Star Trek's not mine and I make no money from this.
This is just something that happened after I saw Stamets was Chief Engineer during 1x05.
"Paul?" Hugh hesitated as he stepped into their quarters, surprised to see the lights were down already. It was true that his husband had left before the doctor had even woken that morning, but they always waited until the other was back before going to bed. "You ok?"
The lump on the bed grunted quietly. "Mmm." He heard a sigh and the bed shifted, easier to spot as Hugh's eyes adapted to the low light. "S'rry…"
Walking over to the bed, he sat down and began to tug off his boots. "Sleeping?" he asked softly as he wriggled his toes, glad to have them free of the footwear they had been trapped in since 0700.
"Was a long day." Paul sighed. He sounded tired, but not as though he had actually been asleep. "Spent the day in Jeffries tubes."
Hugh winced in sympathy as he stood and began to remove his clothing. "Something go wrong?" he hoped it hadn't been anything too complicated. Paul preferred to be with his Spore Drive, but he was Chief Engineer and did have responsibilities on other parts of the ship.
"Yeah. A decided issue with wiring. It's going to take weeks to get everything in top condition again."
"You'd better remember to eat." Hugh warned his husband as he pulled his night clothes on and headed off to get a wash and to clean his teeth.
There was a suspicious silence that the doctor let go on for a moment as he held the brush in his mouth, a frown forming on his face. "Paul? You did eat, right honey?"
The silence went on again and Hugh rolled his eyes in irritation. Paul really was awful at lying so he rarely tried it; the lack of an answer told Hugh all he needed to know. When he'd finished preparing for bed and had settled beside Paul, he pulled the man back against him and whispered softly in his ear. "Don't you dare leave without me in the morning; we're eating breakfast together."
"You need more than that." Hugh pointed out as he watched Paul cling to his coffee the next morning. "Especially if you've got a busy day ahead of you."
"Let me wake up before you start doctoring." Paul replied, a smile touching his lips. "You don't start your shift for another five hours anyway."
"I like eating breakfast with you." Hugh replied gently, sitting down opposite and pushing the tray to the middle of the table. "But it does involve eating."
Paul rolled his eyes, the smile was still there as he reached for some fruit. "Thanks."
"You going to be out all day today?" the doctor asked as he sipped his own coffee. "You didn't sound very happy last night."
The other man scrubbed a hand through his hair as he leaned forwards, groaning lowly. "It's the tests with the spore drive. We've been trying a few different things but something went wrong with this one. It's blown out a bunch of relays, fried more wires than I care to admit and I want to do a full check of the warp core."
"The warp core? I thought you said it was just wires?" Unlike Paul, who was actually an engineer, even though he speciality was considered a science, Hugh only had a basic understanding of how their ship worked and he'd last looked at that back in the academy; it just wasn't required for general life as a doctor on a science vessel.
"On the surface, yes. But I want to make sure that the core wasn't damaged at all. I don't want us to go to warp and have something go wrong."
"I didn't think the spore drive was connected to the warp core." Hugh screwed up his face, trying to recall what he knew of their propulsion system. "Aren't they completely separate?"
"Ideally, they would be. However, the power move along the same pathways whether it's coming from the warp core or the spore drive. Going into the core should be one-way, but the spores keep defying our expectations and I want to make sure none of them have gotten anywhere near the dilithium." Paul gave him a wry smile as he reached for a slice of toast. "Last thing we need is a breech and the sooner I double check everything is working, the sooner I can get back to my spore drive."
Hugh nodded his head calmly, before something occurred to him and he reached out to touch Paul's hand, "Don't forget to get back before 1800 though. Your mom is going to be calling and there's only so many times she'll accept that you're busy." Paul's mom called often, every two weeks. She lived close enough to Starfleet HQ to be able to make frequent trips up.
"I'll be there." He groaned unhappily. They'd had an argument last time but her time on the coms had ran out before they'd had a chance to resolve it. "She'll want to talk about Dad again."
"Honestly." Hugh sighed gently, actually grasping Paul's hand this time. "I'd say just let it go but your Dad is kind of…"
"A dick?" Paul sighed, squeezing Hugh's hand before leaning back. "He was so pleased when I told them my job is actually Chief Engineer. I probably should have just dropped the whole topic then and left it at that. I just always kind of want to yell at him though."
