A Simple Treatment

Posted on 21 Jul 2016 @ 1:00am by Lieutenant JG Daniella Blake & Ensign Xavier Hernandez

1,917 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Risky Business
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 6 || 0155 Hours

Xavier stirred where he lay on the floor in his quarters, his right arm throbbing as if he had landed on it. He raised his head and the first thing he noticed was Pequeno whimpering and staring at him intently and he started to reach out with is right arm automatically. That was a big mistake and he cried out at the pain that was sent from his arm to his brain. He looked down at it and discovered that there was now an extra joint between his wrist and his elbow but that the bone hadn't broken the skin.

With the ship still vibrating and rocking, he used his left arm to get to his feet and tried not to move his right arm too much. What am I going to do with Pequeno? he wondered as he looked at the terrified puppy. "I can't leave you here," he said finally. "And I'm hurt, so I can't carry you. Screw it. You're coming with me." He didn't care what Medical had to say, he couldn't leave the tiny, scared puppy alone in a shaking ship where he could be hurt.

Xavier looked down and saw that he was wearing a pair of black cotton jogging pants and decided that was good enough for Medical and whistled for Pequeno to come with him as he headed out the door. It was a slow process as the pain of his broken arm caused him to see spots, and the ship tossing and turning didn't help, not did the fact that he had to stop multiple times to reassure the puppy when he needed reassuring and more.

Finally, he reached Medical and made his way in with Pequeno at his heels and saw the number of people who were being treated with everything ranging from bruises to open wounds and more. To state that he needed help would be obvious, so he headed to an area that wasn't swarming with patients and waited his turn.

Dani was the first to notice Xavier walk in with little Pequeno trotting right behind him. She wanted to oogle the puppy and baby talk at him, but it wasn't the time of the place. There were too many people that needed her attention, and based on the fact he was currently favoring his right arm meant that he was one of them. She grabbed a tricorder from a table she'd just placed it on and began to make her way toward him.

She was dressed in a gray spaghetti strap top and a matching pair of shorts. Sadly, her attire... or lack thereof... was covered in the blood of others, but that came with the territory when you were in the medical field as she was. Being tossed out of bed in the wee hours of the morning wasn't on her list of fun things to do, either, but based on what was surrounding her presently, the bumps and bruises she suffered as a result were minor in comparison. "Come with me, and we'll start the scans. Doctor Abrams will be with you just as soon as he's able to, I promise."

The tiny blonde would have caught his attention a lot more if her strap top and shorts hadn't been covered in blood and Xavier hoped it wasn't hurts. Still, she didn't seem to be openly bleeding and he guessed that she was a nurse or medic by her words and he nodded. "I hope you don't mind but I had to bring my K-9. He's too little to watch out for himself," he said, his voice filled with pain as he walked after her, Pequeno hot on his heels but sniffing everywhere. The scents were overloading his senses, but he knew that as long as he stayed with his friend that it would be okay.

"He should be fine as long as he doesn't get into anything," Dani said, pulling a chair out for him so he could sit down. With the department as overloaded as it was, there weren't any vacant biobeds. If she had to, she move him back to one of the rooms in the med ward, but this would do for the time being. "Other than your arm, are you experiencing pain anywhere else?" She pulled the probe from the side of the device and began to run it a couple inches away from his body, starting at his head.

"No," he said before he looked at Pequeno "Stay, Pequeno," he ordered and started to make an accompanying gesture with his right hand before the pain of the movement made him gasp and go pale.

Dani brought the probe to his arm as she looked at the readings it produced. "You've fractured the radius and ulna, and it's not a clean break, either. There's also some minor muscle tearing as a result. I'll let Doctor Abrams take a look at this. Sit tight, and I'll be right back." She offered him a friendly smile and gave his left shoulder a squeeze before disappearing through a group of people.

The friendly smile in light of the current situation was helpful but the pain in his arm made him curse in Spanish as the ship shuddered again. "What about painkil...." he started to ask before the tiny blonde disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Then he remembered the various states of others in the sickbay when he had been led through it. He shook his head and began to focus on anything but the pain in his arm and the fact that Pequeno was starting to whimper again.

