Summary: He would have taken one happily. Two was just everything from his wildest, unspoken dreams. 4th of my 9-strong tag-on series. Spoilers for 'The Long Reach' (22/02/2020). Each piece can also be read as a stand-alone.

And this is a continuation of my nine strong mini-series, based on the series final, of which I have also copied this intro to save my tired typing fingers! I debated with myself long and hard as to the format for these uploads, but decided in the end each needed to stand on its own as opposed to in a big group. All that's left to say is enjoy!

Life Signs – John

It felt like his heart was breaking along with that planetoid.

It felt like his lungs had just breathed in the vacuum of space and met their end.

It felt like his head was empty of all words and knowledge, leaving him with little idea of what to say and little idea of what to do.

Except to sit here, and stare at the holoscreen, and hope.

What else was there he could do? Scott had said he knew, knew he needed to turn around and thus was on his way back, right?

John was trying to think through the multiple possibilities which could have slowed that return, but none of them ran through his head without correcting to stopped that return and… well, the prospect of coming all this way to find Dad, and losing Scott along with him… that was no prospect at all.

That was a nightmare. This was all turning into a nightmare!

But then he saw it, the little blue dot of a life sign, and he knew Scott would be okay. Scott would make it back to them through thick and thin, but- impossible! No, not impossible, improbable.

He was thinking of Scott, of course he was, but that didn't mean he wasn't also thinking of Dad, when he saw with immense solace,

"Two life signs!"

And it looked like it was staying that way.