Mending a Broken Wing

Posted on 22 Aug 2016 @ 1:36am by Lieutenant JG Daniella Blake & Commander Terry Walsh

3,053 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Deck 11
Timeline: MD 6 || 1450 Hours

After searching for anyone who may have required her assistance on deck ten, Dani found herself moving down the Jeffries tube once more to get down to deck eleven. She still wasn't as familiar with the ship's layout as she would have liked to be, but now the young woman was started to familiarize herself with things. Pride filled her when she realized she was starting to conquer her fear of heights, and that was all thanks to reminding herself that there were people who needed help. There was no way she could allow it to get the better of her in a situation such as this.

Dani pushed the hatch open and stepped out, making sure to close it behind her before she made her way down the corridor. If there was anyone on this deck that needed medical attention, she planned to see to it that they got it. Hopefully, no one would require extensive treatment, though. She wasn't equipped to handle anything like that, and moving someone would require more than just her fun-sized self.

If Terry's ribs or muscles or whatever were sore before, they were more so now. He wasn't quite used to squeezing his huge bulk through a jeffries tube, but the hatch that he had to use to get from the Flight Deck into the corridor was even smaller. Or so it seemed. He had to pause and lean against a wall for a moment to steady the pain. As he stood there, breathing deeply to try and help it, he started to think about how he would gain access to Flight Operations. If there wasn't a tube, then maybe there was a maintenance hatch nearby like the one he used to out of the Flight Deck. But that would mean... "OWW!" he screamed and clutched his side.

What... Dani gripped the medkit in her hand and took off toward the sound. She had no idea who she was running to, or what was wrong, but the need to help whoever it was kicked in. It almost sounded like a wounded bear, but there certainly weren't any of those on the Black Hawk. This was definitely a person, and based on the tone, she guessed it was a man. This would be so much easier to do if the corridors weren't lit with just emergency lighting. "Hang on! I'm coming!" Though, she didn't know if he'd actually hear her or not.

Terry slumped a bit and looked down the corridor. He was only a few more doors away from where he wanted to be. He was sure he could make it, but he wasn't too sure about getting in through the maintenance hatch. He hurt too bad. And now he was out the middle of the corridor with emergency lighting and no one else around. He forced himself off the bulkhead and headed towards his goal, clutching his side and groaning.

She was almost to whoever it was, because she could see the rather large frame pushing himself away from the bulkhead. The way he held himself spoke volumes. Something was seriously wrong. "Don't move! I'm almost to you!" Dani took a deep breath and closed the distance between them as fast as she could, only to pale when she realized who it was under the dim light. "Terry? What... what happened!?" He needed help, and since she was the only one around, she was going to have to muster up some serious strength to get him where she could look him over. "Lean on me... use my head as a crutch if you have to."

Terry heard someone call out about not moving. Whoever she was, she would get no argument from him. So he stopped and leaned back. When he heard his name, he looked up. "Dani?" He was surprised to see her, but not that much. She was a nurse after all. And what with everything going on... "A crutch, huh." He grinned and, if he hadn't been in that much pain, would have laughed. Terry put his arm on top of her head, but didn't want to put too much pressure. He was afraid he might break her. "I woke up on the Flight Deck with a serious headache and an overturned anti-grav sled up against me. Right here." He pointed to his side. "But there are others in the Flight Deck that are worse off than me. We should get back there. You could fit through the maintenance hatch and shaft better than me."

"I'm not equipped to deal with anything too serious," she said with a frown, wishing sickbay wasn't as far away as it was. Slipping her arm around his waist, Dani tried to help support him. "How serious is serious? I can get help if I need to, but before we can get them moved, I need to look at you. I'm going to need your help."

"Well, I saw a few pilots rushing around with medkits. Some people calling for help. I even heart the word 'blood' a few times. I'm not bleeding. So to me, that's more serious." He paused and thought for a second. "I'd appreciate if we could get them some help. But, yeah, you need to look at me first. So what do you need me to do?"

Dani didn't want to think about the possibility, but it was there. "The way I heard you scream from down the corridor, you could be bleeding internally. I wouldn't say your injuries are any less serious than anyone else's," she pointed out with a tone that left zero room for argument. If she needed to unleash the feisty little spider monkey, then that's exactly what she was going to do. "I'm not familiar with this deck. Where would be a good place for me to settle you down so I can take a look?"

