Chapter Text
Sam doesn’t wake up quite so violently.
Jody is sitting beside him, knitting – a simple project, one she doesn’t have to really think about. Still, her eyes stray from her work to her friend’s face often enough that she’s had to rework several rows already. So she notices as soon as he starts moving a little, as his eyebrows furrow and he frowns in his sleep.
She sets her knitting down, places a careful hand on his.
“Sam?”
He makes a noise that might be part of a word.
“It’s okay. You’re safe,” Jody says.
He mumbles another distressed half syllable, and the bedside monitor starts beeping as his heart rate begins to climb.
“It’s me. Jody. You’re home,” she reassures.
Sam’s eyes don’t open, but instead squeeze shut tightly, and a whimper escapes his throat.
Jody swallows past the lump in her own throat. She doesn’t want to leave him to get the doctor, but –
A knock on the door startles her, and she turns around.
“Oh my god,” she cries, “Five, you’re awake!”
Five’s wide eyes are fixed on Sam, but she looks up at Jody and manages a wobbly smile.
“Hi,” she says, and gratefully lets Jody wrap her in a hug. “How is he?”
“Waking up, I think,” Jody says, “or maybe just having a bad dream.”
Five sits on the edge of Sam’s bed and begins tapping a repeating pattern on his wrist. Jody vaguely recognizes the old tapping code, but she’d never used it as much as Five and Sam had, and she’s not sure what Five is saying.
“You have a visitor, Sam,” Five whispers. “Open your eyes. It’s okay.”
Slowly, he opens his eyes. They’re a little glassy from the drugs, and Five isn’t sure how coherent he is yet.
“Everyone is okay. We made it. We’re home safe.”
Sam shakes his head slowly, closing his eyes again. “Can’t be,” he rasps. “They shot you. I saw them. The gun. Wasn’t a screen.”
“They shot you,” Five says, “but you’re okay. Got lucky. It just grazed the side of your head.”
He blinks, taking a moment to process this. “But then… how did…” he stops and frowns at her. “You’re hurt!”
“Just a bump on the head. You tried to get in front of me, and you… god damnit, Sam, I’m so mad at you,” she chokes, and folds forward to wrap her arms around him. “You almost died. All that time getting better, after he – after everything, and you just – you shouldn’t have done that. Thank you. You saved me. But never ever do that again.”
“But I need you safe,” he protests.
“Yeah, well, I need you, period,” Five mumbles into his shoulder.
“You two are so gross,” Jody sniffles, dragging a sleeve across her face. “I’d almost forgotten how gross you were. Oh, god, I missed you both so much!”
Sam blinks, registering Jody’s presence for the first time. She’s standing there behind the chair she’d been sitting in, and he frees an arm from Five’s embrace to reach for her.
“Oh. Everyone’s already doing the crying and hugging,” Peter says when he walks through the door moments later. “Couldn’t have waited for me?”
“Get in here,” Sam gestures, welcoming into the huddle. Janine is close behind, and Five is concerned the hospital bed might collapse under the weight of the five of them when Janine clears her throat and steps back.
“Dr. Lobatse is outside waiting,” she says, “she needs to assess you, but she said she would give us a few moments first.”
“Kefilwe can come in now,” he says, “I missed her too. But where’s Sara?” He pauses and blinks. “Where’s Paula? Did Maxy make it back? What happened to Valmont, what about the plagues, did someone get ANNIE, oh god, did anyone else get hurt, where’s Sara?”
He’s fully awake now and beginning to panic, his breathing shallow and quick.
“Paula and Sara are in the waiting area,” Jody says. “Breathe, Sam. We’re all safe. I’ll explain everything.”
“Can I see her? Please, I need to see Sara.”
Dr. Lobatse interrupts. “Everyone, may I please have a moment with my patient?”
“Of course,” Janine nods, gesturing for Jody and Peter to follow her out of the room.
“I want to see Sara,” Sam says.
“Me too, Sam,” Five squeezes his hand.
“And you will,” Dr. Lobatse soothes, “but I need to assess you quickly first. And we need to talk about something, regarding Sara.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes, Sara is okay. May I check your neurological status quickly?”
Sam nods impatiently, regretting the movement as it sends throbbing pain through his temple. He hadn’t noticed the pain at first, so many other more important things were competing for his attention.
“Can Five stay?”
“If you like,” Dr. Lobatse says, shining a light into Sam’s eyes. He knows the drill, having been at the bedsides of his runners so many times, and submits to the series of tests. She checks his vital signs and begins changing his dressing.
