A/N: Thank you all for the warm welcoming! It warms my heart, really ;)
Even though I'm answering reviews separately, I would like to especially thank planet p. This story is sort of a language excercise and I really appreciate the advices!
REPAIRS
TJ was furious. The first thing she saw this morning, when she came into the infirmary, was an empty bed, where a (barely) recovering Rush should lay. She was looking for him ever since, employing Eli, Park, Chloe and Greer to help her. He was neither in Control Room, nor the Chair Room – the most probable locations. His quarters were also vacant. Mess Hall, Observation Deck, known corridors – the annoying Scot was nowhere to be found.
Young told them a few days ago, when Rush left the infirmary for the first time, not to bother him, just find the fool and drag him back, but the situation was forcing her to let the Colonel know. Just as she was about to contact him on the radio, Eli's kino showed up in front of her.
"I found him." a voice from the flying camera said "I'll come and get you."
"Just tell me where he is, I'll get there on my own," she said impatiently.
"No, you won't. We've never been there before."
Soon after that the young man came trekking her way, passed her and she followed. They came to a stop before an open door. The door, that were sealed shut under a strict order. Door, that led to the damaged part of the ship.
"I don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing," Eli muttered.
"We're still alive so let's think positive," TJ answered and they both trekked to where they knew Rush was.
The room was full of wires, crystals and pipes that looked like they went through hell. Also, it contained a Doctor Rush, sitting on the floor with his upper body buried halfway inside a huge console. There were some clinking noises and irritated grunts coming from the inside.
"Doctor Rush!" TJ bellowed, mad as hell. The Doc, apparently not aware of their presence, flinched visibly but didn't move away from his workstation. "I warn you, Doctor Rush. If you don't come back to the infirmary willingly, we will force you." she said sternly, coming his way.
The unidentified noises stopped and the older man scrambled, with some effort, to get himself free. He sat on the floor, his hair messy and face smeared with something greasy and grey. He wiped his hands on a cloth he had besides him and looked at them.
Both TJ and Eli worried. When he came onboard, his eyes were dull and expressionless but they put it aside as emaciation. And yet, he peered at them now with the same reserve, as if he closed the only window showing his true emotions. His face, still too thin, was absolutely blank.
"Please, let me finish this. I will go back then," he said quietly.
They looked at him as if he just sprouted a random limb, then they looked at each other. Did he just ask them permission? Doctor Nicholas Rush, the insufferable individualist that knew himself to be better than all of them together, just asked them permission?
"O-okay…" TJ muttered, not entirely sure what was going on. She then turned to Eli: "Inform the rest that they're free, the search party is over. I'll stay here and make sure he behaves."
Eli, too dumbfounded to answer, just nodded his head and left. Rush was still sitting on the floor, with trembling hands fumbling with a small console. TJ approached him and kneeled on the floor, watching as he struggled with hitting the right spots. He rubbed his forehead absentmindedly, smearing more of the grease on his face.
"You shouldn't be doing this, Doctor Rush," TJ said, peering at the dark hole he was buried in when she came here "you should be resting, regaining your strength."
He stopped what he was doing and looked at her. For some reason the lack of light in his eyes scared her more than when they were flashing with fury.
"I know," he answered simply. She had to admit this was more than she was prepared for. Not only did he respond, he was agreeing with her.
"Then why are you here?"
"You all want to go home, yes? And now I know…" he hesitated, searching for right words. "Now I know how to acquire the knowledge how to do that. Now let me get back to work, lass," and with that he ducked back into the console's guts. TJ settled next to him, looking at her surroundings with mild interest and mulling over him calling her 'lass' instead of his customary 'lieutenant'.
"So… what is this place?" She asked finally, curiosity taking the better of her. Some of the crystals were active, others seemed damaged. Also a few of the pipes were broken, one letting out puffs of steam.
"One of the energy circuit rooms," came a muffled answer and a grunt afterwards.
