Author's Note: Just a little reminder that they're human. And this war has been going on for at least 15 years. They're tired. Everyone is looking to them to save the world and that is taking its toll. They ARE human.

"Thanks, Sarge. I know it's last minute and you've already got your hands full." Jon smiled gratefully at the gray-haired woman on the vid screen, not wanting to take up any more of her time during the middle of a mission.

Sergeant Elle Rowan, Alpha Base's commander of operations, shook her head, her blue eyes filled with sincerity when she spoke. "You are always welcome here, Jon. You know that." She acknowledged someone off screen, before turning her attention back to him. "We'll see you when you get here. Tell my girl I love her."

Jon knew that was coming. Elle never signed off without telling Jennifer personally or making sure that he told her. "I will. Good luck with the mission."

She nodded. "Thank you. Safe travels. Transferring you to Sam." With a final smile, the screen went black for a moment before Dr. Samantha Cooke appeared on screen.

Alpha's chief physician raised an eyebrow in greeting. "I don't like it when YOU request to talk with me. Anyone ever tell you, you need a medic?"

Though he knew she was teasing him, he also knew the time had come to make that move. "In the last twenty-four hours? Just you and Molly. And Elle. And my conscience."

"Well, good. Maybe you'll listen to one of those voices." She spoke teasingly, then took a sip from her mug before continuing. "I've been monitoring the vitals Matt's been sending. They look okay for now, but since you're going to be here by day's end, I want to see them both when you arrive."

"I was going to ask you for that very thing. Thank you." Relief washed over him, almost as if a physical weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "They are SO worn out, Sam. I've never seen them like this."

She sat back in her chair and drummed her fingers on the desk. "I'll have Molly fill me in on things when she gets here, but I want to hear it from you as well. Tell me exactly what happened."

Jon gave her the mission details and the digitization attempt. "I haven't found any corruption to their suits, all systems are checking out in the normal range, all circuits are functioning as expected. The power was completely drained, but we've had that happen before with no effects like this to our physical well-being."

"But no one has ever been hit with the digitzer before, have they?" Sam absently twisted her long brown hair into a braid as she talked.

"Never." Jon's stomach churned as the memory returned with full force. He'd come so close to losing them. Never had that threat been so real.

Fingers once again drumming on the desk, Sam said, "Bear with me. I have a thought, but I know there's information you can't give me, so I'm just going to throw out some ideas."

He leaned forward in his chair, willing to entertain whatever thoughts she wanted to share. He needed to know what to do to help his team.

"When Soaron or Blastarr is digitizing someone, they're somehow converted from their organic form to what amounts to computer data. That tells me their energy must be drawn out of their cells as this is happening, though I have no idea HOW that happens. What if the suits can protect you from being digitized, but it comes at a cost to both the suit AND the wearer? It draws out the energy from the suits until there's nothing left, then attacks the energy of the wearer?"

Jon sat quietly, mulling over the idea. They'd known from the start that upon activation, the suits were linked to the wearer. And it stood to reason that the reverse would be true as well. That they themselves were linked to the suits. At one point or another during the war, they'd all said that charging the suits brought them a physical rush, but they'd always assumed it was adrenaline from the upcoming mission. Maybe it wasn't that. Maybe it was an actual energy surge into their bodies from the charging station itself.

When Pilot and Scout had been caught in the digitizing beam, their suits' power had been depleted and failed only seconds after the beam had let them go. There had been no warnings about power levels remaining, cutoff levels reached or imminent system failure. They were suddenly and completely vulnerable.

"You see where I'm going with this, don't you?" Sam's voice softly broke through his thoughts.

Jon nodded grimly. He'd run their suits through a thorough inspection and had found no damage to them. There was only the depleted power supply. Though they were protected from the digitization process itself, Sam's proposal that the wearer's own energy was attacked after the power supply was terrifying.

They'd come up with a countermeasure. A frequency modulation to prevent power leaching. A force field to prevent the beam from locking on. Both. Something else. Though they all worked with the suits and knew the mechanics of them, it was Rob and Jennifer that had worked with Jon the closest when it came to their specifications and modifications. As soon as they were able, this would be their top priority.

