After the Hardship of the Day - Part 1

Posted on 25 Apr 2012 @ 10:23am by Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Captain Jonathan Holliday

1,760 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Holodeck 1
Timeline: MD 04 0200hours

[ON]


After the events of the day, Pola felt worn out and run down. She hadn't been able to bring Dru around and all indicators now showed that the young counsellor was in a coma. All that could be done now was keep her comfortable and play a waiting game. Feeling like if she went to bed she wouldn't sleep, the young Doctor decided to take a chance which may backfire on her. Rechecking the map on her PADD, she stopped outside of her destination. She knew he was on the beta shift so in theory he should be still awake.

Sleep had come rather laboriously to John, he had been desperate to get some sleep before his next duty shift but it seemed that no matter what he tried he just couldn't drift off. So far he had managed to play the same scenario over in his head half a dozen times and no matter what he thought, or told himself, or no matter how many times he analysed the variables, there was nothing he could have done differently.

Having hauled himself out of bed and donned a simple set of standard issue nightwear, John had made his way to the couch of his quarters and collapsed there, trying to get his mind to shut down, that said, it was unlikely to happen any time soon.

Taking a breath, telling herself they were both off duty and he couldn't threaten to throw her in the brig, in theory anyway, Pola pressed the door chime. Propping herself against the door frame, Pola gave herself a kick. The man wasn't a Doctor and what he'd witnessed today had caused nurses to faint in the past. She realised that even though he had copped well, the images probable wouldn't go away for awhile. The least she could do was try to help him, and if he wouldn't let her, well she had a hypospray of a mild dose of kayolane which would keep him knocked out till she got him to the holodeck, this might pose a difficulty getting him changed into the clothes he needed though.

For a moment, John wasn't sure if the chime at his door was real, or if his overworked and underslept brain had simply become confused and imagined it. Looking around the room he couldn't see anything nearby that could have made a noise, and his combadge was firmly on his bedside table, and certainly wouldn't have been the culprit. After a few seconds he called out.

"Err..enter?"

As the doors slid open, Pola stepped in, giving her eyes a moment to readjust to the dimmed lighting. Seeing the outline of John on the couch, the Doctor realised it might be safer to stay by the door. Allowing her upper back to be supported by the door, Pola relaxed into a casual stance. "Good. You're awake. If I can borrow your replicator for a second, I'll get what we need and then you can come with me." Not for one second did she think that this was too daring...well she knew it was daring but choose to ignore that fact. John might get angry at her but she knew shed talk him around.

"Erm....Doc....its two in the morning....the only place I'm planning to go is back to bed as soon as I can convince my brain to sleep....I've only just gotten off duty"

The XO was rather perplexed as to why his officers were making their way across the ship and into his quarters at this early hour, especially after the events of the past night, especially with as odd a request to borrow a replicator.

"Anyways....last time I checked all the replicators on the ship were working fine...you should have one in your quarters?"

Looking around her to see if she she could find the replicator, Pola just smiled. She was adamant that she wouldn't leave here unless she had John with her and she would much rather come willing, using a hypospray and kidnapping could get her into trouble."Your brain not being able to sleep I the reason why I'm here. You need something else to preoccupy it for awhile and wear down your body so much that your brain has no choice but to rest. I'm gonna provide that!"

Finally located a replicator on the opposite side of the room, Pola headed for it."Right...I know your height and weight. What's your shirt and jean size? Oh! You'd better give me shoe size as well." Feeding information into the replicator, the Doctor awaited the answers.

Sighing, John saw that there was probably no way out of this situation, as much as he would have preferred it. For a moment, the thought of summoning Lieutenant Orexil and one of her security teams sprang to mind, but it shortly passed, and he returned to the state of semi-confusion that he had been in since that door chime had gone.

"You'll find all of that in my personnel file....care to explain why you need my particulars Doctor? Rather forward to be deciding how to dress your XO?"

