding the reason for the sweet treat, they had hurriedly made their way to one of the large windows lining the outside edge of the transporter where they had joined several other passengers already gazing into the vastness.

The ship had traveled thousands and thousands of miles and now, after months of flight, it was back in the Milky Way, the galaxy containing the solar system that was home to Earth. It was home to more than 300 billion stars and 100 billion planets of various sizes. The passengers only cared about one star - the sun. And they only cared about the nine planets closest to their hearts.

"We're almost back to Earth," Elizabeth said giddily as she squeezed Jack's hand. "We're back in our galaxy!"

After ten minutes, the couple finally broke away from the view. They swung their hands between them with their fingers interlaced as they walked the transporter's long sterile corridors.

In three days, they would be landing. Seeing their families. Feeling Earth's gravity. Breathing in a world of scents.

"I'm not endorsing candy as a food group, but it has definitely put smiles on everyone's faces. And helped ease their hunger a bit", Abigail told Elizabeth and Jack as they stood in the lounge on level B and enjoyed game night.

Several people sat around a table playing Bunco. A few more were throwing darts at a round target made of cork. Becca's perky breasts were bouncing as she played hologram tennis against another player who was obviously distracted by the beautiful woman's moving body.

"It's tradition," Abigail continued as she talked about the candy. "Whenever a returning flight enters the Milky Way, they pass them out. We were worried we'd have to dip into them to feed us before we entered our galaxy, but the captain was pretty adamant that we try not to."

"It's a nice surprise. Everyone is suddenly happy again," Jack said as he looked around the room. "It's like the past weeks of low rations and slowed speed and disruptions are past us."

"The transporter's not done with surprises yet," Abigail replied with a mysterious smile.

The next morning, Elizabeth had forgotten about Abigail's hint of more to come.

Feeling healthy, happy, and content with life, she hummed a pleasant tune written ages ago. Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" had become the standard in the last twenty-four hours. Having been played over the intercom last night and again this morning, the melody was now stuck in Elizabeth's head. Not that she minded. In fact, she loved the song. She could barely wait to see trees of green, red roses, skies of blue, and clouds of white. And rainbows! She wanted to see a rainbow arching over a lush green valley. And mountains. She wanted to see snow-capped mountains and vast oceans.

A smiling Jack joined in on the melody as the couple walked with their breakfast trays to their familiar table.

Elizabeth was just starting to set down her tray when a drop of water fell onto her arm. And then another. And then it was landing in her hair.

She looked up and stared in mild confusion at the sprinkler system above her. It was definitely dripping.

Elizabeth moved her head and noticed that the other sprinkler heads were also dripping.

And then, the water began to fall more steadily. Like a gentle rain. Not a harsh spew of fire-suppressing water that she would expect if there was an actual fire in the Cafeteria.

In fact, at first, Elizabeth thought it was just a minor malfunction, but then the water began to come down heavier and getting everyone wet.

The crew members, who should have been rushing to investigate a fire, were smiling. The calm uniformed men and women simply used one hand to put their trays over their heads to stop from getting wet and continued to eat with their other hand.

The passengers, following their lead, put their trays over their own heads, but instead of eating, they looked at each other in confusion.

The loud unmistakable sound of thunder, something Elizabeth hadn't heard in two years, caused her to jump in surprise. She stared at Jack in bafflement.

The only rain on Planet Assaymark had been after the biodome accident, and that rain had ended more than a year ago when the staff had finally figured out how to correct the damaged systems.

Another low rumble of thunder came over the intercom. It reminded Elizabeth of hot summer nights when the rain had been a welcome relief from stagnant muggy days. She used to lay in bed listening to the sound it made on her vacation cabin's metal roof.

But that had been in Canada – where it was supposed to thunder and rain. This was a transporter in space – where it was most definitely not supposed to storm.

It was Tess who finally broke the confused murmurs of the passengers.

"It's raining!" she exclaimed happily. "It's raining. It's pouring. The old man is snoring," she said in a singsong voice.

And then the rain stopped.

A few left-over droplets fell down, making little splashes but the downpour was over.

Almost immediately after the sprinklers had stopped emitting water, several crew members from the kitchen brought out mops and dried up the floor in a matter of minutes. They laughed and smiled at the passengers while they moved their long-handled tools in sweeping motions across the floor, and swiped thick absorbent towels across the tables.

"Just a reminder of home", one of crew informed the dazed passengers, several of whom hadn't been quick enough to cover their food and now found themselves staring at wet toast.

Abigail walked over to the table and gave Elizabeth a hug. "It's your first time coming back to our galaxy. The thunderstorm represents one of the things we've all missed. All day there'll be occurrences to celebrate our homecoming."

"I like it!" Elizabeth replied enthusiastically as she thought about reminders of Earth. "It's like a breath of fresh air."

The air stank, causing several people aboard the transporter to crinkle their noses in disgust.

Elizabeth, sitting on a lower berth, stopped brushing her hair and pinched her nostrils between her finger and her thumb. Of all the temporary scents today, this was the first one that she found offensive.

She had loved the smell of lavender fields, and she had gotten giddy when the smells of cotton candy and funnel cakes – reminders of a carnival- had wafted out of the air vents as pleasant cues of home. She had sighed deeply in happiness when she had recognized the smell of a wood-burning fire-place.