Sam continued. "In addition to the vital signs that Matt has been sending me, Molly sent me the blood work she did on all of you at her base. While you all had low blood sugar levels, you, Jennifer and Rob had the lowest. It's not abnormal for any of you to have those kinds of numbers, especially after a mission like you had. And Molly said Jennifer ratted you out about not eating before the mission, so that explains you especially. But one other interesting thing about the numbers was that both Rob and Jenn had low enough hemoglobin levels to consider them anemic. Not by much, but enough that it concerns me. Jon, this could be part of the digitization attempt or it could be diet-related. I know you're trying to limit your dependence on others for food and with your missions, I will guarantee you're not eating properly even if you DID have enough resources."

He nodded. "You're not wrong. We haven't been home more than a few hours at a time the last three weeks. There's been no time to hunt or set the traps. The hydroponics garden is growing just fine, but we've actually been taking most of the food out with us on missions to give to settlements because we haven't been able to cook any of it." He sighed. They tried their damnedest not to take resources from those who really needed it and shared their own food before it spoiled.

"Do you at least have some eggs, spinach and potatoes on hand right now?" Sam asked gently, the look on her face telling him she was grateful for their generosity to those in need.

He nodded. "I think there's a few eggs left, and I know for certain the spinach and potatoes can be harvested. Do you need some of those?"

Sam stared at him incredulously. "I wasn't asking for us, you goofus. Have you never noticed we have a farm here?" Not waiting for his answer after her teasing, she said, "If you have those three things, pull together a meal for everyone, but especially Rob and Jenn. I know Michael knows how to cook, so have him sauté up the spinach and toss it into some scrambled eggs. Make potatoes on the side, with the skins on them. So baked, smashed, fried, whatever. This will get some iron into everyone and we'll start working on more when you get here."

Jon nodded acknowledgement. He would do whatever they needed to in order to get those two healthy again. And then they would figure out how to make sure it never happened again. "Thanks, Sam. I owe you."

She just shook her head. "You bring Jennifer back here, so Adam and Elle can stop worrying and we're even."

"I can do that. See you soon." He signed off and opened a secure channel to Elzer Polarski's group.

Thirty seconds passed before Sergeant Ray Simms responded. "Captain, what can I do for you?"

"Clutch, I need to talk with Polarski. Is he around?" Jon stifled the yawn that threatened to break through. He knew he was being rather informal with the young communications officer, but truthfully, he was too tired to care about protocol.

Simms nodded and quickly turned to someone off-screen. "Cap, it's Captain Power. Needs to talk with you, ASAP."

Though Jon hadn't said it was urgent, he was grateful Clutch had taken it upon himself to make it that way. Dead of night calls didn't happen unless they were absolutely needed.

Elzer Polarski replaced Simms on the screen and his brow was already furrowed when he spoke. "Jon? What's going on?"

Blowing out a deep breath, Jon retold the story for the third time in less than an hour. He leaned forward in his chair and scrubbed his hands over his face, attempting to clear his eyes. "You were scheduled to be in the delta quadrant at the Passages. Are you actually there?"

Polarski's eyes had grown wide as the story unfolded. "Yes. We're restocking our supplies. Do you need us to get anything for you? We can meet you for a drop off."

Jon nodded. "We need a someone, not a something. Rob's significant other, Nikole Trosko, lives in the delta quadrant. Will you bring her to Alpha Base on your way home?"

"Of course," he replied without hesitation. "We were planning to leave here at fourteen hundred hours. Will that work for her?"

"I haven't talked with her yet, but I'm going to say that she'll meet you in the hangar by thirteen forty-five." He knew without a doubt that Nikki would be there. She'd probably even be there an hour early, just so she didn't miss the flight.

"Let me know if anything changes with the plan. Otherwise, we'll see her at the ship."

