Interstellar → Chris Beck

S O L 2 5 9

BECK GNAWED ANXIOUSLY on his bottom lip. His fingers tapped quickly over the table top, and he fidgeted with the pen in his right hand. Every once and a while he would glance over at her sleeping figure in hopes that he would catch the fluttering of her eyes as she finally awoke, but each time he was met with disappointment. He knew exactly what was wrong with her, but that didn't make him feel better about the situation. If anything, it only slightly perturbed the flight surgeon. He figured she'd known something was wrong for weeks now, yet she hadn't informed him of a single thing, and that worried him more than he cared to admit. He scolded himself for not realizing something was wrong sooner.

As Beck thought back several weeks, he noted a certain change in her eyes, the color of her skin, and the way she carried herself around the ship. She was exhausted, that much he knew, but he wasn't aware of just how exhausted she was. He noted the times in which he would catch her facial expression contort to that of slight pain and discomfort, followed by a very subtle grab to her abdomen, but she had only ever passed it off as cramps. It was only now that he knew she had been lying. She was stressed, far more stressed than anyone else on the crew was aware of. Sure, Beck was more than aware of the stress the mission was causing her, but what he wasn't aware of was the extent in which that stress reached. At least not until now.

Maia had been fast asleep for the last four hours. After Beck had arrived in the medical wing with her, she had simply passed out due to the intense amount of pain she had been in. Afterwards, Beck gave her a bit of anesthetic to keep her asleep for an additional amount of time. She should've been awake, though, and that was something Beck worried about slightly. He wasn't sure if she was just being stubborn or if his diagnosis was much worse than he had originally thought it to be. The mere thought of it scared him.

Beck let out a breath as he very effortless scribbled across yet another one of Maia's medical logs. Aside from Johanssen, Beck had taken care of Maia the most, not only physically, but psychologically as well. He could remember receiving an email from Teddy Sanders telling him that he needed to keep a very close eye on Maia, as Teddy had been afraid of her mental deterioration due to Mark's death at the time. Maia wasn't aware that most of what he had done to take care of her had been because of a mere request, but Beck didn't care if she knew that or not. He would've done whatever it took to take care of her and make her happy regardless if he received an email from Teddy or not.

About five minutes later, Beck noticed Maia stirring where she lay on the mattress across the room. He got up from his seat and strolled over to her, his eyes softening slightly as they met her very tired green ones.

"Hey," he greeted her with a small smile on his face.

Maia rubbed at her eyes to further wake herself up. "Hi," she spoke quietly.

"How are you feeling?"

Maia only shrugged and shifted herself into a sitting position, wincing at the slight pain in her stomach. Beck quickly placed a hand onto her shoulder to halt her movements, much to her confusion.

"Careful," he told her.

Maia bit her lip and reached up to grab his hand. She squeezed it in her own and looked up at him with glistening green eyes. Beck could see just how exhausted she was simply by looking at her eyes.

"What's wrong with me?" Maia asked Beck, her voice quiet. "Am I gonna be okay?"

She gazed around at the room in which she sat, her lips pulling down slightly at the mere memory associated with it. She thought she had seen the last of the room after the injury she sustained while working on the transponders, but clearly that wasn't the case. There was only one memory associated with the room that she actually liked, and that was the memory that involved her and Beck.