Jimmy fumbled through his blueprints, trying to make sense of them. It frustrated him beyond belief that no one on that tiny space station, which mostly fulfilled the purpose of a satelite, actually knew what it looked like and what the sockets he was fixing were for.

At first, he'd thought he didn't need to ask because he'd see it from outside. Bullshit. The thing was so big and his movement so impaired, it was hard to tell up from down, let alone where anything went. You could never appreciate gravity enough until it suddenly wasn't there anymore.

Sure, he'd trained at NASA and he could handle the conditions inside the station like a pro. But outside was an entirely different matter. Nothing in this world could have prepared him for the darkness and the silence of space. Every incursion into the void was just another chance to feel incredibly small. Helpless in the face of forces that could get him lost forever. The idea of not being able to save himself ten inches from the station filled him with dread every second he was out there. But he pressed on and blocked out everything, forcing himself to work outside.

It wasn't just him either. Roberta who worked with him was as freaked out, and not even Hannigan teased much about it, because he hadn't dared step out again since the first time. Jerry had tried, but it was obvious that he'd rather avoid it if he could. Truth was, everyone on the station could except for Jimmy and Roberta who had to do the grunt work.

The pressure of nothingness, the loneliness and the emptiness put a lot of things into perspective. Like what he wanted from life and why he was doing all this shit without being entrusted with all the information.

Which was why he was now dialing Jessie's connection while also trying to figure out just how the hell those blueprints created anything intelligible.

The Jessie matter felt a bit more urgent because she'd sent him into outer space with nothing but a framed photo of them together and a letter. A letter which explained everything. Why she married Esteban, how he'd betrayed her trust, how she'd finally divorced him and found out she was adopted.

There was honesty and there was hope in that letter. She knew she'd made a mistake, she owned up to it. And just like in his case, her past didn't change how she felt about him. So she wanted to pick up where they'd left off. If he felt the same.

Felt the same... The thought plagued him and, as it had become customary whenever it did, he glanced at the picture of them. It was simple, just the two of them side by side in the park, leaning against each other and smiling ar the camera.

God, he missed her. Her voice, her smile, her smell. The way she stretched in the morning and let out a sound like a mewe when she was about to go to sleep.

The way she laughed, joked, pointed out the better things in life. The way she touched him, the way she kissed him.

The way she made him feel.

Feel the same... He didn't feel the same. Time apart had changed things. Being away from her had made him realize how much life she breathed into him. He loved her and in the end, her past made no difference, because she'd never lied to him about anything else. A desire to bury a crappy past he could understand.

He really didn't care about it as long as she loved him.

Time had not passed in vain. They couldn't pick up where they left off because neither of them was still there.

"Hey, still at it?" Jerry entered the room, seeming a bit more lighthearted than usual.

Jimmy shook off the dreams of Jessie and focused on the papers in front of him. "I'll be at it until I figure out just what the hell this is all supposed to mean."

Jerry came next to his desk and glanced at the blueprints. He was already aware of the issue. "Don't they have a identification number or something? Maybe small and hidden so you'd know their order?"

"I checked and found nothing. It doesn't help that everything is square either and I can't overlap them without covering most of it up. I tried starting my own, but since I don't know exactly what goes where..."

"This is odd indeed." Jerry leaned his hand on the surface of the table, his eyebrows drawn in concentration. "It's also very impractical." Then he raised his eyes to the giant screen taking up most of the wall in front of the desk.

It used to be filled with more plans and calculations, but this time Jerry was most likely drawn by the blinking dots and the sole, disappointing inscription.

Trying to connect...

"What--"

Jerry's words were cut off once the door opened again and Lee Hannigan strutted inside their quarters, that annoying, smug smile on his face. Jimmy couldn't for the life of him figure out just what the hell he had to be so proud of.

"How are my little geniuses doing?" he cooed like the asshole he was.

"Watch it, Lee," Jimmy said, his voice pleasant, and gave Jerry a nudge. "Or this little genius will stop giving you the drug and you'll start wailing and throwing up again."

"Always the comedian," Hannigan said. He glanced at the black screen, then at the papers on Jimmy's desk. "You'd better get your work done faster. We have only four more days and then it's bye-bye."

