When Jeff got back from the moon he wasn't too surprised to find Lucy at home with his parents. In fact, he was delighted that she got on so well with them that she was happy to go and live with them for a while.

Lucy had decided to talk to Jeff about her past as soon as she could, but John had other ideas. Jeff had barely put a foot inside the door of his parent's farmhouse when Lucy's waters broke and they were off to the hospital.

John, like his brother before him, was impatient to get out into the wide world, even if he was only ten days early. And like his big brother he was as good as gold and as regular as clockwork.

And then there was no opportunity for Lucy to talk to Jeff as the reality of being parents to two small children under the age of two was further complicated by the news that, with John barely two months old they were going to be parents again.

Now when Scott woke up during the night, instead of waiting in his room for daylight quietly playing with his toys, he would come and climb into John's cot and just sit with him, quietly chattering away in his baby talk.

John seemed to adore his older brother, always happiest when he was with Scott, and in turn Scott spent every second he could with his little brother. Lucy, shocked at finding herself pregnant again, was pleased that the two boys were close, that Scott didn't show any signs of jealousy they had been warned were typical for a toddler.

Jeff had been given an extended leave for John's birth and then, finding out they were expecting so soon afterwards, NASA had given him even longer on the condition that after their third child was born he would take an extended stay on the moon. It wasn't ideal, but the other option was that Jeff miss the last three months of pregnancy and first six months of their child's life.

Virgil entrance into the world was the entire opposite of his big brothers. He took his sweet time and eventually Lucy was induced at almost three weeks late. Plus he was rather on the big side, almost double Scott's birth weight.

Thankfully he was also like his older brothers in that he was a quiet child that valued his sleep – maybe a little too much. Where Scott rarely slept the amount the paediatric books said a child of his age should, Virgil slept far more, often needing to be woken up for feeding.

There had been no discussion about what Lucy would do with three small children under four when Jeff returned to the moon, Grant and Ruth had already cleared out the small study and turned it into a playroom-come-nursery, the spare room into a bedroom for the boys and Jeff's room was aired out for Lucy.

The boys grew.

With their father on the moon for a year and NASA allowing Lucy to work from home permanently now as long as she was available for emergencies, the farm was an ideal place for Scott to release the energy that just seemed to grow as fast as he did.

Grant taught Scott about keeping chickens. Or rather, he tried to. Unfortunately the chickens, being skittish creatures and not liking strangers, took off running at the sight of the child, and three-year-old Scott – with a whoop and a scream – took off after them, ignoring his Grandpa's calls. Grant just shook his head in amusement, at least Scott would keep the chickens out of his hair while he collected the eggs.

It became an early morning ritual once Grant realised Scott was up with the dawn like he was. With a wistful sigh as their morning routine of the chickens, milking the two cows and walking the dogs reminded Grant of his little Jeffy. In many ways Scott was an absolute clone of his father, and Grant cherished the time they spent together.

Lucy was thankful that Scott enjoyed helping Grant around the farm in the mornings and trailing around behind Ruth and herself in the afternoon, generally getting under their feet, but Ruth never complained and Lucy enjoyed attempting to teach her mother-in-law not to burn water. Ruth never quite got to learn much as she spent more time chasing Scott or holding him up so that they both could watch Lucy perform magic.

By the time Jeff came back some of Scott's habits were already firmly entrenched. Being woken up by his nearly five-year-old son at the crack of dawn every morning that first week had been novel but Jeff was just happy that Scott remembered who he was and wanted to spend time with him.

By the second week that novelty had worn off.

By the third Scott was back to limiting his pre-8am wanderings to John and Virgil's room. None of the boys complained and it meant both Jeff and Lucy managing decent sleep.

They had moved back to the house in Houston once Jeff had returned and while Scott missed the dogs and the chickens – and constantly pestered his parents for their own – he soon settled down to a new adventure.

Virgil's second birthday came and went with an addition to the family at Scott's insistence. They simply couldn't manage a dog with three small children and full-time work, but a tiny baby tortoise joined their happy family. Named immediately Pie for Scott's favourite food, the unfortunate name stuck as Virgil took to practically chanting it at the poor thing.

Scott going off to kindergarten was hard on all the boys. Unsurprisingly it was Virgil who was the most upset about losing Scott, but John wasn't too far behind, he just was quieter in how he showed it. Scott himself cried when Lucy left him, and it broke her heart, but by the time she'd got them all to the gate to pick them up he was back to his old self, briming with things to share with his brothers.

Jeff once more returned to the moon, this time with thoughts about quitting and spending more time with his boys and his wife – not that Lucy minded. She'd always known that Space held an equal place in his heart.

One day in the winter break, when the day had been particularly fine and cold and the boys had been out all day, Lucy finally managed to fall back into the couch with an exhausted sigh after finally getting all three of her boys to settle down. They had been buzzing, and she really couldn't blame them.

It was the smallest of noises that pulled her from a slumber she hadn't even been aware of. And just like that her training kicked in.

She let them come to her. It was her house, she had the advantage, even if she didn't want them in the same house as her children. Part of her hoped it was just a random burglary, but Lucy knew deep down that it wasn't. She moved to the window and used the long curtain to disguise where she was.

There were here.

For her.

Four men. She could hear their breathing. As she held her breath and listened. They stepped in the room, and still she waited. Three moved in but one hung back, and it was that one who worried her the most. She needed to get him away from the door, away from the stairs…

Lucy stepped into the middle of the room, not moving as the men – all the men – moved to encircle her.

'What do you want?'

One of the men spat on the carpet beside her foot.

'Мы пришли за мальчиком'

And then they all moved.


"Мы пришли за мальчиком"

"We came for the boy"