Sketches of Sparrow 2: "Another Victim of the Automated Lawn Sprinkler System"

by SpockLikesCats

Suggested by Tales of Captain Sparrow: UVA, by Linstock

Captain Sparrow tales initiated by HopefulAddict

Features: Spock, Leila Kalomi, Captain Sparrow, Dr M'Benga

Thanks to Linstock for careful reading, suggestions and comments!

Disclaimer: No profit made from telling these tales and sketching these scenes. Just enjoying the characters and surroundings of Star Trek.

Notes: A fourth/class (or 4/c) cadet = a freshman, a third/class (3/c) a sophomore, and so on. Leila's a year ahead of Spock at the Academy.

~/\~

"He's hurt! He's hurt! Is anyone here? Oh, please, help!"

Cadet Fourth/Class Spock looked up. Leila Kalomi, the lovely blonde Third/Class Xenobotany major, stood before him, blocking the warm sun, gesturing just beyond the meditation garden, where Spock sat on the grass. He had finished an hour of suus-mahna, stretched – and barefoot, still wearing his workout clothes – now sat in contemplation. But her frightened voice roused him from his meditative state.

His 4/c roommate, "Randy" Pandit – who had followed immediately after the louche and "loose" "Gonzo" Gonzalez, since reassigned to an Advanced Maths Course in Russia after several confrontations with Spock – was correct; Cadet Kalomi was most attractive. Pandit's intentions toward her, however, were far from correct.

Commander Pike, Spock's first-year advisor, was now looking for a more suitable roommate for Pandit. (The Cadet Barracks Assignment Officer had twice assigned Spock with womanizers in hopes that the Vulcan's inherent civility and maturity would temper these roommates' sexual … assertiveness toward their female classmates; neither Spock nor Commander Pike understood this "logic" since both young men had thought Spock was simply prudish and his "social skills" lacking.)

Spock stood up directly from his cross-legged position. Cadet Kalomi seemed to be impressed with his coordination; such was usual for Vulcans and Spock had never remarked it until coming to Earth. Very few humans – even normally fit cadets – could do this so swiftly.

"Where – and who – is 'he', Ms. Kalomi?"

"Just call me Leila," she said, hurrying him with more gestures to follow her.

Following her was a pleasure. Spock, still new here, had a bit of an awakening. Her urgency, her stride, her beautiful form, filled him with curiosity of a kind unusual to him.

Eighty point three meters from the gate of the meditation garden Leila fell on her knees beside a large scruffy orange … buff … auburn … feline. He recognized the cat; he'd seen him at Commander Pike's home and knew this was the Academy "mascot," Captain Sparrow. Spock knelt opposite Leila, the distressed cat between them. He lay with eyes closed, sleeping perhaps, sides heaving with every breath.

"I'm a botanist, so I'm not exactly expert with animals. But you know many fields of biology, don't you Mr. Spock?"

Spock nodded and checked the femoral artery for a pulse, and found it racing. He lowered his nose to the cat's: soft, jerking, wheezy puffs of air. "Pulse is rapid and he is breathing with great difficulty."

Leila pointed – the cat's auburn-and-white tail had a 90-degree angle 1.5 cm from the tip. Broken, most likely. As were, most likely, several ribs.

"He's purring," Leila said, surprised.

"This is sometimes a sign of great pain," Spock said softly. "Not only does it comfort them; research has shown that the low-end frequency of the purr aids in self-healing."

Spock visually examined the cat's limbs, then gently grasping his patient's head, moved the cat's upper lip with a fingertip to check the color of the gums – they appeared somewhat pale, a possible indication of internal bleeding or shock – there was a loud rasping scream of rage, "NGAAAAiiiiiiiiAOU!" and the Captain, having come to consciousness with a strange hand restraining his head, kicked off hard with his back feet to spring away in panic, making several deep scratches in Spock's inside wrist. The wound, ripped into his flesh, began cleansing itself by bleeding.

Leila quickly lunged and tried to grab the cat by the nape of his neck, but was not swift enough; Sparrow's instincts were acute and his body far too muscular, and he got away in three bounds, to stand – arched in pain, wheezing and puffed with outrage – glaring at them. Spock, in particular.

Still seated on the grass, Spock raised his injured wrist above his chest to slow the bleeding. He fixed his soft gaze on the cat's face, something a human could not do without further upsetting the creature. "I am attempting to help you, Captain Sparrow." He looked down at the ground where the Academy mascot had lain, then looked into the cat's eyes, and put a hand to his own ribs as if to show he understood the Captain, who was growling, a rumble from the bottom of his throat. "Your tail appears broken and your ribs are either broken or badly bruised. Please allow us to escort you to Medical."

