Interstellar → Chris Beck

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MAIA LOOKED UP from her laptop when she heard her door open. Johanssen very quietly slipped her way into the room, and Maia's eyes brightened at the mere sight of her. The sysop was being far too suspicious for Maia's liking, however, but she was more than aware of why that was.

"Did you bring it?" Maia asked hopefully.

Johanssen shut the door behind her and turned to look at Maia, a grin on her face. "You know damn well I got it," she said. Johanssen pulled a chocolate bar from the pocket of her jacket and hurried over to give it to Maia.

An excited squeal escaped Maia and she took the bar from Johanssen's hand, falling back onto her mattress in a fit of happiness. It hadn't been that long since she'd been able to eat chocolate, but it most certainly felt like it. She was still recovering from her ulcer, and the diet Beck had forced upon her had helped speed up the recovery process, so she didn't necessarily feel eating one chocolate bar would do much harm. So long as Beck didn't find out about it, she'd be okay.

"Can you believe he actually hid them?" Johanssen scoffed and sat down on the mattress in front of Maia. "I'm tired of asking him for a damn chocolate bar and sitting in front of him to eat it. Does he not understand how period cravings work?"

Maia only laughed and looked at her. "Can you blame him? I'm very predictable; he knew I'd try to get one of you to sneak me one."

"And it worked," Johanssen chuckled, "You're lucky I figured out his hiding spot. I apologize in advance if it tastes like latex gloves."

Maia's face contorted slightly and she brought the unwrapped chocolate bar to her face. She sniffed it, only to find that it did, in fact, smell like latex gloves. She just hoped the chocolate inside didn't taste like it.

"There's only one way to find out," Maia hummed.

Maia began to unwrap the chocolate bar, only to stop when her door burst open. She and Johanssen looked over to see a very annoyed Beck, and Maia shoved the chocolate bar beneath her.

"Give it to me," Beck instructed her.

Johanssen and Maia exchanged glances with one another, and Maia turned back to Beck, a questioning look in her eyes. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Beck," she spoke innocently.

Beck rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him, hurrying over to the two girls sitting on the mattress. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, Watney."

"The last name," Johanssen whispered. "Someone's a tad bit angry."

"I have a medical degree, Johanssen—I'm not an idiot," Beck said to her. "You think I don't keep track of how many I have?"

Johanssen looked at Maia. "And here I thought I was one step ahead of him," she muttered.

Beck rolled his eyes again and looked at Maia, his expression chastising. "Give it to me," he instructed once again.

"I already ate it," Maia grinned.

Beck simply grabbed Maia and pulled her from the bed, much to her despair. He was careful not to harm her as he sat her down on the floor, and once he had her where he wanted her, he reached down and plucked the candy from the mattress below.

"Did you now?" Beck questioned Maia as he turned around to look at her. He held the stick of chocolate up in front of her and she frowned. "I gave you orders, and eating this definitely wasn't one of them."

Maia groaned. "I'm so sick of eating yogurt and drinking water all the time."

"It's not forever, Maia," Beck breathed out. "Just until you finish healing, which you won't do if you start disobeying me."

"If you didn't hold the title of my doctor at the moment, I'd kindly tell you to fuck off," Maia said with a chuckle. She sat back down on her mattress beside Johanssen, and Beck then moved to sit beside her.

"Perks of being your doctor," Beck smirked.

"How wonderful would it be if all this stress would just go away to help speed up the healing process," Maia muttered and laid back down on her mattress. "It would all be so much easier."

Johanssen huffed and snatched the chocolate bar from Beck, wasting no time at all in opening it up. "I blame Mark for it," she said with a mouth full of chocolate. Beck shook his head at her.

Maia opened her mouth to respond, but was stopped by the beeping sound on her computer. She sat up and pulled the device onto her lap, her eyes scanning over the contents of the screen. Mark had sent her an email, which she believed to be rather ironic given the current conversation.

"Speaking of Mark. . ."

"What?" Beck asked her.

"He just sent me an email," she told him.

Maia opened the email without waiting on a response and began reading over the words, a smile pulling onto her face as she did.

Maia:

Why is it that everything happening with you is suddenly my fault? I just got a long ass email from Martinez telling me I better not fucking die, not because he would spend his time missing me, but because he would spend his time worrying about you. Apparently this whole situation has you pretty fucked up, and under any other circumstance, I'd probably laugh, but right now I'm only messaging to tell you to chill the fuck out, okay?

If you must know, one of the main reasons I've been working my ass off to stay alive is so I could get back to you. Do you really think I'd leave you alone without someone to take care of you? That's a big fat hell no. Sure, Beck can take care of you, but he's not exactly "big brother" worthy if you know what I mean. In actuality, there is no one I'd ever deem worthy enough to hand over the big brother title to. It belongs to me and only me, so deal with it.

You're my baby sister, Maia, and being away from you has been killing me over the last few months I've been stuck on this wretchedly beautiful planet. I'm not only doing this because I don't wanna die, and trust me, dying would suck major dick, but I'm doing this so I can get back to you. I have so many more names left to call you, and I can't exactly trip you down the aisle at yours and Beck's wedding if I'm dead, now can I? Now, if Beck chooses me to be a groomsmen (he better fucking choose me to be a groomsmen), I'll just have to settle for pushing you from the altar. It'll be a sight to see.

And you know what else will be a sight to see? Me back on the Hermes here in the next few months. Don't worry, Maia. I'm coming home with you whether you like it or not, so stop stressing out, okay? Do you know how annoying it is worrying about you on top of all of the other shit I have to do? Actually, don't answer that.

Anyway, I'll see you soon. Suck it up for me, would ya? I love you, kid.

Mark

Maia wiped away a tear and closed her laptop.

"What's wrong, Maia?" Beck asked, placing a comforting hand on her thigh.

Maia smiled and placed her hand overtop of his, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Nothing's wrong, Chris. . .nothing at all."

And she was right. Aside from her current ailment in which she was still recovering from, there was absolutely nothing wrong with her, and Mark had done an excellent job making sure of it. The next seven months were, of course, going to be long as hell, but Maia knew better than anyone that the wait would be worthwhile.