Five Days Later

"Y ou finally got connected?" Ami asked.

"We've had tech issues this whole time, Ami. It's not just me trying to talk to you. The ship's power was down. We got it back up, but we've had monitors and machines on the fritz and people working around the clock to get things fixed."

"What? Are you okay?"

"We're fine. We had backup power for the necessities. We've just done more fixing the ship than actual archaeology."

"Babe, come home, then. What's the point of having you there?"

"I'm helping."

"Fix machines?"

"Yes, machines I've used a million times that I know how they work. And the ones I don't, I can still lend a hand by holding a screwdriver or something."

"So, you're just going to be out there for another fifteen days fixing things?"

"No, we're back on now, so we'll have an ROV over the ship we're looking at later tonight. Felicity will handle that, and I'll take over in–"

"Did you just say Felicity?"

"Yeah, she's here."

"Felicity Saunders is there with you, on the boat?"

"It's Dr. Saunders now. But yes, she's here."

"Did you know she was going to be there?" Ami asked.

"No. They had to call her after they called me because I didn't accept right away. I didn't know they'd just ask her to come, too, until I got on board. Then, everything started to break."

She stared at her wife on the computer screen before lifting her eyes to the door to her cabin. Felicity had gone to grab something to eat, so Rosie figured she had at least fifteen minutes to talk to Ami before Felicity returned.

"How is she?"

"Good. She's good."

"You two are catching up, I suppose?"

"A little. We don't really have much time because she's covering nights, and I'm on days. "

"Nights? What can you see at night?"

"We run ROVs at the bottom of the ocean, where it's dark no matter what, so it doesn't matter when we work. It also lets us get twice as much work done, so now that we're behind, I'm really glad they had the foresight to bring both of us."

"I'm sure," Ami replied.

The metal door opened then, and Felicity stood there, holding on to a tray.

"Hey, I grabbed you something, too, because they had that–" The woman paused. "Oh, sorry. I'm interrupting something."

"Is that…"

"Yeah, it's Felicity. Felicity, I was just talking to Ami now that we're finally able to get the internet working."

"Sorry, I can go."

"Just dropping by?" Ami asked.

Rosie looked back at her wife, who was clearly irritated, and said, "We're roommates, technically. Felicity was just grabbing food and, apparently, got me something, too."

"I'll give you some time," Felicity said.

"Five minutes?" Rosie asked.

"Sure," Felicity replied and turned to go.

"Five minutes?" Ami asked after the door closed. "I haven't talked to you in five days, and I only get five more minutes?"

"It's her room, too, Ami. She needs to sleep."

"Why are you sharing a room, exactly?"

"Smaller boat," she replied.

"You know she liked you, right?"

"What?" Rosie asked.

"Felicity. You had to know."

Rosie swallowed and said, "What are you talking about?"

"Rosie, she had those goo-goo, in-love-with-my-teacher eyes whenever you were around. I saw it all the time."

"I was never her professor."

"Whatever you want to call it."

"Well, even if that's true, she knows I'm married. And for all I know, she's married too."

"You haven't asked her?"

"We haven't had a lot of time to just talk. I told you, things have been crazy here. And I'm sure Felicity is over whatever crush you might have thought she had back then. It's been years. "

"It wasn't a crush. It was the reason I…"

Rosie tilted her head and said, "The reason you what?"

"The reason I stopped by that morning."

"What morning?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"I overheard her on the phone, talking to a friend. She admitted her feelings for you to that friend, and they talked about how you were going to be home for four months and how that would be the best time for Felicity to tell you how she felt and ask you out. I stopped by the following morning to ask you to talk."

"You… You only did that because Felicity might have asked me out?"

"No, I did that because I still loved you, and when I'd run into you months earlier, you hadn't moved on yet, and I knew she liked you. That morning, I stopped by because I thought it might be my last chance to get you back."

"I didn't know that," she replied, thinking that she had known it in a way, but that vision or whatever it was hadn't made much sense to her back then, so she'd doubted it.

"It doesn't really matter anymore."

"No, I guess it doesn't."

"You have to go, don't you?" Ami asked.

"Yes, but I'll try to call you in a few days."

"You said you needed time. I don't want to be some chore for you. Just do whatever you need to do. We'll talk when you get back."

"Ami, I–"

"It's okay. Really. I mean it. It's not a trap. Just be there. Do your work. We can talk when you get home."

"Okay. Thank you," she replied.

"I love–" The video went out, as did the internet connection, before Ami could finish.

Rosie closed the laptop and moved to lie down on her bed. The door opened partway.

"You can come in. Sorry about that."

"It's okay. She's your wife. You need to talk to her. This week has been intense."

"Yeah, you could say that."

"I got you the cookies you like," Felicity shared and dropped a bag of cookies onto the bed next to Rosie. "You don't look good. You okay?"

"Not really, no," she said honestly.