Stuck In Sickbay

Posted on 16 Nov 2016 @ 9:44am by Ensign Shay Mitchell & Ensign Elisha Cherno

1,438 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 10 || 1600 Hours

Elisha was tired of being in Sick Bay.

She'd read through her diary- which Kelly had brought to her- and found several mentions of Xavier Hernandez as well as more pictures thank she would have imagined. There was one on a beach where she looked as at ease with him as she felt with any one of her brothers. There was another one at Golden Gate Park which had confused her until she recognized the tell tale signs of a picture taken on the holodeck. There was a picture of the two of them with her brother Joel- they seemed like best buddies. She would have to tell Joel what had happened.

But, now, she had a roommate of sorts. They had moved her to a room with another girl about the same age. They hadn't spoken much, though, because the other girl had been asleep when Elisha had moved in, then Elisha fell asleep, then she had physical therapy, then the other girl- Shay, she was called- had physical therapy. Both of them were awake now, though, but Elisha had no idea what to say.

Shay was settled in her bed with her eyes closed and her hands clasped over her stomach. When she was given the offer of having a roommate, she was all too eager to agree. Her days were long and boring, and even though Elisha had finally moved in with her, they hadn't said much to one another. Granted, it wasn't really either one's fault, but now the young Ensign had to ask herself what the point was. It definitely wasn't anything personal against Elisha, but their schedules were conflicting in ways that kept them strangers.

Of course, they were both in their room and awake at the moment, so that had to count for something, right? Shay turned her gaze over to the young cadet. "Elisha, right?"

Elisha looked up from a picture of herself with the cutest, fluffiest puppy she had ever seen and gave Shay a smile. "Yes," she said, turning the PaDD off and setting it down. "And you're Shay, right?" To be honest, she remembered perfectly, but couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I am," the dark haired woman replied. She was feeling a bit better since talking to Kelly, and was going to do everything she could to get back on her feet. "How long have you been here?"

"Um... oh, I've lost count," answered Elisha. "I know they brought me in after some gravimetric disturbances. What was that? Three days? Four days? I'm not sure. How about you?"

"I've been here for three days, but my injury occurred four days ago on the Chimera. I was in Security when everything went down. I woke up with another Security officer lying on top of me. He didn't make it," Shay replied with a frown as she reached for the PADD that was settled on her side table. "It's rough being stuck in here when there are so many things I could be doing out there, but I need to get better first. Thankfully, a friend of mine has agreed to take my cat for me, so I don't have to worry about him."

Elisha smiled. "I like animals," she said. "Apparently, the guy I was seeing had a dog. I don't remember him- amnesia, you know." She picked up the PaDD and opened the picture of her with the puppy. "I don't remember the puppy's name, but that's him," she said, holding it up for her to see.

Shay looked toward the PADD Elisha held up and looked at the picture on it. "Pequeno, Ensign Hernandez's K-9 in training. With his passing, Lieutenant Corwin has the little guy now," she said, knowing it paid to have a lot of friends within her department.

"Oh," said Elisha, looking at the picture again. "Oh, good!" she added, smiling. "I'm glad he's okay. I mean, the dog, obviously, not Ensign Hernandez. Xavier. Xavi. How are you supposed to refer to a boyfriend you don't even remember?" she asked nobody, exasperated.

"I wouldn't know," the dark haired woman replied.

"Sorry," said Elisha, shutting off the PaDD again. "I don't mean to be depressing."

"There's no reason to be sorry. We all have things in our lives that depress us sometimes," Shay said, giving a shrug of her shoulders. "It's all a matter of how we process and deal with it. The fact I can't feel my legs or walk depresses me, but after talking to Kelly, I'm going to try to be positive and get better."

Elisha grinned. "Yeah, Kelly's really upbeat," she said. "Sometimes, I want to smother her with a pillow. Mind you, she's nothing next to the Chief Medial Officer. If that woman is on drugs, I want some."

"I don't think Kelly is so bad. In fact, I think I'll get along with her nicely. Especially since she brought me candy," the young Ensign said, gesturing to the candy bouquet on her side table. "You can have some if you'd like to. I don't mind sharing. As for Doctor Kij, though, she isn't so bad, either. She means well."

"Oh, I like them both," said Elisha quickly. "I wouldn't change either of them for the world. It's just... you know what I mean. All that smiling." And she grinned despite herself.

"It can be a bit unnerving sometimes, but it can grow on you," Shay said. "So, do you have any good gossip you can share? I'm always too busy to pay much attention to it." Though, if she heard anything worth reporty and looking into, she always brought it to the Chief's attention.

Elisha sighed. "Unfortunately, no," she said. "Nobody shares gossip with science geeks. Well, at least nothing that isn't already common knowledge."

"That sounds about the same for me," Shay said. "No one ever really tells me anything."

Elisha shrugged. She didn't know why nobody would tell Shay things. She seemed entirely cool and as unlike frumpy Elisha as it was possible to be. "Maybe there are no secrets," she offered.

"Oh, I'm sure there are, that's why they're secrets. They aren't meant to be public knowledge for that reason," the Ensign said, resting her head against the pillow behind her head. What she wouldn't give to be able to get up and move around a bit, but the time for that would come. "Are you going through any kind of therapy?"

"Yeah, physical therapy," answered Elisha. "Walking and running seem okay, but I've lost some fine motor functions. I have trouble typing and tying a knot. I have to relearn some things. And Doctor Road wants me to talk to the counselor."

"I'm sure I'll end up needing to speak to one at some point, but sometimes it's for our own good," Shay said.

"Yeah," agreed Elisha. "I've never minded them, really. It's nice to have someone you can tell everything and not worry about them judging you."

"Not to mention they can't say anything to anyone unless it's the Captain, Executive Officer or the Chief of your particular department," the Ensign said, closing her eyes. She was exhausted, and didn't quite know why considering she'd been spending a lot of her time laying around. Her body was healing, so maybe that had something to do with it. "With everything that's been going on, I might make an appointment. Then again... I'm not so sure."

"And they can only say anything to them if there is something that will affect our performance," Elisha pointed out. "You should make an appointment. It can't hurt, after all."

"I might. For now... I want to focus my attention on walking again. It's been a tiring process so far," Shay said softly.

Elisha nodded. She could only imagine. She knew how difficult it was for her to learn how to tie a knot, so it must be difficult learning how to walk again. "You'll get it," she said. "It's just a matter of making your brain work differently. At least, that's what they tell me."

"I'll be out of here in no time. I'm determined," Shay said. "For now, though, I think I want to sleep for a while before they come get me for physical therapy again."

"All right," replied Elisha picking her PaDD back up again. "That's probably a very good idea."

"Since we're going to be roommates, we'll talk again. If it means anything, I'm glad to have someone to talk to. Thank you," She said, offering Elisha a smile before she closed her eyes.

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