"Back In The Closet"
[Previous post: "Time for Action", written by the eager Mark Hutchings]
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Setting: USS HATHOR, Sickbay
Lea and Susan had both gone into Sickbay after their run-in with David
and Uxtar. The Cns looked puzzled while Lea seemed concerned about
something. Obviously the men had said something to the women back in the
corridor.
Being the friend that she was, Susan immediately went to see if there
had been something that she could do to help. Her own short talk with
Uxtar could wait. "What's wrong? What did David say to you?"
The CMO instantly put on her happy face and smiled at her friend.
"There's nothing wrong," Lea replied, making sure to keep eye contact with
Susan. The smile on the CMO's face was bright and as fake as could be.
Trying to convince a concerned friend that there was no problem could
be difficult. This was even more difficult when that had not been the
case. To try and deny *anything* to a ship's Cns could prove to be an
even more impossible task. It would have been like trying to lie to a
reflection in a mirror. Combine the two and Lea had been faced with
something that she could not go up against regardless of how hard she
might have wanted to try. "I'm just concerned about David," Lea amended.
"Why didn't you just say so right away?" Susan asked, not appearing
hurt by her friend's first answer.
"Because I did not want you to think that I was over reacting. Again!"
The CMO said through her giggling. If she was not more careful, Lea
could end up with a reputation of turning the smallest of things into
full blown messes.
"There is nothing wrong about being concerned for a friend," the Cns
reassured. "Plus, you didn't confine him to Sickbay or some other part
of the ship."
Lea huffed and abruptly turned around, wishing for that brief moment
that she had long hair. That way she would have been able to *hit* Susan
without actually laying a hand on her friend. "You shouldn't make fun
of me," Lea pouted. "That's not very nice."
"I'm sorry," Susan said hugging her friend from behind, the two of them
acting like high school kids. "So are you going to tell me what David
said to make you concerned about him?"
"I guess that is part of the problem," the CMO whispered. "It is not
*what* he said, but *how* he said it. I can't explain it; I just have
this feeling that there is something on his mind."
"I would be safe to say that there is something on *everyone's* mind,"
Susan pointed out. "We are going up against not one, but two of those
probes. We might have the knowledge of what happened the first time
behind us, but there are still many unanswered questions. You probably
just picked up on his concerns for you," the Cns concluded with.
Knowing at least in part some of the feelings David and Lea shared, this had
seemed like the logical conclusion.
"Maybe you are right," Lea nodded.
"What do you mean *maybe*?" Susan teased. "Of course I'm right, I'm
the ship's Cns and that makes me right all of the time," the Cns added
playfully, tilting her head to one side and grinning at her friend.
"That is of course true only when I am not wrong about something, and I am
not wrong about anything."
Lea laughed as she reached for a medkit, opened it and searched for
something in it.
"What are you looking for?" Susan asked truly curious as to what had
suddenly been so urgent.
"A hypo-spray filled with some kind of *head-shrinking* compound," the
CMO giggled. "At this rate your head won't fit through the door."
The two women laughed and continued their playful banter. At least
this way the two of them could keep their minds off what the HATHOR had
been about to encounter. This also served to keep their minds off them
being both in the smallest Sickbay in Starfleet. It also helped to keep
them from thinking about the universe of problems they might have to
deal with all too soon.
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Lt. J.G. Lea Summers 2006 post #066
Stardate: 60341.1330
Tiffany Rose {lady_tiffany_rose@mail.com}
Chief Medical Officer
USS HATHOR
