"Dutch. Come on, open your eyes."

"We've got to get out of here-whoa-"

"No time, John! Let's just grab her and get out of here."

"I don't know if the grabbing and getting out is going to be as easy as we originally planned-"

"Quarter assed plan is better than no plan, right?"

"I hate when you use my own words against me."

"I learn quick, remember?"

Their voices were both vividly right there and yet distant. It was like being in a dream, but at the same time it felt like she was there...just like a ghost. Though she felt nothing, she heard everything. The sound of their footfalls, distincinctive as ever, were what she focused on. When they came to a stop, the breathing was heavier and pushed forward in the soundscape.

"This damn place all looks the same."

"Lucy, guide us home."

Lucy.

Her boys.

Home.

They were all safe and that was more than enough for Dutch. Even if she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes to see them for herself, knowing that they were safe and Lucy was there...that they were really safe. That was enough.

"Dutch, please wake up."

It was more than a request, it was plea. It sounded desperate and heartbroken.

"Please. I'm trying to be strong for them, but-but I can't do it alone."

He wasn't alone, she knew that. She also knew what he meant. Dutch knew that she was partially responsible for that feeling on him, they'd been partners...their relationship was vastly different than her relationship with Johnny. It wasn't just the romantic or the sexual feelings that they had for each other...they were both soldiers and had the same need to protect those that were under their care (that meant Johnny and Zeph). Although he really wasn't physically alone, he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders...and he didn't have her to share the weight.

"I'm here," she voiced, weak and barely a whisper.

It was like with her pushing those words from her own mouth had lifted the haze that had held her back from the world before. She felt the hold on her hand tighten as she opened her eyes to the harsh bright lights. Lips pressing to her hand as she focused on him sitting there next to her. Dutch tried her best to give him a reassuring smile, but she felt so heavy and she weighed down by exhaustion even though she couldn't remember the last time she'd been awake.

"Dutch," he whispered back, full of emotion.

She blinked rapidly, trying to focus his worried face. "You're okay? John-"

"Johnny, Zeph, and Lucy are all fine," D'avin assured immediately.

"You, D'av," she pushed. Dutch needed to hear it from him. She was still groggy and the exhaustion wasn't wavering like she'd hoped.

"I'm fine," he told her. "I just...I'm glad we got you out of there."

"What happened?"

"I don't know...but Johnny and I woke up without you and we'd lost time."

"Lost time?"

"We're still not sure about that," D'avin admitted.

"What are you sure about?"

"Aneela was using you," D'avin told her. He took her hand before moving it down to her stomach.

What was normally flat was now raised and round. She gasped at the change in her body and pulled her hand back ever so much, D'avin's hand there kept it from going too far. Her mind spun as she took in her current state and started to push herself up.

"Hey, hey...not too fast."

"So, I lost time too."

D'avin nodded. "But not several months...it hasn't been that long."

"D'av, how long has it been?"

"We've looked for you for a month...and when Johnny and I woke up...we realized it had been a month since the three of us had last been on Lucy."

"Two months," she said, mostly to herself as she sat there. Her hands were pressed down into the bed and she just focused on D'avin's words...words that felt so far fetched. It didn't feel like two months. "This is what she wanted...a child," Dutch whispered. She was very much in shock over the whole thing, but she knew that she couldn't stay that way.

"I'm starting to wonder if this was what Aneela wanted," D'av put out there.

"Why?"

"Because Johnny and I were talking about how it was too easy," he admitted. "Maybe she wanted us to come and get you...to protect you."

"She doesn't even like me-"

"But she wants that baby…"

Dutch's mind raced even more as her own questions seemed to be answered as she really thought about it, trying to keep a clear mind. She was silent for a long moment as she stared at D'avin. They were an unlikely pair...they'd only met because D'avin had been a warrant (and Johnny had thought he could hide it or take care of it without her). They'd clashed a little at first, but that had quickly changed and there had been a bond between the two of them...it was more than lust or love. It was something that didn't have a word. "Our baby," Dutch said. A beat passed, a long one. "It has to be our baby, right?"

It didn't get past her how that seemed to surprise him when it seemed so obvious to her. "I-I didn't even think about who could be the father," he admitted. It was clear that he hadn't. There was a clear look of shock on his face as that thought sunk in. "I just...I was only concerned about getting you out of there...off that ship...safe back with us…" The look on his face turned to heartbreak.

Turning herself until her feet dropped over the side and she was better able to keep her balance sitting upright, Dutch just stared at him. They'd come so far over these last few years. She reached out her arms and wrapped them around him and he accepted, their bodies embracing even with the slight division between the two of them. Dutch found herself clinging to him like her life depended on it. For so long, it was Johnny who had helped anchor her life but at one point that had swapped to D'avin. It wasn't that she loved Johnny more or depended on him in her life any less...he was very much her heart and a large part of her soul (he'd saved her from the life she'd been trying so desperately to escape from). "And you did," she finally whispered as she just held him...and he held her. Her eyes squeezed shut and she just thought about a single time when the two of them were happy together. There were many moments, but in this...she only needed a single one. It wasn't of one where they were in bed together or even an intimate moment that they shared alone...no, it was one of them out in the field together as Killjoys. Opening her eyes, she pulled back and held his face between her hands. Her words were thick with emotion. "I love you, you know that, right?"

He was trying to be so strong, she could see that. It was something that they had in common. They were too strong for their own good, really, and it was hard to let their walls down. D'avin nodded, his face screwed up like he was trying to hold back his emotions but tears fell from his eyes just the same. "I love you," he breathed. A bit of time passed between them, silence only filling it before D'av spoke up again. "What do we do now?"

"Well, one thing's for sure...they're not getting what they want...but that still doesn't mean our mission changes…" Dutch told him gently, her eyes never leaving his.

TBC…