"Morning Commander," Alibe called as she passed John in the hall.
"Morning Alibe," he returned smiling.
He continued walking down the hall toward the Medical Center. Having returned from a week on Ceres-II, John Koenig was looking forward to seeing his wife. As he rounded the corner leading her office, he was stopped by Alan Carter.
"John, welcome home." Alan waved his bandaged hand.
"Hey, what happened to you? Drinking Tony's beer again?"
"Ha, ha, " Alan responded to the old joke. "Would you believe I cut it at lunch?"
"What?" John held up Alan's hand.
"Seems yesterday's mystery meal was a little too tough and when I went to cut it I sliced my thumb."
"Hmm, remind me not to eat in the cafeteria today." John squeezed Alan's shoulder. "Where my beautiful wife?"
"I just left her in the medical center. She's in her office catching up on her paperwork." Alan pointed in the direction of Helena's office.
John grinned as he pushed past Carter. "I'll see you later, Alan. Take care of that hand."
"John, wait," Alan called trying to stop him. He wanted to warn John that his wife wasn't in a pleasant mood.
Koenig found Helena sitting at her desk concentrating on her computer screen. She was reviewing Emma's test results from her allergic reaction. John moved behind her chair and gently kissed her on the neck. "Hi honey," he whispered in her ear. She turned in her chair and glared up at him. John was momentarily confused by the icy expression on her face. Helena touched a button on her slate closing the doors to her office.
He could tell by her demeanor and body language that she was angry. "Okay," he began, "This was not the greeting I had in mind."
"Tell me, John What medical school did you graduate from?" Her tone was short and cold.
John was tired after his long flight and not really in the mood to play games with his wife. Her attitude became his. "Helena, you're obviously pissed about something. You wanna tell me what it is or are we going to play silly games?" He crossed his arms and returned his wife's icy stare.
She stood from her chair as her temper flared. "You know, I'd just like to know when you decided that you had enough medical training to treat our sick children! Her voice rose as she reached the last few words.
"Helena, what in the hell are you talking about?" He demanded to know.
"Well, it seems that YOU decided your fifteen year old daughter was old enough to drink. THEN when she came down sick, you decided to treat her AND not tell me!"
"Look honey..." He suddenly realized what she was mad about and moved toward her in an attempt to calm her down.
"Oh, no" she interrupted pointing her finger at his chest, "Don't you look honey me! What you did could have had serious consequences for her."
He'd had enough and raised his voice louder, "Would you kindly fill me in?" She caught the sarcasm in his remark.
"It seems our son decided to play a trick on his sister by spiking her drink last week. She had a violent reaction. Luckily, Dinah called Alan and he brought her home. He asked me if she might be allergic.
Apparently, he'd seen her in this condition before." She pushed past him to pace around her little office. "The next morning I confronted Emma and she told me the whole story."
Helena turned and glared at John. "She said HER FATHER let her have a beer once and she'd had the same reaction."
John reached up and rubbed his forehead. He took a deep breath and waited several minutes to respond, hoping that Helena would calm down. She was usually so calm about things and this reaction was totally out of character. Before he could answer she spoke again.
"Do you have a problem with the way I run my section, COMMANDER? Do you think that after all the years of running this base, you are NOW qualified to be CMO? Do you think sleeping next to me for the last twenty years makes you an expert in medicine!" She stood in front of him, breathing heavily. "So while you were on C-2 ...doing God know what... and probably doing it with Sarah Pulcher, I was here dealing with 2 drunk children!"
"Where in the hell did that come from?!" He demanded to know. Her whole body was shaking as she looked at him. She immediately realized what she had said.
She couldn't have hurt him more if she had slapped him in the face. Their eyes met and they both had a flash of understanding. Helena was absolutely distraught over her children's recent actions. John realized that something truly serious had occurred.
The fury inside her subsided slightly and she leaned against the wall, looking pale and tired. "Emma has an allergy to alcohol. It's extremely poisonous to her. The more often she has a drink, the more likely it is to do intense harm to her. She could die."
"Die?" John sat heavily on the sofa behind him. The finality in her word shocked him to the core. Over the years his attitude towards children had changed dramatically. When he'd first come to Alpha, having a family had been the farthest thing from his mind. When they had arrived in Loki's system, he still felt that children would require more time and energy than he had available, but had been willing to humor his wife whom he loved dearly. It had been the first time Alex had smiled at him that his attitude began to change, and when the children began to call him "daddy" and look at him as if he were the center of the universe that his heart had melted completely. Emma was more precious to him than anything. To think he might have harmed her..."Tell me everything," he ordered quietly, the fury that had left Helena filling him.
She spoke calmly and concisely, giving him all the details of the evening Emma had been carried home by Alan so ill she couldn't stand up. He knew she was headed for an apology for her earlier outburst, but he wasn't ready to hear it. He stood quickly still confused by the things Helena had said to him.
"Where are you going?" Helena demanded as John walked out the door.
Silently he turned to look at her still too angry with her to speak. He simply held up his hand as a sign that she should not talk to him. Then he stormed out the door headed for his own office without another word.
Helena was still fuming and she threw her wedding ring against the door as it closed. John heard the ping from the other side of the door and shot her a disgusted look through the windows before continuing to his office.
A call on his slate produced quick results and Alex was standing in his office in a manner of minutes. John could tell by the look on his face that Alex was petrified. That was good.
"Alex, I want to talk to you." Before he could finish, Alex interrupted.
"Dad, it wasn't my liquor. I didn't really have all that much." Alex tried to sink into the couch. With a glare from his father he stopped in midmotion.
