Chapter Text
"Reid…" Christina mutters. The wrench in her hand slips, floating in front of her. "What's wrong?"
"I really don't feel good…" she says, her eyelids drooping. "I know, we're almost there. Just two more minutes, okay?" He says, trying to be soothing despite his own dizziness and nausea.
"Mmmm," she grabs the wrench again, working with newfound vigor and determination. "Ugh…" she groans, her voice thick with exhaustion and nausea.
"We're so close…" he stresses, praying that they can get through this. "Done," she announces, letting go of the wrench again. "Really?" That was a lot faster than he anticipated.
"Yeah…are we done?" She asks, sounding short of breath. "Slow your breathing…and press the button that has a 1 on it." He instructs. "Easier said that done…" she grumbles, pressing the button as instructed.
His eyes widen when he scrolls down to see the next step and realizes there isn't one. "Christina," he says, already moving to pack the rest of their things up. "What?" She asks, glancing back at him.
"We're done." She whips around excitedly. "You wouldn't joke about this…" he shakes his head. "I wouldn't. Grab your bags and Jeremy, I'll get Victor."
"Where are we going?" She asks, floating over and grabbing a now completely unconscious Jeremy by the shoulders. "Decontam and then the Orion capsule." He tells her, pressing the buttons on the airlock. She nods in acceptance.
Victor doesn't wake up when Reid shoves him into the decompression/airlock chamber. He makes sure they have all their things before helping to pull Jeremy and Christina in.
"I don't feel any better." Christina frowns a few minutes after he shuts the door. "I know…it's going to take a little while. We have to get through the decontamination process and then the decompression sequence."
"But that could take up to an hour…" she complains, crossing her arms over her chest. "The decontamination process will only take fifteen minutes, and then we should start breathing some fresher air." She nods, but the frown doesn't leave her face.
"Just stay awake with me, okay? We're in this together…" she smiles for a second. "We're a good team…" she sighs, closing her eyes for a few seconds.
"I agree," it's kind of endearing to watch her relearn the way she feels about him and their partnership. "Are the four of us a good team too?" She asks and Reid's pretty sure she's just trying to make conversation at this point, but it keeps them both talking which is good for everyone.
"I'd say so. We trained for a long time together." She nods, looking between them. "It looks cozy in there," she says, peering into the Orion capsule through the small window.
"Ha…you might not feel that way when you have to share that limited space with the three of us." She hums in acknowledgement.
"Are you married?" She asks after a few seconds of silence. "Uh, no…" she seems to catch the slight sadness that comes with that admission.
"…I am. I know that." She says with a soft smile. "Yeah, you are," Reid smiles too. It's adorable that she remembers that so clearly. "Do you have kids?"
"Yeah, two daughters, Ellie and Katey. You've met them; they adore you." He says, touching the bracelets on his wrist. She notices, "They made you those?" He nods.
"That's really sweet…I don't have kids…at least, I don't think…Oh God, do I have kids and not remember?" She asks, an edge of panic seeping into her voice.
"No! No, you don't have kids. You have nieces and nephews though, maybe they're who you're remembering?" She thinks for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. You're right." She agrees, satisfied with that answer.
"What about them?" She asks, gesturing towards their unconscious crew mates. "Both married, Victor has four daughters and Jeremy has two daughters and a son." Reid answers, pointing to them as he speaks.
"Ugh," she pushes herself against the wall, tipping her head back. "What's wrong?"
"I feel… really sick…" she says, swallowing thickly. "We did just get poisoned…" Reid chuckles a little despite himself.
"What are we going to do when we get inside?" She asks, squeezing her eyes shut. "I'll get us undocked, make sure our trajectory is right for the next part of the mission and then we just breathe with the oxygen masks for a while." Reid explains, very much looking forward to breathing pure oxygen.
"And what if I need to throw up…?" She asks anxiously, her face paling. "Here," he hands her one of the emesis bags he'd pocketed when Jeremy first vomited.
"Thanks…" she mutters, closing her eyes and keeping her grip on the bag tight. "Just hang in there, Tina."
She ducks her head into the bag and gags. He moves closer to her so he can rub her back and help her hold it. She doesn't bring anything up with the first heave, but she doesn't lift her head which Reid assumes means she's still pretty nauseous.
"You're alright," he says, catching a stray tear. "Ughhhhhhnn-" her breath hitches again and she vomits twice before she finally looks up.
He takes the bag from her when she doesn't seem to know what to do with it. He puts it into their waste compartment, and when he turns back around, Christina buries herself in his chest.
"Oh, hey-" he closes his arms around her and she sobs. "It's okay…we're okay…" he tells her, feeling his own voice break. She's so vulnerable in this moment, and she has no idea whether he's actually trustworthy or not, but here she is, following his instructions and seeking comfort from him.
