"The Potomac."

"I hope the Potomac contains food and so on for our trip to Davlia; I don't think it's anywhere near Niamh."

"Of course it does."

"Did you pick it out in advance or did it just happen to still be available?"

"In advance, of course. This was a very well-planned operation," he says.

"Oh, good. I will stop worrying about being caught, then."

"Probably better not. I can make it safer but I can't make it safe."

"All right. She'd want me to really be safe, not just to know about it."

Snuggle. "How'd you do it?"

"The breakout? Selective sabotage," he says. "I found the ship that was going to come in with the next routine resupply, snuck on board, snuck off again when we got there, waited until half of them were in the control room and the other half were eating dinner, and convinced the computer systems that both those rooms were leaking air into space. Then I loaded up my chosen ship, opened all the cell doors, and came and got you. I knew nobody else would steal it before I got back because there was plenty of room on the others and every single one of them was easier to break into. But if they had, we could just have gotten away in one of the other ships."

"I love you," says Isabella. "I should've said so before. I regretted not having done."

"It's as close to a sure thing as it gets."

"I just hope our metabolisms don't disagree with the ecosystem too much... I keep worrying. I should stop. There will be plenty of time to worry later." It is currently time for snuggling.

"I love you," he says, snuggling her. "Worries and all."

"I love you too." And then she sets about quiet ponderings.

Are they snuggly ponderings?

They are ponderings had while snuggly!

Good. Best kind.

"It's a good thing you weren't with me when they came by Renée's," she murmurs.

"A very good thing, yes. It would've been a lot messier that way."