Looking across at John with a raised eyebrow Pola tilted her head to the side,"Got a PADD handy and I can get the perticulars sorted? I would let you dress yourself but I do have a funny feeling you don't have the clothes that would suit this adventure. You got any jeans, a checked shirt and boots handy?"

Turning back to the replicator, Pola started programming in clothes for herself, watching while a knee length denim pinafore dress, white shirt and a pair of knee high boots appeared. "So are you going to give me your measurements or do I have to guess?"

With yet another sigh John hauled himself free of the sofa and headed towards the replicator. Standing behind the doctor, he raised his right hand and over the top of her shoulder tapped some commands into the system, watching as his own file appeared on the system, and his uniform measurements appeared. Tapping a few more commands, he watched as the replicator produced the desired items, a pair of blue denim jeans from the 21st century, a red and black checked shirt, and a pair of brown ankle boots.

"Will these suffice? Any chance you can tell me what's going on here or do I need to order you to?"

"You could order me but that's spoil the surprise." Pola grinned over her shoulder at John, ducking under his arm as he grabbed his clothes. "Got a room I could borrow? As you keep pointing out your the XO, it might not be very appropriate if we got changed in front of eachother..course I don't mind, I've probably seen in all in my career."

As Pola bit her lip to stop her grin from spreading, the young Doctor found she was actually enjoying herself and so far the plan was working, John was too busy trying to figure a way to throw her in the brig then to think of Dru.

"I...I...err..." John for a moment was stuck for what to say, he had not met such a forward individual in quite a while, and the fact that he outranked this woman did not seem to matter even a fraction, it was as if someone had decloaked in front of him, stolen his rank pips, and disappeared out.

"Ahem....the bedroom is free Doctor...please" He pointed towards the open door and the bedroom beyond, he was not about to insist on an officer changing her uniform in front of him, after all, protocol would have required he send himself to the Brig the moment it happened.

Winking at John, Pola headed off to the bedroom. Once the door closed behind her, the young Doctor collapsed against the door, closing her eyes for a moment. She wasn't just doing this for John, she needed to do this for herself. Noone but her knew how close they had come to loosing Dru. Even though she was a Doctor, treating people was her job and while she kept her distance, it didn't lessen the pain in anyway.

Pushing herself away from the door, Pola started to strip herself out of her uniform, tossing it onto the bed for recycling later. Pulling her hair down loose, Pola used the hair bobbin and one around her wrist to seperate her hair into two plaits, which fell over her shoulders. Pulling on the shirt and dress, the Doctor kept boots in her hand.

"I hope you're decent", Pola hollered as she walked back into the sitting area.

John of course, had required far less time to get ready, having only had to change from his sleeping attire to his new outfit, rather than wrangle with the complexity of a Starfleet uniform, and had indeed managed to complete his quick change routine in the allotted time, before sitting back down on the sofa and waiting.

"Of course, what else would you expect Doctor?"

Plonking herself down on the couch beside John, Pola started to pull on her boots, before looking over at John and grinning, "Well now you say it...I'm sure it wouldn't have been a bad thing to see you shirtless...and before you throw me in the brig remember one thing...You walked yourself into that one."

Grinning, Pola jumped to her feet, smoothing down her dress and taking in John's appearance. Leaning over she ran her hand through his hair to give it a tossed look and unbutton the top two buttons of the shirt."Perfect!! Now you dont look so stiff." Grabbing John's hand, she dragged him in the direction of the nearest holodeck.

"Stiff? I'm the Executive Officer of a Federation Starship! It's my job to uphold the principles upon which t----"

Before he could finish his sentence, John found himself being torn from his quarters and along the corridor. He simply could not believe the degree to which his authority was being ignored, and how quickly he had found himself somewhere that he had never intended to be. Having his attire altered by a junior officer, and spoken to in the way he had been was approaching insubordination....yet his own natural curiosity was enough to stop him from breaking her grip on his hand there and then.

[OFF]

Lt Cdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Pola N Dhuinn (Pnpc McCarthy)
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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