"Point taken, Nurse," he said smiling. "Well, if you're looking for something like a bio-bed, my office is just a few doors down. Desk. Couch. Whichever you'd prefer for an examination table," he said. He clutched his said again and groaned. "It hurts, Dani. It really hurts." He looked up at her, the pain evident on her face. "If we can get to my office, we can use that."

"Hang on," Dani said, helping him to lean against the bulkhead so she could crouch down and open the medkit. She reached inside and pulled out a hypo, then loaded it with a vial Morphenolog. It was one of the more potent pain medications, so she adjusted the dosage to four cc's due to his sheer size, then stood back up so she could press it against his neck. "This should help in just a minute. Try not to move around too much in the meantime. We'll move when some of the pain starts to ebb." She knew she'd be able to help him depending on what his injuries were, but if they were too severe, Dani knew she'd have to figure out a way to get him up to sickbay along with the other injured. Today was just not a good day for the ship or her crew, but they were making the best of it with what the did have.

"I won't move. Promise," he said. He was looking forward to having the pain go away. But he was also looking forward to having a seat on the couch in his office. Or maybe a lay down on his desk. It didn't matter, he just wanted to be down. He stood there for about a little less than a minute, letting the medicine take effect. "Thanks, Dani. For everything. You know, I'm kinda glad it was you that ran into me here. I don't know if I could have stood it if it were anyone else." He could feel the pain lessening. "Okay, Nurse Dani, I think I'm ready to move it, now."

The petite blonde smiled up at him as she closed up the medkit, then stood up once again. She tucked her head under his arm to be used as a human crutch, then slipped her free arm around his waist. If he got too loopy on her, they were both going to go crashing to the floor, but thankfully... they didn't have that far to go. "Alright, Pilot Terry... we're going to move now," she said, taking a few steps forward to see how he would do before going any further.

"Heh, one foot in front of the other, left, right, left." Terry was moving forward pretty easily. So far the medicine had just taken away the pain and hadn't caused him to completely lose control of himself. He looked down at the short blonde under his arm. He was glad to see her again. Hell, after that battle, he was glad to see anybody again. But especially Dani. "Hey, we're walkin alright. Seems to be working pretty good, hon." Uh oh, where did that come from, he thought. "Uhh, I mean Dani."

"That's right... one foot in front of the other," Dani said, making her way toward his office, but she still didn't know which one was his. "You're doing great, and when we get you settled down, I'll fix you up if I've got the means to do it."

The medicine was working pretty good, too. The pain had all but subsided. "Thanks, Dani. Thanks for helping me," said Terry. I'm feelin better. There really isn't much pain anymore. But I can't wait to lay down or sit down or however you want me to go." He moved his arm from her head down to her shoulders. "There, that feels better." He was a little loopy, but not so much that he would forget what he said. He might forget the walk to his office, though.

"We'll go with whichever makes you more comfortable," the fun-sized blonde said as she helped him move forward. A large part of her was afraid he might fall over on her, but she'd deal with that if it happened. For now, though, Terry seemed to be doing pretty well keeping one foot in front of the other. "Which one is your office?"

"I'd feel better laying down for now. Oh yeah, office, right," he said. "No, wait, left. That's it, the one on the left. Riiiiggghhht there," he said pointing. "That's my office. Now...how do we get in, I wonder?"

"I've got this," Dani muttered, setting her medkit down and making sure she propped Terry up against the bulkhead. She'd just watched the Captain open a door, and now she knew how to do it herself. After popping the door panel off, she revealed the manual level. Once she got the door open, the small woman picked up the medkit and slipped her arm around him again. "Let's get you patched up."

"Hey, you're pretty good," he said. He felt her arm go around him and knew that it was time to put one foot in front of the other again. The office was dimly lit as well, so getting to his desk wasn't going to be too difficult. As they walked over to it, he said, "You know, I never imagined our second meeting to be like this. I thought we were gonna go to a beach and grill, or something like that. But here we are, in my office, me getting ready to lay down on my desk, and you patching me up. Not that I mind." Terry was handling the medicine pretty good, but it still affected him somewhat. He almost felt like he a had a good buzz going from a couple bottles of wine.

Dani smiled. "I only know how to do it because I just watched the Captain do the same thing," she said, helping him over to the couch where he'd be more comfortable. "Let's get you settled down, then I can see what's wrong. You're a department head, so you can't be out of commission for too long. Where's it hurt again?" After sitting her medkit down, the petite woman shifted so she can help him settle down without hurting himself any further.

