<USS Avalon> "Unreachable"

"Unreachable"
Garrity, McEntire, Jameson, Chase, Redgrave
 
Making her way down the hall towards Josh's place, Annabelle smiled at the  
young man she passed. She was pretty sure she'd seen him before but couldn't  
tell where, so she just shrugged it off and stepped in front of Josh's door, 
and  rang the chime
 
"More visitors," Anna muttered. "Come in." 
 
Josh stepped into the shower quickly and began to scrub in earnest, intent  
upon cleaning away the clutter that seemed to have so quickly gotten out of  
hand. He needed cleanliness. Order. He needed his life back as it was. 
 
"Good morning, Anna." Annabelle said as she stepped inside the room. "How's  
he doing today?" 
 
"Nutty cleaning and the Reaper came to visit. I think he got through to  Josh 
though." Anna shrugged as she stood from the table. "He was trying to  
destroy his sketches, try to stop him, would you?" 
 
"Reaper?" Annabelle asked as she walked over to the table Anna was at.  
Looking down at the sketches she frowned. "Maybe one of us should hold onto  
these 
until he's ready for them?" 
 
He scrubbed until his skin felt raw then just stood there, allowing the  
steaming hot water to beat down upon his skin. He closed his eyes, fighting  
against the nagging sensation in the back of his mind. The one that kept  
insisting 
Zack was really gone. 
 
"Sure, I can take them back to my quarters if you want." Glancing down at  
the disturbing images again, she shuddered. "And the reaper is a preacher man  
who Mac asked to visit. Nice enough guy, just a bit too religious for me."
 
Annabelle nodded at the idea of Anna taking them, and then grimaced at the  
idea of a preacher coming to talk to Josh. "I'm sure he was as thrilled with  
that visit as he would be if the shrink showed up at his door." 
 
"He seemed placid enough." Gathering everything up, she yawned. "Why are  you 
so early anyway?"
 
"Am I early?" Annabelle asked, her cheeks turning pink and her shoes  
suddenly becoming really interesting.
 
Shrugging again, Anna headed toward the door. "Don't get me wrong, I think  
it's great. Means I get to grab a little sleep before the next shift. Oh and  
he's taking a shower, in case you were wondering." Anna slumped out the door,  
waving as she left. 
 
Finally, Josh stepped out into the icy chill of the room, drying quickly  
before wrapping a towel around his slender waist. He started to walk toward his 
 
room, thinking to dress and resume cleaning when he froze, paling, his eyes  
widening.
 
Annabelle waited until Anna was gone and then made herself at home on the  
couch. Should have asked how long he'd been in there. Annabelle thought as she  
looked over at the bedroom door. Biting her lip as she thought wither or not 
she  should check in on him, she decided it would be best given his habit of 
taking  the vent way out. Getting up from the couch, Annabelle headed into the 
bedroom  and then over to the bathroom door. "Hey Josh are you a prune yet?" 
 
It was gone. All of it. The whispering echo that told him it was wrong. He  
couldn't feel it. He couldn't feel him. He was alone. He began to shake  
uncontrollably. 
 
Knocking on the door again, Annabelle could feel her heart pounding.  "Josh?" 
When there was again no answer she didn't think twice about opening the  
doors and walking in. Her breath caught and her heart stopped at the sight of  
Josh standing there in the middle of the room looking as if his world were once 
 
again crashing down around him. "Josh what's the matter?" She asked as she  
approached him slowly. 
 
He looked at her, his wide eyes filled with panic. "I can't....feel..." he  
gasped, his quiet voice filled with desperate terror. "....I  
can't...feel...anyone..." 
 
She couldn't keep the confusion off her face as she closed the distance  
between herself and Josh, but Annabelle wasn't about to let the fact she hadn't 
 a 
clue stop her from trying to help. Reaching up she placed her hands softly on 
 either side of Josh's face. "It's ok, Josh." 
 
He didn't pull away. He didn't move. Instead, he continued to look at her,  
as he sank to his knees, shaking his head, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I  
can't...feel..."he repeated quietly.
 
Annabelle sank to the floor with him, pulling his thin frame closer to her  
own. "You can't feel what, Josh?" She asked softly as she held him, fighting 
the  shock that was pulsing through her mind. 
 
"Anyone.." he answered as she drew him to her, offering no resistance. "I  
can't... feel... anyone...." he said again gestured, first to his head.. then 
to 
 his heart, desperate for her to understand.
 
"Just anyone or your brother?" She asked as she ran her fingers through it  
wet mess of brown curls. 
 
He looked at her, unable to answer. Who else was ever there? After a  moment, 
he whispered, sobbing. "I can't...feel...him...." 
 
