A/N: I was inspired to title this chapter after Doctor Who and the soundtrack track titled "The Sad Man With a Box." Thanks again to my reviewers for your kind words and welcome to new followers!
4. The Sad Man In a Box
(Listening track selections: "Into the Hub" by Ben Foster and Murray Gold, "In Loneliness" by Taro Iwashiro)
Upon returning to her quarters, Catherine contacted her parents to update them and let them know that she may not be able to contact them as often as they were accustomed. She then contacted Janice to give her the same update but did let her know without getting too detailed that at this point her assignment was going to be her working specifically with a person.
"Maybe we should come up with some sort of innocent code system. Just in case you really need to talk to someone about what you're doing?" Janice suggested.
"Hmm, not a bad idea. Torchwood?"
"Torchwood!"
"I think Harkness can definitely be a good code name for my colleague."
"Know anything about this person?"
"Not much, although from what I know so far, he doesn't sound like Captain Jack at all. From what I've heard, he sounds a bit more like a workaholic Sherlock in macho mode."
"Uh oh, could be trouble," Janice scrunched her nose.
"Yeah, it could be," she admitted. "Well, I'm going to pack real quick and then look at some of the files they uploaded to my PADD. And I promise that I'll do my best to keep in touch!"
Catherine quickly packed what she would need for her first two or three weeks in London as Section 31 would handle getting the rest of her belongings moved to her new quarters. Catherine then crawled into bed with her PADD to study some of the files. First she opened Harrison's medical files. His baseline health status was perfect in every way possible. She gasped, however, as she perused some photos of past injuries that he had obtained and been treated for during his time as an agent. Stab wounds and deep gashes, electrical and chemical burns, compound fractures, even bite marks, "How could anyone handle all of this?" she thought as she continued looking at the photos. "I would want to be cryogenically frozen just to get a vacation!"
What she found to be a bit odd was that all of the documented injuries were only about eight months ago. The time frame was also very tight with all of the injuries appearing to take place within about a couple of months of time, but none of the injuries took place at exactly the same time even though some of them were in the same areas of his body. "How could he possibly heal from any of these injuries so quickly? Maybe he is a Captain Jack?" she joked inwardly to herself thinking of the immortal fictional character that could heal instantly. "But this is just not possible. What is really going on here? Maybe they're just dated incorrectly," she tried to reason with herself, but this still did not quell her suspicions that something very bizarre had been taking place.
Aside from the injuries, Catherine could not help but note Harrison's physical features. Pale skin covering toned muscles, dark hair, razor-sharp cheekbones, Cupid's bow lips, and the most striking, intense eyes. "What beautiful eyes. Heterochromia? I suppose he is not completely perfect after all. Those eyes…" she put a finger to her lips. "Snap out of it! You have a job to do," she shook her head catching herself lingering a little too long on some of the photos of him with no injuries. "I better get to sleep. Early start tomorrow."
On the shuttle ride to London with Dr. Smith, Catherine studied up on the schematics of the cryogenic tubes and the reports from the previously completed studies. She knew she would not be in charge of the actual equipment, but she felt it would be a good idea to at least have a better understanding of how they functioned with the modifications made by Section 31.
"Eager to get started?" Dr. Smith asked as he sat down by Catherine with a couple of bottles of water. "Thirsty?"
"Oh, yes, quite. Thanks," she took a bottle that he offered to her. "I figured that I have a lot of catching up to do in very little time, so I wanted to be as ready as possible."
"Don't worry. You'll be fine. The reanimation process is very controlled and from what we have seen thus far, it is very safe as well. Besides, I'm sure you've heard them say that there are rarely any emergencies in rehab or research."
"Definitely! I'm starting to think that's our specialty's unofficial motto or something," she laughed.
"Most of what you'll be doing initially is monitoring his vital signs, helping administer some medications, and some basic nursing care as well."
"Ah, smoothing fevered brows? Nursing has come very far, but I guess it still retains some of those old-fashioned romantic notions."
"Regardless, I think you are going to do very well. I'll let you get oriented to the facilities and equipment today, and we'll wake up Commander Harrison first thing tomorrow. I hope he's a morning person," he laughed.
"Oh dear, me, too. I'm the one that's going to have to put up with him," she snorted.
Upon their arrival and leaving their luggage with an attendant, Catherine and Dr. Smith headed to the Kelvin Memorial Archives. He took her through the security screening area and then led her to the turbolift. "We have to take it to the basement first and then head to the 'secret' turbolift for our base," he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers.
"How deep does it go?" she asked after they entered the Section 31 turbolift.
"Just far enough to be out of reach of most scanners. Ah, here we are," the lift stopped and the doors opened. "Just this way," he started to lead her through the complex and showing her some of the different labs the area contained. "Here we are. You need to use the retina scanner to get inside."
Dr. Smith led her inside after gaining access to the door. He showed her where all their equipment and medications were located as well as a small infirmary that was to be used for Harrison's initial stay as an inpatient. Catherine was impressed with the quality of the facilities and equipment. "So, where is Commander Harrison?" she asked.
"Oh, yes, it was rude of me not to introduce you," Dr. Smith smiled. "This way, my dear."
He led her down another hallway to a door. Punching in a security code, the door opened revealing a darkened room. Despite the darkness, Catherine could easily make out the cylindrical shape of the cryotube due to a faint light being emitted from the inside of it. A couple of panels displaying Harrison's vital signs on the side of it were also illuminated. Dr. Smith commanded the computer system to fully illuminate the room.
