"You're leaving a broken heart behind here in Eden, my friend."

Jennifer blushed furiously and groaned. "Would you stop? He'll be just fine. The next new, single girl that arrives on the next transport will catch his eye. I swear, I don't know what I did to get his attention."

"It's not quite that simple, honey," Kelly drawled. "Sometimes, you don't have to do anything but be you." Her friend's innocence in some matters still made Kelly laugh from time to time. Poor Pete, the clerk that had helped them at the market, had been smitten the first time Jennifer had walked in the door. She was mostly oblivious, but Pete had been pretty obvious. Everyone who knew her knew that Jennifer's heart only had room for Jon, but it was honestly pretty funny to watch her try to figure out how to deal with someone who wasn't ready to take a subtle hint.

Desperately wanting a change in the conversation, Jennifer switched to a topic Kelly was more invested in. "Three more days, for you – are you ready?"

"Two and a half. Today's half over," Kelly nudged her friend as they walked back to Vi's, arms loaded with packages of food that Lottie needed to prepare for the wedding dinner. Vi's large back garden had been selected as the venue, and Lottie had been pouring over recipe books ever since Kelly and Mark had set the date. "Don't add in any more time than there has to be."

Jennifer laughed. "You know, Vi said people used to go out and get a little wild before their weddings – take advantage of the last of their single days."

"Not me, my friend. I've been waiting for this particular guy to figure things out for too long to worry about that," Kelly said with a grin. "I'm not the only one with a countdown right now. How is your packing going?"

"Oh, I haven't done too much. I don't have much to do after the wedding. I've wrapped up all my remaining repairs, though, and I've started ordering a few things that I want to take home with me. I'll pick them up on Monday and Tuesday before I leave."

Before she leaves, Kelly thought sadly. "I'm so glad Mark's going to keep the letters coming," she sighed. "You know, we fought so long to get to the point where you can leave, and now I don't know what I'm going to do without you."

"You will have a new husband, and a new place to make a home out of. You'll have plenty to do," Jennifer reassured her. "And I'll keep you entertained with all my stories about what the guys are up to, and how we're making progress against Dread."

"You'd better. I want you back here as soon as possible," Kelly said firmly.

"Yes, ma'm."

"I'm serious. I want to see you back here, planning your own future. With your captain, of course."

"Yes, well…" Jennifer trailed off, blushing. "Right now, I'll settle for being able to see him and actually have a conversation with him." She squinted down the street. "Looks like there's someone on the porch. Do you think Vi has a new boarder?" That was often where people new to Eden would congregate, watching what seemed like a dream pass by on the street. "That would mean that Mark is back early. Maybe he has my letters." Excited at the prospect of contact from home, Jennifer's pace quickened.

Kelly's eyes flew to her watch – it was too early! Why were they back already? "I doubt it. It's way too early." She slowed her pace a bit and cast around desperately for a distraction. "Hey – are you free to go for a fitting tomorrow? I think Mrs. Brown's finally got your dress ready."

"Don't remind me about the dress," Jennifer groaned. "I didn't know what I was getting into when I said yes to this."

"It won't kill you to wear a dress."

"It's just not something I'm used to, Kelly."

"Well, it won't be the first time you've tried something new while you're here," Kelly replied. At least she'd managed a change in the topic. "It'll just be for a few hours, Jen."

"I know…" Jennifer's voice trailed off. Her eyes had returned to the porch. She found Mark and Vi – it was easier to distinguish the familiar faces from this distance. As she and Kelly continued to get closer, though, she noticed that they were talking to someone. Someone tall and dark haired. Someone wearing green fatigues. Someone who looked…familiar… She stopped walking. "Jon?" she whispered.

Kelly gave up and let the grin spread. "Mark's going to kill me. I was supposed to keep you occupied so we could surprise you, but he's early, darn it! We wanted to see your face as the captain walked in the door."

"He's here? He's really here?" Jennifer's eyes were huge, and she seemed to have lost the power to move.

"Yes, he's here. We convinced him to come and be with you for a few days before you leave, so you can get to know each other again before you go back to reality." Kelly saw Jon catch sight of them – he straightened up and stared for a moment, his posture mimicking Jennifer's, and then he slowly moved to the porch steps. Kelly took the bags from Jennifer's still hands and gave her a shove. "Now get up there, will you?"

