Daybreak
Dr. McCoy watched as Vahl'Sai flexed her arm, tensing her hand and fist so that her forearm muscles and tendons pressed against her flesh. There wasn't even a scar, leaving the markings on the softer, underside of her forearm untouched. Having been restricted to her rooms and always wearing long-sleeved clothing prevented her from worrying about tan-lines, but he had a feeling that wasn't something that was on the list of concerns for her.
"How's it feel?" he asked, marking down her updates on the data PADD in his hands. "No abnormal pressure, lingering pains?"
"Feels normal," she answered easily. "Although…slightly out of shape. Like I haven't been using it and the muscles went lax."
"Yea, that's an unfortunate side-effect; you shouldn't have any trouble getting that back up to par. I do want you to step in gradually, though. Don't go and start deadlifting hundreds of pounds, alright? Add a bit more weight on each day until you're back up to the usual amount you'd lift." Vahl'Sai nodded along as she listened to him, massaging her forearm with the opposite hand. It took Bones a minute to realise she was feeling along her bones, probably searching for any trace of the break. "You healed perfectly, at least from what our scans show us."
"I can't feel anything there," she confirmed, looking up from her arm so her green eyes were staring into his. "Thank you, doctor."
Bones nodded in response and watched as Valh'Sai rose from the exam table, her legs long enough that she didn't need to hop down like majority of his other patients. "I'm going to suggest to the council that your confinement to your quarters be removed," he started suddenly, turning his back on her as he placed the data PADD in the holder against the wall. He could hear the shift of her clothing as she turned to face him, the surprise on her face missed by his turned back. "Your health is already showing decline. Your species wasn't meant to be confined indoors. You need sun, air and space to move. It's not just your general health, but in the weeks since the incident your brain activities have slowed drastically."
Vahl'Sai expression pinched with confusion as she tried to keep up with what he was saying. "I may pick up on things quite quickly, doctor, but you may need to elaborate this time."
Turning to face her again, Bones slipped his hands into the pockets of his trousers as he frowned. "You're becoming depressed. It's nothing drastic right now, but it could become much worse if whatever is causing this isn't fixed. You're becoming…sluggish, less involved with your own conscious decisions. Almost like you're letting your body go on auto-pilot."
The lack of reaction from Vahl'Sai spoke of one of two things; she either had no clue as to what he was talking about, or she knew exactly what he was talking about. She was open when she was confused, so Bones could tick that one off, which meant she was not surprised with what he had told her. She was aware of her lack of response, her steady decline into depression.
Heaving a sigh as he grumbled about being a doctor, not a therapist, Bones fell into the chair across from where Vahl'Sai was still standing. "Is something like this common for Sahvarians?" he asked outright, knowing that she would respect the forwardness rather than lock up because of it.
"Why do you think I hate bedrest so much?" she retorted, her tone bordering on snappish.
"This happened before?"
"Every time," she responded blandly. "The healers of my world call it the Sleep Sickness; when we must rest and sleep more than we are accustomed, it makes us sick. Though, we have never had anyone confirm that it was a sickness of the mind before."
"It is relieved from returning to regular activities?" Bones asked calmly, watching the bland look on her face. It wasn't something he was accustomed to seeing; it was as out of place as professionalism was on Jim Kirk. It made her look like she was trying to imitate a Vulcan.
She nodded her head, the movement lacking momentum. "Yes."
Bones was worried. Vahl'Sai was private and withdrawn when it came to her life, her way of being. He'd noticed just as Jim had when she had the repressed anger that had thankfully been worked through by the next day; however that may have been done. Right now…she didn't seem like she was trying to hide anything, she was just tired. Non-reactive. It wasn't good timing, since they knew for a fact that someone was after her.
Sighing tiredly, he moved over to the door and motioned for Vahl'Sai to stay. He couldn't let this get worse.
Approaching the nurse at the front desk, Bones glanced around at the mostly-empty room. There was barely anyone left on campus, so it wasn't surprising that sickbay was dead. "Good afternoon, Dr. McCoy. What can I help you with?" the nurse asked politely, looking up from the screen in front of her, a stack of data PADD's off to her side.
"I need you to get in touch with Admiral Bennett for me; tell him it's about Commander Vahl'Sai. Nothing life or death, but it's important." The nurse's expression pinched with concern, but she nodded and immediately pulled up the secure contact page. There were few people who could get through to the Admirals immediately, but thankfully sickbay was one of those.
"May I ask, Dr. McCoy, is she alright?"
