Title: Overwhelmed
Fandom: The Martian
Rating: M, not for kids… Smut ensued.
Johanbeck
Summary: Watney has been back for a week and Beck is one shake from having a melt down. Johanssen gets called in to help.
Beth Johanssen was knee deep in rewiring the weakened control panel that controlled pretty much the far end of the HERMES. In order to save Mark Watney, they had to depressurize the majority of Hermes in order to slow down, thus ruining all the electronics and miscellaneous things that were needed to survive the journey back. Most of it wasn't life threatening, that was taken care of the morning after they had saved the stranded astronaut, she was basically cleanup crew now.
She was currently sitting inside the smallest panel humming softly to herself when her name was called over the PA system. It startled her, causing her to bump her head on the top as she crawled out and floated into an upright position. "Go ahead Commander, I'm sorry I was inside the panel." She called out, rubbing the sore spot on her head.
"I know you're busy, but we need you in the rec." She said, her voice was off-higher pitch than normal and Johanssen's stomach dropped.
"I'm on my way." She said, putting the panel back into place and floated down the hall, into the center and down the ladder. There were papers strewn across the floor that Vogel was trying to pick up, Mark Watney stood in the middle of the room with a blanket wrapped tightly around himself as Lewis flipped an unturned chair.
The sinking feeling dropped more as she realized that a certain, overly stressed out doctor, was missing. Lewis looked up and bit her lip. "What happened?" Johanssen asked, she could probably figure it out. It had something to do with Mark, she knew that he wasn't allowed out of bed yet and yet here he was standing in the middle of the rec.
Lewis looked almost defeated. "I need you off your chores for the next 24 hours." She said, pushing the chair back into its spot.
Johanssen suddenly felt sick and before she could speak, Mark spoke up. "The good doctor went a little nuts." He explained wide eyed. "He almost punched Martinez in the face."
She looked at Martinez, who looked like a beaten puppy but didn't make any comment as he picked up a piece of paper at his feet. It must be bad if he wasn't in a joking mood. "He's pushed himself to hard." Lewis said softly and bit her lip. "You should go check on him."
The youngest astronaut nodded and turned to head back up the ladder, it must've been bad for the sweet-even tempered doctor to flip chairs before disappearing. "What he needs is Johanssen to make a man out of him." Watney grumbled with folded arms, he had escaped the temporary medbay that they had set up in the gym.
Lewis glared at him. "This is mostly your fault." She said and pointed to the couch, silently ordering him to sit down. "You're under my watch now, Watney and I'm not as nice as our resident surgeon."
He held his hands up in defense. "Really I feel fine! I just wanted some real food!" He whined as he moved to sit down on the couch.
"You better not push it." Lewis ordered before moving closer to Johanssen to talk with her quietly. "I ordered him to rest for twenty-four hours because he is on course for a mental break down and I need him at 100%."
Johanssen folded her arms and took a deep breath. "He hasn't been sleeping well and he had been trying to hide it from me." She reported and Lewis' eyes widened. "He won't talk to me about it, but I think he's having nightmares."
The commander sighed heavily running a hand through her hair, with Chris getting up every few hours to check on Mark and change his IV's, the poor man hadn't slept in at least three days. "Tell me what happened." Beth said worriedly.
"He went to the gym to change Mark's IV and he wasn't there." She explained in a whisper, she looked behind her to see Vogel give him the mug that held the high caloric broth that Mark had set aside to feed him. "It scared him."
Her insides started to hurt, because she could understand the certain panic that would set in to come to the realization that Mark was gone, again.
"He freaked out at Mark for getting out of bed and freaked out at Alex and Rick for being cohorts in his exploits." Lewis explained as Rick took a seat next to Mark and chatted quietly, trying to encourage him to eat what he was given. "I've never seen him so panicked, I got in the middle of it and told him to take the time off, that he was too close to the situation and the he needed some time alone before he got sick. I had to order him."
It was like a punch to her stomach, Chris Beck was a model citizen and followed orders to the letter, she couldn't imagine the sense of betrayal that he would feel. Her hand went to her stomach and her breathing labored. "Mark hasn't exactly made things easy for him." Beth said softly, glaring at him over Lewis' shoulder.
