[ussgeorgetown] Restless
- From: "N'Ellie Coyne" <nelliecoyne@xxxxxxx>
- To: <ussgeorgetown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2005 12:08:44 -0400
"Restless."
Josh Garrity, N'Ellie Coyne, Lish, and Doc Michaels
Josh jolted awake from the nightmare dreams, bolting upright to the fading
sound of screams and scent of burning flesh, then gasped, what slight color
he'd gained draining quickly as the pain brought on by the violence of the
movement tore through his hip, leg and chest. He laid back gingerly on the
bedroll again, trying desperately to draw even a shallow breath, blinking the
tears that threatened and wishing the monitors would quiet before they
attracted too much attention. After what seemed an eternity, he coughed weakly,
rolling to his uninjured side as his lungs found air at last.
The sounds of the monitors startled N'Ellie out of her half dozing state. She
jumped out of the chair across the room that she'd been sitting in, but knew
better then to approach Josh until he'd settled down. Once he was laying back
on his bedroll she carefully made her way closer to him, folding her legs under
her so that she was sitting on the floor next to him. Bringing out a hypo she'd
picked up on her way over she made sure he could see it. "This'll help." She
pressed it to his neck and then brushed hair from his eyes. "Another nightmare.
Wanna tell me about it?"
He closed his eyes a moment, still trying hard to drag air into his lungs,
shaking his head as thankfully, the dream faded. "I...I don't...remember..." he
gasped quietly.
"Your awfully shook up so it musta been pretty bad." She reached over and
grabbed his glass of water and held it for him. "Here, take a drink."
He shrugged slightly, sipping slowly, trying hard not to cough again, fidgeting
against the hyperkenetic energy that always followed his dreams. He needed to
be moving, building, fixing, doing something. Not laying here...he couldn't
just lay here...
N'Ellie smiled as Josh fidgeted. Being cooped up in sick bay could drive anyone
crazy, so it had to be hard on someone who needed to be busy all the time.
Getting up she walked over to her chair and picked something up. Bringing it
back over to Josh she handed him what looked like a PADD that was bent in the
middle so it could be opened and closed. "It's a game PADD. Go ahead give it a
try. The little yellow half circle eats the little dots and while staying away
from the colorful moving ghost things. When you eat the big dots the ghosts
turn blue and then you can eat them too."
Josh looked from it to her, listening carefully to the explanation. Finally he
shook his head, looked at her as though baffled. Looking at it again more
closely this time, a thought struck him. Turning it over, he looked around for
something he could use to loosen the screws.
The look in his bright blue eyes did not go unnoticed. N'Ellie quickly plucked
the game out of his hands and laughed. "Oh no you don't. I've had this since I
was ten and your not turning it into a transport buffer or a shield whatever or
an automatic door opener."
"...a main terminal interface," he provided quietly and somewhat sheepishly.
N'Ellie laughed. "Whatever.. Doctor Michaels said no working, no computer
access. So.." She got up again, taking her PADD game with her. This time when
she came back she brought over a wooden box. "Looks like your stuck playing
chess with me."
Josh considered the offer a moment, then nodded. Clenching his teeth, he
attempted to sit up to play. Paling further at the efforts and blinking slowly
as stars shot in across his vision, he managed at last to drag himself into a
somewhat upright position.
"Are you trying to get me fired or demoted or something?" N'Ellie laughed again
as she helped Josh back into a laying position. "Your not allowed to sit up.
We'll have to do this laying down." She set up the board quickly and then laid
on her own side so that she was laying next to Josh, the chess board the only
thing between them.
Josh breathed out as the room started spinning, even as she lay him back onto
the bedroll, blinking slowly until it stopped. When at last the spinning
stopped, he nodded slightly and turned the board around so that the black
pieces were in front of him and the white in front of N'Ellie, gesturing then
that she should go first.
N'Ellie smiled. "Such a charmer." She moved her first pawn and then looked up
at Josh. Though he still looked like death on ice, there was something, a small
something, in his eyes and it made her feel good to see it. "So how come you
never told me Hale had a girlfriend?" She asked, knowing he was tired of all
the "are you oks?" and "how are you feeling todays?" Besides, it was time to
start repairing that bridge.
Josh shrugged slightly, then wished he hadn't. Blinking a moment, he replied
finally, very quietly, "You didn't ask?"
N'Ellie laughed. It was so easy to laugh with Josh and she liked that. "We've
got to get you to understand the meaning of "scuttlebutt." and "gossip"" She
made her next move. "Have you talked to him since you've been awake? I know the
last time I saw him he was making puppy dog eyes at the other Captain lady."
