A New Friend

Posted on 18 May 2009 @ 12:37pm by Colonel Stadi Andrus

1,061 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: M2: Aggressive Negotiations
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Current

ON:

Melanie was left alone with her thoughts. She hated this time of day. It was hard enough not to think of Talar when they had been together and only separated by lightyears but with him gone she was more alone than she could ever remember. Melanie sat in her office staring at a picture she had of him on her console. There was PADDs with patients files on them that needed to be updated but she couldn't find the energy to deal with any of it.

CJ wandered into Sick Bay, data PaDD in hand. He'd book two solid hours of holodeck time and had intended to smooth talk the Doctor into a impromptu rendezvous. This had better work, he thought to himself. The Transporter Chief's going to want to make good on our deal reaal soon.

CJ looked around the Sick Bay and saw the Doctor staring off into the distance in her office. Holding the data PaDD out a bit as an excuse to be there, he stepped into her office. "Excuse me, Doctor?" he asked.

"Yes Lieutenant...what can I do for you?" She asked.

"I was wondering..." he began, tilting his head to the side curiously as he looked back at her. "Is everything allright?" he asked.

"No, everything isn't alright. But that isn't why you came here...are you still feeling ill from the hypospray?" She asked knowning better that it wasn't the case, even without probing his mind she knew what he wanted.

CJ put the PaDD down on her desk a little harder than he meant to but looked her square in the eyes, "Have I offended you somehow? Am I physically disgusting to you? Where does this... disinterest in anything to do with me come from?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest. He didn't have to be a betazoid to see what she was thinking.

"I may be a cocky son-of-a-bitch but I've never once been rude to you." he added.

Melanie stared at him for a long moment, tears threatening but she pushed them away. "I have just lost someone very dear to me Lieutenant. Do not presume to know anything of how I feel right now." She replied.

CJ's demeanour changed slightly, he too had lost someone dear not so long ago. He knew how it felt. "Doctor." he replied quietly. "I'm not your enemy. In fact, I've been trying my damndest to get close to you." he said, measuring his words carefully. "I'm not pretending to know how you feel, but I've lost people close to me as well. Its... difficult to bear alone."

"My whole family is dead. My parents and now..." She shook her head. "I feel completely alone....half of me is missing." Her hand went instinctively to the bracelet from Talar. Her fingers mindelessly playing with the links.

"You're not alone." CJ replied softly.

am not alone in the physical sense...but everything that I had left was either back on Earth or on DS5 and now that is all gone."

CJ sat down on the edge of her desk and looked down at her softly. "Nothing will ever replace what and who you lost, but whoever they were. Whatever they meant to you and you to them, they would want you to move on." he said.

"Yes...that is what Claire told me he said. He died in her arms...it should of been mine. I should of been able to save him."

"You'll only drive yourself mad thinking that way." he replied.

"Then I suppose I will be spending a lot of time in the counselor's office." She said bitterly.

"I..." CJ trailed off, curling his lip a bit in frustration but deciding it was the best course. "I took some time on the holodeck. Two hours. I was... hoping to take you with me, but I can see you could probably use the distraction more than I could." he said, holding out the data PaDD with his holo-deck credentials. "Take it. Distract your mind for a while."

"I...I can't take this...C.J..."

CJ shook his head, "It's yours. You need it more than I do."

"Honest CJ..I'm ok. I'm sure you owe someone some favours for getting a two hour block."

"I owe a lot of favors at the moment." he replied, "I don't know if you've seen the Chief lately, but I'm sure if he had his way I'd be painting the outside on the freedom with a q-tip." he smiled, setting the PaDD on the desk and standing up. "Either you take it or it goes to waste." he smiled.

"Then maybe we can use the holodeck time together...as much as I would love to see you paint the ship with a q-tip..." She smiled.

CJ smiled slowly and broadly. "You sure?" he asked.

"As long as you can go more than five minutes without a thought of hitting on me then yes." She laughed softly. "You project your thoughts."

"Set your watch then." he replied with a chuckle. He picked up the PaDD off the table. "Shall we?" he asked.

"Yes alright." She turned off the screen and the picture that would haunt her always faded from it. Melanie placed the PADDs in the drawer and locked it. "So what are we going to be doing?"

"Entirely up in the air." CJ replied, walking towards the door with the Doctor right beside him, "I had thought we might stroll a Risan beach, but I'm open to suggesstions."

"No beaches...please." They had had their own private beach all those years in New Zealand. If she didn't see another beach it would be too soon.

"Fair enough." CJ replied, thinking it might have been a little too presumtuous to try something so romantic from the get-go. "How about, Luna City right at sunset when the reflection off of Lake Armstrong makes the whole city look ethereal?" he asked, remembering all the times he had watched that sight with his late father.

"Alright...I have never been there before."

CJ smiled back at her as he pressed the button for the turbolift. "I think you're going to like it." he said with a wink.

OFF:

Lieutenant JG Curtiss 'CJ' DeHavilland
Chief Flight Controller
USS Freedom

Lieutenant Melanie Hemmingway
Chief Medical Officer
USS Freedom

 

RSS Feed