BR Earth Station: Stowaway

Created & Written By: JS. Rogers

Based on Buck Rogers

Created By: Philip Francis Nowlan

Chapter One: Something's Missing

The station was quiet this morning, which drove Lieutenant Griftin crazy. His people thrive on action and, I wouldn't say violence, but having things more rough then what it is at this moment. As Griftin checked the reports this morning, a cup of jong in his hand, he noticed that a few items from Medbay went missing. There were two other reports of missing items from Engineering and one of the food shops on the Promenade. Even though the reports were already filed, Griftin decided to go ahead and ask about them. Walking into Medbay, he could see the Doctor looking over some charts on one of the wall monitors. As he walked up to her, she noticed him coming and asked, “Lieutenant, it's nice to see you. Is everything okay?”

Those who had been on the station before the opening were used to the deep voice that came from Griftin. Some people were still taken back when he spoke, however, Doctor Hass was not one of them. “Doctor, I know that you already filed a report, but I wanted to hear for myself, about what you discovered this morning.”

“Well, not a whole lot to report, really. When I came in to Medbay this morning, I noticed that one of the vent covers was not on properly. I paid no attention to it, I figured one of the nurses just put it up wrong, and I went about my morning. As I was taking inventory, I noticed that one of my sprays and some pain medication was missing. I then made the report.”

“Other than the vent cover, did you notice anything else out of place?”

“Come to think of it, Medbay has been a little bit warm when I get in in the mornings. It's been warm like that since the festivities.”

“Thank you Doctor. I am going to speak with the nurses as well.”

“I'm not really too concerned about it, but suit yourself.”

One by one, Griftin tracked down the nurses and asked them a series of questions. One of the things that the crew was not used to was being question in this manner. They answered the questions regardless and then went about their day. A couple of the nurses were at the High Up Club last night and were trying to sleep when he showed up, the third was home asleep and the other three were visiting in the park and then went home to sleep.

Griftin took down each of their statements, making sure to put down precise details for each person. Griftin was a bit disappointed that this investigation had gotten off to a rocky start. He was hoping that something would revel itself and as he checked the time, he realized that the day was still young. He had two other places to go and hoped that his investigation in those areas would prove to be more fruitful.

As he was walking to Engineering, one of his security officers stopped him. They talked for a moment and the other officer left with a nod. There was a fourth place he now had to go to. The station gym, Zero Gravity. He's not entirely sure about what happened there, though he felt it would be very interesting to find out. However, he felt that right now it would be better to head to Engineering and get their statements, first, especially since it was just down the way.

Engineering seemed to be as slow as Medbay was this morning. “Chief,” Griftin said as he walked up to Borus.

“Good morning Lieutenant.” Borus looked up from his console for just a moment. “What can I do for you today?” He then continued his work.

“I received your report from this morning. I would like to have you tell me exactly what happened.”

Borus paused again.”Well, As I put in the report, when I got in this morning, I noticed a vent was out of place. After I fixed it, I did an inventory, like I do every morning, and noticed that one of my tools was missing.”

“Can you tell me which tool it was?”

“It was one of the tools we use to loosen and tighten various things around Engineering. Once I noticed it missing, I filed the report.”

“Was there anything else out of the ordinary that you can think of?”

“Not really.”

“Thank you Chief. I'm going to talk with your crew and ask questions.”

“You'll let me know what's going on?”

“Absolutely.” Griftin was met with nearly the same stories as the Med team. One person was at the pool and then went to bed, others were at various activities on the station and the rest were working. The over night crew was a small crew with only three or four officers working. If anyone was to sneak in, that would have been the best time for it. Griftin looked around Engineering to see if he could find anything different, perhaps something that might give the intruder away. As he examined the vent, he noticed a little bit of hair on the grate. Picking it up, he decided to see if Doctor Hass could identify it.

“Doctor, I found this is Engineering, could you please run a DNA scan to identify the perpetrator.” He asked as he walked back into Medbay.

“Of coarse. It's going to take some time, though.”

“Not a problem. I have two more places to go. Thank you Doctor.”

Giving pleasantries was something that Griftin had to learn to do. His species was not know for pleasantries, but he discovered that among other humanoid species, he was more likely to get them to cooperate with him if he were nice. Griftin had to head down thirty-one floors to get to the Promenade where the next theft happened. The Promenade was full today, mostly with off stationers running around, visiting and seeing what kind of deals they could get. 'This is more like it.' Griftin thought as he saw the numerous people scurrying about. Taking a quick look around for The Snack Shack, Griftin walked in that direction, dodging a child here and there. As he walked in, he heard a male voice say, “Welcome to The Snack Shack. Let me know if I can help in any way.”

