It was mid-morning. He'd never gone home last night. After Friday movie night had devolved into that rather enthusiastic interlude; he'd fallen asleep, exhausted. The morning-after awkwardness had abated, for the most part, but it still felt just a little strange waking up over here. Sophia worked early mornings during the week, so spending the weekends together at her apartment, or his, had become their standard operating procedures. He got up and headed for the shower.
Sophia was already awake, bustling around in the kitchen. Cooking something. There was the sound of clinking plates and coffee mugs; he heard someone else's voice, suddenly. Did she have company?
Apparently, Marissa Martinez and-Mark blinked-Helena Vogel, were having breakfast here this morning. What in the hell? Maybe his memory was starting to go now, too. He decided not to give them the satisfaction of acting surprised or asking why there were there, or what the hell Helena was doing here without Alex.
"Morning, sleepyhead!" Marissa greeted him, far too cheerily, giving him a once-over, nudging Helena. They giggled.
Women. He rolled his eyes, and pulled out a chair.
Sophia came up behind him, and leaned across, to put a cup of coffee and a plate in front of him, sneaking a brief kiss on his unshaven jaw.
He felt like it was feeding time at the zoo, as Helena and Marissa watched him, smiling. Marissa, in particular, had a smugly satisfied expression that made him feel more than a little stabby.
"Is he always this grumpy in the mornings?" Helena asked Sophia as though he were invisible, with a polite smile. Great. Now Helena was throwing him shade, too. He blamed Marissa's bad influence.
"He's not grumpy. He's tired." Marissa teased. Her eyes darted in the direction of the bedroom door, and then to Sophia. She gave him a knowing smirk.
Not going to dignify that with a response, he told himself firmly. Do not feed the trolls. He sipped his coffee.
"Where's Alex?" He finally couldn't resist asking Helena.
"On a later flight." Helena replied cryptically. These women were driving him insane.
Sophia swooped in to refill his coffee. "You going to be ready to go, in a few minutes?"
"Sure." He had no idea where in hell's half acre they might be going, but whatever. He put his shoes on. "Who's driving?"
"Should we take two cars?" Sophia asked.
Marissa considered this for a minute.
"Yeah, the guys will probably want to go do their thing, after."
There was a knock at the door.
"Oh, that must be Melissa," Sophia went to answer the door. Sure enough, Lewis greeted them all, looking oddly casual in jeans and a white sweater. He wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to calling her Melissa.
"Morning, Commander," he grinned at her sardonically, giving her a exaggerated crisp salute.
"Watney." She deadpanned back.
Oh shit. Suddenly he knew where they were going.
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