An Appetite So Dangerous (Part 2 of 2)

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

1,818 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: Starbase 84 - Cosmos Lounge
Timeline: MD 38 - 2014 hours

Previously on "An Appetite So Dangerous (Part 1 of 2)"....

"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."

And now, the conclusion...


[ON]

Arriving at an empty table beside a bulkhead, Kohl pulled out a chair for Pola, and then he settled himself into the chair opposite her. He reached for the menu PADD, and paged through the whiskey selections, looking for something Argelian. As he did so, he asked, "Tell me about your Sickbay then. Are you happy there?"

Pola sat back in her chair as she streched her legs out infront of her. She watched Kohl as he choose their drink, she cusping her hands behind her chair to stop herself from reaching out. She knew she couldn't drop the subject but she needed time to digest and regroup; they both did.

"Busy...." The Doctor smiled as she allowed herself to think back to her own position in the current time. "It's a hell of a lot different to the ole gal. Treble the amount of crew members and a fresh faced assistant chief who thinks he knows everything but just ends up making my job harder with the mistakes he makes."

Kohl raised his eyes from the PADD, and he offered a glum smile. "It's a shame corporal punishment is frowned upon in Starfleet," he said. After he found what he was looking for in the menu, Kohl waved over a server and ordered a couple tumblers of ochr whiskey. Doubles.

Letting out a small sigh, Pola released her hands as she leaned to rest her elbows on the table and push her fingers up into her hair. "I know I'm being mean, he's a young buck, almost fresh out of the academy, and has a lot to learn but it seems as if he fights me and my decisions; thinks he knows better. Last week he took it upon himself to rewrite every single one of my rotas. The ensuing chaos took me a full shift to unravel. He had more nurses on than doctors, he'd surgeons working graveyard shifts even though they needed to have manovourability with schedualled surgeries...anything that could have been wrong with it, was wrong with it."

Letting out a sigh as she pulled her hair a little before letting it go, Pola pushed the brown strands back behind her ears before she playfully turned on her charm, "Are you certain I can't lure you away from your current position? I'm sure if I spoke to people I could get you in with me. It'd be like the old days again, we'd be a force to be reconed with."

Kohl blinked a couple times, and he stared at Pola, and he blinked. "What... Wait, you-- what?" Kohl said, making a hash of verbalized language. If Pola had reached across the table to slap him, Kohl would have been just as surprised as he was by the job offer.

At Kohls reaction Pola went white. She'd gone a step too far, she should have known. Kohls heart lay in his his position on this ship and who was she to try change that. "Forget I said anything....I'm sorry that I put you into position...I didn't mean to...."

"No, wait," Kohl said. His words were firm, but delivered softly. Kohl watched Pola retreat by degrees, and so he reached out. Literally, he reached out. He laid his hand atop hers. "I'm flattered by your offer, Pola. It's... it's something that needs serious thought. I've made commitments to the science track. They promoted me to Chief Research Officer. But if you're serious about it, I'll give it serious thought."

Pola's eyes lingered on where Kohl's hand lay but she made no move to take hers away. A faint redness begun to tinge her cheeks as a blush made it way across them. "I'm sorry....The offer was to allow you a possibility to cross back into medical....It was partly selfish also as your a good man....A good assistant chief of which there is very few of in the fleet."

Kohl tilted his head to one side. "I do understand why you made the offer," Kohl said. "If it had come from anyone else, I would have said no out of hand. But... this... I need to think about."

The server returned with two tumblers, generously filled, and leaned in to set them down on the table. As he did so, Kohl looked at where his own hand lay, and squinted at his hand as if it had moved of its own accord. Kohl pulled his hands back, but did so to make room for the server, and then to take hold of his tumbler. Lifting his glass, Kohl said, "What should we drink to?"

As Kohl pulled away, Pola left hers where it lay for a moment before taking her drink. She wasn't certain what was happening but she knew that she wasn't being her usual self. She was forceful and had a anger but today it seemed more of of control then usual. "I'm not sure...to friendship?"

"...Actually, I need to thank you, Pola," Kohl said. He wasn't certain of what he should say, until he was absolutely certain of what must be said. He clinked his tumbler against Pola's. "I wouldn't be here today -- I would be the man I am today, if it weren't for you. I'd probably be a junior operations officer on starbase sixty or something, if it weren't for you. For your mentoring, and for your friendship. I spent years doing my very best to stall my career. I came to your Sickbay as a Head Nurse, who was probably going to max-out his career at junior lieutenant. And then you inspired me, and you pointed me in the right direction. I know... I know I'm not doing the kind of work you envisioned for me, but I'm learning to love my work. And I'm papa-bear-proud of the scientists on my ship."

Pola had a momentary thought to run. She wasn't certain why but her throat tightened and her vision blurred for a brief moment before she was able to push her reactions back. She knew Kohl well enough to know that if she ran he'd blame himself.

Instead Pola took a big gulp of her drink before leaning across the table and placing her hand against Kohl's where he had it rested against his glass. "You always under estimated yourself and as a result were scared to look and aim for higher then you should. Your intelligence is one which means you can do anything once you throw your heart and soul into the opportunity." The Doctor cleared her throat for a moment before pushing on, "I've absolutely no doubts that your good at the job you do now and care for the people you manage because that's the core of who you are...adapt and move on, find the fun in anything you can."

Momentarily, Pola tightened her hand around Kohls, "Everybody around you sees how you lightened a work place with your eagerness and need to inject fun into what you do, the silly little stories, the random dance nights...You did me the honor of brightening my sickbay when staff and patients alike needed that little spark to renew their optimism for their jobs and for their recoveries...USS Galileo is lucky to have you, in whatever that capacity is and...I'm lucky to have been able to work with you and be allowed to call you a friend. Thank you for allowing me to be the person who believes in you and who you are; this allowing me to unlock what you tried to keep hiden away."

Now that Kohl was similarly choked up, he raised his glass a little higher, and all he could say was, "Slainte mhaith!" He knocked back his tumbler and took a very big gulp of the Argelian whiskey -- the potent burning sensation did its job of distracting from his physiological reactions to the whirlpool of confusing emotion he was feeling.

Pola moved her hand back from Kohl's as she looked away and focused on the crowd. "It's getting late....Do you still have time for another or do you think it's time for us to call it a night?"

Kohl threw back the rest of his whiskey, which led to an embarrassing coughing fit and dropping his empty glass on the table. It didn't shatter, nor even crack. "I, ah, I probably don't need any more to drink," Kohl admitted. He pushed back his chair, and moved to his feet. "But we can't call it a night just yet," he insisted, "We've danced in sickbay, in the mess hall, and the holodeck. We can't come to the lounge without taking the dance floor for a spin." Coming to stand by Pola's side, he took her hand in his own.

Pola hesitated for a moment, she knew that somewhere something between the two had shifted and she was still uncertain if it was good or bad. In the end she took his hand with an small smile because it was familiar...it was comfortable. "Just watch where you put those feet...I'm still bruised after the last time."


[OFF]

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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