String of syllables you'll infuse with soul

Posted on 13 Jun 2012 @ 7:36pm by Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy & Commander Andreus Kohl
Edited on on 14 Jul 2012 @ 10:34am

3,101 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD07 - 1920 hours

[ON]

Waking slowly, Dru tried to figure out where she was. All she could hear was various beeping noises and the odd whirling noise. Moving her head to the side it suddenly all came flooding back, coma, several days, head...Lirha!! Trying to look around frantically, she realised that even though she had the ability to move a little more than earlier, she was still very weak. Parting her lips, she tried to call out, "Li..Li..Re..he?" Feeling tears spring to her eyes, she realised the Captain wasn't here.

Frustrated that she felt so weak and she still seemed to have an inability to be able to speak properly, she closed her eyes, trying to funnel the frustration into energy, to move her legs so she could get out of the bio bed. As her feet reached the ground, she tried to move her body to stand but at the last minute realised she couldn't support her body weight. As she crumpled to the ground, a sob wrenched from her throat as the tears started to flow. All she wanted was Lirha.

When Drusilla was forcing herself out of the biobed, Andreus Kohl was stepping away from the replicator in ICU's surgical alcove. He raised a mug of tea to his lips, and he could see Drusilla's movements from over the brim of his mug. Standing where he was, drinking his tea, Kohl watched Drusilla collapse to the floor. The nurse didn't consider it an act of cruelty on his part, making no effort to catch her. It was just that she was a dozen paces away, and he knew she could fall faster than he could run. Seeing that Dru had fallen to her knees --with no awkward posture to endanger her c-spine-- Kohl walked towards her slowly. If he had lost control over his movements and his speech, he didn't believe he would want a self-important Starfleet officer barking questions at him or even laying hands on him.

Kohl discarded his mug on a flat LCARS console, and he crouched down to the floor beside Drusilla. He stayed there beside her as she cried, and he gently proffered his left arm and shoulder towards her. She could take it if she wanted it, or not. "Would you like some help up?" he said softly.

With her body weight rested on her knees and her back supported against the base on the bio bed, Dru didn't know what to do except cry. Tears seemed to be the only thing that now came easy to her, she had no control over her body nor her speech and it was frustrating. Hearing a soft kind voice beside her, she felt a sudden sense of panic as she didn't reconise it. Why was she surrounded by so many strangers? Why'd Lirha leave? Realising she had no choice, she gave a barely noticeable nod for Kohl to help her.

As he knelt there on the deck beside her, Kohl held his arm out to her. He waited to see if she would initiate physical contact. Touch. Not long after it became his job to catch people, to move their limbs, to bathe them, Kohl had thought long and hard about his approach to physical contact. Having grown up on Argelius II, there had been no such thing as physical barriers or personal space. Half the Argelian language was meaningless without personal touch to add context to the grammar and the inflection. It had been confusing, at first, for Kohl to go to the Federation school.

Once it became clear Dru was making no attempt to reach out --and appeared to be more distressed than when she first fell-- Kohl decided he couldn't leave her on the floor any longer. He put an arm around her back and gripped her nearest shoulder. He stood himself upright, and brought Drusilla up with him. Kohl edged her onto the biobed, and loosened his grip to see if she would travel the rest of the way herself.

Almost like a ragdoll, Dru felt herself being lifted into the man's arms before being gently maneuvered onto the bed. As he laid her to rest on the edge of it, she wasn't sure what to do. He seemed to be waiting for her to do something but any big movements she couldn't make her body preform. Her hand still remained draped across his arm, within reach of his jacket. Focusing hard, she barely curled her fingers into it, holding it with the energy she could muster. She didn't want to be left alone again. "T...t..an...k"

"You're welcome," Kohl said, and he managed a bit of a smile. With as much dignity as he could muster, he moved her the rest of the way onto the biobed. He took care her legs were pointing in the right direction, and made sure her joints weren't being bent into awkward postures. Once he had her settled in an upright position, Kohl said, "Is there anything I can get for you, anything I can do for you?"

Making an effort to hold onto Kohl's jacket tighter, Drusilla realised that she didn't know this man but he had helped her when she needed it. Right now she didn't want to be alone, she'd take whomever she could get. Letting her head roll so she could look at him, the puzzlement was evident in her eyes, "Y...y..oo?"

"My name is Ensign Kohl, and I'm one of the nurses assigned to Galileo. This is my first duty shift aboard, to be honest," he said. Kohl defaulted to the well-practiced formal timbre of his voice; he could sound formal without even thinking about it these days. "You can call me Andreus-- No, no, you can call me Drey," he said. Kohl supposed single syllables would be most comfortable for her.

Drusilla watched Kohl as she managed to smile, wondering why he sounded so formal. Keeping her hand knotted in his jacket, she was afraid to let go in case he also disappeared. Her mind functioned fine, outside of the dull ache in her head, she found herself curious about this new man. He seemed an unusual choice for a nurse. Watching his face, he looked so formal, "S..s...s..mi...i..ill."

