"Faith Marie Stamper, get your skinny butt down, now!"

She looked at her father. "But daddy…"

"Get down, right now," he said with a shake of his head. Faith huffed but climbed from her spot a few feet from the top of the rig. "What are you doin' up there? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"I was fine. I can see the whole rig from up there, daddy. It's really cool."

"Cool? Cool? You could bust your head open if you fell!" her dad yelled.

"I wasn't gonna fall," Faith said. "I was just looking at the sky. Mom would…"

"She's not here, I'm here. That's dangerous."

"I was just trying to be normal," she said. There aren't any trees to climb here."

He put his hands on his hips but Uncle Chick jumped in before he could say anything. "Harry, don't say something you'll regret. Miranda leaving ain't her fault. The kid's a monkey, she always has been."

"You would know that if you were ever around. Not my fault you don't pay attention," she muttered under her breath.

Harry looked at her. "Young lady, I should…"

"What?" Faith asked with a glare. "We're in the middle of nowhere, what are you gonna do, dad? Stop me from seeing my friends? Ground me? You already did that and I didn't even do anything wrong."

"Faith, you need to watch how you talk to your father, sweetie," Uncle Chick told her.

"Let me know when I get one of those. All I see is the man who made my mom so sad that she left."

"Faith," Uncle Chick gave her that look he always has when one of the guys does something stupid.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Your mom leaving isn't your dad's fault," Uncle Chick said as he knelt in front of her. "It's not your fault either. Change happens for a reason. Sometimes, we just have to let people go. You might not understand it now but one day, when you're a little older and a little wiser, you will. Now give your old man a hug and tell him you love him, because we both know you do."

Faith let out a sigh before looked up at her dad. "Sorry."

"Me too, kiddo. Come here," her dad said before pulled her into a hug. "Tell you what. Next time you wanna climb up there, let me know and I'll put you in a harness first, okay?"

"That takes all the fun out of it," she told him. He gave her a look. "But if it'll make you feel better, we got a deal."

Faith was numb.

What could she say? What could any of them say? Harry was dead. He hit the button just like they knew he would to save the world. The logical part of her brain understood that it had to be done but it didn't stop the pain in her chest. If having a broken heart was a real medical condition, she had it.

It took them a few hours after Zero Barrier to get home. In that time, they all changed back into the orange -and blue, in Will and Watts' case- flight suits and strapped back in.

"Almost home, guys," Bear mumbled. She looked at the pilots as the sky in the window turned into the ground.

"Houston, we see you. And you never looked so good," Will told mission control.

Usually, shuttles landed at Kennedy but an exception was made for them long before they left Earth. They were putting down at Ellington Field, the joint military airfield adjacent to Johnson where they did their flight training. Faith took a deep breath; they were almost home. A few more minutes and they would be on the ground.

"I never told anybody this before but I hate flyin', so it'd be an awful shame to die now," Chick told them.

Rock rolled his eyes. "That's easy for you to say. I owe a hundred grand to a badass loan shark which I spent on a stripper named Molly Mounds."

A.J. snorted. "You would."

"Men." Watts chuckled. "Houston, we are 100 percent. Flap suspension control on full." The pilots landed them smoothly.

After coming to a full stop, Will looked at the team, "Welcome home, astronauts."

They all unstrapped but none of them went anywhere. As much as they all wanted to run to see their families, they had to wait.

One of the first things they learned was that they had to get used to gravity again. Something else Will taught them was that re-entry is hot and the shuttle had to air blown over it to eliminate some of the gasses that built up before they open the door. It was only forty-five minutes to complete the landing checklist but it felt like an eternity. As soon as they got the all clear, they got up.

"You alright?" Will asked quietly.

"Nothing is ever gonna be the same." She looked up at him.

"No… but that's not necessarily a bad thing." He brushed her cheeks with his thumbs as he held her face. "Come on, you got a little sister to see and I wanna hug my kids." He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips before they joined the others.

