by Jariel Camen
81206.2200
After Bad to Worse: Two
-=USS Alchemy, Currently on Bajor=-
81206.2200
After Bad to Worse: Two
-=USS Alchemy, Currently on Bajor=-
“Rest, Mademoiselle.”
Doctor Harcourt had wanted Fleur to sleep in Sickbay where he could keep an eye on her, but Jariel was familiar enough with the symptoms by now to know staying in Sickbay would do her no good.
He had decided she would sleep in the quarters nearest to Sickbay, where the Doctors could visit her easily enough. What she really needed was peace and quiet to sleep. Silently, Jariel cursed himself for allowing this to happen. True he had no way of knowing the mutated virus could possibly attack a human host, but still he knew if she had not been standing at his side, for his sake, then she never would have contracted the fever.
Yet the fact remained that her standing at his side was the only reason he had been able to maintain the strength to get through any of this. When one of them was weak, the other stepped in and provided the support they needed. They functioned as a team so well together.
Now it was his turn to be her strength, and watch over her. The fever had set in so fast, he did not even have a chance to say goodbye before sleep had overcome her. He promised himself that when she awoke, the first thing she would hear was him saying hello.
Camen arranged for a crib in the small room, so Tress would not have to be without the two of them. He knew the young girl would never stand for being in someone else’s care, not knowing where Fleur and Camen were, for however long it took Fleur to recover.
For the time being, Tress was being watched over by Azalea Adams, who had a favor to ask of Camen. She needed a sample of the vaccine that had been sent to the more wealthy provinces on Bajor, to compare with the one sent to the Plains.
From what she had explained, the Starfleet doctors had reason to believe that the vaccine sent to the Plains had been tainted somehow, possibly intentionally. He promised his assistance in securing a sample, and heeded Azalea’s warning to do it discreetly. If someone had purposefully infected the Plains, and lead to the suffering he had seen in Tress and now his Fleur, Camen wanted to know.
He would have stormed into facility where the vaccine is manufactured if it were not too dangerous to do so due to his possibly still carrying the virus.
So, he left Fleur now, promising to her sleeping form he would return as quickly as possible. Dane routed communications through a science lab on the same deck, to allow Camen the chance to speak on visual without risking infecting anyone on the bridge.
Unfortunately for Dane and Micah, they had already been to the surface, and exposed themselves to the fever. All that could be done now was to hope they did not fall ill as Fleur had.
Before he activated the terminal, Jariel bowed his head. He attempted to clear his mind of all his fears, as numerous as they were. If he was going to get his hands on a sample for Adams, it was going to take a calm, collected and smiling face to do it. Anything less would arouse suspicions.
Once ready, he pasted the smile onto his face, and began working his way through Bajor’s communications grid. He found the name he was looking for, and opened a channel.
[Hello?] A confused woman asked, on the other end, wondering why she was getting a call from a Federation Starship.
“Vedek Selivere, this is Jariel Camen.”
[Jariel Camen? I haven’t heard your name in years. How are you old friend?]
“Well, very well, Vedek. I saw the news recently that you just had a child, and I wanted to offer my congratulations.”
Vedek Selivere inclined her head in thanks. [That’s so thoughtful of you Vedek, thank you so much. The little one is finally sleeping through the night, and so am I for the first time in months.]
“I did not wake you, did I dear?”
[No, actually I’m just catching up on paperwork and what not for the Vedek Assembly. You know they are holding your title there. If ever you wish to take your place back, you need nothing more than to show up. Everyone wishes to have Jariel Camen back in the fold.]
Jariel closed his eyes, and nodded slowly. His relationship with the Assembly had never been the issue when it came his reasons for departing. It was the Prophets that were the problem. “Of course, I know. I will think about it.”
Jariel shifted, both physically and mentally, as he brought the conversation back to Selivere’s child. “And you’ve gotten all the appropriate vaccinations of course?”