Josh shook his head, suddenly very interested in the game as he picked off her
bishop with his knight and set it carefully back in it's place in the box.
Brown curls had fallen into Josh's eyes when he'd shook his head, and N'Ellie
couldn't help reaching out and brushing them away. "K... Hale's still a sore
subject." She moved her own knight and then looked up again. "You know he was
scared and worried and mad as hell while you were gone." She couldn't bring
herself to say out loud what had really happened. For now Josh has just been
'gone' or 'away' for a little while. "I heard that he and Murgo even got into a
fist fight."
Josh looked over at her, surprised. Obviously he hadn't been told that. He
shook his head in disbelief before pointing out the pawn in line to take her
knight, though declining to actually do it.
"Are you going easy on me cause I'm a girl?" She asked when she noted his
refusal to take her piece. "Play fair or else bud." She bopped the end of his
nose with her index finger and then moved one of her pieces. "And it's not just
rumor. Hale had a hell of shiner."
Josh moved back slightly, looking at her, surprised. Reaching up to touch the
tip of his nose, he smiled slightly, then moved his bishop into a position that
left her king indefensible and sighed. "Checkmate."
"I knew I should have brought shoots and ladders instead." Putting the chess
pieces back in the box, N'Ellie pulled out the checker disks. "Ok lets dumb
this down for the chick with the M.D. cause clearly no one told me you were
Bobby Fisher reincarnated." She smiled brightly the whole time she spoke so
Josh would know she was only teasing.
He looked at her, his ________________expression lost. He hadn't said she was
dumb, nor did he ever think so. Was she angry with him? He wasn't sure. And
Bobby Fisher? Who was that?
N'Ellie laughed. "Your cute when your confused. I was just teasing."
He blushed, knowing how often that would make him "cute" by her definition,
then smiled slightly, looking away as he quietly demanded, "Next time warn me
first," wondering if she'd realizing he was teasing as well.
She could count the number of people Josh joked around with on one hand and
still have fingers left over, so it made N'Ellie feel really good to be one
them. "But if I warned you then you wouldn't look so confused and then I
couldn't say you looked cute that way."
Josh actually laughed then, shaking his head. "Set the board," he said at last,
his tone near inaudible though the laughter lingered there in his eyes.
"I like the sound of your laugh." She told him as she set out the checkers. "I
wish you'd do it more but I understand why you don't." Pain and anger flashed
for a moment in her dark eyes before they lit up at the sight of the laugher in
his blue ones. "Michaels wants you to start eating soon. How we gonna work that
out mister picky eater."
He looked concerned at the anger flashing there in her eyes. His brow went up
quizzically, darting behind dark curls at it, then his eyes were lost there as
well once her question was voiced. "I eat," he answered, though he found
himself unable to look at her as he said it.
"We had three hour old baby pigmy mice that ate more then you." This was
something else they were going to have to fix. There was a whole word waiting
for him outside of sick bay. The world of Murgo. This fussy eating wasn't going
to wash with a certain auburn haired matriarch and N'Ellie wanted to defuse as
much as she could before the gagh hit the fan. "What if we planted a small
window box of veggies and kept it over there." She pointed to the table. "And
anything else can come from that replicator and nowhere else? We'll have Mac
run a couple tests on it and everything."
Pigmy mice? Josh mouthed, uncertain what those were, then shook his head. "I
have...plants...food...just have to..."he gestured toward the exit. "and...I
have a replicator..."
N'Ellie triple jumped Josh's pieces as she shook her head. "All of which are
out there and your in here. So.. Option B is you let me pick from your garden
and bring you the veggies and other foods from your place."
Josh considered that a moment before nodding slowly. Okay. He'd accept that, he
supposed. Try to anyway. He trusted her. He'd eaten her food before, though
admittedly only one bite. He didn't believe she'd do anything to it. Not
intentionally anyway. He might want a tricorder, though...to check it...just in
case...
"Only if you promise only to use it check your food." She replied without
looking up until she realized he hadn't said anything.
Josh nodded, indicating his agreement without looking up from the board,
missing her ________________expression at his choice to switch languages
altogether.
I still don't understand this. N'Ellie replied, slipping into thoughts instead
of words. "I mean I know I can do this, or kinda do this, cause my Papa's
Betazoid. But your doing it too. I'm not pulling the thoughts from you your
sending them.
Josh looked at her confused, as though, while he understood the words she
'spoke' just fine, he was honestly not understanding what she meant.
