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Carl watched as Grace worked in the lab. He was staring at the three little dots again. He seemed to stare at them for hours on end. Did he think he could just stare at them, and they’d explain themselves to him or something?
Carl looked back down at his newspaper as Grace went back to his whiteboard. Carl had to admit, he hadn’t seen the man leave except to use the bathroom and when he did, he was prompt (not that he would tell Grace that he had been watching him that closely). He hadn’t seen him eat or drink anything, but he guessed he didn’t want to get crumbs or spillages in the lab. God knows that the man had very little grace despite his name.
He had meant to ask the night staff about Grace’s sleep habits. If the man wasn’t taking care of himself in one way, chances are he wasn’t taking care of himself in other ways.
He looked back at Grace and could immediately tell something was wrong. The man was now as white as his whiteboard and had his head in his hands. Glasses discarded onto the table. Carl sat up in his chair and grabbed the walkie-talkie from the desk.
“Grace, you alright?” His voice coming through the speaker seemed to spook the man as he flinched and stumbled on the spot. Grace leaned over the table and grabbed his walkie-talkie.
“Yea- I’m fine. Just a bit of a headache.” Carl watched as Grace gave him the fakest smile he could muster. Carl raised his eyebrow in a way that said ‘Really?’.
Grace plopped the walkie-talkie back on the table and proceeded to spin around on his heels, far, far too quickly. Carl could only watch as Grace wobbled and stumbled on his feet before falling directly on his backside.
Carl shot up from his chair and raced into the lab. Grace was lying on the floor by the time he got there, thankfully he was conscious.
“Grace, can you hear me?” Grace looked at him as if he had asked him the stupidest question ever.
“I’m fine- I just need a min-” Carl could tell from his eyes that he was struggling to focus on anything. Carl looked around the lab. The man didn’t even have a water bottle in here for crying out loud. Carl sighed.
“When was the last time you drank anything? Or the last time you ate anything? Or hell, the last time you even slept?” Grace opened his mouth to respond (probably with something sarcastic) before he thought for a moment and closed his mouth again.
“Umm…” Carl gave him his best disappointed parent look. Grace gave him a sheepish smile in response.
“C’mon, we are going to get food, and then I am escorting you to a bunk or at least six hours of sleep.” Grace groaned in response but didn’t fight the man. He knew it was pointless to try anyway.
Carl helped Grace to sit up slowly, where even then Grace clutched his head as the room spun around him. From there, using both Carl and the table as support, Grace slowly stood upright.
Once he was steady on his feet, or as steady as he could be at least, Carl walked just a little behind him. He had one arm out behind the man in case he planned on falling over again and the other near his closet arm. Grace tried to shake Carl off of him but all it did was make himself wobble on his feet which made Carl grasp at him a little harder.
Carl walked him to the onsite cafeteria where he instructed Grace to sit at the table whilst he got him something. Grace did try to protest verbally but once he was sat down, his entire body melted into the uncomfortable metal stool. Carl shook his head with a small smile on his face and joined the line for the hot food.
He grabbed Grace a sandwich (a simple ham sandwich to not upset the man’s empty stomach), a bottle of water, a box of orange juice and some fresh plain pasta from the hot food counter. He grabbed himself a chicken sandwich, some chips, and a bottle of water too.
As he returned to the table, Grace had his head down on the table using his forearms as pillows. Carl placed the tray down, he didn’t want to spook the man, but he also wanted to make his presence known. Even with the tray making a slight thunk on the table, it didn’t stir the man. Carl sighed and gently put his hand on Grace’s shoulder. He shook the man slightly and his head shot up from his arms. The fabric of his sleeves was just starting to imprint on his forehead and his hair was pushed upright.
Carl huffed out a small laugh as the man clocked back into where he was. Carl handed him the cutlery and pushed the tray in front of him. Grace gave a small thank you and dug into the pasta.
Carl watched in amazement as the man seemed to inhale the large bowl full of pasta within minutes as Carl himself slowly ate his sandwich.
“You may want to slow down there. You’ll make yourself more sick otherwise.” Grace nodded and put the fork down before returning his head to his left forearm. Carl shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“No. At least drink the juice first and have some water before you sleep.” Carl pushed the juice and bottle toward him. “And don’t think for a second I am letting you sleep here. You are going to go and sleep in an actual bed for an extended period of time.” Grace smirked at him.
“Thanks, dad.”
Once Grace was done with his lunch, Carl escorted him to the bunks. They found an empty one for him and Grace flopped onto the bed face first.
“Goodnight, Grace.”