Chapter Three: Round of Doctors

"How are you feeling?" Bashir asked gently about twenty minutes later.

Matt slitted his eyes open, carefully not moving any other part of his head. "Better…" he managed. "It's not excruciating anymore; just unbearable."

"Well, I suppose that's an improvement, if not much of one," Bashir admitted wryly. "Your color looks a bit better — at least, as long as it's normally Chitran. For a human, you still look positively ghastly."

Matt managed a faint smile. "My skin color…is Chitran."

"Good; I'm relieved to hear it." He turned serious then, checking his tricorder readings once more. "Tell me, are you experiencing any new symptoms since I injected the drug, especially ones you've never had before?"

"No."

"It looks like it's safe to give you the rest of that dose, then, and once you're feeling better maybe we can talk about finding out what's wrong."

"…Like that…" Matt murmured.

As the full dose of medication began to take effect, the pain eased enough to enable him to drift into sleep. Bashir scanned him once more, checking to be sure it was indeed true sleep and not unconsciousness or even a coma. Satisfied, he set the tricorder aside, knowing that the best thing for his patient now was rest.

oOo

When Matt woke several hours later, his headache seemed to have gone, at least as far as it ever did anymore. But he knew better, and cautiously moved his head only the tiniest bit.

When no awakening pain stabbed behind his eyes, he slitted his eyes open and tentatively raised his head a quarter inch. "Water," he whispered, trusting that the doctor was still there.

"One moment," came the reassuring voice, and he heard someone get up from the chair and cross the room to the replicator.

"Here you are." The doctor's arm came around his shoulders, lifting him just enough to drink without choking as he held the glass to Matt's lips. Thirsty, he drank nearly half of it before turning away.

"Better?" Bashir questioned, easing Matt back onto the pillows and setting the glass aside.

"Yes…thank you."

Bashir merely nodded, scanning Matt once more and examining the results for a moment with a studied expression, wishing again he knew what Matt's normal readings were. At last he looked up. "You said this has happened before; have you ever seen a doctor?"

Matt sighed, turning his head away. "Yes…but I've never had much luck with doctors. As a child I was always shuffled back and forth between Chitran and Slovian doctors until whatever I had got better on its own; now I usually don't even bother to go. This was getting worse, not better, so I eventually went to a Chitran doctor. He didn't know what was wrong and suggested I see a Slovian doctor, but she didn't have any better success."

Bashir shook his head. "What you need is a xenologist."

"A xene…what?"

"A xenologist; a doctor who specializes in treating multiple species, rather than just one."

"Can…you recommend one?"

Bashir grinned. "I am one, so at the risk of boasting…" His smile softened into gentle assurance. "I've treated any number of species, both alone and in combination, and I'm reasonably familiar with all the races in your heritage; I think I can safely promise I'll be able at least to find out what's wrong, and hopefully to help you."

There was a time when he would have promised without reservation that he would be able to help, but the Quickening had curbed at least some of his arrogance; he now realized that even he couldn't cure everyone.

Next chapter coming next week!

I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know!

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