Lewis shook her head. "That's why I'm going to be Doctor Lewis for the next twenty-four hours, I'm going to whip him into shape." She promised, placing a supporting hand on hand on her arm. "You just take care of our boy."
Beth nodded and took the ladder up to the center, disappearing from view when Mark spoke again. "Really, I kept myself alive for 500 Sols on Mars." He said.
Lewis raised her eyebrows and her hands on her hips. "We know, Mark. We came back to get your sorry ass, you can at least make an effort to be a model patient for him because he's the only one who really cares about your wellbeing." She snapped at him.
"It's Johanssen you are going to need to worry about." Martinez said after the smallest astronaut disappeared up the ladder.
/
She found him sitting on their bed with his head in his hands and shoulders hunched. She shut the door behind her and crossed the small room without him looking up. It was when her hands went to his shoulders that he looked up at her. "Did she send you here to rub me out?" He growled. He had dark bags under his eyes, making him look a lot older than he was.
Beth smiled as she ran a hand through his hair, sending spikes in all directions. "If she did, you would not still be alive." She joked lightly.
"Oh thanks." He scoffed, sitting up straighter. "Of course you'd be on her side." His arms folded, actually pouting like a five-year-old.
She pushed herself between his legs, lacing her fingers behind his head as she shrugged her shoulders. "Not necessarily, it depends whose most valuable to me." She teased lightly and it gained a glare from him, nope, he wasn't in the mood for the playfulness. "She sent me here to make sure that you are okay, she's worried. I'm worried about you."
His hands went to her waist, fisting the shirt that covered it. He took a deep breath. "I'm fine." He said with a shrug before he slouched his shoulders. "I just I'm so…"
Her hand went to cup his cheek and he stopped talking. "You are exhausted, Chris." She said softly. "You are going to burn out if you don't get some sleep."
He groaned, resting his forehead against her, tightening his grip at her waist as her hands began to rake through his hair. "I …" He said, muffled by her chest.
"I know you haven't been sleeping very well, that's why I'm here to help." She said softly, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. He opened his mouth to protest and she shook her head to silence him. "Just give me five minutes of your time.
He scooted back from her, resting his back against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. "Okay, how has your day been?" He asked suddenly passive-aggressive.
She shrugged. "I've had better days." She answered. "But I don't want to talk about me, or you, or Lewis." She told him. "I sure as hell don't want to talk about Watney."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Nothing, just close your eyes."
He looked at her suspiciously. "Promise you're not going to put a knife in my jugular?"
She rolled her eyes, but otherwise ignored the comment as she kneeled down in front of him. "I just want to help you out, Chris."
Something pinged in his head, and he raised an eyebrow at her. He was too tired to think clearly, but did she mean what he thought she meant? She rested her hands on his knees and sat up on taller on her own knees.
"Relax." She cooed, adopting a huskier one that she always used when they were flirting. "Close your eyes."
Chris blew out a disbelieving laugh as he obeyed her request, with the Hermes being such a small ship, it was hard for them to be intimate without the others hearing, especially in the afternoon on a Tuesday. Beth leaned forward and ran her hands up his thighs and down around his hips to the hem of his sweatshirt. When she pushed it up to expose the skin of his stomach, Chris' eyes opened slowly to watch her and he had no doubt that he would enjoy this with his eyes closed, but at the moment he would rather watch her face.
She looked up and caught him peeking. He challenged her look and she only raised her brow, letting him have his way. After all, this was about him.
By the time her hand ran over him, he was already hardening. Beth smiled up at him, pleased by his response. "If I had kept my eyes closed, I would've missed that look." He said, his own voice growing husky.
She squeezed him and he inhaled sharply. "You like to watch me." She stated.
"Very much so." He confirmed breathlessly.
She smiled again as bother of her hands worked him through the materials of his pants. "Okay, watch me." She said as if she was issuing a challenge, trust Beth Johanssen to make it a competition.
Beth unzipped his pants and spread them open, then slid her hand inside his boxers to pull him free resting her forearms on his thighs. Chris gasped and grabbed ahold of her forearms, Beth clenched and felt herself grow heavy at the sight and feel of him. He definitely met her approval and he never ceased to impress her. She gave him a pleased smile, but the self-confident smirk she expected to find was nowhere to be found. Instead, he was giving her that same intense stare he gave when he was concentrating hard on something, it was like the dark bags under his eyes had disappeared. It was like his whole world at the moment consisted of her. At least she had gotten his mind off work.
