Work Text:
He's in his office on the 6th floor of the 4S building at Johnson Space Center when he picks up his cellphone to send a text.
Reid: How’s my favourite patient?
Christina: Impatient.
Reid: That’s on brand.
Christina: Careful, Wiseman - I’m on T3s but still feisty. They only held me overnight for observation. I’m already home.
Reid: Damn. That’s quick.
Christina: Poor Bob probably thought he had more time to get the house sorted.
Reid: Anything I can do?
Christina: I’m sure we’ll figure it out.
Reid: How’s your head?
Christina: Fine, no headache or lingering anesthetic.
Reid: That’s not what I meant. I meant psychology.
Christina: I get sad if I think about it. So I don’t.
Reid: Xtina…
Christina: Tonto…
Reid: You never call me that
Christina: You never call me Xtina
Reid: I was abbreviating for efficiency. I hate texting. I’m calling.
Her phone immediately rings.
“Hi.” She answers.
“Hi. Put Bob on.” He says simply.
“Reid,” she counters, an attempted resistance.
“I’m serious, Christina. Or I’ll hang up and I’ll call his phone,” he firmly says.
She sighs and looks over to Bob sitting in the adjacent armchair next to the couch where she’s laying down.
“It’s Reid. He wants to talk to you.” She stretches out her arm, phone in hand, shakes her head a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
“Hi Reid.”
“Hi Bob, I hear our girl is bionic now; and that they let her break out of the joint early.”
“They needed the beds. I personally think it was a bit hasty but she’s a trooper. Stubborn as anything though.”
“Trust me, I get it. You try to do an 8 hour off nominal sim with her,” He teases; they both laugh, “Look, I’m pretty much wrapped up for the day here at Johnson, I’d like to see her, is it ok if I drive down? Maybe I can sit with her for a while and you can run a few errands? Or take Sadie out, I’ll pick you both up dinner on my way out of Houston?”
“You know what Reid, that would be great,” Bob says looking at Christina whose eyes are darting back and forth trying to figure out what he’s planning with her colleague.
“Great. Anything you two need on my way? Dinner requests.”
“We’re easy, don’t go to too much trouble. You spent the last 3 years in expeditionary behaviour modules with her you probably know what she likes to eat better than I do.”
“I’m on it, I’ll see you both in about an hour.”
“Thanks Reid, Bye.”
“Bye.”
Bob hangs up and hands the cell phone back to Christina.
“What was that about?” She asks.
“He wants to see you Tina, don’t shut him out. He wants to help.”
She sighs, “Bob, I’m a mess. I need a shower.”
“You just had major surgery sweetheart, he doesn’t expect you to look like you’re about to walk a Dolce and Gabbana runway, and besides… it’s just Reid. Not long ago he was locked in a tiny capsule with you for 10 days without running water. I’d say you’re in a judgement free zone with him. He’s bringing dinner, he’ll sit with you while I go grab some groceries; and if I have enough time, the SUV is desperate for an oil change. After dinner I’ll take Sadie for a run on the beach. It’ll be good for all of us.”
She sits with his reasoning and nods.
“Good.” He smiles and kisses her.
Reid had shown up in Galveston with two giant bags of Thai takeout, a stunning bouquet of flowers, every type of luxury chocolate he could get his hands on, a 6 pack of craft pilsners for Bob, a signed card from everyone and anyone he had encountered over the last day and a half at JSC (he'd already started that project yesterday); and the book “Lessons in Chemistry” (His daughter Katey had read it on the plane a couple weeks ago during her post graduation celebration trip to Europe and she thought Christina might like it, “There’s a scientist and a dog Dad - it’s right up her alley. And please give her a very gentle hug from me.”
Reid, even with his arms overloaded, managed to not fall going up the narrow steps to the Koch’s 100 year old heritage home. He could hear Sadie already happily barking on the other side of the door. Bob smiled widely as he opened it
“Reid, let me help” he called, grabbing a grocery bag and a bag of Thai takeout from him while Sadie excitedly danced at his feet.
“Hi Reid!” Christina called from the couch not quite being able to see him over the pillows she was propped between and the armful of bags he was carrying.
“Hi, just gonna drop these off, be right there.” He hurriedly shouted following Bob into the kitchen.
“Reid were you expecting ten more people to join for dinner?” Bob teased, “look at this.”
Reid put the grocery bag of snacks down along with the bouquet.
“I may have over ordered…” he grinned, “but she likes options.”
Bob nods before shouting, “Honey where are the large vases?”
“Under the kitchen sink, back left, behind the detergent,” Christina called back.
