Chapter 12
New lessons
Commander Adama returned to Atlantis at the end of his trip on schedule, amazing since the Council of the Twelve often left him tied up with nonsense.
The Council found out about the orientation classes at the meeting called by Mr. Woolsey and wanted to discuss this with those at Stargate Command. They weren't happy with the accommodations they stayed at during their bridge gate trip, and it was all Adama could do to not roll his eyes at them. In fact, he was beginning to think Zara's assessment of them; selfish, self-centered, and ignorant of the people who voted for them, was correct. Still, he had to be there to keep order. Someone had to be the voice of reason.
Needless to say, even when he got back the Council members were still trying to wriggle out of classes, but Mr. Woolsey was told that no one was going to be exempt – NO ONE.
Adama pushed Zara down the hall to the infirmary for another check-up and more x-rays. It was important to see how the bone was healing.
"Well, young lady, the bone seems to be healing nicely, and although it's still early on, I don't foresee any worries. Keep your leg elevated, and no weight on it."
Zara signed to Adama.
"She wants to know why it isn't healed yet, Dr. Beckett."
"It's only been three weeks!"
A puzzled look came over her face. She signed more.
"She says she's had broken bones before and they've healed completely in less than two."
Carson stared first at Adama and then at Zara. "It's not possible."
Zara then pointed to several places on her body where the bones had been broken.
"She says all of these bones had been broken and healed, some mostly healed on the same day as they were broken. I know for a fact that Dr. Salik on the Galactica could have fused the bone that same day, but nobody contacted him. Why is that?"
"You have advanced medicine? Good Lord, man, why didn't we know about this?"
"How was I supposed to know what you did or did not know? Zara would have to have been shuttled back to the ship. I'll contact him later and see what he says."
Unfortunately, now that so much time had passed Dr. Salik didn't want to interfere with the process already begun. He felt they would have to undo the healing to start the procedure, in other words, they'd have to break the bone again, and Adama decided not to pursue that course of action. It wasn't fair to poor Zara to start over again, much to the relief of Dr. Salik.
When she found out how long it was going to take before the cast came off she started to cry. Adama explained it all over again. Did she want to go back to the ship? Adama knew she didn't like Dr. Salik at all.
She agonized over the decision, and in the end, she chose to remain in Atlantis, but she wasn't happy about it.
One particularly bad day, she was screaming trying to scratch an itch under the cast. Sheppard came up with a metal wire coat hanger from somewhere and twisted it into a scratcher so she could satisfy the itch. She had been going insane trying to insert foreign objects underneath the hard material. She was so relieved, that she forgot to reign in her tears. It was also the first time she hugged him.
Once her arms healed up some, she was able to wheel herself around, but it totally exhausted her. Getting washed in the morning was a chore. She had been washing her hair in the sink, with her only able to stand up for a few minutes at a time, and then falling back down in a heap. Her shoulders were in a lot of pain from all the added work, but she bit her tongue in an effort to keep it from showing.
Dr. Keller came up with a waterproof protector to slip on over her cast, so she could shower. Zara never thought a shower could feel so good!
Life wasn't easy, but it was getting better.
Classes had started for the Colonists. It had been decided that the people housed on the smallest ships would go first, and that way the ships could be dismantled and recycled for new life as something else. Of course, this caused an uproar amongst the people and another fire for Adama to put out.
The Council decided they needed special privileges, but 'the powers that be' on Earth decided that only one Council member at a time would attend classes as per so many Colonists. Adama would be in the last set of classes as would Zara and the crew of the great Battlestar.
Radek came running through the hallways, an excited grin on his face. The Daedalus had arrived and brought with it the things he had requested.
Zara was in her usual spot by the windows gazing outside, waiting for any sign of the Galactica overhead or Adama's return.
"There you are!"
Zara turned to find out why he was so breathless.
"Look what I have for you!"
"RADEK!" The shrill voice of Dr. McKay shrieking at Radek made all the color drain from Zara's face.
"I'll distract him, you go into the cafeteria." Radek pocketed the gift he wanted to give Zara quickly.
Radek headed off McKay and Zara wheeled around and quickly disappeared from view.
"Radek, where are you going with that laptop? I need all the laptops in the lab."
Radek began spinning a tale as Zara snuck into the café.
