Recovery

Posted on Sun May 17, 2015 @ 1:22am by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson

5,580 words; about a 28 minute read

Mission: All this has happened before...
Location: USS Victory
Timeline: 63296.713 {Sat, 07 Sep 2385 19:14:19 GMT}

[Sickbay]

Surgery for Evans took less time than Nicole had thought, but it still felt like an eternity. Thirty-five minutes of prodding along a man's GI tract was never what she'd consider to be an easy task. In the end, they'd found the necrotic section and removed it cleanly without issue and closed him up without even leaving a scar. She could only surmise he was bent over a console near a gel-pack to cause such a problem, but as it stood, that was the worst of the injuries. No one else seemed to be suffering anything that wouldn't wear off, and so long as the deep-tissue scans for Blackburn and Taggart didn't show anything abnormal, they might be able to call off the quarantine.

"Computer," she said, pulling her surgical suit off and reaching for her uniform jacket, "what is...what is the..." she paused as her fingers groped the air where her jacket should have been. She looked over and the chair she'd tossed it on was at least half a meter away. She blinked in confusion and rubbed her eyes. She could guess she had very dark circles and her skin was looking a bit sallow. *I need my flask,* she thought before feeling dizzy. "Anderson...to Sanders," she said slowly, sitting down in the middle of the changing room.

Cassandra was in Nicole's quarters, on her hands and knees, trying to yank a heavy wooden chest out from under Nicole's bed. It was seamless, except for a depression on the top in the shape of a hand. She put her hand on it, waited as a beam of light scanned her palm, then at the sound of the 'click' of the lock, opened the box.

Inside were several small glass-stoppered bottles of dark, red liquid. She pulled one out and replaced the top of the box, which sealed itself immediately. She grunted as she shoved it back under the bed and stood up, brushing the multi-colored locks out of her face, when hr combadge went off.

"Sanders here," she said, pausing at the unsteady tone in Nicole's voice. "Are you okay?"

"Could use that drink," Nicole groaned.

Cassandra held the bottle tight and rushed back into the corridor. "I'm on my way now, but we'll need to drop the quarantine. Is the ship in danger?"

Nicole took a couple of deep breaths, marshaling her strength, and stood back up, heading back to Sickbay. "I'll let you know. Anderson out."

She walked into Sickbay, head held high and posture as straight as she could manage and snapped her fingers for a status report. A nurse rushed over and put a padd in her hand. It took her a moment to focus on the words, but her brain was telling her that the readings were encouraging, and there was no residual traces of radiation in her patients' systems.

*Step in the right direction,* she thought.

She tapped her combadge. "Anderson to bridge," she said slowly, forcing every word to be clear, "everyone seems out of the water. Taggart and Blackburn are still unconscious but I'm not detecting any serious issues, we should be able to wake them soon. Evans required surgery but he's recovering now. Overall the entire team needs bed rest, but they will make a full recovery. Are the sensors detecting anything around Sickbay? If not, I'm prepared to drop the quarantine."

********************

Aidan, felt woozy and just a tad sick to his stomach, but considerably better than he had been an hour or so ago. He got to his feet and walked over to where Chris was resting. "Is he alright?" he asked quietly.

Penny walked over to him and scanned him quickly, giving him another injection while he stood there. "Yes," she said, looking up at the biobed's readings. "The surgery went smoothly, and he's resting comfortably. Knowing Nicole, she'll want him in bed at least another day or two." She cocked her head at him. "Are you two together?"

"That obvious?" he asked with a small smile, 'we're dating, I like him, I like him a lot and I'm concerned about him, but I don't know if you'd call us together, together."

Penny cocked her head in the other direction for a moment, trying to process that. "Does saying 'together' twice make it more significant?" she said. "If you're dating, that would mean you are together when you date, right?"

"What I mean, " Aidan corrected, "is that we're just starting to get to know each other. We're not, I don't know how to explain it, an official couple."

"Ohhh," Penny said. "I suppose I should speak with the person I'm dating. I don't think we've had anything authorized as official yet either." She quickly made a mental note to speak with Thomas. She looked back at Aidan. "Well, I know how much importance people put in relationships, so I hope it works out for you, but don't worry he's going to be up and about in a day or so."

Aidan smiled, "Good, I'm really glad to hear that. Thanks for all you've done for him. Without you, he wouldn't okay."

