forbidden - chris beck

Chapter 31

I floated closer to him as he gripped my hand tightly. Time seemed to be ticking before us at light speed.

"Beck are you out yet?" Lewis radioed.

"Not yet, Commander." His gaze never left mine. I knew there was so much between us that needed to be said, but in those last few moments, nothing was said.

I turned to exit the airlock, knowing that every second was vital, but Beck's grip only tightened and he pulled me back, as I turned to face him once more.

"Ava..." His voice shaking as tears formed in his angelic blue eyes. "I think I love you."

My whole body froze.

Before I'd realised what was happening, Beck had let go of my hand.

"Collins, get inside." Lewis said, sounding a little agitated.

"R...right away Commander." Everything felt hazy but I managed to get out of the airlock and shut it, while Beck turned and left the airlock on the other side, out into the open space.

After returning back to the command room, my thoughts were cluttered with the events that had occurred. The worst thought was that I didn't get the chance to reply.

I sighed and sat back in my chair as the anticipation of waiting for him to get across was horrible.

"He's half way across already, Ava." Martinez said reassuringly.

I exhaled and nodded, trying not to think of the worst possibilities.

Once Beck was back inside the other airlock joined by Vogel, I seemed to calm down a bit, but the worst was yet to come.

Johanssen loaded up the lighting panel on her screen and counted down to the impact. The internal air of Hermes rushed through the open VAL, blasting Hermes in the other direction.

After everything was being pressurised, Lewis said, "Beck, you're up. Twelve meters per second."

"Close enough!" Beck replied.

Johanssen read out his distance from Watney. "Six meters,"

"One point one meter per second."

"Visual on Wateny!" Beck reported. At this point I could hardly concentrate on the coordinate figures on my screen.

"Contact with Watney!" He said.

Now all that needed to happen was for both of them to get safely out of the MAV and back onto the Hermes.

"I've got him." He responded. A brief sense of relief washed over the crew, but we couldn't be too sure just yet.

"Reel 'em in Vogel," Lewis said.

Then it was what seemed like hours of waiting...dreadful anticipation... And then...

"Aboard!" Beck said and we all let out a chorus of cheers and sighs. We actually did it.

We dropped our stations and rushed to Watney, but not too hard as his broken ribs were obviously excruciatingly painful. I can't recall ever being so happy.

"It's good to have you back Watney." I gave him a small hug.

He smiled, "It's good to be back, Collins." He let out a laugh as the crew crowded around him.

Beck took off his helmet and suit, rushed up to me and wrapped his arms around me, lifting me off the ground.

My legs wrapped around his torso as tears of joy formed in my eyes. "That was the worst hour of my life." I said against his neck before grabbing his face in my hands and kissing his cheek.

Beck smiled and pressed his lips against mine. He put me back down and we pulled away, smiling stupidly at each other.

"I think I love you too." I said the words that I had been itching to shout. It was true, completely, utterly and most definitely true.

Then he smiled like I'd never seen him smile before.

"You don't know how much I wanted to hear you say that." He let out a joyous chuckle as he leaned in and kissed me passionately. My hands ran through his soft brown hair as his arms snaked around my waist, pulling me in close to him.

"So," Watney's voice caused us to pull apart and turn to face him. "You two finally grew the balls to get together, huh?" We laughed in unison, Watney clutching his ribs. Beck tended to him straight away and once he was done, the crew stayed awake all night, listening to Mark's miraculous survival story.

Throughout the evening and all night, Beck didn't once leave my side. I couldn't help but think how dangerous out lives had been, and how dangerous they were to be if we continue to do what we do. We're astronauts, and for us, we don't know safety or stability. It's a price we have to pay for this magnificent life.

But we had each other, and somehow we knew that was all we would ever need.

The end.