Late Night Physical?

Posted on Sat Oct 26th, 2019 @ 3:37am by Lieutenant Jéanne-Thérèse Marsol & Lieutenant Commander Jacob "Jack" Devine & Lieutenant Elara Evander

Mission: Down the Rabbit Hole
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD:07 - 1945

Elara was hopeful that there wouldn't be too many people in Sickbay, mainly because she wanted to get in, get Jacob checked out, and go back to her quarters. She liked being in her quarters with the lights dim (if on at all) and where there was no need for her to be social with people outside of Jacob and Pippin. She held his hand, it was sort of weird but then not at the same time...it was something she'd done all along as a child but she'd thought nothing of it then, it was something different as adults. "Let's hope that it's scan, dermal regenerator, and a hypospray and we get sent on our merry way," she told him as they entered, trying to sound peppy about it. She didn't like Sickbays, though, so she really wasn't all too thrilled to be going even if she felt like it was necessary.

It would have been impossible not to sense Elara's discomfort even if he hadn't been empathic. "We don't have to do this, you know. Or you can wait back in your quarters for me," Jacob offered.

"No, it's fine," Elara insisted quietly. "I want to make sure you're okay."

Jéanne-Thérèse had stayed late tonight as she was trying to make sure that everyone was checked out; that and their staffing levels were below what she would have liked them to be and no Chief Medical Officer had been identified for the position yet. So, she was winging it. Hearing the doors open, she left her office and went over to greet the two newcomers. She had recognized them from the Senior Staffing briefing, but didn’t know them personally. “Good evening, how can I help you two?” she asked.

"Late night physical?" Jacob offered with a crooked smile and a glance in Elara's direction. "And maybe a little fixer upper?" And this was awkward. There he stood with Elara holding his hand while the doctor looked at him quizzically. "I had a bit of a training accident earlier today," he went on to explain. "Nothing but bruises on the torso but we thought you had better look it over." Translation: 'She's worried.'

“I would have rather done a physical when you’re not bruised up,” Jéanne stated with a smile. “So top off, let me take a look and we can schedule you a physical as a followup to ensure the dermal regenerator does it thing. Tell me about this training accident.”

Jacob let go of Elara's hand and started unbuttoning his shirt as directed. "I suppose every doctor's different," he said. "My last one just waved the tricorder over me, consulted the screen, declared me healthy, and let me go. I didn't figure a few bruises would interfere with that." He finished undoing the buttons and pulled off his shirt and laid it over one end of the biobed and turned around to put his back to it. Two sets of eyes regarded his torso.

The bruises marked the insides of Jacob's shoulders in front, crossed his chest, then continued down on either side in patchy marks based on the angle of body strain against the harness he'd been wearing. To the trained eye it was probably obvious the source of the injury but just in case, "We have the flight simulator running just below full safety for a reason. Minor injuries lead to better response time and muscle memory. I should have, however, adjusted for a new pilot and I didn't. Don't worry, this will definitely insure I don't forget again. It looks bad but it's not the first time I've been harness whipped in my career. I was simply going to let it heal on its own but was convinced not to." With that last bit he shot a look at Elara that was pointed and highly mischievous before turning his attention back on the doctor. “Though I’m not sure what your outlook is on natural healing verses procedure aided for minor issues.”

"Yeah because it looks nasty and you're clearly in some level of pain," Elara said with a slight shake of her head. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for the doctor to give her determination. He was special to her, so she was more than allowed to fuss in whatever way she wanted. "I don't understand you being silly and not being healed up right away." She supposed that if she wasn't so blocked in her own way from his emotions, maybe she'd better understand the level of pain he was in, but no matter, she didn't think it would keep her from worrying.

"I didn't want to make him feel worse that he already did," Jacob shot back, eyes on Elara. He looked around them to assess that they were indeed alone then looked at the doctor. "Can we just keep this between us?" He breathed out heavily, wincing at the pain the movement cost him. God knew he hated being caught in the spotlight on this end of things. "I know I'm not indestructible but I'm hardly fragile either." He put his hands on the biobed behind him on either side and with obvious effort hopped up to sit on the edge. One hand reached up absently, fingers sliding over the blue stone hanging from a black cord about his neck before dropping to his side to brace himself against the bed.