"Don't tell me how to do my job, prick," Jimmy growled. Easy for him to throw shade when he had nothing to do.

"Someone, should. You can't even arrange plans if your life depended on it." He reached out and started messing with the papers.

"Lee, you're right." Jerry put his hand on his chest and nudged him back. "We'll be out of here in four days, so why not keep the peace?" 

Hannigan huffed and continued what he was doing. His hand caught the framed photo and knocked it over. He threw it one disgusted look before picking it up.

"She the one who dumped you? Don't blame her."

Jimmy grabbed his arm and twisted it enough to not do any serious damage, but for it to hurt like a bitch. The frame clattered on the desk.

"Hands off my papers. And don't ever touch my personal things again."

"Let go of me, Grant!"

Jimmy twisted a little harder. "There's two of us, you'll have to be more specific."

"Jimmy," Jerry said, his tone calm, but firm.

It was enough. Jimmy let Hannigan go and nudged him back. The asshole cradled his arm, his face filled with a hatred Jimmy was already too used to.

"You'll regret this. You fucking entitled asshole."

"Right back at you, sugarplum." Jimmy blew him a kiss.

Hannigan stared at him disgusted for a moment, then left back the way he came. He probably wished he could slam the door behind him, but it just sealed shut quietly.

"You don't need to antagonize him," Jerry said.

"He doesn't need to antagonize me either, but no one is telling him that."

"He's an asshole. He wouldn't get it anyway."

Jimmy turned to his twin, a broad grin on his face. "Jerry, you said asshole."

Jerry scrunched his nose. "I know. I just really don't like him."

Yeah, Hannigan had that gift. Jimmy turned back to the screen and his heart sank a little. The connection was lost. He hit enter again and the little hourglass started spinning.

"What are you trying to do?" Jerry asked.

"Contact Jessie, but it's not going to work unless she actually has the transmitter on her and has it switched on, so fat chance. But it's the only encrypted communication channel I can access from up here. I don't even know what day or time it is on Earth."

"It's Tuesday and I think around three in the afternoon," Jerry said at once. Leave it to him to know those details. But he probably kept those in mind for his non-encrypted conversations with Sarah.

Jimmy sighed and turned back to the screen. To his shock, the hourglass disappeared into colorful pixels before the screen filled with Jessie's face.

"It worked," he said stupidly.

"Jimmy?" Jessie said, just as surprised. "I can't believe this."

"Me neither," he pushed his chair closer to the desk, until it presses painfully into his stomach.

"How are you?" they both asked at the same time.

"You first," she said, a smile curving her beautiful lips. "I don't think anything can beat space."

It was something so small, but she could always make him feel so much better. "Space is big and silent and lonely."

She let out a laugh and he realized how much he'd missed it. "Well, that's one way to put it. How about work?"

"I'm actually done."

"You are?" she sounded so excited, it was adorable.

"You are?" Jerry whispered from somewhere to the left.

"Any chance you'll come home sooner? Though scratch that. We're still in Egypt. And if everything goes as planned, we should be heading home in about three days."

"Right on cue. Means you'll be there to wait for me."

Her entire face lit up with hope. "Do you want that?"

God, how could she not know that? He let out a sigh. "Jessie, your letter... You should've told me all that stuff. Called me. I wanted to be there for you."

Her eyes glistened, but the expression on her face was stoic. "I mean what I said, Jimmy. That was my mess to clean up. And now that I did, my life is...Well, this one. I'm sorry I forgot that for a while. I know it sucked and I messed up big time, but I really didn't want you involved in all that."

"I want to be involved--"

"I don't want you to. Don't take this the wrong way, hotstuff, but there are certain things in this life we have to go through alone. This was one of them for me, and it's finally over. The rest of my life, though..."

Damn it, she could make him feel things he didn't think he could ever feel. And he hadn't realized just how much he'd missed that silly nickname. "Okay, I understand."

"You do?" Once again she sounded surprised.

"Of course I do."

"Does this mean you forgive me?"

