By Vol Tryst, Fleur Le Marc and Dabin Reece
100223.2200
Concurrent with Projection
-=Mandara Spa; Disney’s Grand Californian Resort=-
100223.2200
Concurrent with Projection
-=Mandara Spa; Disney’s Grand Californian Resort=-
"Ahhhh. Just like the symbiont caves back home." Dabin Reece sighed contentedly as he sank down lower into the iron bathtub filled with what the spa called 'medicinal mud'.
"How do people do zis? I don't understand how anyone does zis." Fleur plucked the slices of cucumber that had been placed upon her weary, drooping eyelids and frowned. "How do you just lie here and let people fuss over you? I should be looking after the children."
"Don't frown, your face will crack." February nodded toward the bright green clay masque that had been applied to Fleur's face, as she tapped Fleur on the arm and pointed to the chair she was supposed to be reclining in. "Let Camen look after the kids for awhile. You've been pulling round the clock Mommy shifts for days. Time to recharge you."
"Sleep is better." Fleur scoffed.
"There is therapeutic value in spa treatments like these. The endorphin release alone is good for you." Vol mumbled, as he lay draped in a sheet and face down on the massage table. A masseur was working loose the knots in the counselor's previously tense shoulders. "Relax, Fleur. That's an order from the Ship's Counselor."
"I am civilian, I don't take orders from you, Betazoid." Fleur was only teasing and Vol knew it and so he lifted his head a moment, looking up at her, winked while sticking out his tongue simultaneously in a pure rascal-like manner.
"Listen, Frenchie, you've been workin much too hard and we all know it. How will the crew weather the sugar cookie shortage if you overdo it so much you have to go on medical? So shush and put your cucumbers back on." Reece instructed. "You're killing my mud buzz here."
“I vould not dream of killing ze buzz of the great Dabin Reece.” Fleur said sarcastically, before lifting the cucumber slices back her face. She did her best to steel her resolve against the impending cold slimy feeling that was going to come when she laid the slices back on her face.
For Reece, this was a guilty pleasure beyond imagine. Doctor Hartcort, or “the task master” as Reece had come to call him, had finally paroled him from round the clock medical supervision and deemed him fit for a day out on the town. Though he had privately instructed Vol Tryst to call him if Reece showed any signs that he might be overdoing it.
So, as Reece sank further into the mud, letting out a contended sigh Vol relaxed as well, seeing that, if anything, Dabin Reece was only growing more healthy as a result of time spent being pampered with his friends, then he would have been being locked up in a medical bay somewhere with Lance Hartcort.
Fleur tried not to think about that fact that Reece was wearing nothing more than a Speedo - or at least she hoped he was wearing a Speedo- inside the mud pit. In fact, she knew exactly what to discuss to keep her mind clear of such unsettling thoughts.
“I was hoping to ask you all, as long as you are here…” Fleur began.
“Does this have anything to do with Starfleet?” Reece asked, hoping to head off discussions or work at the pass.
“No, zis is about my child, Tress.”
“Oh, how is the little aviator in training?” Bru asked. She knew Sophie and Tress had a bright and long friendship ahead, and could not help but love the little Bajoran girl. “She’s obsessed with flight. A girl after my own heart.”
“She iz fine, and zat iz why I am worried. Doctor Hartcort offered to give her an implant, that will possibly make her hear again. Camen and I are to meet with a colleague of his, an officer called Alison Schneider here on Earth. I cannot help but feel that she is perfect az she iz, but is it wrong of me to deny her the chance to hear again if they can do it? And should I risk her good health for this, no matter how small the chance of complication iz?”
Reece was suddenly wishing she had asked a question abut work, since this was about ten times as deep. There was silence for a few moments, broken by Dabin. “Vol?”
“Sorry, Vol is unavailable to answer your transmission. Please leave a message after the... aaahh…” The Betazoid replied, his voice muffled by the table he was laying on, as well as the stubborn knot, which finally released.
"Vol." Dabin said with more urgency.
"What?" Vol lifted his head out of the table, staring at the Trill all dazed.
“Aren’t you going to answer her?” Vol felt Dabin snickering in his mind. The Trill had lobbed the ball into his court and he knew it.
Vol sighed, laying his head back down on the massage table so that he was looking to his side, directing his next statement to Fleur explicitly.
"I know that you are aware that you are asking this question to an off-duty officer... however I feel I should warn you that, were you to hear my answer, it would not be of the off-duty variety. I have a series of opinions regarding… this, and would not want to catch you off guard if you aren't prepared." Vol cautiously explained, he didn't want to scare the concerned mother, but he didn't want her thinking this was a casual chat either.
“Please, Vol.” Fleur avoided use of his professional title only because of their current surroundings in which she felt it’d sound pretty ridiculous. Counsel is what she was seeking, though, and so this was the man whose opinion would hold the greatest amount of weight with her. “All I ask is for your honesty.” Vol sensed she was not finished and so waited for her to conclude her thoughts. “It seems like she has only just adjusted to her new life aboard the ship, to this new family, as much as she loves us it has still been an adjustment for both her and her brother. I am afraid that if we upset that applecart now, that she may never be again as happy as she is today.”
