Disclaimer: Terra Nova does not belong to me.
Zoe knows that she is stubborn. She has never given much thought to why she is stubborn. She now knows that she has inherited it from the double portions that each and every other member of her family seems to possess. It could be an admirable trait (persistence and diligence and all that) if it was not so deeply frustrating to watch them all use it in unproductive ways.
She may be a kid, but she is not a little kid. The fact that some of them are treating her like she should not be noticing what they are doing would be insulting if she was not so agitated with it all to not have time to bother.
Is there something about becoming an adult that makes you strive to avoid simple solutions to your problems? If yes, then can she just skip that part? It's really annoying.
She gets it - really she does. Everyone made lots of choices that other people did not get to have a say in and none of them ever got to tell each other how that made them feel or whatever. They are all acting like they have to tip toe around each other because if they say anything at all they will say too much or something like that. Can't they just . . . say all the things and be done with it?
She didn't get a say in any of the decisions. She's not holding that against any of them. She's just happy to have them with her - happy to get to know her sister as more than a memory and happy to get to know her dad as a real person rather than a story. If the rest of them would just decide that they are more happy than hurt or scared, then everyone would be a lot less tense.
Maddy says that they are getting there. She says that Josh wouldn't be Josh if he didn't need to brood sometimes, their mom wouldn't be their mom if she didn't over think some things, and their dad wouldn't be their dad if he didn't under think some things.
She is trying to be patient . . . she really is. She would just like them all to get a move on and sort out all of these feelings. She sees what Maddy is seeing - that their parents stay in the same room now and that Josh and their dad have started exchanging complete sentences. She knows that it is getting better, but that is not the same as it being good. It feels like everyone around her needs a push but gets upset when she starts the pushing (it is for their own good - they should be happy to have her help!). Maddy even needs some help (even if she does not realize it yet).
Zoe is learning that Maddy wouldn't be Maddy if she wasn't a little awkward around people. She thought that a pining Mark was funny at first, but she would really like it to move on from pining to happy and adorably dorky in love Mark (she guesses that Mark will be a little dorky and a lot adorable in such a state - she has never seen it before). The man did memorize dinosaur facts to try to impress Maddy. It was hilarious.
She does not think that even Dr. Malcolm could obliviously recite facts without realizing that the other person was trying to get his attention the way that Maddy did during that conversation. Unfortunately, both of them had looked sad when the conversation made it to its awkward ending, and Zoe does not want either one of them looking sad. There is enough of that going around already.
Besides, Maddy is awesome and Mark is a catch. If this just cements his unofficial big brother status into something more permanent, then she will take it.
She loves her family. She knows that they are all working on their stuff. She would just prefer them to kick it into high gear. Can't they do that? Don't they all want to be happier sooner over later? It is painful to watch - everyone still getting things wrong while she is restricted to frowning.
She is just not very patient.
He is just not very patient.
It is painful to watch - everyone going about their lives while he is restricted to the interior of first a bed and then his quarters.
He does not do well with inactivity. He has always suspected this about himself, but it has never been put on display quite so strongly as now. It sounds silly to say that he does not do well with being confined to a hospital bed (because who does well with being confined to a hospital bed). It is not something that he has ever experienced before. It's not like he has never been hurt. He is not in a place or a profession that is conducive to going through life without getting banged around. Still, he is realizing how spoiled he has really been by the tech that the medical professionals have at their disposal.
It is easier to blow off scrapes and cuts and injuries when there are options like sonic surgery and spray on temporary replacement skin to deal with it all. It turns out that there are some things that require time to heal no matter the advancements in medicine, and he was lucky enough to pick up a double share of them with both a head injury and a couple of cracked ribs.
It was bad enough that he was actually begging for paperwork to do by the time that the headaches and vision trouble cleared enough for him to get a release for desk duty. It isn't that he doesn't understand that paperwork has its place in keeping things in order but asking for extra would never be a part of his normal. In truth, he would have been desperate to do something for work regardless, but he can't even lie to himself that this is just restlessness and the forced stillness getting to him. The forced stillness is getting to him but not just because he doesn't like to be still. It is giving him too much time to think, and, lately, all of his thoughts are coming back around to the same person.
It is making him awkward and unsure of himself. He really, really needs something else to do with his time than dwell on someone's eyes. He'll snap out of it, right? This is just a reaction to the circumstances. Right?