Disclaimer - Please See Chapter 1

Chapter 30 - Trust

It was the early hours of the morning. Sordd was currently sitting in Sakht's office, they were discussing Mimi's case. It was nearly four days since Sordd had placed Mimi into a healing trance. On the whole she had been making excellent progress. Her wounds were healing, deep bruising was going down and her stats were remaining within normal parameters. There were a few exceptions.

"...There is a definite pattern Sordd." Sakht spoke. REM was an unusual concept to a Vulcan as they did not dream, however they were aware of the significance to humans. "Do you know of any trauma?"

"Affirmative, Tela'at." Sordd replied, "She experienced a major trauma a number of years ago. I have endeavoured to discuss this with T'Sai Mimi, but she has refused to engage in any conversation on the matter. When I initiated the meld for the healing trance, I caught a fleeting glimpse of the nightmare. After monitoring her over the last few days, it is obviously recurring. T'Sai Mimi also suffers from headaches. I believe that two are linked."

"Indeed." Sakht replied. "It would be logical for us to ..."

In unison Sordd and Sakht's PADD's beeped… They picked up their PADD's respectively. Both of them raised an eyebrow. A few moments later their PADD's beeped again. They both rose to their feet ...

Mimi began to come through to a place of consciousness… her heart rate, breathing rate and blood pressure were all escalated.

The nightmare continued... She tried to scream, the Beast clasped a hand over her mouth to stop her. "Shut up!" it hissed. She couldn't speak, she tried to get up but couldn't move, paralysed by fear. Its other hand wrapped around her neck and pressed hard, she was suffocating, she couldn't breathe... The only comfort she could draw from was that the nightmare would end soon...

"Beep-beep-beep!" Mimi woke up with a start, she briefly paused. A sigh of relief escaped, the nightmare was over for another night. Slightly disoriented she looked around. For some reason the light in the room was a dim light green colour. She looked up and saw a row of monitors, she moved from one to the other. The writing was in Vulcan, she couldn't understand any of it! Her eye then fell on a monitor that she could make sense of, a whole body scan. There were areas highlighted in different shades of green, the darkest being down her left side, lung, abdominal region, and leg. She took encouragement, green was good wasn't it?

I must be in a hospital, she thought. Mimi didn't like hospitals. She tried to calm her breathing, it was no use. If everything was written in Vulcan then that could only mean one thing, Sordd. She needed to get out of here, she needed to get away as quickly as she could, home would be the best place. Agitated she sat up, the bed automatically moved in response, which was fortunate as she felt quite dizzy.

Mimi glanced around the room and couldn't see her clothes anywhere. That would make things more difficult but not impossible. She looked down at what she was wearing. Hospital attire consisting of a tunic which finished just above her ankles, it was decent enough. It was hard to tell what colour it was with the green light, it didn't matter it would have to do. She had another scan of the room, there didn't seem to be any shoes. Again that didn't matter, she was used to walking barefoot. She would get a flitter so wouldn't have to walk far.

As her head became clearer she becane aware of a tube near her nose, annoyed she quickly pulled it out. Unbeknown to her this set off an alarm on Sordd and Sakht's PADD's. Coming out of her right arm was an IV line, this posed the greatest problem so far. There were reasons why Mimi was not a doctor and needles was one of them. She carefully peeled off a metallic looking gauze, beneath she could see where the needle was going into her vein. She tried not to think about the blood pumping around her body, that could make her faint which was the last thing she needed just now. She tugged at it experimentally, it nipped; sore but not too sore. She just needed to be brave. Taking a deep breath Mimi counted to three then yanked it out her arm, blood started to trickle out of the puncture wound. There was nothing she could use to place over the wound, she just hoped it would quickly clott. The action of removing the IV triggered another alarm on the healers PADD's. If she had been looking she would have seen several of the monitors flashing warnings, but she wasn't looking too absorbed in wanting to get home as soon as she could.

She swung herself off the biobed and tentatively put her feet on the floor. There were dull pains down her left hand side, but it was nothing that she couldn't manage. No pain no gain, she was determined she needed to get out of this place as quickly as possible, she would have to put up with it.

Mimi approached the door, it smoothly swished open before her. The first thing that struck her was a wall of heat, it was a lot hotter than the room she was in. The second thing that struck her was there were no windows in the corridor and it was dimly lit, she concluded it must be night time, either that or Vulcans were majorly into energy saving. There was no one to be seen, this would work to her advantage, the less people she had to deal with the better.

Mimi decided to go left, there was no particular reason why… She increased her pace then quickly glanced back, sure she could hear someone following her, there was no one there. It didn't mean she was safe though. On reaching a bend in the corridor she bumped into Sordd, and another Vulcan coming her way. Panic filled her eyes. Their bodies seemed to fill the entire corridor, she couldn't get past...