Not that Paul or his dad, Thom, ever yelled at each other, they both grumbled and complained, getting steadily more sharp and sarcastic until one of them walked away. But Thom had a single-minded opinion of mushrooms, and honestly believed that everyone would think Paul's work was to do with recreational drugs; he claimed he knew Paul's work was important, but it was hard thing to explain to a man with no interest in science but a large concern for his own reputation. Chief Engineer was something Thom could proud of, even though it wasn't the main focus of Paul's day; after all, Discovery was supposed to be a science vessel, although it seemed no-one had informed their Captain of that fact. They were a fair way out, and only near the Klingons when Lorca could find a way to get there; Chief Engineer was more to do with implementing the spore drive than crawling through Jeffries tubes, just like how sickbay was small, really only for sorting out problems that arose with experiments rather than taking in many injured soldiers.
"What's wrong?" Paul leant against the table to catch Hugh's gaze. "You look bothered by something… and not a good something."
Hugh quirked a smile, but it faded quickly. "Just thinking about Lorca." And he saw Paul nod in understanding. The man had been a topic of conversation between them more than once; or rather, the subject of a rant.
There really as nothing they could do about their captain, who could claim he was following Starfleet's orders as often as he like, but Hugh wasn't so sure. It was possible that he had been a good Captain when he'd led the Buran, and the record certainly supported that idea, but Hugh honestly believed he should have been taken off to a quiet Star Base to receive help. It was all very well putting him in charge of a science vessel that was investigating a new way to travel, but the Discovery happened across a startling about of trouble as though their captain was hunting out what he could. Lorca didn't need a quiet post, he needed medical leave until Starfleet was confident that he was in his right mind.
"I've got to get going. I'll try make it back in time." Paul murmured, draining the last of his coffee and giving Hugh a tired smile.
"I'll com you if you're late."
And with that, Paul was gone.
Hugh pulled the tray a little closer, reaching for toast as he opened up the interface on his PADD. Paul's mom was always happy to pass letters on to the rest of Hugh's family.
'MAIN POWER DOWN' The computer announced, unnecessarily.
"No shit." Grumbled Nurse Nestor quietly as he lit several torches and tossed them over to Hugh and Doctor Holden.
"Can I go?" Asked Ensign Molina from the bio-bed.
"No." Holden replied, a grin in her voice. "We've not finished your scans."
"I can come back for them." He complained as Hugh watched him run fingers over the tip of his antenna by torchlight; he was here after injuring himself while working on the shuttlepods, which had resulted in sensitivity in his antenna but Molina wasn't enjoying how long the diagnosis was taking.
"Doors are shut until they get emergency power." He pointed out as he picked up his PADD and checked how much charge was left on it.
As the Ensign sighed and stretched out on the bed, Hugh tapped out a message to Paul's PADD, hoping the man had it with him.
'Hey, Paul. Is the power going to be out long?'
But when the answer came, it wasn't what he expected.
'This is Cadet Tilly on Lieutenant Stamets' PADD. You'll just need to hang tight a bit. We're all working on it.'
"Tilly?" It took him a long moment to remember who she was. 'Do you know how long it might be until we at least have emergency? Also, where is L. Stamets?'
'Lieutenant Collins thinks 10 minutes till Emergency and at least an hour till full. L. Stamets is unconscious. We'll bring him to sickbay when emergency is on.'
"Shit." Hugh swore as he read the message, feeling annoyed at the way Cadet Tilly had relayed the information. She probably didn't know they were married, Paul didn't like to chat with those in his division but even so, surely she should have realised that it wasn't a professional message.
"Is there a problem?" Nestor asked softly as he stopped his pacing to wait beside Hugh.
"Sounds like something went wrong in engineering. Stamets is unconscious and will be brought here when power is back on." He kept the quiver out of his voice, but he caught Holden's eye; she was fully aware of their relationship and generally only let him treat minor injuries. Not that Paul had needed any major surgeries yet.
"How long for power?" She asked, picking up her own PADD.
"About ten minutes until emergency and another hour, maybe more for main power."
"Do I still have to wait?" piped up Molina.
"We have scans to do and a discussion on appropriate safety equipment. You aren't going yet." Hugh replied, trying to keep his voice light as he waited for Paul to arrive.
"I'm having a nap then." The andorian replied, audibly shifting on the bio-bed.
While the emergency power came back on after twenty minutes, it was closer to forty before Paul staggered through the door, looking thoroughly irritated.
"I'm fine." He snarled as Ensign Harrington half dragged him inside. "I could have got myself here."