We're speaking telepathically, Josh. N'Ellie looked at him softly. It hadn't
dawned on her that he didn't even realize what they were doing. I know you and
Zack do it, I just don't get how we're doing it. Then she smiled. Though I like
being able to.. It's.. Well. It's kinda special. I mean aside from Zack and me
you don't do this with anyone else do you?
By habit, one always entered Sick Bay quietly. Lish was no exception. The
main room seemed to be calm enough but he could see two people waiting in Dr.
Michaels' office. Judging from the sheer size of the shadow, one of them had
to be Commander Menkara. The other he wasn't too sure of but he assumed it was
Zachary. Even if Admiral Murgo was here, Lish was certain there was no way Mr.
Menkara would allow any harm to fall upon Zachary. He would check on them
later. Glancing toward the opaqued private area, he told himself he would
check on Pas and Calista later as well. But his main objective was one of his
favorite patients.
He came to a complete halt when he got to the area where he knew Dr. Michaels
usually let Joshua stay. He'd intended merely to check in and perhaps say
hello but the sight that greeted him made him sniff in amusement and made his
eyes crinkle.
"Who's winning?" he asked softly.
N'Ellie jumped at the sudden sound. Looking up sheepishly she smiled. "I am I
think. But he's already beaten me in chess."
"And me as well," Lish said wryly. "May I join you for a few minutes?"
Looking at Josh, N'Ellie waited for him to give the go ahead.
Josh nodded, indicating a place on the floor nearby and shifted slightly, then
winced, gasping, as the pain shot through his leg and hip again. He blinked
hard, looking away from Lish and N'Ellie as he concentrated on just breathing
until it passed.
N'Ellie quickly retrieved one of Josh's pain meds and pressed the hypo to his
neck. "Don't make me duck tape you to the floor." She teased.
Josh shot her a frustrated look and shook his head. "...forgot.." he whispered
through clenched teeth. He looked at Lish and shook his head again. This being
still stuff was hard.
Lish lowered himself to the floor and nodded at Josh from under his braids. "I
am sorry for taking so long to come by but I stopped to be with Seren and
Challornetha for a while," he said softly. "N'Ellie was the one who let me
know you were awake."
Josh shot a glance at Lish filled with concern. "how is she?" he asked in
Andorian.
"There are precious few people I trust her care to. In this case, she was with
Dr. Kaartaren. When I went to pick her up, there was a Marine guarding his
office door. Challornetha is just fine," he said, the relief evident in his
voice. "She is with Seren at the moment."
N'Ellie laughed lightly. "The marine musta been Eddie's idea. They've been
placed all over the place to keep watch." A deep sadness lit up her eyes a
moment as she thought about the few they'd lost to the G'Tal.
"Most likely," Lish agreed. He turned his gray eyes back to Josh. "There was
also Seren's uncle. I think he was following us for a while. He asked that I
offer his greetings to you. And you, as well, N'Ellie. It seems that you two
have met."
Josh nodded slightly, to indicate his greeting should be returned. He
remembered the man from the Golden Eagle, during the time just before all went
completely wrong there.
Something N'Ellie said reminded Lish of another thing he thought Josh needed to
know. "N'Ellie, have you told Joshua about the results of that little
skirmish?"
Josh looked from one to the other, lost. Skirmish?
N'Ellie laughed at the mention of knowing the Romulan. "Gressa bit him and I
was the doctor on call when he came in." Then she sobered and shook her head.
She didn't think Josh needed to know about it. She didn't want him somehow
turning it all around so that it somehow all ended up his fault.
Josh frowned, knowing without question that N'Ellie was keeping something
important from him. He looked to Lish to tell him what he'd missed.
Lish tilted his antennae toward each other in a shrug. "The are gone, Joshua.
They have been made to leave and made to understand that further trespass will
not be taken kindly."
"The ships my Grandfather sent are escorting them back to Gorn space." N'Ellie
added. That she would have told him, but she'd want it to come from Hale. Oh
well.
"This is also with the backing of Betazed and Andor," Lish added.
N'Ellie nodded. "It pays to have family in certain places." She smiled a
little.
Joshua started to respond when a voice more annoying than nails on a blackboard
sounded in, sending his monitors jumping, screaming his discomfort louder than
he ever would. "Well, now, how is our patient today. Oh, look, his awake! And
my, what big eyes you have," she winked, moving to fluff his pillow for him.
"Nurse Keller." N'Ellie said as she looked at the woman. "I've got things
covered here." She smiled while looking right at the woman. It wasn't something
she did often cause it not only gave the person she was doing it to a headache,
but it gave herself one as well. She slipped into the woman's mind and pressed
just the right buttons so to speak to cause a sudden migraine. "Why don't you
check on my other patient."