“Hi. I'm Lieutenant Griftin, station security. I'd like to speak with the person in charge.”

“Just a moment please.” The employee left into the back for a moment and came out with a very short man. This man had a beard, trimmed nicely about two inches out.

“What can I do for you, Lieutenant?”

“I'd like to ask you about the theft this morning.”

“Lieutenant, I'm a busy man. I already put in the report.”

Realizing who he was talking to, Griftin got a little more aggressive. “Look, I'm a busy man too, but there are a few things that I need to take care of with this, or would you rather I just drop it?”

“Ask your questions.”

“What was stolen from your store?”

“A few drinks, a pie and some bread.”

“Was the vent tampered with in any way?”

“It was. It looked as if someone took it off and attempted to put it back on, they just did it a little wrong.”

“One more question and you can get back to your day.” He said in a slight aggressive tone. “I'll need to speak to your employees. How many do you have?”

“Lieutenant, that information is in the data base. Now I have to get back to work.” With that, he turned and walked away.

As soon as he was out of site, Griftin leaned in to the employee. “How can you stand working for that man?”

From the back of the shop, you could hear, “I HEAR YOU!”

Shaking his head, he continued to ask the employee various questions about the theft. After a few minutes of jotting down the information, he thanked the employee and left to the gym. Two levels up was the fitness floor, which held the Zero Gravity Gym, his final destination. Zero Gravity had a few customers in there working out on several of the machines. The machines were interesting to say the least, but Griftin could see that they would do the job needed. Griftin never felt the need to go to the gym, his job gave him all the exercise he needed. “Hi. I''m Lieutenant Griftin, station security. I'd like to speak with your manager please.” He said as he walked up to a trainer.

“The manager is not here right now, but if you are here about the break in this morning, I was the one who sent the report.”

“One of my officers let me know about your situation, but they weren't able to tell me the details.”

“There really isn't much to tell. One of the vents was messed with and one of the sonic showers was used.”

“A sonic shower? Interesting.” Griftin paused for a moment. “Thank you for your time.” Griftin had a lot to consider and think about. Before heading back to his office, Griftin stopped off at the Medbay to get the results of the DNA test he asked the Doctor to run. As he walked into Medbay he noticed Doctor Hass in her office.

“Ah Lieutenant, have a seat.” As Griftin sat, Hass pulled up the results. “The results are a little strange to say the least. The hair belongs to a female, however, there are no matches for anyone in the system.”

“Nothing came up?”

“Nothing.”

“That's strange. Is it possible that her information was erased some how?”

“Anything is possible, but I seriously doubt it. The system back up has back ups. She would have to go through a lot to erase her identity. Is she the perpetrator?”

“I'm not sure. But my curiosity is high on this one now.” Standing up, Griftin commented. “Thank you Doctor.”

“One more thing, Lieutenant, the woman is in her late twenties to early thirties. The machine, for some reason wasn't able to give me an exact age.” Griftin nodded as he exited Medbay. As he walked back to his office he payed close attention to everything around him. His office was quiet, except for the beeping that came from the computer. It was late now and Griftin felt that perhaps a good night sleep would do him some good and refresh his mind.

Chapter Two: It's The Little Things That Count

Lieutenant Griftin sat at his desk, putting the facts together. He looked at the notes he made during each discussion and found the items that were taken an interesting choice. A spray with some pain medications, a tool to fix things, some snacks and this person took a shower. Griftin thought at first that it could possibly be someone on the crew, but he quickly realized that it had to be someone that wasn't from around there. This woman had no identification which means she more likely didn't have a chip. She needed pain medication for something that was wrong with her and she was obviously hungry. She felt that she needed a shower. Griftin figured that their guest has probably been on the station for a while and was starting to get desperate.

Now that Griftin had pieced everything together, mostly, he would be able to be on the look out for a woman who was acting suspicious, though he didn't think she would be stupid enough to come out into the open in broad daylight. Griftin walked the station every day, at least the parts that humanoids are able to walk, and knew almost every face. He of coarse didn't know them by name, but the faces he recognized. His species was well known for their eidetic memories. If he saw any new faces, he would watch them just to make sure that they were legit. He would check them with all the registries, terminals and ports. He knew the faces. The names however, he could care less about.

