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Cooper is sprinting out to the parking lot towards Rachel's car. He almost tackles Anne, but she yells at him and gestures towards her clothes. To my surprise, he actually sets her down and gives her a big hug. If I were to ask him not to knock me over because I was in a nice suit, he would still toss me into a mud puddle.

I jog over quickly as Rachel gets out of the car. She looks stunning, I've never seen these clothes before. She smiles widely at me as she brings me in for a hug.

"You look incredible. Are these new?" I say to her as I give her a quick kiss on the lips. She has some of her hair put back so you can see her earrings.

"Yes, thank you, you don't look too bad yourself in your uniform." She places a hand on my chest and grins mischievously. I laugh and swing her around so she's at my side.

"Alright you two turtle doves, are you ready?" Cooper asks as he picks Anne up around the waist and carries her inside. He's carrying her under his arm like a basketball.

"Cooper, put me down!" she's yelling at him and playful hitting his stomach. He doesn't listen and continues on. Rachel begins laughing next to me as we follow them inside. It's never boring with Cooper around, that's for sure.

I reach down and grab Rachel's hand to guide her to the field where the test is being held.

"How was the rest of your day?" I ask her. "How was it having Anne around?" She smiles and shares stories from her day as we walk, but I have trouble following the details.

She's probably just tired, it's the end of the work week.

She starts to mention something about her principal having her baby and getting a temporary replacement, but we arrive at the field before she can finish.

"Alright, you and Anne are going to be here." I lead Rachel to a small open building in the field.

It's one of the view sites we use whenever we perform demonstrations out here for investors. It has a large glass window that's impenetrable in case any debris makes it this far out past the site. Cooper and I give them safety goggles and noise canceling headphones.

"Can you hear me?" Cooper yells as loud as he can.

I cover my ears and shove him. Anne giggles and shakes her head no. I give Rachel another quick kiss on the lips before I head over to the control station with Cooper.

It's about the same distance away from the test site as the open bunker, just on the left side. This bunker is also open on the sides and has a larger glass viewing window. The sky behind the field is bright blue, and there's not a cloud in sight.

"Alright crew, let's get ready," Tran says through our headsets as he gets in front of the control panel.

"FIVE!" I look out into the field at the space habitat. It's a metal structure that's about ten feet long and is rectangular in shape.

"FOUR!" We need to blow it up to collect a specific data point. That data point tells us whether or not the material is going to perform under space applications.

"THREE!" I look over at Rachel and Anne. They're staring out into the field.

"TWO!" I turn my attention back to the habitat.

"ONE!" Tran presses the button and the center of the structure starts to expand into an explosion. The ground rumbles as a cloud of tan dust fills the air. Debris from the habitat is scattered across the field. The dust starts to settle against the ground and everyone begins cheering. A long piece of white paper is spilling out of the machine with the measurements from the explosion.

We wait a few minutes before getting the all clear from Sokolov, and Cooper waves over Anne and Rachel. I see them put their gear away and head out of the bunker towards us. They have to step over a few pieces of debris as they make their way over.

Tran continues reading the paper. He looks pleased at first, but then his expression suddenly shifts.

"Wait a second," Tran says as he pauses on a section of the data. "Send them back! Now!" he yells out to them but it's too late.

The ground begins to shake again and there's a larger, secondary explosion from the space habitat. It sends additional debris flying out into the field. There's even more dust than before and I can't see anything outside the bunker.

"Rachel!" I yell out. My heart is pounding in my ears. I hear Cooper shout Anne's name too. We start to run out, but Tran and Sokolov grab us.

"We've gotta wait until the site is cleared, you can't run out there!" they yell at us.

I'm trying to break out of Tran's grip, but I can't. He boxes in his free time and it shows.

Oh god, I hope that they're okay.

I try to focus on my breathing, but I can't think about anything other than getting to Rachel. Cooper manages to break free and sprints out into the clouds.

"Someone stop him!" I feel Tran's grip on me loosen slightly and I take advantage.

I run after Cooper, ignoring the rest of the crew shouting at us. The dust is still about a foot high when I make my way over to Rachel. She and Anne are huddled together on the ground, covered in the sandy cloud that has coated everything.

"Lucas!" Rachel yells, coughing into her elbow. I can see some streaks of blood on her arm.

"Oh my god, Rachel. Are you okay?" I grab her hands and start checking her all over. She has small cuts on her arms , but I don't see anything else.

"I'm fine, Lucas. I promise," she mumbles hoarsely. I can feel her hands shaking. I pull her in gently for a hug and let out a deep sigh of relief as I hold her in my arms. A bunch of other crew members and medical staff come over to us with first aid kits.

"What the hell were you two thinking?" Tran scolds us as he opens up the kit. "What if there was another explosion?" he adds as he begins to clean off Anne's arms. She has similar cuts, and I don't see Cooper inspecting her anymore.

"Y'all must be crazy if you thought I was just going to let you hold me down like a wild animal when my wife was out here in danger." Cooper's face is the most serious I've ever seen. He has an arm draped protectively over Anne's shoulders. She rests her head on his shoulder and he follows.

"Sorry, Tran. But he's right," I say as I grab some supplies out of the kit for Rachel.

"I know. I would've done the same thing. We all would've," Tran continues as he patches up Anne. "You guys can head home after we get them all patched up. Sokolov and I will try to figure out what happened."

I nod at him in appreciation and guide Rachel over to the concrete half wall that surrounds the entrance to the building. I clean off Rachel's arm with some water to get the dust off. She winces slightly but holds still for me.

"I'm sorry, this is going to hurt," I pat her cuts with the alcohol soaked gauze. She bites her lip, but doesn't say anything.

She's always been so tough.

I hold her hand as I finish disinfecting the cuts on her arms. I wrap them in white bandages and look up at her tenderly.

"Rach, I'm really sorry that you got hurt today." My voice catches as I try not to cry. I have been shot into space in a rocket four times now, but I have never felt the fear that I felt in that bunker. She puts her other hand on top of mine and rests her head gently on my shoulder.

"I knew you would come and get me," she says quietly.

I smile against her head and hold her close. We sit there for a few minutes before Anne and Cooper walk up to us. Rachel sits up, wincing slightly. Anne immediately runs over to hug Rachel. There are tears forming in both of their eyes.

"We're okay, it's okay," Rachel whispers as she rubs Anne's back.

I look over at Cooper. His eyes are sad, and I have never seen his face look so long. He meets my gaze and shakes his head slightly.

"What do you brave ladies want to eat for dinner tonight? I'm buyin'," he says as he gestures between them. Rachel chuckles as she and Anne pull away from each other. They lock eyes for a moment, as if they're trying to telepathically decide what they want.

"Sushi?" they say at the same time. We all laugh and start to head towards the parking lot. I toss Cooper my truck keys.

"You can drive my truck home with Anne," I shout. Cooper catches my keys and nods.

"I won't go too fast," he chuckles as he hops in. "We will pick up supper!"

I hold out my hand and gesture for Rachel to hand me the keys to her car. She's already grabbing them out of her purse.

Our drive home is mostly silent, and I hold Rachel's hand the whole way. She's still shaking a little bit.

"Are you okay?" I ask her gently. "I mean, I know you're not okay, because that was terrifying," I add awkwardly and clear my throat. "I just mean, are you okay?" I ask again, hoping she understands. She smiles at me weakly and squeezes my hand.

"Yes, I'm okay. Thank you for rescuing me," she mutters quietly as she appears to drift off to sleep.

"I shouldn't have had to rescue you from anything," I say defeatedly.