The nudge from her friend seemed to be what Jennifer needed to get through the shock of seeing him there. "Jon?" she repeated, starting to walk again, a smile starting to spread across her face. "Jon!" She yelled it now, her walk turning into a run.

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Jon had been standing at the railing to the porch, looking out on something that he just couldn't quite wrap his brain around. He didn't understand how this place could be here. It was amazing – clear air and water, natural vegetation, intact roads and houses, the obvious signs of technology…Jennifer's letters hadn't been specific for a reason, so he wasn't prepared for what he saw.

"Pretty amazing, isn't it?" The grin on Mark's face was evident in his voice – Jon didn't have to even turn around to know it was there. He could tell why Jennifer had felt so comfortable around him. The friendliness and warmth that the man exuded had always been apparent, even in the short talks he'd had with him over the months they'd exchanged letters. All Jon could do at the moment, though, was smile back.

"I don't know if amazing is enough to describe it."

"I'm sorry, Jon – Lottie sent them out on a shopping trip for the wedding dinner to keep them busy," Vi apologized, bringing him a glass of cold water. "We honestly didn't expect you for another hour or two."

"Well, someone was in a bit of a hurry to get here," Mark smiled. "If I could've let him into the cockpit with Richards, he probably would've been trying to find a way to boost the engine capacity."

Jon smiled back at him. Mark had let his partner do the flying today, and had spent most of the flight keeping him and the other passengers company. While Jon had enjoyed having more than the usual short conversation with the man, he'd gotten more and more restless as the flight wore on. He'd already gotten a lot of good-natured teasing from both couriers as they'd disembarked. Setting the glass down on a table, he asked, "Can you blame me? If you hadn't seen Kelly in months-"

"He'd be out combing the streets for her," Vi agreed. "Don't let him get to you, Jon. I'm sure you've already heard from Jennifer how much he enjoys giving people a hard time."

"Speaking of," Mark said softly. Jon whirled around…and there she was. She was standing a little ways down the street on the sidewalk next to Kelly, her hands full of packages. She was staring at him, her mouth open in complete surprise. Jon stood frozen for a moment, just drinking in the sight of her. Then he slowly moved toward the porch steps. For an instant, his concern for her overtook his excitement – he didn't want to overwhelm her. But he saw her mouth form his name, saw the smile spread across her face. Then he heard her, and saw her walk turn into a run, and the doubts flew away. He was down the steps, and she was in his arms, and he was never, ever going to let her go.

"You're here! You're really here!" She pulled back just long enough to really look at him, then threw her arms around his neck again and hung on for dear life. "I can't believe you're here!"

When he pulled back, he saw the tears in her eyes. He held her face in his hands, gently wiping them away, and kissed her soundly. He meant to remember that they had an audience, and that they were in the middle of a busy street…but that suddenly didn't seem to matter anymore. He did finally break the kiss, but he wrapped his arms around her and spun her around. "Missed you so much," he managed to whisper fiercely through the lump in his own throat.

"See…this is why our plan was to set the scene a little, Pip, and have you be in your workshop when we got here. Then you'd have had a bit more privacy." Jennifer vaguely realized that Mark's laughing voice was coming from behind her, not from the porch where she'd last seen him, and she saw that he had passed them to help Kelly carry up the packages she'd abandoned. It made her vision clear just enough for the questions to form.

"I don't understand…how…what…?"

"We decided that maybe you'd like an escort for the wedding," Kelly laughed. "And we thought that, just maybe, your captain here could use a little vacation." She freed a hand to squeeze her friend's shoulder as she came up to the couple on the walk. "We knew you hated putting off going home, but you did it to be with us. The least we could do is work to make sure you could be as happy as possible while you stayed here for us."

Jennifer tried to put her emotions into words. "I…I don't…Kelly…"

Mark threw his head back and laughed. "Kell, I think we did ok. She might not be a chatterbox, but I've never seen her at a loss for words quite like this." He thumped Jon on the back. "Why don't you two head inside? You can get caught up while we get things unpacked." Mark seriously doubted that much of what he was saying was registering with either of them. Neither of them had eyes for anyone but each other.

"Leave them be, Mark," Kelly giggled as they continued on into the house. "After what they've been through, who cares who sees them?"