Griftin knew what to look for when it came to suspicious physical activity, but he wanted to know more of what to look for, so he decided to get a psychological aspect of the situation. Counselor Møsálö's office was one floor down from his office and that is where he was headed. He hadn't actually met the Counselor yet, although he did a thorough check on her when she agreed to join, however, he didn't find anything on her and his gut instinct told him that she is trustworthy. “Lieutenant Griftin. It's a pleasure to see you.” She said, sensing he wasn't exactly in there for therapy. “How may I be of help?”

“Counselor, I have a situation that I wish to get more information on. I know what to look for physically, but I want to know the psychological aspect of this.”

“Please have a seat.” As he sat, she continued. “I can do my best, Lieutenant, I'm not an actual therapist.”

“Counselor,”

“Please, Call me Frëduh.”

“Frëduh, there are many definitions to the title, Counselor. You are in all rights, a Counselor. The situation I am dealing with is that we have a stowaway on board the station. She's been stealing things and using station or business facilities throughout her stay here. In your opinion, can you give me a psychological profile on the woman?”

“Well, from what it sounds like, she's been doing all this at night. She's probably sleeping during the day and probably somewhere that personnel would not think of going.”

“I think I know the place. When the engineers built the station they created a little spot that they used as storage. As they completed the station, they surrounded it with ducts as it was no longer needed.”

“That sounds like as good of a place as any.”

“Is there anything else I should know?”

“It is possible that she is desperate and what I mean by that, is she is in flight mode. She's trying to stay away from us as much as possible, so if she sees or hears you coming, she'll run. When you catch her, she could switch to fight mode, but no matter how it is with her, you need to handle this very carefully. She's probably frightened.”

“Thank you ,.... Frëduh.”

“Let me know if you need any more help.” Frëduh felt that informing him that she could help find her would not have gone well with him. He was determined to find her, yes, but he wanted to do it on his own.

There were several things Griftin could do from here and choosing the easiest and fastest way to locate her, he decided to crawl the station vents to see if his hunch was true. He did learn one other thing, so far, from this. This woman had to be small, because he barely fit in the vents and though he was a built guy, he wasn't large. Griftin arrived at the little room he described to Frëduh, thankfully, this room was a regular size room in height. He was right. The woman had been sleeping here and although she wasn't here now, she was recently. Griftin believed that she must have heard him coming and took off. There was a pillow and blanket on the floor that appeared to have been recently used. Next to the pillow were some snack wrappers from eaten snacks. The one thing that he did notice that didn't make any sense, were lines marked on the wall next to the pillow. There were two sections, one marked months and the other marked days. The months had one mark in it and the days had ten marks in it. He wasn't sure what that meant, but he was getting close to finding out.

There were only two ways in and out of the room and seeing how Griftin came in from one, he decided to crawl out the other. He felt things were going good until he came to a junction. He now had three choices to go. Griftin knew nothing of the vent system on the station and didn't want to spend the day lost, so he got on his comm and called for Borus. “Lieutenant Maad, I need some assistance.”

“What can I do for you, Lieutenant?”

“I'm in the vent system, chasing down the person responsible for the thefts. I'm at a junction and really don't want to spend the day in here trying to get out. Could you please direct me on how to get to Engineering?”

“Gladly. Where are you?”

“Do you know of the little room the engineers used to store things?”

“Yes.”

“I'm in the vent not far from it with a three way junction.”

“Okay, you'll want to take the right vent.” As Borus gave him the directions, he followed what Borus said. “You're going to come to another junction, go straight. In a few feet, you'll come to a vent that drops, take it. At the junction on the bottom, take a left and follow that straight into Engineering.” With those instructions, Griftin made it to Engineering quickly. As he climbed out of the vent, Borus stood waiting for him. “There you are. Did you have fun?”

Griftin looked at him with a bit of a snare. “Can you please send the station schematics to my office? Every part of it, especially, the vent system.”

“Already done.”

“Thank you Chief.” Griftin walked out of engineering, trying to keep his dignity intact. At his desk, in his office, he examined the vent schematics. Starting where the room was, he followed each vent to the different areas of the station that gave her access to every essential part; food, shower, medical, engineering, the Promenade, everywhere, including his office and The Control Center. Griftin was not to amused by this and felt that with this information, it was time to bring Colonel O'Connor up to date on what is going on.

