It had been a relatively quiet few weeks since Sandra had beamed aboard. And already, Dr. McCoy had screamed and berated her on a daily basis.

"You're stealing my goddamn patients!"

"Well the damn reason why they sent me to this tin can is BECAUSE you had too many goddamn patients!"

And they weren't pretty. Granted, it was because she was kind of stepping in his territory but hell...even the admiralty thought the CMO was working too hard. It was mostly by drop-in appointments since everyone had their own shifts to cover. And she mostly dealt with homesick ensigns. Or those who still had nightmares of the Narada incident. There were also weekly meetings that somehow turned into daily meetings with Ensign Chekov. If only to share a snack as he happened to stop by often. She often liked to chat with the young man. He was incredibly bright and had an endless supply of energy.

If she wasn't in her office, she was stumbling towards her cabins. Any sleep was usually taken away by some video conference with particularly shy officers. Or extremely busy nurses.

Patient 117: Chapel, Christine
The first red alert that ever sounded while she was on board was on her way to her office after 3 solid hours of rest. Sandra was whistling happily as she looked through a few patient profiles when the entire ship shook. It threw her onto the ground as well as a few ensigns from engineering. She watched as the red shirts got up and scrambled to their stations.

She was particularly shocked to see a gold shirt bolt pass her with a shout of "Hi, Doctor Sandy!"

Panic and the air of urgency quickly permeated the hallways. Sandra straightened herself up and bolted the rest of the way towards sick bay. Dr. McCoy was barking orders as usual as his underlings scrambled to aid the fallen and bloodied engineering ensigns.

"Damnit, Linh, if you're gonna stand there and gawk, I'd suggest you pick a different time!" shouted the CMO. "Otherwise, give Chapel a hand!"

Sandra rolled her eyes and trailed after the blonde woman. "Chapel, the crazies have been put on hold so I can give you a hand. What do you need?"

The frazzled nurse looked up at her. "Perfect! Sandy, could you please keep company those who haven't been treated yet? I read in a med journal that easing psychological shock would keep them hanging on a bit. Thanks!" With that, the blonde ran off arms full of hyposprays.

Sandra rolled her eyes. She really wished the people on board would stop calling her Sandy. Quickly, she went to work on a few ensigns. While talking, she used gauze and pads to put pressure on wounds and hold cut skin together before they were whisked away by a nurse or doctor.

Everyone had their hands full when an ensign was rolled in with a popped shoulder followed by others with broken bones and things sticking out of them. Sandra looked over to see McCoy perform some kind of complicated surgery. The rest of the doctors were fixing broken body parts and the nurses still grafting skin.

First aid training and basic medic classes were thanked many times over as she began to talk with the patients. Asking what happened, how did they feel, if they could tell her what their childhood's pet's name was. While they prattled on about Fido and G'rnnnog, Sandra went about securing the fragments that stuck out of bodies and set bones with makeshift splints.

"Yeah? And what's it like growing up on Yavin IV?" she asked as she was wrapping gauze around a leg while pinching the bridge of a bloody nose to stop the bleeding. "Nguyen! Got another one for you!" she shouted into the sick bay. The chaos ensued for a few more hours before everyone was bandaged and resting.

Sandra collapsed on a chair in the temporary waiting room after scrubbing up. She groaned and rubbed her eyes. "I'm a psychologist, damnit, not a doctor."

"Well then, you won't mind if I sat down with you, would you?" called out a sweet voice. Sandra opened her eyes to see Christine Chapel sitting on a stool near her. She nodded towards the other exhausted looking doctors. "I'm willing to bet they could use someone to talk to as well."

Sandra sighed. "Ok, I'll make my rounds after you. What's the matter? McCoy being too much of an asshole?" She laughed and quickly quieted when she saw Chapel set her lips into a thin line. "Ok, what's going on?" The head nurse didn't say anything. "Christine?"

"I got the wave the other day that my fiance's corpse was found floating near Exo III." she whispered. "His ship never made it there. They were attacked and torn apart." She put her face in her hands and Sandra just listened. "He...they had his pictures all over the news." A sob escaped her. "And really, I just keep working to not think about it. Taking on all sorts of shifts. And I know I'm running my body ragged. I just..."

"Shh, shh, shh...it's ok. Let it out." Sandra put a hand on Christine's shoulder. The woman looked at her before throwing herself at Sandra. "You're right, you're going to run yourself ragged. You need to take some time off to properly grieve. How about you not take a million shifts for once?"

"I can't...I can't spend it alone." Christine hiccupped. "I don't want to be alone."

"It's ok, we're all here for you and I'm sure they'll let you send a wave to his family." She patted the nurse's back. "I'll sign you off for leave if Dr. McCoy won't. Because if you keep this up, you'll hit yourself with mental exhaustion and you will have no choice to go anyway."

"But..."

"McCoy will understand as will the rest of the crew." She waited as Christine weighed her options. Finally, she nodded and smiled. "All right, one down, lots more to go. Yay trauma."

Christine laughed and Sandra gave her another hug before going after the patients. Each one faced their own interpretation of the trauma. Klingons had apparently decided to torpedo the ship possibly out of sheer boredom.

Finally, she approached Dr. McCoy. When she found him, he was asleep at his desk with PADDs strewn all over it. She shook her head and left the office.

Sandra yawned as she exited the sick bay. Exhaustion finally caught up with her. She stumbled towards her own offices. Damn, the 3 hours didn't do her any good. Her stride was slowing down. When did the hallway start to sway?

Gold shirts came around the corner, chattering amicably. "Doctor Sandy!" cried out a cheerful voice.

"Hi Pavel." she smiled weakly. At least...she thought she did. She wasn't sure.

When Sandra woke up, she was back in sick bay. She batted the tricorder away from her face. "I'm fine."

"I don't believe it when Jim says it so what makes you think I'm going to believe you?"

Sandra sat up, nearly headbutting McCoy. "Because I don't throw myself into danger every other week." Vertigo hit and she was back down on the biobed. "What happened?"

"Serves you right for being awake for the past 3 weeks with a little over 10 hours of sleep." McCoy growled. He perked an eyebrow at her. "Care to explain to me why?"

"I've got patients just like you do and they, too, require me to be available 24/7."

"I'm ordering bedrest, doctor. For at least 4 days." McCoy poked at his PADD to retrieve her file. "You're damned lucky Chekov was around to drag you here."

"Four days?! I've got patients!" His eyes widened in shock. "What now?"

"You're a goddamn Betazoid?!"

Sandra rolled her eyes. "Here we go." She pinched the bridge of her nose, headache already forming. "I'd rather not talk about it. It's a thing. Don't worry about it. Just clear me and I'll get back to work."

He glared at her. "Like hell." He scribbled down his sentence. "Mandatory bed rest for Dr. Linh. Ensign, take her to her room."

Sandra was surprised when she saw Pavel bounce into the exam section. He looked relieved that she was awake. "Doctor Sandra! You're ok!" He threw his arms around her and squeezed. "I was worried." He half dragged her to her rooms. "You should not do that. Is not healthy. You will see Doctor McCoy more often." She listened to him prattle. "When I cannot sleep, I write equations."

"It isn't I cannot sleep, Pavel, it's I gotta take care of others." Why did she feel so heavy?

"You sound like Doctor McCoy." Pavel grinned. She keyed in the code to open up her quarters. He walked in with her and set her down on the bed. "He say I stay with you. Make sure you sleep."

She smiled. "Thanks, Pavel."