"Doctor Culber!" She smiled in obvious relief as Hugh hurried over to take Paul's arm. "Something exploded when he was climbing up through the Jeffries tubes. He was next to it and fell to the bottom of the ladder and it took us a while to get down to him." She gave a wry smile as she watched Hugh lead her superior officer to a bed. "The ladder's going to need replacing; it's ruined. But Lieutenant Stamets was out for about half an hour. He's got blood on the back of his head."
"Thank you." He nodded, pulling up one medical tricorder. They wouldn't be able to use a number of machines in sickbay to full power came back, but there was enough that ran on its own charge that he could make a start.
"I've got to be heading back, Doctor. We just be all back up soon enough though."
"What happened?" He asked, before she managed to leave.
"The power from the spore drive doubled back, according to the Lieutenant." She shrugged, heading back out the door.
"It was too much for our system to handle." Paul explained as he leaned back and allowed Hugh to scan him. "I think I know what went wrong, and how to fix it."
"I thought you were just checking things over and checking on the warp core today, not doing anything with spore drive." He moved down and frowned at his screen. "I'm going to take off your boot. Your ankle is going to need sorting, as well as your knee."
"It all burnt earlier, but Harrington gave me a hypo for the pain earlier." Paul crossed his arms over his chest, looking away to a far corner. "And we have certain routines set up both to keep my garden healthy and for a couple of other experiments we have going that link to the spores that we use the reaction cube for."
"Which one? Which hypo, I mean?" Hugh asked as he carefully unfastened the boot and tried to remove it without hurting Paul more.
"Just the regular one with the blue band. It's just a standard medkit we have tucked away in that section so I'm still in pain, but it's not awful anymore." He managed a weak smile as his sock was removed and Hugh went to get his scissors.
"I'm just going to cut these. They're so burnt that you can't reuse them anyway." He moved away and collected Nestor to hold a torch for the extra lighting while they waited for full power. "Bits of fabric have gotten stuck in the burns so I'm going to need to remove it before I can heal anything."
"Lovely. Do I get another painkiller before you start?" Paul's tone was snarky, but Hugh knew that his husband was just hiding everything behind it.
"Here." Paul sighed and leaned back as Hugh released the hypo and picked up his tweezers. "No sleeping though. I'll give your head a proper scan when we've got main power back."
"Shame." Sighed Paul. "A nap sounds good."
They worked quietly after that, aside from Hugh checking that Paul was still awake and soon enough, Hugh was confident they'd gotten as much out as he could. He took the sonic scrubber and began to clean up what was left; it didn't work on the large bits that they had removed with tweezers, and it often had trouble with broken skin, but Hugh wanted the burn as clean as possible before he healed it up.
When the power was fully restored, Nestor headed off to start Molina's scan and Hugh touched Paul's hand. "How we doing, Lieutenant?" he asked softly, looking down at the tired face.
"We've definitely missed my mom's call." Paul replied wryly, staring up into his eyes.
"That's a shame. I'd left a PADD with some letters for you to send to her for my mom and dad." He pushed Paul's information from the medical PADD onto a larger screen. "I'm going to use a dermaplastic graft for this." They had a dermal regenerator, but it was very new technology and didn't work so well with large sections of skin.
"I have a letter to send to your dad anyway. I've got some new seeds to give him next time we get back, but he'll need to set up a new greenhouse environment for it. I figured I'd give him advance warning."
"You two and your gardening." Hugh chuckled as he got to work on the burns that covered Paul's leg. Paul and Hugh's dad had bonded over gardening and they always disappeared off to look at his dad's greenhouses whenever they visited. Paul had never been bitter about the love in Hugh's family, which was so far from his husband's relationship with his own father, but he always managed to relax around them.
"Some of the plants he has are coming along really well. I'm actually really impressed with the Andorian sweet fruits he's got going in the greenhouse. The temperature regulations need to be applied carefully, based on a fair few different things but he's got a knack for the cold climate food."
"Is that why he's set up another greenhouse with the low temperatures? Mom mentioned it in her last letter." These were going on well, but Hugh decided to put a bandage over the top to ensure they stayed put. They didn't need to be on for more than thirty hours, but hopefully the bulkiness would encourage Paul to take it easy for a day.
"Mmm. He's got a few from Vulcan but they take a long time to flower. The ones from Andoria should be seeding again now, so it's a good time to set up another cold environment."
"Your shoulder's bruised, but I'll put cream on that tonight. Now I want to scan your head."
"And then bed." Paul sighed, holding still as Hugh lined the machine up.
"We'll see where your head is at first. Then you're eating." Hugh replied, most of his attention on the read-out.
"I do eat, you know." Paul whinged, his eyes seeking Hugh's out as he tried not to move.