Penny gave him a polite smile. "Well I'm just looking after. The real credit goes to Doctor Anderson and her staff. I'm sure she'll keep ensuring his good health...wherever she is," Penny said, glancing around. She looked back at Aidan quickly as he started to wobble. "In the mean time, I should check on the others, and you should get back to bed."

"Okay," he replied as he headed back to lie down,"give her my thanks."

[Victory Bridge]

On the Bridge, the Captain remained in her seat feeling restless and helpless to act. The Bethesda remained framed on the viewscreen, adrift and silent yet somehow, the vessel seemed to be mocking her. She'd sent her crew aboard that ship, and now faced a similar fate potentially...still without any understanding or knowledge of what it was that was causing this!

Hearing the Doctor's report, the Captain turned towards CPO Barnes. "Mr. Barnes, run a complete sensor analysis of the ship's internal spaces in and around sickbay. Searching for any indication of contamination.."

Though he wasn't looking towards the Captain, he nodded in acknowledgement. Tom paused his analysis and switched over to the internal sensors. Skipping over the usual passive scans, he ran several waves, checking every possible spectrum for residual radiation. "I'm not picking up anything that's new or unusual," he reported after a minute.

Tom spun around in his chair. "I recommend we put some distance between us and the Bethesda though. We don't want to risk any of that radiation bleeding over."

"Agreed.." Kennit answered. "Back us off but stay within range. We have a duty and responsibility to the crew aboard the Bethesda to find out what happened to them.. we can't leave yet."

After a moments thought, she said "We need to gain remote access to the Bethesda's computer systems. I need you to set up a secure remote link which will allow us to control that ship from here. We need to access their prefix code information and then connect our systems via remote access to theirs. That should allow us to back track where they've been from their navigation computer so we can try to find out where the initial contamination took place. I want additional safeguards in place to make certain our systems remain isolated and nothing from that ship can transfer to us.."

Then, remembering the Doctor who was still waiting for a reply, Kennit said "Dr. Anderson, your request to release the quarantine is granted."

"Brilliant thanks for that," Nicole's voice grumbled through the comm before cutting the channel.

The ship was still cruising in multi-vector mode, and for the moment the Captain was not ready to issue the command to reintegrate the ship into the whole once more. Something wasn't right.. and she wasn't in the habit of ignoring that nagging little feeling when it warned of danger..

As the Victory moved slowly away from the Bethesda, Tom accessed Starfleet's records and retrieved the necessary prefix code. It was not long before Tom had full access to the Bethesda's computer and systems. Fortunately, the Victory already had preestablished partitions in the computer core, and Tom set that up to be the data buffer under full isolation.

"Data link established," Tom reported, beginning a download of the navigational records. It would be a while before they were ready, so Tom elected to resume his review of the transport records.

The Captain gave a short nod, "Helm. Tie into the Bethesda's navigation systems and verify current status of the propulsion plant and warp core. Lets make sure the ship stays where we want it..." she said.


[Sickbay]

Alec had rested, at least all he was capable of. He sat up and steadied himself against the wave of dizziness that threatened to force him to lie back down. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly in and out of his nose as the dizziness faded away. He looked for the CMO, he needed to return to the bridge, that's where he belonged.

Nicole was feeling older than she cared to admit, and if she looked half as good as she felt, she probably still looked like hell. She'd just overrode the computer to begin releasing the quarantine when she looked over at Alec sitting up in bed. She huffed and shuffled over, looking up at him with her baggy eyes. "You're color's better," she said, reaching up and feeling his throat gently and peeling back his eyelids. "Are you thirsty?"

Alec looked at Nicole as she looked at him with her baggy eyes. "Yours isn't. Are you alright?" He said softly as she felt his throat and peeled his eyelids back. "Yes, a little." He admitted, "You look like you could use a drink as well." He stated diplomatically.

"You don't know the half of it," she groused. She snapped her ghost-white fingers at a nurse. "Get a glass of water," she ordered and the nurse hurried off. She picked up a tricorder and scanned him again, squinting at the readouts, then the biobed's readings. "All right," she said, "other than some normal levels of dehydration, you seem to be doing fine. Drink a full glass of water every hour for the next four hours, get a full night's sleep. If you find yourself abnormally thirsty over the next two days, tell me."

"Oh, I bet I do." He replied then waited for Nicole to finish looking at the readouts. When she had finished giving him his instructions he replied. "Got it. Drink a full glass of water for the next four hours and get a full night's sleep. If I'm abnormally thirsty over the next two days tell you." he replied, repeating her instructions. "So I'm clear to go back to duty?" he asked hopefully. He needed to be on the bridge. It was where he belonged, beside Rhea.

