Page 13 of Holiday with the Aliens

She watched Dash hurry out of the dock and wondered what the hell she was supposed to do now. The rational part of her brain said she was wasting an hour by letting him try and find another ride off the moon, and it tried to pipe up that she’d wasted an entire night. But her body was still satisfied, even if her mind was in torment, and she couldn’t regret last night.

She followed Dash out of the dock at a more sedate pace, heading towards the terminal where passengers were arriving and getting ready to depart. She glanced at the ticketing machine but didn’t walk over to see if there were seats on any flights heading towards Earth. She’d promised him an hour, she wasn’tgoing to torture herself by looking for other alternatives until that time was up.

Shereallyhoped he came up with something, she wasn’t ready for their time together to end. She had plans for that man, damn it, and one night wasn’t enough. She didn’t think a few more nights would be enough, either, but it was what she’d have to satisfy herself with.

Plonking herself down in a chair in the terminal, she tried not to think about all the things that had gone wrong. She tried not to worry that Dash wouldn’t be able to find them a way off the freaking moon. She was so close! She could literallyseeEarth if she looked out of one of the base’s windows, but it was still too far.

“Mama! Mama!” A child’s screeching voice cut through her thoughts, and Ro looked to see a little girl running at full bore down the central aisle to where a tall woman with bright pink hair was beaming. The woman opened her arms and the girl jumped into them.

“Auntie Ro! You’re here!”She could almost imagine Lee doing the same thing, running and bouncing towards her. But he would be bigger than the little girl now, and he might not even recognize her after all these years. They’d spoken by comm, but it was different seeing someone in person.

Her heart kicked at the thought. She was happy on Mars most of the time, well and truly happy, even if she spent a lot of those days alone. Until she’d met Dash and felt how it could be with someone who justgother, she hadn’t considered it a negative. She didn’t want to move back to Earth, find some guy, and pump out a dozen little ones, that wouldn’t make her complete. But seeing the happy families all around and knowing that she’d stayed away from hers for so long made her wonder what she was missing out on.

And it was like fate was punching her in the face, insisting that no matter how hard she tried, she’d keep screwing up. Her family had already given up on her. May didn’t believe she’d make it, and now with the broken ship it was looking less and less likely that she would.

Please come through again, Dash.

“LME Shuttles has five open seats on the 3PM flight to New York. See your nearest ticketing station to claim a ticket.” The speaker cut through, and if that wasn’t a sign from the heavens, Ro didn’t know what was. But a look at the time said Dash still had fourteen minutes to get them situated. In fourteen minutes those seats were bound to be gone. Would it be so bad to buy one? She could give the ticket up if Dash came through.

No.

Ro had given him a chance and she’d keep her end of the deal. But she’d feel a lot better if he was with her. Or if she had any idea of how he planned to get them off the moon.

Where was he?

Could she trust him?

Thirteen minutes left to see.

When did Lunar Base Alpha get so big? Dash sprinted down the hall and finally came to the cramped office he was looking for. He’d put all his hopes on the crew being here, and the light peeking out from under the door suggested that he might just be lucky.

The door slid open when he stepped in front of the sensor, and the dark-skinned woman with bright purple hair behind the desk smiled up at him. “I didn’t expect to see you, cousin. It’s a pleasure.”

Dash sucked in a breath. He could run dozens of kilometers without an issue, but he’d basically forgotten how to breathe in his desperate sprint. He hunched over and held up a finger, needing a moment to get himself back under control.

“Yes,” Ettie said, sarcasm dripping off her words, “I’ll wait here, I’m not busy at all this time of year.”

Dash pulled in one last shuddering breath and grinned. “I was hoping you’d be here.”

She leaned back and propped her legs up on the desk. “I gathered that, seeing as you set your lungs on fire to do it.”

“When are you shipping out and where are you going?” He didn’t have time to banter. It had taken far too long to cross the station, and he wasn’t sure Ro would actually give him every second that he’d asked for.

“Last I checked, you had a ship of your own. We all do.”

Cousinwas, perhaps, not the correct term to refer to Dash and his relatives. His and Ettie’s mothers had been sisters, but they had other cousins spread throughout this part of the galaxy that had a much more nebulous connection to them. But they all had similar talents and a desire to spread cheer.

“Ship needs parts. And I’ve got an emergency passenger that needs to get to Earth. Was hoping that you’re on your way there.” He needed to do this for Ro, needed to prove he could be what she needed before she slipped through his fingers. Now that he’d had a taste of her, he didn’t know if he’d be able to let her go.

“So you want to pass this passenger over to me? I can manage a seat. Just so happens we’re leaving for Florida tonight.”

Dash had to tamp down on his urge to jump for joy. But it was music to his ears. “I’m going with. Can you manage two seats? She has to get to Minnesota by the end of the week, but we can take it from there.”

Ettie narrowed her eyes. “Why do you need to go with? And do you really think I have two spare cabins? I’m not flying a cruise liner.”

He didn’t blush, but it was a close thing. Would Ro care if Ettie knew about them being… together?Werethey together? He didn’t sleep with people casually, and he was almost certain Rowan was his mate. As far as he was concerned, they were the real deal. But they probably needed to have a conversation about that before he went singing it from the rooftops. “We can share quarters,” he finally said, “and you know I can get a flight any time I need it.”

Ettie swept her legs off the desk and leaned forward. “What’s so special about this passenger? I know you go out of your way to get the job done, we all do, but this seems above and beyond.”

---