The Doctors (Chris Beck)(EDITING/ON HOLD)

Chapter 4

"James McKinnon, People Magazine," the man begins, a small smirk showing on his face. "Dr. Beck, I've noticed you and Dr. Moran are quite close. We, of course, saw that you were a complete gentleman with her, and you two have definitely been sharing some prolonged eye contact today.  Care to elaborate?"

I freeze momentarily, before looking at Beck. I see just a dust of blush on his cheeks, and for a second, I'm not sure if it is even there.

"Katherine and I are friends. Good thing, too, as we're spending the next three years working alongside each other. To have a strong team, you first need to build strong relationships with the people around you. One conflict, even the most minor one, can lead to a catastrophe if something triggers it. We're just building our work relationship through mutual respect and appreciation," he replies flawlessly. "I respect Dr. Moran and her work profoundly. Chivalry is considered foreign these days, and I'm disappointed that it is seen only as a romantic gesture these days."

"As Dr. Beck said, our relationship is purely a work relationship. Since we have met the rest of the crew, our main focus is building friendly relationships with each other. We are all training together, and then living in a confined space with each other for a year, so it's kind of necessary that we don't have the urge to brutally murder anyone," I add with a smile towards the end. "Next question."

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The rest of the interview had come and gone. I was just getting ready to leave the lab, when I hear a tap on the door. It opens and Beck's head pops through the crack.

"Hey! You ready?" I ask. Recently, Beck and I had been carpooling to and from work, as his car was in the shop. Someone had rear-ended him pretty hard, and it was taking the shop a while to find a replacement bumper, as Beck had an older car. I was trying to talk him into a Mustang, but he was very happy with his 2000 Audi TT. I have to admit, though, it's a pretty car.

"Yeah, you?" he smiles, and I nod. I grab my bag and keys, slipping my ID into my bag before following Beck to the elevators, the electronic doors of the lab clicking behind me as Gomez locks down for the night.

We get into the elevator, and head down to the main floor. We then go to the parking garage, find my car, and begin our drive to Beck's apartment. It's only a few blocks away from mine, so my usual drive to and from work hasn't been compromised that much.

"Hey, do you want to get some food? I know this great little family-owned Italian restaurant, and their Friday night specials are to die for," Beck asks me as we leave the Johnson Space Center property.

"You know," I start, "Italian actually sounds really good right now. Where am I headed then, co-pilot?"

Beck grins, and directs me to this little place with a neon sign that reads, "Muggeo's Milan". A warm glow comes through the windows, and I pull into a parking spot just outside. We get out of my Mustang, and Beck leads me inside to a table.

"Dr. Beck! Great to see you again," an older man with black hair and a moustache greets Beck, handing us menus. A petite woman follows him, leaving water glasses for us both before scurrying away. "And who is this?"

"Dr. Katherine Moran," I introduce myself, shaking the man's hand. "I work with Dr. Beck."

"You know, Dr. Beck is in here almost every week, at this exact table, and he has never brought anyone as pretty as you. Though, most of the time, he only brings his computer to get work done with the free Wi-Fi," the man chuckles. "I am Alfonso Muggeo. I own the restaurant."

"It's lovely to meet you sir, and to hear what Beck gets up to when he's not at Johnson," I laugh, looking at Beck, who only looks down in embarrassment.

"Well, I'll leave you kids to look over the menu," Alfonso leaves towards the kitchen's double doors.

"Sorry about him," Beck apologizes, looking up at me.

"It's all in good fun," I reply, smiling at him. "So, what triggered the spontaneous idea of Italian food?"

"I thought you would like this place, and I wanted to talk," Beck tells me.

"About?"

"Since we've met, I've only learned about the NASA Dr. Moran, and I would like to know about the woman that is Katherine Moran, outside of NASA. Is that a bad thing?"

"Quite the opposite. However, I expect hearing about the Chris Beck, outside of NASA, in return."

"Of course."

"Alright, then," I begin. "I was born California, but moved to Arizona before I was a year old. My mother's named Olivia and my father's name is Aaron. I have a sister named Addison, who is five years younger than me. Her husband's name is Jeremy, and they have a son named Jonathan."

"I'm going to forget most of those names in the next half hour."

"It's fine, but remember, you asked for the non-NASA Katherine Moran story."

"I know."

"I had no idea what I was going to do with my life until I took AP Chemistry in my junior year of high school. I knew I wanted to work for NASA soon after. Now, I have been the director of the Chemistry department for almost three years."

"I know that stuff... What do I not know about Katherine Moran?"

"Like?"

"What are your hobbies? Favorite things? Celebrity crushes? Guilty pleasures? Do you have any pets?" he lists.

"I enjoy working on cars, mostly mine. I love Mark Wahlberg movies and Marvel movies, and I mostly listen to alternative or punk music; however, my guilty pleasure is dancing to cheesy pop music in my kitchen. As for celebrity crushes, I have a soft spot for Sebastian Stan. He played Bucky in the Marvel movies. Other than him, it really depends on my most recently watched movies. Pets... I have a greyhound named Valentino."

"Why Valentino?" Beck asks me, chuckling a little.

"I always wanted a dog with a fairly elegant name, but when it actually came time that I could name a dog, Valentino was the only one I could come up with, and it stuck."

As Beck smiles, Alfonso comes up to our table.

"Do you know what you'd like tonight?"

"Your next, Beck," I grin at him before replying to Alfonso.

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ANOTHER CHAPTER!!! FINALLY!!! I'm horrible when it comes to updating. I either want to write and have no idea where to take the story, or have an idea and don't want to write. I've already started to plan the next chapter out, as I wanted to include stuff in this chapter, but it didn't fit with the dialogue, so it should be out in the next week (fingers crossed). It is currently 12:30am where I am, so I'm either going crash, or read Tumblr for the next two hours. Again, thank you to all those who have stuck with me and my slow updates.

All my love,

TheSongBird17