Chapter Text
There was a red carpet. Grace was on an actual, legitimate red carpet. Would wonders never cease?
“Back straight, chin up, and don’t forget to smile.” Shapiro murmured in his ear. “The world expects us to save them, we need to give them someone to be confident in.”
“Right.” Grace took a breath and stopped trying to make himself smaller. Confidence. Act like he belonged. He could do this.
He should’ve asked for a refresher on the press lessons someone gave him about two years earlier just in case he got caught somewhere with Stratt. Too late.
There was an onslaught of noise the moment they climbed out of the limo. He and Stratt went first, followed by the secondary and prime teams. Camera flashes nearly blinded him as questions were thrown their way in too many languages for Grace to keep track of.
Everyone wanted to get The picture of the astronauts. There’d be many plastered across the internet and social media, but there was inevitably always one iconic shot that would be known as The shot.
“I’ll be by your side the entire time, Dr. Grace.” Stratt told him.
“Thanks.” He glanced down at her, appreciating the support.
“Someone needs to interpret for you.”
“...right.”
“You’ve got this, Ryland!” Ilyukhina popped up on his other side as they began to walk down the carpet. It was a simple game of follow the leader- as long as Grace stayed with his people and answered questions when he was told to, he’d be fine. Probably.
A specific set of dark eyes in the crowd caught his attention for a moment. It was the emotion in them- everyone else was excited, frenzied, or professional. Those eyes were mad- beyond mad. Grace barely had time to process that and try to get a look at the face before it was gone, melted away into the crowd as quickly as they’d appeared.
For a second he thought- but no. This was a gala set up by the political types to show off the mission and ‘bring the world hope’. AKA leverage Project Hail Mary to boost whatever scraps of power they were holding onto. No wonder Stratt was so mad, she hated being used. Regardless, Grace was pretty sure he was seeing things. What were the odds he was there if he hadn’t even been involved with the project over the last three years?
“That would be a question for Dr. Ryland Grace, one of the scientists involved with the project.” Stratt interrupted his train of thought. Right, he had a job to do. Focus time.
“I’m so sorry, I missed the question. Would you mind repeating?” He’d been stressed for no reason. The second he was asked about the science he fell into Science Communicator mode so completely he didn’t even realize the teams had spread out around him to answer their own questions. He just handled one question at a time, explaining to the press like he would’ve explained to his students. Aside from being blinded by cameras, it was kind of fun.
“Alright, we have time for one last question.” Stratt interrupted. Grace sighed in relief- ‘kind of fun’ didn’t equal something he wanted to spend his entire night doing. Besides, he’d been promised food at this thing and he was starving.
“Dr. Grace, is it true you were teaching middle school science before this?” Stratt stiffened at the question, catching the condescending undercurrent, after all, she was supposed to be recruiting the best of the best. What possible use could she have with a middle school teacher? Grace didn’t take it that way, though.
“Yes.” He felt his smile grow sappy as he thought about his students. “My kids are the reason I’m here. They’re so bright- you have no idea- and they’re capable of so much. They’re capable of changing the world, and what better way to teach them that than show by example? Guys.” He stared dead at the camera, talking to them directly. “I want you to always remember how amazing you are. I was so proud to be your teacher and I’m so excited to see what your future holds for you. Always remember that you’ve got this, and stop running in the halls. You know who you are.”
He pointed to the camera as a laugh rode through the assembled reporters in a wave. Stratt relaxed, realizing she never needed to be worried at all. The Grace in front of her wasn’t the same Grace who tried to downplay his last published article back when they first met.
Then Ilyukhina appeared out of nowhere, throwing an arm around Grace’s shoulders.
“Hello Ryland’s students!” She waved at the camera. “If Dr. Grace taught you half as well as he taught us, I have no doubt he’s right about you changing the world. For now, I must borrow him. Good luck on midterms?” She glanced at Grace in silent question, then nodded. “Midterms. Okay, bye!”
With that done, she pulled Grace away toward the space center entrance. The last thing Grace’s students saw was Olesya Ilyukhina, of the Prime Team, dragging him off with by the hand with a wide grin on her face and the ‘I’m amused but pretending I’m not’ look they were so familiar with on his.
Stratt gave her final words to the press, then turned around and followed them.
“You did such a good job Ryland, that was a fantastic answer!” Ilyukhina cheered, removing her coat to leave at coat check along with everyone else making their way inside.
“I didn’t get to say goodbye to my kids, not really.” Grace said. “I wanted to make sure they know how much I cared.”
“If there’s one thing anyone can be certain of, Dr. Grace, it’s how much you care.” Stratt patted him once, only slightly awkwardly, on the back as she met up with them.
It very well might have been the highest praise she’d given anyone on the project, ever, and left multiple people staring after her in silence as she continued on.
“Hey Olesya,” Grace murmured, “am I dreaming or did that really happen?”
She pinched him.
“Ow- hey!” He smacked at her hand, trying to defend himself when she went in for a second pinch. “Stop that!”
“It hurts, therefore that was real.” Her impish grin didn’t impress Grace. “Congratulations, you just got the only thing no one else is capable of- a compliment from the frozen tundra that is Eva Stratt.”
“It’s a Christmas miracle.”
The prime and secondary teams had tables to themselves for the dinner portion, but that didn’t mean Grace was left out to dry. Fearing what would happen if each of them individually was left unattended, she made sure all the lead scientists had one of the longer tables. Dmitri, Grace, LeClerc, Hatch, Lokken, and, unfortunately, Redell.
“Excuse me.” Dmitri interruted their conversation as the first course came out. “Seeing as this may be one of the last times we’re all together, or at least together peacefully, I would like to make a toast. These last few years haven’t been easy for any of us, filled with grueling work, sea sickness, conflicts, and the pioneering of a brand new branch of science. We would not be here without every single person at this table, and the world would be in much more dire straights. It’s been an honor. To us!”
“To us!”
The gala had good wine, Grace would give them that. It lingered, surprisingly sweet, in the back of his mouth until they dug into their food. He’d thought he hate the event, the stuffy suits and stuffier politicians they had to mingle with for the night, but it was nice.
They hadn’t been able to truly unwind with each other since karaoke night and they hadn’t had karaoke night in months. It didn’t come crashing down until Grace excused himself to use the restroom and got cornered on the way back.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” A man’s voice sneered as a hand grabbed his shoulder. Before he could do anything, Grace found himself being spun around and pushed back into the wall. His heart sank- he was wrong about the attendance list.
Pissed off and trapping him away from the other guests was Dr. Fredricks, the biologist Grace once called a waste of good carbon.