Interstellar → Chris Beck

E P I L O G U E

THE SILVER WEDDING band fit Maia's ring finger perfectly, but that didn't stop the brunette from twirling it around the skin of her finger out of habit. Even after so many long years, she still had yet to break her many nervous habits, and she doubted she would ever be able to break them. They were called habits for a reason.

Maia let out a huff and sat back in bed, doing her best to ignore the throbbing pain in the lower half of her body. Her pain medication still had yet to take effect, much to her dismay. Rather than allowing herself to linger on that pain for too long, she fixed her attention to the flat screen television hanging on the wall of the large hospital room. The screen displayed footage of coverage from the Ares 5 launch, leaving her quite a bit nostalgic.

Often Maia would find herself reminiscing about her days as a member of the Ares 3 crew. The Ares 3 mission had been the longest Ares mission in history, but that was quite obvious considering the situation at the time. Even after so many years had passed, there was no one who could ever forget Mark Watney or the crew that risked everything to save him. There was a strong unlikelihood anyone would forget what happened all those years ago, especially the Ares 3 crew themselves. Maia certainly wouldn't forget.

Since arriving back home and concluding what she knew to be the end of her career as an astronaut, Maia had been living quite the life.

About a month after returning back to Earth, Beck and Maia decided to settle down with one another. The two found a nice apartment just outside of Maia's hometown of Chicago and made it home, at least until it was discovered Maia was pregnant a few years later. The former astronauts also managed to find themselves a steady job. Maia worked as a computer systems engineer for one of Chicago's largest technological firms, while Beck continued his medical practice at Chicago's Mercy Hospital as one of their finest doctors. As two of America's most beloved astronauts, it wasn't necessarily difficult for either one of them to find work.

A year later, in 2038, Beck proposed to Maia at one of her favorite childhood locations. The two got married in June of 2039, and two years later, in 2041, Maia became pregnant with their first child. So much had happened in their lives during that five year span, but there was nothing in the world that could ever compel them to turn back the clock. Happiness was all they knew; it was all Maia knew, and there was no way in hell she was ever gonna give that up.

Maia's mattress dipped down slightly, and she tore her attention away from the television screen long enough to see Beck making himself comfortable at her side, their newborn baby girl in his arms. Beck caught her gaze and smiled fondly, a gesture in which Maia returned without hesitation. She could not begin to express with words just how thankful she was for him and the little family they had started together.

"I love you," Maia said to him. She laid her head down on his shoulder and pressed a gentle kiss to her daughter's forehead before finally making himself comfortable at his side. "And I love little Preston, too."

Beck chuckled and squeezed her as tightly as he could without harming her. "I love you both more than you'll ever know, Maia. I'm still trying to process, however, why the hell you let your brother name our daughter."

Maia opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Mark cut her off.

"We made a deal when we were younger," Mark answered Beck as he headed into the hospital room with Johanssen at his side. Nowadays, Mark and Beth were the only two Ares 3 crew members who ever made an appearance in the couple's life. Lewis and Vogel had their own lives and families to tend to, as did Martinez, but he was currently on his way to Mars for the second time around.

"What kind of deal results in the two of you naming each other's children?" Beck questioned his brother-in-law.

Mark snorted and plopped down onto the couch in the room. "Little Twatney is most certainly not naming my children. You see, what happened was, I did all of Maia's biology homework when she was in high school—every last bit of it—and the deal was that I would do her homework if I could name her first born kid. I brought it up to her when she first told me she was pregnant, and she thought I was only kidding. It was then that I almost smothered her with one of those fancy couch pillows you love so much, because for one, as my sister she should know I'm never one to kid, and two, a deal is a motherfucking deal no matter how old it is."

"And thus, Preston Beck was born," Maia finished with a roll of her eyes.

"Preston is also a girl," Johanssen snorted. "Why would you give a girl a boy name?"

Mark gave the small brunette a look. "It's 2042 and you're still applying gender roles to something as insignificant as a child's name? This is not Trump's America anymore, Beth. Gender roles have been cancelled."

"You're almost 48 years old, yet you speak as if you're 18," Johanssen teased him. "You're never gonna grow up, are you?"

"No, he's not," Maia said matter-of-factly.

Mark smirked and pointed his finger at her. "Age does not define maturity."

"Yeah," Beck retorted. "You're living proof."

"I can't believe I still associate myself with you people," Johanssen rolled her eyes playfully.

"Well, doesn't someone just think she's all high and mighty now that she's the CEO of her own technological firm in the big city of Los Angeles?" Mark said to Johanssen, his tone mocking that of bitterness. "Just because I tell people how not to die for a living doesn't make me any less important than you."

Johanssen giggled and shook her head before wrapping Mark in a tight hug. "You know I love you."

"Yeah, yeah," Mark muttered as he hugged her back. "I guess the feeling is mutual."

"We've all come so far in the last several years," Maia mused. "I'm so proud of all of us. I'm even proud of Commander Lewis and Vogel, even though I have no clue what they're doing with their lives nowadays."

Beck raised a brow and looked down at his wife. "You know you don't have to call her Commander Lewis anymore, right?"

"Old habits die hard, baby," Mark spoke up before Maia could even open her mouth. "But the ugly one has a point. We really have come so far, especially me. It's not every day you're given your own statue."

"It's not a damn statue, Mark," Maia reminded him. "It's a plaque rewarded to you by NASA for your bravery and your courage. It sits on the mantle in your living room, and even though I know it's there, I still have trouble spotting it when I walk into the room. That's how insignificant it is."

Mark glared at Maia. "I pushed you down the stairs when you were two so I could get rid of you, don't make me do it again."

"No one's pushing anyone down any stairs," Beck chimed in, holding his daughter tighter in his arms. "Can't we all just be happy for once without threatening violence? I really don't feel like tending to any one of you. I deal with you too much. Let's just enjoy this time that we have together as a family."

"Oh, Beck," Johanssen tsked. "Always the sentimental one."

"It's quite disgusting, isn't it?" Mark asked her.

Johanssen only nodded.

Maia couldn't help but laugh at their exchange. It was times like this in which Maia found herself overcome with an abundance of happiness. There was just something so beautiful about watching those she loved love each other. Of course, they all had their own lives to tend to, but Maia found comfort knowing that even after spending so much time away from each other, their love for each other would never fade away.

They were a small family bonded in ways no human on Earth could ever compare. They were bonded through the galaxies and through the cosmos. They had done what most would never be given the opportunity to do. They'd developed a bond and a love among the stars, and something so strong was nothing more than infinite.