It took a while for Annabelle to clue in. He'd point to his head before,  and 
back in the academy the hand full of times she'd seen them together they did  
seem to have that creepy Betazoid thing going on, but Josh was human. "I know 
it  must feel like your all alone now, Josh, but your not." 
 
He shook his head. She didn't understand. "He's...I can't....I can't feel  
anyone..." he repeated, his voice becoming softer, more frightened.
 
Annabelle bit her lip hard. She wasn't sure what to do. Call someone? Keep  
talking to him? Or just show him that he could feel if he wanted to? After a  
moments thought, Annabelle felt some kind of mix of the tree was best so she  
leaned down and kissed Josh on the lips. 
 
He felt her touch, her gentle kiss. He started to pull away, then stopped  
and returned it tentatively. After a moment, he backed away, looking at her  
sadly. "I can...you're here...I ...but...you're not...." he gestured slowly  
toward his head again..."Why ....why can't...I can't.."slowly the panic crept 
in  
again. "I can't...feel...you..." His eyes seemed glassy, the shaking more  
profound as he whispered again, deathly quiet. "I can't...feel..."
 
"I'm not a telepath, Josh." Annabelle explained. "You'd have to let me in  to 
feel me." The look on Josh face told her that he didn't understand what she  
was saying. She needed help as she pressed the comm badge that looked so out 
of  place on the strap of her dress. "Chase to McEntire and Jameson. We have a  
problem."
 
"Jameson here, what kind of problem?" Anna swiveled on her heals and headed  
back down the corridor, flinching in the knowledge of her loss of sleep. 
 
Mac flinched at both the words and the tone of voice. He glanced at Vilya,  
who nodded her understanding as he passed his work order to her and headed  
toward the exit. "What's up, 'Belle?" 
 
"Something I don't think any of us thought to conceder. He doesn't  
understand why Zack's not in his head anymore." Annabelle told them both as she 
 once 
again went over to Josh. Reaching up, she caressed his face as she talked  to 
the others. "I don't know what to do." 
 
It hit Mac, then, the thing he'd forgotten. That odd sense of being two  
parts of a whole between them, the two brothers. He remembered how, though  
Joshâs 
file insisted he was psi-normal, he'd never quite believed it when around  
the two of them. "Shit," he blurted as the realization hit home. What happens  
when that kind of bond is broken? he wondered. "on my way..." he said into the  
comm. 
 
Being the closest, Anna was back at the door within a few minutes. She  
pressed the chime but wasn't sure if she should just try overriding it. 
 
"We'll find out how to make it better, Josh, I promise." Annabelle said  
softly as she leaned in and kissed him again. "Your not alone in all this." She 
 
whispered against his lips. 
 
Though he moved not at all, something in his crystal blue eyes seemed very  
far away as he failed to react or respond. 
 
"Computer, emergency medical override of the door to Lieutenant Garrity's  
quarters, authorization Lieutenant Jameson." The doors slid apart and she 
dashed 
 inside, calling out to Annabelle. 
 
Annabelle sighed as she rested her head against his chest for a moment.  Then 
she took him by the hand and lead him out into his bedroom where she handed  
him his clothes. "Get dressed, Tiger. Mac and Anna are coming over." Stepping  
out of the bedroom and away from Josh, it took everything in Annabelle not to 
 cry at the mere sight of Anna. "I don't know what to do. He's so far away." 
 
Mac ran toward home, trying to remember what he'd once learned, and praying  
what he thought he remembered was wrong, when he spotted her. Redgrave. 
Melanie.  Betazoid, right? She'd know. He ran to her, grabbing her by the arm 
and 
turning  her to face him. "Quick...what happens when a strong telepathic bond 
is 
abruptly  severed. To the one left, I mean?"
 
Melanie blinked as the tall broad shoulder engineer grabbed her. "Uh..  
well.. um.." She blinked again. "It's like losing a piece of yourself." She  
finally managed to get out. 
 
"Okay.. but what happens? I mean...you'll still be okay, right? How... how  
serious is it?" He looked at her pleading, the urgency in both tone and  
expression making it clear this wasn't just a random question. 
 
"You get use to it not being there." She explain as she wondered what  
brought on this sudden line of questioning, and why out of all the telepaths on 
 
board he grabbed her. "Even with other presences in your mind, you still miss  
and long for that one person. It just takes time to learn to live without it. 
It 
 took me a while to get over not feeling my father in here." She tapped her 
head  and hoped she was helping with what ever she was trying to help with. 
 
"Okay.. but what if there are no other presences. What if nobody else can  
get in there. What if they were it? Then what?" Mac knew that other telepaths  
only got what his friend Coyne had once called "whitewash" from the kid. Nobody 
 else was getting in there. 
 
