An Appetite So Dangerous (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 26 Jan 2015 @ 6:12am by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy
Edited on on 26 Jan 2015 @ 6:16am

1,727 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: Starbase 84 - Cosmos Lounge
Timeline: MD 38 - 2000 hours

[ON]

The bar at Cosmos was long and winding, and lined with masses of bar stools available for everyone waiting for their special someones. Perched atop one such stool was one such Andreus Kohl. The bearded Argelian was clothed in a style he'd researched from his hometown's fashion publications. His hair was slicked, and his white dress-shirt had a v-neck, a high collar, and its buttons down one side. Kohl was practically bouncing atop the stool, as he waited for his special someone. It wasn't a date, this time; rather, it was a special friend he hadn't seen in ages.

Straightening her knee length, emerald green dress; Pola pursed her lips together as she ensured that the layer of lip-gloss hightened the rudy red colour that lay beneath. Her deep chestnut brown hair way in waves across her brown shoulders, bouncing with each step that she took.

The woman knew that she drew stares but she didn't care. She felt comfortable in her sexuality and the clothes that she wore; more importantly she was here to meet a person who meant alot to her.

Looking around as she stood in the doorway, it was hard to miss her ex-assistant chief. He radiated his usual eagerness and energy. It brought a smile back to her lips as she realised how much she had actually missed him being in her life. Raising a hand, she waved in order to draw his attention.

When he saw her, Kohl's mouth moved, but he was far enough away that Pola wouldn't have been able to hear him over the lounge's music. Kohl bounded from his stool and started to sprint towards Pola. Then, his posture shifted when he nearly careered into a bulky Bolian, and he thought better of it. Light on his feet, Kohl dodged his way through the people standing between him and Pola. As soon as he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her and spun her around.

Pola hadn't been prepared for the welcome as she found herself swept off of her feet. Laughing as she tried to return the hug, her arms wrapped around his neck; the Doctor lost herself in the familar smell and feel of Kohl. They had never been involved in an intimate way but when you found yourself enclosed in a small space over a long period of time, one found themselves recognising the small elements which were usually over looked.

As her feet touched the floor, she didn't loosen her hold as her breath caught in her chest. Her face was slightly buried against Kohl's chest and the memories came flooding back. The memories of the friendship they had created, the work they had done together. Very softly she whispered, "I missed you too old friend."

"I didn't understand just how big the galaxy really is," Kohl said to Pola, his chin touching the top of her head, "Until it took this long for our two starships to pass in the night." Kohl's hands remained behind Pola's shoulders, and he allowed them to slide down to her mid-back. He said, "Every time you wrote to me, you were in another sector, another quadrant."

As Pola felt the comfort of Kohl's chin on the top of her head, the pressure of his hands against the small of her back; she felt a slight stirring that held a comfort she had long missed. "I looked forward to your messages...tales of what was happening in your life and amongst the crew."

"It's your crew too," said Kohl, in a reassuring manner. He went quiet for a moment and shifted his weight between his feet, when he wasn't sure why he wasn't letting go of Pola. Their hugs in Sickbay had certainly never, ever lasted this long. Kohl went on, "You may have a new crew now, as if you re-married when you took your new assignment, but the Galileo can never forget it's most-Irish Chief Medical Officer."

Opening her eyes, Pola begun to realise how this may look to an outsider looking at them both and she gently moved away from Kohl, still keeping him within arms length.

She moved her hands from around his neck and allowed both her hands to travel down over his sides. Unable to relekase her touch, the Pola kept her hands against Kohl's waist as she looked up at his face, trying to take a mental picture for comparison to the last time they met.

"You've..." Pola's words became caught in her throat as her fingers brushed against a hardness under Kohl's shirt, some sort of device placed in the small of his back "Kohl?" She stepped in slightly closer as the feel of the devise troubled her. It felt familiar, a piece of equipment she had handled countless times over her career. She just couldn't put her finger on what.... Looking up into his eyes, her's hardened slightly with a deep sense of concern as she tried to understand, "What happened?"

This time, Kohl flinched at Pola's touch. He took a step away from her, but only one. "Uhh... My back..." he started to say. Talking about anything other than his diagnosis and prognosis for recovery, he answered her question by telling an easy story. "I was assigned to an away team, down in a Cardassian mine. There was uh, a cave in." -He shrugged- "I fell. We were all battered and bruised."

Pola felt the blood drain from her face as she listened to Kohl's words. When he stepped away, her hands had fallen back to her waist. Involuntarily, her fingers tightened as she restrained herself from pulling him back closer and checking his back for herself. "Kohl....Please don't try to brush me off. You always try to down play everything....Don't do that here...not now...."

Staring Pola in the eyes, Kohl became very still, very pale. She had that look in her eyes. That look of motherly concern that could drill right through him, and he was afraid of worrying her, and he was afraid of disappointing her. He couldn't hear her words anymore; he couldn't even hear the music. His ears were filled by the sound of his heart thundering blood through his circulatory system faster and faster. His throat closed up, and he couldn't tell her. Couldn't tell her the whole story. He had told her about the Borg attack in the Setisar Nebula, but he had, in fact, downplayed his own injury.

And so Kohl looked at the floor, looked at Pola's shoes. Only then could he tell her, "The reason I need more mechanical support after I hurt my back in that fall, is because of my injury. The other injury." --His intonation was slow and steady, for Kohl. He almost sounded disassociated from the trauma of the memory.-- "Right after you were re-assigned, there was another attack on Sickbay. It was Borg this time, rather than Klingons. I got hurt... I was paralyzed."

Pola's fingers tightened against Kohl's waist momentarily as fear flooded through her body. She knew the meaning of these injuries....the ramifications and long term implications. A dizzy spell took her for a brief moment as her thought processes kicked into overdrive and for a single moment she felt hopeless.

Her fingers loosened their tight grip, but only so as they could move down to grab Kohl's wrist and to drag him behind her. She had just one thought in mind, she needed to ensure he'd been treated right. "Come with me. Now."

Kohl dug his heels in --figuratively and literally-- and he said, "Pola, stop. Just-- no." He stood his ground. He was making a point; obviously, he was making a point that he wasn't weak. He was capable of standing his ground. As if guilty, Kohl said, "Pola, this happened months ago. I've been in a program of care ever since. I can walk now. I can even run, for a bit. I just can't dance without my little mechanical friends. I didn't dress up for a medical examination."

Pola still tugged hard at Kohl's wrist as she tried to ignore his words and force him to follow her. "Kohl....Please...." As she found him cemented to the ground, sudden twars gathered in her eyes as she stopped her tugging and just forced herself to breath for a moment.

In...out...in....She knew it was a fault, when she wanted something she needed to go for it but she didn't have a right in this case. Kohl wasn't her patient...he was her friend. A friend that she trusted beyond anyone else in the universe...she needed to trust him on this.

"Ok....I'm only doing this because you don't want to mess your fancy clothes..." Pola quickly wiped at her eyes before turning around with a stern look in her eyes, "But! I want full access to your medical files. I don't trust anyone..." Pola's voice caught in her throat for a moment before she was able to force her voice back through, "...not with someone who means so much to me."

Looking at her, Kohl nodded his assent. "I promise," he said fondly. "Full access and I will follow your orders. But not tonight. No Sickbay for tonight. Let's get a table instead."

Humphing at his comment, Pola let Kohl lead her as she tried to pick herself up from her shock. "Sickbay here? I wouldn't step a toe in the place. Have you seen it? Even USS Galileo is better equipped than the place here. I've my own equipment in my quarters here on the base. My current ship is under going a refit so I borrowed a couple of items. I don't trust what I don't know."

Realising she was rambling, Pola pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to feel back in her emotions. She knew that she had a temper at times but she didn't want that emotion here tonight. She wanted to just spend time with an old friend, "Alcohol....I need a big stiff drink."


[OFF]

To Be Continued...


Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Olympius
(NPCed by Drusilla McCarthy)

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