"Where are we?"

"The better question might be when are we," Johnny countered.

D'avin's head was pounding and there was a heavy sheet of exhaustion weighing down on him as he looked around the ship they were in. It looked like a Hullen ship...a pod of some kind maybe. Johnny seemed fine, but it was the lack of seeing Dutch that sent him into immediate panic. He stood up and looked around. "John, where is she?"

Silence was all that answered his query.

"Johnny?!"

Instead his brother just looked at him, there was a whole mix of emotions in his face. "D'av, it's been a month since we first disappeared-"

"What do you mean a month?"

"I think we must have been put in stasis...or they drugged us...but we lost time."

"So, there's no telling how far ahead Aneela's ship could be?"

"No."

"We're not just giving up on her, though-"

"Of course, we're not, but we have to link up with Zeph and Lucy...and hopefully Zeph hasn't completely destroyed Lucy in a month," Johnny told him.

"So, let's go…"

"I've been waiting for you to wake up," Johnny pointed out. "This is one ship that I can't drive...and believe me, I tried...so points for me for not being turned into a Six."

D'avin stared at his little brother a second, that wasn't something that he'd considered. He already knew that the Red 17 project didn't work on him, he couldn't be changed into Hullen (unless Aneela figured that workaround out while they'd been unconscious or whatever). "But did you check?"

"What do you mean, did I check?"

"I mean, did you check."

Johnny just stared at him for a long moment and then waved his hands over the controls and nothing happened. "See? Not Hullen."

"Come on, Johnny-"

"Seriously? We're seriously having this conversation when we have no idea where Dutch is? If they've done anything to her? Hells, who knows what part of space we're even in!"

D'avin motioned towards the window they had. "That looks like Arkyn to me." It had just come into view and it was partially comforting, but then also troubling at the same time. How far away were they from Dutch now? What had happened that they could have possibly prevented?

Johnny turned to look out the window. "Huh. I suppose it's better that we at least know where we are. They could have hurled us or left us anywhere." Silence passed and then he turned back to D'avin. "I don't have a knife. There's some food and water and that's about it."

"I could always punch you."

"Pass."

D'avin didn't push it. Right now they had bigger things to deal with and he wouldn't forget. He'd check Johnny out when he could. Right now, their priority had to be finding Lucy and Zeph...and then Dutch. Although D'avin hated to think that it had to be in that order, the truth of the matter was that they had lost time and they couldn't do this alone. "Let's go home," D'av said as he took on the controls.

"Dutch is home," Johnny said quietly.

Looking over briefly at his brother and how absolutely miserable he looked in that moment, D'avin's heart broke a bit more than it already felt. "I know," he breathed as he looked straight ahead. He was trying not to dwell on any of it because it only made him feel like more of a failure. No matter what Dutch had told him about her connection to Aneela and what it should mean...he wasn't going to give into that. There had to be another way...and they were going to find it.

"D'av, tell me what you and Dutch are hiding from me."

Johnny's voice was quiet and even, but D'avin could feel his brother's eyes on him. He sucked in a breath and slowly blew it out. This was something that Dutch didn't want to tell Johnny and at the time, he'd agreed even though he hated to. Right now, it felt like Johnny needed to have all the information...but at the same time, D'avin didn't feel up to the conversation. "I will tell you, but it can wait."

"D'av-"

He looked over at his brother, a little snap in his voice which he had meant to keep out of it. "Look John, it's some heavy shit...and I just...I can't right now…" He sucked in a breath and tried to cool himself down a bit first before finally speaking up. "Just...can we wait until we find Lucy and the geekling?"

"Yeah…"

As bad as he felt, D'avin was having a hard enough time keeping it together. He hated keeping secrets, but he just needed the time...he needed the time to figure out his thoughts and feelings...and then organize them so that he could get the job done. He would be no use to Dutch if he was overly emotional and unable to think clearly. He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again and looking over at Johnny. "I'm sorry, look...I just...it's Dutch and I need time to just…"

"To bottle it up?"

"Sure," D'av allowed. "I just...I need to process this all, but I'm going to tell you. I promise you, Johnny."

"I don't understand why you're keeping stuff from me in the first place."

"Dutch wanted to protect you."

"Dutch always wants to protect me, she freaking told me that she has a thing set-up for me to have Lucy and all this money if something were to happen to her," Johnny told him. "Sometimes I think she forgets that I'd rather go down fighting at her side."

D'av smiled for a moment because that was definitely Dutch, trying to protect them both. "The thing is...she loves us. We're the two people closest to her in this messed up universe...and we're the only family she's had any control over protecting."

"I still can be irked about it."

"That she loves you?"

"Don't phrase it like that," Johnny brushed it off.

"How would you like me to phrase it?"

"I don't know-"

A beeping noise brought their attention to the screen as Zeph's face appeared.

TBC…