"Hey, guys, remember: We're heroes now. So that incident with me and the gun on the asteroid; let's keep that under wraps, all right?" Rockhound said. A.J., Bear and Lev all looked at him, then they looked at her.

Chick shook his head. "They didn't know why you were tied up, Rock… good job."

Lev hit the release for the hatch, deploying the emergency slide in the process. A.J. and Chick were out first. Bear and Lev were second. Faith and Rock behind them. Will and Watts were last. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath the second her feet hit the tarmac. Bear even kissed the ground at some point, muttering his thanks the whole time.

Then, together, they walked towards the building.

It took her a second to realize that all the people she saw were there for them. There were cheers and clapping. Then she spotted Grace, running as fast as she could towards them. A.J. looked at Faith and she smiled.

"She's not running to me, Frosty, go," she said. He took off, catching Grace when she jumped into his arms. Will reached over and grabbed her hand.

"You know, we never talked about what happens now," Faith said carefully.

He smiled. "I promised you a date."

"I think we're a little past that," she pointed out.

"So, indulge me... For the next twenty-five years or so."

"Did you just…?"

"We'll talk about it later," he said with a wink before letting her hand go just as Grace collided with her.

"You did good," Grace said.

"Well, I had a little help," Faith said with a chuckle. "But it was mostly me."

Grace shook her head before letting her go to give Will a hug too. "Welcome back, Sharp."

He smiled. "Good to be back, Grace."

"DADDY!" Two little brunette girls dressed in red, white and blue came sprinting in their direction with a beautiful blonde couple hot on their trail. Faith knew who they were instantly. Will smiled as he knelt to their level and caught them both when they jumped for him.

"Mommy said you saved the world, is that true?" the older one, Clare, asked.

"Yea, me and my friends saved the world, sweetie," Will told his daughter before looking up at his ex-wife and her husband. "Hey, Jess, Rich."

The pair both smiled at him but didn't say anything as the little girl looked at Faith, A.J. and Grace and waved, "Hi. I'm Clare Sharp. This is my little sister Ella, she's shy."

"Am not," Ella told them before leaning against Will. Faith chuckled, she remembers a time when that was her and Grace.

"Hi, Clare and Ella. I'm Faith Stamper. This is my little sister Grace, she's not shy. And her boyfriend, A.J. He's not shy either." Ella giggled while Clare whispered something to Will.

"Go ahead," he said before setting the little girl back on her feet. She wasn't overly surprised when Clare walked over to her, so Faith knelt to her level like Will had done.

Clare wrapped her small arms around Faith's neck. "Thank you for saving us, Miss Faith."

"You are very welcome, sweetie," Faith said. Clare let her go and hugged A.J. too before she took Faith's hand.

Will chuckled. "Oh, you're really stuck with me now, Miss Faith."

"So," Jess said, "she's the girlfriend? Go, Sharpie. I'm Jess, Willie's ex-wife. You're prettier than he described."

"Uh… hi. Thanks, I think," Faith muttered before looking at Will. "You told her about me?"

"Don't look so surprised. You two had to meet eventually," he said. "We're not married anymore but as the mother of my children, I do tell her about the important stuff." Grace nudged her.

Faith looked at her sister. "Don't you say it."

"What? I told you so?" Grace asked. "But I did tell you."

"Can it, Misses Frost," Faith said.

"That's not an insult," Grace said with a laugh, "you know, for the record."

"That's because there are too many small ears around for that," she told her sister. "Just you waith."

"Not bad, you guys. Not bad at all." Truman walked up to their little group as Chick hugged his son and some woman that was probably a stripper was kissing Rockhound.

"Uh, Harry wanted you to have this." A.J. handed the director Harry's mission patch.

"He did, huh?" They all nodded. Truman smiled. "It's a long story, I'll tell you later. Right now, you guys have to see medical."

"Man," Bear groaned. "Just keep Nurse Helga away from us." Faith chuckled as all the guys shuddered including Will. Helga was nice to her –and apparently Watts- but maybe it was because she was a woman.