“Sara has been missing you very much,” the doctor begins. “All of you. And Maxine has not yet returned, although we have had word from her that she is well. Amelia will be sending an envoy to Venice for trade, and will bring her home within a few weeks.”
“Good. That’s good,” Sam breathes.
“Now, Samuel. And you too, Five. I must remind you that young children, at times, do not respond as one might expect to being reunited with loved ones after long separations.”
“That’s okay,” Five interrupts, “however she’s feeling it’s okay. Right, Sam?”
Before he can answer, Kefilwe holds up a hand to let them know she has more to say.
“In Sara’s case, she’s frightened,” the doctor explains, “she is refusing to come into this room. I’ve spoken with Paula, and we offered her reassurance and encouragement to no avail. She misses you, and has been struggling to cope with these feelings for months. But now that you are home, she is afraid to see you.”
“I… I think I understand,” Sam says dully. “It’s a lot. Is my face scary, like, is it still too bony? Do I look very different? I know my hair is longer. She probably just needs time. I could –”
“We had an idea, and reached a compromise,” the doctor interrupts again, and she pulls a headset from her pocket, offering it to him. “Would you like to talk to your daughter, Sam?”
“Yes,” he exclaims, and snatches the headset. When he tries to put it on, it won’t fit over the bulky bandages, so Five helps him hold it in place.
“Is she already – can I talk now?”
Dr. Lobatse nods.
Sam clears his throat. His voice is still hoarse, has been for months now, but he strains to sound normal.
“Sara?”
There’s silence on the other end.
“Sara, it’s your dad. H-how are you? I’ve missed you. So much. I –”
“Hi, Dad,” comes the small voice then, and Sam clamps a hand over his mouth to keep from sobbing aloud.
“Hi,” he manages after a moment. “Hi, Sara. I missed you, girly wurly.”
“Me too.”
“I love you so much, Sara.”
“Love you,” Sara whispers.
Sam’s shoulders are shaking and tears are racing down his face; he doesn’t trust himself to speak much more right now.
“Five is here with me. D’you wanna say hi?”
“Yes.”
“Here you go.” Sam hands Five the headset and stifles his meltdown so Sara won’t hear. Five rubs his shoulder and smiles into the microphone, making her voice sound light.
“Hey Sara. How are you?”
“Good.”
“That’s so good to hear. I knew you would be. You’re a tough cookie.”
Sara doesn’t say anything, but Five can hear her breathing and fidgeting with the headset.
“So… what have you been doing since we left?” Five winces at her own awkwardness as Sam blows his nose beside her.
“I was riding horses,” Sara says.
“Wow, that’s so cool! What, um, what kind of horses?”
“A brown one and a white one.”
“I bet that was really fun. Hey. We really missed you. We would love to see you. It’s okay if you say no, but do you think you could come in here now? Even just for a minute?”
“Okay.”
Five glances at Sam, who’s still struggling to compose himself, and gives him a thumbs up.
“Yay! But listen, before you come in. We might look a little different. Your dad got sick but he’s a lot better. He’s still a bit skinny though. Then yesterday, we both bumped our heads so we have big bandages, but it’s still just us. Nothing to be afraid of, okay?”
“Okay.” Five hears Sara take the headset off and say something to Paula.
It feels like it’s taking forever, but it’s only a few minutes before Paula appears in the doorway, Sara clinging to her hand and shrinking back a little bit behind her.
Oh. She’s gotten so big.
Dr. Lobatse smiles, excusing herself and leaving the room to the four of them.
“Welcome back, Sam. Five,” Paula says, carefully calm.
“Thanks. It’s good to see you. Hey there, Sara.”
Sara freezes, staring back and forth between Five and Sam with wide eyes.
“It’s okay. Remember what we talked about? You can go in. Just be gentle.”
Slowly, Sara walks to the side of the bed, eyes trained on her floor in front of her.
“I love your dress,” Five says, and she does. It’s a strawberry print with a twirly skirt, and little red Mary Jane style shoes the cobbler must have custom made for her. Her hair is in braids, and Five smiles, remembering Maxine’s flustered attempts to teach Paula and Sam how to braid when Maxine had never really worn them herself since she was a kid. Paula must have been practicing because they look great.
“Mum said if I visited you it would make you feel better.”
“It does,” Sam and Five respond in unison.
“Jinx,” Sara says, glancing up with a tiny smile.
Then, as if by accident, she meets Sam’s eyes – and bursts into tears.