The growl reduced in volume, but the glare remained.

Leila did not move a muscle. She watched the rapport building between the Vulcan and the cat, and marveled. She remembered you weren't supposed to stare at a cat if it was feeling frightened or angry, but the Vulcan was looking into Sparrow's eyes and the Captain was calming down. She kept her eyes on Spock; his wrist was bleeding very rapidly, emerald drops falling to the grass and nearly blending in.

"As you can see, Sparrow, I must myself seek medical attention. Do you wish to walk with us, or be carried? We can put you in a sling. I am certain your ribs are painful to you."

Warily, the cat watched as Spock rose, stripped off his Formfit shirt and t-shirt, and bound his bloody wrist with the t-shirt; the material was black and absorbent. "We will use my outer shirt for Sparrow's sling."

Leila was staring at him and shook herself to attend to his words. "A sling … yes. Er, Spock, I think we need to hurry," she said, sounding distracted. Have to keep my eyes off Spock's bare torso – action now – artistic appreciation later. She was concerned about Spock's wrist wound; blood was already soaking through the t-shirt.

She snatched the long-sleeved shirt from Spock, saying, "If we flank him I can scruff the nape of his neck and we can put him in the sling ..."

"It's not—" Spock started to say, but Leila moved too quickly.

Sparrow dashed.

Jaysis! She thought as she ran after the cat. Trying to catch the Captain like that was stupid – look at him running with all that pain, poor thing – got to keep him in sight, don't want him to disappear. But her instinct to help and the … lovely distraction of Spock's anatomy had made her act before a making a quick assessment as she had been trained to do. Spock will think I'm an eejit – a year ahead of him and I ignore my emergency training like a fool. If I can just catch up to Sparrow and drop this shirt over him …

Leila ran after him but Spock was faster, running barefoot through the grass, sending thoughts ahead: We are not going to hurt you. We wish to help you. He visualized the after-effects of veterinary care, ribs without pain, easy breathing, peace, normal cat activity; Sparrow might understand even in his attempt to avoid pursuit. Spock omitted any visions of the process of veterinary care, these generally were of no comfort to cats.

Flying across the grass, his eyes on the fleeing feline, Spock hardly knew what happened, it registered only seconds later. All he knew was that his foot was suddenly numb and he was nearly airborne –

"NUGHHHH," said Spock.

~/\~

Spock was overtaking Leila in the cat chase. She almost couldn't keep from glancing back at him. She'd only known him as the brilliant, aloof Vulcan she'd spotted in Interspecies Ethics Lectures; the high-necked tailored cadet uniform suited his lean figure and strict posture very well, but she hadn't dwelt on his physical characteristics so much. But now – . Oh my soul … brilliant and beautiful.

He was tall, lean, built like a swimmer, with long, supple muscles. His legs were long, his strides ate up distance, and as he ran swiftly, gracefully, posture positively straight, she fantasized for a moment that he was running to her. Bare-chested, with a scattering of chest hair arrowing down to his waistband, it was as if he'd suddenly snapped into focus.

Not surprisingly, he quickly passed her and the view from the rear was equally … rewarding, actually … and he was catching up to Sparrow when …

His right foot encountered an obstacle; his left foot hit the ground, pitching the top of his body ahead and down; his right foot came slightly up behind him, adding velocity, and he fell straight out onto the grass. "Planted a full-facer", as her mam would say. It was the most remarkable fall Leila had ever seen outside of a holo. It was funny and awful all at once. She caught up to him in a second and fell to her knees beside him.

"Cadet Spock … Spock, are you all right?" she shouted.

He tilted his head up just enough so his face was out of the grass; his nose was scraped raw, then his head lay back, left cheek to the ground, eyes going rapidly out of focus ... They really are a beautiful brown, she thought irrelevantly.

And he had one clear thought … Her words have a decided lilt … an Irish accent, perhaps ….

… When his vision focused, he saw her leaning over him, and her blue eyes were wide with concern.

He saw the cat, less than a meter behind Leila, watching curiously, still in obvious pain. Mother would say, "That makes two of us" … No. No pain … there is no pain … pain is a thing of the mind –

"I have to bandage your foot, it's very badly hurt," Leila said, ripping off the bottom of her t-shirt (a soft, curvy, muscular midriff got Spock's attention as she did so) and loosely winding the material around his toes and transverse arch to absorb blood and immobilize his broken bones. While she bent to her task, her blonde hair shimmered in the sun. It had the most fascinating reddish tones.