Kohl stared at her with puzzlement in his eyes for a few seconds, as he deciphered her slurred speech and silently questioned her intentions. Using every muscle in his entire face, Kohl put on a smile that showed a little teeth, but not so much teeth as to look manic. Contorting his face into a smile today felt as foreign to Kohl as growing a second nose. He couldn't understand, at first, why a patient would tell him to smile, especially one who didn't even know him. And then he remembered something he had overheard. Oh god, thought Kohl, She's a counselor.

Suddenly finding an urge to laugh, Drusila let it out but it wasn't much more than an almost strangled noise. The effort required had a pain flash through her head which she closed her eyes tightly against, scared it was the same headache from before. Allowing a moment or two to pass, she slowly opened her eyes again, looking over at Kohl, "I...I...d...d..don..b..bi...bi..it"

Before he could even try to think of a response that would be emotionally appropriate, or professionally appropriate, Kohl was already saying, "That's good. Because I do." He chomped his teeth together and shrugged with clownish apology. Kohl was quick to reach for the flat tricorder in the holster on his hip. He lay his gaze on the tricorder, rather that on Dru's eyes, and used the device to make minor adjustments to the biobed's sensors. "Are you sure there's not anything I can get you?" he asked.

Smiling before pain went through her head again, Drusilla gritted her teeth as she waited for it to pass. Part of her wanted to say something but she was scared they'd put her back to sleep and she didn't want to sleep again. "S...s...i..i..le m..m...or..." Stopped for a moment as a pain went through he head again, she looked over at Kohl again, "H...he...d...n...no...s..s..l...eep"

Speaking off the cuff again, Kohl looked at Dru and said, "Yeah... I think you've had enough sleep." Only after he said it did he think twice about what he said, and he questioned if he actually understood what Dru had said to him in the first place. His words came out quickly, emotionally back-peddling: "But I'm not your doctor. I won't be deciding your treatment. I came over to try to make you more comfortable."

Tightening her hold on Kohl's jacket, Drusilla decided that she wasn't going to let this guy go. He seemed to somewhat understand her and the fact he agreed she didn't need more sleep was a big relief. "T..t...an...ks...I...I...D...d...d..." Drusilla stopped as she realise she couldn't manage to get her own name out, not even the shortened version of Dru. Deciding not to give up, the more she talked the better shed become she figured, "Y...Y..ou....n..n...i...ice."

"Thank you, Drusilla," said Kohl, and he managed something like a warm smile. He had spoken with the Chief Medical Officer, albeit briefly, about their patient. Introductions weren't entirely necessary. Dryly, he said, "They won't keep feeding me and clothing me if I'm not nice. It's a win-win, as they say."

As her eyes slipped closed, she jerked back awake suddenly, frantically checking Kohl was still there. She didn't want to go back to sleep, she realised she needed to keep talking, or at least needed him to keep talking. "I...c...con...con...c..lor..t...te...ll...em...y...you...m...m...make...t...th...em...s...s...see...m...me" Smiling, Dru realised that had taken a lot of effort to say so many words but she figured if she kept pushing it could only have a positive result.

Hopping he understood her correctly, Kohl nodded as she spoke. One part of his brain filed away the progress she was making with her speech. The rest of him focused on her words. In a playful drawl, Kohl said, "Oh, it's an enforcer you need, is it?" --and for a series of heartbeats, he forgot about his loss, his missed opportunities with his lost father-- "You schedule your appointments with the crew, and I'll drag them to your bedside, and encase them within a forcefield until you say they're ready to be let go."

Grinning, Drusilla nodded her head, "f..f..fed..a...an...clo....clo...th...y...y...ou...y...ou...l..l...et...th...em..o...o...ut." taking a breath as she found it difficult to breath from the effort, she realised that in all of this she had forgotten about the pain in her head. The pain was still there but being able to focus on something else actually helped.

"Yeah, we could team-up easily. I took a couple courses in mental health nursing. I've got your back," Kohl told her. He spoke with a familiarity he hadn't earned, but it came from him easily all the same. Even Kohl himself wasn't totally sure if it was nursing artifice, or diplomatic artifice, or easy companionship. "You'll be counseling patients again soon enough. Even before you're out of this bed, you're going to be doing what you do."

Smiling, Drusilla loosened her grip on Kohl's jacket, allowing her hand to drop back to the bed. Not having to focus on placing energy in her hand, she felt the pain in her head lessen slightly. There was one thing, or rather one person, her mind kept drifting back to. Unsure of whether she could say anything, she remembered the night her and Lirha had discussed the crew finding out about them and she had said it was fine if it happened. "Ca...ca...cap...t...t...in?"

Kohl shook his head; it was a small and subtle movement. "She's not here," he said apologetically, as if he had any say in the Captain's movements. "I believe she was returning to the starbase."

