Are You Psyching Me (1/2)

Posted on 28 Jan 2016 @ 12:13am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Greg Mitchell & Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy

2,145 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 3
Timeline: MD22

[ON]

Leaning her forehead against the bulkhead, Dru allowed herself the moment to let out a soft sigh as the cool metal penetrated through the layer of sweat trickling a path against her pale skin.

As her labored breathing tried to catch each inhaled breath in her chest, the counsellor closed her eyes as she mentally muttered the mantra in through the nose...out through the mouth.... Dru couldn't help the smile that alighted her lips as she realised she irony given the times shed said the same words to patients close to panic attacks.

"Your getting too old for this Drusilla....well maybe not old but you know..." Although the words were spoken to herself, they could be easily heard by anyone close by.

Greg had just left his meeting with Lt. Benice Gyce and was carrying his duffel bag to his quarters when he hear the commotion in the hall. "No, actually I don't know ma'am," he chuckled, "If you are getting to old for jogging, then I am darn near retirement."

Dru jumped a little as the strange voice seemed to come from nowhere. Spinning around, a little fear hide in the depths of her eyes as she tried to push past it and center herself in the here and now. The past was the past and she was determined that was where it would stay...where it had to stay. "My apologies, I thought I'd managed to knock my talking out loud habit on the head...evidently not..."

"Don't worry about it ma'am. I tend to do it, usually when fixing something, or thinking about something very important..." Greg said, or chasing down a suspect, but that's another story all together he thought. Still, there was something about her he felt like he should know. Having glanced over the Department manifest just before coming over, he didn't really have the full crew memorized. "But its nothing to be ashamed about. I'm Greg Mitchell, I'm the new security officer on-board. Ms...?"

Dru had watched the man as he spoke, noticing in particular his pause which she assumed was to help sort through his thoughts. Since their experience with the mirror universe, she found herself more cautious with people she didn't know; studing them more closely and keeping her guard up for longer. Their experience with the Terrans had scared her...made her realise how precious life really was; but it had also made her realise that at times there was very few people one could really trust. "McCarthy....Drusilla McCarthy."

Hesitating for a brief moment, the counsellor's rubbed her right hand against her jogging pants before offering it to the stranger. "I apologise for my abrasiveness...its been abit of a hectic time around here lately. You mentioned security as your position? That would have you under...Lieutenant Gyce I believe?"

Greg shook her hand. Mcarthy...Mcarthy....that means something, but I don't know what, Greg continued to think to himself. He knew there was an individual on the relatively small crew of the ship, but he couldn't pin it down. So obviously instead of clarifying more, he took the stupid route and continued to chat flirtatiously, as was his usual protocol. "Oh, don't worry about it. I snuck up on you. Trust me, during a workout, trying to catch my breath, I may come across as abrasive as well. Yes, i'm the new security officer. I actually just got done meeting with Lt. Gyce. She's very professional, from what I've seen of her so far, and has the well being of the ship in mind. 'Walking the beat' here shouldn't be a problem," he explained, using the police term for patrolling an area, "Which department do you work?"

Dru mind lingered briefly on the handshake, the only piece of insider information which this man had given her since they started to speak. His flirtatious speech wasn't echoed in the handshake, there was a firmness which seemed out of place and made her wonder was there something more hiding beneath the surface.

As her heart rate sped up a little at her thought, Dru subtly shook her head as if to empty it again before offering her first genuine smile at his question. "Is it part of your training to always jump right in and gather information before allowing yourself to go much further?"

In all his years of police work, Greg knew to when people were suspicious. He also knew when they were avoiding certain answers. But for some strange reason, he never seemed to grasp when to drop his flirting mode and flip back to professional mode. Thus, he wasn't exactly thinking clearly when he followed up with: "Only for people I'm getting to know. Or want to know more about. Call me..." He looked for the right word. "...curious. It's a cop thing." he laughed.

Tilting her head ever so slightly to the side, a brief second passed before Dru gave any reply. During that moment, her hand briefly moved to her abdomen as a light cramp clenched at her womb before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

The counsellor couldn't deny that she was curious herself. The flirting didn't really matter to her but there was something more about the man himself which tugged at her consciousness and left her curious enough to want to dig a little deeper. "Do you find that the position a person holds is a key to opening up more about who that person is?"

Greg thought about that for a minute. Now he was more curious about her. He came to learn that when someone asked questions in response to questions it was usually to either test that person, or be a jerk. He figured it wasn't the latter. He also noticed her feel her abdomen. He now noticed a possible bump...a possible pregnancy, hardly noticeable unless someone knew where to look. He didn't mind that, but he wondered if something about that was working on her trust issues. The time it took him to look down and up has half a second, but he got a lot of information.

He decided to continue on this course of action, but reign it in a bit.

