As the midday sun hung high in the sky Alonzo stretched out his legs causing Julia to stir in his arms.
"Hey." He smiled looking down at her. "How are you feeling and don't say fine?"
Julia remained silent for awhile considering her response, finally she said. "I don't know."
Tightening his grip on the doctor Alonzo hoped that his presence would, for now, be enough. Eventually Julia asked.
"Shouldn't we get going?"
"We probably should." The pilot said disentangling himself from Julia and climbing to his feet. Offering his hand he helped Julia up and was immediately concerned that she wavered.
"What's wrong?"
"I think I just need to eat." Julia said calmly. "I guess it has been a while since I ate properly."
"I packed plenty of food in the rail." Alonzo said as he kept hold of Julia and guided her back to their transport. Silently he watched her like a hawk.
When they reached the rail he made sure Julia was sitting safely before raiding the food supplies. He then watched as she ate the rations, debating with himself whether he should probe further how long it had been since she ate. But as she seemed more relaxed than she had been for days, possibly weeks, he decided not to endanger her mood and allowed her to eat in silence. As soon as he was content that Julia had eaten enough he climbed into the driving seat and powered away.
"We are going the wrong way." Julia commented after an hour. "The others will never be able to cover enough ground to intercept us."
"We're not heading back to the others." Alonzo said grinning.
"Why not? I need to-"
"Rest." Alonzo finished for her.
"No, I-" Julia started again only for Alonzo into interrupt once more.
"You need to rest. Until you are, you and me are going to sight see."
"Sight see?" Julia asked suspiciously. "And who decides I am rested?"
"That would be me. And for the record scowling is not going to earn you any points."
"Points? So there is some objective system for a completely subjective metric?"
"Your beautiful when you're cranky." Alonzo grinned causing Julia to shake her head.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"Somewhere special, I discovered it when I was on the long-range scout." Alonzo grinned.
"Special?"
"Yeah, it's....special. But before we arrive I need you to trust me. You are not allowed to run any scans or any tests you just have to go with the moment."
"What are you talking about? What's wrong with running tests?"
"After the crash I hated this planet. I desperately wanted to be out in space again. Free from surface, free from the Terrians. But in time, I came to understand how much this planet offers. Every day we see things that don't make sense. Your problem is you don't embrace it, you are scared by it. You need to see it for what it is and to be excited by it, not worry about why or how."
"Not all of us have the flyboy genes."
"True, but fortunately you will have a good teacher." Alonzo grinned as the rail continued on.
"Any news?" Danziger questioned the following evening as he walked over to Devon, who sat by the fire holding a mug.
"Alonzo checked in, said they were fine." Devon replied somewhat distantly.
"But?"
"I just feel like we have missed something."
"With Julia?" The mechanic questioned, causing Devon to nod.
"The way I see it there are four possibilities. One there is nothing wrong with Julia and she is going to be crankier than normal for awhile as we questioned her. Two, she was exhausted and just needed a break. Three, there was something wrong, which Alonzo is sorting. Four she is sick, in which case she'll sort it. If it was four Lonz would not be saying that everything was fine so we can rule out that option."
"I think we can rule out one." Devon said.
"Agreed, which leaves us with two or three. Either way there is nothing we can do."
"What do you mean there is nothing we can do? If it is two we need to be more careful in the future. If it is three we need to find out what is wrong."
"No we don't."
"What do you mean we don't? Of course we do."
"What I mean is, it's Julia's business. If she wants us to know she'll tell us, but my guess is she won't."
"That's it?"
"You want to interrogate her?" The mechanic suggested.
"Of course not." Devon said. "But if something is wrong we-"
"Need to let Julia sort it out herself." Danziger finished for her.
"What if she can't?"
"She has Alonzo and failing that we have to trust she'll ask for help."
"When has Julia ever asked for help?"
"Never, because she is stubborn and independent. Kinda like you."
"I'm not-"
"Don't even go their Adair. You knew full well you were sick from something different to the rest of us, but did you ask for help or even tell us?"
"I...I was..." Devon tried, but was unable to say anything.
"You were scared, you didn't want to admit to being weakened and you didn't want to be a burden." Danziger said for her. "Like I said stubborn and independent."
"But I needed help, so does Julia." Devon argued.
"Which Alonzo is providing. If he needs help he'll ask." Danziger said before growling and standing. "Martin." He bellowed. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Me? What do you mean?" Morgan replied nervously.
"You have been pacing for the last five minutes. It is annoying."
"I'm sorry if my anxiety is annoying you." Morgan threw back.
"Why are you anxious?" Devon questioned as Danziger pleaded with her not to ask.
Waving his arms away from camp Morgan said. "Julia."
"Well Morgan, your concern is very touching but Alonzo says she is fine." Devon said calmly.
"Then why aren't they back yet? It is dark out there."
"It's dark here as well." Danziger pointed out unhelpfully.
"We'll catch up with them tomorrow." Devon assured Morgan. "Julia needs the rest."
"But what if something happens to them? I mean it is dangerous out there and it is not as if Alonzo is going to be concentrating on guard duty."
"Morgan I am sure that Julia's safety is Alonzo's primary concern."
"No offence Devon, but you are not a man and I assure you his primary concern will be much more primal."
"Morgan!" Danziger said. "Alonzo and Julia will be fine. However, if you keep pacing you won't be and as you pointed out Julia is not here. So there would be no one around to fix you."
"John." Devon chastised.
"No need to threaten me." Morgan said indignantly shuffling back to his tent.
"You should get some rest too Adair. You are still recovering. The last thing we need is you having a relapse."
"I won't." Devon said.
"And stop worrying about Julia, she'll be fine." He said before disappearing into the darkness.