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It's a completely normal day, nothing out of the ordinary. Just another meeting with the rest of the crew and a few engineers about re-entry protocol.
Usually, Jeremy has a tablet to take notes with, which makes things a lot easier… But today, all he has is a notebook. He picks up his mechanical pencil and writes down a few bullet points on the topic at hand— something about heat sealants— and setting it down thoughtfully every so-often to ask questions.
As they begin to discuss a new component of the briefing, he turns a page. The paper gets stuck for a second, forcing him to maneuver it to the side to avoid causing a tear.
He sees it coming before it happens, but by the time he realizes, it's too late to course correct. Sharp, searing pain erupts as the thin paper slashes through the space between his thumb and pointer finger. For something so small and seemingly harmless, it sure does hurt a lot…
He pulls his hand away with a wince. "Woah, you okay?" Christina asks, a laugh just under the surface. Victor immediately gets up from his chair, "I'll grab a first-aid kit."
Reid touches his shoulder wordlessly. He finally looks down, just in time to watch a drop of blood slide off his hand and onto the paper, instantly soaking through the pages.
Apparently, that visual is all it takes. His vision darkens at the edges and everything starts to feel fuzzy. "Jere…" Christina doesn't sound amused anymore.
He looks at the actual cut and his eyes flutter shut involuntarily. "Reid, he's—"
"Yeah, okay…" Warm arms wrap around his torso before he can fall out of his chair. That's the last thing he's aware of.
"This feels like a lot of blood…" he hears someone say. "Hands bleed a lot, he'll be okay."
He grunts, trying to force his eyes open. The first thing he sees is the ceiling of what he recognises to be a conference room at the Kennedy Center. "He lives…" Reid says, which elicits a few laughs from various directions.
He's laying on the floor, someone's jacket is underneath his head, his left hand is being held and his knees are propped up. He tries to figure out who's holding his hand up, and is able to pin-point both Reid and Christina kneeling at his side with a first-aid kit, before Jenni draws his attention to her.
"Don't look. Trust me…" she says with a laugh. He does trust her, but he's also incredibly confused… "What happened?"
"You got a paper cut and then passed out…" Reid says bluntly. "I…" He shuts his mouth because he genuinely doesn't know what to say in response.
"It's okay… we all struggle to deal with blood sometimes…" Jenni tries to reassure him. "Not like that…" Victor remarks matter-of-factly from behind Christina and Reid.
"Oh shush… and hand me a band-aid…" Christina scolds, pressing down on the cut with a wad of tissues. "Did I really faint?" he asks Jenni, looking up at her with wide eyes.
"Why else would you have woken up on the floor of a conference room?" Reid interjects, always teasing. "I don't know… it just… seems kind of hard to believe that something so small could warrant that kind of reaction." He looks back up at the ceiling as he thinks aloud.
"Well, you have always had a taste for the dramatics…" Christina says as she applies a band-aid to the cut.
"There's a name for it… vasovagal syncope, I believe… basically when your brain freaks out and decides that the best course of action is to just not be conscious anymore… even if it's over something small. It often happens when you see your own blood," Jenni explains, making it sound almost normal, bless her.
"I don't think this has ever happened to me before…" As soon as he says it, he can think of at least three instances wherein he passed out or came close to losing consciousness over minor injuries.
"It's nothing to be embarrassed about… I don't even think it's worth reporting. Your brain just… overcompensates sometimes. No big deal," she adds, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"Sure…" Reid says and Jeremy watches Christina elbow him. "Tease him later when he's not still bleeding on the office floor." She chides, quickly hiding the bloody gauze and tissues from Jeremy's eye-line.
"Come on, let's get you up and then we can resume the meeting…" Christina announces, taking his hands and pulling him upright. "I almost died and you're worried about finishing the meeting…" Jeremy exclaims, feigning offense.
"You did not almost die…" Christina scoffs, rolling her eyes. "Okay, maybe not… but you all were scared! I heard you before I passed out…" Christina shares an amused look with Reid over Jeremy's shoulder.
"Of course we were worried about you… before we realized you were completely fine…" she says after a few seconds of trying to find the right words. Her tone is sincere. It's all good fun teasing Jeremy, but she does want him to know that they all care about his well-being… even when he's being over-dramatic.
That one sentence sticks with Jeremy a lot longer than he cares to admit. In a way, he needed to hear that… maybe the paper cut was the universe's way of reminding him that he has a crew who care about him as a person, not just part of a mission.