“Lieutenant, that is a bit disturbing. The fact that someone could hide from us in this manner could cause all sorts of issues. At this moment, she is a risk to the station and she needs to be found.”

“Yes Colonel and I have some ideas, but I need your permission to implement them.”

“Which are?”

“I would like to reprogram station sensors to scan the vent system. It would show us through inferred if there is anything or anyone crawling around in them.”

“Why would you need my permission to do that?”

“Because it would also show around the vents, which means it would show in quarters, restrooms and showers.”

“No.”

“Sir.”

“I said no. That is invading the privacy of others. You'll need to find another way.”

“There is one other way, but I'll need to fabricate a lot of devices that I can place in the vents. They would send me video and let me know if someone or something is in the vents.”

“That sounds fine.”

“Sir, it will detect a fly. This system will have my men running around in circles through the vents.”

“Is there an way to program them to only detect humanoid life forms?”

“I suppose with Borus' and Doctor Hass' help we could. I could fabricate one and once the modifications are complete, we can fabricate it and place them in the vents.”

“Sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you. Get to it.” Tim said indicating to Griftin to head out. As Griftin stood, Tim commented, “And Griftin, thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

Griftin just nodded and headed out.

Chapter Three: B.I.N.G.O.

It took a better part of the day to fabricate and alter the device, fabricate the new version and place them in the hundred of spots in the vents. As Griftin explained to his crew, the range on these devices were roughly twenty-five feet and there were thousands of feet of vents so he had everyone spread out all over the station, with a few officers patrolling the station.

Once they were in place, he just needed to wait. Griftin was eager to learn the name of this individual and discover how she managed to fool them. Not many could fool Griftin and those who could, he respected. Sitting in front of the screen watching the devices proved to be something other then productive, it proved to be extremely boring. Griftin couldn't sit there anymore and got up to roam the station. He figured that he might as well do both with a pad in one hand that rotated through the camera of each device. As he walked, he noticed on one of the cameras the face of a female. She was close by and if he hurried, he would be able to reach her. Griftin ran to the vent that would connect to that camera, hoping to catch her in time.

He crawled through the vent as fast as he could, however, when he reached the spot, she was not there. Griftin's gut feeling told him to check the space where she was sleeping and he never ignored his gut. As he approached the spot, he could hear a females voice softly talking. He had her now. When he reached the spot, one of his female officers was softly talking into her comm to another officer. “Sir,” she said just as soft, “the female perpetrator was here. All of her things are missing.” Griftin looked around to see the room empty, except for himself and the other officer.

Softly speaking himself, he asked, “Any idea of where she could have gone?”

“We have officers at every exit on this floor, Sir. She won't escape.”

“What about the floor below us?”

“I didn't realize the vent's went to the floor below us.”

Griftin turned around and crawled as fast as he could through the vent he came in through, exiting on the same floor. After he had gotten out, he ran to a door next to the lift. Upon opening the door, a latter showed itself and he slid down the latter to the next floor. After exiting the latter, Griftin ran to the nearest vent cover, noticing it still on the ground. He picked it up, a little frustrated and then placed it back on the vent. “Lieutenant,” Frëduh said as she walked up to Griftin. “We're you able to catch her?”

“Not yet. She keeps giving us the slip.”

“Well, there is one good thing about that.”

“Which is?”

“She knows you're on to her.” He looked at her like that was the most ridiculous statement. “Seriously. She knows you're closing in and when anyone feels trapped or as if they're going to get caught any time, they tend to slip up and make mistakes. Watch for those mistakes.”

“You know, Frëduh, for someone who isn't really a therapist, you know an awful lot of the same things that they know.”

“Experience, Griftin. Before settling here, I traveled a lot and met a lot of very interesting people. However, if you'll please excuse me, I have a date with Borus.”

“Have fun.”

“Good luck, Griftin. Be patient, you'll catch her.” Griftin watched her walk away, wondering how someone so young could have that much experience with other species. Granted, she didn't act so young, but it was still a mystery to him.