Truman chuckled. "I'll see what I can do. Your families know what's going on. In a few minutes, we'll move them into a lounge to wait for you."

This was a horrible idea. She gets the need for a post-flight press conference but she didn't really want to talk to these people three hours after getting back. Truman's advice was to let him, Will and Watts do all the talking, of course that went out the window with one question: "Mission Specialist Stamper, how are you doing?"

"Was that a real question?" Faith asked. The reporter nodded. She took a breath. "Honestly, I feel like crap. I was in space for almost seventy hours, we're tired, we have family that we haven't seen in weeks waiting for us and we lost eight extraordinary men, including my father. How do you think I'm doing?" The room was silent.

She thought Truman or Will would step in but they didn't. She wasn't sure what Truman's thinking was but she knew Will was just as fed up as she was, he just had the benefit of military training to keep him from losing his cool.

"Look," she said with a sigh, "I understand everyone's need to talk about this. Everyone to understand but this wasn't some mission to fix the Hubble or a trip to the International Space Station. This… This whole thing was a knockdown, drag out, bloody knuckles fight for this planet. A fight for our friends and families and for yours. A fight that cost each of us people we cared about. We saved the world and now, we have to live with the things we did and saw and lost. That's the hard part. We have to live."

"Bet that's gonna be the sound bite. I gotta tell ya, Faith, that was gloomy. Gloomier than usual," Rockhound said.

"That the thing about the truth, Rock. It's not always pretty," she said before looking at Truman. "Sorry I ruined your press conference."

"You didn't ruin anything. I was against the whole idea from the beginning but I got overruled by the White House. I'm glad you said something, I couldn't get away with that if I tried."

"Fair enough," Faith said. "So, um, what happens now? You know, to all of us?"

As much as she loved the idea of going home and back to her life, she knew that there was a very slim chance of that.

"You'll stay here for a few days so medical can make sure you're all at a hundred percent. We'll talk about what happens after that before you leave. Right now, I think you should all see your families and get some rest," Truman said before he walked away from the group.

"I'm gonna go hang out with my kid," Chick said.

Will nodded in agreement. "Right behind you. You guys coming?"

The group looked at each other before they all nodded or shrugged.

Faith smiled. "Sure, why not."

"Let's see… he's really handsome and he's wearing blue so… I think it's your daddy," Faith said with a smile. Ella nodded as she showed Faith the picture she drew. "That girl is really pretty, is that you?"

"No, Miss Faith," Ella said, shaking her head. "That's you."

"That's me?" Faith put her hand over her heart. "No way, she's way too beautiful to be me. Are you sure?" Ella nodded again. Faith chuckled. "I'll take your word for it."

Ella smiled. "I drew it for you. That's you and daddy and the space shuttle and the stars and the world." Faith realized that Ella wasn't shy, just reserved. Clare was playing with Bear, Chick and Tommy while Ella decided to color.

"Thank you," Faith said with a smile. "I think I'm gonna hang it on my fridge."

Ella giggled. "Daddy does that."

"He does? You wanna draw something for him?" Ella nodded and the pair got to work drawing a picture for Will.

"What do we have here?" Will asked, standing behind them.

Ella covered the paper with her arm. "I'm drawing you a present, daddy. You can't see it yet."

"That so?" he asked. "Well, excuse me." He tried to peek but Faith wasn't having it.

"You heard her," she said, giving him a nudge, "you can't see it yet."

Will looked at her with mock hurt. "Thought you were on my side."

"She's cuter than you and she drew me a picture."

"I see how it is," Will said. "Taking my kid. I'll let you two be." He dropped a kiss to the top of Ella's head and one to Faith's cheek before leaving them alone.

Faith never really thought about having kids. It wasn't that she didn't want any, she just never found the right person to even consider procreating with. Man, was she thinking about it now.

They were all moved to the part of the building where the pilots' rooms had been for the last few weeks. They were more comfortable and more private. There was a knock at her door. Faith thought about ignoring it but she knew that depending on who it was, they wouldn't leave if she did.