“Got it, thanks!”
“Bob I can do that, you’ve got a lot on your plate. Here, I picked up a 6 pack of the local St Arnold Brewery Pilsner - these are for you not for her,” he holds up the beer. “And here’s every decent chocolate I could find at Kroger,” he set it aside to bring to Christina in the living room. “A card from the office & a book from Katey.” He added them to the living room bag. “For dinner I went with, green papaya salad, chicken satay, tom kai gai soup, shrimp pad thai, cashew basil chicken stirfry, some kind of spicy chili beef and panang curry with vegetables and tofu, regular rice, coconut rice and two orders of spring rolls. Wanted to cover my bases.”
“You’re nothing if not thorough. Meanwhile I was eternally grateful you offered to stay with her because we’re on our last roll of toilet paper, I desperately need to do a store run.” Bob laughed cutting the cellophane off from around the flowers.
“How is she really?” Reid whispers.
“You know her, she’s fine even when she’s not fine,” he frowns.
Reid slaps him on the shoulder (in a classic Reid way) before he nods smiling sympathetically.
“I’ll talk to her,” he whispers.
“Thanks.” Bob replies genuinely.
Bob finishes arranging the flowers in the vase; hands it to Reid.
“Go see your mission specialist,” He encourages, “I’ll put the food in the fridge and we can reheat it after I get back from the errand run.”
“Sounds great.” Reid collects the rest of Christina’s things and heads into the living room.
She’s surrounded by couch cushions and a light blanket, her hair is in a top knot and she looks even smaller than normal.
“Hey you.” He smiles, leaning in to kiss her forehead quickly before he sits next to her feet at the end of the sofa. “How you feeling?”
She shrugs a reply.
He puts the flowers on the coffee table.
“For me?” She grins.
“For you.” He smiles.
“From?”
“Me.”
“Thank you. They’re stunning.” She blushes at the attention.
He holds out a the card, “From JSC. They send their love.” Next the novel, “From Katey, I know you’d rather read flight reports or ISS gossip emails from Jessica, but she insisted you’d enjoy this, it comes with a very gentle hug, which I’ll deliver to you later before I go.”
“That’s very sweet. Thank her for me, and gently hug her back.”
“And finally, an entire bag of assorted luxury chocolate. Because cocoa is medicinal.”
“Thank you. I’ve been saying that for years,” she grins, “tried to get them to up our chocolate quota on ISS during Expedition 60 with that argument. NASA wasn’t buying it.”
Bob pops in with his car keys in hand after having put away all the take out in the fridge. He leans down to kiss the top of Christina’s head.
“Okay you two, I’m off! I put Sadie in the backyard. I’ll be back in a couple hours and we can have dinner, so Reid if you want to invite half the block to join us while I’m out, I’m sure there’s enough for everyone,” he jokes, patting him on the back. “See you two soon.” He smiles.
“Bye Bob.”
“Call me if you need anything!” He shouts as he closes the door behind him.
The second he’s down the front steps, she bursts into tears.
“Hey, hey, what’s this?” He soothes, moving to kneel on the floor next to the couch so her can get closer to her. One of his large hands cradles the side of her face while his thumb wipes tears away softly.
“They won’t ever send me back up Reid.” She gets out shakily in between tears
“You don’t know that.” He counters.
“I do know that and you do too. You know how strict the medical assessments are, you get a hangnail and you’re a liability. I’ll be lucky if I can even rock climb or surf again. I’m grounded.”
“Christina, you don’t know these things yet. You were in excellent physical condition when this surgery took place, you’re going to do every rehabilitation exercise to the letter, I know you will, But you definitely need to take this one day at a time.”
“Maybe A5 was a pipe dream anyway, I’ll be over 50…” she ignores him, still spiralling.
“Careful…” he teases indicating his own age.
”But I thought I might have had a shot if I trained hard.”
“You do and you will, I know you and you’ll probably oust all your personal bests once you heal because you won’t be in chronic pain anymore. You’ll be more aligned.”
“I took it for granted.”
“Look at me, You’re invaluable to the program no matter how you show up for it. This doesn’t define you. You need to take care of yourself. You need to give yourself grace. I need you to not think two years ahead right now Christina, this is a day by day thing.” He soothes. At their angles and positions he can’t get her much closer. He lets a breathy laugh go as he leans in to her forehead.
“What?” She gently whispers.
“I want to get you closer but I can’t without hurting you.”
“Move the pillows from behind me and you sit there?” She suggests.
