Interstellar → Chris Beck

S O L 9 4

BECK LET OUT a breath as he continued through the long corridor of the crew's living quarters. He had just made a trip to Maia's room only to find that she was absent and that worried him for some reason.

Beck wasted no time at all in climbing up the ladder when he reached it. He allowed the lack of gravity to carry his body throughout the spacecraft, pulling himself towards the kitchen compartment. He slid down the ladder, hopping to the floor as the gravity weighed down on him. Johanssen and Martinez were in the kitchen munching on breakfast and drinking coffee, though there was no sign of Maia anywhere. This confused Beck, as the kitchen was the first place she came when she woke up in the morning.

"What's up, buddy?" Martinez greeted Beck as he sat down across from Johanssen with his breakfast.

"Hey," Beck replied as he strolled over to the two of them. "Have you two seen Maia?"

Johanssen shrugged and took a sip of her coffee, desperately trying to rid her body of sleep. "She's probably still sleeping."

Beck let out a sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. "No, she's not. I went to see her this morning and she wasn't in her room."

"Early morning booty call, how cute," Martinez snickered.

Beck rolled his eyes at Martinez's remark and looked at Johanssen. "Do you know if she's with Lewis or Vogel?"

"I doubt it," Johanssen muttered. "Lewis is probably working out and I know Maia would never want to work out at the same time as her, because she half-asses everything and Lewis would push her ten times her physical limit; Vogel's probably cataloging core samples or something and Maia's not gonna volunteer herself to help him with that kind of stuff."

"Then where the hell could she be?"

Martinez shoved a forkful of food into his mouth and looked up at Beck. "You know her better than any of us, Beck. You know where she is—you're just not thinking hard enough."

Beck ran a hand over his face and looked out the window. He began rummaging through his mind for any clue as to where his girl could be, and in seconds he was met with realization. He frowned and shook his head, starting back toward the compartment ladder.

"I take it you figured it out?" Martinez called after him.

"Sure did," Beck replied as he quickly made his way up.

He made it back to the crew living quarters as quickly as he could. The moment Beck was situated on the ground, he hurried to Mark's room, slowly pushing the door open so he wouldn't disturb Maia if she was inside as he believed her to be.

The light from the hallway allowed Beck to see enough inside the room, including the small lump in Mark's bed. He let out a seemingly sad sigh before venturing further into the room, shutting the door behind him as quietly as possible. He moved towards the bed as best as he could and sat down on the edge of the mattress, raising his hand to rest on Maia's arm.

Part of him was slightly surprised to find her in Mark's room, but the other part of him was not. He knew she was still healing, and despite everything she had been doing to quicken the process as he had noticed, Beck knew it was going to take a lot longer than seventy-four sols and a few conversations in order to get her where she wanted to be.

Maia stirred in her sleep as she was met with the presence of someone in the room with her, as well as a familiar sensation of comfort due to the hand that ran up and down her arm slowly. She sat up, releasing her brother's hoodie from her hold in order to grab Beck. She wrapped her arms around his waist before he could even think, and in seconds she was nestling herself into his side, slowly beginning to drift back into the realm of sleep once she was comfortable. Beck smiled softly and hugged her tightly to him before maneuvering both of them away from the edge of the bed and against the wall. It wasn't necessarily comfortable for the flight surgeon, but he didn't care. All that mattered to him was that Maia was comfortable.

"Please don't ever leave me," Maia squeaked.

Beck could hear the emotion in her voice. He could hear the sadness and the fear in her voice—the sadness due to her brother's loss and the fear of losing someone else she cared about, that someone being Beck.

"I'd never dream of leaving you, Maia," Beck assured her quietly before pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

Maia sniffed, a clear indication that she had began to cry. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Chris. You're the only reason I haven't completely fallen apart yet."

She was tired—it could be heard in her voice—and Beck predicted she would be fast asleep within the next few minutes.

"I'll do whatever it takes to keep that from happening," Beck said to her. "I'll be here for you always; whenever you need to talk or cry or just sit and think, I'll be here."

"I appreciate you," Maia breathed out as her grip around him began to falter, causing Beck to tighten his around her. "I'll always appreciate you, Christopher Beck."

It wasn't long before the soft sound of Beck's heartbeat was lulling her back into a peaceful and dreamless sleep.