She started playing with him as she liked, learning his favorite moves by the tilt of his hips and his cries. Stroking, pumping, slow, fast, hard, soft, both hands. Every time he seemed to get used to something, she deliberately changed the routine and he loved it. Beth seemed attuned to what he needed, he silently sent thank you's to everyone who made it so that he was here, at this moment.
Chris' hand stroked up and down her arms and shoulder, but he couldn't reach anything else. He badly wanted his hands on her to hold her properly. He lifted his eyes from her hands around his cock to see her looking down at him, biting her lip in concentration. For whatever reason, he found the look explosively hot and he let out a growl.
Beth raised her eyes to meet his and gave him a slow smile that he knew he would replay in his head over and over until he kicked the bucket. "Come closer please." He begged.
Removing her hands for a second, she stood up and braced her hands on his shoulder as she moved to both her legs to bracket his, and then sat down on his knees, leaving enough room to get her hands on him. She pumped his shaft firmly as her other hand went lower to play with his balls.
"Jesus." He panted, leaning forward to bury his face into her neck, drawing in the scent of her. His hands slid up her thighs and around her butt. She smiled against his neck and kissed the skin under his ear. The way he grunted and squeezed her ass gave her a pretty good indication that his neck was one of his more sensitive spots.
He opened his eyes again and he got closer to the edge when he found that from his position he could see himself in her hands through the space of the neckline of her t-shirt. His hands reach for the hem of her t-shirt before the thought was formed, but he managed to stop himself before he touched her.
Beth saw him move and smiled, she'd hate to deprive him of something that he had wanted. "You are allowed to touch, Chris." She teased.
He growled, lifted his head and then lifted her top. Beth raised her arms over her head in cooperation, she quite enjoyed exposing herself to him. She returned to the task at hand and his hands went to her breasts, squeezing them through her bra and setting off her own sparks of pleasure. He kissed his way down her throat before pushing her back enough to run his lips along the flesh that peeked out from the top of her bra.
He whispered her name as he kissed up her neck again. His fingers unsnapping her bra, letting it fall to the floor with her shirt. "Beth … I need…" He gasped.
"Tell me what you need." She whispered looking up at him. His hands left her waist and he held her head between his hands, pulling her lips against him. She gasped in surprise and he took advantage of it, deepening it and her hands slowed to a stop.
"I need you." He growled against her lips as he suddenly found his strength, he wrapped his arms tightly around her and flipped them on to the bed. She squeaked against his lips in surprise and his hand shoved her pants down before he began to pepper kisses down her body gaining quiet whimpers from her the lower he got.
She begged him to stop teasing and he silenced her with another kiss as he entered her. It was almost too much for him as he quietly growled again. He gave her a moment to stretch to him before moving his hips against hers, Beth cried out his name.
His brain shut down.
There was no Mark. No Melissa, or Alex, or Rick. There sure as hell wasn't the entire world watching his every move in order to save Mark. It was just Beth and Chris. He forgot his exhaustion and his near panic attack as he moved his hips, she met him thrust for thrust as be buried his face into her neck.
He captured her lips again as he reached his climax spilling inside of her and breathing heavily as he collapsed against her.
They both lay there for a few minutes, Beth's hands rubbing his slick back as she was sure he had dozed off. But he hadn't. he pushed himself up to look at her. Though he still looked exhausted, he looked calm.
She smiled softly. "I love you." She whispered before sliding out from underneath him. He flopped on to his back with a frown on his face. "I'm just going to clean up…"
His frown deepened as she stood up. "But you…" He started, he felt bad for not helping her to her own climax. She reached down and tasseled his hair affectionately.
"It's okay, you can owe me one." She said tenderly. "This was about making you feel better." Another kiss, she grabbed a towel out of the closet and wrapped it around herself before disappearing down the hall with her clothes.
It was brave of her to walk down the hallway nearly naked, go into the bathroom and clean up before changing. She wasn't worried though, the others were keeping a wide berth around Chris and she was in the clear for at least another hour or two until it was time for lunch.
