It must have been a severe burn. There were tear marks staining her cheeks. Her red hair was a bit frazzled, as was the rest of her. Part of her uniform at the stomach had burned away. It already had a bandage applied to it. She seemed to be doing fairly well. Stephen recognized her as Ensign Crystal Halloran. Humbly, she looked at him and smiled. "Always make sure both shut off valves are tightly locked." She answered.
"And?" His voice was almost melodic as he finished with the bandage.
"Wait at least thirty seconds before closing the downside valve." She stared at him more intently, her smile broadened. "I was in a hurry."
He patted her hand. "And look where that got you. You saved thirty seconds on your project and spent an hour here listening to my jokes." She giggled. Dorrin helped her up. "Okay... off with you."
"Thank you, Doctor," she said sweetly. Ensign Halloran disappeared through the large, wooden doors of sickbay.
As he made his way into the observation room, Kirk was giving him a very curious look. "What?"
"I used to think you just THOUGHT you knew everything, Doc. I'm starting to think you really DO."
"What, the plasma conduit?" Dorrin asked, motioning at the door. Kirk nodded.
"You see enough injuries, you start to understand where they came from." Kirk nodded. Rass pointed to the bed. "Okay, up on the bed. Lie on your back, your head on the pillow."
"Right, Doc." Stephen replied. With a grunt of pain, he pushed himself up on the bed, head to the pillow. Dorrin was already pressing buttons to activate the lifesign montior.
Doctor Rass noted the grunt of pain. "Muscles still giving you problems?" He asked, looking at the board and adjusting its display.
"Yeah, a little. Mostly just stiff, though."
Rass squinted at the display. "Hmmm... the regenerated muscle tissue still looks sensitive. Have you been working out or exerting yourself at all?"
Kirk shook his head. "Been taking it easy, just like you said. Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no," Rass shook his head. "It's not unusual for major muscle groups to take awhile get contract to where they're supposed to. I'm just making sure." He pressed a few more buttons on the panel. "Good... good. Your body has accepted the regrown lung tissue and the rib replacements... and the swelling's down. All very good." He turned off the panel. "I'd say, for a guy that died twice, you're doing pretty well."
Kirk sat up slowly with another grunt. "Thanks, Doc." In the back of his mind, he was still a little disappointed to not have woken up on the other side of the 'Pearly Gates', but he accepted the fact that he must have more to do.
"Hang on a moment, and I'll give you something for the pain." Kirk nodded while Dorrin left the room momentarily and headed for his office. He returned moments later with a small, green wrapped box with a yellow bow on top. "I hear you'll be busy tomorrow." He handed the box to Stephen. "I may not see you tomorrow until late, so Merry Christmas." He smiled broadly. "Open it while I make you some pain relievers." He headed over to his medical replicator.
Stephen was genuinely touched. Of course, he had something for the Doctor, too, but it would have to wait until tomorrow, possibly the next day. "This was very thoughtful. Thanks, Doc." He started to open the box.
"You know..." Rass started, still mixing his medicine, "I really like this Earth holiday. We have holidays on Bajor, but nothing like this. Our holidays are more about rememberances, memorials, atonements, that sort of thing." He paused. "When you look at the grand scheme of things, I guess they're rather depressing." He pondered that for a moment. Perhaps that's one reason why Bajorans are usually thought of as uptight or dour. "Anyway, we don't have anything that involves gift giving." The replicator began dispensing pills, which he scooped up into a bottle.
Stephen opened the box to reveal a gray stone with silver rivulets, just smaller than his palm. The silver sparkled in the light. It felt rather strange to the touch... as if something was inside. "What is it?"
Dorrin turned back around with the filled bottle. "It's a Bajoran blessing stone. Whack it on the side of the bed."
Kirk did so. When he did, it began gently chiming three or four different notes for several seconds. The stone vibrated slightly to the tones. Stephen was impressed. "Wow."
"Tradition says if you chime it, then meditate on your problems, the prophets will give you an answer before the chimes stop." He extended the bottle of pills. "Here you go... something more pragmatic for your immediate problems. Take no more than two a day." He smiled.
"Thanks, Doc." Stephen replied, taking the pills. As he walked out the door, he turned around. "Merry Christmas."