As they prepared for the slingshot around Earth, Martinez met Beck in the gym and told him quietly to meet in the Rec after lights out. Laughing to himself about the cloak-and-dagger secrecy of the midnight meeting, Beck made his way as silently as possible out of his quarters and along the ship to the Rec. He was surprised to see Lewis and Vogel there as well as Martinez.

"What's up?" He asked, his voice soundly loud in the stillness. "If this was going to be a team meeting anyway, why all the..."

"Lower your voice!" Lewis commanded in a sharp whisper. "This is not an all team meeting."

Beck looked around again. Ah. No Beth. Interesting. He nodded at the commander to continue.

"As you know, gentlemen," she began again in a low voice, "there is a rather large possibility that we won't make it through this. You were informed of this when we voted on this course of action." The three men nodded in agreement, Martinez shooting Lewis a dirty look, like he was angry she would even suggest he might change his mind. "We are committed, but part of our job has always been to prepare for the unexpected and worst possible scenarios. On that knowledge, we need to consider the possibility of a mistake with the Taiyang Shen and not being resupplied."

Beck looked at Vogel and Martinez. They had clearly not considered this scenario either. "There are a lot of things that could go wrong," he started cautiously, "do we really need to...?"

"Yes." Lewis cut him off. "I've been running the numbers. If we aren't resupplied, there are almost enough supplies to see one crewmember through the journey to Mars and back."

"Only one?" Vogel asked.

"What do you mean, 'almost enough supplies'?" Martinez wanted to know.

"It's a 17 month journey to Mars and back," Lewis said calmly. "We have enough stored for 6 months of provisions for one person, 9 with reduced rations."

"11 months short," Martinez said.

"Your math is correct, Major Obvious," she said with a small smile.

Beck said quietly, thinking he could see where this was going, "One person."

She smiled at him sadly. "Yes."

Ignoring Vogel and Martinez's looks, he continued, "And the food would stretch further with a lower metabolic requirement..."

Vogel added, "And the requisite skills to make any adjustments necessary to ensure ship function, course corrections, anything else that may go wrong."

"Correct."

Barely aware of his own thought process, Beck brought it home. "B-, Johanssen. You're planning on having her survive."

Lewis nodded at him. "She's the youngest, smallest, and most trained in terms of Hermes functions." She took a deep breath. "As this is also an off-the-books planning meeting and a decision that affects the entire crew, I cannot make this decision unilaterally. Like this whole crazy maneuver, it must be unanimous. Please do not hesitate to make your thoughts known. If you have any objections or concerns, please state them now."

Vogel spoke first. "I agree, this plan makes the most logical sense, with the greatest chance of success. But she will still be 11 months without food."

"There would be enough," Lewis said quietly.

Beck was keeping up with her. "My medical kit."

"Oh my God," Martinez started.

Lewis interrupted him. "Don't start. This is still only hypothetical. We can work out...details... as they become necessary."

Just like the decision to get Watney, Beck's mind was clear. "I agree with this plan," he said simply, without hesitation. "Johanssen lives." She had to.

Vogel said again, slowly, "It makes the most logical sense." Knowing Vogel as Beck did, this was assent.

Lewis looked at Martinez. "Your call then, Martinez."

He shrugged. "I'm praying hard it'll go the other way, but...yes. I agree. It's her best shot."

Lewis breathed a long, slow sigh of relief. "Thank you, gentleman. I truly appreciate the honesty and the sacrifice."

Beck added, "Not that it will become necessary."

Martinez said, "That's the idea."

Drifting back up the ship towards his room, Beck considered the decisions he had made. He smiled ruefully, realizing he was no more self-sacrificial than Martinez or Vogel in deciding to put Beth first. He shouldn't start to feel all noble, willing to give it all for the one he loved. Beck had only himself to put on the line; Vogel and Martinez put the fate and lives of their families in jeopardy in agreeing to the plan.

Still, the talk was sobering. So much could go wrong with this plan: not intercepting the Taiyang Shen properly, equipment failure, ship failure, miscalculated orbits... Maybe he should wait to tell Beth, let her stay focused on the job at hand, until they got back to Earth.

Beck sighed. It would be the first thing that Watney asked him though, when he finally got off that godforsaken red rock and back to the Hermes. He would crack a joke about being back among humans and then he would ask if Beck had told Johanssen yet. Dammit, he could not go back to Mars and face Watney without telling Beth he loved her. If he didn't, Watney would probably tell her anyway, in the worst way possible. No, Beck had to choose his own time and his own way. Tall order for a man who'd never been in love before.

But Lewis would also have to tell Beth about the plan to bring her home above all else and at all costs. What a burden that would be...no, it would have to be after. If there was any chance at all that she reciprocated his feelings, those feelings would infinitely complicate her ability to do what needed to be done to survive. Yes, after the intercept with the Taiyang Shen would be best.

The Taiyang Shen was 30 minutes away from launch and they would have 40 minutes to intercept. Beck was already partially suited up, waiting for the EVA to guide it in as needed. This would be the moment of truth, their first of probably many situations that walked the knife's edge between success and utter catastrophe.

"Hey, you awake?"

Beck started as the soft voice jogged him out of his depressing thoughts. Beth was floating there, hand on the wall to steady herself. He shook his head to clear it and said, "Oh, sure. Just..."

She hesitated for a moment before reaching out and touching his shoulder. "One step at a time, Beck. Work one problem at a time and we'll get through." She paused and said, "I also wanted to say...thank you."

Beck frowned, "Beth..."

She shook his shoulder. "No, listen to me. I have to thank you for...err..."

"Choosing you?"

"Yes, that," she said gratefully. "I think it helped my dad somewhat to know..."

"You told him?" Beck said, aghast.

She nodded, taking her hand from his shoulder and Beck found he missed the weight of it. "He kind of forced me to. Anyway, thanks, I guess."

He nodded slowly in acknowledgement. "One problem at a time. We'll get through this, you just watch."

Beth smiled. "Go bring home dinner, Beck."

"Will do, ma'am," he said with a laugh as she floated backwards down the passageway.

Sixty minutes later he was floating in entrance to the airlock, watching the Taiyang Shen gently drift towards him. Another movement caught his eye and he saw Beth climbing down the ladder in the gym area as it circled towards him. She was bundled up in a gray NASA sweatshirt, hood pulled tight around her face. She approached the glass window and put her hand up on it, watching him. Without thinking, he waved at her. As she started to turn upside down with the rotation of the ship, he turned back to the approaching probe, feeling the blush creep over his face.

What the hell was that? Waving at her like a six-year-old...ugh, this was intolerable. He pushed her out of his mind and returned his attention to the probe. Martinez had it lined up perfectly and the payload was coming straight towards him. He drifted backward as it got nearer and nearer until it made contact and he heard the locking mechanism clunk into place.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he keyed in the command to pressurize the airlock and went to open the capsule. The supplies were here safely and so the contingency plan was now irrelevant, thank God. He pulled off his helmet and gloves as Vogel opened the airlock door and moved to help him start unloading the supplies.

He had no further excuses now, Beck knew. He'd have to address Beth soon and put all of this to rest, one way or the other.

A/N: This chapter was kind of unexpected; I did not think I was going to write about this when I planned out this story. Anyway, here it is. We are wrapping up, as you can probably tell. Many thanks to my faithful beta reader warrior4 and thank you to everyone who has favorited and followed this story.