"Just like to know the people i'm working with and around. Unless you outranked me, then I would be more professional. Don't want to risk my job." He laughed.

Watching Greg, she had seen the movement of his eyes no matter how brief the glance had been. It made her feel self conscious, she knew that as time passed it wasn't going to be easy to cover up the bump.

Her own eyes broke their eye contact as Dru looked down at the
ground and tried to regather her thoughts which threatened to take over and cause the panic and fear she buried to raise back to the surface. She couldn't go there...not now. She was still trying to come to terms with everything and the last thing she needed was to become a withering mess because she lost control of her emotions.

Aware that moments passed as he continued to watch her, the counselor's eyes continued to drift until the landed on something more solid and easier to focus on. "That bag looks heavy, hasn't someone sorted you quarters yet?"

Greg noticed a look in her eyes just now. It was a look of fear, sadness, and....what was that? Pain? The pregnancy was obviously a topic she preferred to avoid. And from the looks of things, she now knew that he knew. Great job you idiot. Second person you interact with on this ship and you make her feel like dirt you stupid son of a....

As he proceeded to berate himself using every colorful word in the book, all he verbally said was: "The bag? Oh no. It isn't anything I haven't carried before. Yah, my quarters are 04-1007 EN and I'm on my way there now. I was going to drop this off before I met with everyone else I was supposed to. Medical, the Captain. I also have to meet with the counselor, but I don't know why. Unless it's protocol." It's not like you haven't seen a dozen in the past year. Though that meeting with Dr. Morgenstern was fun..... He cleared his mind of the last productive "meeting" he had before she cleared him mentally.

Muttering the quarter assignment to herself briefly, Dru laid out the deck plan in her head. "You're down on deck six in that case...your the wrong side of the ship though for the trubolift you need to get to the enlisted quarters. You need our aft turbolift whereas we are starboard at the moment. I can show you if you'd like?"

Greg smiled. "Sure, if it's not too much trouble. I'll get used to it eventually." He hefted gripped his bag better and calmed down. Evidently he didn't screw everything up. This crewman had more patience than he'd expected. He felt like he was getting along well with her. He still didn't know her rank or department so he decided to probe a little more as she led him. "So...how long have you been on the ship?"

Leading the way, Dru adjusted her pace so as to enable both crew members to walk side by side, a feat easily achieved given that their height difference was only roughly five inches, compared to the foot or so the counsellor was normally used to with other people. "Cumulatively? I'd say roughly six to seven months but this time around...maybe two weeks? Sometimes it is difficult to be able to keep track as one day seems to merge into the next."

"Yah, I know." Greg said, "Working a twelve hour shift when you just had a shift full of domestics, thefts, and the occasional assault. It tends to wear you out." He chuckled at that. He had to admit though, it was better that Earth. A lot better. And a lot worse in some ways...."But, that's life. Gotta earn your paycheck somehow." It was an old joke, he knew, especially when money didn't exist anymore. But he was trying anything to make up for his idiotic move back there. I mean, who just stares at a pregnant woman's stomach? Why don't you just open up a window and yell: HEY GUYS! This woman has a dark history that she's trying to hide. Let's pry a little more. he thought to himself.

He decided to get back on topic. "So...." he thought how to come at this, "do you interact with a lot of people in your line of work?" It was stretch, but dang it he was NOT going to end this conversation without finding out more about this woman. Like whether or not he should have been saluting so far, and referring to her as "ma'am".

It was difficult not to see how the conversation kept turning back to her job but Dru couldn't help but admit she was scared what change the truth might cause in her colleague. His flirtatious manner was refreshing...these days people didn't seem sure how to approach her when they noticed the bump. Some just blatantly stared while others just blurted out and asked was she pregnant. The bump was barely noticeable in honestly but there was something which people just seemed to be able to pick up on.

In her profession, people seemed to be more guarded around her. They seemed to associate her position as being someone to whom they had to be careful around. There seemed to be a difficulty in separating the person from the professional and realising that beneath it all she was an honest, breathing, living person with her own issues and emotions to deal with. She was no different to the average so and so...dealing with an unwanted pregnancy and the loss of someone close...someone she had begun to trust and let in.

Realising that she had been silent for a number of moments more than intended, Dru smiled as she looked back over at Greg and shrugged her shoulders lightly. "Do you define a person as an individual or as the position which they hold? Surely you would find out more about a person by asking them personal questions, rather than professional."

The Irish lilt to Dru's voice softened, a hint of humor resonating in her works, as the counsellor allowed her eyes to linger on Greg before turning her attention back to their journey and ensuring that they took the right turns in the maze of corridors.

(To Be Continued)

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Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy
Chief Counsellor
USS Galileo

&

CWO2 Greg Mitchell
Security Officer
USS Galileo

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