Lish couldn't help but cringe along with Josh. Even as long as he had been in
Starfleet, there were still some voices that hurt Andorian senses. Even Gressa
had toned her voice down for him and Challornetha. "And perhaps, Nurse, you
would think twice about interrupting me when I am working?"
"Look at his monitors, though," she protested, rubbing her temples, "My
goodness, he's a mess, looks like he's in pain all ovah the place. I think I
better contact doctah Michaels, or that friend of hers, Doctah Bashir.
Meantime, you should go, maybe let him rest." Tapping her com without waiting
for their response, she called out loudly," Doctah Michaels, if you're not
monitoring the other room, here, you maybe want to. Your young patient is awake
and oy, the noise their making. I'm shooing the visitors out now and I'll wait
with him until you get here. Keller out."
Lish stood up and looked Keller in the eye. "Perhaps you are unfamiliar with
how I work, Nurse, but I do not always do so in my office. I am working and
you are disrupting a private session. Could please leave and do so quietly? I
think if you did, Dr. Michaels might not find out you were breaking
confidentiality rules."
N'Ellie closed her eyes and applied more pressure. Her father had shown her a
few handy tricks despite her mother's protests. If she did this right the woman
would have a headache for days. "I asked you to see to another patient, Nurse.
Besides I'm not a visitor. I'm the monitoring doctor. Now get out."
"Alright...alright...just doing my job too, you know...."she whined loudly,
shaking her head at the two unreasonable and inconceivably riled doctors.
"Oy...my head..." she continued whining on the way out.
Josh's eyes were closed, his face a mask of neutrality, though his monitors
gave clearer indication of how unsettling he found her to be.
Opening her eyes, N'Ellie rubbed her own temples. "This one's gonna last a
little while." She laughed lightly. "But it was worth it. I'll see if Michaels
can't fix it so she stays clear of you."
Josh nodded slightly, and his monitors slowly grew more quiet, returning almost
to the levels they were prior to her entrance, though his eyes remained closed.
"Perhaps, N'Ellie, you might suggest Nurse Sindar be in attendance instead? I
know for a fact that he is infinitely more softly spoken," Lish said ruefully
as he rubbed the base of his antennae.
"With a voice like that she should be working in a dairy making cottage
cheese." N'Ellie added with a chuckle.
"Michaels to Coyne. Everything all right in there?" Rachelle asked. She'd been
busy reviewing records and hadn't even heard Nurse Keller's com until Julian
winced and asked her if they could somehow render her mute. Transport her vocal
cords into space maybe, he'd suggested hopefully. After finally getting her
laughter under control, she'd contacted N'Ellie directly. Knowing how
protective she was around Josh, she had no illusions of just who was left in
charge in the room.
N'Ellie pressed her comm badge with one hand while rubbing her left temple with
the other. "Yes, Ma'am. Everything's fine. Josh's alarms seem to go off
whenever he hears Keller so I think we should remove her from making rounds to
his room."
"Agreed. I already took her off his round schedule, but evidently she didn't
bother to check. I'll make sure she understands that his care is already
arranged." Rachelle turned to Julian with a grin. "Want to tell her
personally?"
"Not a chance, Doctor. This is your ship and I'd hate to butt in where I have
no authority." He replied quickly, sending Rachelle off into gales of laughter
again.
Rather than subject her ears to that voice again, Rachelle sent her a text
message with her new assignment, inventory of the storerooms. At least that way
she could talk to herself and not add to the patient's suffering.
See. All fixed. N'Ellie smiled at Josh.
Josh shook his head, his eyes still closed. I need to move...I have to...I
can't...just...lay here like this...I have to...move...to
do...something...please....
"Please..." he whispered at last...the sense of urgency bordering on panic
seemed to permeate every fiber of her being as his pleading sounded both in her
ears and inside her head.
You have to wait until you're a little more healed, Josh. N'Ellie's heart was
breaking. Turning to Lish she asked. "Do you think you could bring him a sketch
book and some pencils?"
"Of course," Lish said as he rose to his feet. He headed for the replicator
outside and returned with a regular artist's sketch pad and a set of charcoal
pencils. "My thavan favors these as a tool."
Josh shook his head, sighing. They didn't understand. Still without opening his
eyes, is full attention on managing the pain and keeping the monitors as level
as possible, he shifted slowly, carefully, once again striving to achieve an
upright position. One step at a time, he told himself. First sit...then
stand...then you can do more...
Even though he knew about Josh's aversion to touch, Lish held out a hand meant
to restrain. Pale blue fingers stopped just short of his shoulder though.
