This is lovely! I've got such a soft spot for "people of the fleet" stories, and you really made these characters and their struggles concrete and poignant. And I feel like any story that takes place after the finale must by necessity be pretty bleak and depressing--there's just no way to spin that in a way that doesn't make life pretty awful--though I love the way you give these moments of connection between the community, the slowly evolving connection between Laine and Mark. Just the right kind of bittersweet!