SOL 815

Diary Entry number the fuck if i know.

we leave tomorrow!

fucking finally.

you have no idea how excited i am to be finally getting off this god forsaken planet and never seeing it again. granted, theres about eleven months of travel time home where anything can go absolutely wrong but hey i wont be on mars anymore.

mark and i managed to get some weight back on but not nearly as much as NASA would have wanted by now but theres only so many protein drink i can stomach in a day. but at least we sort of got cleared to help out.

kinda.

we're still under the whole, sit and rest thing for most of the day but im allowed to help out with the geology experiments now and it's been a blast. everyone is excited to get off of mars and rylan and martinez have started to get the things that mark and i brought with us into the mav to bring up to the hermes. not everything can make it back but most of it is coming with us which im glad about.

getting to know this crew has been wild but they're just like family as the ares III crew had been to me and they've been nothing but nice and supportive to mark and i.

but they do have to deal with the trio that is mark, martinez and i. and i think we're the reason that thalia is getting grey hairs.

oops.

tonight, the hab is mostly empty but spirits are high and it's finally time to go.

MISSION DAY 331

WE'RE FINALLY OFF MARS!

good fucking riddance you planet.

but thanks for keeping me alive.

the accent was fucking horrible and i managed to sprain a rib and my wrist so ya know, love that for me. its so nice to be back on the hermes and i'm done using sols forever. eleven months til we're home and its going to be a rough eleven months but im excited.

everly cleared me and mark for the most part to be able to move about whenever but we're suppose to be taking it easy. and we have to do some PT to get our strength back but fuck i'll do that if it means i get to move around more.

mark and i are really good. like, really good. dare i even say i might want to marry him.

it weird to think that i went to mars at twenty nine and im returning home almost thirty five. i hope my parents dont blame themselves for anything.

i got to do and see mark's plants with him that are somehow still growing and we managed to get a few more incorporated into the little farm he has. some sort of experience to see if earth seeds can grow in martian soil.

i give it a 50/50 shot.

anyways gotta dash, movie night is starting soon and i get first choice and they might hate me for what i pick.

olivia astra brooks

MISSION DAY 500

one hundred and seventy two days til we get home. i can start to see earth more clearly and i hate to admit that i did cry the first time i saw it. it was so bright and blue and lovely. ive missed it. nasa has decided that all of us will go into quarantine once we're back. though its mostly just for mark and i. we'll hopefully be released within a few months but something tells me the recovery process is going to be hell. i mean, i still get winded and tired so easily after doing small and easy things. so thanks mars for fucking me over. nasa has decided to have us dock with station because there was no way to get the earth decent vehicle to fit all of us. it was decided that the ares v crew minus everly would go down first in the edv. everly, mark and i would do down in a space x capsule that delivered for us after them. we would land somewhere in russia, with the capsule being modified to land on the ground than the ocean.

god im ready.

MISSION DAY 590

mark even admitted that he wanted to marry me today. i laughed and hugged him, telling him to ask me one we were earthside. ive also decided that i would take on a job at nasa in the control room. im more than qualified to do so. mark's going to be a botany professor at a university which i had called him a nerd for doing that. gives me a chance to make sure what happened to mark and i doesn't happen again.

MISSION DAY 650

we're finally close enough to have real time video chats with earth. got to talk to my dad today and i absolutely bawled like a baby during it. it was so good to see him. he cant wait to meet mark and the rest of the crew. everly says that i should be okay during the decent from station but we'll have to see. we dock with them soon and its weird that im going to miss being in space but i think ive gotten enough space time for one lifetime.

MISSION DAY 672

we're officially on the international space station. the rest of the crew launched this morning and we're departing tomorrow morning. everything has been going right as planned and im just ready for this to be over. we had dinner with the station crew and it was nice to see some familiar faces on it. mark and i are currently in the russian sector of station in a empty crew room trying to get some sleep. well, he's passed out but im still awake. too many thoughts going through my head right now and apparently now is a good time to be thinking of everything that can go wrong. managed to get everly to give me an anti anxiety pill during dinner but i think i need another one or a sleeping pill because im going to drive myself mad if i stay up and think of this any longer. i just need to accept that shit might go wrong that i have absolutely no control over and cant do anything to fix it.

i'll be fine right?

MISSION DAY 673.

last update before we launch. currently packing up the rest of my things into the dragon capsule and this will be the last thing i pack in. should take about 30 hours to get back to earth if everything goes as planned and as it should. thanks space for keeping me alive all this time, but ive had enough of you to last a fucking lifetime.

DAY 1.

The hatched opened and Olivia pushed her visor open and took in her first breath of earth air in years. The sun shone down on her and she couldn't help the tears that streamed down her face.

finally, she was home.

and our loves are finally home!

decided to go with liv's journal updates for this chapter to speed it up a bit more and to give more of her thoughts and what not. i think we have about four to five chapters left of this fic. i'm also thinking of doing a series of one shots after i finish this one to give more insight of my verse.

til next time my loves.

nova