Second Time Around

Posted on 27 Apr 2012 @ 2:35pm by Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy & Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Remington III (KIA)
Edited on on 03 May 2012 @ 7:47am

2,395 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: Engineering
Timeline: MD3: 1000 hours

[ON]

Picking up a file from her desk, Dru knew that now was the right opportunity to revisit this patient again. She knew that technically she was a day or two late getting him back in but she felt this would be of benefit. He may have let his guard down a little and would be slightly more relaxed. Of course, of what she knew of Will so far, it was unlikely but one could always live in hope.

=^=Counsellor McCarthy to Lieutenant Commander Remington; Could you please report to me in the counsellor office?=^=

This time around, Dru decided to keep the call short and sweet, not allow any room for thought that he might try get out of this meeting. And if he did try...well she could do with a walk anyway.

=/\=I'm sorry, counselor,=/\= his voice came back over the commlink, =/\=but I do not have time for a counseling session today. The ship's operations needs to be carefully overseen during the maiden voyage.=/\= His voice remained pleasant but firm; he clearly had no intention of stopping his work to go do something he found inordinately unpleasant. =/\=If you need resource allocations, however, you may submit the request to operations as usual. Petty Officer Delaney is on the bridge at the moment.=/\=

Dru smiled to herself, how'd she guess he might try something like this? "Computer please supply me with the location of Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Remington." As she waited for a response, the young counselor grabbed a PADD from her desk and her jacket which she had temporarily removed as she'd felt warm. At least she had a good excuse to go see the Commander, the warmth in her offices wasn't helping the headaches she seemed to be suffering from.

"Lieutenant Commander Remington is currently on deck seven, main engineering."

Checking the location on her terminal, Dru headed out of the office for the closest turbolift. When she arrived in main engineering, Will had his back to her, working on a console against one wall. He was with Petty Officer Trox and they seemed to be discussing the sensor display on the LCARS display.

Leaning back against a railing with her arms casually behind her back, Dru watching Will's interaction with the Petty Officer, awaiting a moment which might be good to interrupt. As she watched, the Petty Officer turned to check something on the display. "Commander would you have a moment? I have some issues here I need you to look over for me as a matter of urgency, it seems the air conditioning in my office maybe malfunctioning." The young counselor held up the PADD so Will could see she hadn't come empty handed.

Will turned with only a small hint of surprise and gave her a suspicious look as he walked over to her and held out his hand for the PADD. "How convenient, counselor. Air conditioning is an archaic term though. I will run a level four diagnostic." he turned and went back to his controls and started a diagnostic for the environmental systems on the ship.

Watching as the Petty Officer walked away, leaving her and Will on their own, Dru walked over to his side. "I can't counsel well if it's so warm in my offices that I get headaches." Smiling softly, Dru watched Will at work. "What do you think the problem is?"

"Nothing so far," he replied. "It's probably a localized problem." He continued to work as she stood there, occasionally glancing at her like he expected her to do something.

"Has there been alot of issues with the ship recently?" Dru was curious to see what other departments were going through on the new voyage but also, it gave her opportunity to observe Will in his own working environment, meet him on his own grounds which in theory he should be more comfortable on.

"Not many, counselor," he replied warily, "The environmental controls might have some slight power control issues, but nothing too serious. I will have someone recalibrate it today as soon as possible. If you have trouble again inform operations." He turned to Dru and handed her PADD back. "Will that be all?"

Taking the PADD in her hand, Dru took in Will's body language and tone and sighed internally. "Commander, is it me you have a problem with or do you just dislike the concept of counsellors so when you see me you automatically have alarm bells ring as I am a counsellor?" This had started as an intention of being a follow up but Dru just felt tired now and the dull pain in her skull hadn't lessened in anyway. She knew she shouldn't take offense but she couldn't help it, even though this had been an excuse to find Will she did have a genuine concern.

Will regarded her silently for a few moments, once she had spoken and brought things out in the open. His face remained thoughtfully impassive, professionally unconcerned. "I'd like to think I've given you no cause to believe I dislike you, counselor. We each have a job to do. Yours is to make sure I don't go off my rocker and mine..." he turned back to the LCARS behind him, "is to make sure you may do so in the modern comforts of Starfleet environmental control technology."

"Oh you know what. Forget about it." Pulling herself up, Dru realised she couldn't fight people where they were only going to bash her back, which she felt like was happening here. In the last session he'd gone from flirtious to cold and back. Today all she was getting from Will was the cold. "You know where my office is if you need to talk to me, I'm not going to push and prod any more. Just please ensure that someone fixes the environmental controls as soon as possible. There is only so many headache tablets I can take, the warmth isn't helping." Turning on her heel, Dru used the PADD in her hand to check her schedule, trying to figure out what she needed to do next.

"I'll see to it the problem is fixed expediently," Will replied without looking back at her, though there was a slight note of surprise in his voice. He seemed, however, to be content to have escaped for a little while longer.

Dru stumbled slightly as she reached the door. Putting out her hand against the doorframe, she took a few breaths to try find her balance. As the moment passed she turned back around to face Will, "You know it wouldn't kill you to just be nice or smile every once in awhile. It'd help you enjoy life more." Not really sure what else to say, Dru tested her balance. Still feeling slightly dizzy, she realised she needed to give herself a few more moments.

