Deja Vu: Part 2

Posted on 30 Sep 2014 @ 8:45pm by Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Aria Rice

1,353 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 4 - Rice/West's Quarters
Timeline: MD 10: 1230

ON:

Stopping outside the door, Scarlet pressed the chime, glancing down the corridor. She let out a gentle breath, forcing the frown away from her features, not wanting Aria to see it. She didn't want her to be worried if she was worried, a never ending circle of wasted energy.

"Sorry! One sec!" Aria called out, pulling on the silk kimono. With Dorian on duty, she had...well...she had just stayed here for a bit. She let the doors open and smiled when she saw Scarlet. "Hey! Come on in. How about something to drink? I promise, replicator still working. Somewhat."

"Thanks," Scarlet moved inside, picking her way past tribbles to get into the small room, but at least there were slightly less now that they were starting to be rounded up with renewed enthusiasm. "How are you?"

Aria smiled as she moved to the replicator, placing one of the tribbles into the box. "I'm good, Scarlet...now, what do you want to drink? And..." she turned her head, watching her with a small smile. "Why are you seeing me during your work hours?"

"It's not a social visit," she admitted, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "Coffee would be great though," she said lightly, hoping it would mean that Aria would get herself a drink too.

Aria nodded as she got two coffees. She sat down on her own bed, pulling her legs up and close. Underneath the kimono she wore the loose pyjamas bottoms and a worn tee shirt, clearly a man's and clearly really old. It almost reached her knees though.

"Thanks," Scarlet cast her a small smile as she took the cup. She took a moment just to smell and sip it, thinking on how best to approach it all. "Aria, West came to see me. He told me about your nightmare."

She frowned at that, shaking her head for a moment before sighing. "He shouldn't have. I am fine, really. I mean, I live with a counsellor. Who, by the way is...wow, hot."

Scarlet chuckled softly, shaking her head before leaning forward to her with an arched eyebrow. "Aria, don't try and distract me," she said softly. "His concern wasn't just with you....it was with the reason why it happened. He seemed to think that it was brought on by a trauma, and if that's the case, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again or to others. So...I'd like you to tell me what happened, so I can work out if this is something I need to be concerned about or not."

Aria sipped the coffee, frowning as she worried her lip for a moment. She finally met Blake's eyes, holding them. "I was in sickbay with the rest of the away teams. Well, most of us were. I wasn't all there, I was trying to catch my breath after all of that. I was lucky, I just had scrapes..." she smiled and pulled her sleeve up, showing the bruises and the slight skin scrape. "So really, nothing. Anyway...I...I was watching. I was waiting to be examined. Something. Anything. I saw a doctor...I can't remember her name, she examined me when I came here. The old-style wheelchair one. She was...operating on Hex. Arms deep in blood, you know? It was...messy...I could see it all..." she looked down, into her coffee. "You know, real blood looks so different than the holodeck simulations or horror movies. It looks so...dirty."

Scarlet looked down at hearing the confirmation. She clenched her jaw, for just a second, at a preventable trauma like that happening in their sickbay. "I know," she said softly. "I watched the security footage, but I wanted to hear how it was from your view. Aria, you shouldn't have had to witness that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Aria said and looked at her, giving a weak shrug. "It's not like I was the only one seeing it, you know?"

"I know," she said quietly, shaking her head with a sigh. "That's why I had to drag it up and have you talk about it, I'm sorry. I needed to make sure I had it all clear so I can make sure no one has to go through that again."

Aria sipped the coffee as she watched Scarlet, trying to judge what she was trying to do. She finally sighed and looked down. "It just got my brain working towards stuff that it has no business doing."

"I can imagine," Scarlet nodded, glancing down to give her some privacy at the admission. "Maybe you should have a couple of sessions of counselling to help?"

"Maybe..." she smiled weakly, shaking her head. "Although West is now my counsellor, so...it's a bit weird."

"You could speak to one of the others?" Scarlet suggested, sipping her coffee delicately. "What happened when you woke up? What was your state?"

Aria shifted, shaking her head weakly. "I wasn't myself," she said, her voice quiet. "I was...hysterical. I knew it was a dream, I just...I couldn't calm down...." she shrugged and smiled weakly. "I'll see West if I have to. I don't think I want to talk to about this to anyone else."

"You don't have to, I just think it could be useful, one of the counsellors at least. I could even do it," she leant to her, to catch her gaze. "What do your symptoms remind you of?" she asked pointedly.

"I don't know," Aria said and rubbed the back of her neck. "Post-traumatic stress-light, most likely. It's been...a tough week, Scarlet."

"Exactly, so all the more reason to have a couple of chats to sort your feelings out and ease your anxiety," she suggested, but with a small smile. "I know you're okay and perfectly capable of moving on, but why not be a bit more comfortable in the mean time."

Aria finally met her eyes and smiled weakly. "You know what I need? Loads more coffee...it's more like a hug than a drink for me..."

Scarlet chuckled softly, nodding as she looked down with a sigh. "Good plan. I might do that myself when I get off duty," she gave her a wry smile. "What I need to know is; do you want to make this a formal complaint? Or just....leave it as expressing your concern?"

Aria sighed, getting up and walking to pick up a tribble, ignoring the cooing noise as she put it in the box. "I don't see why making anything formal would help. Not in a horrible way, but sometimes...you just have to learn from your mistake. Sure, I don't think I should have seen that, that anyone should have seen it. Especially not Saalm. But it happened. I think there's been enough rubbish the last three days. We just need to learn from this and move on...improve, right? It's how we get somewhere, you know, as people? Learn from it, move on and just...grow."

Scarlet gave a small smile at the words, standing. "Ata girl," she said softly, giving her arm a pat. "My little girl is growing up," she teased.

"Only a little bit," Aria said before moving to hug her. "I know you're...all on duty now, but I know you care and it means so much to me that you came to check on me."

"Of course I do," she gave a quick squeeze back. "I'm sorry you saw that. We had a rough enough time down there as it was, huh? I'm going to sort it out though, make sure it doesn't happen again, for any of the crew."

Aria nodded, pulling back to meet her eyes. "Okay...thanks," she said and smiled, unable to stop it. "I'll come by and see you and Lily soon?"

"Sounds great," Scarlet assured, heading for the door with a small but reassuring smile. "And I'll brew you as much coffee as you want...."

OFF:

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

ENS Aria Rice
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo

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