This is probably going to be something awkward, thought Beck, as he followed Commander Lewis to her quarters for some sort of meeting that had been, apparently, deemed too sensitive to take place in any of the ship's public areas. He'd first noticed this oddly-labeled time block show up on his schedule a few days ago, and he'd been wondering what it was all about, ever since.

Fervently hoping against hope that it wasn't something to do with Watney, he seated himself on the room's only chair, a small, bolted-down, backless affair, as Lewis sat on her bunk, across from him, consulting, apparently, an email or something on her tablet. She pinched her chin, and took a deep breath.

"It seems like there's a conflict, between you and Watney," she began, "And it's affecting crew morale. It's time to put a stop to it."

She allowed him a minute to gather his thoughts. Which was good, because really, he'd had no idea that anyone had noticed that anything was off. Had he been that transparent?

He'd tried to be civil to the man, after all. He worked with him, every day. Acted as the guy's doctor, delivering his best standard of care. He'd shared his quarters with him, for fuck's sake, without complaint. Wasn't that enough?

Apparently not. No effort is ever enough, for that one, of course. Had Watney gone whining to Lewis that he wasn't being friendly with him, any more? Typical. Is it illegal to just deeply dislike someone, he wondered.

"I don't believe I've said anything to Watney, that could be considered," he trailed off, trying to choose his words carefully, "derogatory."

"No, that's not what I'm saying. You haven't said much of anything to Watney since we got him back onboard three weeks ago," she looked at him, frowning, "and your personal demeanor towards him has been unfriendly at best, and intimidating and bullying, at worst."

"Bullying!" he broke out, surprised. "Is that what he told you? Because that's ridiculous, frankly."

"Watney hasn't said one word about it," she replied evenly. "Other crew members have, though. And I've personally observed your interactions with him. Or the lack thereof. And it just doesn't add up. You two never had any issues before."

Beck was silent for a moment. Good god, was he going to have to tell her what had happened? It was none of her business. But maybe… maybe she would understand. She wasn't going to like it, though.

"I need to know what happened, Beck. Do you resent the added mission time? Did you have a change of heart about going back for him? I find it hard to believe that you somehow managed to engage in any sort of direct conflict with Watney when you were hardly even in contact with him for most of the time he was stranded."

"It's not the added mission time," he admitted, slowly.

"What, then?" she prodded.

"It's just," he hedged, "kind of awkward to talk about." One of her eyebrows went up, her eyes widening.

"Well," she soldiered on, it's kind of awkward," she said, making air quotes at him, "to work with you two, when you can't get along. And I know the problem isn't with Watney. He tries. I've seen him. He doesn't have any more idea why you've pushed him away than I do."

"It was the email he sent me," he finally admitted, after a long silence. "After the Iris probe failed, and we all thought he was probably done for."

"Dr. Shields had him send everyone a letter. Yes, I remember." She looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Right. So the message that he chose... to impart on me," Beck's voice had turned bitter, and emotional, as he trailed off.

"He was rude? Blunt about something?" Lewis leveled a look at him. "The man was stranded on Mars and thought he was going to die. Is it possible that you've overreacted, here?"

"Not that. It was," he paused, looking uncomfortable, "something personal. He gave me some advice."

She smiled at that, unwillingly, and just as quickly resumed her professional demeanor.

"What advice did he give you?"

"Well, suffice it to say, I shouldn't have listened." He looked at his hands, knowing he was about to make Lewis very angry. "He set me up. Told me that I should tell Beth how I felt about her."

Lewis blinked, slowly.

"Watney told you," she paused, to take a calming breath, "that you should… confess your love. To a fellow crewmate. In the middle of an Ares mission. In space. After you had been expressly ordered, by your Commander, not to do so. Am I hearing this correctly?"

Beck sighed. He nodded.

"It's kind of hard to ignore the advice of your long-lost colleague that comes back from the grave, and tells you that he's had lots of time to consider these matters." He frowned. "But you were right, Commander. I wish I had listened."

"Johanssen wasn't interested, was she." Lewis didn't even make it sound like a question. Had she known all along, then, that his feelings for Beth had been one-sided? He looked at her, curiously, one eyebrow raised.

"Did you know that? Back before Missed Orbit training, when you took me aside and told me…"

"I told you and Watney both," she reminded him. "And I had good reason!" She looked at him, incredulously. "I commanded a submarine, Beck. For years. You're hardly the first person under my command to have an unrequited crush on a crewmate. I didn't want to be forced into removing you from the crew at the last minute like that, though. That decision would have had its own, probably more severe, repercussions on morale." She looked at him, quizzically. "You put me in a hell of a spot. What was I supposed to do? I split the difference and took you and Watney aside and warned you both off of Johanssen."

"Both of us," repeated Beck, thinking out loud. "I thought you were speaking directly to me, under the guise of including all the single men." He looked at her. "But you weren't." He sighed. "Watney was just better at hiding it than I was." He looked at his hands again, miserably.

Lewis didn't respond right away. The expression on her face had softened a little, though.

"Wasn't he." Beck's voice was the one with no implied question, this time.

Johanssen looked at Martinez, questioningly.

"You're switching rooms with Mark?"

Rick nodded, grinning, with a shrug. He continued to load his personal effects into a storage container.

"Lewis said to. I guess the two of them aren't getting along so well." He chuckled. "No surprise, there."

Beth's eyes were wide. Why would Lewis have… Oh god. She really didn't like to consider the reasons why, actually. Oh, shit. What the hell had those two idiots gone and done, now?

She'd been teetering on the edge; hovering just on the brink, for days, now.

Suddenly, she snapped.

"Where's Watney," she hissed, grabbing for a tablet to look at his schedule.