Who: Chris Pike & Christine Chapel (with cameos by Lauren & Luna) When: Sunday, 18 March morning Where: Their apartment What: Processing the kidnapping and trying to return to normal Warnings: Mentions of kidnapping, ptsd, character death Status: Complete.
Chris knew he had been lucky. Others had been hurt and tortured worse than him. He was exceptionally grateful for the medical staff of Atlantis and for being able to go home after a few days. The first night home had gone better than expected. They’d all piled into the bed- Chris, Christine, Lauren, and even Luna - and though Chris had woken up a few times during the night, he was comforted by being surrounded by his girls. After all, it was hard to brood when there was a wet nose wiggling under your shirt and a toddler’s toes in your face.
He was still moving slowly, but he could hear Boyce’s voice in his head, reminding him to stay grounded in the present, to focus on the here and now. To that end, he was in kitchen, with Lauren sitting on the counter stirring a bowl of pancake batter, as he heated up the griddle. He gave Christine a kiss when she came out. “So, what kind of pancakes do you want? Because I have an excellent sous chef today”
Christine had been worried. She had been with him in a professional capacity after the events on the Narada and knew what he had gone through. So far he seemed to be coping better than she expected and she was grateful. “Well let’s see, what kind of pancakes do I want?” she looked at her husband and her daughter and smiled. “The only kind worth having of course. Chocolate chip!” Lauren laughed and clapped her hands. They were Christine’s favorite and the first kind she had made for her daughter so naturally the little girl loved them as much as her mother. Or almost as much as her mother, it was a toss up.
“What if daddy wants blueberry? Hmmm?” Chris asked his daughter, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “What are we going to do then?”
Chris wrapped an arm around Christine and drew her close, knowing that he wouldn’t be doing as well right now if it wasn’t for her. “Should we do both? Or make two types of pancakes ?”
“I’m not sure how well blueberries and chocolate chips would go together. How about two types?” she rested her head on his shoulder, breathing him in, so thankful that he was safe. The last week had been hell, trying to hold herself together for Lauren while worried sick for Chris. It had almost been a relief when she’d had to get back to work because even though she was busy, she at least was in the same place where he was and could stop and visit him whenever she liked. Leonard had been wonderful about giving her time to do that despite the fact that it was all hands on deck for the first couple of days.
“Twice the pancakes!” Lauren proclaimed, causing Chris to chuckle.
“We’ll see about that,” Chris said. “Now why don’t you go wash your hands for breakfast and when you come back you can help daddy flip the pancakes?”
Lauren scampered down and off to the bathroom, taking Luna with her and Chris chuckled. “This may end up with A wet dog at the breakfast table.”
He kissed Christine on the cheek. “Also, we may need a bigger bed. I woke up to toes in my face and a wet nose in my armpit.”
Christine laughed. “That sounds about right but the toes are attached to the world’s most adorable kid. I love the dog but not the wet nose in the armpit,” she made a face and shuddered. “I got it a couple of times this past week. At least neither of them snore which is more than i can say for you,” she grinned. “But feel free to snore in my bed anytime you like, it’s the most wonderful sound I’ve ever heard.”
Chris pretended to look offended as he pulled back and playfully poked her side. "Excuse me, I am not the only one in that bed who snores. Just because the rest of you are dainty when you do it… but the dog definitely snores."
“Yes she really does, i won’t deny that, it’s just cute,” she grinned. “Until she gets in your face and then it’s major puppy breath which is not as endearing as pet food commercials would like to pretend it is.” Christine stopped for a moment and looked up at him, reaching out to touch his face. “I’m so glad you’re back. I knew that they’d get you back but there were still times when I was afraid but we’re all together again and I feel so lucky.”
Chris covered her hand with his own, squeezing it before turning his face to kiss Christine's palm. "I'll always come back to you. Nothing could ever keep me away from you."
He gave her a soft smile. "I'm the lucky one. Getting a second chance. Getting more time with you and getting to meet Lauren."