Griftin decided to take her advise and head back to his office after getting something to eat. As he ate, he thought about everything Frëduh had told him about this mystery woman. He analyzed her pattern of action, and of what he already knew about her. He tried to think of what she might do next and a thought came to him. Griftin went for a little walk, around the Promenade. He went slowly, looking around, as he could sense that someone was watching him, but he couldn't tell from where. Then an idea came to him. Walking a little faster this time, he stepped into The 21^st Century and asked for the chef. The chef met with him and as they talked, the chef nodded his head a few times and then Griftin left. He had a plan and he hoped it would work.

Night crept up quickly and as shops and restaurants closed for the day, Griftin did one final check on everything. He didn't feel like he was being watched anymore so he put his plan into motion, sneaking into the restaurant that he felt this woman would raid from for food.

There were very few people left in the Promenade, which was normal for this time of night. Though there were little amount of people, if you listened carefully, you could hear noise coming from inside a restaurant called The Italian Job. The lights went on in the restaurant and in front of each possible exit was a security officer. “You know, you were very difficult to catch.” Griftin said to her. “You led me on quite a chase. I respect that.” The woman looked at Griftin and just threw her hands up, not saying anything. “I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I'm going to have to take you in.” Without a fight, the woman made fists, turned her arms upside down and placed her arms together, waiting to be cuffed. Griftin looked at her oddly and then escorted her to a cell.

As she was put in the cell, a plate of food was waiting for her. Griftin waved for her to eat up, hoping she understood him. As the cell doors closed, she went to eat, scarfing it down a little. Griftin wasn't sure what he wanted to do about her and figured he would give her food and rest and speak with her in the morning.

Chapter Four: Choices

Griftin couldn't stop thinking about his prisoner this morning. In many ways he felt bad for her, watching her eat last night he realized that she probably hasn't had any real food in days. What she did, she did to survive and although Griftin believed in being strict when it came to the law, he could understand why she did it. On his way into work, he stopped off at Frëduh's office hoping for her help again. “Good morning Frëduh. I managed to catch the woman last night and I was wondering if you would be willing to come in while I ask her questions? I've asked the Doctor to give her a check up in the cell and Colonel O'Connor is on the way.”

“Of coarse I will.”

When they arrived at the cell, Doctor Hass was already there giving her a check up. A guard stood at the door watching her carefully. Griftin and Frëduh waited for Doctor Hass to finish and come out so they could get more information from her. As Doctor Hass walked out the door, Tim walked up. “She has extreme malnutrition. I don't think she's eaten anything proper in over a month. She's dehydrated, deprived of proper sleep. Tim, I need to get her into Medbay to do a full proper examination on her.”

“I don't think you are going to be able to get her to cooperate.” Frëduh said.

“We'll see what we can do.” Griftin assured them. Tim and Hass waited outside and listened through the window. “Good morning Ma'am.” Griftin started. “I hope you slept well.” The woman just sat there looking at them. “I'm Lieutenant Griftin, Chief Security Officer of this station.”

Frëduh could sense that this was not going well at all. The woman was starting to feel uneasy, so she decided to take over. “Hi.” Her voice was sweet and calm. “I'm Frëduh Møsálö, station Counselor. I know you're terrified, among other things, but we're here to help you. I promise.” Frëduh could sense her emotions calming down. “Will you tell us your name and how long you've been here?”

“I came here during the festivities.”

“I see. Who are you?”

“I'm going to tell you right now that there is no way you're going to get my name, or any personal information from me. I don't care what country you're from and you can torture me all you want, I'd rather die than tell you who I am.”

Frëduh was able to hear Tim tell her, through thought, to ask her what year it is. “Could you tell me what year it is?”

“What?”

“What year is it?”

“It's twenty twenty-four.”

Tim opened the door and told them to come out. “I don't think we should try to get more information from her, at least not yet.”

“Tim,” Frëduh began, “I really think I should go in to talk to her more. The malnutrition is causing her to be delusional.”

“No, it's not. There is only one person who can get any information out of her.” Tim raised his arm, speaking to the Control Center. “Patch me through to Colonel Buck Rogers in New Chicago.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Over his comm Tim could hear Buck's voice. “This is Buck.”

“Buck, it's Tim O'Connor, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Sure Tim. What's up?”

“I have a stowaway up here that is refusing to talk to us and I think you would be able to help?”

“How will I be able to help?”

“When we asked her what year it was her reply was, twenty twenty-four.”

“I'll be right up.”

“Tim,” Frëduh was curious as to how this, Buck will be able to help. “How is this Buck going to be able to do something I can't?”