Nicole growled. "Not like it stops anyone if I say no," she groused. "Sit on the bridge, do not do anything strenuous." She pointed a pale white finger at him.

"Then you shouldn't be mad if you know that's what is going to happen. Plus it prevents the possibility of me lying to you." Alec countered. he felt like hell but he could still banter. "You should take your own advice and sit down. There are other medical personnel here. Let them do their jobs." He finished as he stood up, swayed a bit before steadying up and headed to the nearest replicator for a clean uniform and then for the exit.

On the other end of sickbay, AJ began to come to. There was a soreness pervading his entire body, his eyelids were heavy, and his mouth was bone dry. There was a slight burning in all of his extremities and everything was blurry. Attempting to speak was an exercise in futility--his words came out as slightly muted grunts and his thoughts were hard to keep together. AJ moved to sit up and felt himself lurch to the left. Before he knew it, he had hit the deck with a sharp thud.

Nicole's head whipped around and she immediately stumbled back, dizzy. "That's two!" she shouted accusingly at the nurse, even though it was a different nurse who let Evans fall. She strode over as fast as she could, crouching down to examine him. "Help me get him up," she said. She groaned as she grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted. The other nurse took his legs and they hauled him back onto the biobed. Nicole touched his already bruised face tenderly, frowning. "Idiot, broke his own nose," she said. "Get me a knitter."

The nurse put a bone knitter in her hand and she adjusted it for cartilage. She closed her eyes to save her strength and focus and began running it along his nose, thankful that she'd done this enough that she literally could do it blindfolded.

Five minutes of that and she was ready to collapse, but she made herself take a deep breath and move on to her next task. "Get rails on the remaining unconscious." She said to no one in particular, trying to make her voice heard. "One more body hits the floor and you are all on report! I want everyone who is ready to be dismissed in their quarters by--" she stopped mid sentence, her eyes rolling back a bit. She managed to get out one swear word, "guhsh," before her eyes rolled back completely and she passed out.

Cassandra had been trying not to pace outside the Sickbay doors. She'd seen the red indicators flash to yellow, signaling the release of quarantine, but it wasn't as simple as flipping a switch. The computer was checking and verifying readings and voice prints, and agonizing seconds were flying by.

When the doors finally opened for her, she saw Nicole still standing, but swaying. She kept the bottle tucked close by her and rushed forward, prepared to catch Nicole if necessary.

As soon as AJ heard the thud of another body hitting the ground, his senses kicked in and his muscles struggled against his brain's better judgment to stay immobilized, he pulled himself up and shifted to support himself on the railings that had been locked into place on the biobed.

As Cassandra rushed forward, she had her eyes fixed on the dazed Lieutenant. Unfortunately, a more severely dazed Lieutenant suddenly lurched off of a biobed and moved into her path. As they collided, the bottle slipped out of her hand and rolled away. She shoved AJ off of her and looked around for the bottle which was already being kicked aside by unaware medical crew.

Penny rushed over and picked up Nicole, pulling her back onto AJ's recently vacated bed, then turned to help AJ.

"Everyone freeze!" Cassandra shouted, and the entire room came to a sudden halt as everyone seemed to be stuck in place. She stood up and walked quickly over to where the bottle had rolled and snatched it up. She snapped her fingers and everyone was free to move again as she came back to the other side of Nicole's biobed.

As Penny put AJ on another biobed, Cass looked over at her. "Get her flask and fill it." She tossed Penny the bottle and while Penny ran off, Cass turned her attention back to Nicole.

"Wake up Nicole," she said, slapping the Doctor's cheeks. "Come on. Up and at 'em."

Nicole groaned, rolling her head lazily. "Leave me alone, Michael, it's my day off."

Cass blew air impatiently and slapped her harder. "Wake up."

Nicole blinked, groggily and looked up at Cass, then groaned. "Head hurts."

Cass nodded in sympathy. "We're working on that," she said.

Nicole sighed. "Lock me up," she said.

"I have the drink," Cass said. "No need for that kind of talk."

Penny picked that moment to come back with Nicole's flask. Cass grabbed it, uncapped it and nodded at Penny. "Get to the bridge and report in," she said. She propped Nicole up and helped her take a few long drinks.

Nicole downed the entire flask and sighed, lying back against the cushion.

