People Hurting Themselves in Space - a Series of Apollo 13 Oneshots

I'm Always Right

"Jack are you okay?" Fred asked, breaking the silence that had settled over the spacecraft.

"Yeah, you're looking a little pale." Jim agreed, glancing up from his calculations.

"Oh me? I'm alright, just thinking."

"Are you sure? I mean-" Jim began to say.

"Yes, I'm sure, I'm fine I promise."

"If you say so," Jim responded, turning back to his notes.

Fred was still unconvinced "Jack, it's okay if-"

"I'm fine." Jack interrupted.

"Alright," Fred replied, a little taken aback.

The cabin then returned to the silence it had previously sat in.

Not long after their conversation Houston radioed the crew about something or other, drawing attention away from Jack's current state of affairs.

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Having completed all that mission control had asked them to do, the commander and LEM pilot of Apollo 13 had fallen into a comfortable silence. A silence that was soon broken by the third member of their crew entering the lunar module.

"Has Houston called up with anything about another burn?" Jack questioned, clearing his throat.

"No, why do you ask?" Fred answered.

"I've been looking over the data and I'm pretty sure we're coming in too steep."

"What makes you say that?" Fred inquired.

"Well-" Jack cleared his throat. "First of all-" He began, coughing into the crook of his arm. Garnering a look of concern from the two older men. "Sorry," Jack said, steadying himself against the tunnel that connected the lunar and command modules. "As I was saying-" He started before being cut off by a concerned commander.

"Jack, are you alright?"

"Yeah, oh yeah, I just had something caught in my throat.

"Uh-huh," Jim replied skeptically.

"I'm fine," Jack assured him.

There was a moment of pause before the chatter in the cabin returned to that of reentry, Jack's little coughing fit seemingly forgotten.

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Jack floated up into the Odyssey from his position in the lunar module.

"Have they called up with a reentry plan yet?" He asked.

"No, not yet," Jim answered.

"Oh um okay, thanks. I guess" Jack replied, but not before coughing into his sleeve.

As Jack turned to reenter the command module, Jim grabbed his wrist.

"What?"

"Wow, Jack you're burning up."

Jack sighed. "What do you want? he asked again.

"Well I was gonna ask if you were okay but clearly you're not."

Jack pulled his arm out of the older man's grasp.

"Jim, I'm fine."

"No, you're not. It's like 38 degrees in here, your skin should not be that warm."

"It's nothing, I promise."

"Jack-"

"It's just a cough, alright, and even if it was something serious it's not like we could do much about it up here."

"You should at least get some rest or someth-"

"I'm not some kid that you need to protect, okay? I can still do my job."

"Is that what this is about?" Jim questioned. "Proving that you are capable of being here?"

Jack just scoffed.

"Hey, listen to me, everyone in this spacecraft and down in mission control believes that you are fully qualified to be here. You've already proven yourself, and no one is gonna think less of you because of some illness, and hiding it isn't gonna make it go away now is it?"

"I guess you're right." Jack responded, a twinge of embarrassment in his voice.

"So I'll ask you again, are you okay?"

"Maybe not," Jack replied.

"See now we're getting somewhere." Jim said, a smile creeping onto his face. "You make yourself as comfortable as you can in whatever the hell you would call our little predicament, and I'm gonna go grab something from the LEM. Kapeesh?"

"Kapeesh"

Jim then floated down into the lunar module.

"Hey is everything okay up there?" Fred asked.

"Jack's coming down with something."

"Clearly." Fred joked. "Have you seen him?"

"He was trying to hide it from us..."

"Well, he did a lousy job at that."

"...because he thought we would think that he wasn't qualified to do his job."

"Oh.. that's kinda sad."

"Yeah."

The two men paused for a moment.

"Jim, why are you down here anyway?" Fred asked.

"Oh right, I was gonna grab some Aspirin for Jack."

"That's a good idea."

Jim nodded in response as he grabbed the small packet of pills and turned to exit the LEM.

When the commander entered the Odyssey he saw that Jack had positioned himself against the wall of the command module. Crossing his arms in front of his chest to preserve whatever warmth might have been left in the frozen spacecraft.

"Hey Jack, how are you doing?"

Jack looked up at the older man before clearing his throat.

"Oh uh, I'm doin' alright."

Jim shot the younger man a look.

"I guess I'm kinda cold."

Jim gave a small smile before handing Jack the Aspirin.

"Here take this."

"Why?" Jack questioned.

Jim chuckled, "Why do you think?"

Jack responded in a meager laugh as he took the medicine from the older man's hand.

"While you take those I'm gonna radio Houston and inform them of-" He gestured towards Jack. "Your little health problems."

"Jim, you don't have to, it's really nothing." Jack responded in protest.

"What did we talk about earlier? You are fully qualified to be here and nothing is going to change that. Now, Houston needs to be kept up to date so that they can make the best decisions they can, okay?"

"Okay," Jack replied, a little disgruntled.

Jim turned away from the younger man in order to give the illusion of privacy. "Houston, be aware that Jack seems to have come down with something. It doesn't seem to be anything major but we will keep you informed if anything happens."

"Roger that."

The commander then turned to the pilot. "You might wanna think about getting some rest, the last thing we need is you sick and tired." He said, A small smile garnishing his face.

Jack gave a small laugh "I guess you're right."

Jim responded with "I'm always right." which earned another laugh from the younger man.

"G'night, Jim."

"Goodnight, Jack."