CHAPTER 10

The next morning, good to his word, within an hour he had the C-8 up and fully running. It still needed some work when he got back to a Jupiter and had access to more tools and parts, but it would hold for now.

Maureen, of course, drove back, but unlike the nearly silent trip out, now she peppered him with questions on Dr. Smith. He told her everything he knew, starting on the fateful meeting on the Resolute, to the crash landing, the trip through the country and finished with their reunion on the Jupiter. He was honest with her, even to the point of admitting he had been conned by her.

Maureen listened, asked a lot of questions, which he had no answer too, then grew quiet.

"I guess this lowers your opinion of me yet another notch," Don said evenly as he watched the landscape go by through the window of the Chariot. "I brought the snake into the Garden of Eden."

She glanced at him after he made his Biblical reference. "You don't strike me as a religious man."

Shrugging, he replied, "I'm open to everything and anything that gets me through a tough situation. You, I bet, where raised with a strong religious background. Farmer's daughter. Church on Sundays."

"Surprisingly, not. I might be a 'country girl' in your vernacular, but with two scientists as parents my upbringing was more science then religion."

That conversation petered out and they stayed silent for the rest of the trip back. They drove straight through, only stopping for bio-breaks as needed. On the way, Maureen had reached out to the Jupiter again, but got no reply. So, she switched channels and made a general call to anyone listening. Victor's wife was the one that answered. The two women chatted for a while and before they broke off, she agreed to find John and ask him to call Maureen.

About two hours later, the call came through. John apologized for the delay, but it had taken them time to figure out that the radio wasn't working and then to repair it. It puzzled them how the cable had become disconnected. When Maureen heard that Dr. Smith had been alone, in the cockpit, she had a pretty good idea how the wire came off. However, she kept her suspicions to herself until she could be alone with John. She did, however, roll her eyes at Don.

Even though it was late when they rolled up to the Jupiter, the outside lights were blazing and her whole family quickly assembled to greet her on the ramp. Don watched the family reunion from the doorway of the C-8 with a stab of envy. Something about the Robinson's made him regret his upbringing, a past event he thought he'd moved passed. But their obvious love for each other made him feel very much alone. With a quiet sigh, he got out of the vehicle and made his way up the ramp. No one noticed him as he walked past the group into the Jupiter to find Debbie. Maybe she'd be happy to see him, well if chickens could be happy. He really had no idea, but it was better than standing around waiting for someone to notice him…if they did.

After a bit, Judy did think about Don, but when she looked around, she didn't see him. She focused back on her mother who was telling the tale of the C-8 rolling over. Maureen finished, at least with the part of the journey she wanted to talk about in front of her children, then gave John a knowing glance that said she'd talk more to him later. She gave her three children another hug before sending the youngest two off to bed because it was very late.

After Penny and Will headed off to their rooms, the Robot trailing behind Will like a dark shadow, Maureen inquired where Dr. Smith was located. John said the woman had gone to bed early, and he guessed, like Don, she didn't want to interrupt the family reunion. Maureen had a different idea on why the doctor was making herself scarce, but she kept it to herself.

Now that it was just the adults, Maureen told them the details she had glossed over with the younger Robinson's present. When she described what happened to Don, Judy grew concerned.

"I think I should go find him and check out his injuries. If they are infected, the sooner we treat them the better, especially on a foreign planet with unknown microbes," Judy declared as she rose from the chair she'd been perched on.

"After you are done, head off to bed. We'll catch up in the morning on Dr. Smith," Maureen said. Judy nodded and left to find Don, while Maureen and John finished their discussions.

Judy headed to the storage room Don usually bunked in when he was onboard overnight and found the mechanic sitting on his makeshift bunk, stroking Debbie. Politely, she knocked her knuckles lightly on the doorframe to get his attention. When he looked up, she said, "Mom said you got pretty banged up when the Chariot rolled over. Come to sick bay so I can check you out."

"Thanks for looking after Debbie. She's my family," Don said, seemingly ignoring what Judy had requested.

"She's a chicken, Don."

Sadly shaking his head, he whispered to Debbie. "Like mother, like daughter."

"Look, Don. I'm not kidding. As the ship's doctor, I'll order you to sickbay. I won't have anyone else falling ill or dying on my watch. Now, put that chicken down and move!"

