90113.16
by TC Blane and Keiran O'Sullivan
Following The Stroll
-=Sickbay, USS Serendipity=-
by TC Blane and Keiran O'Sullivan
Following The Stroll
-=Sickbay, USS Serendipity=-
As much as he tried to hide it, it was apparent when he returned to his bed in Sickbay that the walk had taken every last drop of available strength that William Lindsay had.
Zanh Liis had been lying still with her eyes closed in quiet contemplation, trying to grasp the news that Taris was really gone for good. She looked up when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching.
All she heard was the footsteps approaching, and that was what worried her.
She had expected more of the same joking that had gone on between Will and Keiran before they left to have continued during their trip. When she took stock of them now, however, she found that judging by the looks on the faces of both men that the conversation had turned much, much darker.
"There ya go, Will." Keiran said softly, making sure that Lindsay did in fact make it back up onto the bed. "Do you need an'a'thin'?"
"A fifth of Scotch?" Will tried to smile, but he was perspiring and his eyes told the story of how beaten up he felt at the moment. Internally, and externally.
"I'll see if T'Dara can give ya somethin' more for the pain. Right back."
"Everything OK?" TC asked immediately, setting down the PADD he'd been reading to try to pass the time, feeling too wired still to sleep.
"Will be, I think." Will said softly. "Just goin' to take a little time."
TC and Liis exchanged a glance, both certain that he was talking more about his relationship with Keiran now than he was about recovering from his physical injuries.
Keiran returned as promised, hypo in hand.
"T'Dara is tied up at the moment takin' care o' Blakeslee, but she said you can take a dose of this now and another in an hour should you need it. They've set a timer lock on the hypo, so you can't overdo. Here ya'are."
He handed the device to Will. Without hesitation or any of the usual bravado he may normally have displayed, he accepted it.
If he was who he'd been ten years ago, hell, even five years ago, he would have put off use of such medication until the others were distracted by something else. In order to try to appear as if he had no limits, and didn't need little things like pain medication to manage any injury.
He was not who he had been five years ago.
Or one year ago...
Lindsay rammed the hypo immediately into his arm. A few seconds later, his shallow breathing deepened and slowed, and he seemed to relax back into his pillow.
"Think I'll, take a," he began, but without finishing his sentence he closed his eyes and had already drifted off.
"T'Dara said that 'tis time for your walk now, Mister Blane. Are ye up fer it?"
“I’m not sure, considering the condition he is in after taking a stroll with you. But since I have noting better to do.”
"Grand. Then let's take a stroll."
Liis noticed that Keiran seemed, for the moment, to be avoiding her eyes. He hadn't said anything directly to her since he'd returned, either. Knowing that he already had a great deal on his mind before he and Will had said whatever they'd said to each other, she decided it best for the moment not to press him.
"Have fun. I hear Sickbay is lovely this time of year."
She watched as Blane slowly rose from bed, and Keiran fell into step beside him just as he'd done with Will before in case TC became dizzy or disoriented.
TC’s legs felt like lead weights being dragged though ankle deep mud but he managed to set a calm pace for himself.
He looked back at Keiran as they walked.“So, how was the honeymoon?” He asked as they passed Zander’s bed.
"Interrupted," Keiran sighed softly. "Before that? Was heaven."
TC noticed that the tent that had been draped over Blakeslee was now down, which was a good sign that the skin regeneration treatments must be proceeding apace.
T’Dara had Zander raised up slightly as she started to administer and breathing treatment for his burned lungs, a mask not too different to the one that TC had been using for his own treatments.
He also noticed that Zander's eyes were open and followed him as he walked by. He was shocked when he saw Zander’s hand make the slightest of movements. He winced in pain, but managed to give TC and Keiran a weak thumbs up.
TC grinned. “Well I’ll be.” He nodded towards the bed drawing the big Irishman’s attention to it.
"Would you look'a that. Well, I think we should take a slight detour." Keiran nodded towards Blakeslee, and the two men headed over in his direction.
Zander immediately tried to straighten up his posture a bit more, and his lips quivered as they began to try to move beneath the clear mask over his face.
"At ease, Commander," O'Sullivan rumbled gently. "Don't mind us. We just wanted to stop by to tell ya, 'tis a happy thing to see that you're improvin' so much. You'll be up and around before ya know it." Keiran tried to be optimistic, but at the same time could not minimize how much work it would take for Zander to heal from the massive injuries he'd suffered.
Zander’s lungs and larynx were still raw from the burns they received but he tried to grind out a few words.
Frustrated at failing to generate any sound, he simply nodded.
"Don't give work a second thought, Zander," TC replied, "Between myself and our new Security Liaison to the Alchemy Project here," he nodded toward O'Sullivan, "We'll keep an eye on your department, and then as soon as you're ready, we'll hand back the reigns."
Blakeslee seemed to relax after hearing this, one less thing for him to worry about.
He made a gesture, and as Keiran tried to puzzle out what he was indicating he wanted, TC immediately caught on. "He wants a PADD."
