Interstellar → Chris Beck

S O L 9 3

MAIA HEAVED OUT a heavy breath as she slowed to a stop on the treadmill. She hopped back onto the floor of the gym, running a hand through her short, sweaty hair before reaching to grab her bottle of water from the treadmill's cupholder. It had been several days since she had last exercised, though as an astronaut she was supposed to everyday.

Exercising was practically a necessity for astronauts in space. Microgravity proved to be quite the bitch to the human body, leaving astronauts prone to bone and muscle loss. This weakened them phenomenally and not only set them up for issues when they returned back to Earth, but it also lessened their ability to do their tasks properly while in space. And with Maia now working on her normal schedule again, she needed to be as strong and as healthy as she could.

Beck had been the original one to scold her for it at first. He had been quite worried about Maia, not only as her partner, but also as a medical professional. After noticing just how sickly Maia was starting to look, not to mention her inability to concentrate or do her work properly, Beck knew exactly what was wrong. She had been doing more work than her body could handle and the emotional drainage she had been suffering through during the last few months had only managed to make her condition worse.

Maia took a deep breath after taking a swig of her water and turned to head out of the gym, only to watch as Beck himself jumped from the ladder and onto the gym floor. A smile fell onto his face as he saw her and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his grey, NASA endorsed sweatpants.

"Someone decided to listen to me for once," Beck teased as he walked over to Maia.

Maia shrugged and smiled. "You are the doctor."

"We both know I'm much more than that," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer to him.

"I'll let you think whatever you want," Maia said playfully, reaching up to plant a soft kiss onto his lips. She pulled away after several seconds, craning her head up to look into his blue eyes. "I'm turning in for the day; I'm gonna head to sleep. I assume you're here to work out?"

Beck nodded. "Why else would I be down here?"

"To check and see if your patient is doing as she was told to do," Maia remarked with a smile.

Beck scoffed and kissed her again. "You're not my patient, Maia."

"Glad to hear it," she replied before stepping away from him and moving towards the ladder. She stopped and turned around, though, a smirk on her face as she looked at Beck. "By the way, I took the last water from the cooler, but you're welcome to have what's left of this one."

Maia giggled and tossed the bottle to a playfully annoyed Beck, which he caught with ease.

"I can always count on you to take care of me," Beck called out to her as she began climbing.

"I could say the same to you, too, sweetheart," she replied with a warm smile, though Beck couldn't see it. 

He simply chuckled as he watched her disappear. He bid her a goodbye with "Have a good sleep, sweetie," before beginning his workout.

Maia simply floated back to the living quarters of the Hermes, greeting her fellow crew-mates at work as she continued on throughout the ship. She pushed herself towards the compartment, allowing the gravity to pull her body down and onto the floor below. She pulled her jacket farther over her chest as the cool air of the air conditioned living quarters struck her, and she hugged her arms to her chest.

Maia hurried down the long hallway to get to her room, though she stopped when she noticed a familiar door open just a sliver. She swallowed the growing lump in her throat as she stared at the door and she slowly started towards it, despite the fact that every last one of her thoughts were telling her not to. They were telling her to run away, but she couldn't, and she didn't know why. All she knew was that she needed this—she needed him.

The door creaked open as Maia pushed her hand against it, and she ventured further into the room, closing the door behind her once she was inside. She switched the light on, and immediately she was met with a various amount of clothing and other belongings, all of which belonged to Mark. The room hadn't been touched since before the crew left the Hermes for Mars, and although it confused Maia, it also made her happy that no one had disturbed his room—no one except for her, anyway.

Maia strolled over to his bed and grabbed the navy blue hoodie laying on the mattress before sitting down, pulling herself to sit back against the wall. She hugged the article of clothing to her chest, the stale smell of her brother meeting her nostrils as she took a deep breath. In an instant she was met with the familiar aching sensation inside her heart, one that she had spent so long trying to rid herself of.

For the past several days, Maia had been fine in regards to her emotions. She was much more jovial than normal, not to mention a lot more humorous. She was more-or-less her old self again, and it was because of her time spent with Beck. The crew was happy to see that she was doing better—they were happy to see that they finally had their Watney back. But now, because Maia couldn't listen to the thoughts inside her head, the crew's Watney was slowly beginning to slip away again.

Maia tried to contain her emotions as she sat, but she had no control over them. It was as if they had been burrowing deep down inside her for days, only for something so small to force them to the surface. Maia wanted nothing more than to be completely okay again, she really did, but she didn't understand how she could be when half of her was missing. The only person in her life that was keeping her from completely falling apart at the seams was Chris Beck, and she was ecstatic to have him in her life, but even he couldn't keep the pain away forever.

A stray tear fell down Maia's face and she got up, walking over to turn the light off before heading back over to Mark's bed; it wasn't made, but that didn't surprise Maia much at all. She seemed to be missing Mark now more than she ever had, though, and this prompted her decision to remain in his room. She wanted to feel close to him, and although she didn't feel as close as she would've liked to, she would be okay for the time being.

Maia let out a sigh and climbed into his bed, kicking her tennis shoes off and snuggling into the comforter. She still held Mark's hoodie close to her as she lay quietly on the mattress, unable to let it go. It was the only sense of comfort she was allowed as she slowly drifted off to sleep.