"Come on," he led her further into the room. "No need to be shy. He won't bite," Dr. Smith teased. As they both came to the side of the cryotube, after doing a couple quick checks on Harrison's biological readings, he beamed, "Lieutenant Troi, meet Commander Harrison. I can see here he's doing very well. His neural readings are now at baseline, and I expect things to run without a hitch tomorrow."
"Excellent. Tomorrow will definitely be a big day," Catherine remarked. She edged a little closer to get a better look at Harrison. "He looks so sad."
"Get used to it. He almost always looks somber like that. Sometimes I wonder about him and the other agents. I worry about their psychological and emotional health. They put them through a lot."
"I was looking at his medical files that you uploaded to my PADD, and, my word, the injuries he has sustained. I do not know how he does it," she gasped in awe.
"Supposedly he gets some of the worst missions, and yet, somehow he thrives. I only started to treat him as a patient after all of those injuries. Sometimes I wonder if they have some kind of agenda against him or if he just enjoys being a glutton for punishment."
"Doctor, did you notice anything odd about those injuries documented in his file?"
"Like what? That is, other than the fact that he looked like he'd been in multiple wars over the course of two months?"
"Unless there were documentation errors, some of those injuries occurred to the same areas of his body over a very short period of time, a matter of a few days in some cases, and yet, none of the photos show that they are present simultaneously."
"You mean the photos make it look like he healed over the matter of a couple of days?"
"Yes, and that can't possibly be right! Maybe I was just reading the files incorrectly. I was pretty tired."
"No, I think I'll take a look at those files again sometime. Maybe it was just a documentation error. That does sound very odd. Anyways, as I was saying, I worry about agents like him that are overworked. What I want to know is if they're ticking time bombs."
"That's a possibility, I suppose. We still see cases of post traumatic stress disorder even now."
"Right. What I'm afraid of is one of these guys just losing it someday and harming themselves or worse the rest of the public or us. You know, like Marcus, I do tend to pick on Harrison a lot for his peculiarities, but unlike the admiral, I do genuinely feel sorry for him sometimes. Some of his wounds I've treated, I've thought about what it might be like to go home to one's quarters and not have someone to look after you. All of his family is dead, and I do not get the impression that he has any friends. Like I said earlier, he always looks so sad and serious. I do not think I've ever seen the man smile. Well, like Marcus said, maybe you can figure him out a little."
"I'm starting to think that our patient needs more than just a nurse," she sighed. "Sounds like what he needs is a friend. I know there's a certain line we aren't supposed to cross in the patient-caregiver relationship in addition to the fact that he's our colleague, but maybe we can try to help him out."
"It's a thought. Oh well, for now let's just worry about getting him back in running order. I have some meetings and a conference the rest of the day. Any information you might need should be in your PADD. There's even a map of the complex so you can find the cafeteria if you don't care for replicator food from the lab here, but feel free to get out and try some of the local eateries. If you have any questions, just send me a text, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. The address to your new quarters is in your PADD, so you should be able to get a taxi there. So, with that, I will go ahead and leave you to get yourself oriented to the lab and whatever else you want to work on to prepare for tomorrow."
"Alright, sounds like a plan. If I don't hear from you, I'll see you here bright and early tomorrow morning."
Dr. Smith left Catherine in the room with Harrison. She put her equipment down on a nearby desk and walked back over to Harrison's cryotube. She gently placed her hand on the glass surface over Harrison's chest. "You poor man," she thought to herself. "What have they really been doing to you?" She almost could sense his heart slowly beating under her hand despite it being nowhere near his chest. "And yet, you are even more beautiful in person than your pictures let on. John…" she felt surprised as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Quickly brushing it away with the back of her hand. "Okay, that is enough of that!" she scolded herself. "He's unconscious. I can't possibly be sensing any emotions from him right now!"
Other than during her breaks, she remained in the room with Harrison the entire day finding his sleeping form to be somewhat comforting in her new, unfamiliar surroundings. After Catherine wrapped up for the day, she went to her new quarters. The place was furnished, thankfully, which helped make it appear to be not quite so empty, but at the moment, she really did not care. She had other things weighing on her mind.
"Janice, I'm in London!"
"How is it?"
"Well, honestly, I haven't really had a chance to see much of it. I'm already really busy trying to get caught up."
"Oh well, you're going to be there a while. You'll have time to see the sights. What's wrong?" Janice asked noting Catherine looked upset.
"Torchwood. Harkness."
"Trouble already?"
"Let me just put it this way. I haven't had the opportunity to interact with him yet, but I did meet him."
"And?"
"More handsome than Captain Jack, the Doctor, and even Captain Kirk."
"What does Harkness look like?"
"Remember what I said about him sounding like a macho Sherlock. He even looks like a macho Sherlock minus the mop of curls."
"No way!"
"Yes!" she moaned and put her head down.
"Try not to worry about him. Just try to focus. Be like Sherlock and be married to your work. And then, if something is meant to happen, it will happen."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"You don't seem so enthusiastic about it. Is something else wrong?"
"I just feel like something fishy is going on with him, like there's more than what they're telling me. It just feels very uncomfortable."
"Well, you better than anyone will ultimately be able to figure that out."
"I suppose…"