It had never been a cheerful place, but now it lacked one major feature it once had. One that had kept him here. Chris. Now it seemed even more morose and dismal. His dad was not doing all that well after his latest heart surgery.
Marcus took over the day-to-day operations with a heavy heart.
Some had balked about taking orders from a twenty-two year old cocky upstart, but the fact was, Marcus was in charge and they had no choice. And he knew what he was doing. It was little surprise when Chris' dad rendered his resignation citing a better offer. Any sign of her was now completely gone from his life, she didn't have a reason to visit anymore.
Since the war business was beyond slow. The money simply wasn't to be had; it was being used to rebuild Earth's resources. It was no secret layoffs and wage freezes were on the horizon at the colony. He'd done the math, there was no way around it. He'd had left himself if he could have. But no, it was becoming increasingly obvious he was stuck here for the long run.
He pushed away a stack of papers and heavily leaned on the surface before him, burying his face in his hands wearily letting out a guttural groan of dissention.
"You're much too young to make that kind of noise my boy," his mother's voice roused him from the doorway.
He looked wearily up, smiling at the older woman. "Hi mum."
Julia Cole 45 years old by the time his younger brother William came along. Now in her late 60's she was no less beautiful than the young woman he saw in all the old vids from before he was born. She moved more slowly and her hair was more grey than the ebony it had been. She was a bit thicker about the waist now but could be described as nothing but slim and stunning even still. She still turned heads of older men on the station, and few of the younger ones too.
He smiled rubbing his eyes, "How's dad?" He'd been put to bed against his will several hours ago.
"Sleeping, like you should be," she teased, coming up to the desk.
He shook his head, "Can't, got three clients coming in tomorrow, and an inspector from Earth Regulatory."
"All the more reason for you to sleep." Her green eyes scolded him. "It's very rude to doze off in a business meeting you know."
He chuckled. His dad had several times before done that very thing on occasion, it was sort of a family joke now. "Tomorrow, I promise."
She began to cough again. It was always a whole body cough that hurt to watch. Her eyes crammed shut, her face turned a vibrant scarlet as she strained to calm it.
Marcus jumped to his feet and rushed to her side, leading her to a chair. He rubbed her back and grabbed her hand, as finally the spasms receded. She patted her chest taking in deep breaths. It had been awhile since they were that bad. She'd had a bad spell with a respiratory infection a few years back. Her breathing had never quite come back to normal.
"Will's gonna take you to see the Doctor first thing in the morning," he instructed.
"Nonsense, the air is just so dry in here. I'm fine. I don't need 6 hours flying with that daredevil brother of yours to the nearest EA Medical platform to tell me I have a tickle in my throat."
"Mum," He said cautiously stooping down to check her face.
"Marcus, it's nothing, honest. Dusty, that's all, as usual."
"You're sure?"
"Yes. I'm sure." She put a hand to her throat and patted his hand as if remembering. "I just came in to give you this. The mail's just arrived." She handed him a small parcel, a data-crystal shipper.
He didn't have to look to see who it was from, the soft look on his mum's face was all he needed to know - it was from Chris. He'd stopped responding to her over a year ago, but she kept messaging him. He still wasn't sure how he felt about that.
"I'm going to turn in now, your Dad's probably wondering where I am, and I don't want him wandering all the way over here to look for me. I'm going to call you in thirty minutes, you best be home. You have a big day tomorrow, you need your rest." She winked, rising to her feet.
"I'll finish up here as soon as I can. I promise."
"A haircut before they came couldn't hurt either, you know," she chided, walking out, shooting her eldest son a warm glance over her shoulder.
He snickered, shaking his head - it was a constant battle. "All right, all right, if I get the time," he answered exactly as he usually did, but the thing was it was true, he DIDN'T have the time since he'd returned home and took over daily operations. His parents, of course, were always gently teasing him about it and had for years. It had become more of an inside joke as time went on.
They knew why he'd grown it out originally, and well he wasn't sure why he'd grown it out again since returning from his tour of duty. Habit, he guessed as much as anything.
Chris had always liked it longer, so he'd gotten used to it to some extent, but even this was a bit too long for his tastes. It would have to be endured a while yet. It had been short while in the service, His assignment in Intel came with some strict guidelines, which had not made his life easier. He wasn't exactly the guideline type. If anything growing it out again was a rebellious act. Maybe it was time to lop it all off and with it last cords of his past, and Chris.
Marcus turned his attention to the crystal mailer in his hand. He unpackaged it and rolled the delicate looking structure in between his fingers deep in thought. Finally, he re-boxed it and tossed it in unviewed the trash before turning off the lights and leaving for his Spartan quarters.
"Commander Susan Ivanova, Christine Adams," Marcus said, introducing the two and trying to make it appear casual. Susan stood, putting on a polite face.
"Jenkins," Chris corrected. "Marcus has a selective memory." She smiled, offering her hand to the stern looking officer.
"I see I'm not the only one to notice that." She shot a snide look at Marcus, then back at Christine. "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Jenkins. I take it you and Mr. Cole know each other."
"You could say that, we were uhm… we grew up together." She squeezed his hand. Marcus could feel an inadvertent blush wash over him with that look in her eyes.
Susan smiled and shot Marcus a look that said she was done with this. "Ah, well I hate to be a third wheel at reunions, and it's time for me to head back to C&C anyway. If you will excuse me." She gave a curt bow to them both, and a thinly veiled rolled eye to him that only he would read the true menaing of, and headed away quite swiftly.
"She seems… nice," Chris lied. He could tell she was lying, she always bit her lip, like she was doing now. She then smiled and took the seat vacated by the Commander.
"She is once you get to know her, but until then stay close to a doorway," he warned tongue in cheek. "She's harmless, really."
Chris nodded then focused on him again squeezing his hand hard. "Why didn't you ever contact me to let me know you were ok? I can't tell you how hard it was to think you were gone."
"I'm sorry. After what happened last time I saw you, I didn't think it was a good idea-"
Her face darkened uncomfortably "Ancient history." She put a hand on his chest and struggled to smile. "Really. Forget about it."
He didn't want to discuss that incident anymore. "…And, all my records were on the platform when it exploded," he said truthfully. "and after a few years it didn't seem worth all the trouble."
"They said there were no survivors of the accident." Her brown eyes moved over him in concern. "What happened?"
He grimaced feeling her small warm hand grasped in his once more and a familiar calm he'd not felt in a long time set in. He closed his eyes and began to tell her everything, well almost, she'd never believe all of it anyway.