"Cooper," Amelia murmured against his mouth. He had her pinned against a counter with his hands resting lightly on her hips, but his lips were still insistent. "Cooper," she whispered, pulling her head back slightly.

He moved his head back as well, still leaning over her. Her hand was on his chest and she felt the thick, rapid pumps of his heart. "I'm sorry," he said. "I've been waiting to do that since NASA."

She smiled and reached up to place another slow kiss on his lips. "I know," she murmured, "But I'm a scientist. I'm a scientist and I have to know – "

"I know," he smiled ruefully and took a regretful step back. "I think we both have too many questions right now."

She smiled up at him. "You being alive changes everything here. And if everyone else is alive too, and if they have a way of transporting the entire population, are they planning on coming here?"

"They have colonies," Cooper replied, dropping onto a chair. "But they need a more permanent location. This planet, if it is half the place it appears to be, is exactly the sort of place they are looking for."

"It's a rough place," she replied, leaning against the counter again. "It's got kind of a wild west feel. It's cold and dry but the air is breathable on its own. There is liquid water, if you're willing to look for it. All that we've found has an incredibly high mineral content, like that found on volcanoes. It all has to be scrubbed to be drinkable, but that isn't a challenge. All planetary readings are consistent with a highly volcanic surface, but seismograph activity suggests that most of that would be nearer the equator, as on Earth. To me, everything confirms that this was the planet that They meant for us to find. In 500 more years of research we couldn't have found anything more habitable."

"Amelia," Cooper looked up slowly. "What happened to Edmunds?"

She took a breath and her gaze trembled away from him. "He was asleep. Like I said, the surface is highly volcanic. He hadn't been here long, maybe a few days. I'm not sure how much of that he understood yet. The earthquake probably wouldn't have been much, maybe not even enough to wake him if he had an active day. But it was enough to bring down a rock slide on the camp."

Cooper watched her cautiously as her arms belted her waist in a self-comforting gesture. "His log records a wind storm hitting him just hours after his arrival. He found shelter under the hill and just decided to go ahead and set up camp there. These camps were designed to endure quite a lot but wind storms in a dusty area are a toxic thing when your life depends on electronics and sensitive equipment. He avoided one danger and walked into another."

"Amelia," Cooper crossed to her, but didn't reach for her.

"I'm alright, Cooper," she said, lifting her chin to him with an easy smile. "I buried him here. We had a ceremony and I was able to put his body to rest. You were the person I couldn't bury."

"Yes, I think you can find better things to do with my body," he murmured, pulling her in for another kiss.

"Do they have baseball?" she asked when he finally pulled back from her again.

"You like baseball," he said, registering the fact. "Yes, like any good human civilization, they have baseball. They're real people, Amelia. And you are a hero to them. I will go back to them tomorrow and bring some back with me."

"People," she repeated, seeming to consider the idea. "People on my planet. I don't know about that Coop. One can grow kind of attached to the sound of the wind in the grass and nothing else for months on end."

He grinned down at her. "Yes, but Amelia, consider: they bring baseball."

He loved her smile, joyful and teasing, filling her face and her eyes with a warm light. "Oh, they bring baseball! Well, in that case I might consider it. Baseball and chocolate and children. What are we going to do with the new children?" she asked, her eyes resting on the incubating machine that had held all of her hope, speaking more to herself than to him.

"As I understand it the population is still pretty low. It may take more workers than we have to truly begin a new life on a new planet. But you will have to consult with the others."

"The others," she said, still finding it a shock to realize that so many humans existed so close to her, and had continued to exist this whole time. She looked up at him again. It was hard to keep from touching him, from wanting to feel the warm roughness of his clothes beneath her fingers, the solid reality of his life beneath her hand. And he certainly seemed to feel no qualms about the physical contact. She pulled him close again suddenly, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face in his neck. "I'm so sorry about your family, Joseph."

He breathed heavily for a few moments, stabilizing himself before speaking again. "I did what I did to buy a life for them. That's all I wanted, was for them to have full and happy lives. For a long time, I didn't think it was even a possibility. But that's what they had: they saved themselves and I was able to help and that's all a father needs."

"Murph bought a new life for you too," she murmured.

"Doesn't look like it will be a bad one," he said, and his eyes smiled now over her shoulder. "Look at us, two adventurers with a whole new planet to explore. We've done enough for ten lifetimes and we're just beginning now."

"I don't want to begin now," she said, pulling back to stare hard and fierce into his eyes. "I want to begin tomorrow." And she pulled him down for a different kiss, and this time she had no intention of interrupting.