Breakfast for 2

Month 9 Day 4

(Shore Leave Day 5)

0745 Hours

McGregor

Drake pulled a shirt over his head as he walked across his hotel room to open the door. “Come on in. Breakfast should arrive shortly,” he told the redhead and watched in confusion as she walked in slowly, woodenly. He glanced out into the hallway, but saw no one else, so he closed the door. “Are you uncomfortable, coming to my hotel room alone?”

Mac stopped near the sofa and rotated to face him, confusion on her face. “Do you have another woman already here?”

“No. Did you expect I would?”

“I was hoping you didn’t. That could be awkward, if you had someone here who looked like me.”

“If you’re thinking about last shore leave, when you showed up before my date had left...”

“No, actually, I wasn’t,” Mac answered, and her face contorted as she slowly sat down. “Never mind. Somebody... mistook me for someone else, and it’s kind of been on my mind, the idea of another me running around on this planet.” She glanced out the glass door to his balcony and the thin line of the space elevator in the distance. “Anyway, you invited me for breakfast, which sounded good, although I’m not sure I’ll be very good company.”

Drake took an easy chair across from her. “Is something wrong? You seemed reluctant to walk in.”

A corner of her mouth curled sourly. “Not reluctant, Mac. Stiff. Sore. My entire body can hardly move. Especially the bottom half.”

“But this planet doesn’t even have a full G of gravity. You should be bouncing around.”

She gave a wry grin. “I was, before the braves got hold of me.”

“Braves?”

“Yellow Dog devised a challenge for Tall Bear. They included me. Not sure why. And I was idiot enough to agree.”

“What kind of challenge?”

“We spent a day running 100 miles.”

He stared at her in shock, waiting for her to grin and say she was kidding, but she didn’t. “That’s insane.”

“Eventually, I discovered that. Unfortunately, we weren’t done running yet, so all I could do was keep going. I’d never really tested my stamina like that before.”

“And now you’re paying for it,” he guessed. “First, you have to give your body a chance to rest-“

“Yes,” she agreed. “I caught 4 or 5 hours of sleep at the ranch, slept on the shuttle back to town. Couldn’t check into a hotel in mid-morning, so we went to a park and I slept under a tree until mid-afternoon. Caught a sandwich on the way to the hotel and then slept until... well, about 2 hours ago. It took me that long to get dressed and get here.”

Someone knocked on the door. “Room service.”

Drake stood up. “Thought we’d eat on the balcony,” he stated as he let the hotel employee in.

“Very good, sir,” the man stated, and pushed the cart across the room.

Mac clamped her mouth shut, pushed herself up from the sofa, and they adjourned to the balcony. She landed in one of the iron balcony chairs rather heavily and watched as the food and other items were transferred to the table.

“Who won the race?” Drake asked.

“It was a tie,” she answered, and her green eyes twinkled at him. “I kind of lost my footing at the last minute and forced it to be a tie.”

“I can’t imagine either one of them expected that.”

“No. But once they realized neither of them had put me up to it, they accepted it. Decided to keep it a friendly rivalry.”

“Is there anything else I can do for you and your lady?” the employee asked.

“Mac? I wasn’t sure what you’d want.”

“This is great,” she answered. “Normally, it might be too much, but I’m starved.”

“Go ahead and start, then. Leave the coffee pot, please, and the pitcher of juice.” The man nodded and left the cart in the interior room as he left. “What else have you been doing with ‘the braves’?” Drake asked.

“Oh, I only spent that one day with them,” Mac answered. She put a bite of egg in her mouth, chewed and swallowed. “I made sure I left the ranch before either of them could see the kind of shape I was in. Mac, I was sure sleep would help me recover, but I’m still really stiff! I don’t know what else to do!”

“You’re on the right track,” he told her. “Some heat would help the muscles relax, so a steam room, hot tub, anything like that. Maybe a massage...” No, wait, she can’t let anybody touch her. “Start using the muscles again.” She groaned at the thought. “No, I don’t mean run another hundred miles. Take short strolls. Stretch your muscles out. That sort of thing.”

She poured syrup on a pair of pancakes and drank half a glass of juice. “I’ll try. But what I really want is to not be in pain.”

“It will come. Alternate stretching, heat and rest,” he suggested. “If you have anything else planned today, postpone it. And don’t accept any more challenges like that unless you’ve had a chance to train for it!”

“All I’ve got planned for today is a hot game of cards at my hotel room.” At the uncertain look he gave her, she added, “Solitaire.”

He nodded. “That should work. Try my suggestions today, and tomorrow, you might even be able to walk fairly normally.”

“Tomorrow is movies and pizza,” she stated. “Bugs has 4 different movies picked out for us.”

“You do that on the ship. Couldn’t you find anything else to do on shore leave?”

“We have. He’s just giving me a couple days to recover. Because the next day, I’m going shopping with the girls.”

“Sounds like I’m lucky you could fit me into your schedule.”

She paused her eating to give him a tremulous smile. “I’ve never had an uncle who wanted to spend time with me, Mac. Or maybe Pa didn’t want any of my uncles to spend time with me. But your kind of ‘uncle’ is like Bugs’ kind of ‘brother’. And I like that. So... I’m happy to spend time with you.”

“Well, I can guarantee you I won’t expect you to run a hundred miles!”

She chuckled and buttered a slice of toast. “Good. I mean, I guess it’s something I can do, but... I don’t really want to try doing it again. Besides, I’m sure pa would think it very un-ladylike.”

“I hope you don’t take this wrong, but I don’t think I’d like your father.”

She shrugged and winced. “Even my neck is sore,” she muttered. “Bugs has been saying that for years. And... well, I don’t like the way my father has treated me. Seems like I’ve missed much.”

“Before you leave, let me run a quick medical scan. Tenderness in your neck might mean a slipped disc. Or just an overly tired muscle.”

“Something serious, you think?”

“Let’s do a scan and make sure it’s not,” he suggested.

“Okay,” she agreed. “The food tastes good. Thanks for inviting me.”

“To tell the truth, I was getting a little lonely for a familiar face. Try the marmalade on your toast.”