Disclaimer: I don't own the ship, the characters, or anything at all.
Chapter 8 ā Fever
The doctor was stood outside the Captain's door for the second time that day. He had heard from Chakotay that the Captain hadn't come to the bridge during the red alert, this afternoon. What's more she hadn't even bothered to check what had happened. It was very unlike the Captain not to act on a red alert. Chakotay was deeply concerned, and so was he. The Commander had been on the verge of coming with him, but the doctor had managed to persuade him not to.
Having keyed his override code into the Captain's door pad he walked in, through the main living area - unchanged from this morning, and into the Captain's bedroom. She was still in bed, apparently asleep. It didn't appear to be a peaceful sleep though, she was crying and muttering.
The doctor knelt at her bedside and opened his medkit, at least she couldn't argue if she was asleep, he thought. Pulling out his tricorder he began to scan her, all the readings pointed to a nasty case of flu. Deciding to take her to sickbay ā at least he could monitor her there, and she wouldn't be alone, the doctor tapped his commbadge.
"Doctor to transporter room 1. Transport the captain and myself to sickbay immediately."
"Aye, sir", came the sound response.
Within seconds, the Captain and the doctor materialized in sickbay. The doctor pulled a tray of hyposprays over to the biobed the Captain was lying on. He injected her with a sedative, to help her sleep easily, and a course of medicine to combat the flu symptoms. The doctor was tempted to inject her with some nutrients, but decided against it. He would make her eat something, tomorrow.
Pushing the tray of hyposprays back into a corner near his office, the doctor went to get his patient a sickbay gown. Returning with the gown, he removed the photo in the Captain's hand without a second glance. Once changed he left her to rest.
Next morning, Tom entered sickbay, feeling a little more refreshed. He wanted to thank the doctor for his help the night before. He stopped dead when he saw the Captain lying unconscious on a biobed.
"Doc", Tom called.
"In here, Mr Paris" the doctor called from his office. Tom rushed in, to find the doctor working through a pile of pads behind his desk.
"What happened?" Tom asked quietly.
"Nasty case of the flu" the doctor said placidly.
"Oh, right. Well I just stopped by to say thanks for yesterday."
"I'm glad I was able to help" the doctor said, smiling.
Tom turned to leave, but the doctor called after him, "Tom, perhaps you could help the Captain?"
"Me", Tom looked taken aback. "I don't know. She knew Liz. I still have nightmares about it doc. I need to be able to deal with it myself, before I talk to the Captain."
"I thought you were able to sleep better last night", the doctor said unconvinced.
Tom gulped and averted his eyes, "I was."
The doctor stared at him, "But."
Tom looked increasingly uncomfortable. "I woke up after a nightmare last night, every time I closed my eyes I saw it over and over. So I um, well Iā¦."
"Well, you what, Mr Paris" the doctor said impatiently.
"I replicated a hypospray." Tom looked at the floor guiltily.
"I see. Maybe I should ask Lieutenant Torres to pull the plug on your replicator, until you learn how to use it properly"; the doctor said angrily, his faced creased in a frown.
"No. Don't involve B'Elanna, ok. I wont do it again", Tom said, grimacing at how pathetic it sounded.
A groan from the nearby biobed stopped the doctor from replying. Instead he rushed over to the Captain's side, whilst Tom made a hasty exit.
The Captain opened her eyes to see the unwelcome face of the doctor, looking down at her. The sadness that filled her hazy blue eyes, as the memories came flooding back to her was unbearable, even for the doctor, who instinctively looked away.
"Captain, welcome back to the world of the living", he said, kicking himself when he realised just what he had said. God, how tactless he was.
The Captain looked away, turning her gaze to the hand, which had previously held the photo. Spotting it on the console next to her, she snatched it, held it close, and turned away from the doctor. Sighing, the doctor scanned her ā her temperature was coming down. Next job was to make her eat something, anything.
-Fin-