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Vi could just see Jon and Jennifer from the back door. They were sitting on the porch swing behind the house, where they'd been for most of the afternoon. Once the shock of seeing each other had worn off, they'd retreated back there, where there weren't many eyes to watch them. She knew they had a lot to catch up on. Now, however, it was time to put Lottie's plan into action.

Jennifer had spent a lot of time helping out in the kitchen while she waited for the Council to come to their senses. She'd joked that the guys would be trying to talk her into taking on more KP duty if she brought home too many of Lottie's recipes but, as with anything else, she'd enjoyed learning. At the same time, she chatted with Lottie – and Vi, if she was around – and had shared quite a bit. It seemed it was easier for her to talk when her hands were occupied. When Lottie heard that Jon would be arriving in Eden, she'd hatched a plan to surprise the couple. Vi had to hand it to her friend. She really was a good listener, and had used the information she'd learned well.

Now it was time to let Jennifer and Jon in on the secret. She pushed the door open and headed towards the swing, making sure she made enough noise to announce herself…just in case.

"Jennifer? You two plan on eating dinner tonight?"

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"…Now that Stanton's been detained for orchestrating the attack against me, he can't take care of his business matters as well and it's hurting his bank account. And he's having a bit of a problem with his renters, too," Jennifer said with a grin. "It seems that a few of them aren't happy with some of his tactics, and they've found other places to stay. He is facing quite a few vacancies." She sighed and laid her head against Jon's shoulder. "It's not going to solve all our problems. Some people couldn't care less, as long as it doesn't affect them, and others agree with him. But they've realized that they're not the majority anymore."

"Thanks to you," Jon said simply, squeezing her tightly. "If you hadn't stood your ground, he and the people like him would have won."

"I do think it's good in the long run. He had been able to keep a pretty face on his actions before I came along. Then he could insist that he just wanted to keep Eden safe. But when he came unglued at the hearing, and he showed everyone exactly how ugly his opinions really were, he lost a lot of his support. Not all of it, but a lot of it. I hope it will make people think twice before they judge the girls."

They had been seated on the porch swing in a secluded corner of Vi's backyard for at least a few hours now, trying to get caught up on almost six months of not being together. At the moment, Jennifer was sitting beside him on the bench, his arm around her shoulders. He was holding one of her hands in his, unable to resist making as much contact with her as he could. He brushed his thumb along her hand. "I think they'll be fine. Are they going to start school?"

"Well, the school's just started their summer holiday, so for right now Mary and Tim have arranged for a tutor to work with them. But Sarah has started playing with Hannah on a regular basis, and Mary has Katherine signed up for a book club at the library. They're making a lot of progress. They're going to do so well when school starts up again, I just know it." The pride she had in those two girls was so evident in her voice.

"I can't wait to meet them," he said, laying his head against hers.
"It sounds like you're meeting everyone tomorrow. Vi's going to have a hard time fitting us all in the dining room. She said she plans on setting a table up for us out here on the porch! Apparently, you have quite a few people that want to check you out, Captain," she teased.

"I'm sure they all just want to see if I'm good enough for you," he laughed back.

"I'm so glad you get to meet everyone. I've spent a lot of time in this swing since I've been here at Vi's, and I would sometimes daydream about being able to introduce my family back home to my family here." She tipped her head up and smiled at him. "I can't believe I actually get to do that. I'm still waiting to wake up from one of those daydreams and find out you're not really here!"

He leaned down and kissed her. "Not going to happen," he said simply. "Too many people pulled too many strings to get me here." They had discussed the plan to bring him here that Kelly and Mark had apparently hatched as they walked home right after Jennifer had agreed to stay in Eden for the wedding. Jon had told her of the handmade wedding invitation he'd found in the box with her letters, and how after some debate (and some prompting from their teammates) he had agreed to come back to Eden with Mark. The Council itself had given its permission him to enter Eden temporarily - of course, after the debacle that had been Jennifer's experience, they were a little more understanding. The plan was for them both to leave on Mark's next transport and rejoin their team. Until then, they had the next six days to enjoy each other's company without the weight of the war with Dread on their shoulders.

"I'm glad they convinced you to come, you know," Jennifer told him quietly, relaxing against him again.