Sam is out of the bed, almost knocking over the IV pole, kneeling on the ground in front of her and opening his arms, but allowing her the choice; Sara throws herself into him, crying her heart out, and Five sits next to them until Sara looks up and sees her. Then Five gets her turn, too. Paula joins them, the three of them in a circle around their daughter, giving her all the time she needs.
~
Hours later, when Paula has taken Sara home to bed and Dr. Lobatse has cleared the hospital of all well-wishers and visitors, Five’s bed is moved into Sam’s room. There are flowers everywhere and stacks of cards they’ve been too busy and then too tired to open yet.
Jody has told them everything she could, and the whole story is hardly believable. Apparently Jack and Eugene, located a few islands away, had intercepted, recorded, and rebroadcast the entire conversation between them and Valmont on a loop while Janine, accompanied by none other than the now grown-up Girl Guides (under contract by the prime minister) had coordinated a rescue. They’d burst into the room just as Slava had fired her first shot, preventing her from shooting again. Janine had seen Sam and Five’s attempts to get the other out of harm’s way, causing Slava to miss her target by inches, although Janine had thought they were both hit at first. As Janine rushed to administer first aid, two of the girls – women, rather - had tried to arrest Valmont, but he’d managed to get away, pulled a sidearm, and shot himself in the head rather than concede a loss to Amelia.
No one had bothered to report his last words.
Slava had fled before they’d been able to restrain her, but ran into Peter, who had left Ernie behind and then aparently reached the Channel just in time; she’d pulled a gun on him, but he’d grabbed it and tried to wrest it out of her hands, leading them both to topple dramatically off an oceanside cliff. Slava had broken her neck on the rocks and died instantly; Peter had landed on sand and suffered only a few cracked ribs that were already healed by the time Amelia’s fleet arrived to pick everyone up.
ANNIE was locked in a Faraday cage in New Canton, able to communicate only verbally for now, but apparently assisting Veronica (still hitching a ride with Ranger Five) in working on the cure. An ethics committee had been assembled and was currently working out a way to deal with the whole amoral, immortal AI problem.
Communications were already being restored. The UK government was reaching out to all settlements, giving them warnings and information about the so-called “panacea” and offering assistance where needed.
It was… a lot.
Which was why Five hadn’t told Sam the news yet. She’d had another wave of morning sickness but managed to leave the room before throwing up, so as not to remind him or worry him.
“I can’t believe it,” Sam yawns. “The actual government is taking over. We can go back to like… normal. I hope. It’s sort of surreal, you know?”
“I know,” Five says, curling up next to him. Their beds are pushed together, and the gap in the middle is uncomfortable, but neither of them cares. “It doesn’t feel real.”
Sam hums in agreement, and yawns again, prompting a yawn from Five.
“The weirdest thing of all, though. The one thing I just can’t wrap my head around? Zoe and Amelia being engaged.”
“Yeah,” Sam chuckles, “do you think they’ll have Zoe’s cats be ring bearer and flower girl?”
“Probably,” Five grins, “and you know those cats will be eating caviar at their own table.”
“And drinking, like, cat champagne. What would the cat equivalent of champagne be, d’you think?”
“Water from a tuna can,” Five says, rubbing her tired eyes.
“You should get some rest,” Sam says, “you need it.”
“So do you.”
“Yeah, but you – oh. Five, you…”
She waits, biting her lip, her eyes smiling at him.
“Five,” he begins, propping himself on his elbow and looking at her, “do you… is there anything… did Dr. Lobatse check...”
Five nods.
“So. What did she say?” his voice is deliberately neutral.
“I’m only about six weeks along,” Five smiles, “and everything seems normal so far.”
Sam blinks. He’s well past emotional overload, and quite a ways into exhaustion. It takes a moment to sink in.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” he babbles then, his voice traveling up and down an octave or two. “Five, that’s so, I can’t even, that’s amazing, you’re amazing, this is brilliant!”
“Hey, you’re pretty amazing yourself,” she smiles, snuggling into his embrace. “You had something to do with this too, you know.”
“Six weeks ago I could barely… yeah, I’m pretty sure you did all the work,” Sam laughs, and doesn’t stop laughing. It’s contagious. Five starts giggling too, and soon they’re laughing and crying and clinging to each other and exchanging quick happy kisses until exhaustion takes over and they lapse, finally, into quiet.
Dr. Lobatse, doing her evening rounds, finds them asleep like that – curled into each other, peaceful, finally resting.
That’s good – they need that rest, and so does she. She’s been told to expect a visit from both the King and the Prime Minister tomorrow, so it’s sure to be a busy day.