Melanie blinked again. She was still rather knew at understanding what had  
been going on in her head all these years. "The telepath in question has to be  
willing to allow others in when they have themselves guarded that way." 
 
"But what if they don't understand it themselves? What if they don't know  
how?" Mac pushed, drawing her with him as he resumed his course toward his  
quarters and Josh. "What if they can't?"
 
"There is no can't when it comes to the mind, Mister McEntire." Melanie  told 
him as she allowed herself to be taken along. "A tear like that can  
laterally cause a person to... drown.." 
 
Josh sank to his knees, sitting upon the floor without responding or  
reacting to Annabelle's directives. It was though he simply hadn't heard her. 
As  
though he wasn't there. 
 
Mac quickened his pace at that, almost running with her. "He doesn't know.  
Doesn't understand." He knew this was going to sound stupid. "I don't think he  
realizes he is a telepath. Only that he and his brother have a bond."
 
Looking over her shoulder Annabelle watched as Josh sank back to his knees,  
turning quickly to Anna she pointed. "See!" As quickly as she could she rushed 
 back into the bedroom and dropped down next to him. "Hey you? You with me?" 
 
Anna analyzed the situation, grabbing Josh's med kit on her way through.  
"He's in shock, give him a little space." 
 
"Mister McEntire I'm not exactly the perfect person to come to this with. I  
didn't even know what was going on in my own head until I found out my birth  
mother was Betazoid." Melanie said as she was rushed down the hall. 
 
He stopped before their quarters, looking at her. "You're who we've got,  
though. I know you've studied this...you did do the med thing, right?  
Please...look...I need you're help." 
He rushed in then, leaving her to  decide what she'd do next as he kneeled at 
his friends side. 
 
Melanie sighed as she stood in the hallway. She really needed to see Eli,  
but she couldn't just let someone suffer. Walking into the room she wasn't  
expecting a large group of people. "You already have a doctor here, Mister  
McEntireâ
 
"She's not a telepath," He told her quietly before turning his attention  
back to Josh. "Bean? Can you hear me?"
 
"Give him space!" Anna barked as she charged a hypo. 
 
Mac stepped back to where Annabelle stood, his face a portrait of worry and  
fear. "When did he get like this?"
 
Annabelle's eyes never left Josh's as she spoke to Mac. "After he got out  of 
the shower." 
 
Melanie walked over to were Anna was and looked down at Josh. "He's going  to 
need someone a lot stronger then I am." 
 
"Can you recommend someone on board?" Anna said as she continued treating  
Josh. 
 
"There's a Vulcan in my department. I think he'd be best." Melanie offered. 
 
Mac put an arm around Annabelle, trying to mask his own worry as he  
addressed hers. "He'll be fine. They'll help him. You'll see."
 
"They have to Mac.. I promised him we'd make it better." Annabelle said as  
she leaned into Mac's side. 
 
"Can you call him?" Mac asked quietly. "would he come now?"
 
Melanie nodded and stepped away as she pressed her comm badge. A few  moments 
later she came back over and nodded again. "He'll come but he says Josh  
needs to rest first." 
 
"Will he be okay to do that?" Mac asked, looking at his friend's  
deteriorating state.
 
"I'm sure Ms. Jameson can see that he'll be in no harm until Selak gets  
here." 
 
"He will be fine." Anna stood and glared at Mac and Annabelle. "The pair of  
you should go and get some rest yourselves." Pointing at the door, she said,  
"Out." 
 
Annabelle's eyes went wide. "But..." 
 
"You're the one who've been here all night, Anna," He reminded her gently,  
ignoring the fact he'd just come off shift himself. "Shouldn't you get some 
rest  yourself? Just tell me what to do."
 
"Hey, I just got out of bed! Both of you go get some sleep and I'll watch  
him like I'm here to do." Annabelle added. 
 
Rubbing her eyes with the balls of her hands, Anna shook her head. "I'm  
fine, seriously. I'll make Josh as comfortable as I can then let this Vulcan  
chappy take over. For now, I want every non-essential person in this room to  
leave, clear?" 
 
Mac winced slightly at being deemed 'nonessential' but knew enough not to  
argue with that tone. Guiding Belle gently out and to the sofa, he sat wearily  
down. "It's okay," he told her."We'll be right here if he needs us. It'll be  
okay."
 
Anna lowered herself to the floor next to Josh, setting up a tricorder to  
measure his life signs. She kind of hoped that this guy would show up soon  
because there was no way she would be able to stay awake much longer. "Great  
stuff, I got a shift in less than an hour."
 

Annabelle just nodded as she drew her legs up and curled herself into  Mac's 
side. "Do you always play the big brother?" 
 
He smiled slightly. "Somebody has to."

Other related posts: