An Emotional Farewell

After dinner, Joshua invited Henry to stay in their spare room until his transport came back for him.

Henry tried refusing, but Joshua insisted. Very strongly.

After a few back and forths, Henry gave up and accepted. He only had two days left to wait, anyway; he might as well indulge in the hospitality offered to him.

Over the two days he stayed there, he learned a little more about Joshua's background. As he had expected, the man was a retired special ops agent, just like him.

Hence, the ease he had to sneak up on him at their first encounter. They talked very little about the deployments he had in the past, non-disclosure applying, and also not wanting to re-live some terrible memories.

Henry didn't push either.

The days passed quickly, and Henry soon received a coded transmission from his pilot, Jackson. The man was in orbit, in stealth mode, waiting for Henry to send the pickup coordinates.

Henry sent him coordinates for just outside the cave and gave a heads-up to Joshua. The father sighed before walking into his house.

The time for goodbyes had come.

Joshua disappeared for a few minutes into his office, coming back out with a small box. Henry recognized the format of the box and smiled.

The family and Henry walked out of town together, Joshua holding his little box tightly. After walking to the coordinates for extraction, Joshua knelt before his son.

He put his hand on his son's shoulder, squeezing it a little and smiling.

"The contents of this box will keep you safe in your endeavours. They will also keep you sane from the difficulties to come.

"Always remember where you are from. You will always have a place to return to if you ever feel the need to leave that life behind," Joshua told his son, tearing up a little.

Henry watched from the side, smiling. He wished he had the time to send off his son like that, too.

Unfortunately, fate had decided otherwise. His thoughts drifted toward space for a brief moment, hoping his son was still alive and well.

Jhonny was crying now, realizing he wouldn't see his family for a long time. He hugged his mother and father, snotting all over them.

"I'll come back to see you. I promise!" he said, between tears and a snort.

"We will be waiting," His mother calmly responded, a tear rolling down her cheek.

What a strong woman, Henry thought.

"I'll keep him safe, Ma'am, Sir. I'll make sure he comes back home alive before you die of old age," Henry said half-jokingly.

It alleviated the heavy atmosphere a little, making Joshua chuckle between two silent tears.

As he finished saying that, the sound of engines roaring started to be heard coming from overhead. The ship had arrived; It was time to leave.

Jhonny jammed the gift from his father into his bag and threw it over his shoulder. Henry and Jhonny walked towards the ship as the pilot landed on the small opening.

The ramp slowly lowered for them to get on. They boarded the ship, and Jhonny turned to give his last goodbye as the ramp closed.

The ramp shut, and the ship slowly lifted off. This was the last he would see of his planet and family for a long time.

Henry pulled on Jhonny a little and sat him in a crash seat. He buckled up the kid before liftoff and sat himself down, repeating the process on his seat.

The ship then shook and rocked for a few minutes before finally becoming calm again. When the ship calmed down, Henry unstrapped himself and Jhonny and stretched.

"So this is it? We are off planet Earth?" Jhonny asked.

"Yep. That's it. We are already in space, so if you want to see Earth from high up, come with me to the cockpit," Henry waved at him, walking towards the front of the ship.

They walked up to the cockpit, Henry saluting Jackson and sitting in the co-pilot seat. Jackson frowned at the sight of another passenger and questioned Henry with his eyes.

"I know. He's not supposed to be there. If you get questioned, just say I forced you to keep quiet. I'll take responsibility for him," Henry waved at him.

"Your funeral, boss," Jackson said, looking back in front and minding his own business.

They talked leisurely while they flew towards the hidden space gate. Jhonny stared outside the window, gawking at every planet they passed.

This was all new to him, and he was letting all the scenery sink in. But it got even worse when they traversed the star gate.

The kid went bonkers: all those new stars and weird-coloured planets.

Jhonny was gushing like a teenage girl in front of her favourite pop star. It made Henry laugh.

When they finally reached close orbit to Tera Nova, Henry asked Jackson to drop them at his place instead of camp. He didn't want people to see the kid getting out of the ship.

Jackson nodded, knowing this wasn't his call to make. It wasn't like it was rare for agents to ask for a specific point drop-off, so he didn't care.

They flew over the camp and into the woods leading to Henry's little cabin. Jackson made a low hover over the road, and Jhonny and Henry jumped down from the ship.

The drop wasn't very high, so they never hesitated.

Henry walked towards the cabin, and Jhonny followed suit. Once inside, Henry finally relaxed.

"Ahh, home sweet home," he said, sniffing the stale air from his house.

"You live here?" Jhonny asked hesitantly.

"Yes, and so do you, now," Henry answered.

He directed the kid to a spare room and left him to unpack. He went into his room and did the same.

After unpacking, he went to Jhonny's room and asked him to follow him. Henry brought Jhonny downstairs to the secret room.

He knew Landon would be waiting for him there, and delaying the meet-up was of no use.