A/N: Am unsure of where to put this conversation had in August of '86, because in story proper, this doesn't happen on the ship OR in Miramar. So... yep. Extra set time.

Week 18 - UDC 9 - News from home...

86. Days

She'd been far too quiet since hanging up the phone for his liking, Noah observed as he watched her rummage through her purse and then pull her pocket calendar out and look though it in frustration. "Chels?"

"I'm fine," Chelsea told him, but her tone was telling him the opposite and setting his own nerves on edge.

Noah carefully set the book he'd read with the kids down on a side table and joined her on the small couch as she stared at the calendar. "Was Dev okay?"

"Mom's fine," she said softly, tone a mix of things that did nothing to reassure him. "Getting over a summer cold, but fine."

"And the calendar?"

"I'm trying to figure out if it'd be prudent to send the kids to Miramar without us, because we'll have used up our vacation time by the time we're home."

That didn't make any sense without an explanation. "Back up and start again, please."

87. Future

"I am making sense," she muttered and then blinked and raised her head to look at him and he was nearly bowled over from the emotions streaming across her face, and for a never-ending moment, he could almost hear a small and familiar voice repeating the PI sequence in the air between them. "Oh... Oh, Noah..."

Wordlessly, he took her in his arms and wondered what Devoraen had told her that would cause her to be so emotional she'd lose her composure when asked about it. They sat there, pocket calendar momentarily forgotten as he waited for her to find her voice again.

88. Past

"We're going to have to tell the kids," Chelsea said eventually, into his chest and then pushed away slightly to really look at him. She took a deep breath, and then another. "There was a training accident on the 31st, Noah, is what Mom told me. At the training facility in Miramar. Dorinda told Mom that she arrived back at work yesterday to find Alan in the kind of emotional state that people usually take time off for, but it's Alan and August so of course he didn't. They forced him to take the rest of the day off... and he drove to Dallas instead of going home."

Noah glanced down at the pocket calendar she was still holding, trying to put the pieces together for why she, and for that matter Alan Jenkins, would be so emotional about a training accident... "I thought it was odd that they didn't meet us today when we got here, like they were supposed to. Why would Alan have driven to Dallas?"

She sighed. "That is where I got confused, really, because Dorinda told Mom that he showed back up at Social Services with an NIS agent in tow. You remember Jaime Huntington, right?"

He did, in fact. "Yes. Why?"

"Somehow, Alan convinced the NIS agent in charge at the Dallas Field Office to send him out as a Special Agent Afloat... for Pete."

89. Death

He wasn't sure he'd heard that correctly as he processed through the implications of what she had and hadn't said and came out the other side with something he didn't even want to consider. For Alan to do something like that, above and beyond what he'd normally do... "Oh. This is bad."

Chelsea stood, handed the pocket calendar to him. "It might just be Nora that we send. The school year is starting soon."

Noah nodded and pulled her back down onto the couch, where she stared at him. "We'll deal with that tomorrow."

90. Resurrection

Chelsea allowed herself to be pulled into his arms, taking the comfort he offered mostly without complaint. She wanted to wake Nicky, Maggie and Nora and explain what had happened, but if she did that there was no way they'd be able to get back to sleep. In fact, she wasn't sure she herself could sleep and she was emotionally exhausted. "Tomorrow, huh?"

"Very little we can do tonight," Noah said into her hair. She could feel how tense he was, underneath the calmness he was projecting.