Cass took a deep breath and looked around at some of the other patients. She put a hand on AJ's chest, the glow of the blue jewel in her headband dimming a bit. She took a deep breath and focused, her jewel dimming further as she kept her hand on AJ's chest. After a moment, she felt him take a deep, clear breath and she did the same, pulling her hand away and rubbing her forehead gently.

She looked over Evans and Blackburn, but judged them to be on the mend and left Sickbay at a slow and steady pace, returning to her station, leaving the doctors to do their work.

[Bridge]

On the Bridge, the Captain had opted not to take her customary seat in the center chair and was instead seated at one of the operations consoles where she was searching through the Bethesda's databanks utilizing the access link now established. Her command level authorization codes allowed her ready access to the other ship's systems.

Most of the recent entries had dealt with the crisis on-board which had so rapidly overtaken the ship's crew. She had to go back almost two weeks to find something...a singularity...where it shouldn't have been. The Bethesda had altered it's normal patrol course to investigate. Pulling up the sensor readings, the Captain transferred the data into the Victory's own systems and began running a series of diagnostics on the raw data to see what the system came up with.

Penny skipped out of the turbolift and made a bee-line towards the Mission Ops station. "Captain," she said in a low voice, "Sickbay is under control. Doctor Anderson is..." she paused, considering her words, "handling things. No signs of lingering radiation or permanent effects. Taggart, Blackburn and Evans are unconscious, but recovering. Evans required surgery. Yarin and Mejia are in recovery and Commander Hunter is on his way to the bridge."

Cassandra stepped onto the bridge, seeing Penny update the Captain and moved quietly to the Environmental station.

After leaving Sickbay, Alec had made his way to the nearest turbolift. Entering he said "Bridge." As the lift jerked into motion He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall to ward off his unsteadiness. After a moment he called out "Lift stop." He forced himself to stand straight and gave himself a pep talk, "Come on Alec get it together. Rhea sees you like this, she'll send you back to Sickbay and we don't want that." "Lift resumed." He announced as he straighten his tunic, and tried to ignore the fatigue he was feeling.

Moments later the lift doors hissed open as he had arrived on the bridge. Stepping out, he steadied himself, saw Rhea at one of the operational consoles, Sanders at the Environmental station and Penny talking to Rhea. Walking slowly, he made his way to the pair. Making sure he didn't sway too much. "Reporting for duty Captain." He announced simply as he awaited her reply.

"Thank you for the 'visual aid,' Commander," Penny said, and walked to the helm, taking her seat.

Hearing the XO's voice, along with wondering how he'd managed to transport over from the section of the ship where sickbay was without getting clearance, as well as whether or not he'd been released with a clean bill of health or not...the Captain turned towards him. Took one look at him and said, "you look like shit."

He gave her a smile which in his condition probably looked like death warmed over. "Really? That's good then cause I feel like shit. Now where would you like me..... on the bridge?"

"Or in the head, given her assessment," Penny said quietly and giggled to herself.

Alec didn't quite hear what Penny had said. Whatever it was the young officer found it amusing and probably at his expense. He favored her with a glance and a wan smile. He turned back to Rhea, careful not to make sudden movements. He really didn't want to fall over on the bridge. He would never live it down. "Captain?" He gently pressed.

The Captain wasn't sure her first officer was currently fit for duty, and it showed in her eyes. "Are you certain you should be out of sickbay?" she asked.

"Oh, Commander," Penny said, turning around, "Doctor Anderson wanted me to remind you of her orders before she discharged you. You're due for water."

"Perfectly sure Captain." Alec answered but wished Rhea would stop asking him questions, He wanted to find a chair he could fall into or a console he could lean against. "Thank you Penny." He looked back at Rhea and explained, "I have to drink a full glass of water every hour for the next four hours."

Miguel had turned when he heard the officers that had been apart of the away team now on the bridge. He was a bit worried about having them on the bridge, after all they just separated the ship to make sure there was no chance of an infection breaking out on the Victory. Did this mean that the Doctor didn't find anything? But even if she didn't find anything should she even have let them out until they knew for sure.

"Maybe you should take the rest of the day off and rest.." the Captain was saying to the XO.

Cassandra caught Penny's eye and turned back to her station, smiling gently, letting the Captain and XO have a moment of relative privacy.

Alec moved forward on shaky legs. "Captain..... Rhea, I want to be here." he whispered. "Just point me to a chair or a console I can work at. I want to find out about what happened to the Bethesda as much as you do. Besides...." he continued his voice dropping even lower. Not wishing to be overheard. "You can play nurse later this evening.... you know when...." he stopped suddenly aware of being overheard. A slight blush shading his cheeks.