Nodding her head, she couldn't prevent the sad look from entering her eyes. She missed Lirha, more than she would have thought possible. They'd grown close before all of this happened. A thought suddenly occurred to her that what if this accident might have caused Lirha to change her mind, maybe that was the real reason she wasn't here. She knew it was a silly way to think but she was just so confused still. Looking back over at Kohl, she smiled softly, trying to take her mind off of those thoughts, "Y....y..ooo..g...g..girl..f...f..ren..d?"

"I don't have a girlfriend," Kohl said. There was a definitiveness to his response, but his voice took on a distant quality as his mind spun sideways. Half of him wondered what had made her want to delve into his personal life, but the other half of him pondered the connection between talking about the Captain, and asking about a girlfriend, and the Captain's behaviour around this patient... Kohl sighed. "I don't have a boyfriend either. I've just come from a posting as a battlefield medic for Starfleet Medical's relief efforts. Not the most romance-inspiring of duty tours."

Noticing the change in the nurse's body language, Drusilla wondered why he had become defensive. Looking up at his face, she studied him for a heartbeat or two before smiling at what he added. "Y...oooo...m...m...ache...g...g...irl...or...g...g..guy...h..h..a..p..eeee."

Despite himself, Kohl smiled at Dru, really smiled at her. "In theory," he said, "In theory I do." He folded his hands behind his neck and squeezed his forearms in close under his jawline. "It's been a while since I've met a guy who wanted to date-date. But then... it's been a while since I've met anyone I've wanted to date-date." --He blinked, and then he looked right at Dru-- "...How about you?"

As her smile spread further across her lips, Drusilla realised the reason for the defensive reaction. With one mystery solved, she tried to figure out the next question. There was so many words she wanted to use to explain Lirha and what the woman meant to her, but her current level of speech hindered her. Looking Kohl directly in the eye, she tried to send across her emotion that way, "s....s...he...is...sp...sp..sp..." Pausing, Drusilla closed her eyes for a moment as she tried to force the words out, "sp...sp...shell...."

"Well then," Kohl remarked. He flashed a knowing smirk to Dru before settling his face into a professional, pleasant expression. "When you get tired, and frustrated, and your rehabilitation treatment seems condescending... Do it for her. When you feel like giving up on you, do it for someone special."

Blinking back the tears which suddenly appeared, Drusilla tried to reach up a hand to wipe them away, but found her body was too tired to make any movements. She had tired to tell Lirha earlier, but the words had failed her and she'd fallen asleep before she could finish. She wanted Lirha to know how she felt but she couldn't make her understand. Tilting her head to the side, she tried to let the pillow soak them up. "I....I...t...t...try...."

"I'm sorry," Kohl said gently. His eyes went glassy at the sight of tears. Tears and joy, tears of loss, they all looked the same. They all looked like funereal tears. "I'm sorry. Go ahead and ignore me. I have this-- this passion for rehabilitation. It's... It's not important." --He opened a cabinet set into the wall, and retrieved something absorptive he could offer as a tissue to Dru-- "Don't worry about that-- about any of that now. You just woke up."

Being unable to do nothing except feel defenseless, Dru allowed Kohl to wipe up her tears while she tried to get them to stop. This was the part she hated about not being able to speak. It was so easy for misinterpretations to occur, she knew he had been trying to help her think positively. He was a good guy, and he'd helped to cheer her up, encourage her to try her best, she really did need that. "I....I...w...w...a...t...b...b...t..t..r...."

"It'll happen," said Kohl, assuming she was expressing her desire to be better. "You just need time. I'm sure you know better than most the incredible recuperative abilities of a human body."

Feeling her eyes starting to close over again, this time becoming more difficult to keep them open, Dru tried to grab out, to hold onto Kohl so he wouldn't allow her to sleep, "n....n....n...."

"Don't fight it," Kohl said, as he watched Dru's internal struggle play across her face. Feeling the pull of his other duties nagging at the back of his mind, Kohl took half a step back. He was far enough away to be out of reach, but he couldn't remove his presence yet. "You'll only fatigue yourself," he said, "make it harder to speak."

Struggling to stay awake, Dru found that every time she opened her eyes they closed over again on her. "D...d....a...a...k...n...n...o.." Loosing the struggle, Dru's eyelids slid closed again, her body refusing to allow her to stay awake as a wave of exhaustion overcame her. "L....l..."

More than ever, Drusilla's words sounded like nonsense to Kohl. He couldn't parse her meaning. She was drifting quickly, but her distress remained plain to Kohl. He stepped closer to the biobed, hoping he might ease her into sleep more willingly. Kohl took Dru's reaching hand between both of his own.

As she felt her hand being held, Dru felt the weight lift off of her shoulders. Noone struggling against the inevitable, she allowed herself to slip into a deep sleep, safe in the knowledge that Kohl would stay with her.


[OFF]


Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.
as
Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy
Counselor
USS Galileo

Ensign Andreus Kohl
Nurse
USS Galileo

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