"And you sister?" John's tone was deep and his question right on target.
"I...I put it in her drink." Alex lowered his head.
"Who brought it?"
"I'd rather not say."
"Who brought it?!" John's voice echoed through his office.
Alex shyly looked up at his father. He knew that he would have answer. "Josh, did."
"Fine," John turned to his desk and called Jeremy Devers. With an economy of words he requested both Jeremy's and Josh's presence in his office immediately, never doubting that his request would be followed quickly. "I'll deal with Josh shortly, as for you... You have some apologizing to do and some extra work as well."
"Dad, I am sorry."
"Well I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to think of an appropriate apology for your sister and your mother. The recycling center is in need of an extra set of hands. There are filters that need to be cleaned and changed all over the base. Report to Mr. Mahoney after you've finished first shift. He'll be expecting your assistance for the next month."
"Um, air filters?"
"Not necessarily."
Alex nodded. He'd studied the life support system and knew there were all sorts of unpleasant filters that he would be cleaning. "Can I go now?" Alex asked hoping to avoid any further contact with his father.
"I believe you still have work to do. I'll let your mother know not to expect you for supper."
With John's words still ringing in his ears, Alex left the room.
At dinner time, John Koenig returned to his quarters. As he opened the door he was greeted by the smell of Helena's vegetarian chili. He smiled inwardly. Vegetarian chili was known around the Koenig house as the "make up" dish. It was one of John's favorite dishes and Helena knew this. She would always prepare it when they had argued and she wanted to make amends. She was over her bout of anger but he was not.
John sat down on the couch without saying a word. Helena peered out of the kitchen. She was dressed in her old pink sweats from earth. Not exactly "make up" clothes John thought. "Hi." She said quietly.
"Hi." He returned.
"Dinner will be ready in a moment." She said. John acknowledged her with a shake of his head.
She brought the food, two bowls, and two glasses of wine over to coffee table in front of the couch. Picking up his slate, John flipped on the Alpha News Network. The Com channel came to life and the news reporter began talking about the new developments at Dover, There was an on line interview with Tony. John prepared a bowl of chili for himself. Helena did the same. They sat in silence eating their dinner and watching the news.
Eventually he asked shortly. "Where are the children?"
"Richard is studying in Medical Center. Emma and Alan went to farside this afternoon and will be back in the morning. Alex told me he has extra duties to perform. He said he'd be working late for the next month."
After the news was over, John gathered up the dirty dishes and moved them to the kitchen. Once the kitchen was in order he retired to their bedroom without saying a word. He was making it difficult on her and he knew it.
John was already in bed and was reading when Helena entered their bedroom. He failed to acknowledge her presence and she entered the bathroom closing the door behind her.
When she emerged from the shower she found that her husband had already gone to sleep. She tossed her towel into the hamper and eased into bed beside him. He was laying on his side with his back to her. She moved over and spooned his body with hers. "John?" she called softly in the darkness. Without turning over he responded, "What?" His tone was guff almost rude.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said earlier about Sarah. I was just...upset."
"Upset?!" He bolted into a sitting position and turned to face her. "You practically accused me of having an affair. Now look, Helena, I know you are mad at me. I should have told you about Emma's reaction to the beer. Honestly I didn't think it was that big a deal. Apparently, I was wrong and for that I'm sorry. But for you to accuse me of seeing a woman that raped me is...insane!" Frustrated he rose out of bed and began to pace around their bedroom. He turned around in time to see the first tear roll down his wife's cheek. She was still sitting on the bed with her head bowed.
This is crazy he thought. He took a deep breath before continuing. "You really don't think I went to C-2 to see Sarah do you?"
Helena looked up at him. "No I really don't think that. I was just so mad... that I didn't realize what I was saying. Not telling me about Emma was a betrayal of our trust. It hurt me; I wanted you to hurt as much as I did so I said that about Sarah. I was sorry I said it the moment it came out. I guess my insecurities just got the best of me"
John looked at her tear stained face; she was always so strong that he'd almost forgotten that she had insecurities. He knelt down in front of her. "I'm sorry about not telling you. I'm glad you really didn't mean that about Sarah. I've said this before, you have nothing to worry about. I'm not going anywhere. I love you. You are my life." He reached for her hands and discovered she was wearing her wedding ring.
Helena squeezed her eyes closed as if trying to block out the nightmare from the previous week . "Oh, John I was so scared for Emma. She's so young. And Alex, there he was falling down drunk and holding on to Dinah. It was a nightmare."
He wiped her tears away with his thumb, "I'm sorry it happened. I know it must have been stressful. I should have told you about Emma but it seemed pointless especially since she was fine the next day."
Helena moved into his arms. He pulled her up and together they crawled back into bed. Her cheeks were still damp when she lay her head on his chest. "John, what are we going to do about Alex?"
"I talked to him earlier. He said that Josh brought the liquor to the Grotto. I think I should order the Grotto closed for a month. Do you think that might give all the kids something to think about?"
"Maybe. I guess my section could put on some training sessions about the consequences of alcohol. But what about Alex?"
"Spiking Emma's drink is a pretty serious offense ... He's being punished. And he is supposed to apologize to you and Emma. Let me know if he doesn't come talk to you in the next day or two." He sighed. "Helena, you scared me today. Throwing your wedding ring? I've never seen you so mad. You're suppose to be the calm one." He was smiling in the dark thinking about the irony of the situation.
"Well, I tend to be very protective when it comes to one of the children." she confessed, "And I guess I've come to rely on having you here to help me through every crisis."
He wrapped his arms around her holding her close as she drifted off to sleep. "I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."
Maureen J. Long
January, 2000