Not fazed, the Captain answered "Medical treatments are not my specialty Commander.." Then, with a jerk of her head towards a vacant console and seat she said, "At least sit down before you fall on your face.."

He gave her a wide eyed stare, "They're not?" he questioned "Fooled me." he bantered back but without his usual bravado. He nodded, "Sit down. Sage Advice.' As he turned slowly as to not lose his balance. That done he managed not to sway too much in making his way to vacant console and seat, Rhea had mentioned earlier. Falling into the chair, he looked around, "For my next trick......" He muttered before his voice tailed off and he stared at the console.

Looking at him for a moment longer, privately wondering if the Doctor had made the right decision in releasing the XO from sickbay, the Captain said "I don't want to leave that ship adrift without an escort to keep curious away. Lt. Sanders," she said then. "Would you be so kind as to send a message back to Starfleet and request additional support ships to come out here until a ship capable of towing the Bethesda back has arrived to take control of the ship? We need to go follow the breadcrumbs left for us in the Bethesda's computer logs.. the families of the Bethesda's crew deserve to know what happened to their loved ones and we need to go find those answers for them."

"Aye, Captain," Cass said, somewhat solemnly. She pulled her earpiece back out of her handbag and put it in her ear, pulling up the communications system and relaying the message.

Alec had made his way....slowly to a station and sat down. A wave of dizziness washed over him and he silently prayed that Rhea hadn't watched him sway on his journey to the console. He tried to focus on the information on the screen in front of him but he was having a hard time focusing. Blinking his eyes rapidly he again tried to focus on the information and was relieved that now he was able to read it even if had to squint just a little bit.

The Captain however, had not missed her First Officer's wobble and stood watching him for a moment through narrowed eyes. She couldn't shake the deep down feeling that this mysterious illness wasn't finished yet. They needed confirmation from Starfleet so that she could depart, following the Bethesda's trail to find out exactly what this illness was.. before it was too late!

"I want to get underway within the hour. The sooner we're able to depart this area of space and start following the Bethesda's navigation trail back to the source of this illness, the better. Even if we're unable to determine an exact source, something this dangerous and this lethal we have to look.." Kennit added.



[Sickbay]

Nicole groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes briefly. She looked around, realizing where she was and immediately jumped off the biobed. "Report," she said to the nurse standing nearest.

"Commander Hunter has been discharged. Lieutenant Yarin is showing clear of radiation. Lieutenant Mejia complained of still feeling weak, but is showing no other abnormalities. Lieutenants Taggart, Evans and Blackburn are still sleeping."

Nicole leaned in and quietly said, "how long was I unconscious."

"About five minutes," the nurse whispered back, patting Nicole's shoulder. "You're only human, we've got it under control."

"Thank you," Nicole said, relieved and touched, while simultaneously hating the phrase the nurse used. "Get discharge paperwork started on Yarin and Mejia. I'll send them on their way and then we'll look over the last of them."

"Yes, Doctor," the nurse said, moving quickly away.

Nicole turned and found her little black bag sitting by her biobed. She snatched it up and looked inside, pulling out her flask with a sigh of relief. She tucked it into her breast pocket quickly and walked over to the two conscious patients. "Boys," she said, "today is your lucky day. You're being sprung with a clean bill of health."

She looked at each of them pointedly. "You are to remain off duty the rest of the day and if you feel anything abnormal you are to report it immediately. Questions?"

"No, I don't have any questions, " Aiden said, "but I'm feeling fine now." He turned to go back to his cabin.

"Very well, off you pop," Nicole groused after he'd already gotten up to leave. She put her hands behind her back and cocked an eyebrow at Yarin. "And you?" she said, her tone dryer than the Yehdrally desert.

Yarin turned a bright shade of teal with flecks of burnt umber. "Just two, Doctor," he said the in an equally laconic tone. "What was the frequency of the radiation we encountered on the electromagnetic spectrum, and how is Lieutenant Blackburn?"

"I don't know, you'll have to check the sensor readings from everyone's tricorders. I've been too busy to begin analysis. I'll have the team's equipment sent to your lab." She looked over at Nina. "She's still unconscious, but sleep heals all. I'm going to let her wake up naturally, but once she does, I'll alert you."

Blackburn blinked several times as her vision began to slowly clear. She felt weak and grunted as she forced herself to sit up. The room began to spin and she almost immediately fell backwards with a hard thud. "Shit," she muttered. "What happened?" she asked, her throat feeling dry.