Will seemed to have missed the counselor's stumble. "Counselor," he called to her, giving her a look that showed he thought something might be wrong though he didn't realize what, "you're the first to give up on me so easily." His tone was subtle, but it might have been teasing or approving even, or perhaps both. He continued to study her, starting to wonder if she was all right. The LCARS beeped softly but went ignored for the time-being.

Keeping her hand against the doorframe, Dru looked over at Will with a tired look in her eyes."No offence Commander but your a brick wall. I feel I make advancement and you just freeze up again. I come to you on your ground, where you feel most safe and secure because this is the area you're in charge of, it's your stability but still, I can't move you." Taking a breath as her headache seemed to intensify for a moment before dulling again, Dru found the energy to continue."What would you have me do? It's my job to be a counselor, your file has everything under the sun written in it which would cause any counselor concern, but I cant help you or I can't even try to help you unless your willing to let me in. Everything I get from you is that no, your not going to allow it no matter what, no matter how hard I try. If a computer was acting this way to you what would you do? Would you keep coming back to it or would you just rip it out and replace it after trying your best to fix it and nothing works? I don't have the ability to rip out all your hurts, all your issues and leave you a new man, I only have the ability to help you cope with living with it all, but you have to be willing to let me."

Dru looked in astonishment at Will as she realized how much she had just blurted out. "I'm sorry Commander. That was out of order."

Will moved towards the counselor. He did not admonish her for being out of line but rather offered her his arm as she was clearly having trouble now. "If a computer was sentient and had emotions, I wouldn't touch it. Perhaps I'm being honest when I say I am perfectly fine, hm? The same cannot be said for you right now, I think."

Dru resisted the urge to shake her head instead just looking across at Will, "So how would you do my job? If you were ok then why don't you smile?"

At that, Will smirked. "Counselor, I smile."

Dru made a noise which sounded like a hmph as she leaned her shoulder against the door frame, "That's cheating, your only doing it because I prompted you to do so."

"Well, we have only met in a professional environment...or else one that disinclines me to smile. You, however, have not told me if you are all right."

"I'm fine. I have headache tablets back in my offices which I was given earlier this week. Once I get one into me I'll be fine." Raising a hand to rub her eyes, she hoped inside that she would be fine. "So you still haven't answered my question, why are you so disinclined, to borrow your word, towards me?"

Without asking her, he started to guide her out of engineering. "I do not enjoy being counseled professionally. Confiding in a friend does wonders."

"But that makes my job redundant, how would you like it if I went around fixing all the technical problems leaving you no work to do?" Dru suddenly realized Will's hand was on her arm and he seemed to be guiding her. Starting to shrug it off, a blind headache followed by a wave of nausea flooded through her.

"Counselor," he said a touch more serious, "for someone who wants to help others, you do a bad ob of accepting my help. Am I going to have to pull rank on you to escort you to your quarters?" he took a firmer but still gentle hold on her and started towards a turbolift.

Dru frowned up at Will, "But I'm fine. Who exactly is the counselor here... you could pull rank but I'll just pull...I'll pull something, I'm sure there's something that gives me seniority over you." The counsellor found she was getting frustrated now. Between the headaches, the nausea and Will this was not becoming a good morning.

That caused Will to smile, more at her stubbornness than anything else. "Only if I'm mentally unfit for duty," he replied, "Come now, counselor, don't be annoyed with me. You are clearly having difficulty... is there anything wrong with accepting help when you need it?"

Dru raised her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. She realized that she was placing undue pressure on herself and this probably wasn't helping things. "I just need to take a minute. I think I'm just stressed out right now. I... I'm sorry for snapping at you."

"Not at all, counselor," the operations officer replied, looking at her thoughtfully. Then, after a pause, "So, who counsels the counselor?"

Dru found a smile appearing on her lips. How many times had she used that phrase to herself in the last few days."I don't need a counselor, Will. I need one hour of peace to sort my head out and it turn that should clear the headache. You're ops...any suggestions?"

Will looked decidedly unconvinced of her answer, giving a little 'hmph' at her reply. "Suggestions? What sort of suggestions should I have?"

"Well aside from engineering, I'm guessing you'd know this ship better then anyone else. Have you any suggestions of where I could go to get an hour of peace?" Dru noticed they had suddenly stopped in the middle of the corridor and wondered where she should go next. Back to the counselling suite or to find her next patient.

"Aren't your quarters peaceful?" he asked her.

Dru just shook her head, wincing slightly as it made her headache worse. "Never mind. You can leave me here and I can find my way from here Commander."

"No, counselor," Will replied firmly, a gentle frown creasing his forehead, "I would be negligent if I allowed you to go back to your quarters alone when you are clearly in no condition to do so on own. I'm walking you back and that's that." As if there was nothing more to be said on the matter, and indeed his tone suggested there was not, he began to guide her towards the turbolift with his support once more.

Dru glared up at Will and resisted the urge to stomp her foot. She was feeling childish but between Will and her headache she was feeling that way. "Just don't you dare pick me up in your arms and carry me or something silly like that."

Will let out a soft laugh at that. "Well then, don't you dare faint or something silly like that."

Dru sighed, almost dramatically,"Me, Commander? Do I really look like the fainting type? Just hurry up and get me to my quarters so you can go back to annoying your people."

Will smiled. "All right, Counselor."

[OFF]

------------------------

Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy (pNPC Ni Dhuinn)
Counsellor
USS Galileo

Lt. Cmdr. Chauncey William Remington III
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

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