It Ain't Easy...

[Kinsey Calhoun]

"Already done." She replied back as Jason joined her at the console.

"And you need to rest." Kinsey told Jack softly. "We can send Kassie's ship to check on Xenex."

[Jack Ryder]

"Kassie came? Bless that girl... she's pregnant. I... I think she is or she will be." Jack said as he staggered to his feet. "That's why I gave her that ship..." he supported himself against Kinsey and smiled slightly. "When we get home, I may need the Carly's to help me resort my memories the what is and what will be are mixing a bit too much at the moment. Or the what could be. I literally shoved an exploding star into a tube... with my mind." he looked at the twins. "Just think what you want the pod to do and it'll do it. Set a course for the Tigris, land us in the shuttlebay."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

"Oh I want to try to first!" Jason exclaimed excitedly.

"No I want to!" Mackenzie yelled.

Kinsey gave them both a glare and the twins fell silent as she helped Jack to one of the rooms to lay down. The second the door closed behind them she didn't bother hiding her concern as she helped Jack onto the bed.

"You're going to be fine." She told him though she wasn't sure if she was reassuring him or herself.

[Jack Ryder]

"I am." Jack said and half wondered if he was doing the same, reassuring her or himself. "Well that was bloody insane... never going to do that again. Even though I probably could... the things that go through your mind when you're facing your own mortality and those of your children around you." he looked at his hands. "I think we're more similar than we imagined before. I've touched a bit of that in your mind before, on Thessia... but this... it felt like... like I could touch the fabric of the universe." he closed his eyes. "When I was given this pod, he knew that I had this in me. He had it in him too and I used to wonder why he gave it up. If this is what it means to be... like me... this could be very scary and dangerous or very cool and helpful to a lot of people."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

"It'll still be scary and dangerous." Kinsey said as she looked away. "Every time I think I've hit the bottom of this power I have it's like the floor falls away and I can drop deeper. There are times I feel like I wont come back out. K'n'zy had no idea the power she possessed. What she did was only a fraction of it and it still scares me. What your describing is exactly how it feels and the more I use it the more I wonder where it came from."

[Jack Ryder]

"A mystery we may need to investigate a bit more now." Jack said as he held her hand. "I also discovered a few things about how that body of yours was created. Let's just say, it was a good upgrade."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

Kinsey raised an eyebrow, "Do I even want to know?"

[Jack Ryder]

"Maybe not but you bounced back extraordinary fast after you had Alex." Jack raised an eyebrow. "Not bad for basically giving birth for the first time all over again... "

[Kinsey Calhoun]

"I did have two people in my head. I had to do something to keep from going insane and to keep K'n'zy's hands off you." Kinsey smirked. "Unless you're trying to tell me it was part of my 'upgrade'. Considering who made this body lets not think to much about it. I don't want to think about why Tiberius would have made that upgrade."

[Jack Ryder]

"Oh it wasn't Tiberius." Jack replied. "Jackson made it, same with most of the clones that he had for Empress Lei and Tiberius and you. I had to make clones for Dominus, I may have made myself a back up or two... just in case. They... I don't think they made it out. They ran interference for us." he rubbed his temples. "Walker, the brunette I was with, partner in crime as it were. Don't worry, she's like old enough to be our mother. Like I said, I was a 'good boy' in that sense at least, as if anyone could ever compare to you."