"T'Sai Mimi" Sordd said tenderly. In her confusion she ignored him, she needed to get away… she attempted to squeeze between them, it didn't work!

"T'Sai Mimi!" he said more firmly, trying to break into her thoughts. Mimi looked at the two Vulcans and frowned.

"Young T'Sai, why are you out of your room?" Sakht asked in a warm but firm voice.

"I can't stay. I need to go home." She looked along the corridor from where she came from wondering if that would be a good alternative escape route. She leaned against the wall, the heat in the corridor being unbearable. "I need to leave now... I want to go home."

Sordd tilted his head and frowned. "T'Sai Mimi you are not well enough as evidenced by the fact that you are currently leaning against a wall."

She moved from leaning against the wall. "I'm fine, it's just too hot!" her breathing was becoming laboured and the pain was getting worse. "I need to go home."

Both healers noted her eyes were beginning to prick with tears. "That is something that we can sit down and discuss back in your room." Sakht replied. He tentatively took hold of one of her arms, being careful not to make skin to skin contact.

Mimi sighed in frustration, she could feel the tears begin to spill over in her eyes. She looked towards Sordd ... the dams opened.

Noting her distress, although not knowing the reasons why, Sordd moved to take hold of her other arm. They gently turned her in the direction of her room, she didn't notice.

She bit her lip, "Please help me to get home." She flicked between looking at both Sordd and Sakht, it gradually dawned on her neither of them were going to help in her endeavour.

"T'Sai Mimi, you must stay." Sakht said in a calming voice. "You are still very unwell, you should not be attempting to walk yet. You may cause further damage."

The doors opened as they approached her room, she looked up and stiffened. "No, that's the wrong way..." More tears flowed from her eyes.

"Let us go in here and you can have a seat and then you can tell me your concerns." Sordd replied to her protestations.

They tried to maneuver her toward the biobed, she refused. They decided a compromise would be logical, they led her to one of the seats in the room.

Sakht spoke in Vulcan. "Hakausu Sordd kah-if-farr to gol'nev nash-kan." and then he returned to Standard. "I will leave you. Contact me if you require further assistance."

"Affirmative, Tela'at Hakausu." Sordd replied.

Sordd knelt down, so he was at eye level with Mimi. Up until this point he had been careful not to make skin to skin contact. He gently placed his fingers on her wrist, so he could gauge better what she was feeling.

"T'Sai Mimi, tell me your concerns, you are worried about something. Is it Rachel? Your nephews? I can help you resolve anything that is causing you worry."

"Sordd, please help me to go home." She pleaded.

He brushed a finger against her cheek, "You are not well enough to go home."

She looked down at the floor, tears still spilling out her eyes, he wondered where all the fluids could come from. He handed her some tissues that Rachel had brought in earlier in the week, at the time it seemed to be an illogical gesture.

"T'Sai Mimi, look at me." He tilted her head up. "Everything is going to be ok. Tell me your concerns." He sensed the turmoil, the fear, the deep emotion. He gently wiped away some of the tears that were falling. "Ashayam, tell me, why are you scared. Why do you want to go home?" He traced his fingers from her temple to her jaw bone. "I'm here to help you."

She began to speak through the sobs, "I… I …" her eyes drifted back to the floor. "I can't stay here … he … he might find me… he might find you… he said he will hurt you… he will hurt the children if I stay... I need to go away from you..." she heaved.

Sordd inwardly sighed. He started to gently rub over the pulse point on her wrist, trying to relax her. "Who is 'he' Mimi?"

Mimi shook her head. "No… I can't talk about it…" she was now fidgeting with her hands.

"Mimi." he paused, "Is it Michael you are talking about?"

She looked up at him, her eyes went wide then she nodded her head. "He said he will hurt you … the children... I need to leave you." Mimi started to shake vigorously.

"It is safe in the Embassy." He said in a reassuring voice. "He will not hurt me, or the children." He made a mental note to ask T'Vol to assess the security of Mimi's apartment. "Ashayam, tell me what he did to you."

She shook her head vigorously, "I can't talk about it."

"Can you show me what he did?" he asked.

Mimi frowned in confusion.

"Share your thoughts with me." he whispered. "That may be easier than trying to speak about it... Ashayam, let me see your thoughts."

"I don't know how to." she replied.

"I will show you how... Close your eyes Ashayam." Mimi bit her lip then closed her eyes. Sordd gently placed his fingers on her psi points.

"Nahp, hif-bi tu throks." he said. "Your thoughts give them to me."

Notes

Kah-if-farr to gol'nev nash-kan - it is time to help this child

Tela'at Hakausu - elder healer

Ashayam - beloved

Nahp, hif-bi tu throks. - Your thoughts give them to me.