“Performing a physical now, would be out of the question. Your blood pressure is elevated due to the pain you exhibited when getting up on the bio-bed and when removing your shirt,” the doctor stated as she performed her initial trauma assessment. “If we were at a time of criticality, you are correct, you can live with them as a reminder to not do it again. You aren’t the first in the crew to have that mentality. However, as we now have the time, might as well make you feel comfortable.

“Now, a quick run of the vascular regenerator will stop the underlying cause of your bruising and aches from the damage to your muscles. That will allow you some comfort and relief. If you want to keep the bruising, then we can stop the treatment there. If you want to take advantage of the down time and your time in my company tonight, I can heal the bruising with the dermal regenerator. There will be some residual aches from the healing process, but nothing to the scale of what you’re currently in. If you would like, I can give you an analgesic for overnight and you should be right as rain tomorrow. So how would you like to proceed?” she asked allowing him to make his choice for how far she was to take his treatment. Everyone had their own scars and ways to handle themselves with their injuries. She hadn’t gotten around to fixing her scars from the past since coming back to the future, and the Ekahl wore everything like a badge of honor. Klingons were of the worse patients out there. They would come in if it was serious, but only if it was serious.

He sat there with both ladies looking at him. Generally Jacob liked the spotlight but not when it had to do with being less than himself. Attention was one thing but pity was not anything he desired. "Let's go with the vascular regenerator and get things moving but I really don't like to give my body a complete holiday when it comes to healing. The bruising is of no consequence." She could save herself the time and leave it alone. He was slightly annoyed to know that he'd have to make yet another trip later for his physical and yet he understood the given reasons. His eyes shifted from the doctor as she prepared the procedure to Elara and he impulsively and playfully stuck his tongue out her.

Elara couldn't help but beam and roll her eyes in silent immediate response. She didn't think that he could really fault her for being worried even if he didn't think it was necessary. "You can't fault me for being concerned, Jake," Elara told him. "You might be used to this...but I'm not."

"I suppose," he said but in reality what Jacob really wanted to say was that while Elara might not be used to it she ought to be able to trust him to know his own body. After all, the doctor gave no indication that Jacob was wrong in his self assessment. He would have healed on his own given time. That said, Jacob wasn't about to get into an argument with the doctor as a referee.

“All right,” the doctor replied as she then went and grabbed what she needed and then came back. She instructed him to lay down as she ran the vascular regenerator over the bruised spots, spending a bit more time on the spots that had darker bruising than over the other areas. “My schedule is open for now, so tomorrow you’re more than welcome to swing back through and have your physical. That way you can just get it out of the way,” she said with a smirk as she finished. “There you go. Go ahead and stand and see how you feel.”

Sitting up was surprisingly easier. Well, maybe not ‘surprisingly’. Jacob’s muscles had lost that ache and he knew he’d forget the injury until someone or something prodded a bruise. “Thanks doc,” he said as he got up and made a grab for his shirt. “I guess I’ll be seeing you in the morning then after training.” He slipped his shirt on and started buttoning it up. “I’ll try to make sure it’s just for the physical.” That last bit was said jokingly as he looked up at the doctor and flashed her a smile.

She returned a half scoff half laugh at his snarky comment. “I would hope so,” she commented. “Anything else I can do for the either of you?” she asked as she picked up the equipment storing back in their places.

"I'm fine as long as Jacob is cleared," Elara said quietly. She still hated being there. There was some comfort in knowing that Jacob had been seen, treated (even if not one hundred percent so), and could go. Elara couldn't help but worry over him, she wasn't sure if he super appreciated it, but she was doing it anyways. She moved closer to him, not feeling like she needed to be so distant now that the doctor was done.

“I guess that makes us good,” Jacob slipped his arm around Elara. “Thanks doc. We’ll see our way out.” He smiled at the doctor then herded Elara toward the doors. “C’mon, time to make like a tree.... and leave...”

Jéanne laughed lightly as they started to leave. “Have a good night. Come back if you need anything.” She shook her head and remembered the days that if it wasn't bad, don’t get seen.

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Lt. Jéanne-Thérèse Marsol
Assistant CMO

LtCmdr Jacob "Jack" Devine
Squadron Ldr - USS Andromeda

Lieutenant Elara Evander
Chief Science Officer, USS Andromeda