Doctor Love

Posted on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 @ 10:20pm by Commander Logan Vance & Lieutenant Jéanne-Thérèse Marsol

Mission: Down the Rabbit Hole
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD: 3, Time: 1735

As promised, Logan made his way to Sick Bay. Under normal circumstances he might have called it off and claimed he'd forgotten. Jéanne-Thérèse was going to be a temptation. Unlike Adlyn, who would do all the rejecting for him, Jéanne had no such issue with a causal relationship. In a weird way, Amanda had been right about her seduction talent. At least when it came to a man like Logan whose weakness was attractive women.

Unfortunately for Logan, his leg was really bothering him today and has been for several hours. He didn't need to be back to get dinner for Amanda for another thirty minutes, so he had time to stop by. Hopefully it also meant there was no time for… other things.

He entered Sick Bay, that was thankfully rather empty. It wasn't all that surprising since most of the ship had not arrived yet but it was a relief nonetheless.

"Ah, Commander. I wasn't sure you were going to make it," Jéanne said with a hint of tease on her voice. "Hop up," she offered to the main surgical bio-bed. "The beautiful thing of a brand new ship, brand new toys," she said playfully. "How bad is the ache now?" The question was posed as she started turning everything on.

Logan did as she asked and hopped up on the bio-bed. "There is definitely a lot to get used to. The Hawking felt like it was kept together by kind words sometimes. That's what happens when you're given three days to figure out a new assignment."

He rubbed his lower leg. "It's… not feeling great today. In fact, worst it's been in a year." And that wasn't a pick up line. It was actually pretty sore.

"I'm sorry you're in pain, and it's gotten worse. The good news is that it'll help me come up with a diagnosis easier." The arch closed over his legs and then a hologram representation showed above. "How deep is the pain? Like right one the surface or deep near the bone?" She asked as she narrowed the view to just that section of his leg.

"Near the bone," he replied. It had been that way since he'd been shot all those years ago. It was painful enough that the flesh part of the wound was barely felt. At least until Jéanne had gone digging around in there. Granted he had asked her to do it but he was an irresponsible and careless idiot. She was supposed to be the smart doctor lady. He still felt she needed to take a lion's share of the responsibility.

Her fingers moved through the holographic image pulling layer by layer off. “So no skin or muscle pain per se, just down near the bone?” She figured that it was something to do with maybe a sliver of a fragment that got missed, or something to do with the artery from being messed with too many times. She knew she was fallible and could have missed something. Considering he has had other doctors look at it over the years, she felt confident that it wasn’t her fault.

"Not really, no. I mean, the muscles will sometimes ache if I'm on it for too long but I think that's because I'm compensating for the pain," he explained. "I haven't really figured out a pattern of why it's better some days than others."

“Pain is usually that, sometimes it’s there to remind us that we are human and other times it’s there just because. Hmm,” she murmured as she got to the muscle that lined around the bone. “Well, I’d say it’s to remind you that you’re human and not just cause.” She blew up the image and showed the sliver. “Bone fragment, microscopic. Looks like it was weakened over the years and broke off, causing some scarring in the muscle right over it.” The sliver was barely noticeable until she blew it up. “Looks like the muscle caught it not allowing it to heal cause face it, legs are used all the time. Five minutes and I can make it better for you. Just need you to slip out of your pants.” She activated the screen to cover his body from the waist down to his mid thigh. “I’ll give you a moment while I get my tools.”

He smirked at the screen she provided. "It's not like you haven't seen it before." He slipped off his uniform which left him only in his boxers and waited for her to come back. He supposed it was more for anyone that could walk in, then again, he wasn't shy in the first place. "So is this gonna be something that will be an instant fix? Or heal over time?"

“True, I messed with that damn bullet wound four times already, what’s a fifth?” she asked sarcastically as she returned completely not acknowledging the other side of that comment because she had seen him naked twice, but he said he wanted a raincheck. Jéanne knew when to give space and when to go for it. “It’s going to be a combination of both.” She injected something into his leg giving a neural block to the entire leg. “Don’t worry, I just don’t want you to have any discomfort. Modern medicine luxuries. You’ll be able to walk out of here soon.” Then she set out the tools next to his left leg and pulled up a stool. “Surgery now to repair the microfracture and the free floating shard. I’ll remove the excessive scar tissue that’s been forming and then ultrasonic therapy to keep the area nice and open while you finish healing on your own. That’s the part that will require repeat visits.”

Using the laser scalpel, she made one deft cut and went down slowly, layer by layer as she cleared a path to the shard. Then she applied the osteogenerator after she cleaned out the microfracture of the calcification that started to build up in the area. Once that was all done, she used the laser scalpel with the help of the holographic exploded display above him and used that to remove scar tissue in the muscle and the nerves that ran along that area. Then she used the protoplaser and the dermal regenerator after applying the microsutures along the damaged nerves.

Logan did his best not to flinch. It was an odd sensation. "I can't tell if it's a tickle or a burning sensation I'm feeling but I'm definitely feeling something." It gave him goosebumps. He never really thought of pain as a stimulant but at the same time, the rush of adreneline was all too familiar. Op after op, the sensation of pain sent his body into overdrive, into an instinct to survive. Sharp pain like broken bones or open wounds were often times overwhelming. Burning sensations were much the same. It was the dull pains, the chronic aches that delivered just the right mix of endorphins and adrenaline that kept him going. "Almost done?"