“You’d better come back. I will hunt you down if you don’t.” she smiled at him. The only thing that could keep them apart was death and Christine didn’t believe Atlantis would let that happen. They had been given a chance to be what they never got to be at home, a family, and it was precious to her.
“Lauren is so much like you, it’s unreal,” Christine said. “She gets that same look on her face when she doesn’t want to do something that I saw a million times when you were doing PT. You know I never let you get away with it either but sometimes I might have let her get away with stuff just because she’s better at the whole puppy dog eyes thing than you.”
"Unless Atlantis acts up, you're stuck with me," Chris said, cupping Christine's face and kissing her tenderly.
"I have no idea what you're going on about with these looks. But she gets those puppy dog eyes from you. Because I'm pretty much incapable of saying no to her.." he said with a smile. "Which usually isn't a bad thing."
“What? I never give you looks like that,” she said innocently. “Although I suppose you’re right because that’s how I talked you into getting the puppy dog we have.” Lauren may have asked for the puppy but Christine had been wanting one so she didn’t discourage her daughter’s request in the least. “And Atlantis isn’t allowed to act up. I will hunt down whoever is in charge and give them a piece of my mind and you know how I get when I decide that I’m not going to take anything off anyone.”
Chris chuckled and gave Christine a look, pulling her close. "You are my everything. And I love you whether you're throwing horse shit at me or giving me those puppy eyes."
He didn't want to think about what might happen if Atlantis took either one of them away, but hopefully that was something they'd never have to face. "Hopefully there is less horse shit throwing in our future though."
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm not going to pretend it wasn't hellish, there, but we've survived this before, we can survive it again."
She wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled against him. “I know we can. Also before you didn’t have me, at least not like this.” she tilted her up to look at him. “And you have Lauren and having both of us will keep you grounded. Promise me though that you won’t just refuse to talk if things bother you. I know Claire is willing to talk to anyone who was involved either those that were kidnapped or families. I did everything I could to keep Lauren busy, Rose and Sulu were both fabulous, bringing their kids over to play, even taking Lauren so I could have some time to deal with my own emotions. You have so many people here who care about you, Chris, about all of us. We can get through this.”
"I promise. Besides, I'm already signed up for daily therapy sessions for at least the next month." He threaded his fingers through her hair. "I'm sorry you had to deal with it. I know it couldn't have been easy for you or Lauren."
“It wasn’t your fault, Chris. Not anymore than what happened with Nero was your fault. Lauren and I are tougher than we look and you wouldn’t have us any other way.” she looked up at him. “There were so many people who were affected by this, either they had family or teammates, friends, the whole place pulled together and helped each other out. COS certainly saw just how much we could all take and that they weren’t going to take us easily. It made it all just a little bit easier, having so much support from everyone. Of course that didn’t make me miss you any less or any less worried but I don’t know, I had faith that you’d come home. Somehow I just knew.”
A muscle in his face twitched at the mention of Nero. He focused on Christine instead. "Some days I'm not sure I deserve that level of faith," he said. "I just… It's hard knowing you had to go through that. I know that you have an amazing support network here and that we're fighting the good fight, it's just sometimes I wish it was a little less … interesting." “Sometimes I think we all wish that but hey, where else can you go where people turn into Care Bears?” she kissed him and rested her hand on his face. “I love you and no matter how crazy or interesting or weird things get around here, the three of us are together and that’s all I ever wanted and I never thought it was possible so no matter what, Atlantis has given us that.”
"You say that like it's a good thing," Chris said, shaking his head with a chuckle. "And I can't argue with that logic. I wouldn't trade this for the world."
“It is a good thing, it’s the best thing ever as our daughter would say and I also believe she’s headed back this way so we might want to pretend that we weren’t being ‘gross’ as she says when she gets in here.” Christine laughed and kissed him again. “Remember to remind me to tell her that Luna can’t have chocolate. She is always trying to slip her some.”
"Well, if we weren't gross, then she wouldn't exist," Chris teased, hearing the pitter patter of little feet that signified the arrival of their daughter.