"Here you are," T'Dara reached into a drawer and pulled one out, handing it to Blane. TC, for the moment, gave little thought to his own injuries as he tried to help Blakeslee do what he wanted to do.
He moved closer to the bed, activating the PADD and setting it to auto-complete words based on the first few letters chosen. He held it steady so that Zander could use one fingertip to press the buttons.
After several moments of obvious struggle which caused both Keiran and TC to develop knots in their stomachs, Zander finally sighed heavily, and closed his eyes. Clearly, it had taken all the strength he had, but he'd been determined to compose the message.
TC turned the PADD upwards, eyes cast down as he read what it said. He laughed and handed it to Keiran, as the message was meant for him.
Keiran took the PADD and glanced at it. [Go back to your honeymoon. We’ll still be here.]
O'Sullivan inhaled sharply, clearly moved by the thoughtfulness of the words and the sentiment behind them. Despite his current situation, despite all he'd been through, Blakeslee was still more concerned with others than he was with himself.
This selfless remark left Keiran speechless, and told him, he was certain, everything he could ever need to know about the character of Zander Blakeslee.
TC glanced back at Zander who was now asleep. “Sound advice if you ask me.”
"Yeah," Keiran spoke softly at last, glancing across the room and over at Liis, who was still staring at the ceiling, clearly lost in thought. "Best advice I think I've ever been given."
The two men continued their walk and arrived at Kellyn’s bed.
“Well this must be nice.” TC nodded toward the engineer. “At least some people in Sickbay get to lay around.”
"Bite me, Blane." Kellyn said, her eyes crinkling to betray her amusement even though she fought to keep her lips from turning upward into a true smile. "What about you? Some of us are stuck here in Sickbay while people like you get to go on a field trip."
"So that's what we're calling hazardous Away Missions under extreme conditions these days? Field trips?" Blane laughed, then turned serious. "You had quite a field trip yourself there on Lethus."
"No kidding. I was running a couple liters low there for awhile. If not for you, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
Keiran had not yet heard the details of the Lethus Away mission, so he didn't understand what Lair meant. She elaborated.
"Commander Blane gave a blood donation that saved my life."
"Well, then you realize, accordin' to traditions of ancient Earth history, and Blane, you know yer history..." Keiran widened his eyes and flashed a smile. "Y'er blood brothers now, the pair of ya."
TC nodded. “Hey your right. I would have preferred to simply cut a finger, but this works just as well.”
"Be glad we're not Klingon," Kellyn said, laughing slightly at last. "They're always cutting themselves silly and bleeding all over each other to prove their loyalty. You've proven yourself without need of the blade." The smile in her eyes faded quickly, as she found that she was suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude toward the two men standing before her, for what they'd done not only to bring Arie back, but to keep Salvek from getting himself killed as well.
"Kellyn, we," Keiran said softly, leaning over. He realized that he was about to tread into dangerous waters, but he felt that he had no choice but to do so. "We saw...a lot over there. Salvek, he, might need some time to sort it all out. But if you've any questions about what happened, later, when you're feelin' up to askin' 'em, I'll do my best to answer 'em."
Keiran knew already that Lair was going to go to the moon when she found out that Salvek had stayed behind longer then necessary, so that Taris would not die alone and that decision had been the reason that the mission had played out as it had.
TC said nothing, opting to leave the discussion, and the offer, to Keiran.
The look in his eyes told Kellyn that there was likely a lot to the story, and she shifted uneasily.
"Thank you, Commander, I...I'm sure that I'll be taking you up on that. She tried to lighten the moment. "Meantime, do me a favor. Tell Blakeslee over there to get his keister in gear, get out of bed and back to work. Salvek and I need some time to talk and his babysitting services are going to be needed."
The look of genuine affection for Blakeslee and his family and her worry over his recovery were clearly scribed across the Bajoran's face.
“Oh, I would not worry too much about Zander. He seems to be coming along nicely. He has a lovely wife to get back to so I am sure he’ll be getting out of bed as soon as he can.” He smiled. “Plus I think he’s afraid the O’Sullivan here will take his job.”
"Not a chance," Keiran smiled. "No one is better suited to be Chief of Security of this ship than one Zander Thomas Blakeslee." *Besides,* Keiran thought, *I couldn't ever do the job again. I'd never let Liis outta her Ready Room.*
TC nodded in agreement. “We’ll let you get back to laying down on the job, Lair. I have to follow my orders and finish my walk, would not want to get on the bad side of my nurse.” He nodded to Keiran, but O'Sullivan seemed lost in thought again as they moved away.
"Smart move, Blane." Lair called after them. "Never tick off the people in control of the pain meds."
-----------------------------------
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer
USS Serendipity NCC 2012
and
Commander Keiran O'Sullivan
Security Liaison to The Alchemy Project
USS Serendipity NCC 2012
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer
USS Serendipity NCC 2012
and
Commander Keiran O'Sullivan
Security Liaison to The Alchemy Project
USS Serendipity NCC 2012