Real Feels

Posted on Sun Dec 14, 2014 @ 6:04pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot

771 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: All this has happened before...
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Immediately following "Empiricalus Imbecilius"

Nicole rubbed her temples as she stepped into her office, putting her black bag on her desk.

Penny was already sitting in the visitor's chair with her feet up on the desk, still giggling. "Well, he knows how to make an exit," she said.

"Grab a tricorder and get to work," Nicole said as she sat down in front of her terminal and pushed Penny's feet off her desk.

"Very funny," Penny said.

"Nothing funny about losing my head nurse," Nicole said, sitting back and looking at her.

Penny grinned at her and crossed her legs. "So, what's souring your poi today?"

"A hangover that could bring down a rabid se'rash'ta," Nicole said, wearily. "Now added to by a science officer who thinks he needs to feel a bone break to know it can. He says 'if you don't test the boundaries of what is possible, why get up in the morning?' I was ready to test the sturdiness of his skull, bloody idiot."

"I suppose I can understand that," Penny said. "Not like I understand half the weird things you Organics are into until I try to experience them. And pushing boundaries is how you learn, right?"

"Stop defending him," Nicole sighed. She rubbed her eyes and looked at Penny in confusion. "Shouldn't you still be on the bridge?"

"I'm on break," Penny said. "Cass asked me to stop in and check on you."

"Has you doing her dirty work, eh?" Nicole said. "How come she won't come see me herself?"

"She said something about sending in someone whose arm you couldn't break," Penny said, smiling. "So, hungover eh? Good night or bad one?"

"Remember that date I had with that Security Chief from the Bozeman?" Nicole said.

"The one who kept calling you 'Michelle' and spent two hours telling you about his 'engine power' only to have a 'warp core breach' halfway through 'docking procedures'?" Penny said, snickering.

"Nicely put," Nicole said dryly. "And it wasn't quite that bad, but the analogy was going to be the evening ended too soon. I finally thought we were making some kind of connection then he got called away."

"If Lt. Caldwell is the best you can compare your date to, I'm not sure whether to feel sorry for you, or for him," Penny said, snickering.

"Beep, beep, Penny," Nicole said. "It didn't go badly, it was more the aftermath. I went and made an ass of myself in front of the XO, and then got soused in my quarters to forget it."

"Okay...so, what's the point of going through all this?" Penny said. "Cause frankly, you look like hell."

"Thanks Pen, all heart," Nicole said, dryly. "And the point is to not be miserable anymore. If I'm going to function here, I need to be at a level other than 'barely.'"

"Well....irony," Penny quipped. "To be honest, I thought you were planning on making 'miserable' your new thing, the way you've been wallowing in it. Glad I'm wrong; you used to be a lot more fun."

"Thanks for that confirmation," Nicole said, but in the back of her mind she had the sneaking suspicion it was true. Wasn't that why she'd gone to Alec in the first place? She wanted to stop feeling horrible. "I told Commander Hunter about my condition."

"Everything?" Penny said, surprise in her voice. "Even about the P.D.P. mission?"

"I told him what he needs to know in order to help with Cassandra's program," Nicole said. She didn't even want to think about that disaster of an away mission at the moment, and she sure as hell wasn't going to admit it to him. "Just hope he survives it. We're going to run through the program together tonight."

"Well," Penny said, standing up, "if he does, I'll put him in for the Christopher Pike medal." She came around the desk and gave Nicole a hug. "Glad you're trying to do better, and don't worry, your next date'll be better. Clearly, you like him."

"What makes you say that?" Nicole said.

"The words, 'Sickbay,' 'evisceration,' and 'git' never entered your vocabulary once." Penny grinned and shrugged. "I know I shore more emotions than I understand, but I have that part of you figured out pretty well." She glanced back out into Sickbay. "I have to get back to the bridge. You can give me details about it later, and then I'll tell you about my date," she said, winking.

Nicole's stunned expression was almost as strong as Penny's giggles as the helmsman skipped off back to the bridge.

 

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