Vol laid his head back down within the hole of the massage table.
"I believe that children will take any stimuli they experience and turn it into a lesson, sometimes incorrectly. For example; an untied shoe that doesn't lead to falling means that one can get away with it. A high-pitched voice that causes laughter in others has the effect of becoming admired. I believe, that in this case, if the surgery takes place Tress will believe there is something wrong with her, and the surgery is fixing that. I believe that the lesson that she, or any other child, would remember post-surgery is that there is something wrong with being Deaf, that 'disabilities' are unacceptable... and promptly dealt with." Vol had been calm through his explanation, and now he just let the words hang in the air.
Fleur couldn’t hide the concern in her features despite their current appearance as she tossed aside the cucumber slices from her hands and grabbed the nearest towel. Quickly she began to wipe the eerily Orion looking masque from her face. “That is exactly what I have been afraid of,” she whispered softly. “Thank you, Counselor.”
“Now hold on, I thought you were opening this up for round table discussion.” Reece sat up in his bath and wagged a muddy finger at her. “So allow me to introduce myself, my name is…”
“Mudd.” Bru chimed in aloud, only meaning to think it to him but having spoken the word instead. With it came a mild warning that it was not wise to get too far in between a mother and what she thought was best for her child. Then again she reminded herself, Reece had been a mother and a father long before she and Dabin had Sophie, and so she shrugged her shoulders apologetically as she looked down at the bubblegum pink polish drying on her toes following her just-finished pedicure. “Sorry, Dabin. You were saying?”
“I was sayin’ you can call me Galahad cause I’ve got a couple of things to say.”
Vol now looked at Fleur again and she at him and the Betazoid finally just let his head fall back down onto the table face first and gestured toward the masseur to continue. He felt that spot in his shoulders tightening back up by the second.
“I’ve been through some stuff Frenchie. And I’m going to go through some stuff again. Vol is just as smart as he looks.”
“I’m not sure how to take that.” Vol mumbled. Reece ignored him.
“If I had to give you any advice, it'd be to talk to Tress. Kids are really incredibly more intelligent than adults. When was the last time a kid started a war? Never. They learned everything from their role models, good and bad. If you think it is best for her to know she is perfect the way she is, then tell her, but if she resists, and misses the sound of your voice, which children often do, then tell her you can help if she wants to try. But she will let you know. Vol is definitely right though. There is nothing wrong with the precious little girl. In fact you better watch out or I’m just going to keep her to raise with Sophie. Am I right Vol, or am I right?”
"You may indeed be smarter than you look Dabin." Vol joked.
“You should’ve seen me when I was a chick.” Dabin shook his head. “I was ho-ot.”
“Right you were, love,” Bru’s voice took on just the slightest indication of a roguish accent, and she growled softly as her upper lip curled into a sneer that was so uncharacteristic for her that the thoughts which accompanied it actually made Vol’s head snap upward so fast he thought he’d given himself whiplash.
“February Grace! Get your mind out of the…”
“Sorry, sorry.” Bru blushed deeply. “Deveral lives on.”
Fleur came to Bru’s rescue by redirecting the conversation. “February, what is your opinion of all of zis?”
“My opinion, darlin’, is,” Bru began, then she stopped and snorted in frustration, shaking her head to try to physically rattle the rest of Deveral out of it and take control of her thoughts once again. “Sorry. I agree that you should ask Tress. 'Cause two year olds just tend to know what they want in a way that the rest of us can only marvel at.”
“And they tend to be pretty blunt about it too.” Dabin added.
There was a moment of silence before Vol spoke again. "Is the surgery reversible?"
Fleur was taken aback by the question.
"I... I do not know. I can't imagine it iz." Fleur’s voice trailed off, what did that mean? Vol answered the unasked query.
"If it isn't, that needs to be a part of the conversation with Tress. She may miss your voice, she may wish to hear sound again. But, if she changes her mind, and as intelligent as children are they do sometimes neglect to consider long-term implications. She may not have the option to go back to the way things were. Surgeries of this nature typically cannot be back-peddled upon."
"Well, I certainly intend to find out. Thank you, my friends." Fleur exhaled a long, weary sigh.
There was so much to think about, and she only wished she had the ability to see in to the future for an instant; to look Tress in the eye in ten years time and ask her which decision she would have her parents make now.
***********************************************
Lieutenant Vol Tryst
Ship’s Counselor
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
&
Fleur Le Marc
Afterthought Café
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
&
Dabin Reece
Soakin’
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Lieutenant Vol Tryst
Ship’s Counselor
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
&
Fleur Le Marc
Afterthought Café
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
&
Dabin Reece
Soakin’
USS Serendipity NCC-2012