New Counsellor

Posted on 30 Jan 2015 @ 1:07am by Petty Officer 2nd Class Eva Kovalev & Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy

2,007 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 03 - Counsellor's office
Timeline: MD 43: 1300

ON:

Eva tapped a code into the keypad beside the counselor's office, letting the office she was here for her appointment. This wasn't a planned appointment, Eva just needed someone to talk to and counselors seemed as good as any at this point.

As Dru completed a note on the PADD in her hand, she switched off he devise as she swiftly moved across the small room and tapped the controls to allow the door to open. Swiftly taking in the appearance of the brown haired woman, the counselor surmised that this was her next appointment. "Eva Kovalev?"

"Yes Ma'am. I was hoping to talk to you about something personal." Going over to a chair without being asked, Eva sat herself down in the chair, trying to relax but failing miserably. Leaning back a little, she tried to calm her thoughts.

Dru's eyes followed the woman as she realised that she seemed to be in an agitated state. She could only sumise that something had happened in the woman's professional or personal life but guessed she was about to find out more. Moving her chair slightly, she faced the Trill as she crossed her legs at the knee and relaxed into her seat. "Of course. Is there something wrong?"

"I'm not sure honestly Ma'am. I haven't spoken with a counsellor yet so this is not in my file." Eva paused. "I'm about nine weeks pregnant. I know who the father is, it was an accident, he knows, we both serve here so he's aboard, and he has agreed to help care for me and the baby." Eva took a deeper then usual breath as the last part of that came out.

Taking in the sudden rush of information, Dru was very careful to process the information quickly as she didn't want to seem judgemental; which she wasn't. "So you've told me the situation, how do you feel about it?"

"I'm not sure. The only two things I am sure of are that I am keeping the baby and that we, Dr Mercy and I, share a Vulcan mating bond from our encounter."

"Ok...tell me how you yourself feel about the baby?" Dru shifted in her seat to bring her legs up under her. She was going to try break this down into individual components and see if she could go from there.

"Scared. Nervous. Excited. Sad. I'm excited in some ways about motherhood but this wasn't how I'd planned it to happen. I feel like suddenly this baby, through no fault of its own, has suddenly taken away the life I'm used to living. Now everything I think about doing comes with the 'Is this what's best for the baby?' question."

Dru nodded her head sypathetically, "but you do realise that what's best for the baby is always going to be you? While pregnant you need to look after yourself both mentally and physically. You need to enjoy this moment and you may never get it back again. Or if you do, it'll be a whole new experience the second time around."

"I guess I understand it on some level. The baby feeds off my body, so if I'm healthy, the baby draws from that. If I'm not, the baby draws from that as well."

She bent forward a little, pressing her face into her hands which were pressed against each other, forming a upside down V. She could feel the fear beginning to well up inside her despite her best efforts to push it back down. A tear rolled down her face. "I'm scared Ma'am. This wasn't the plan. This baby wasn't supposed to happen right now. I don't feel ready to be a mother of one, let alone four. I don't feel like I'm ready to be a wife." Eva buried her face in her hands as the tears began to flow. Despite her assurances to Naois she was okay, that she was handling everything, in this moment she knew she wasn't.

Moving gracefully to the woman's side, Dru got down on her hunkers as she passed over some tissues and gently rubbed Eve's upper back, "Hey now....It's ok to have those fears. By the sounds of it you've been hit with alot in a short period of time. When you throw pregnancy hormones into the mix, it can sometimes be hard to process and cope."

Eva quietly nodded. "It's been so much to absorb all at once. Finding out I was pregnant, meeting Naois' children, my stepchildren now, and somehow trying to figure out how to love, in human turns, the Vulcan man I am bonded physically and mentally to." Eva paused. "And I don't want him to worry so I push it down. Pretending I'm okay when all I really want is to either share his arms in his bed, or go crawl into a small hole somewhere and hide."

Gently rubbing the young woman's back, Dru pushed back on her own emotions which were threatening to raise to the surface. Her focus was on only one person here and that was all that mattered. "Tell me, the first time you met Naois what was your initial reaction?"

"We'd run into each other a few times before this, the Galileo is a small ship after-all. What I'll call our first meeting, the conversation that led to our getting involved intimately with each other, my initial reaction when we first met was that he was out of sorts, not his usual cheerful self. Turns out I was right, he was out of sorts. One thing led to another, and here we are."