"Look. I don't want to hear it, just get it back to the lab; we have important work to do today. No excuses! Get it done!" He turned around. "I need more coffee."
At the coffee pot, Zara had drained the last of the coffee from the urn. As she was emptying sugar packets into her cup, Rodney came over just in time to see. "Now you're drinking all the coffee too? I need coffee! Don't you know that? I have priority! I WANT MY COFFEE!"
Poor Zara tipped over her cup as she scrambled to get out of there as fast as she could. With tears blurring her vision, she rolled into several people and a couple of tables before she made her escape.
Radek tried to stop her flight, but to no avail; she sailed right past him. "Rodney!"
Any further comments were cut off by a hail of poison by McKay.
"And I better not catch you wasting resources on that girl; she's too stupid to understand the important work we do! Now, get back to work." Rodney spun around. "I want my coffee!" He stomped off to harass the kitchen staff to brew another pot.
Later that night when Zara refused to go to dinner, Adama knew something was up.
After persevering, he finally got her to tell him of the coffee incident.
He was madder than a wet hen and stormed up to Mr. Woolsey. He banged his fist on the table. "You were supposed to fix this! I will not stand for it any longer."
Mr. Woolsey dabbed his napkin to sop up the spilled beverage. "What are you talking about?"
"Dr. McKay has been harassing Zara again. She refuses to leave her room."
"I have spoken with him."
"Evidently it was not enough. He persists on scaring her and screaming at her."
"I'll have another talk with him."
"Don't bother; I'll take care of this myself." Adama turned and left. Mr. Woolsey stood up and called after him, but he was ignored.
The next morning in the café, Ronon joined them for breakfast and heard all about the coffee incident.
Even with all the many voices talking at once, Zara could pick out McKay's high tenor from the entranceway.
When the color drained from her face, both of the men knew she'd heard him.
McKay strolled in and headed straight to the coffee. Sheppard, Teyla, and Beckett were at their usual table. Rodney went to join them.
Adama stood up, but Ronon was faster.
Just as McKay put down his tray, Ronon grabbed him around the throat one handed and back-pedaled him against the wall. "If you EVER harass Zara again, I'll put you in the infirmary! You got that McKay?"
Rodney gurgled, but couldn't speak. His toes barely touched the ground.
It happened so fast, everyone was in shock for a split second. Then John and Carson jumped up and pleaded with the big man to let McKay go.
"Not until he promises to stay away from Zara." The hand tightened its' grip.
Rodney's face was beet red, but he managed a nod. He fell to the floor with a loud thud when Ronon released him. Ronon gave him one more murderous glare before leaving.
He calmly walked back to Adama's table and sat down like nothing ever happened. "Problem solved." He went right back to his breakfast.
Adama slowly sat down, and let out the breath he'd been holding. Voices spoke in muted tones after that around the café.
John came over and sat with them. "I really have to apologize. Rodney has always been known for his sharp tongue. I didn't know what was going on, if I had, I would have prevented this from getting this far. You won't have any more trouble, I promise."
"I took care of it." Ronon muttered between bites.
"I know you did, I'm just letting these good folks know I could have handled it." He looked directly at Zara. "You're one of the luckiest people I know. You're friend here is the biggest bad-ass in the city. If you're friends with him, you've nothing to worry about…ever."
He stood up, gave a small pat on Ronon's shoulder and went back to his table.
"So…" Carson looked around for the calendar. "It's been almost 8 weeks; let's see how this bone is doing, shall we?"
Ronon stood to one side and Adama on the other side of Zara in the infirmary. John had been regaling her in the weeks since the coffee incident with tales about Ronon and Carson. Now, she looked at Carson differently. With visions of Dr. McCoy from Star Trek in her mind, she regarded him with less fear. John had scared up a few recordings of the old television series and had played them for her. She was fascinated with TV, and began attending movie nights whenever possible.
Ronon scoffed at the big box, so John took her to the screening room, but Ronon made an exception once or twice.
"Ok, lass, here we go." When Carson started up the cutting device, Zara jerked back in terror and screamed. She thought he was going to cut her leg off. It took all Ronon's strength to keep her from tipping the chair over.
"I've done this hundreds of times, lassie. I know what I'm doing. It will never touch you; I'm only cutting the cast off."