What did Mother teach me to say to Humans in response to help …? "'Hankyou," he murmured, words nearly unintelligible.

"I contacted Medical," she was saying. "They're beaming us over; you can't walk there."

"… vuhhhr." 'Very well,' he was about to say, although he was the junior of the two …

~/\~

"Cadet Spock, are you conscious?" said an intense African-inflected voice. Spock recognized it. Months ago he had been beaten rather badly by some toughs in the city, and this doctor had cared for him almost like a Vulcan Healer. "You passed out before you could go into a healing trance."

"Doctor M'Benga … yes." A pause. "The Captain …" he whispered. "Out of danger?"

"Indeed, Mr Spock, he submitted to having his ribs knitted with our bone-plaser. His tail has been damaged for a while, unfortunately."

"I heard that Cadet Gonzales shut the Captain's tail in a door a few months ago," said Leila softly. "Poor Sparrow, going about with a broken tail all this time. At least Gonzo is gone now. "

"That section of a cat's tail is made of cartilage, so it wasn't broken, actually. He'll have a permanent kink there." M'Benga turned to Spock. "Sparrow is in better shape than you are, though, young man."

"'m I …?"

"We sealed your radial artery – it had got rather a nasty rip. Your wrist will look a bit dodgy for a while – a chunk of skin went missing, so I sealed it with growth aid suture. You had a compound fracture of the distal and middle phalanges of your right great toe; that'll be painful for a while in spite of my bone knitter and sutureseal. No thanks to the Captain's taking a piece out of you, and your 200-meter dash, you've lost a fair bit of blood. We're replicating some blood now, so until we're done transfusing you, I need for you to induce a light healing trance, if you're able."

"'crs…"

"Is he going to be all right?" said that voice with the lovely Irish inflection. Leila. A fitting name … such a way of speaking … quite –

He closed his eyes, inwardly beginning the process, one taught to him from childhood, Vulcan self-preservation, a state of bodily conservation so deep as to look like a coma.

~/\~

A WHACK! on his face brought Spock to the beginnings of consciousness. WHACK! Closer. WHACK! Closer still … WHACK! Spock's right hand darted out and weakly gripped the healer's wrist. Blearily his eyes met M'Benga's, then slid to the alarmed face of Leila Kalomi.

Dr M'Benga spoke: "Believe it or not, Cadet Kalomi, this is how Vulcans emerge from a healing trance."

"Shouldn't he still …?"

"The worst of his injuries are healing, so what he needs now is simply bed rest, good nutrition, and a day or two away from cadet activities." M'Benga focused on Spock and said, "Now listen to me, Cadet Spock, and none of your stubbornness. Bed rest, no weight on the toe, 48 hours, no less. No walking except to the head. Two weeks' restriction to classes only, no duty hours, no extracurricular activity, no running. Mild exercise only – floor stretches and the like. Go easy on that great toe for the next three weeks. Do I have your word that you will comply, Cadet, or do I need to confine you here?"

"I will heal faster than that, Doctor."

M'Benga nodded, smiling a little. "When your toe feels better come back for a follow-up examination. But not sooner than ten days from now."

Spock said, "I will comply."

"You might like to know, Spock," said Leila, "that I talked to the Grounds Maintenance staff. The automated lawn sprinkler system is scheduled for upgrade to a system with retractable heads – no more tripping hazards in the grass, except when they are operating. Meanwhile they'll be flagged."

M'Benga's eyes twinkled. "Take good care of him, Ms Kalomi. He's a good and worthy young man."

She looked as though she were going to say something and thought better of it, then, after the doctor left, came over to Spock, gently resting a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, my … this was all a bit frightening. But I wanted to tell you something wonderful – before Medical beamed us out, Captain Sparrow came to stand right beside you, and when he arrived with us, he was calm as anything."

Spock nodded and closed his eyes. "That is fortunate."

~/\~

When he woke again, Captain Sparrow was neatly curled on the bed by his side, purring loudly. And Leila Kalomi sat in a chair to the other side of the bed, intensely studying her Padd.

She felt him looking at her and met his eyes. She reached out and squeezed his hand lightly, but it was enough. A mental spark leapt between them as their hands met. "I'm so glad we got here in time." Her voice was calm, but her smile a bit tremulous.

"That makes two of us," Spock murmured. He saw her grin as his eyes drifted closed.

A very strange afternoon, he was thinking as sleep took him. Yet strangely rewarding.

A/N: the Navy's terms fourth/class and third/class are traditionally written (in the US at least) with a slant bar.

What did you think? Did you enjoy it? Want to see more of Spock and Leila? Your comments are welcome and very much appreciated.