He wonders how much of that is engrained in her from their training. That's something amnesia can't touch. The things that you know in your heart will always remain. The languages you speak (especially the one you think in), the tasks you could perform in your sleep, the love between crewmates who have been through hell and back together… amnesia can't rattle that. But still…
The light on the air-tight door into their capsule turns green. Reid barely catches it. "Christina," he says, moving her so she can see as he points to it.
"What does that mean?" She asks with a sniff. "We can go inside now." She immediately tries to open the door. "Here, I got it…" he says, reaching around her. The door opens with a slight hiss.
Christina floats inside, doubling back only to quickly grab Jeremy and pull him along with her. "Where are the oxygen masks?" She asks, looking around.
"They should be in B1 I think." He pauses when he realizes that she may not know what that means, but she drifts right to it.
"Okay…Jeremy. You'll feel better soon." She says, fastening the first oxygen mask around Jeremy's head. Reid feels his heart squeeze in his chest because that is so sweet.
She helps put the second on Victor before she finally takes one for herself. The second she breathes pure oxygen she sighs in relief. Reid takes the last one (there are actually a few more in case of emergency.)
He makes sure they're undocked and on the right trajectory as he said he would before joining Christina in relishing in the oxygen treatment. "Reid," when she says his name now she sounds a lot more confident.
He looks up, hopeful. "That was insane." She laughs, turning her head toward him. "You seem more like yourself…is that an accurate assessment?"
She nods, "I'm okay now. It's 2027, Trump is the president" she makes a fake gagging sound before continuing, "We're on the Artemis III mission. And we all just got a wicked case of carbon monoxide poisoning." Reid nods and laughs at everything she says.
"Yeah…that's exactly right…I doubt NASA will be putting this much trust in Space X for a while…" Reid says with a wince. "Why? Because they almost killed four of their astronauts?"
Reid nods with a sigh. "5 dollars says Elon Musk tries to blame us." Christina says, holding out a fist. Reid bumps his fist against hers and laughs. "I'm not liking my odds, but I accept."
—
Christina falls asleep shortly after that, completely exhausted from the past few hours. Reid does his best to stay awake at least until someone else wakes up so he can make sure everyone's okay.
"Mmmm," It's Jeremy who wakes first after about an hour of the oxygen treatment. "Reid?" He asks immediately. "Right here, Jere…" Reid says, pushing himself over to him.
Jeremy pulls at the oxygen mask on his face. "Leave that on, okay?" Reid says sternly, pushing his hand away. "Does this mean we made it?"
"Yeah…you were right. Christina was able to fix it in time." Reid says, hovering over him. "She's okay?" Jeremy asks, glancing over at where she floats, completely asleep.
"Yeah, she's not confused or disorientated anymore. Just tired." Reid answers, looking at her with a smile. "I'm sure you are too…you breathed in the same thing we all did." Jeremy points out, reaching out to place a hand on Reid's shoulder.
"I'll rest when I know Victor's okay." Reid counters quickly. "Or…you could rest now and let me watch Victor." Reid frowns, considering his offer for a minute.
"And how do I know you're not going to fall asleep again?" Reid asks, pursing his lips. "I feel much better now, I swear!" Jeremy insists.
"And I believe you…I really do. I just…" Reid sighs, averting his gaze. "Alright, we both stay awake until Victor wakes up. That way the responsibility isn't all on just one of us." Jeremy compromises.
"Yeah…I can get behind that." Reid nods, settling back down in his previous spot. "Good…now, what did I miss?"
—
Reid is worried about Victor the most, seeing as he has no recollection of what happened. When he finally wakes up thirty minutes later, he seems disoriented more than anything else.
"What happened?" Victor asks, his hands flying up to the mask. Jeremy pulls them away this time. "Mask stays on." He says before giving him a quick shoulder pat.
"What do you remember?" Reid probably should have started with 'do you know your name?', 'do you know our names?', 'how many fingers am I holding up?', and 'do you know where we were and what year it is?' but he's so tired and he'd like to do a quick cognitive assessment and then crash for as long as he can.
"I had a headache…we were aboard the Starship…clearly, we aren't anymore…so what happened?" Victor says slowly.
"There was a carbon monoxide leak, it drove you and Christina a little crazy before we figured out what was wrong. But we fixed it and I think we got out relatively unscathed? I guess the doctors on earth will be the real judges of that, there's always the possibility of brain damage—"
"Reid. You're rambling…I think I get the picture. You look half-dead, are you alright?" Victor says, raising a hand to cut him off before he continues spiraling. "Yeah, I'm fine…just really tired."
"We're okay, commander. You can rest now." Jeremy says sincerely. "Are you sure you guys are-?"
"Go to sleep!" Jeremy insists and that's really all he needs. He mumbles a series of complaints before falling asleep within seconds, floating a few inches away from Christina.