“Because Buck is from the year twenty twenty-four. Honestly, Frëduh, I think you will find Buck very interesting.” Frëduh took his word for it based on the feelings she was receiving. Tim waited in the starfighter bay for Buck to land. Both Buck and Sarah came out of Beatrix and walked towards him. “Buck, Sarah, thank you for coming so quickly. You didn't want to bring the kids?”

“They're staying with Auntie Wilma.” Buck replied. “Tell us what's going, Tim.”

They started walking to the security cell. “We came across a stowaway, who gave us a bit of a run a round. Steeling things and the like. We finally caught her, but all she told us is that she's been here since the festivities and she claims to be from the year you two are from. I'm hoping you can convince her to be more forth coming. One other thing, Buck, she's dehydrated and has extreme malnutrition.” As they reached the cell door, Tim turned to Buck and Sarah. “Buck, I have one more question. If she is from your time period, would you please tell me how many more you're expecting, just so we can prepare.”

With a laugh, Buck replied, “I can't say on anyone else coming, but we'll see what we can do about this one.” They stopped at the cell that the woman was in and paused for a moment. Looking through the window, Buck commented aloud, “You've got to be kidding me!”

Sarah leaned in past Griftin and Frëduh to see who was in there. “That can't be.”

Opening the door, Buck and Sarah went in. “Barbara? What are you doing here?”

Barbara had the largest confused look on her face? “Buck, Sarah? What are ..... You're supposed to be on the space station.”

“I'm guessing convincing isn't going to be a problem.” Tim remarked.

“Tim, this is Barbara Blithe. She's the wife, well, I guess was the wife of Full General Alexander Blithe, of the United States Air Force.”

“Wait, Buck. How did you get here and where exactly are we?”

“This is going to take a moment. Are you hungry? Do you want something to drink”

“Please, I'm starving.” Barbara commented rolling her eyes.

“First off, Barbara, we are in the year twenty-four ninety-two. Sarah, Gavin and I were frozen in hibernation in the station when the meteor shower hit Earth.”

“Meteor shower, What are you talking about?”

“Barbara, I'm going to tell you everything, but I need to know first, what do you remember?”

“Well, I was diagnosed with stage three cancer and when the doctor said that they couldn't do anything, Alexander put me into hibernation. That was in the beginning of October.”

“Of twenty twenty-four.”

“Yes. Just before you went up to the station.”

“I see. While you were in hibernation, the Earth was bombarded by several meteor showers. After the meteor showers, came floods then volcanoes. Earth was devastated and it's people left in ruins. They struggled to survive and through the following four hundred years they managed to build an amazing society.”

The food arrived for Barbara and was placed before her. Looking up at the person delivering her food, “Thank you.”

Buck continued. “When the shower hit the station, it caused the nitrous canisters to break open. The station was knocked towards the moon and came to rest on the dark side of the moon. Between the nitrous and the freeze of space, we were put in a hibernation. The people I work for revived us.”

“It sounds like a lot happened with you three.”

“A lot has, but we are all doing well.”

Barbara pointed to Bucks finger. “I noticed. You're married? To who?” Buck reached over to Sarah and pulled her close. “Really? Congratulations.”

“Thank you. Barbara, earlier you said that you have stage three cancer.”

“I do. They gave me a couple years to live.”

“They have a cure here. I'm going to personally make sure you get cured.”

“Thank you Buck.”

“Barbara, this is a lot to take in and it's going to hit you soon. I suggest that while you are waiting, you talk to a therapist about everything. I understand they have a pretty good Counselor on station.”

“I wouldn't say that I'm a therapist, though.” Frëduh said, stepping into the room.

Buck noticed right away that she was Cháköönì?n and the blade on her hand. “You're a Daughter of Triad, close enough.”

Frëduh looked at her oddly and instantly changed as Buck held up her blade. “You trust her Buck?” Barbara asked.

“With my life.” Buck smiled, looking at Frëduh and then at Barbara.

“Even though you just met her?”

“We have a special bond, but I'll go over that later. Right now, we need to get you healthy. I'd like to have the doctor give you a full check up. Will you do that for me?”

“Of coarse, Buck.”

“I'm going to see if my friend will watch the kids over night and we'll catch up after your exam. Okay?”

“I look forward to it Buck, with both you and Sarah.”

Buck looked up at Sarah and replied, “So do we.” She reached in to Barbara and gave her a hug.