Caught in the Cretaceous

Chapter 4: Acting Captain Apollo

Apollo watches as Meg begins to stir on her bed in the infirmary. Meg slowly blinks and opens her eyes then looks around, when she spots Apollo she groans. Apollo chuckles at her. "Good morning. Sleep well?" Apollo teases. 

Meg groans again. "How long was I out?" 

"About a day." Meg's eyes widen. "Yeah. You're getting sloppy." 

"What happened?" Meg decides to cut off his teasing. 

"You took a little too long. No lasting damage. You'll be fine." As soon as he says that last part she starts to get up. "Woah, where do you think you're going? You need to rest." 

Meg groans. "I feel terrible." 

Apollo smirks. "I'm not surprised." 

Meg makes a face at him. "If I'm dying let me eat cake." 

Apollo rolls his eyes at her dramatics. "You're not dying." 

"Let me eat cake anyway," Meg whines. 

"We don't even have cake. Stop being so dramatic." 

A knock at the door interrupts their bickering and draws their attention. Alex stands at the door, looking at them in amusement. "I see our lovely mechanic finally decided to rejoin the land of the living. Probably thanks to the care and dedication of our medic." The teasing tone he uses is clearly for his amusement and their embarrassment. Which seems to be working judging by the shared looks between Meg and Apollo. "Are you both getting along in here?" 

Meg narrows her eyes at her long time friend. "What exactly are you trying to imply?" 

Alex shakes his head. "You guys have been locked in a room together for hours. I'm surprised neither of you has a black eye is all." 

Apollo, who has caught on to what his brother-in-law is up to, rolls his eyes. "I am professional. And she's been asleep until a few minutes ago." 

Alex gives a simple nod of understanding as a reply, but a mischievous twinkle still lingers in his eyes and the ghost of a smirk is still present on his face. Apollo shakes his head in exasperation. "How's Will? Is the sprain still giving him trouble?" Apollo's attempts to change the subject once and for all are less than subtle, but as a medic he also has a job to do and should really check on his other patients as well. The fact that it provides a convenient escape from an awkward situation is irrelevant. 

"He's doing fine thanks to the brace you gave him," Alex responds. 

"What happened?" Meg asks from her place on the bed. 

"Will sprained his ankle when he landed on it wrong getting out of the trees," Alex tries to explain. 

Unfortunately this was not very helpful for Meg. "Getting out of the trees? Why was he in the trees? I think I missed something." 

"We had to climb trees to get away from some local wildlife," Apollo explains offhandedly. "It wasn't a big deal. We got away. I got back just in time to save your stupid butt." This brings a chuckle from Alex. 

Meg opens her mouth to retort, clearly offended but is interrupted. A green light flashes by her bed. Apollo pushes a few buttons and the light goes away. Meg looks around confused. "What was that?" 

"Nothing to worry about," Apollo says to her before unlocking the door for Alex. "You can come in now. It's safe." 

"Safe?" Meg asks. 

"Yes." 

"Why wasn't it safe before?" She demands. 

Apollo sighs. "You had radiation exposure from below deck. That was telling me you were back down to normal radiation levels. That's why the rest of the crew was locked out until now."