"You good?"

Nova looked up at Mindy with wide eyes, her body literally shaking as she saw all of the people milling around in the background.

"Alright, so you're not doing good." Mindy shrugged her shoulders. hunching down besides her so that they were almost at the same height; "you'll do great. It's not like they are expecting you to say something seriously smart or to be a psychologist. Just be yourself, I'm betting that is what they want out there, and also that Beck would appreciate it greatly."

"What if I say something stupid? What if I don't even realise that I'm saying something stupid?"

"I can listen while you record it if you want, then I can tell you if you say something stupid.

"Really?"

"Sure, if you want me to? I don't even have to be in the room."

Nova nodded decisively, "alright."

Mindy tinkered some more with the computer, turned on the mic and the camera. "You're good to go now. Good luck."

* * *

Nova looked blankly at the camera for 10 seconds straight. only glancing away from it when Mindy shuffled out of the room, offering her a quick thumbs up.

"Uh... Hey.

God... 'Uh... Hey...' What a great start Nova... Really impressive...."

* * *

Many kilometers away Chris was cleaning through his medical supplies, though he had already done it about 3 times already that day. He was on down time now, meaning he could do whatever he wanted, but everyone had started using their down time to do more work. There was such a solemn mood on the ship, everyone minding their own business and doing their tasks - as was expected from them.

"Mail is in." Johanssen's voice sounded over the speakers. "There's a video message for you Beck. Downloading it all onto your personal devices now."

Chris walked over to his tablet and picked it up, his eyebrows drawn into a frown as he watched the program refreshing before the new files popped up.

A couple of messages from JSC and JPL, and then there was a video file - just as Johanssen had said. For a fleeting moment he wondered if it was a reply for the video message he sent last night. Shaking his head as soon as the thought entered his head he sat down on a chair, waiting for the video to upload.

Ten seconds later he pressed play only to see an unfamiliar face on the screen. Light hair that looked like she had run her hands through it too many times in the past minute and wide light brown eyes that looked over the top of the camera at someone in the background.

"You're good to go now. Good Luck," he heard someone say in the background.

Was this?

"Uh... Hey.

God... 'Uh... Hey...' What a great start Nova... Really impressive....

Chris chuckled slightly - partly in humor because of what she said; and partly because he was surprised she had replied to him at all.

"Sorry." She continued, "I'm not trying to be impressive. I was planning on being understanding, calm and smart. Well - luckily I'm not paid for saying smart things." She paused for a moment, eyebrows furrowing and nose scrunching together as she thought. "They don't really pay me at all."

"Scratch that. Can I start over?

Hi, it is I. Nova.

Jesus. This sounded even more stupid than the first one."

He laughed out loud at that, eyes flitting across the screen to see all parts of her embarrassed expression. It was nice to laugh, and he could almost feel the weight that had been on his shoulders since yesterday lighten.

"I don't... I can't... Blooming hell... How did they convince me that sending a video message back was a good thing? I..." She breathed deeply, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose before she pulled her fingers through her hair. Looking down for a second she seemed to search for the right words.

"I have no idea what to say to you, Bec- Chris, and I'm so, so, so sorry for it. I can't even begin to imagine what you, and the rest of the crew are going through. Mark seemed like a wonderful and delightful person, and probably sometimes a pain in the ass like an annoying big brother that you can't shake off." Her hand smacked across her mouth before she scrambled to retract what she had said; "Oh God... I shouldn't have said that. Please don't think I hated Watney. He seemed like such a good guy!"

She suddenly dropped her head into her hands, her whole body shuddering.

Chris found himself smiling slightly at the screen, waiting for her to continue.

After a little while Nova lifted her head slightly, peering into the camera from between her fingers. Grumbling something he couldn't understand, it took her a moment before she removed her hands from her face completely.

"I'm sorry any of you had to go through this, and though I don't know exactly what happened up there, besides that there was a storm, it kind of sounded like you were a little hard on yourself. I'm sure you, and everyone else did everything they could Chris. If the storm was as bad as it sounds, you had to get away from there. Though it might not feel like it now, the fact that you managed to have a clear mind and got everyone onto the ship despite the terrible circumstances tells me you are incredibly strong.

I'm sorry I don't have any good advice for you. I hope you all take care of each other, and that you talk - remember Mark Watney for who he was. Talk about the good and the bad, and the potentially incredibly stupid things he did and said."

Chris chuckled at this, wiping away some of the tears that were steadily running down his cheeks.

"Keep doing the work you do and get everyone else down here safely. I would actually really enjoy meeting you all.

My thoughts are with you, Chris. Don't be afraid to ask for help, or someone to talk to. NASA is practically at your beck and call, pun intended. They want to offer you conversations with a grief counselor or something like that, should you want it.

He watched her smile slightly at her camera, her eyes still sad and looking like they could see straight through him.

Alright, I guess I'll just send this now. They told me that they should look through it if I thought I said something inappropriate. I know I said several inappropriate things, and I hope me leaving them here proves to you that this stays between us - and whomever you choose to share it with.

Nova out.

He watched her fiddle with the camera for a full minute, cursing and groaning when she was unable to turn it off. After a while she shouted for someone named Mindy, after a little while of her just making faces at the camera and huffing at her own incompetence as she called it, a blonde woman arrived.

"I can't turn it off!"

"Have you tried the button labeled "end recording?" Mindy suggested, making an irritated Nova groan and an entertained Chris chuckle.

"Well, now you can all laugh at my incompetence with stupid NASA computers." Nova grumbled, reaching forwards.

"It's a Mac."

"Shut up!" Nova wailed, her cheeks flaring in embarrassment. "Goodbye!" She shouted at the camera, eyes wild and face pink. Her finger finally finding the "end recording" button.

With a small smile Chris sent out a message for everyone to come to the medic bay.

* * *

"What do you need us for, Beck?" Lewis asked as they all gathered around him.

"I just wanted to show you something to lighten your moods. Last night... Well, early this morning I sent a video message to JSC, because I needed to get some things off my mind and off my chest."

"I know it's been hard, Beck." Lewis started, "we should all sit down and-"

"I labeled it so that it was sent to Nova."

He shrugged at their questioning eyes. "I didn't really think to send it to her at first, just felt the need to rant to someone, anyone really, and when I labeled it for her eyes only I didn't expect them to actually listen. Least of all, I never expected to get a reply. He turned towards his computer and pressed play.

Stepping away from the screen he watched his crew-mates gather around it, hanging on to her every word. Laughing at the same times he had laughed earlier, and openly crying at others.

Lewis pulled him to the side after they had watched it, uncharacteristically wrapping her arms around him in a hug and telling him he did the right thing by calling her back. They wept together.

Later, they all sat down and did just what Nova had said. They talked for hours about Mark. Particularly the good, but also about all the stupid shit he had done and said.

___________________

JPL - Jet Propulson Labratory

RVR - Rover

HRM - Hermes

JSC - Johnson Space Center