“I’m already done. I’m surprised you felt something through the nerve block; may explain why you felt that being achy much sooner than someone else. Seems like your nerves are in overdrive. You should have spoken up sooner; I could have knocked out you.”

"Yeah, I'm not sure I trust you enough to give me something to completely knock me out. You might… do things," he chuckled. "Also, I guess I should have told you I've built up a tolerance to that type of stuff. Spy and all that…"

“Psst,” she blew him off. “I am capable of being a professional.” She gave him something that dissolved the nerve block. “Might be a bit sore for the next twenty four hours, then come back tomorrow or the morning after. I can check it to make sure that everything took, and then I can run the ultrasonic on it and you’ll be on your way in less than five minutes. You can get dressed,” she smiled and turned taking her tools and instruments, giving him the bay to get dressed.

Logan slipped back on his uniform and waited for her to return. So far, his left leg felt pretty good. He was sure that would change as she suspected.

"So, how have you been keeping busy?" he asked when she returned.

“Since yesterday?” she asked. “I’ve been going through physicals for the crew that is currently assigned and present. Taking inventory and making sure that we have what we may not think we need but should have. The nice thing about being on a previous deep space assignment, I know what to look for and it helps we have our own storage facility on this ship. Exhilarating stuffs.” She offered him a smile. “You’re good to go. I’ll see you tomorrow after shift or the morning after?” she asked.

"Trying to shoo me away?" he teased. "You got something else to do?"

She raised an eyebrow. “I was technically off duty a couple hours ago. I haven’t decided what something else I need to do would be yet. Why...?”

"No, I was just wondering why you were so quick to get rid of me," he replied. Then again, maybe leaving sooner rather than later wasn't such a bad idea. "No, I should let you get going so you can enjoy your downtime," he backed down.

“I just figured you were rushing home since you’re off shift to get dinner going.” She then backpedaled. “Why, what were you thinking?” she asked having noted the change in the tone of his voice.

"I was… I am," he corrected. "I need to be back in my quarters to take care of that in twenty minutes. So I should get going. Right now." His tone was definitely one of trying to convince himself rather than confident.

She looked him over with a raised eyebrow still. She could tell that he was trying to convince himself of something that it seemed like he didn’t quite want to do. The confidence that he normally held in his voice had been there, and now it quite wasn’t. “You were thinking of cashing that raincheck?” she stated the question more as a statement than a question. “Or did you have something else in mind.”

"It honestly was going to be get in and get out…" he replied and then realized how that could be interpreted. "And I didn't mean that ironically. If you can believe that. I mean, did you ever have that one thing that you just swore you would stop doing and just… grow up? And then you're like one more time and then one more time becomes two more times and two more times becomes ten more?"

“That’s usually an indication of an addictive personality,” she stated seriously. “I offered you that because of how things were five years ago, and I know you are trying to do right by your daughter. So let that rain check sit a bit; I’m not going anywhere.” She walked up to him and rested her hand on his arm. “I do care for you, and counseling could help if you feel it’s more than just a personal choice and that you have to grow up as you said.”

Logan waved her off. "Yeah, I'm not the type of guy that sits down and talks about his life story to some total stranger. So not really an option for me. Plus it doesn't look too good if the XO of your ship is worried about some kind of… sex addiction for lack of a better term. It sounds ridiculous to even say."

“Not exactly what I was going for, Logan. If you like, you’re more than welcome to talk to me about it, as a friend, not a medical professional. I mean I could bring out the medical professional if you want, but that means I would have to shelve the friendship for awhile, which I am willing to do for you. Your choice,” Jéanne offered.

"I don't want to make this awkward between us," he shook his head. Not that he wasn't tempted. He'd not really had anyone to talk to about the situation with Amanda. He'd said things here and there to one other friend but he didn't feel comfortable revealing certain aspects of the relationship with her. Then again, he was always much more comfortable with the physical and not so much talking.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh please, it’s only awkward if you make it awkward. After everything that you and I have been through on our own and together, the shock factor just is bleh. I knew who you were that moment in the field and when we got out of dodge. We all have baggage,” she commented. “Keeping it bottled in isn’t healthy. Owning it and working through it is essential. So when you do decide you want to talk about it, you know my door is open.”

"Are you vying for the counselor's job too?" he joked and then got more serious. There were exactly four people in his life that knew personal pieces and none of them had the full story. Adlyn knew about his past, who he had been and what he had been willing to do to protect himself and his family. His sister, Kaitlyn, knew the intimate details of what it was like growing up with him. He'd shared a lot of his feelings of loss of family and finding strength to carry on with a special Cadet named Kit Kacy. Jéanne had probably the most rounded view of him even though she lacked many of the details. Probably because she had entered his life so close to a turning point. "I'll make you a deal. Come over tonight after Amanda is asleep. Share some of the wine you gave me. I'm probably gonna a fair amount of alcohol to talk about this anyway. And then we see where things go."

“What time is that exactly?” she asked.

"2100," he told her. "2200 if you want to be safe."

With a smile again, she replied, “I’ll see you at 2200 then. I’ll bring another bottle, just in case.”