"Joshua, please stop. Right now, you are a classic example of the Human saying
'the mind is willing but the body is weak'. I know you want to be released
from here but you are not physically capable of that yet." He blew out a soft
breath of irritation, not at his patient, but at his own inability to convince
him of what he needed to do. "Even Seren's uncle has seen the wisdom of
allowing things to heal."
Josh gave no indication he heard Lish at all as a thin sheen of sweat broke
upon his brow. He struggled to remain conscious and alert, shaking with the
effort of managing the pain but still determined. First sit...then stand...then
you can do more...
"Joshua..." Lish began, a cautioning tone in his voice. "You cannot do this.
If you push when you are not supposed to, you will only end up here longer."
He looked at N'Ellie, hoping that she would add her voice into his reasoning.
"That would mean no work and less time for Zachary to see you. He wants to see
you."
Josh stopped then, as thoughts of his brother won out against the overwhelming
urgency for movement he felt. The frustration almost palpable by then, he layed
back, his eyes filled with pain, anger, and distress. He shook visibly, as
though suddenly overcome by a terrible chill. "I ...can't...just lay here..."
he plead, near desperate for one of them to understand. It's too dangerous.he
thought, One does not remain in one place like this, especially when wounded.
He shook his head again. How to make them understand?
"Thank you," Lish said as he watched him settle back down. He knew the
complacency wasn't going to last though. There had to be a way to keep him here
as long as he needed yet also keep him occupied. An idea sparked itself in his
mind but it would probably be resisted. "There is something we might do to
help you, Joshua..."
There's not longer any danger, Josh. N'Ellie picked up a damp cloth and started
to wipe away the sweat from Josh's pale face. Your safe. You can lie here
without worrying someone is going to get you. They're gone and if they weren't
there would be no way for them to get past the Marines and the Klingons,
especially this Klingon.
Lish watched N'Ellie before he spoke any further. Actions often spoke louder
than words and, to him, her actions were speaking volumes. It pleased him for
both their sakes. I can only hope that N'Ellie doesn't kill me for this
suggestion.
"Joshua, we just spoke about Seren's uncle before. You know he is aboard. It
seems to be that the two of you often think alike. What would you say if, in
exchange for your submitting peacefully ministrations of our medical staff, I
asked him to come here each day and work with you, to help you strengthen
yourself. Perhaps even in the gymnasium if we can get Dr. Michaels to agree."
Josh nodded slightly in agreement, fighting the urge to be ill that found him
yet again and wishing someone would turn those noisy monitors OFF..just for
awhile...drawing a shaking breath he looked at the circuits closely,
considering ways to do it himself.
N'Ellie reached up and muted the monitors, setting them to cause her tri-corder
to sound of something went wrong. "You'll need on of us with you, Josh. You're
not strong enough yet but if you ease into it then maybe it'll be ok."
Glancing at the now silent monitors gratefully, he gave a noncommital shrug at
the idea that he go more slowly. He needed to be back to work, and he knew that
laying here too long simply wasn't an option. So long as they were all in
agreement, he thought, his eyes closing again, despite his best efforts at
keeping them open...
A small smile tugged at N'Ellie's lips as Josh drifted and fought sleep. "Give
into it all ready. The more you sleep the faster you'll heal."
Josh shook his head, forcing his eyes open with great difficulty. "...not time
to sleep..." he answered, his voice no more than a sigh. No sleeping, he
thought. Not yet. With sleep came dreams....
"A few more mintues then if you don't go on your own I'm going to start reading
"Goodnight Moon.".. It works on Joanna's littlest one." She laughed.
Josh shot her a completely lost look. Goodnight Moon?
N'Ellie laughed. "It's a book." She explained, leaving out the part about it
being a baby book.
Josh nodded slightly, his eyes growing heavier still. A book. Of course. What
else would she read?
"I promise not to leave you sleep too long, but give in, ok." N'Ellie brushed
curls from his eyes and tugged on his blanket. It was warm and the gravity
higher then normal, but he still looked cold.
"One of us should stay nearby, N'Ellie," Lish said softly as he left with her.
"My antennae are tingling and that always tells me something is going to
happen."
"I'm not going anywhere until Mac comes and makes me go get some sleep of my
own." N'Ellie replied. She walked Lish out and then went back to Josh's room
where she planned herself on her chair and pictued up one of her medical books.
Arguing was no longer an option as waking and dreaming crossed paths and other
hands tucked in a curly-haired child. ~Sweet dreams, mon amour.~ she whispered,
smiling as the tiptoed out of the room and into the peaceful night...and then,
just that quickly, the dream changed...
....and all hell broke loose...
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