"Not when you're busy." But Hugh knew that Paul did most of the time; his worries were left over from their time at the academy where Paul and Straal would have definitely starved to death if Hugh hadn't turned up at their lab so often.
"Hugh…" Paul sighed as he was allowed to sit up. "How long until you finish?"
"About an hour and a half." He ran his hand gently over the man's head, carefully skimming over the lump that was there. "You're just bashed up a bit though. No concussion so you can go back and rest."
"Am I walking?" He asked, suddenly looking exhausted as the adrenaline and bravado faded. "Or am I waiting?"
"Neither." Holden interrupted, coming to look over Paul's data. "You're free to go, but we'll transport you back to your quarters." But she failed to keep a straight face, a smirk bubbling up as she looked at where Paul's trousers stopped mid-thigh.
"Oh good."
"Dr Culber, if you'll log the rest of these before the end of your shift, then I'm going to send you with him. He's not allowed to work until the grafting comes off. I'll send the captain a message after I get your report." She picked up a hypo and administered it into Paul's neck. "That will see you through tonight. Go back, get clean and into bed and make sure you eat when you wake up tomorrow."
Hugh pocketed the cream for his husband's bruises and grabbed his boot and sock before stepping closer. "Of course. As soon as he's settled." He nodded, helping Paul to his feet as the CMO tapped on a console. Seconds later, Paul was sitting heavily on the side of the bed, yawning as his eyes dipped.
"Out of those." He murmured, tugging off Paul's remaining boot and sock then reaching up for his jacket. "I've got a shower wrap here, so we'll get you clean, okay honey?"
"And then I can sleep?"
"And then you can sleep." Stripping him off and wrapping the bandage, Hugh confidently shuffled his husband into their tiny shower cubicle. "Can you manage on your own?"
Paul frowned for a moment, thinking. They didn't really like showering together, both preferring to have a bit more room to move in the small space, but Hugh would get in there if Paul needed help. "I think I'll be okay." Paul pressed a hand to Hugh's face as he looked him over. "Don't worry. I'll shout if I need you."
"Alright." Hugh nodded, his lips pressed thin unhappily, but he leaned in and gave Paul a kiss. "I'll fill in that report."
He watched as Paul started the shower and ducked under the spray, then he turned away and pushed his emotions far enough down to fill in a report for Doctor Holden… one that would go to Captain Lorca.
If it hadn't been for Lorca, pushing for advancements in the spore drive then they would have been able to cancel the experiments while they fixed the ship. If it hadn't been for Lorca, they wouldn't be spending so much time on the spore drive and the necessary maintenance would get done…
Hugh shook his head, picking up his PADD and focussing on the words. Thankfully, there wasn't too much to fill in, and Holden could filter out anything that might slip through in the wordier paragraphs about Lorca. Half the medical staff were aware of his dislike of their captain anyway.
"Hugh? I need a towel." Paul's voice was soft, but the doctor was listening out for him. He sent the report, less edited than he usually considered complete, but he didn't actually care.
"Here." He wrapped Paul up and pulled him through. "Time for sleep." And dressed in loose shorts and a t-shirt, his husband was asleep just five minutes later.
Hugh stared for a moment at the man in the low light, already twisted in the sheets with his bandaged leg sticking out to the side. Today had not been a good day. "Shit." He sighed suddenly. "I forgot to put the cream on." But it could wait till the morning. Paul's breathing had evened out and Hugh didn't want to wake him up.
But he couldn't stay here, just staring. "Shower and bed." He whispered, before grabbing his PADD and lowering the lights in the bedroom again. In the bathroom, with the door shut and blocking the brighter light out from Paul, he checked that Holden had messaged the Captain so no one would be expecting their Chief Engineer in the morning; then he grinned as he ready the CMO's message to him, telling him the report had been sent and neither of them were expected to do work tomorrow.
"Shower and bed." He repeated, putting his PADD down and getting moving.
"Hugh?" The soft voice permeated the comfortable haze of his sleep. "Sorry, love. But I thought you'd want to be up before breakfast got here."
"Huh?" Hugh lifted his head slightly, forcing his eyes open to gaze blearily out.
Paul was sat beside him, gently touching fingertips to his face as he grinned. "I wanted to eat so I sent Cadet Tilly a message to feed us."
"Cadet Tilly?" Hugh asked in confusion. He rolled onto his back, wincing as Paul chuckled and rubbed the dried drool from the corner of his mouth.
"Yep." He smirked. "She went ahead of me and managed to miss that explosion so she owes me."