"And what does it power? Or did power when it worked?" she asked again.
"It…" there was a sound of something breaking and one more grunt "Oh, for fuck's sake!" she heard him swear quite loudly, accent thick in his voice. He then scrambled out, letting out a puff of air. He was sweating profoundly and breathing heavily.
"Lieutenant," he said, visibly trying to control anger that was bubbling inside him. For some reason it felt refreshing "If you want me to be done as fast as possible and undamaged, restrain your female need of conversation and let me focus."
"Funny, I always thought that you are a multitask person," she teased, but settled against the wall a bit further from him.
"Usually that is the case, yes," he muttered, wiping sweat off his forehead and smearing more grease instead. He looked ridiculous "But I must admit I'm not at my best today."
"Yeah, I can see that," she said and settled to wait as he shot her a sideway glance and got back to work. No sarcastic replies, no glares... like he changed too much to care. But again, TJ noticed that she was one of the few people he was calm around, even before. Eli was another and – recently – Park has become a part of this small group as well. Oh, he was far from nice. But there was a difference. Whenever he spoke to others, his whole posture was tense and eyes guarded. He knew they hated him. He could tell them he didn't care. Maybe even believed it himself. But it was so obvious, especially now. Was this some sort of instinct? To know, to sense people's hate? She definitely didn't hate him, at least not at the moment. She only thought him to be an egoistic, egocentric ass, and not all the time.
TJ saw snippets of the man behind the genius. After his breakdown, when he woke up, disoriented and embarrassed, she saw. And he seemed not to realize that he allowed her that as well. But again, TJ - as the only medic onboard - saw many things people were hiding. And she stored them all, like precious gems in her memory, for times when she was so fed up with them, she could start shooting and never stop. Then she remembered, who these people might once have been and what changed them, made them adapt… It made things easier.
Sound of a screwdriver hitting the floor pulled her out of her musing. Rush was out of the hole and just finished screwing the lid back into place with his brow not creased with worry, what in the Rush Dictionary meant he was quite pleased. He stood up and tapped something on the surface of the console. As TJ rose to her feet, she saw the whole machinery light and beep silently, sounding disturbingly similar to an old computer being turned on. Rush smiled fleetingly and looked at her with triumph in his eyes.
"All done, lieutenant," he said. It seemed he wanted to add something more but instead leaned heavily on the console and then flopped to the ground. He sat there for a moment, breathing heavily as she asked him what's wrong.
"Dizzy, is all. Dun' worry about it," he muttered, a bit slurry "I guess I'll rest for a wee moment and we can go."
She kneeled before him and checked his pupils. They were dilated and for a second his gaze was unfocused. Then a strange thing happened. One of the pipes relieved some steam with a hiss. The reaction it earned form Rush was instantaneous. His head snapped up, seemingly pulling his whole body along, as he was standing faster than TJ could blink. His whole body tensed and eyes darted to the source of the sound. When he saw that it was just a pipe, he relaxed a fraction but still remained rigid.
"It's time to go, lieutenant," he said in answer to her questioning gaze. "The safety devices I put up in the dangerous areas are only temporary, we shouldn't stay here too long," and with that he was walking to the door, not waiting for her to catch up.
TJ fell in step next to him and caught his arm to stop him. He flinched. "What was that?" she demanded. He only glared at her and pulled his hand away, striding down the corridor without slowing down. TJ frowned and followed. As she reached his side again, he slowed a bit and breathed heavily through his nose.
"They were telepaths," he said, looking straight ahead "Their noses were very sensitive. My human smell was extremely unpleasant to them. Their… displeasure was announced very clearly. I never imagined that thoughts could hurt…" he barked a short, humorless laugh. "I never had such a migraine in my life. Even just speaking about it makes my head hurt. And I feel that I desperately need a shower," he laughed again and fell silent, his face troubled.
Hey spent the rest of the way in silence.
