Vessel

26

CATHERINE FELT LIKE she had everyone fooled. Just yesterday, Dr. Darzi had commented on how much progress Catherine was making now that she was looking forward and not back. Considering what she and Cal were working on, the irony of that wasn’t lost on her.

Her first couple of days back at work were awful. It felt as though everyone was staring at her, waiting for her to have another meltdown. At times the tension in her ramped up so high that she wanted to scream, but she forced herself to toe the line.

Now she sat in Paul Lindholm’s office with Aaron, making plans for Sagittarius II’s voyage through the wormhole, anticipating the inevitable surge in requests for information and background pieces.

“I think that’s all we need to worry about from a media perspective,” Aaron was saying. “And once the initial rush of requests dies down, it’ll be quiet around here for a good long time.”

“I have another idea,” Lindholm said, leaning forward with a gleam in his eye. “If you’re interested, Catherine.”

Cautiously, she smiled. “What are you thinking?”

“Now that you’re back on your feet, so to speak, how would you feel about making some more appearances talking about your experiences? I’m still getting requests from the big networks, plus CNN, MSNBC… everybody wants to know how you’re doing.”

Catherine just barely managed to keep from making a face, but Lindholm was right. There was no excuse she could give at this point to keep her face out of the news. “Sure, I can think about that.”

“It would give us a real boost,” Lindholm said with a smile. “Especially if we could make it a family affair. You, David, your daughter…”

“Paul…” Catherine hesitated. “You do know that David and I are separated, don’t you?”

Lindholm waved his hand dismissively. “You haven’t gone public with that yet; no need to muddy the waters right now. How about it?”

Catherine thought about the conversation she and David had had just the night before, and the one they were going to have with Aimee later that day. No, but it’s going to be a matter of public record pretty soon… “Well, I’ll need to check with David and Aimee, and make sure they’re both on board.”

“You do that.”

Later, over lunch with Cal in his office, she commented how strange it was that everyone got over her lapse so quickly.

Cal just shrugged. “They were rooting for you, for one thing. You’re one of us, and they know you’ve been through hell. Besides, everyone’s eager to move on.”

“Dr. Darzi said everything has been a natural response to trauma.”

“You could have swollen up and turned green and she would’ve said that.”

Catherine laughed to hear some of her own thoughts reflected back at her. “Well, to be fair to her, it does sound like trauma can do some pretty wonky things to people. So, someone, somewhere, probably has swollen up and turned green.”

Cal grinned, and she marveled at how quickly their relationship had turned around. There was a decent guy under the prickly exterior. She was struck again by how much warmer he seemed, and how that warmth transformed him from someone forbidding to someone she could get close to. Then his grin softened. “Are you still having dinner with Aimee and David tonight?”

“Yeah.” She wished he hadn’t mentioned it. At the thought of it, her belly tied itself in knots. “I’m just glad Aimee and I patched things up.” They still had a long, long way to go, and Catherine wasn’t sure tonight’s conversation was going to help matters any.

“She loves you. You’ll work everything out.”

“I hope so.”

That hope stayed with her for the rest of the day, right up until the moment she knocked on the door of her old home. The fact that she was knocking instead of just going in said volumes about how much things had changed.

Aimee opened the door with a tentative smile. “Dad’s in the kitchen cooking.” Aimee gave Catherine a hug so cautious that Catherine wanted to cry, but at least it was a hug. A couple of weeks ago she’d wondered if she’d ever get that much from Aimee again.

“And you let him?” Catherine teased, trying to get a smile out of her.

“Hey, I’ve been busy.” Aimee gave her a twitch of a smile. It was enough.

They went into the kitchen together and Catherine rubbed her palms against her jeans to dry them.

“Dinner’s almost ready,” David said.

“Good, I’m starving.” Aimee started setting the table in the dining room. Catherine stayed out of the way and watched as the two of them moved as a single unit, getting drinks and napkins and dinner on the table, years of practice showing in their movements. They’d perfected a dance, and Catherine saw clearly how she had come home and thrown everyone’s rhythm off.

“Okay.” Aimee sat in the dining room chair she’d sat in since she was old enough to eat at the table, between her parents. “How about you two tell me whatever it is you’re planning to tell me.”

“We can’t just have dinner as a family?” Catherine asked.

“Yeah, we can,” Aimee said, and now there was a bigger smile. “But that’s not what this is. Dad’s been acting weird all day. So what’s up?”

“Well…” David looked at Catherine and she nodded. “There are a couple of things, actually. First, I want you to know how much better your mom is doing.”

Catherine was uncomfortable with the praise but smiled at him. “I had a lot of help.” Then she sighed. “So… the downside of me doing better is that NASA wants me to be more visible. Instead of just playing a spokesperson role, they want me to get more personal, to talk with the media about what happened to me out there.”

“That’s no surprise,” Aimee said. “You said all along that Director Lindholm wanted that.”

“Yes, but…” Catherine took a breath. “Now it’s going to happen. NBC wants to interview all of us. They want to talk to you and your dad about your experiences, too.”

Aimee looked to David with raised eyebrows. He shrugged. “I signed up for this, too, when I initially began the training program. You didn’t, though. Your mom is going to talk to them, and I am, too. Whether you do or not is entirely up to you. Your mom and I are happy either way.”

“Can I think about it?” Aimee asked.

“Of course; that’s why we brought it up,” Catherine said. “And if you want to talk it over with either of us, or with Maggie, that’s okay, too. Just… keep it between all of us for now.”

Aimee grinned. “Right, no bragging on Twitter, got it.”

That was the easy part. Now came the hard part, the real reason they’d come together for this talk with Aimee. “So… the next thing isn’t fun,” Catherine said.

“You’re getting divorced,” Aimee said.

Catherine should have known Aimee would figure it out.

“Your mom and I have talked about it, and we think it’s best if we go ahead and file. We’re not planning to fight over anything. I’m going to keep the house, and we’ll divide the rest. You’re almost eighteen, so obviously we’re not going to fight over custody of you.”

Catherine stepped in. “We figured you’d probably want to live here when you’re not at school, but you’re welcome to stay with me as much as you want.”

Then she and David stopped talking, waiting for Aimee’s reaction. Catherine braced herself.

Aimee sat with her head lowered in thought. “You know, when Mom moved out, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with you two. I thought you loved each other, and that was all that mattered.”

Catherine nodded, not wanting to interrupt.

“But… when you came back, I guess things were a mess for all of us for a while there.”

“All of us had trouble adjusting,” David said. “Your mom and I gave it our best try to fix things, but ten years is a long time.” It seemed they weren’t going to mention Maggie, or Tom, and Catherine was relieved. Despite everything that had happened, this really was just between her and David.

“I still care about your dad, and we both love you, Aimee. We’re still a family. It’s just going to look a little bit different now.”

Aimee smiled ruefully. “Guess that’s nothing new. We’ve never been a completely normal family anyway.”

“Not so much, no,” David said with a smile of his own.

“Hey, do me a favor,” Catherine said, “don’t tell that to NBC if you talk to them, okay? Lindholm would kill me.”

“I don’t know…” David grinned. “Can you imagine the look on his face?”

“I can, hence the caution.”

“Okay.” Aimee leaned forward and looked at both her parents. “Tell me more about this interview. It might be fun…”

Catherine and David exchanged smiles, and Catherine felt some of the knots inside her unravel. It would take time, but for the first time, she had faith that her family would be okay.