Hugh snorted slightly. "You would have been more bothered if she had been caught in it." He sat up, looking for his medical tricorder almost out of habit.
"I suppose you rubbing cream all over my body will have to wait until she's been." Paul sighed, but he did at least hold still while Hugh checked him over. "You slept for nearly ten hours. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, honey. How're you feeling?" Hugh reached up to cup his face. "Any pain?"
Paul hesitated for a moment, looking into is eyes as he thought then nodded his head. "I ache a bit, especially my leg. I really want to itch it." He grasped the hand on his face and pressed a kiss to Hugh's fingers. "Am I on medical leave?"
"Until the grafts are off your leg." Hugh gave him a kiss then got up off the bed. "So tomorrow we'll see what state your leg is in and then we can make a decision. I expect it will be light duty."
"What a shame." Paul sounded so cheerful that Hugh, who was heading into their washroom, couldn't help laughing quietly. "I guess I'll just have to spend time in the cultivation bay. The underlings can crawl through the small spaces and do the engineering. I think better in there. I had no time yesterday for anything but boring, old engineering."
Hugh was grinning widely as he washed his hands, "That's what you get for agreeing to be Chief Engineer." The door chimed so he headed over before Paul to shuffle to the edge of the bed. "You sit still."
"Dr Culber, you… well, he said it was food for two people and I didn't really think about that but of course it means someone else is going to be here and I-" She spoke very quickly, he noted as he stepped back.
"Cadet Tilly, is it?" Hugh interrupted, raising his voice slightly over her babbling.
"Sorry. I'm sorry. It was just a surprise, I mean. Cos I don't have a roommate, even though I'd like one. Cos they're like an automatic friend, and none of my friends got posted to the Discovery and I don't really know anyone yet and-"
"Thank you, Tilly. I'm sorry Paul felt the need to bother you, I could have gone and got us something to eat." Hugh cut her off again.
"Hugh? I have a PADD for her, with work that needs sorting for today." Paul called out from their bed, over the top of Tilly's continued nervous chattering. "Thanks. I already sent out the other assignments to everyone while you were asleep. But I want Tilly's work for the Spore Drive on this PADD. We adapted this PADD for what we need."
"I remember you saying." Vaguely, at least. Paul often got pretty excited over what he was doing and felt the need to talk about it in detail and while Hugh did listen at the time, it didn't always stick with him.
"Tilly? I've had some ideas about increasing the odds for coming out in the right places when we jump. Compare the results with last week's try and when I'm back tomorrow we'll see whether or not it increases our jump range." Paul called out from the bed, and Tilly finally looked passed Hugh to the double bed with her boss sat there.
"R-right." She stuttered and Hugh turned to frown at Paul.
"I said light duty and only if your leg has healed properly." He stated flatly, ignoring Tilly's flinch as he took the tray from her and set it down on the table. "You said work in the cultivation bay, which is acceptable."
"Hugh…" Paul's expression became almost pleading as he handed the PADD over to him. "There's only so much I can do in the actual bay."
"You're to make sure he doesn't overtax himself. He's to stay off his feet." Hugh explained as calmly as he could as he passed her the PADD.
She took it and looked quickly around before stepping closer and lowering her voice. "What, err…? What do I do if h- he won't? I mean, I can't tell him to… you know…"
He grinned wryly, easily imaging Paul's reaction to a cadet trying to boss him around. "He can get up to move between his chair and the bay. Other than that, if he's about for anything other than food, drink and bathroom breaks, you message me."
"O-Okay." She nodded earnestly, shifting uncomfortably as she stood.
Hugh waited for a few moments before gently nudging her back out the door. "Goodbye, cadet. Thank you for bringing a tray."
"Oh, right. Bye." And with that she scurried off.
As the door shut behind him, Hugh huffed out a breath. "She's… something…"
"Enthusiastic? Exhausting? Loud?" Paul asked from the bed, sounding amused. "Help me over."
"You can definitely make it to the sofa on your own." Hugh laughed as he made his way over and took Paul's arm. "Lucky for you, I'm a pretty generous guy and am willing to pander this one time."
"And then a day in bed?" Paul asked, as he dropped heavily down to the seat, casting a seductive look up at him that was ruined by the bruises that were visible in places.
"The 'bed' part might happen later, if you're careful with your leg and I've caught up on my datawork. Now take your shirt off, I'll put that cream on your bruises." He could see the light in Paul's eyes as he began to strip out his top, but Hugh just hid his grin as he went to get the tube.