He sighed, his heart beating faster with each second. "I wanted to do this face to face, but you can see me and I can see you, and I'm in outer space and you're about to probably enter some temple filled with traps, so this might be as good as it gets. Yes, Jessie, I forgive you. I'm not going to pretend it didn't happen or that it didn't hurt me, but that doesn't mean I can't see why you did it. It doesn't mean I can't accept it and move past it. For you. For us."

Tears left her eyes, shining diamonds on her face. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Sunshine." Even if it was stupid, he put his hand on the screen, over her cheek. Something tugged inside his chest, like a string resonating, filling him with a need he couldn't identify.

She reached out her hand, too, though it was much harder since her screen was tiny. The image buzzed and became distorted. The connection wouldn't last much longer.

"How's everyone?" he asked. They had such little time, he didn't want to spend it in silence.

"Almost great, actually," she said quickly, as if she could sense they didn't have much time as well. "Kyle and Kay figured it out and they're back in the honeymoon stages. Sam and Skye are so cute together, and..." She hesitated, as if the next part was hard to say.

"Thank God," Jerry breathed.

Jimmy had to admit he felt the same. Hearing Kyle and Kay were back made him feel a lot less stressed out. And that second bit of news. "Sam and Skye finally a thing then?" He'd guessed that much when Sam asked him to make a watch for her, even if at that moment he'd claimed it was merely for safety reasons.

"They're not putting labels on it." Jessie air-quoted. "But they slept in the same room and are comfortable enough to kiss in public, so my guess is, yeah, it's a big thing."

"What about the couple left unsaid?"

"I thought they were fine. I mean last night Tom seemed to have a breakthrough. But now Angie is ignoring him and I have no idea what happened." She let out a long sigh. "Things are so complicated between them."

"Aren't they always?" Jimmy couldn't help a smile. Tom and Angie had always been chaotic, but it worked for them.

"The thing is..." She bit her lower lip, actually seeming worried. "It's not like Kyle and Kay where their problem was communication. I mean, it started like that but..."

He frowned. "What's going on?"

"Angie told me he slept with someone else."

"What?" both Jimmy and Jerry asked.

Jimmy gritted his teeth, trying to keep the shock and anger at bay. The disappointment. What had Tom been thinking?

"Angie said it was with one of her friends, that he was drunk and the girl was psycho, doing her best to look like her. But... I mean she seems to have come to terms with it. I'm still a little iffy about it because I'm not sure Tom came to terms with it."

For a moment, Jimmy wondered how Tom could've kept that to himself for so long, but maybe he knew better than to bring their wrath upon himself. It was so weird to think he would do something like that. The man of extremes, the one with an exacerbated sense of jealousy and who though cheating was never justified. And yet...

"Angie knows and is still talking to him?"

"Yes. He came clean and after a while... I don't know. They seemed to be okay. But I'm not sure if either of them can truly get over it."

Jimmy didn't think so either. Maybe they were better off apart, at least for a while. Until they both grew up som. But on the bright side, after everything that had happened, the rest of them were finally okay.

Jerry and Sarah, Kyle and Kay, Sam and Skye. Him and Jessie.

"I missed talking to you so much," she said, as if reading his mind.

"Me too." Because it was true. It was what he'd missed most, having someone who always cared about the most irrelevant things in his life. Even more than kissing and touching her, though at the moment, he'd give anything to be able to teleport and hold her.

The image warped again, turning grainy.

"I think we're losing the connection," he said.

The expression on her face turned pained, as if she already missed him. "I'll be there, Jimmy. When you get off that spaceship, I'll be there."

"Can't wait to see you."

"Just four days," she said with a smile.

"Be careful out there."

"You too."

He opened his mouth to say more, ask about followers, Snitch Gravel, the jewel, but the screen went black. There was an attempted breach of the encryption, someone wanting to find out who he'd been speaking to. Anger rose inside him, but he beat it down. Of course Hannigan wanted to know what he was up to. He'd been insanely lucky to get to talk to her in the first place.

But still, there was an emptiness inside him, a nagging feeling that he'd forgotten something important. That there was something left unsaid and it was eating him alive.

"Good to know that the others are doing fine," Jerry said.

"Shit, Jerry, I'm sorry. She couldn't see you. Should've told her you're here. I'm sure she would've wanted to say hi." Though to be fair, even he'd forgotten Jerry was there.

