Interstellar → Chris Beck

S O L 5 6 1

MAIA SAT QUIETLY on the cot in the infirmary. Her legs swung back and forth, and she tinkered with her fingers in a rather impatient manner. All she wanted was for Beck to finish stitching her up so she could go see her brother. About ten minutes after Mark's retrieval, while the crew continued their greetings in the small space of Airlock 2, Beck noticed a steady flow of blood trickling down the side of Maia's face. It had been from Mark and Maia's collision during her journey to retrieve him, but she had been much too excited to pay much attention to it. Even now it was still the last thing on the petite brunette's mind, but of course it was the complete opposite for Beck.

A visible wince appeared on Maia's face as Beck continued his work. He'd been trying to stitch her up for the past hour or so, but Maia was being particularly antsy. She could not remain still whatsoever, and Beck knew why. Maia and Mark were together for the first time in almost two years, so it was no secret at all that Maia wanted to spend time with him, but Beck wanted to make sure she could spend time with him without bleeding all over the place or passing out from an unsuspected concussion.

"That hurts," Maia grumbled under her breath.

"Maybe that's because you keep moving, Maia," Beck retorted. "This was only supposed to be a fifteen minute process, so the numbing medicine I gave you has likely worn off by now. You can only blame yourself for that, so have fun suffering."

Maia couldn't help but grin, despite how much pain she was in. There was no limit to how much she loved the flight surgeon standing in front of her. Now that she had Mark back, she was overwhelmed with such an intense amount of love inside her body she could hardly begin to understand it. The only thing she could understand was that she was happy and whole again. She hadn't felt something so strong since before Mark had disappeared. "Do you know how much I love you?"

A smirk pulled at the corner of Beck's lips at the sound of her words, and he glanced down at her before focusing back on the wound at the top of Maia's head. "You've never given me that specific information, but I think I have a fairly reasonable estimate as to how much you do," he replied.

"Really now?" Maia giggled. "And what would that particular estimation be?"

"Quite a damn lot," Beck chuckled.

Beck finally finished stitching up Maia's wound, and once he had done so he placed his scissors and the needle onto the table at his side. He looked over to Maia, who was looking at him with so much adoration in her green eyes. There was a certain glint in those eyes he hadn't seen in what felt like forever, and there were absolutely no words to describe just how ecstatic he was to finally see it again. The Maia Watney he had fallen in love with so many years ago had finally made a reappearance, and Beck could only hope she was here to stay.

"I would like to think that my love for you stretches far beyond the reach of the cosmos," Maia said to him with glistening green eyes.

"Like I said. . .quite a damn lot."

Maia only smiled and hopped to the floor. "Am I done here?"

Beck hummed in response and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her petite body to his own and pressing his forehead to her own. "I dunno, are you?"

"I would love nothing more than to play these little games with you right now, Christopher Beck, but I have somewhere I need to be," Maia reminded him, though she tightened her grip around him.

"Yet you still haven't attempted to get away from me," Beck teased her.

Maia shook her head and pressed a kiss to his lips before finally pulling away from him. "Seriously, though, is there anything I need to know before I leave you here?"