Mac's Not Herself

Month 15 Day 5

0732 Hours

Bugalu

Bugsy reached out and touched Della's arm as she walked past his breakfast table. "Where's Mac this morning?"

"She should be along any minute, I would think," Della answered. "She had a letter this morning, and took the time to read it, but as pale as she got, I don't think it was good news. I mean, she was already pale when she got up, so her session with the healing ray last night must have really been the pits. So take it easy on her, Bugsy, cause she's not having a good day." She looked around the mess hall and added, "Yeah, there she is, getting her breakfast. See ya." She moved on, and Bugalu had no chance to protest that he simply wanted to converse with his adopted sister, not chew her out.

But the fact that Della expected him to chew Mac out made him wonder if there was something she'd done he wasn't aware of. It seemed to him that she'd settled into a fairly normal human being, compared to how she was at the Academy. Maybe, if she was having a difficult day already, and it had hardly even started, he should point out the progress she'd made.

Mac slipped into one of the empty chairs at his table. She had a stack of toast, a bowl of oatmeal and a hot tea on her tray. All her comfort breakfast foods. And she does look pale, although she's tried to hide it with a touch of blusher. Unfortunately, it makes the paleness of the rest of her face that much more noticeable.

She hadn't even greeted him when she sat down, hardly seemed aware of him as she stirred sugar into her oatmeal with her left hand, her eyes downcast.

"Good morning," he greeted her.

"Yeah," was her mumbled response.

"Della said you got a letter this morning."

"Um, yeah."

She's awfully quiet this morning. If the letter was bad news from home, she'd probably be telling me about it. "She seemed to think it might be bad news."

"Depends."

He took a bite of his corned beef hash before he tried again. "Want to talk about it?"

She shook her head, dunked her toast in her tea and bit off the soggy bit. "Still trying to wrap my head around it." And she was still mumbling, as if she were afraid someone might overhear her.

Bugs leaned forward and lowered his voice to match hers. "What are you trying to wrap your head around?"

She glanced up at him, panic in her eyes, and then furtively looked around, trying to catch eaves-droppers in the act. Finally, she leaned closer to him and whispered, "Kolla's pregnant!"

He blinked. That's usually good news. She never has any difficulty making that announcement about one of her sisters-in-law. But I think she identifies more strongly with Kolla than her sisters-in-law, so maybe it's more... personal to hear it about Kolla. He took a drink of his orange juice and pointed out, "She is married."

"Yes, she is," she agreed, and he thought he heard a slight emphasis on 'she'.

He sat back in his seat, his breakfast momentarily forgotten as his mind whirled with thoughts about how badly unmarried mothers were treated on Gaelund. But Kolla wasn't from Gaelund, and she was married, so it didn't apply to her. "What's this about, Mac?"

She took another bite of soggy toast, stirred her oatmeal and finally sat up straighter, less like somebody caught doing something illegal. "Not much, really. I'm just upset because I had a killer session with the healing ray last night, and here I am, still in my sling, not showing any indication that I've made any progress with the shoulder at all."

He studied her for a long moment, noticed that her gaze veered toward the captain's table, and then jerked back to him. "You're getting better at lying," he decided, and took a sip of his juice. "It's okay if you're not ready to talk to me. Just remember that when you are ready, I'm here for you."

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and let it out. "Thank you, Bugalu."

She called me by my actual name. She really is upset. "What about a movie tonight? It's been a while since we've done that."

She shoved a large spoonful of oatmeal in her mouth, probably to give her time to think before she answered. "Gee, I don't know. I don't want someone to make a scene like he did the last time."

"You're not engaged anymore," he pointed out. "You don't have to do anything just to please him."

"True," she agreed, and sipped her tea. "Let's decide on the movie later, okay? I'm so blasted tired of this sling, I may not be fit company to be with anyone tonight."

"Sure, just let me know. I might not be able to order a pizza, if you wait too long."

"Oh. Pizza." She took another sip of her tea. She hadn't sounded enthusiastic about the prospect of their routine ending to a movie night. What can possibly have her that upset? "Well, if we do see the movie, and you can't get a pizza ordered, we could maybe have something else, instead."

"Sure," he agreed. "It doesn't have to be pizza." It is always pizza! Ham and pineapple pizza. She's never even considered having something else!

"Oh, Beth!" she greeted the Head Nurse as she walked past, and having gotten Temple's attention, she invited her to join them.

Beth hurriedly took a seat. "Thanks. You don't mind if I eat in a hurry, do you? I've got to get maintenance to look at my alarm. I am never late to work, not like some people I could name."

"I'm not late getting to work," Mac protested feebly.

"I wasn't talking of you," Beth told her as she cut into her egg and potato casserole. "But we have figured out what happened to your after-drink the first time you were under the healing ray. And the lack of an escort to see you got home okay can be laid on the same head."

"That's nice," Mac told her without interest. "Listen, I've been meaning to get together with you, have a little girl-to-girl time, just the two of us."

"Me?" Beth asked, and glanced at Bugs, who gave a slight shrug. He had no idea what was on Mac's mind. Beth drank some of her coffee. "Sure. We could do that, sometime."

"How about tonight?" Mac asked eagerly, startling Bugalu. "I'm still recovering, and most of my usual methods of entertainment aren't available to me. Please say yes. It would give me something to do."

Beth chewed and nodded her head, glanced at the wall clock. "Okay. What do you want to do?"

"Talk. Privately. Your place? About 1930?"

Still nodding, Beth shoved another bite into her mouth and chewed hurriedly. "Okay. My place. See you then."

"Thank you, Beth. I won't be late." Mac glanced at the clock herself, and hastily shoved another spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth. "Hurry up, Bugs, or you'll be late."

So it was that the 3 of them wolfed down a few more bites, gulped down their drinks and went their separate ways. Once Bugs got on the lift with others headed for the bridge, he wondered about Mac's strange behavior. Obviously, she's upset about something, but since when does she pass up a movie night for a girls' night in? And especially why would she practically beg for that girls' night?