When she returned, Chris had dressed and was laying on his back with his arm under his head, looking perfectly comfortable. She smiled at him and crawled into bed. With her head resting on his arm, he pulled her to his side, not willing to let her go. "Thank you." He whispered and pressed a kiss to her head.
"You're welcome. Get some sleep." She ordered softly, if he argued with her she was going to go get a tranquilizer.
But he didn't argue, he rolled over and placed an arm across her midsection, pulling her closer to him and with a heavy sigh he was asleep. She couldn't help but smile as she ran her fingers through his already sex tousled hair. He nuzzled his face into her neck, pressing a lazy kiss to her neck.
She was trapped. She couldn't reach the tablet on the bedside table, nor did she want to move to go grab it.
Shrugging it off, Beth allowed herself the pleasure to doze off for a few moments.
/
When she woke up, she had realized that it hadn't been a few minutes, but over an hour since she dozed off. She looked at her watch, it was lunch time and her stomach agreed.
It took a moment to untangle herself from Chris' grip and straighten her clothes. She looked at herself in the mirror to make sure that he didn't mark her neck, like he was prone to doing. Luckily her hair had grown long enough to cover the faint one on her collarbone.
Johanssen left the room and took the familiar path towards the kitchen and wasn't entirely surprised to see the rest of the crew, minus Watney were sitting at the table eating lunch. Lewis turned to look at her and smiled softly. "How's our boy?" She asked.
Keeping her face neutral, she reached into the cabinet for a meal packet. "He's okay." She answered as she placed her food into the microwave. "He's asleep."
"Good." Lewis commented, there was an awkward silence that fell over them. Nobody wanted to ask her what had happened since Beck's outburst to this moment, they all assumed it involved breaking NASA protocols.
Johanssen's food finished and she took her normal spot to against to the right of the commander. "Where's Mark?" She asked, taking a bite of the pasta.
"He over exerted himself, like Beck said he would." Answered Lewis in between bites.
"Gorged himself, only to lose it on the floor." Martinez quipped with a laugh. Johanssen smiled at that, serves him right for not following Chris' orders. "It was kind of a masterpiece."
The three other crewmates gave him a dirty look. Johanssen's glare gave him chills as she sat her fork back down. "He should be resting right now, but I'm sure he's in the wall panel in Martinez's room." Lewis said as she continued to eat, distracting Johanssen from wanting to strangle the pilot.
"Chris is going to kill him if he finds him out of his bed again." Johanssen said, starting to eat again slowly.
"Then all of our hard work would be for nothing." Answered Lewis. "I'm hoping once Beck has more than three hours of sleep in him, he will be more rational."
"I wouldn't bet on it." Johanssen mumbled between bites. "I have never seen him like that before."
Lewis shrugged. "As long as we all make sure Mark stays on task, Beck will be okay." She said and they agreed. "I'm going to make a schedule for each of us to take turns handling Mark to make sure that Beck doesn't get overwhelmed with his care again."
They all agreed, at least until Beck deemed Watney out of the woods. Speaking of which, the alarm on Lewis watch went off signaling that it was time for his next IV treatment. Lewis moved to get up and Vogel shook his head. "I will do it." He volunteered as he got up with his plate. "I actually want to see Watney get back to earth."
Martinez chuckled and Lewis broke a smile, Johanssen was still a little bitter because of his role in Beck's meltdown.
She finished her meal, washed her dish and went to the cabinet to make Beck something to eat. Lewis had followed her into the kitchen. "How is he really doing?" She asked quietly.
Johanssen shrugged her shoulders. "He was exhausted and wound to the point that he couldn't sleep." She answered honestly. "I helped him relax and he's been asleep ever since."
Lewis didn't want to know the details of 'helped him relax,' but as long as he was asleep she would take that as the answer. "I feel bad for ordering him to go away." She stated quietly. "But I'm worried that he was going to make himself sick over it or start to resent Mark."
The younger astronaut smiled at her. "He'll be okay." She promised. "He just needs some time away from Mark and probably eighteen hours of sleep."
Lewis nodded as the microwave dinged. Johanssen pulled out the food packet and sat it on the plate, she would dish it up in the room. "I will see you at dinner then." She said and turned to return back to her work and Johanssen's work allowing her to focus on Chris.