"No," Bones answered rigidly and turned away from her, wiping at his face tiredly. He had no clue what he was doing, if he was being completely honest. Vahl'Sai is a whole new puzzle that he's never seen before. He had notes on her biology, her physiology, but he couldn't say that he knew how she thought. He didn't know the things that differed here from her home, or how she would react to things. It was an outward change, her beginning stages of depression, but it wasn't enough that those who didn't know her would pick up on.
She'd been teasing Kirk, she'd fought to save a student she barely knew and was poisoned in the process; now, he couldn't say that she would do those things.
It may have been off-time for the students, but those who worked for Starfleet didn't get the same break, so Kirk and Pike had been deep in their own work and therefore deprived Vahl'Sai of the communication she had while locked in her rooms. He'd only been able to visit her for medical reasons, and he was certain that even Spock hadn't been able to go to her.
She was alone and segregated from what she had become accustomed to while on Earth. It was already a big change from her home planet, and now those small comforts were also gone.
Unable to provide her with anything right away, Bones was forced to send her back to her dorm with her security detail flanking her on either side. She didn't even react when she stepped into the sun; normally, he'd seen her inhale deeply once she was outside and in an open space with fresh air. Not anymore. Frowning as he crossed his arms over his chest, the doctor watched the small group of three make their way across campus.
Something needed to be done before the Vahl'Sai that they knew, the one that Starfleet valued, was gone.
Pulling out his communicator, he looked down at the small device as he debated whether or not he should contact Kirk about what he'd discovered. His friend had grown close to the Sahvarian, and he'd expressed his concern about her mental state once in the past—very briefly—after she had been transferred to the new room in a more secure building. He hadn't told Bones what had happened, but he did admit that he'd seen a weaker side of Vahl'Sai that he hadn't been aware existed.
Tapping the communicator against the back of his opposite hand, Bones looked up as Vahl'Sai and her security detail disappeared around the corner of the far buildings, out of his sight.
She needed friends; she couldn't just be left alone and be expected to deal with everything by herself. Sahvarians were very emotional, dependant creatures. Vahl'Sai was no exception.
Keying in Kirk's ID, Bones turned to return to his office as the nurse at the counter gave him a concerned glance. She had been on staff the night that Vahl'Sai was brought in, signing a confidentiality agreement about what she had seen in regards to the injured woman, and she expressed her concern for her many times since that night.
"Bones! What's up?"
"There's something wrong with Vahl'Sai," the doctor started bluntly, deciding to forgo any pleasantries with the matter.
"What? What happened?" Kirk's voice was halting and any joy from his previous greeting was gone.
McCoy shut himself into his office to make sure that no one could overhear. "She came in to have her arm checked; the break healed even faster than I'd expected so I was able to remove the cast as well. While she was here, I noticed something was off and I did a brain scan as well. She's depressed, Jim. And she's spiraling down quick. I asked her about it and she said that it was something common with her kind when they were hurt and assigned to bedrest. It's why she's always delayed her healing because she'd refuse to rest—they call it Sleep Sickness."
"Damn it," Kirk cursed over the comm. as the sound of something slamming accompanied his curse. "She's still confined to her rooms, isn't she? Even with her arm healed?"
"I sent a request to Admiral Bennett to speak with him. We need to get her out of her rooms before she gets worse." Letting out a long sigh as he fell to sit behind his desk, Bones held the communicator with one hand as he rubbed at his tired eyes. "She's alone, Jim. We've all been too busy to visit her, so she's not only crammed inside that dorm but she doesn't have anyone with her."
The line was silent for a moment before he heard Jim exhale faintly. "I haven't been able to visit since she was moved. I know Spock went by at one point and Pike tries when he has the time, but…"
"It's not enough," Bones finished for him. "She needs companionship. Sahvarians are an emotional race, they form attachments for life. Leaving her by herself, in a small dorm that is pretty much a prison? Starfleet is basically torturing her unintentionally by this point. They're trying to keep her safe from whoever's after her, but the way they're going about it has her health going down the drain."
Jim cursed again. "Where is she now?"
"Her security detail escorted her back to her rooms."
"Forget paperwork, I'm going to see her. Let me know when you get through to the Admiral, you got it?"
"Yea. Be careful, Jim. She's different right now. Don't take anything personal." Without further delay, Bones ended the conversation and dropped his communicator onto the desk with a long sigh.