With a grateful nod and a few final words, he closed the channel, then punched in the information for the last call. He was going to need a very long nap when this was done. "This is Captain Jonathan Power. Please patch me through to Nikole Trosko, delta quadrant, sector G. Top priority." With a sigh, he sat back in his chair, taking advantage of the few minutes he had to rest his eyes while she was being contacted.

A soft ping announced the call was ready and he quickly opened the channel. A young woman's face appeared on the screen and she was visibly trying to keep her panic under control. "Jon?"

He spoke quickly and firmly. "He's going to be okay, Nikki. I need you to breathe." And though he knew she wouldn't actually feel his touch, he put his hand against the screen.

She returned the gesture, tears already rolling down her cheeks. "How bad is it?"

Jon gave her all the information they had, from the digitization attempt to the most recent vital signs. As a nurse, he knew she would listen to what he was saying and realize that, at the moment, Rob wasn't in danger. "Elzer Polarski's team is leaving from your quadrant at fourteen hundred hours. They have a seat for you in their ship. We'll meet you at a secure location where both Rob and Jennifer will be receiving medical treatment."

"I'll be at the hangar by thirteen hundred." Nikki nodded her understanding. "Thank you, Jon."

"You don't have to thank me. I know how hard it is to be apart through this war and hearing everything after the fact." He touched the screen again and she responded the same. "We'll see you soon."

Jon stirred and turned his head on the pillow, struggling for a moment to move his left arm before realizing the body next to him was on it. The body next to him.

He was immediately awake and in awe of the woman at his side. At some point, Jennifer had gotten too warm and stripped out of the sweater and sleep pants. Now, dressed in only a short-sleeve shirt and her underwear, she was pressed against him, pinning his arm against his side.

With care, Jon moved on the mattress until his arm was free and he flexed his fingers to get some circulation in them again. Before the tingling had even subsided, Jennifer shifted in her sleep, snuggling into his side as she had done nearly the entire night. Her fingers closed reflexively into the neck of his shirt and a small smile turned up the corners of her mouth, then faded as she returned to a deeper sleep.

He wrapped his arms around her and said a silent prayer that she would continue to sleep peacefully. The night had brought dreams that had her calling out in her sleep, begging for help from almost everyone she knew. Though he'd been able to soothe her, it had taken several hours for her brain to stop sending the terrifying messages. Rob had been the same way and it had been difficult to see them in such pain, unable to get any restful sleep despite their exhaustion. They'd finally made the choice to give them just a little sedation. It had helped significantly and all three of the remaining team had started to breathe easier.

Jon had never regretted taking time to make sure those under his command were healing following their injuries in a mission. They HAD to be in top physical condition to do their jobs effectively. But he'd never really paid attention to how he was doing following missions. He just dealt with the pain and the damaged body parts and moved on, basically pretending he wasn't hurt.

He couldn't do that right now. The pain he felt inside was still very real.

Though he'd said it out loud several times following the attack, he had to truly acknowledge that two of his team had nearly been digitized. It wasn't just Jennifer that considered the guys her family. He felt the same.

He couldn't lose more of his family and he'd seem that same feeling in the eyes of Hawk and Tank. They would all do whatever they had to, to make Jennifer and Rob whole again. And once that happened, he knew the pain he felt would go away.

Jon had finally fallen asleep spooning Jennifer, his arm entwined with hers and pressed against her chest, their legs tangled. And they'd both slept for hours.

Now, with his eyes fully adjusted to the darkness, he simply watched her as she slept. He felt foolish waiting so long to tell her how much she meant to him. He could have had so many more nights with her. So much more time, even if it was just minutes here and there. But it could have been minutes like this.

She whimpered beside him and her whole body twitched hard enough for her eyes to open. Jon held her gently, trying to not startle her more than she already was.

"It's okay. You're safe here," he whispered as he stroked her hair and cheek.

She took several deep breaths, vacantly staring at him, before recognition filled her eyes and a small grin touched her lips. "Did that really happen?" Her question was timid, yet her voice was filled with wonder.

Her smile filled him with relief and he asked, "Which part?" He was thoroughly enjoying the way her body pressed against his, relaxed and warm, even as he teased her with his answer.