/
Chris stirred when he heard the door open and the smell of food filled the air. His stomach growled in protest, he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten anything. Beth shut the door behind her, crossing the room to the small desk and sat down the meal bag and plate.
She turned around to see his eyes open, looking almost normal. "Hey." She said softly. "I brought you something to eat."
He sat up in the bed and ran a hand through his tousled hair. "Thanks." He said, his voice was hoarse. She handed him a water pouch and some medicine for the headache she was sure that he was feeling.
He downed the water and medication in a couple slow sips, she turned back to the desk to get his lunch ready. Quietly he got out of bed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. She continued to work on the meal packet, tearing the corner to dump the contents onto the plate. His lips traced the curve of her neck, making her skin erupt in goosebumps. "Your lunch is ready." She said, tangling her fingers with his that rested on her stomach.
"Thank you." He whispered with his lips against her neck. "Just with everything, I …"
She turned around to face him, her hand cupping his cheek. "That's what I'm here for, Chris." She said, standing on her tip toes to press a kiss to his cheek. "I'm here to take care of you, always."
He closed the distance between them, his lips meeting hers. His stomach grumbled in protest, they broke apart with a laugh, it was the first time since they brought Mark on board that he had felt this light. "I love you."
Patting his cheek lightly she brought him down for another kiss. "I love you too." She said before stepping away from the table, his stomach growled again. "You should eat."
Chris nodded and picked up the plate, taking a seat on the bed. It was his favorite space food, beef stroganoff. "Did you check on Mark?" He asked in between bites.
She stood in front of the mirror, brushing her hair. She shook her head. "He was back in medbay." She answered, pulling her hair into a pony tail. "Martinez said that he ate what he wasn't supposed to and threw up, Lewis sent him back to bed and just went to start his IV. I was really not in the mood to listen to him today."
He accepted that as her answer, knowing that she only told him that much to settle his nerves. She pulled out her tablet and starting to catch up on her work while he ate. She sent everybody their messages for the day and started to scroll through hers.
A letter from her father, and her stupid sister, one from her college friend Martin, a couple from NASA regarding system operations and their expected time added to their trip.
She was reading over the letter from her sister about her wedding preparations, keeping her in the loop of everything even though she wasn't going to be there. She moaned on and on about her hot, beach babe-humanitarian-lawyer fiancée, who spends three weeks of the year in Africa saving children from some disease or another. "He sounds impressive." Said Chris reading over her shoulder.
Beth raised her eyebrows at him and snorted. "She is trying to one up me." She said. "But she'll never win because I have a gorgeous, astronaut-surgeon-military-hero."
"That you do." He said with a cheeky grin, stealing a kiss from her. He pulled her down so that they both could lay in bed, with his arm under her head. He held her close, burying his face into her neck. "He sounds like a pompous ass."
"My sister sure knows how to pick them, at least he's rich and that will make her happy." She answered, moving to the next email as Chris began to doze off against her.
When she finished her emails, she resorted to one of the saved movies on her tablet because she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. She settled on watching The Fellowship of the Rings, one of her favorite movies when she was a child.
/
He woke up later to her chuckling quietly, he opened his eyes to see what was so funny and realized that she was watching a movie on the small screen of her tablet. He wasn't sure which one it was, but she was definitely watching one of The Lord of the Rings movies.
"You're such a nerd." He mumbled, it startled her.
She turned her head to look at him. "It's my favorite movie." She explained with a smile. He snuggled in closer and watched it from the screen. He had to admit that he did enjoy the series, but not to the extent of Beth Johanssen.
It felt nice to just lay there and not have to be anywhere pressing. Mark was relatively stable and if that were to change someone would fetch him, but for now he got to cuddle with Beth and watch The Lord of the Rings.
She giggled again when Legolas shot an arrow between Gimli's legs, killing the orc that he was sitting on making their count even. Despite his utter breakdown earlier, he was happy. He pressed a kiss to her forehead as he watched the screen.
After a while he started to feel restless and sat up. She paused the movie and looked at him expectantly. "I'm going to go run for a while." He explained and she nodded, sitting up to allow him the space to climb out of bed.
"Do you want me to come?" She asked.
He shook his head. "You've taken enough time off to handle me, I'm okay now." He said, reaching into the closet for his running shoes.