Don gently put Debbie back in her container, rose and headed out the door towards sickbay. When they arrived, Judy flipped on the equipment then motioned Don to hop up on the bed. In the bright lights of sickbay, she could see the wear and tear on his body. The instruments told her a lot, but she also knew she had to do a visual inspection, especially on the wounds on the shoulder and the thigh.

"I trust you have shorts on?" she asked in a clinical tone. "Or do you need a gown?"

"What I need is to go to bed and get some rest. I'll be right as rain in the morning. Just wait and see." He started to slide off the table and was greeted by a furious looking woman holding a very large needle.

"We can do this the easy way, where you cooperate and do as you are told, or the hard way where I sedate you with this very large needle, then examine you. Your choice." She placed one hand on her hip and waited.

"I'll cooperate," he grumbled, unhappily.

"Good." She laid the needle down then turned away to give him some privacy. "Strip to your shorts, please." She fiddled with some instruments until she heard his clothes hit the ground. Turning around, she looked at this body and unprofessionally gasped.

"I know. I'm in great shape. Impressive isn't it," he said brazenly.

"You look like an impressionist painting. I've never seen such vivid and extensive bruising," she declared as she took a step nearer.

"Well, it was like being a tennis ball in a dryer. Try as I might, I just kept bouncing around inside the C-8."

Regaining her professionalism, she ordered him to lay on his back while she examined the bruises on his chest before moving down to the wound on his thigh. As her fingers touched the skin on his leg, Don prayed nothing would betray how uncomfortable he was with her proximity to his lower regions.

Finally, after a lot of visualizations of cold showers, she told him to roll over. He was so relieved he forgot about the scars on his back. He knew she had discovered them when her fingers, like her mother, traced the faint scars.

Turning his head sideways and catching her eye, he entreated, "Please. Don't ask now. I will tell you some other time. I promise."

She studied his dark brown eyes, saw the discomfort residing there and gave him a brief nod to show she understood. Clinically, she went back to her examination, studying the wound on his shoulder. Her mom had done a really good job and it only needed a little more work on it, which she quickly performed with her own tools. When she was done, she asked him to sit up and she gave him two broad spectrum shots to ward off any infections, not that she had seen any signs so far. But again, with foreign germs it was better to be safe.

"I'm done. You look pretty good overall. Nothing some rest won't take care of. And take it easy with that right arm until those tendons heal."

He slid of the bench and reached for his clothes on the floor.

"Oh no, you don't," she said as she kicked the dirty clothes further away with her foot. "Take a shower and put on clean clothes or you will come down with some disease."

For a moment they stood toe to toe, locked in a stare down of wills. Before it went wherever it was going to go, Maureen and John walked into sickbay and broke the moment.

"How is he?" Maureen asked.

The spell broken, Judy took a few steps back and said, "You did a good job, Mom. He'll heal."

John whistled when he saw the bruises covering Don's body. "Impressive, West. That must hurt like hell."

A grin appeared on Don's face and even though he was the only one in the room in his skivvies, he pulled off being self-assured. "Anything to protect your little lady from harm."

"You got those bruises before you saved my life," Maureen pointed out.

"Maybe, but…"

Before Don could offer up his explanation, which was sure to be colorful, John reached over and clapped Don on the shoulder, before he realized the error of his way. Don, yelped as a wave of pain rippled through his body.

"Oh-geez I'm sorry, Don. I just wanted to thank you for saving my wife's life," John said contritely.

"You…have…a…funny…way…of…doing…it," Don groaned. "If you Robinson's will excuse me…I'm going to bed before anyone else tries to thank me." With as much dignity as he could muster, he limped out of the sickbay towards his room.

After he was gone, Judy turned to his Mom and asked, "You saw them. The scars?"

Maureen nodded her head.

"Did he tell you how he got them?" Judy inquired.

"Yes." When she saw Judy was going to ask how, she added, "But that is his story to tell."

Judy nodded, knowing her mother was right and she really had no right to ask her. "Goodnight," she said as she too left the sickbay leaving John and Maureen alone.

"Should we be worried?" John asked as he watched his daughter leave the room.

Not exactly sure what John was asking, and not wanting to go down the path he might be suggesting, she instead answered, "Judy is a good doctor. Let's go to bed." With that she left the room.

John watched her leave, then flicked off the lights and followed. This journey was already off to a dramatic start. They didn't need any more complications. Maybe he'd have a few words, with West, just to be sure the mechanic understood where the lines were drawn.

THE END