<USS Avalon> "Ties That Bind"

Ties That Bind
By Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury
and Junior Lieutenant James Monroe

 

Monroe tried to busy himself at the console, but his thoughts swarmed him. 
Forester was dead, Liss was in sickbay, and he forced himself to remain on the 
bridge despite the fact that the Avalon was away from any threats. He cleared 
his throat softly, trying to find anything to do. 

A few more minutes passed by and James gave up fighting his worries and 
concerns. He had someone else take over tactical and headed down straight for 
sickbay. 

It was a mistake to put Forester so quickly in a situation like this. It was 
his mistake to let the young man into the team of elites when he knew Forester 
just wasn't ready. And he should've gone in place of Liss. It would be him in 
sickbay, not her. Sliding silently by the busy medical technicians, James 
opened the door to her room. He was surprised to see her kneeling on the floor, 
looking a lot better than what the reports said.

Looking up with the light from the door silhouetting a figure, Elissabeth 
blinked from the exposure and covered her eyes. Tel had only beamed out minutes 
before and she hadn't collected herself enough to stand and formulate any sort 
of action.

James already knew that this was a mistake, but he forced himself to stand 
still after walking in, the doors closing and darkening the room again. "Are 
you alright?"

She was having a hard time processing all the information, especially not 
completely comprehending all of what had just happened. She needed to sort 
through it all. "Computer, lights at 10 percent," she ordered and yet winced 
when it struck her eyes. She reached for the edge of the bed, moving to stand, 
but still found herself a bit weak.

"What the hell did they do to you?" James whispered as he held back from 
reaching out to her. It was an effort. Lesions showed around her hands as well 
as burn marks, and there were patches of hair missing. Her lips were cracked 
and there was blood around her mouth. She wasn't even suppose to be on her feet.

She stood slowly and leaned against the edge of the bed, looking at him with 
hollow eyes. "Nothing. I did it myself. Are you finished staring at me now? I 
need to get back to work." Just the look on his face told her enough about her 
appearance.

"You're not going anywhere," James said flatly. "You're staying here until the 
doctor releases you. You don?t like it, take it up with the Captain." He then 
frowned, "Don?t take this the wrong way, but how is it you're on your feet this 
quickly?"

"Takes more than a little radiation poisoning to keep me down," she smiled 
sadly, still hurting over the gift Tel had just given her. "How did Forester 
deal with it? Is he bad off sick? Poor kid."

"He's dead," James said quietly.

Elissabeth turned a dead eye on him and felt the room spin for a moment. His 
words hit her harder than she imagined they could. Her knees went weak and she 
felt herself sinking towards the floor, but there was nothing she could do to 
stop it.

Monroe quickly walked up, catching her out of instinct. Knowing that she was 
still angry at him, he kept the distance between them, making sure she was able 
to stand first before letting her go. He wanted to help and comfort her, but he 
knew she'd resist it.

Instead of pulling away like she wanted to, however, Lissi leaned against James 
for a moment. "I'm sorry..." she whispered. "I didn't... expect..." she just 
let the sentence trail off, not sure what she really wanted to say anyway. 
John...dead? All the implications hit her anew and she felt the tears welling 
in her eyes, tears that her other half was screaming at her not to shed.

He would've pulled away if Liss wasn't in the condition she was. The closeness 
hurt, but on impulse he wrapped his arms around her, "I know. I should've 
fought you more on having Forester on the team. It's my fault."

It was too much and she allowed herself to fall into the moment, showing the 
emotion before it was whisked away and shut down. She cried quietly into James' 
chest, pulling him to her in desperation. Though a million thoughts whirled in 
her mind, she couldn't vocalize any of them.

"I?m sorry," Monroe whispered as he buried his face into her hair, keeping his 
arms wrapped around her, "I'm so sorry."

She clung to him as he held her, and for the briefest of seconds it was as if 
everything were all right. Of all the damn stupid things in the many thoughts 
that were there, "I loved you," had to be the one that quietly came out of her 
mouth. The guilt, the frustration, the anger, the pain... and yet, those were 
the words that formed, as if they were the only ones she'd been thinking over, 
which was far from true.

"I still do."

As if his words had stunned her into silence, she dried her tears and pulled 
away gently, some of the coldness returning to her eyes. "Could you brief me on 
what's been happening? How long have I been out of it?"

"A couple of hours. We're at a space station. Undergoing repairs," James folded 
his arms close to his body, trying to shake of Liss' presence so close and then 
suddenly pulled back again.

She looked down for a moment and then up into his eyes. "Thank you," she said 
quietly, meaning for both the information and the moment of comfort.

Monroe just nodded silently, head titled a little as he tried to find something 
to say to her. Changing subjects, he asked "Did you need the doctor?"

"No... I'm feeling a lot better than I look, or assume so, since you seemed a 
bit disgusted by my appearance earlier." There was no accusation in her words, 
she was just stating a fact. 

He frowned at her, "It wasn't disgust, Liss, it was shock."

"Either way. Roan must've done a good job. I'm a little tired, but I don't feel 
too bad. Think you could bring me a new uniform?"

Monroe gave a grim smile, "Unless you wanted the replicated, I?m not allowed in 
your quarters."

"Dammit, James, now isn't the time to be getting difficult with me. I need to 
report to the Captain and I need a uniform to do it. Would you please help me 
out or do I need to call someone else?"

"Actually, you're the one being difficult. I said you're staying until the 
doctor releases you. That's that."

"You know me well enough by now to know that your word or your will power isn't 
going to stop me, so either you help me or I'll do it myself. There are things 
I need to do and I don't have the luxury of lounging in bed all day." She 
stopped, realising she was getting angry. "Look James, I really don't feel that 
bad, considering. If I feel worse, I will go back to bed. Now, will you please 
help me?"

He shook his head, "I'll be back with your clothes. Consider this an official 
complaint by the second in command of your department. And let?s not forget the 
doctors when they walk in and find you gone."


                
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