A\N: I watched Away which stars Josh Charles and Hilary Swank as NASA engineer Matt Logan and Commander Emma Green when it first aired. I was miffed when it was cancelled, even though it was one of the most watched and talked about shows when it was released and even had another two seasons invested in it before it got cancelled by Netflix (which a lot of shows did at that time, probably due to COVID).
So recently, I started to rewatch it and decided to write a oneshot about Emma coming home after 3 years away from her husband and daughter and what their reunion would be like. Bear in mind that I'm on the last episode and that it'll be really short. Enjoy the Emma/Matt romance, Angels.
3 years.
That's how long she's been away from her husband and daughter.
3 years.
That's how many Christmases, birthdays, achievements and successes she's missed.
3 years.
That's how long she's been writing unsent emails to her husband and daughter about how scared and lonely she's been.
3 years.
That's how long she's seen her daughter's face or kissed her husband.
3 years.
That's how long she's slept in her husband's arms.
3 years.
That's how long she's smiled and cheered on her daughter at her soccer game.
3 years.
That's how long she's been dreaming and picturing being reunited with her husband and daughter.
3 years.
That's how long it's been since she's heard her husband's voice outside her head or in dreams that seem so real.
After 3 years away from her husband and daughter, Commander Emma Green is headed home, and she's never leaving.
She's coming home after 3 years and she'll be able to hug her daughter and kiss her husband. It's what has got her through the last 3 years of being up in Space, living on Mars, so why is she so scared about going home?
She stands at the window of the Atlas, the place that has been her hiding place for whenever she needs to be alone, a soft smile coming to her lips as she thinks about in less than 12 hours she's going to be in her husband's arms, back in the house they bought to raise their now 18 year old daughter in.
In less than 12 hours she'll be reunited with her family for the first time in 3 years.
Matt Logan waits with his daughter. His daughter wanted her boyfriend of 3 years to come but Issac had said that they needed to be reunited with Emma and Emma needed to be readjusted to being back home before he met her in person so Lex had agreed to let him skip this reunion as long as he promised to facetime her when the tears and hugs and catching up was all over latest in the day.
"You okay, sweetie?" Matt asks his daughter who is gripping his hand like a vice, with her phone in her other hand. His and Emma's daughter has grown up a lot in the three years Emma has been on Mars, and he can't be more proud of his daughter, or of his wife.
He's proud of both of his girls.
"Yeah, but I'm scared to see her after 3 years, I'm scared she won't recognise me or will treat me like the 15 year old girl she left behind." His daughter admits and he sighs softly. Truth be told, he's scared about seeing his wife too but for reasons different than his daughter.
He's scared to see how much his wife has changed while on Mars, he's scared about her adjustment back to Earth, he's scared about how she'll handle his condition as she wasn't there in the aftermath of his stroke or the surgery though she was ready to abandon the mission and come home immediately after hearing he was in the hospital and if it wasn't for him and Lex telling her to go and that they'll be fine, she would've been home three years ago. While he's 90% better than he first had his stroke, he still gets tired and has to use his wheelchair whenever he gets tired but the small bright side of it is that his wife will see his standing up on his, with the help of a cane, and that he'll be able to walk towards her when their eyes lock for the first time in 3 years.
"I'm proud of you, Dad." Lex says, almost as if she can read his mind, which he suspects she can. Matt turns his head away from the board and toward his daughter, a smile appearing on his lips. "I know you are, Lex." He tells his daughter just before he sees 5 familiar people walking through the terminal, his wife leading them.
Tears fill his eyes as his eyes land on his wife who is smiling. He opens his mouth to say her name for the first time in years when Lex shouts it.
"MOM!" Lex shouts and goes running to her mother, hugging her mother, her shoulders shaking as she sobs into her mother, Matt can't help when his own fall down his face when his wife looks at him. After a few minutes, Lex lets go of her mother and tugs her towards him.
Slowly and with support from the cane, Matt walks towards his wife, ignoring all the looks and pictures being taken. He stops a few feet in front of his wife, Lex moving to his other side to give him extra support which he barely notices. He's simply staring
into his wife's tear glossed eyes.
"Hi, shithead." Em says with a smile, a smile he returns.
"Hi, fucker." He replies softly before he presses his lips to hers.
Emma's arms wind around his neck while his slide around her waist, Lex keeping him steady on her own.
They pull away when they both need air and their forehead pressed together.
"You're here." He whispers in disbelief.
"I'm here." Emma confirms before retracting her arms from around his neck reluctantly.
"I've gotta greet everyone and say goodbye to the others but then we're all going home. I'll only be an hour, half hour at most. I promise." She says before kissing him again, smiling at Lex and walking away without another word.
"We've waited 3 years, an hour will fly by." Lex says to herself but she has a wide smile on her face as they both watch their astronaut.
Emma sighs deeply, burying her face in her husband's collarbone. After three years of lonely and long nights on Mars, and even on Atlas, it feels damned good to be wrapped in her husband's arms and not be dreaming that she's in them.
"You okay, Em?" Asks her husband, she just nods into his collarbone. "Just hoping I'm not dreaming this whole thing." She'd had realistic dreams like this all the time over the years of her homecoming and it had hurt her when she woke up only to learn that she wasn't home yet.
"You're not dreaming, I promise." Matt reassures her, tightening his arm around her waist. She yawns as she fights to keep her eyes open, removing her face from his collarbone, Matt has a lock of her messed up air wrapped around his fingers. "We should get some sleep. We've got the welcome home barbecue at Melissa's and Cass' tomorrow afternoon." He reminds her gently. Emma rolls off her husband and places her head on his naked chest as both his arms go around her waist, anchoring her to the bed almost. He kisses her one last time as she switches the lamp off, plunging their bedroom into darkness, save for the light shining from underneath the crack of their closed bathroom door.
"There were so many times I thought we weren't going to survive, that I'd be the one who would get us all killed, but every time I thought about how I'd never return home to you and Lex, it was you I'd hear in my head, and you sounded so real, like you were right there with me. You sounded so real that if I'd turn around, you'd be right there, even though I knew you wouldn't be, and you kept saying that I'd get us home, that you'd be waiting for me when I arrived home, and you were. You got me through the hardest three years of my entire life. I don't think I would've survived if it weren't for you. So thank you for being up there with me even though you were down here." Emma tells her husband as two tears roll down her cheeks.
She hears Matt exhale and kiss her bare shoulder.
"I told Lex the night before you left that I'd be right there, and I was in whatever way I could be." He responds sleepily, today has taken a lot out of him. One of Emma's hand's travels up to his hair and buries her fingers into his hair.
"You were with me every step of the way, from beginning to end." Emma whispers to her nearly sleeping husband in the darkness of their bedroom.
It took 3 years.
It took 3 years for Atlas Commander Emma Green to come home to her husband and daughter.
A\N: This took me days to write this oneshot but I've finally done it! I have a few more Away oneshots on my mind but I'm going to wait until I've got all my other stories published hand sorted out before I even think about starting a new one (although I'll most likely be starting a new one after this one is published)
I hope you enjoy this one, Angels.