"I think we're almost ready." Pepper leaned back in the chair that they'd taken from the flight ready room of the Atlantis. Much of the equipment from that ship was being repurposed now as daily trips from all the pilots made salvage runs up there, with help from Abby and Yasmin, the remining members of Jason's team. "We're in pretty good shape here if we want to try to make contact with the foxes."

"I'm betting they already know we're here. The ships taking off and landing for the last few months have surely been seen, but they haven't come over."

Pepper snorted. "Would you? They're probably terrified of the noise. No, we need to make the first move."

"You've been amazing, honey." Vanessa knelt next to the blonde, hugging her tightly. "Are you sure you don't want to relax a little? We don't have to rush everything. I know we need to get more help here."

Pepper nodded wearily. "I guess that maybe we can wait a week? I'm pretty tired," she admitted. "This baby is gonna take a lot out of me." She would never ask someone to do anything that she wouldn't try to do herself, so she had taken it upon herself to try the first baby sperm donor making attempt here on their new planet. Some of the other couples still did it the old fashioned way, but Pepper knew many women would try what she was doing. Working with Lily, she had lain in the medical bed, letting it do the normal tune up on her, then Vanessa held her hand as Lily used the applicator to get the donor sperm into her. Once that was done, they closed up the bed, and turned it back on. They thought it was a good sign that the second time in the medical bed took almost an hour, and they hoped that it had indeed done what they hoped. A week later, a blood test confirmed that Pepper was pregnant, and she and Vanessa were thrilled.

But now she was perpetually exhausted.

Fluffy little James, the squirt named after Jason's last name, jumped into her lap, curling up and giving a satisfied squeak as it got comfy. Pepper couldn't help but smile at the little creature, one of the many things about their new home that continued to delight them. For instance, nights took some getting used to. There was no moon, since they were the moon, but on many nights, it never got too dark as the bulk of the massive gas giant still reflected enough light to go outside and see just fine. On other nights, the giant was to either the east or west, and just provided an astounding view. But the best nights were when the gas giant was between them and the sun, blocking all of the light, and the sky was filled with a stunning view of the stars in constellations that they were still struggling to name. They were already wishing they had some of the advanced orbital telescopes from Earth, and the astronomers to use them.

Naming some of the other things, like calling the town New Atlantis, were too easy. Everyone agreed on that, just because it was so fitting based on all that they had discovered. But they were holding off on other names, just because they wanted to know what the foxes had called the same features, like the ocean and the planet.

As far as constructing the town itself was concerned, they had done a good job so far, but it didn't seem as though the work would ever end. The craters that were scattered around the island, as well as the mountains to the northeast, provided plenty of stone, and the laser cutters made it easy to cut the rock into uniform rectangles. But it was still time consuming, and the stone still had to be transported back to the city to be used. Like many people, Pepper and Nessa were living in a cargo container, as they had flatly refused to be the first ones with a house. Pepper wanted to concentrate on buildings for a school that had room to be expanded, an outdoor amphitheater for music and a central square for gathering and dancing. In their mind, keeping everyone's morale up was critical to not only their survival, but also keeping their new settlement thriving. That was much more important than their house.

So far it had worked well for everyone.

It seemed like every night people were meeting together to eat, dance, sing, and play instruments. Several had brought guitars, and Jason had somehow put two upright pianos in one of the cargo containers without them knowing, and so they didn't lack entertainment. Quite a few people had been gymnasts or dancers when younger, and many had no problem demonstrating those skills.

At the moment, they had more teachers than they had students, as most of the people who had joined them were young and single with no kids or were still in high school. Bree, Rosie, and Finn were the only ones under the age of ten, and they had already started school. Some others, like Lexi who had come with Emma and Viv were in their late teens, and they were deciding what they wanted to learn. The best thing was that the computers that Jason had sent had thousands of test plans and online courses to choose from, even if there was no internet access. Even some of the adults were eager to expand their knowledge. Many of the people who had hobbies like knitting or sewing could easily use those skills once a good source of fabrics was discovered.

But with all that, the mantle of leadership weighed heavily on Pepper. There was supposed to be a council, but all the pilots were up in space most days scavenging as much as they could before they explored the surroundings, and Vanessa was usually out and about making sure that she could talk to the people and see what they needed. That was a necessary task, but Pepper was terrified that when she was stuck making plans with no input, that she was doing the wrong thing.

Vanessa helped her wife to her feet and led her to their bed. Pepper smiled as she helped her out of her clothes, they joined her under the sheets while James bounded up and curled up on their pillow. "Come on, you need to relax. Working too hard isn't going to help with our little peanut."