"But tell me how he made you feel....The first meeting, your conversation, the first time you were together....Tell me what emotions you felt." Dru moved a piece of the woman's hair behind her ear before moving back over to her own chair.

"How I felt? That first meeting my initial reaction was a little bit offended. I expected a doctor, even a Vulcan one, to be a little more concerned about me and my injury, not to be as curt and distant as he was. That however, quickly changed once I found out he was dealing with his own issues, the pon'farr, for which there's few remedies. That feeling of offense quickly turned into a feeling or desire to help, with perhaps a little bit of selfishness mixed in, I get to help relieve him of his problem, and get a little on the side with no real strings attached in return."

Eva looked up at Drusilla. "That's the day we met. The day we got together I was a bit nervous, and a little excited. I know how pon'farr plays out. Lt Mercy is not the first male Vulcan I've slept with during pon'farr so I knew what to expect. It's impossible to describe but it's the most intense thing I've ever enjoyed."

Internally, Dru punched her fist in the air as finally the woman had given her something to work with. "It sounds like at no point were you revulsed by the man himself and some part of you liked him? No matter if the aim was sex at the end of the day, you need some sort of inkling of attraction to a person to want to allow things to go that far."

Min nodded. "I suppose, as much as our initial encounter was about pon'farr, I am attracted to the man, more so now that we share a bond." She looked at Drusilla. "I guess Naois' offer to look after me and his child, to permit me to become his wife and mother of his children, means something? More then just an obligation to care for the women who carry's his offspring?"

Dru smiled gently, "I couldn't try answer that without hearing his side of the story but think of this. Not everything starts with instantaneous love. Love is something which is nurtured and grows over time. Generally everything comes after but yourself and Naois' circumstances are different. As long as you don't hate each other and there's something between you both...You can take it from there. Naois is is going to be your strongest strength in what you are to go through; the birth and getting to know your step children. Focus on what you have between you both and let that be your lifeline."

Eva nodded. "It takes time though obviously, building a foundation to build up from. I guess we have a lot of work ahead of us."

Dru nodded herself in response, "But the good news is that you both have the foundation there to work with. I'm not going to lie, there will be tough times ahead but it's not all as bad as it may seem at the beginning. I'll be here to talk to when you need to and I think you'd be surprised....Naois probably is feeling much the same as you."

"I suppose he is." Eva knew from the images she'd seen during their telepathic bonding that Naois in his own way cared for her, though some of his own fears were laid bare. "I also know some things about his last wife that are private between me and him, reasons why he worries about me and the baby."

"I would talk to him, especially if they are so private. If you feel your not on the right platform to talk to him I can offer a mediation session, sit you both in a room with myself and try to help you both talk it out." Dru pulled a PADD in her direction as she made some notations. "I would recommend using me as a last resort though as Vulcans are very private people and he may feel intimidated."

"I think there we're okay there. Naois and I have talked about what worries him, and I've seen things through our telepathic link so I know what the underlying fear is. It is private but he's not held back from me."

"Then perhaps it's time you also talk to him about your worries and fears that you have laid out to me here today?" Dru replied.

Eva nodded. "I'm sorry. I really should have done that first shouldn't I have? Talked with him first I mean. I guess I just assumed he saw everything during the link."

Shaking her head, Dru looked up with a smile, "Sometimes it doesn;t occur to us to talk to the person in question. I can be thankful of that as it at least keeps me in a job. He may have seen everything in the link but seeing and talking are two separate expressive means. Talking something out allows both people to discuss and analyse whereas seeing is just one side of the story."

Eva rubbed her temples. "You are of course right. I guess I've just been so focused on everything else, I never bothered to look at my own feelings and talk with Naois."

Grabbing a PADD, Dru brought up her schedule, "How about I schedual you in for a week from now and you can let me know how your talk went?"

Eva wasn't sure if she wanted to but it was for the best right? "Week sounds good. Afternoon okay? I'm usually on the morning shift."

Penciling in the appointment, Dru looked back up with a smile. "If you find in the meantime that you wish to meet with me again, my door is always open."

"Thank you Ma'am." Eva said, standing to go. "I may take you up on that."

Offering a hand, Dru smile slightly, "Try not to worry...your life has taken an unforeseen turn but it's opened new doors you may not have envisioned before. Just remember that your not alone in any of this and you've support around you at all times."

END:

JP between

PO2 Eva Kovalev
Engineer
USS Galileo
[PNPC Min]

&

Lieutenant JP Drusilla McCarthy
Assistant Chief Counsellor
USS Galileo

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