"It's not locked," she said.

"Figured as much," Will said with a chuckle as in stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "Hi."

"Hi," Faith said. "Where are the girls?"

"They went home. It's way past their bedtime."

"But dad…"

Will laughed. "That sounds about right. They wanted to stay but we all need some rest. I think Rockhound's girlfriend is still here, though."

"Figures." She shook her head at the mention of Molly Mounds. Faith had nothing against strippers, especially Molly, who seemed really nice, hypersexual but nice.

"They like you," Will said, sitting on her bed. "My girls. Jess and Rich too."

"Well, I like them," she said. A side effect of taking care of Grace for so long, Faith got along with most kids really well.

"I know, I saw that." Will gave her a look and Faith smirked.

"What?"

"Nothing." They needed to talk but she didn't have the energy. Will must have been reading her mind. "We'll be here a few days and there will be plenty of time to talk. Right now, I just wanna lay in bed with you."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea."

"Say that again."

"I said 'work for me'," Truman repeated. "That mission to Mars is still on deck and I could use someone with your expertise to work on the gear, maybe even go up."

Faith was speechless. Truman wanted her to stick around NASA. She had to think about it and talk to her sister since, with Harry gone, they now owned his company. While Faith could easily see herself going back, there was a part of her that didn't want to.

"I'm not qualified for that," she said.

"If you take a look at the regs, you are. There's still some training you'd have to do, especially if you agree to go up but you do, officially, have the basics." Truman smiled. "I don't need an answer right now. Just want you to think about it." He patted her arm before leaving her in the conference room.

Could she really work for NASA? In the span of less than three weeks that's exactly what she did. She fixed the rig, helped build a mount, trained to go into space and went. She couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to work here for real.

She figured the best thing to do was find her sister and get her opinion. Faith went looking for her sister and found Grace watching the news.

"How bad?"

Grace chuckled. "You're popular. Pretty, smart, honest. People like you."

"I guess my life is complete," Faith muttered. "Maybe I should turn Truman down."

Grace looked at her and smiled. "He offered you a job?"

"How do you do that?"

"What?"

"Know everything."

"It's my super power," her sister said with a shrug.

"I don't know what to do," Faith said.

"Yes, you do. You always do," Grace told her. "If you're worried about the company, don't be. I can handle it."

"No, you can't," she said. "Well, not by yourself, anyway."

"Uh, I got A.J., Bear, probably Chick, maybe even Rockhound. You know me, I'll make it work."

"Can you really see me working here?" Faith asked.

"Of course, I can. The question is, can you see yourself working here?" Grace asked. "You know, being a badass engineer and going on missions with your boyfriend. Oh, I bet he'd get a kick out of it too."

"Yeah," Faith sighed, "about that…"

"You aren't gonna dump him, are you?" Grace asked. You would think they were talking about her own relationship. "You and Sharp are so stinkin' adorable. And those cute little girls of his. Seriously, I wanna keep 'em."

Faith chuckled and shook her head. "NO. No, it's just… I think he proposed to me. I mean, it's crazy, right?"

Faith explained to her sister what Will said on the tarmac. Grace thought about it for a few minutes before she laughed.

"I think he meant it. I mean, last month, you were jumping around an oil rig. Today, you are fresh back from a trip to space where you saved the world. I don't know what Sharp was up to but, judging by the way some of the personnel look at him, I'm assuming he was as much of a hard ass with them as he was when we first got here," Grace said. "Look, you love him and he loves you, I say you go for it. Just don't get married before me."

"I'll see what I can do," Faith said.

"Miss Stamper," one of the Air Force officers said when he walked into the room.

"Yes," they both answered.

He looked at them and Faith smiled. "We're both Miss Stamper. What can we do for you?"

"There's someone is here to see you, Ma'am."

They followed him into a small conference room where Hank Stamper stood looking out the window.

"Grandpa?"

Note: If anyone ever watched a real shuttle landing, it's takes almost an hour for them to get out and depending on how long they were gone, they are wobbly on their feet.