[Of course. One injection each day for the first three months. Can you believe how many diseases they want to inoculate children for these days?]
“It’s staggering. I’ve actually been thinking lately, there are no records from my childhood in Altaan, so I really have no idea if I’ve ever been inoculated. Maybe if I spoke with your Doctor I could arrange an appointment to check and see if I need anything. Do you have his name handy?”
[One second,] Selivere brushed back her dark hair from her eyes, and began typing on her computer terminal. [I’m sending you his contact information. Doctor Fal is on call for everyone in the Assembly and the Government. If he can’t get you what you need, it does not exist.]
“Thank you so much Selivere. I should let you get about your business before the little one demands mother’s attention. May the Prophets bless you and your child.”
[Call anytime Jariel Camen. We all miss you. Good day.]
The screen went dark, and Camen immediately opened the information she had sent for Doctor Fal. He placed the call to the man’s office, and, of course, was promptly placed on hold by the receptionist after giving her his name.
Camen nervously drummed his fingers as he waited, wanting very much to get this over with so he could return to Fleur’s bedside. It scared him, just how much he missed her when they were not in the same room.
[Can I help you, Vedek Jariel?]
“Yes, Doctor Fal, good afternoon. Vedek Selivere told me you are handing medical affairs for the Assembly these days. I’m sorry, but it has been a while since I’ve spent time on Bajor.”
[That’s right. Is anything bothering you? I’m booked right now but we have a standing policy of bumping the schedule back to accommodate members of the Vedek Assembly.]
*I’m sure you do,* Camen thought. “Nothing, no. It’s just that I realized I never had any record of my immunizations from the orphanage where I grew up. Do you think I could get a battery of boosters? One can never be too careful these days.”
[You have no idea.] Fal laughed and shook his head. [Come into the office and we’ll set you up.]
“Thanks, but my schedule is impossibly busy. Do you think you could transport some hypos to my location so I could administer them myself?”
[Sure, send me your coordinates. I’ll have something to you within the hour.]
“You are a lifesaver, Doctor, thank you.” Camen closed the channel, and located Azalea Adams. He informed her of the good news, that within the hour she would have a sample of Vellat Fever vaccine delivered right to Sickbay on the Alchemy.
Camen picked up Tress, from Adams’ care, and took the girl down to the orphanage. He had one more promise to fulfill before he could settle in to watch Fleur overnight.
As he walked, he perched Tress in high right arm and tried his best to sign with his left.
[[Tress feel any better?]]
[[No, stuck.]] Tress replied, before tugging on her ear. Camen pulled her close and kissed her cheeks. There was a chill in the air, as winter was approaching. He chided himself for not bringing a coat for Tress. He had been so distracted he never thought to check the temperature before he left. Fortunately the walk to the orphanage was short.
Once there, he took Tress to the back and set her down on the edge of the bed.
[[Tress, you know that you are a good girl right?]]
[[No.]] She said, pointing to her ear.
[[Sick made your ears quiet, not bad. Tress good girl. Camen will always love Tress.]]
[[Papa?]] She signed as a question, not as a statement.
[[Yes, Papa.]] Camen replied without hesitation. The child had so little to hold on to in this life, if she wished to adopt Camen as a father, he was not going to deny her. Deep inside, he had fallen in love with Tress, and especially watching the way she and Fleur interacted. The two of them were simply precious together, and Camen knew it felt like home when he was with the two of them.
“Vedek Jariel!” A small girl squealed with glee, as she saw the Vedek had returned. “Is it time for us to play?”
“Yes child. Gather the other healthy children together, we are going to the ship now. Don’t forget your coats.”
Camen simply could not believe how healthy this one group of children had remained. As promised, he was going to let them play games on the computers of the ship.
Once ready, he took the children back to the ship, intending to set them up in the same lab where he had called Doctor Fal. Azalea met him at the entrance to the ship, waving a canister of hypos that she had received from Fal’s office.
