Sorry for not updating. A lot has been going on. I have a few thoughts on this story that I might need some input on but that can wait for a chapter or so.
This chapter ended up much longer than I thought, so I trimmed it down to the barest of bones. I also want to have a certain part of the story up before Christmas, to be in solidarity with those who still have to endure abusive family members, or endure having cut ties with them.
I'm going to change the canonn a bit and write that Keiko O'Brien as a school teacher would be required by that point in the future to have an extensive working knowledge of trauma, especially because she would currently be teaching many trauma victims in her classroom- ie Bajoran children.
There were two ways I could have gone with this bit in the story, and I admit I may have chosen the wrong one, but more on that in the next chapter!
...
She was sitting up, or as close as she was able. From the side she was painfully hunched over, her back arching backward like the curve of a cat's back.
Her shoulders were drawn forward, as if huddled in permanent fear, cradling, protecting her fragile body the only way it could.
She looked around the space unafraid. As if she were familiar with it. But, that was impossible.
Bashir was watching her from the doorway. She didn't know he was there, yet, and he considered that being male, this damaged child might not respond well to his presence.
He had Nurse Jabara on stand-by, but also considered calling in Kira, or Dax. Both was against Sisko's expressed desire of being called when the girl awoke. Another male, larger than himself. To a small child, an abused one, Bashir knew this was a not likely to be a good idea. He was well within his rights as CMO to refuse Sisko. And he was.
Sisko had as much as claimed her, Julian knew, simply because he'd been drawn to the sport symbol on her tattered clothing. That, at least, was something he could fix. The girl was fitted now with a warm medical gown, her body having difficulty in regulating temperature. The body temperature had finally stabilized from an fever brought on by an infection he was helpless to control. Now the child's body's normal temperature was one several degrees colder than was normal in humans. In healthy humans, he corrected himself.
He knew again this was yet another trauma response. The body lowering its temperature in order to prolong life. He'd never seen it himself, but had certainly read of it. Her hands and feet were ice cold, the only warmth was in her torso. Her face even was cold.
Reflexively he touched the room's individual climate control tab and upped it approximately ten degrees.
"Julian."
His inner ears perked backward at the whisper of his name. He knew immediately who it was, and wasn't surprised, but he realized he might have considered her before now. She did work with far more children on a daily basis than either Kira or Dax.
He turned, stepping back out of the room, and saw Keiko O'Brien standing before him holding a pink orchid in a purple pot.
"Is she awake?" Keiko kept her voice at a whisper.
"She was, she just dropped back off to sleep."
Keiko smiled. "That's wonderful!"
After Miles had told her of the girls sudden arrival that evening after his shift, because of course Miles talked to Bashir, and of course Julian told Miles everything. Keiko decided to herself that she'd better intervene before either of the men, both with little childhood trauma training could make a bad situation worse.
She'd side-stepped Bashir entirely, instead choosing to request that either Dr. Gurney, or Nurse Jabara inform her as soon as the girl was awake. In the meantime, she'd been preparing.
Of course she had the physical materials to help her Bajoran students who might be likely to have an unexpected panic attack in the schoolroom as a result of years of trauma, but this was a child clearly in the midst of even more recent trauma.
In the following days Keiko had busied herself selecting the most cheerful plants in her collection. Starfleet infirmaries were hardly decorated with an eye to children's needs. Of course the Cardassian designed space station itself had not been.
She'd been considering broaching the subject of making environmental changes to the station to help both Starfleet officers and Bajoran to have a visual respite. As far as she was concerned the cold barrenness of the station could be trauma inducing all by itself. She certainly hated living there. She did anything she could to make living there bearable.
And now the work she'd done to that end in her family's quarters could also be put to use with the latest station guest. And so, she picked up the orchid she'd chosen and made her way to the infirmary immediately after Jabara's call.
As Julian stepped aside, Keiko strode into the room, moved a rolling cart over to the foot of the bed and placed the plant squarely upon it. Keiko then cast a gaze at him that said as plainly as words "get out".
"I…have a meeting with the senior staff," he kept his voice low so as not to wake the girl again.
Keiko nodded to him. "That's fine."
As if she worked there. Or were in fact the one in charge.
"Um…" he considered how it might look to leave a non-medical professional in a room alone with a patient.
"I can see myself out, Julian," she answered his thoughts as if he'd spoken them aloud. "When I'm ready to leave."
"I-" he couldn't figure out what to say that wouldn't leave him sounding like an idiot.
"Go to your meeting."
The tone told him how easily Keiko O'Brien had taken to the task of wrangling school aged children. It was also the tone she used a lot with the Chief. And now, him. It worked.
"If you need anything," it was a lame take-away, but he had to do something to retain a semblance of control here."
"Yes," Keiko smiled sweetly, as if humoring him, "I'll call Dr. Gurani."
That wounded his pride further. He assumed she was going to say "you".
Now feeling even more foolish, he turned back around and made a line to the infirmary exit, hoping no one else had overheard that exchange.