By Dabin Reece
100203.0200
The Morning After Plans to Do Good
-=Serendipity Sickbay, shortly after being transferred from the Alchemy=-
100203.0200
The Morning After Plans to Do Good
-=Serendipity Sickbay, shortly after being transferred from the Alchemy=-
In Sickbay, time had no meaning. Hours and minutes trickled by unbeknownst to the inhabitants. For the patients, the process was excruciatingly slow, with nothing to do but wait for the next poking or prodding. For the doctors it was fast, too fast. Rushing from patient to patient when the bay was full, always wishing you had five more minutes to spend before moving onto the next. Either way, the passage of time was no help to anyone here.
Even Salvek couldn’t keep his internal clock properly set in this place. It had been some number of hours since he arrived here. Kellyn was resting now, having taken some nourishment earlier. Applesauce and pudding was all the Doctor would allow for now, until he was satisfied her system was fully functional.
Lair Arie had paid a visit as well. She was old enough that Salvek had no fear of letting her visit her mother. When she walked in, she did not cry or show fear; she merely gave her mother her love, and asked Doctor Hartcort what she could do to help. Short of help, for reasons it pained him too much to speak of with the young lady, Hartcort showed her where the fresh blankets and linens were kept.
Salvek helped Kellyn to a chair beside the bed, as Arie tended to her sheets and clean blankets to replace the ones that we already on her bed. Kellyn settled in and dozed off, shortly before Salvek saw Hartcort and McKay taking Dabin Reece to the surgical suite.
Salvek himself gave in to the weight of his eyelids, drifting off in the chair at the foot of her bed, with his chin resting on the blankets by her feet. When he awoke, Dabin Reece had been wheeled up beside Kellyn’s bed. February was with him, and the first thing Salvek noticed was how pale Dabin still looked.
Seeing Kellyn was still asleep, Salvek left the resting area, and approached Doctor Hartcort.
“Is he all right?”
“Not sure.” Lance said, rubbing his brow at the persistent perspiration the clung to him like a shadow to the ground.
“What does that mean?” Salvek asked, looking for clarification.
“It means I don’t know.” The exhausted Doctor snipped. “His body is doing everything it can to keep his organ’s functioning, and fighting to keep Reece alive at the same time. We had to do a minor procedure to help keep his liver working. He’ll be fine for now, but he’s not out of the woods yet.”
“Please keep myself or the Captain posted,” Salvek said. He had many more questions to ask, but with Hartcort so tired, and everyone feeling a hole in their heart from the loss of T’Dara, now was not the time for it. He returned to Kellyn’s bedside, where Reece waved him down.
“Would you please…” Dabin began weakly, “See that this lovely young woman is escorted back to her quarters? You need to sleep too my friend. I’ll watch Kellyn.”
Salvek found Reece’s promise quite impressive, being that Kellyn, despite her weakened state, was still far better off than Dabin Reece at the moment. “I would be honored.”
“Dabin, I’m staying.” February said simply, and definably.
“I’ll be fine,” Reece whispered, unable to speak any louder. “I have Hartcort and McKay. Sophie needs her mommy rested, before she starts speaking French. I’ll sleep anyway.”
Salvek held out his hand to February, and she stared at for several moments, before reaching out and taking it. The duo nearly made it to the door, before Salvek’s ears picked up the sound of Reece whispering his name. He left February at the door, and returned to Dabin’s side.
Dabin looked into the Vulcan’s eyes, with the peaceful gaze of a wise old soul. “How close… to Trill?”
Salvek glanced uncomfortably back towards February, hoping she had not heard, which she had not. With no idea of the exact time or their position, Salvek could only hazard a guess. “About thirty hours.”
“Please have Lara make a call, just in case. They may listen to her.”
“But you can’t…” Salvek began, recalling the consequences of Dabin and February’s rejoining.
“Just in case.” Dabin repeated. “It can’t hurt to try. Sophie needs Reece.”
The Vulcan nodded, and again left Dabin’s side. Dabin watched him go, then let his head loll to the side, violating his promise to rest, and instead looking at the sleeping Lair Kellyn. As soon as he did, one of the nurses stepped between them, and pulled a curtain.
“Hmph.” Dabin mumbled. He lifted a weary hand and snatched a laser scalpel from the surgical tray Hartcort had left behind. He cut three sides of a rectangle into the curtain, and the flap fell open so he could see Kellyn. The buzzing sound got her attention, and she cracked an eye open.
“Salvek?” She asked, looking around.
“Sent him to bed.”
“You?”
“Fine.”
“Liar.” Lair answered. Dabin didn’t reply, he just cast his eyes down. He just couldn’t lie to Kellyn, he just couldn’t. Not about anything serious anyway. “You’re going to be ok, right?”
“Odds are in my favor, Doc says.” Dabin cryptically responded. Kellyn knew very well that could mean 99 to 1, or 51 to 49. It was a cop out of an answer, and they both knew it.
Kellyn, who had leaned forward a bit to peer through the “window” at Reece, flopped back into her pillow. She released a puff of air. “You’re just going to have to get better Reece. Don’t think if you try to leave I won’t follow you and drag you back. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
She waited for him to chuckle or salute, or something… but he just lay there. “Reece, you aren’t saying much.”