It didn't take long before she was back with a hypospray in her hand. "I'm sorry about that. I needed to get you something for the pain, too, otherwise I would have been back sooner. Doctor Abrams had to rush into emergency surgery. That patient is in pretty bad shape, but he's authorized me to go ahead and take care of you. If you're okay with that?"

"As long as it stops hurting," Xavier said. "And....I forgot what I was going to say. I'm okay with you treating me...but are you hurt?" He gestured at the blood all over her skimpy outfit.

Dani looked down to her blood soaked pajamas and shook her head before looking back to him. "No, it's not mine. I just suffered from some bumps and bruises that didn't require any medical attention." She placed the hypospray against his neck and injected the medication. "As soon as that kicks in, we'll get to work."

He sighed as the anti-boo-boo juice started through his system and fought the pain to a standstill, but it was still an odd sensation in his right arm and he could feel bone grating against bone with each shift of the ship. "Thanks," he said. "Do you know what's going on? I woke up with Pequeno whining and saw some really weird distortion outside of the ship and then I grabbed him. The next thing I know, I'm on the floor and my arm is broken."

"Sadly, I don't. After I gathered my bearings once I was thrown out of bed, I grabbed my combadge and got here as fast as I could," She answered, then frowned. "I've got to set the bone, and it's not going to feel too pleasant. On three. One... two... three." Gripping his arm in the proper places, the petite nurse adjusted the bones to set them where they needed to be, then ran the probe over it to be sure.

Xavier braced himself with his free arm and despite the painkiller in his system, he still saw stars that had nothing to do with space and he paled again. "Aieeeee!" he exclaimed before the pain lessoned. Pequeno gave a short little bark and bristled at his feet, then hid behind one leg.

"I'm so sorry," Dani said with a frown. She didn't like hurting people, but sometimes it was necessary before she could make them well again. This was one of those such cases. "I'm going to start now, and I'll explain what I'm doing. First, I'm going to work on the bone." She reached for the device she planned to use. "It's called an Osteo-regenerator. It's going to regenerate the bone since it's been damaged." She turned the device on and focused it where the breaks were.

"What about anything else in my arm?" he asked her. "You said the muscle tore, too, right?"

"I did. That's the next step." She set the osteo-regenerator down and picked up the dermal regenerator, then proceeded to tell him what it was going to do. "Now, we're going to fix up the rest of you, then you should be good as new." With that being said, the blonde haired woman turned the second device on and began to move it over the area to repair the torn muscle.

Xavier sighed in relief as the bone healed and she began to repair the muscles in his right arm. "Will I be able to play the electronic harp again?"

Dani smiled. "Yes, you'll be good as new once this is finished." She looked down toward the half hidden puppy. "It seems that your little ball of fluff is still scared. I'm sure he will be happen once you're able to hold him again."

"He's a K-9 in training," he said. "He's going to be a big boy one day and I'm his trainer. Ensign Xavier Hernandez and as soon as I learn the electronic harp, I'm going to invite you to the concert. I do, however play saxophone and I'm about to be in a band with a few others on the ship soon."

Lieutenant JG Daniella Blake," She said, offering him a warm smile as she finished up. "I'll take you up on that, and you're all done. How's it feel?"

Xavier slowly flexed the fingers of his right hand and cautiously tested his wrist before he moved the arm at the elbow, then rotated his shoulder. "Like new," he said. "I'm going to have to come in here for treatments more often. I'm in your debt, Lieutenant Blake and you will be invited to all of our concerts free of charge."

"Dani is fine, and you aren't in my debt, either. I do what I do because I love helping people, and not for any other reason," She said, standing upright again. Just as she opened her mouth to say something else to him, the doors to sickbay opened revealing a woman with a gaping wound in her side being helped in by another officer with a head would. "I'm sorry, Ensign Hernandez, but I've got to get back to it. I'm sure I'll see you around, and in better times to. Come back in if you need anything." After grabbing her equipment, she was on her way to the two newcomers.

He saw the wound on the woman coming in and paled again before he reached down to pick up Pequeno. His instructors at the Academy had told him there would be days like this, but the sight of the bloody wound and the officer with the head wound reminded him how easily people could die. "I will and I hope you don't have many more casualties come in," he told her. "I need to get back to Security, too. Thank you again." With that, he headed out with the little black Chow-Chow.

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