"It didn't take that much convincing," he said with a chuckle. "It's not that I didn't want to come, there was just…"

"Everything else," she prompted, shifting on the bench so that she could face him. "I do know you pretty well, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess you do." This wasn't going to work – she was too far away. He snagged her knees and brought her legs up so that they were across his lap, pulling her close again. She grinned at him, and somewhat shyly put her arms around his neck. "I don't think you're taking into account how much I missed you, though," he reminded her.

"I might have some idea about that," she said dryly.

"Yeah, maybe you do." He looked into her eyes and just smiled. Had he really contemplated not taking this opportunity? "The team will be fine without me for a week, and we'll actually be a complete team again when we get back. Those guys can handle anything, and they're not planning on taking on any major offences while we're away. And we're not going to worry about them for the next six days, ok? We're going to focus in on us – we most likely won't get a chance like this again for a long time."

"Is that an order?" she teased.

"Definitely," he said, leaning in towards her for another kiss.

"Jennifer?" Vi's voice came floating down the porch towards them. "You two plan on eating dinner tonight?"

Jennifer's face took on a surprised look, and she glanced at her watch. "Oh my goodness – it's a lot later than I thought!" She gave Jon a quick peck, then swung her legs down. "Lottie'll have my hide if I don't feed you!" She grabbed his hand and tugged on it, hurrying him along.

"I wasn't too worried about food," he chuckled, pulling her back to him and kissing her hair. He kept a firm hold on her hand as they walked toward Vi.

"Get some catching up done?" Vi asked with a smile as they came around the corner.

"Getting there," he replied. "We've got quite a bit of time to make up for."

"Good thing you have almost a week to do it," she said simply. "I think everyone else is done with dinner, so Lottie left you some things in the dining room."

"I'm sorry, Vi – I completely lost track of time," Jennifer apologized.

"Completely understandable," Vi said, winking at her. "Go on now, though – you still need to eat, or you know Lottie will have your hide." She ushered them inside, then hung behind them just far enough to not be obtrusive, but still hear their reactions when they saw the surprise Lottie had in store for them.

"Mmmm…something smells good," Jennifer commented as they made their way down the hall to the dining area.

Jon slowed. "Yeah, it does. Actually, it smells a little like…" They opened the door and Jon's face lit up. "Pizza!"

Jennifer stared at the table. "What?"

Vi's laughter came up the hall behind them. "Lottie and I figured you might want to actually experience that date," she said simply. When Jennifer just shook her head, Vi laughed.

"I…I had no idea…she remembered?" Jennifer had been reduced to speechlessness twice in one day. She didn't know what else to do, so she simply turned and wrapped her arms around Vi. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Stop it, now, you're going to get me all flustered," Vi laughed, patting the younger woman on the back. "This was Lottie's idea. I just helped a bit."

"I'll thank her, too, I promise," Jennifer said, not letting go. "But I have so much to thank you for! You kept me company, you took me in, you helped me with the Council-"

Vi pulled back and interrupted her. "Now that's enough." She looked sternly at the young woman who'd come to mean so much to her. "It was my pleasure. And you know you'll always have a home here. So when you finally get this war wrapped up and are ready to start a real life, if you even think about heading anywhere else, I'll come after you." She let go and turned quickly, not wanting Jennifer to see the emotions in her eyes. "Now go on, you two. Go enjoy that date, even though it's six months behind schedule." And with that, she closed the door behind her.

"I take it there's a story behind this," Jon chuckled. When Jennifer didn't respond right away, he looked down and was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "Hey, you alright?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm fine." She took a deep breath and swiped quickly at her eyes. "I seem to be a little emotional today," she said, laughing at herself. "It's just that…right after the Council stopped me from leaving, I was floundering a little. I was getting the cold shoulder from the other boarders here, and I started spending more time in the kitchen with Lottie and Vi. One day when I was really down – I think I was having trouble seeing a Council member – Lottie got me talking about you. Somehow the story of the morning I left to come here came up, and I told them about how you wanted to take me out for pizza. And now…" She just gestured toward the pie on the table. "And they did this." She shook her head. "What would I have done without them? All of them?"

"I'm thankful we'll never have to know," Jon said simply. He wrapped her up in a hug, then released her. "Now, since they went to all this trouble…" He walked to a chair and pulled it out for her. "Care to join me?"

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