“You know, Doctor, I was thinking. These children, how is it they have avoided all this? This group has stayed healthy even as the fever has spread to everyone around them?”
Azalea thought for a moment as they walked with the children. “You know, we’ve been so busy watching over the sick, we have given no thought to the healthy. They may have some sort of immunity we don’t understand. I think Lance and I will make some discreet scans while they play.”
Jariel nodded and gestured towards the canister of vaccines. “Anything?”
“No, we just got them.”
Camen and Azalea flipped on each terminal in the lab, and brought up a list of games. Before turning the children loose, Camen gathered each of them around to lay down the ground rules.
“I’ll be across the hall with my friend. If you need anything, press this and ask for me.” Camen held out a comm badge to the eldest child. “No one is to leave the lab without permission, and when it is time to go home, no fussing. Is that clear?”
The children each nodded, without actually looking at Camen. Their eyes were already focused beyond him on the screens.
“Have fun.”
Camen nodded to Adams, who had already opened up a tricorder and was taking readings of the children.
“Timal?”
Azalea simply shook her head.
“Good night, Doctor.” Camen hugged her with his left arm, still holding Tress in the right. “We’re all so glad you are here, working for us.”
“And I am glad you are here helping us, Jariel Camen. None of our research would be possible without you. The people of Bajor are lucky to have a man like you looking out for them.”
Camen thanked her for her kind words, and crossed the hall to Fleur’s quarters. At last he was where he wanted to be all day, at her side.
Tress cooed as he set her down in her crib, along with the stuffed animal Adams had given her. She had the animal by the neck, and he recalled the way Arie used to hold her giraffe the same way.
“I hope wherever everyone is right now, they are all right,” he said to Tress.
[[Maman,]] Tress said, pointing to Fleur. She then closed her arms around herself, indicated she wished for Fleur to hold her. [[Hug.]]
[[Sleeping.]] Jariel signed, and Tress pouted. Camen lifted a finger to silence her, and tugged on the blanket. Tress snuggled down underneath it, and he tucked it tight around her.
Camen pulled up a chair beside the crib, and looked across the room at Fleur, who was sleeping silently, still not quite in the worst throes of the fever. Tress mumbled incoherently to herself as she drifted away toward sleep.
“Yes, Tress, she is very beautiful.”
Fleur’s hair pooled out across the pillow, and her lips parted slightly as her chest rose up and down with each breath. She probably would have died if she knew Camen were watching her sleep, but there was no reason she needed to know.
“Yes, Tress, I love her, too.”
Camen inched the chair closer to her bedside, and checked her temperature with the back of his hand. Unhappy with the results, he prepared a cool cloth.
He sat back down, and folded it neatly to place on her forehead. Gently he brushed the loose strands of her hair out of the way so they would not get wet.
She sighed in her sleep, as the cool cloth took away from of the pain from her head. Camen slumped back in his chair, and slouched down.
“This is some kind of romance, isn’t it Fleur? I have all these grand intentions of showing you how I really feel, and making you believe all your dreams have come true. Here we are, swapping fevers instead of love notes. Worrying about Tress and her hearing. Wondering if the closet thing I’ve had to a father is going to die. Hoping all the children of Altaan make it through the fever. Knowing once we are done here, there is still so much to be done for the people of the Plains.”
He rose from his chair, and sighed. With a gentle hand, Camen lifted her head, slid onto the bed beside her, and laid her head back down on his chest.
“But at least you are here with me. I’d rather suffer through the pain and exhaustion with you than be living an easy life alone. It won’t always be like this, I promise. Better times are ahead for us Fleur, and soon. Until then, just know I will be watching over you.”
Camen let his mind wander to the all the things that they would share once all the crises were beyond them. A plan began to come together in his head, and a grin formed on his face.
As she rested, he sang softly to her, hoping at the same time to keep himself from falling asleep.
**************
Jariel Camen
On Bajor
Jariel Camen
On Bajor