She folded her legs, resting the tablet on her legs. "Will you come to dinner?" She asked. "Or would you like me to bring you something."
As he took his shirt off to change into something more comfortable to run in. "Yeah, I will be at dinner, I need to apologize to everybody." Beth nodded as he crossed the room to kiss her goodbye. "I'll see you later."
/
Most of the time, they had dinner with Mark in the lab/medbay where he had been living since they brought him back on board. Mark sat on his bed with his thermos full of broth while the others took up chairs and counter space to eat dinner.
Johanssen was the first to get there with her dinner, she set it on the counter before taking a seat on the foot of Mark's bed. "Are you still mad at me?" He asked, he still looked gaunt from being so underweight, but since they brought him on board he has successfully put on some weight.
She shrugged. "I'm here aren't I?" She asked.
He looked down at his hands. "I'm sorry about upsetting Chris," He answered, Lewis must have had some major words with him regarding his behavior. "I didn't mean to scare him, I've gained the habit of doing whatever I want when I want that I need to break."
"He wasn't sleeping well since you've come on board." She answered honestly, "He tried to hide it from me, but he's had nightmares about not being good enough to make you better."
It was like a punch in the gut for him. "I didn't know." He said somberly. "I'll apologize when I see him."
That made Beth feel better, with Mark now playing nicely, it would make Chris' job much easier. "I appreciate that." She said with a smile.
It wasn't a moment later that a grin spread across his face. "You made him into a man, didn't you?" He said, waiting to gauge her response.
She wasn't going to give him the one she wanted, he didn't deserve the blush and coy smile. Instead she poked him in the stomach with her sharp finger. "That is none of your concern, Watney." She said.
Mark leaned back and chuckled. "Lucky bastard." He breathed out.
Beth rolled her eyes. "It's a wonder that we agreed to come back for you." She responded.
"You missed my charm." He teased with a crooked smile.
Before she could retort, there was the all too familiar sliding sound down the ladder. First Martinez appeared, then Lewis, Vogel and finally Chris, who masterfully slid down the ladder with one hand. He held Watney's thermos in his hand.
Chris handed it to him. "Hey, I'm sorry about earlier." Mark said. "I really do appreciate all that you've done for me."
He smiled softly at Mark. "I'm sorry too, I promise I won't let myself get carried away again."
"Aww that's so sweet, come on I'm hungry!" Whined Martinez from his spot in the corner. Watney threw a pillow at him to shut him up.
Chris shrugged and took a seat next to Mark on the doctor's stool, handing Beth her food packet that was sitting next to him, she remained at the foot of the bed. The crew fell into their normal banter and the air seemed lighter as they all poked fun at Martinez, even Vogel got involved.
It was enough to prove that they would survive the ten more month's home.
As they finished, Beck moved to change the IV but was shoved away by Lewis. "You still have twelve hours of banishment left, Beck." She said and he held his hand up in surrender and stepped away. Vogel and Martinez disappeared, one to work out and the other to call his family.
Beck walked Johanssen to the ladder, he was off the clock for twelve more hours and so he leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. "Eww, you guys!" Mark complained from the bed, throwing the pillow at them.
The doctor flipped him, but continued to kiss her for a moment longer. "You got plans tonight?" He whispered to her.
She shrugged, turning towards the ladder and placing her foot on the first rung. "I do have Return of the King to watch, unless you have another idea." Their voices were quiet so that Lewis and Watney couldn't hear them.
"Well I do owe you big time." He said raising his brows and she smirked at him.
An empty plastic container hit Chris in the back. "Get a room, Jesus." Said Watney from his bed, a big grin on his face.
Chris picked up the container and expertly nailed Watney between the eyes with it. "Shut up Watney." Beth said from half way up the ladder. "Come on Chris, make me into a woman."
That was enough to make Chris blush and follow her obediently up the ladder. "That wasn't necessary!" Yelled Lewis, who was finishing up with Mark's IV.
"Yeah it was." Said Watney with a chuckle as he watched the pair of them disappear up the ladder.
It was then that Lewis realized that everything was going to be alright between all six of them, as long as they all remained professional from here on out. She just might have to sit them down and remind them the definition of professionalism, but for the next twelve hours she would let it go. Hell they all deserved a break. When she finished with Mark, she was going straight to bed and sleep until morning.