He gingerly laces a strong arm behind her to support her shoulders, while his other arm removes the stack of pillows and cushions propping her up. He slides in, in their place, and lets her body rest back gently against his chest. His hands roam softly over her shoulders before his left hand moves to her scalp, pulling out the scrunchie in her hair so he can rake his fingertips through her curls.
She relaxes completely once he starts.
“Reid” she sighs her breathing starting to even out, “that feels really nice.”
“Yeah?”
She nods.
“You’re exhausted, close your eyes.” He whispers, still keeping the same rhythmic sweeping of his fingers through her hair. She does as he asks and he doesn’t stop. He watches her drift to sleep, hypnotized by his careful repetitions across her scalp.
She’s still asleep when Bob gets back.
Reid holds a finger to his lips as he catches Bob entering the living room.
He looks at them both softly.
“I’ll get dinner going, I hate to wake her, but she needs to eat and take another round of painkillers and meds” Bob whispers.
Reid nods.
Reid wakes her gently whispering her name and stroking her cheek.
The three of them have dinner in the living room. Talking about upcoming summer vacations and media appearances. It’s been a few weeks since the whole Artemis 2 crew has been all together and they do have an upcoming event at JSC to thank the staff in a couple of weeks. Jeremy’s been in Canada doing a huge cross country tour, so they’re looking forward to reuniting.
Bob decides he’s imposed enough upon Reid and should let him get started on the 30 minute drive back to Houston reasoning he will take Sadie for a beach run another day.
Reid gently hugs Christina goodbye, tells them both to call him if they need anything. Bob walks Reid to the front door, they linger on the deck.
“Thanks for everything.”
Reid goes for a hug. “Anything. Anytime. Really.” He states.
Bob nods.
“It’s just going to take time, she’s scared about her future.” Reid confesses.
“I know,” Bob admits,
“Take care of her. I'll call her tomorrow.” Reid smiles as he leaves down the steep front steps waving goodbye over his head without looking back.
Bob returns to the living room sitting down next to Christina, she’d been sitting up since dinner. He looks at some of the haul Reid brought for her.
“Look at those flowers… they must have cost a fortune. Tina, if I drown in a freak surfing accident, you wife him up ok? He thinks the world of you.” He admits
“Bob I don’t want to even think about that,” she frowns.
“Hey you’re the one who sits on top of a million pounds of explosives during launch or leaves the ISS airlock to float in the vacuum of space clocking in at over 17000 miles an hour all while precariously tethered to something that’s been undergoing daily thermodynamic shifts since the Clinton administration. Babe, I’m not the one pulling Mach 39 on re-entry. Actually this is a very good talk, I don’t know why we never went over my suitable potential partner candidates before you flew - what and who would I be allowed to do if you were offed?”
“Bob I can’t believe we’re having this conversation, it’s absurd,” she shakes her head her eyes searching his trying not to be amused.
“I’m just saying…” he smiles.
She sighs, he’s clearly having fun, “Well first of all, you stay north of 40 ok? 35 if she’s really special.”
“None of Wiseman’s exes will work then,” he muses.
“Stop. Be nice.” She scolds, suppressing her own smile.
“He’s the Leonardo DiCaprio of NASA. He’d make an exception for you if you were available though. You’re like his Kate Winslet. Unavailable and Unrequited.”
She laughs “Ok enough. Your choice of suitor in the event of your imminent demise has been noted, filed and determined. Reid Wiseman. God help me.” She pauses before adding, “I’m keeping your name though.”
He leans in to kiss her forehead.
“I’m glad.”
She frowns as he pulls away.
“What?” Bob says concerned searching her eyes.
“I already don’t like your new wife.”
“Christina, I don’t even like her and I'm the one marrying her!”
“Don’t die in a freak surfing accident ok?” She smiles.
“Deal.” He promises before asking, “Are you going to stay here on the sofa tonight or do you want me to help get you to the bedroom?”
“I’ll stay. Sadie likes it in here and there are less stairs and there’s a shorter path to the bathroom.”
“Not to mention every premium chocolate bar Reid Wiseman could get his hands on in the state of Texas is within arms reach.”
“That too. He’s very sweet.” she admits grinning, “I am his Kate Winslet aren’t I?”
“That’s why I’m letting you hypothetically marry him in the event of a catastrophy.” Bob grins.
“I love you.” She smiles.
“I love you too. You’re so much better than Marissa.”
“Who’s Marissa?”
“My 35 year old hypothetical wife if you get untethered from the ISS and sucked into the vacuum of space.” He grins.
She hits him playfully with a throw pillow.