"The 'I love you' part." Her fingers were splayed across his chest and she was seemingly unconcerned that he'd answered her question with his own.

Jon smiled as he stroked her hair. "Yes," he answered firmly. Then, very gently, he kissed her lips. "And so did that."

She responded to his touch and moved closer to him, but he felt her body tense and the knot tightened in his stomach again.

"Jenn…talk to me." He continued to run his fingers lightly over her cheek and hair.

"My head hurts."

He froze for a moment, then lifted his communicator to his mouth. "Matt, Jennifer needs some pain reliever. As soon as possible."

"On it," came the near instantaneous reply. "Be there in two minutes."

"I feel like crap, Jon," Jennifer whispered. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears in the dim light of the room.

"I beg to differ." He lightly kissed her temple, then her cheek, and then her lips again. "I think you feel incredible." He was so close to her that his lips brushed hers as he spoke.

She couldn't help but chuckle at his comment even as a few tears spilled. "Not what I meant."

"Well, it's what I meant." He brushed at the tears and pulled the blankets up a little more. "Let's get some meds into you and start you feeling better. Matt's been talking with Sam about options and Mentor was synthesizing some of them during the night. Close your eyes and rest until Matt gets here."

She breathed out deeply when he began to stroke her hair again and had dozed off by the time the doors to her quarters slid open.

Stirring at the sound, she lifted her head and immediately whimpered with the movement.

Jon gently drew her back to his chest and resumed his rhythmic rubbing on her scalp. "Matt's here. He's got some medicine for you."

When Matt pulled the blanket back, Jennifer groaned. "Really? You can't just give it to me in my arm?"

"Sorry, Kid. Sam says in your hip." He pulled up the hem of her shirt and pushed down slightly on her underwear to expose her skin, then rubbed it with an antiseptic pad. Before she had time to react, he jabbed the needle in and injected the contents of the syringe.

"Frell!" she hissed out, burying her face into Jon's chest.

"Dread swear. Haven't heard that in a while." Matt taped a small gauze pad on the injection site and adjusted her clothes before covering her with the blankets. "All done." He gently squeezed her shoulder.

Jennifer slowly turned her head to regard Masterson, looking utterly miserable. "How's Rob doing?"

"Better than you," came the answer, from the doorway.

Tears welled in her eyes and Jennifer extended her hand forward; Baker was soon holding it.

"This is new." Rob squeezed her hand gently, smiling at her as he pointed to the area beside her with his free hand.

She nodded, her grimace indicating the movement was a bad idea. "Mama gave it to me the last time we were at Alpha. She made it from their old shirts."

Rob rolled his eyes and kissed her knuckles. "I meant you having a guy in your bed. But the blanket IS a pretty fantastic reminder of your parents." He remembered how excited she had been when Elle and Adam had given it to her. The love she had for the Rowans seemed to grow more every day and theirs for her.

Jennifer yawned and groaned at the movement. Instead of answering him, her eyes closed, and she drew in several deep breaths, letting Rob's hand go so she could curl up against Power under the blankets.

"It'll get better, Jenn. I woke up feeling the same way, but that injection helped. Just rest now. It'll be about twenty minutes, but I promise you, you'll be able to move your head without wanting to puke." Rob brushed at the tears that streaked down her cheek. "He showered before he came to find you, didn't he?"

Jennifer hooked her fingers into his without opening her eyes and squeezed.

He tried to lighten the mood by teasing her. "Yeah. I told him to. You can thank me later." With a final squeeze, he stroked her hair as he spoke to Power. "It'll be better if she sleeps. If she's feeling anything like I was, it's like a mech is squeezing her head."

Jon acknowledged him and began to lightly rub her hair, neck and back. Her body relaxed into his almost immediately and she was soon breathing deeply, fast asleep.

"I'll check back in about a half hour. Call me if she gets worse," Matt said softly.

Rob was unable to suppress a yawn as he watched her sleep. When Matt touched his shoulder and pointed at the door, he nodded and reluctantly followed him.