Nicole turned quickly at the sound of Nina's voice. "Or, she can alert us." She snapped her fingers at the closest nurse and pointed at a hypo. The nurse slapped it in her hand and she dialed up a dosage of saline, striding over and injecting Nina quickly to keep her hydrated. "Get her some water," she said quietly to the nurse who hurried off.

"You got into a turbolift and got hit with a dose of radiation. You passed out, but it seems that's the worst of it for you. You were lucky," Nicole said, looking her over. "You're in Sickbay, safe and sound. You'll be thirsty for a while and you're going to feel like hell until you rehydrate, so you're here on bedrest until I say otherwise." She helped prop Nina up as the biobed adjusted, keeping her somewhat sitting. "Sip slowly," Nicole said as the nurse gave Nina a small amount of water.

Nina sipped the water slowly until the glass was empty. "Thank you, doctor." She felt bad at being incapacitated on yet another mission. Was she even really qualified to be an intelligence officer? She noticed Yarin standing in the background and was relieved that he was OK. "I need to contact my team and make sure they work with Post and Science to figure out what the hell happened."

"You can contact them from here, but you are not leaving this bed until I am satisfied you can make it out without collapsing," Nicole said, scanning Nina again. "As for coordinating with science..." She glanced at Yarin, her nostril's flaring as she inhaled a familiar scent. "I'm sure he'll wish to discuss things with you at length...later. For now, a brief hello will have to do."

She stepped back and nodded to Yarin that he could talk with her. "Two minutes, then she needs to rest," Nicole said quietly and moved away.

Yarin stood by Nina's bedside, he looked down at her, and a wave of relief washed over him. He took her hand in his, looked into her eyes and said. "Meet me in my quarters after you have been cleared to leave."

Nina sighed, feeling embarrassed by the doctor's reply. She had meant discuss things with science in a professional manner. She looked back at Yarin. "All right, sounds good, " she said as she looked at his hand holding hers.

****************************

Chris Evans eye's opened and the lights above him seemed super bright and he seemed to be in a haze. He was still very groggy, trying to sit up to get his bearings he felt a pain and moaned out loud as he laid back down and shut his eyes and then he could hear voices. Voices that sounded slightly familiar to him, so he thought he must be back on the Victory. "Aidan" he called out as the pain continued.

"I'm right here Chris," Aidan replied as he took Chris' hand Its going to be okay. You're through the rest of it and I'm here for you."

Chris squeezed Aidan's hand and looked over at him. "I'm glad you're okay."

"You're the one that got the operation not me, boyfriend. I'm the one that's glad."

"I love you" Chris said with a smile as he looked into Aidan's eyes and then moaned in pain again. "Surgery?" he tried to sit up and then laid back down again "Can they make it stop?" he asked Aidan, he wasn't sure why he was in pain.

"I love you too Chris, I'm going to be right by your side. And yes surgery, I don't know exactly why. It has something to do with the radiation I think, but I was kind of out of it too. I'll get you something for the pain. But in the meantime how about this."

Then his fingers still entwined with his lovers, he bent down and gave him a not so chaste kiss not caring who saw him.

Chris smiled a crooked little smile and found comfort in the fact that Aidan was by his side.

"Kindly refrain from trying to resuscitate my patient if he's already conscious, Lieutenant," Nicole said to Aidan, coming around the other side of Chris' biobed.

Aidan chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

Nicole ran another scan and looked down at her patient. "Feeling sore?" she said.

Chris looked over at Nicole. "Yeah," was all he said. He wasn't getting much out as far as sentences.

"I should think so," Nicole said. "Fortunately, it will pass. You're going to feel weak for a day or two. Unfortunately, it's one of those 'tough it out' kind of situations. You'll need rest, fluids and a lot of attention." She glanced at Aidan. "One out of three accounted for." She pressed a hypo to Chris' neck. "I'll arrange for a nurse to bring you to your quarters in a few hours. For now, I suggest you get a nap."

She looked at Aidan. "You're free to go when you wish, or you can stay here, but please let him rest. Sleep will be his best chance of recovery."

She gave both of them a friendly pat on the arm and finally went back to her office to collapse into her chair behind her desk and begin the massive amount of paperwork it was going to take to clear out her sickbay.

'I'm going to go now Chris, like she said give you a chance to rest. But after your nap, well we have some serious cuddling time to catch up on," Aidan said.

The hypo was starting to take affect and Chris could only smile at Aidan before he drifted off to sleep.


***

 

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