"I know, but I don't think I can stop, Nessa. Maybe we need more people helping here. I understand Miles is the best one for salvage, and Lena will want to be there with him. But can't we keep Xavier and Emily down here? I don't know why she isn't resting more, she's a lot further along than I am. I can understand Lena being nervous about Earth coming to attack too, but that can't happen for at least four years with their slower ships, and that's assuming they get their act together. We should be able to rotate three of the smaller ships up there and let them explore in eight hour shifts while still keeping an eye on the system."

"Honey, turn off that big, beautiful brain of yours for a while, okay?" Nessa leaned over, kissing her lovely wife before running her hands over her body. "Let me relax you, then tomorrow we're going to try to take a lot more off your plate. I don't want you working this hard, even without being pregnant. We'll find more people to help you out, I promise."

Pepper rolled over onto her side and looked into the hazel eyes of Nessa. She smiled at the thought of just what method she might use to relax her. "Well, I am pretty stressed, as you can tell. Do you have any way that you could make me limp as a noodle? Perhaps you could have me forget all about the worries I've had all day?"

Vanessa chuckled as she gently held Pepper in her arms. She knew that there was a lot of pressure on her wife, and seeing her struggle made her vow to ensure that didn't happen anymore. There were some brilliant people on the trip with them, and any number of them could be used to delegate tasks to, so that Pepper stayed happy and healthy. Everything happening right now was due to the discoveries and drive of the blonde, and she deserved to enjoy this experience as much as everyone else was.

But in the short term, she knew exactly how she could make sure her wife was nice and relaxed. "How about we get naked, and I remind you how good I can make you feel? I could use some good snuggles, and I bet you could use that too. And then I bet you could use something more."

Pepper sighed as Vanessa's hands ran up and down her back, and she knew that her wife would take care of her in just the way she needed. "That sounds pretty perfect actually."

"Let me help you out of your clothes then." Vanessa quickly stripped Pepper out of everything, then herself as well, then pressed her body up against her wife's. They both let out a happy sigh as their skin heated up, making them relaxed just at the touch of the other. "We need this more often."

Pepper hummed in agreement. "Yes, we do. I love it when you hold me like this." It was just what Pepper needed, the perfect amount of relaxing intimacy that immediately put her at ease. She let her body go limp as Vanessa let her fingers wander over her back, butt, legs, and sides to make intricate patterns. They didn't make sense, but they were soothing her mind and letting it drift to happy places.

Those places may have been a little naughty, or so it seemed, when her body began to respond to those touches in other ways after a while. Her nipples perked up, and the next time Vanessa ran her hands over Pepper's ass, she let out a little whimper.

"That sounds like you're ready for a little more. Are you feeling up to it, or would you rather nap?" Vanessa asked softly.

"More, please. But maybe be gentle?" Pepper said with a soft sigh.

"Of course. I got you, honey." Keeping their bodies pressed tightly together, Vanessa hooked her hand behind Pepper's thigh, and draped it over her waist so that she could more easily reach the lovely treasure between her thighs. Using soft strokes, she ran her fingers deftly through the dampened folds of Pepper's center and got several soft sighs in reply.

"Oh, Nessa... That feels wonderful."

"Just relax, honey. I'll take care of you. Just enjoy it, and then we'll let you get a nice sleep." With her fingers nice and wet now, she moved them up to Pepper's sensitive little nub and began to slowly rub it with just the right amount of pressure. The effect was just what she wanted, as Pepper began to let out soft moans of pleasure before sinking her teeth into Vanessa's shoulder to keep herself from screaming. They'd been doing this same thing for a while now because Pepper didn't bite too hard, and it allowed them to be sneaky when there were too many people to provide privacy.

Picking up speed, Vanessa kept up her ministrations to bring Pepper closer and closer to her much needed release. "That's it, honey. Let me feel you come for me, okay? You know you need it, just let go. Then after you have a nice sleep, we can be a little rougher."

"Yes... Oh, yes..." Pepper moaned as shudders began to rock her body. As slow and gentle as her Nessa was, she could always feel the buildup, and knew that this was going to be a good one. "Nessa... Baby... I'm so close!"

"Look at me, honey. I want to watch you." Vanessa directed. Pepper moved her head back and looked up at her with wide eyes brimming with unbridled pleasure. "Oh, damn you look like you're there. This is a big one, isn't it? Let it go, honey."

As though that was the key to unlocking everything, Pepper felt her whole body quake, and her mouth opened to scream before Vanessa captured all the sound with a kiss. It took a minute, but Pepper was completely spent, and by the time her orgasm subsided, so did her consciousness.

Vanessa gazed at Pepper with a blissful smile. She'd done so much already, and she needed this. Maybe tomorrow, they could start to take things off her plate to give her more time for this. They couldn't spend so much time directing the settlement that they lost track of each other, or their mental health would suffer.

No, this was just the first of many steps needed to keep themselves happy, along with keeping everything running smoothly.