“Sorry,” He whispered. “Just hurts to talk. And I’m sort of afraid.”
Kellyn leaned forward again. There was just something wrong with the Universe if Dabin Reece was afraid. She found herself at a loss for words, wishing she was back at the bottom of that frigid lake rather watching the bright light of Dabin Reece fading before her eyes.
“I… I’m sure Doctor Hartcort fix whatever was wrong.” It felt nice to say, even if Kellyn really had no idea exactly what was wrong with him, or if it could be corrected. “Do you need any pain medicine? I’ll call T… call a nurse.”
Dabin shook his head slowly. “No, Kellyn, afraid for my girls. Not me.” He waited for a few moments before speaking again. “Remember when I told you about Leacynth? I think you owe me a story.”
Kellyn snickered. She did indeed remember, just recently in fact. And the Trill was right, she did owe him a story. She laid back into the pillows and stared up towards the ceiling, trying to think of just the right tale to tell.
“I think I was twelve, maybe thirteen. No, Andra had just turned five, so I was definitely thirteen. Our parents had left us in the woods, alone, as they always did when they were taking part in another strike or bombing.”
Reece just closed his eyes, listening to the sound of her voice, as Bajor began to take shape around him in his mind’s eye. The gusting wind made the trees sway back and forth in the night air. Trees that appeared only as tall dark figures against the even blacker sky, lit only by the pale glow of Bajor’s moons. It was a terrifying place for a child, especially when you knew monsters lurked all around you in the forest.
“They had left a few scraps of bread for us, said they might be gone for a day or two, depending on how far away the Cardassian camp was. Then they gave me the pep talk about how my being brave and watching after my sister now would be repaid when they finally freed Bajor. I would have given anything, Dabin, if they just would have stayed with us, even just for a few days. But every hit they made just made them eager for the next attack.
“So I did as I was told. We had to travel light but there were a few old texts and some small toys my parents let me carry, so long as it didn’t interfere with anything else they wanted me to haul around. My back would be screaming every time we made it to the top of a mountain, but I knew how much Andra enjoyed them, and they were all she had. I would read to her while she ate. The Resistance took all the flashlights, so I had to use a lens to focus a tiny spot of moonlight on the paper to read.
“I never ate until she was done. I would ask her if she was still hungry, and if she was, I’d give her some of my bread. She eventually got wise to me, and started saying no every time, because she knew I was giving up my own food to make sure she was full. ‘Are you sure?’ I’d ask her. Then she would ask if she could have just one more bite.
“This one particular night, the air was so dry, and Andra asked me for some water. There was a spring nearby, and no one had seen any Cardassians here in days, so I left Andra behind after she promised not to move anywhere. I got about a hundred meters away, when a boy shoved a Cardassian pistol in my face. He must have found it on the ground somewhere. He demanded any food I had. So I gave him the bread I had left. Just as fast as he had showed up, he vanished back into the woods.
Reece propped himself up on his elbow. “You just let him go? Was he too big for you? You must have been starving.”
“Yeah,” Kellyn answered. “I was starving, but no, he wasn’t too big. He was just a little punk and I’m pretty sure the weapon he had didn’t even work. I could have sent him home crying.”
“So why didn’t you?” Dabin asked.
“I was just so tired of all the fighting. The only thing I was more hungry for than food was peace and quiet. I just wanted him to take his stupid bread and move on, so I could get the water and return to my sister.”
Dabin contemplated a moment, and then frowned. “That’s rather sad.”
“I’m not done yet, hush.” Kellyn said. Dabin’s smile returned and he closed his eyes again, returning to Bajor.
“When I made it down to the riverbed, as I stepped out of the trees, I heard voices. There were two Cardassians, heading away from me, maybe only twenty yards away. They were patrolling the river’s path. If that boy hadn’t slowed me down for a minute, I would have stepped out of the trees right in front of them, and you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. If I had fought him for the bread, the Cardassians would have heard, and again you and I wouldn’t be speaking of this.
“The point is, Dabin, you have to choose your battles. You know me, when I choose to fight, I’m…”
“Awesome?” Dabin offered.
“Close enough. You’ve made a good career out of knowing when to fight and when not to.”
“Like when a Nausicaan in a gaming hall threatens to tear you in half?”
“That’s a good example.” Kellyn said. “But you are in the fight of your life now. You aren’t going to give up, Dabin Reece. Sophie may need Reece, but she needs Dabin too. If life is about choosing your battles, this is definitely one to choose. And so help me, if I hear you ask my husband, or anyone else, one more time how close to Trill we are, I’m going to kick your ass until your spots are scattered all over the galaxy like confetti, do I make myself clear?”
“Yes sir!” Dabin saluted from his bed.
“Good, because I like your spots right where they are.”
Dabin felt himself growing more tired, as his resistance to all the medications wore down. He yawned, and nuzzled his head into the pillow. “Kellyn?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for the story. Next turn is mine.”
**********************
Dabin Reece
Chief Science Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Dabin Reece
Chief Science Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012