Terry took a seat on the couch instead of the desktop. "It hurts right here," he said, gesturing to the upper area of his rib cage, just under his arm. He shifted so he could show Dani and a pain shot through it. He winched and brought his arm back down. It wasn't as bad as it had been, but it was still pretty rough. "Ouch!" he cried.

"Okay, let's see what I can do for you," she said, opening the medkit again after grabbing the wrist light from inside. Once she had the light on, she grabbed the medical tricorder from inside and powered it on so she could scan the area he was talking about. The longer she scanned him, the more her brows furrowed. "It looks like you've got some bone bruising, swelling and some muscle damage." Very carefully, she unzipped the jacket part of his uniform, then raised his shirt to reveal the deep purple bruise on his side. "I'm not sure how much of this I'm going to be able to take care of from here."

He looked up at her and took a deep breath. "Really?" He looked from Dani to his side and saw the deep purple bruise. "Oh. Wow. That doesn't look good at all. That anti-grav sled really did a number. But I'll take whatever you can do, though. It'd beat having nothing at all." He really didn't like the look of it all. "Bone bruising? I don't believe ever had that."

"It did do a number on you, but I'm going to see what I can do to help you," Dani said, looking through the medkit once she put the medical tricorder back inside. She even packed up a few other things that didn't come standard inside, but that was for the purpose of not knowing what she might run into. With a smile, she produced an Osteogenic stimulator. "We're in luck... I think I might be able to fix you up after all." With that, she powered it on and got to work on the bone bruising.

Terry kept his shirt lifted up while Dani went to work. He was glad to hear that she would be able to fix everything. He wasn't looking forward to going through the rest of whatever day this was with all of that pain. "So, what exactly is bone bruising?" The happy medicine buzz he had experienced was beginning to wear off and he was getting back to his old self. Fortunately, Dani had started her job healing him.

Dani continued working on the area. "A bone bruise is an injury to the bone that's less severe than a fracture. It can hurt just as bad as one, though, so I think that's why you're experiencing pain like you are," she replied, scanning the area with the tricorder again. When she was satisfied that was taken care of, she moved over to the dermal regenerator to take care of the rest of it. "You should be feeling yourself in just a few minutes."

"That sounds awful. And, yeah, it explains the pain." Terry watched as the bruise slowly disappeared. "I like the sound of that, feeling like myself again. I hated feeling like someone else." He looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks for being my crutch earlier. I hope I didn't hurt you."

"You didn't hurt me," she assured him with a smile. It didn't take long before she finished up, turning her attention up to him. "How does that feel? I'll scan you one more time to make sure everything is good to go, though." She put everything back into the medkit with exception of the tricorder.

"That's good to hear." He watched as the last bit of the bruise disappeared and then lifted his arm at her question. "That feels better. Thanks." Then he sat still as she scanned him. "Well, how do I look?"

Dani finished up with her scan and put the tricorder away with a smile. "I think you look great. You should be good to go now, but like I've been telling everyone... if you start to notice anything unusual, come to sickbay as soon as possible, okay?" she asked, turning her attention back to him as she got to her feet. "I'm not kidding, either. I'll get down to the flight deck and see if there's anyone I can help there."

"Understood, Nurse Dani. Sickbay right away if something weird happens," he said. He noticed that she emphasized with a 'not kidding.' He looked up at her and responded, "I understand. And there should be plenty of people on the Flight Deck. If you need help finding it, I can help. Or do you recommend a little bit of rest first?" Terry looked up at her expectantly. He felt bad, asking a nurse if she could tell him to rest a bit. He was a Department Head after all and there were other things he needed to do.

"Rest for a few. I can find my way," Dani said with a smile as she leaned in to press a kiss to his forehead, then crouched down to close up her medkit. "I'll stop by your place tonight to check in on you and see how you're feeling."

He half smiled as she kissed his forehead. Then he turned around and tried to lay down on the couch, but his large form wouldn't let him. Instead, he opted for simply leaning back and stretching his feet out. "Thanks Dani. I really appreciate that," he said, closing his eyes. It had been a long, whatever, since he'd first been jostled out of bed.

"You're welcome, Terry. I'll come check on you later to see how you're feeling," she said, smiling when he started to make himself a bit more comfortable. "I'm glad I was able to help you." With that, she gave his shoulder a pat and made her way out to see if there was anyone else on the flight deck she'd be able to help.

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