Every hour or so a new scent from home -from Earth- had enveloped the ship only to quickly disappear until only the memory lingered, and the anticipation of the next scent remained.

But this.

This scent wasn't flowers or reminders of roasting marshmallows or waiting in lines with friends for exciting carnival rides.

This was a smell she recognized from her family's ranch.

"Smell it?" Elizabeth asked a shirt-less Jack. He was lying on the floor, his hands clasped behind his head, and his knees bent as he lifted his back off the floor.

"Seventy-four", he said before replying to her question. "Yep."

"And it makes you smile?" she said inquisitively when she saw his face. "And stop doing those crunches. I'm still worried about your stomach."

Jack sat up again and paused. "Doc says I'm all healed. And you like my six-pack abs. I've seen you staring at me," he reminded her.

"I like you healthy more than I like your six-pack." Although, gosh, I do love his body.

"You'll get both. Healthy AND sexy as hell," he replied with a grin as he stood up. He grabbed a towel from his berth and wiped off the thin layer of sweat on his neck. "I love the smell. Manure. Horses. Riding through farms."

Elizabeth moved her hand away from her face and breathed in deeply. "I do like riding," she admitted as familiar memories came back to her. "And horses. And farms. We won't be able to go riding until after the baby is born, but you'll love my family's horses."

"You won't be able to go riding until after the baby is born. Nothing stopping me," Jack replied. He pulled a t-shirt over his head and then raked a hand through his tousled hair.

"You said you're going to stay at the hospital with me if I have to stay for observation!" she protested.

"That was before I thought about horseback riding. Riding through the wilderness on a summer evening. Enjoying nature. Or sitting inside a boring hospital room? Hmm." He pursed his lips as if contemplating which scenario was the better option to choose.

"I'm your WIFE!"

"I haven't ridden a horse in two years," he reminded her. "That's a long time to be without a favorite hobby."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "You want to go another two years without riding something?" she threatened. Letting him know full well what she was referring to. "I seem to recall you have a favorite hobby with me."

Jack chuckled. "You're not going to try that threat of withholding affection from me, are you?"

"I may just," she huffed.

He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek, which she pretended to accept only begrudgingly. "You know as well as I do that you can't resist me," he said with a self-satisfied grin.

"Honestly, how could you even consider leaving me imprisoned in a hospital?"

"You're not going to be imprisoned," he laughed before continuing to bait her. "And you have to admit, I should at least think about how to best spend my time now that we're going to be back on Earth."

"You think about it any longer and you're going to have another injured stomach," Elizabeth growled at her teasing husband.

Jack chuckled again. "Speaking of abdomens, don't you have another check-up today?"

"I'm actually quite impressed that the fetus is still at a normal five-month state," the transporter's doctor observed as he moved the measuring tape away from Elizabeth's stomach. She was lying on the infirmary's now very familiar examination table.

Elizabeth pulled her t-shirt back down over her slightly swollen stomach and moved to sit up.

"She's been taking really good care of herself," Jack remarked as he put a hand behind Elizabeth's back and helped her into an upright position.

"As long as you don't go into labor in the next two days, you should be fine," the middle-aged professional replied in his best attempt to have a good bedside manner.

"Why would I go into labor in the next two days?" Elizabeth asked with a nervous chuckle.

"Since you're the only woman to ever be in this situation, no one is quite sure how your body would react. It was always possible that the radiation bursts to which you've been exposed could have accelerated your baby's development."

"Accelerated?"

"You know. Turing a nine-month Earth pregnancy into a shorter space pregnancy. "

"No, I don't know!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "You thought my pregnancy would be sped up in space?! And you never told us?!"

Jack narrowed his eyes at the doctor and his mouth tightened in irritation at the man.

"There was always the possibility that your baby would experience rapid growth", the doctor replied with a shrug. "But I don't think we need to worry about that now. Your child is at the perfect size for its gestation. That's not our biggest concern anymore."

"Our biggest concern? What's our biggest concern?" Jack asked worriedly. "We land in two days." He moved closer to Elizabeth and put his arm protectively around her shoulder.

"You must have thought about it," the doctor said in surprise. "I assumed you would have considered the very real possibility."

"What very real possibility?!" the couple asked in unison.

"That during reentry into Earth's atmosphere, the G- forces will bring about labor and the baby will be sucked . . .or pushed. . .or perhaps pulled", he said as he contemplated the precise word to use, "out of the womb. Well, out of you to be totally accurate. It's not unusual for people to vomit or get light-headed due to G-forces or even lose some bodily functions. Naturally, the forces may cause you to deliver your child in a matter of seconds."

"Seconds?!"

"Well obviously it would be much quicker than a normal delivery. Less than a minute rather than hours and hours. Of course, it would be much more dramatic too. That's why I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to have you strapped in for landing," the doctor remarked with a pensive frown. "It certainly wouldn't do to have the baby just come shooting out of you while we're descending."

As he continued to ponder the situation, the doctor failed to notice the horrified looks on the faces of the Thornton couple.

It wasn't until a flustered Jack quickly grabbed a paper bag and handed it to Elizabeth to stop her from hyperventilating that the doctor even realized that maybe he should have kept his thoughts to himself.

UP NEXT: CHAPTER 52