"That's okay. You obviously needed to talk." Jerry pushed himself off the door. "And I needed to make sure no one interrupted." He sat on Jimmy's bunk, a pensive air surrounding him. "I'm really glad you forgave her."

"There was no reason not to. The lie she kept up didn't overlap with anything else in our life together. And she did her best to fix it."

Jerry's smile was honest. "I know. Jessie is loyal and honest and she loves you. I'm happy for you two. And for Sam and Kyle and Kay."

"Yeah, seems like everything worked out in the end."

"I never lost faith that it would."

If only that nagging feeling would go away. Maybe it had something to do with Tom and how he'd done something so out of character. Though if Angie was still talking to him, maybe they had a chance of getting over it. Build up from there and take it forward.

Just like he wanted with Jessie, because he never wanted to lose her again, be apart from her. And at that moment he realized that it was what he'd overlooked, and the one important ans essential thing he should've mentioned to Jessie.

That this was it. He knew what he wanted. He wanted her. Now and for the rest of his life.

"Shit," he muttered. "I should've asked her to marry me."

Jerry's eyes widened. "What? Are you serious?"

It sounded odd in the open air, but the moment the words were out, the knot in Jimmy's chest disappeared. That was exactly what he wanted. To spend the rest of his life with her.

"Yes, I'm serious. That's what I want."

"Aren't you a little...?"

"Young?" Jimmy asked skeptically.

"No, I meant right after a breakup."

The weirdness of Jerry's statement had Jimmy realizing that this thing with Sarah was deeper than he'd thought. But it was about time. Sarah was great and Jerry deserved someone like that in his life, to finally be happy and secure about relationships.

"Fell in love in five seconds, got over a fight in another five," he said with a laugh.

"But do you really mean it?" Jerry pressed on. "As in, once we get back, will you propose?"

Since it had been basically word vomit, Jerry had a point. But now that Jimmy stopped to really think about it, the prospect wasn't scary. It was exciting.

"Yes. I think I will. Because I'm sure she's the one. And with all the nonsense in our lives, I really don't see the point in waiting. Maybe we'll have a longer engagement, but it just feels right at the moment."

In a most unusual fashion, Jerry just nodded, making no effort to convince him that they were too young or that they hadn't been together long enough.

"Congratulations!" he said instead and hugged Jimmy.

Jimmy hugged him back, the resolve inside him strengthening with every second. If Jerry thought this was a good idea, it definitely was.

Jerry pulled back and glanced at the sketches. "Did you mean it? Are you really done?"

"Yes."

"Then why do you keep going out?"

Jimmy shuddered at the mere thought that he'd have to so it again. "Because I hoped I'd manage to figure out what we're dealing with. Good think Hannigan helped by screwing up the order I'd--" He glanced at the blueprints and the words died on his tongue.

Hannigan had moved them around upside down and in every arbitrary direction possible as if to make sure that they made no sense. All the technical details were written in random corners. But the image itself looked like something whole for the first time.

He hadn't been meant to see it, which was why the placement of the writing on the plans made every form of logical arrangement impossible. But when an idiot came over and ignored sense, logic and writinf, he actually put the puzzle together for Jimmy.

He got to his feet and brought the sketches closer together, taking no notice of the writing for once, of any order or any logic.

And once he was done, he could finally see the entire picture.

"I need to get out there again," he whispered.

Out there and sabotage it without anyone, not even Jerry knowing. Because he'd finally figured out what it was and why they didn't want him to know.

That thing was a weapon and he'd fixed it for them.

♠️♠️♠️

I am totally guilty of loving how dramatically this chapter ended. It's serious business after all. And it's about to go down!

Right after the people on Earth go down into the temple first in this fizzling two part climax.

Also, a lot big words being thrown around 😅 This book might end in a flurry of weddings. Or maybe deaths? How about deaths?

I guess we'll need to wait and find out. Now who's excited that Jimmy and Jessie finally fixed their shit? And I just want to give Jerry a hug because he's grown up so much. Sarah helped 😁

Stick around as we get to more fun stuff.  Vote and comment for support! 🌟