Ooooh you know what would be fun? What if Simon and the SM-13 showed up while the Hail Mary was on the way to Erid, as per usual, but really late in the journey.
Like, we're talkin' only a few months out and Grace is basically sleeping all day and is mostly bed-bound thanks to malnutrition kinda late. So when the Mary reports that there's a new blip up ahead, it happens to line up with one of Grace's periods of delirium, and he isn't awake or lucid enough to deal with it.
After the Time Go Fishing incident, Grace and Rocky have made sure that Rocky can pilot the Hail Mary in case of emergencies without having to leave his atmosphere. The Mary is set up to understand him and respond to his commands as a registered crew member. So with Mary's help, he's able to rescue Simon all by himself. And woah! Another human! Amaze amaze amaze! Rocky is so excited to have met two humans now!
There is something clearly wrong with this human, though. There are teeth where there shouldn't be teeth, and there are fewer limbs than usual. And wow. Rocky thought Grace leaked a lot. This new human is just covered in fluids. That's probably not good. This human looks like it's in really rough shape, and who knows what kinds of diseases it has. Grace is already so fragile, there's no way Rocky can risk exposing him to this new human and possibly letting him catch something. No, Rocky will have to keep them separate.
Thus Rocky is the one who ends up nursing Simon back to health, with help from the Hail Mary and her databases, while keeping him as far from Grace as possible. Simon wakes up terrified, and seeing a rock spider alien hovering over him is definitely not helping. But he's too weak to move or fight, so he can only helplessly sit there and let Rocky do what he wants. Over time Simon realizes that Rocky is helping him, and starts to trust him and get less defensive. Rocky is just too sweet to be afraid of, so pretty soon Simon is calm around him, especially as Rocky continues to care for him.
Here's the funny thing, though; since Rocky is keeping them on opposite sides of the ship, neither Grace or Simon realize there's another human on board.
To be fair, technically Rocky did try to tell them. But Simon couldn't understand him yet (the translator has been abandoned since both Grace and Mary understand Eridian now), and Grace's mind is swiss cheese right now so he didn't even register what Rocky had said. Neither of them has a clue that they're not the only human present.
Poor Rocky is diligently playing nursemaid to his two humans, completely unaware of the inevitable blowup that's coming for him...
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