Chapter Two
Ever since he’d seen Gabriel Vaughn’s name on his appointment list, Reid had been excited to meet him. He’d followed the first manned Atmos flight closely, keeping tabs on all the news that came out of it.
He’d followed Gabriel’s public account on Twitter, marveled over photos of the Earth from space as if there weren’t hundreds of them, laughed at his sense of humor over the space espresso machine and the photos he’d taken of floating pens in all kinds of elaborate configurations.
The whole thing had been soexciting, and now he was getting to meet the guy he’d been excited to see updates from. Gabriel seemed sofun, and how often did you get to meet someone who’d been to space?
He’d been in high school when NASA shut down the shuttle program, and it had felt then like a part of humanity’s hope had been shut down with it. Now, Atmos was giving people some of that back.
With the world the way it was at the moment, everyone could use a little hope.
He was smaller than Reid had been expecting, with dark hair down to his chin and stubble trailing down his neck. Strong brows Reid would have killed for himself, and kind, warm brown, bright eyes.
He was also a lot younger than Reid had assumed he would be. Younger than Reid, even.
“Go easy on me,” Gabriel said as he sat down on Reid’s examination table, his back unnaturally straight. “You’re my first physiotherapist.”
Reid chuckled at that. The guy had been to space, and he was nervous aboutthis?
He understood. A lot of people hated to deal with medical problems at all. That was why he’d always worked on being as friendly and comforting as possible. He wanted people to finish their treatment programs and get better, not come to dread coming into his office or seeing him in the hospital.
“Well, you’re my first space man,” he responded, moving around behind Gabriel to poke him in the shoulder. He winced, jerking away from Reid’s touch.
He’d been moving gingerly from the moment he came in, so Reid was guessing he was in more than a little pain.
“I think the technical term is astronaut.”
“Whatever you say, Ziggy,” Reid replied, noting the way Gabriel hissed as he put his fingers on his lower back.
He felt thin. Not just thin, but unnaturally light.
Reid was used to seeing this, but he was used to seeing it in coma patients. Not in people who’d been to space.
“I think that wasStarman, not space man,” Gabriel said. “And I’m not even an astronaut, anyway. I’m a rocket scientist.”
“For real?” Reid asked. He hadn’t known that. All he’d known was that Gabriel was part of the shuttle crew. He’d never even thought to look into his background. That would have felt weird and intrusive.
He’dassumedhe was ex-military, so the short, skinny guy in front of him was kind of a surprise.
“For real. A rocket doctor, even. The deal was that if I designed the shuttle, I got to go to space.” Gabriel shifted on the table, whining softly at the movement.
Reid’s heart went out to him. Going to space was cool and all, but it had obviously been hard on his body.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Doctor Stardust, then.”
“Ziggy Stardust was an alien,” Gabriel said.
Reid grinned, glad that Gabriel had definitely caught the reference. He hadn’t been sure before. Gabriel was hard to read, but that was probably because he was exhausted and in pain.
“And you came from outer space,” Reid argued. “Take your shirt off.”
“You could buy me a drink first,” Gabriel complained, but Reid caught the faintest hint of a smile turning up the corner of his lips as he moved to stand in front of him. “And I don’tcomefrom outer space. I come from Iowa.”
“Like Captain Kirk?” Reid asked. He knew he was outing himself as a huge nerd, but Gabriel had come in wearing aBatmant-shirt, so he figured he was in good company.
It seemed like the kind of guy who’d want to work on space shuttles would be intoStar Trek,too.
Gabriel laughed at that, a genuine, happy sound that made Reid smile. All he wanted was for Gabriel to be comfortable. That was all he wanted for all of his patients.