It took several attempts before Zara was calm enough for Beckett to continue. If it weren't for Ronon's repeated assurances, the cast would have still been on at day's end.
She winced at the high pitched whine as it cut the surface of the cast. She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as humanly possible, and turned her face away. She had a death grip on Ronon's large hands. If it hurt, he never let on.
After way too much of the horrid sounds, she passed out and her body went limp. Ronon braced her up and Carson finished cutting.
When she opened her eyes, she was cast free!
"Was it that bad, love?" Carson asked. He felt bad.
Her face showed her displeasure but she didn't make a sound.
"Let's take some pictures of the bone. You remember how we did that?"
Carson had to wait quite a while before she nodded. Her eyes had returned to that suspicious glare she'd perfected. Ronon wheeled her to get x-rays, and returned her to a waiting Adama.
In a couple of minutes Carson rejoined them. "Well, it looks good! The bone still has some healing to do, but don't see any space where arthritis might sneak in there. I want you to slowly start putting some weight on it. Can you work the crutches I gave you?"
She shook her head no. She signed to Adama. 'Those things are dangerous. I nearly fell several times trying to use them.'
"I think she should stay away from them Dr. Beckett. I don't want her to be at risk of another fall and breaking something else."
"Very well then, continue with the chair, but I want you to stand up and see how well you can get around. Do a little more each day. Okay?"
She nodded, but wasn't happy.
"If we were back on Earth, I'd have a couple of other options for her, but since we're not, I just don't have the resources."
"What were you thinking about?" Adama asked.
"Well, I could let her use an assistive device. It's usually for older people who have balance problems. Here let me show you."
Carson pulled up a photograph on his computer.
"Could you send this up to my ship? We have technicians that could make something like this."
"Of course."
Carson sent the image up later that day, and the scientist that created Muffy, Dr. Wilker, set about creating a rolling, four wheeled device that would help support Zara, plus it would give her a seat in the middle for when she needed to rest.
Radek slipped out of the science department after a long, but productive day. All the data from the last expedition had been sorted and for once there seemed nothing left to do.
He carried the laptop under his arm and scurried off to find his new friend. She was where he expected her to be, sitting alongside Adama in the lounge. The film John had picked for the evenings' entertainment went over well.
"There you are! Did you enjoy the movie?"
Zara smiled and blushed. She still wasn't used to be people actually happy to see her and not want to hurt her.
Adama smiled too. "Your entertainment is of much better quality than we have, but then we are limited in our capacity."
Ronon walked out from behind them and just grunted.
"I'd meant to give this to you some time ago, but the incident with Rodney put a damper on it. Let me show you." He sat down. "I know it doesn't look like much, but I hope it'll be something you'll like. It's called an MP3 player, and you take these things and put them into your ears. These are earbuds."
"What exactly is this?" Adama got curious.
"It plays music. She can carry it around with her and listen anytime she likes. I will show her how to charge it, for when the battery runs down."
"I told you before that I didn't want her to be overwhelmed with gifts…"
"I know, I know. I have a plan. And don't worry; these things are very common and quite inexpensive. I know you want her to earn the things she gets, so she doesn't get in the habit of expecting things. I spoke to Mr. Woolsey and he has agreed to let her do some light work in his office in exchange. Will that be satisfactory?"
"I agree with that. Zara?"
She nodded readily.
"On my laptop, I have your file of music, and I have some new files for you to listen to. Once you make your selections from the new songs, I will put them all on here, and you can listen. I can always add more. It holds about 300 songs. I will show you how to operate it."
She smiled, and signed 'Thank you.'
A couple of days later, Radek returned and brought her the MP3 player and instructed her in its usage.
A huge smile crossed her face as she listened.
Radek stepped back, pleased with his work.
"I want to thank you again for all the work and time you've put into this. She's really starting to blossom."
"Oh, it was my pleasure just to see the joy on her face."
"She's learning so much, and she's getting more comfortable around people too."
"Has Rodney been a problem?"
"No. He avoids her at all costs now. I disagree completely with Ronon's method, but it has been effective."
"They have this unspoken understanding. Once you get to know Rodney, you learn to ignore the hurtful remarks."
"But she isn't emotionally equipped to deal with him."
"Possibly, but the fact remains that she learning the most important lesson. She's learning to trust."