Jim, on the other hand, was left staring at the device in his hand as he clenched his jaw in frustration and self-annoyance. Pushing aside the PADD's that had been scattered in front of him, he rose him his chair and stuffed the small device into his pocket and made for the door of his office without further delay. He'd put off seeing her, assuming she'd be okay—she was strong, she could handle it, right? Wrong. He'd been so wrong.
The campus was still mostly deserted of the student populace, but there were a few that he had to dodge on his way to Vahl'Sai's new rooms. Some of the women he passed along the way were familiar flashes in his memory, either giving him scathing looks or flirtatious smiles. On a normal day, he may have smiled back or lingered in conversation.
Not today.
He barely threw a glance as he strode through campus like a man on a warpath.
Thankfully, he was one of the few not residing in that particular building who had access, so he was able to let himself in the front entrance easily. Vahl'Sai would have to grant him entrance to her apartment, but he didn't think she was so far down the rabbit hole that she would turn him away.
He got some curious looks on his way to the lift, but no one approached him about being in the building.
Following the vaguely familiar route to her new rooms, he was tapping at her door panel only a few minutes after his call had ended with Bones. If he knew a way to transport himself instantly to her, he would have, so the walk took away precious time. Bowing his head slightly, the blond captain suddenly realized that he wasn't sure how to go about this. Pretend he didn't know anything was different than his last visit, laugh and joke with her like he would try to do in the past?
Or should he try and speak with her about it immediately? Get it out of the way so maybe she had the chance to get something off of her chest, like before? If she needed another shoulder to cry on, he would volunteer instantly.
His debates were cut short when Vahl'Sai's door slid open to reveal the confused Sahvarian on the other side. Her brows were drawn down in a clear expression of confusion, her lips slightly drawn together. Beneath her eyes were shadows that he recognized from his school days, but he doubted she had been pulling all-nighters in order to cram in studying that he had pushed aside for a girl.
"Jim," she greeted calmly. "I thought were intending to finish your paperwork today?" she asked finally, stepping back to allow him into the confined space.
Jim Kirk made a split second decision.
"Actually," he started, holding up his hand as a smile started to grow across his lips. "I'm here to jail-break you."
The confused expression intensified, her head cocking a fraction to the right as she returned to her previous spot in the center of her doors. "Jail-break?"
"Yea, come on! We're going for a walk! Fresh air, no guards, amazing company," he rambled, flashing a charming smile as he motioned between the two of them. His heart stuttered when he saw her lips twitch with the urge to smile. "Just for a few hours, we'll be back before dark so the Admirals don't have a cow about you being gone."
A strange spasm of movement went through the muscles of Vahl'Sai's face, something he had seen once when she was trying not to laugh, before she settled on an expression between worry and confusion, masked in seriousness. "Have…have a cow? In…what way?"
Jim's jaw dropped open as he realized why her face was running the gamut of expressions before he threw his head back laughing, then quickly smothered his sounds as he glanced up and down the hall to make sure he hadn't drawn unwanted attention. Damnit, he was trying to sneak her out not bring the entire building to them. "Oh, God, no. Sorry, it's an expression! It just means they'll overreact, they'll freak out!"
Vahl'Sai hummed in new understanding as she nodded slightly, her lips lifting into the ghost of a smile. "I've seen pictures of cows; I was worried about what you meant by them 'having' one. I assumed it was not ownership."
Jim, still grinning like an idiot with his cheeks flushed from laughing, motioned for her to follow him. "Put some shoes on, Commander. We're going for a walk."
The relief and happiness that lit up the green of her eyes made the earful he was going to get later completely worth it. Once Vahl'Sai had her uniform boots on to complete her outfit, he guided her toward the other end of the hallway, where a stairwell for emergencies led straight outside to the small common area that was included with each dorm. Vahl'Sai easily took the steps two at a time; Jim jogged along behind her, and had burst free from the building in less than two minutes.
Her pace barely slowed as she marched toward the grass and the trees that decorated the small common area near her building. Jim tried to keep pace, thankful that she was not running or she would have left her in the dust a while back.
"Thank you, Jim," she called back, turning to face the Captain with a blinding smile that was all fang and pure happiness to such a degree that it nearly stopped his heart.
He had not realized. He wasn't sure why it hadn't occurred to him. They were torturing this woman, locking her in her room like the were, in what they assumed to be protection. Just in the moment that she knew she could be outside, without guards breathing down her back, she had brightened like the sun breaking at dawn.
"You ever want out, just let me know," Jim assured with an answering smile. "Bones and I will talk to the council, find a way to get this ridiculous house arrest removed. I'm sure Pike will offer his own support, too."