Jean-Luc Picard moved swiftly out of the turbolift and down the hallway towards sickbay. He was not running, he assured himself. He was a starship captain and Starfleet captains certainly didn't run.
A captain running, hurrying too quickly through the corridors of his own ship would not only set a poor example, but would most likely cause undue concern and potential worry in the officers under his command. Regardless of the situation, the motivation (oh the motivation, he thought, mentally pushing back against that call from the security forces planetside to the bridge that threatened to lead from striding with purpose to running), moving swiftly was all he would allow. Given the reason for his hurry, anything else would undoubtedly cause unwelcome speculation…. Like there hadn't been speculation for years, but given recent events….
He paused infinitesimally and tugged his tunic back into place as he strode into sickbay and immediately caught the eye of Alyssa Ogawa, now Powell, Beverly's head nurse. She moved to intercept him as he tilted his head in the direction of the private treatment area, certain that the CMO lay just beyond the doors.
"Captain," she said sharply, placing a restraining hand in front of him.
"Dr. Crusher's condition?"
"Stable. Nothing too serious. It looks worse than it is." He nodded in response, feeling some of the tension inside him ease.
"She's conscious?"
"Yes, Sir…. Shall I let her know that you're waiting."
"Please, Lieutenant." With that, Ogawa turned and slipped behind the privacy shielding, and disappeared from view.
The hissing of the sickbay doors brought his head around and he locked eyes with the new arrival. Dressed in non Starfleet fatigues and brown boots he should have looked out of place, but oddly enough, much to the Captain's irritation, he did not.
"What happened down there?" he snapped as the immediate source and focus of his ire came to a stop beside him.
"We were touring one of the field hospitals. Beverly wanted to have a look at the perimeter security. She's thorough like that," he muttered, shaking his head in exasperation.
"I know what she's like," Picard stated aggressively, revealing more than he'd meant to if the other man's sharp look was any indication.
"A few holdouts unhappy with the terms of the treaty managed to slip through the security measures undetected." Jean-Luc's lips thinned out as he absorbed the information. They'd been in orbit around Alcase for the better part of two weeks attempting to first mediate a ceasefire between the planet's two warring factions and then to negotiate the terms which he'd hoped would lead to a lasting peace and the building of a more stable government combining both sides of the conflict going forward. Now, to learn that there had been hold outs, even just a small group of dissidents… It brought the success of the diplomatic mission seriously in doubt, Beverly's injuries aside.
"Undetected? How-"
"We don't know yet for certain. Your Mr. Worf and Data are questioning the Alcasian forces in charge of the site's security now."
"Hopefully this truly was the work of a small group of disgruntled citizens."
"It looks that way. I've been on the ground for almost six months here, Captain. Most of the Alcasians we've met had grown weary of the fighting and senseless terrorism years ago. The fact that the leaders on both sides requested a Federation mediator speaks to their dedication to establishing and maintaining peace. It was just lucky for them that the Enterprise was already on her way through this system."
Picard wasn't certain, but he felt an undercurrent of censure in the younger man's tone.
"Yes, very fortuitous," he replied warily.
"Hopefully this is nothing more than a minor hiccup and you can be on your way within 48 hours. I'm sure that you're eager to start your leave after the delay. You'll be parting ways with the Enterprise when you stop at star base 211, if I recall correctly." Now Picard was certain it was judgement he was hearing in the other man's voice, disdain in his eyes.
He pushed down the instinctive urge to snap back at this invasion of his privacy. He had no idea how, but suddenly the details of his planned leave were all over the ship. Troi had already expressed her surprise and he'd had to endure hours of mild innuendo from Riker during their last shift together on the bridge.
Beverly, however, hadn't given any indication that she'd heard about his upcoming plans to spend several months amongst the Ba'Ku, not that he believed she hadn't heard. But, given her lack of reaction, he could only assume that she was indifferent. If she felt strongly about it, he told himself, she would surely have said something. Not that she'd have had much of an opportunity - they'd barely spent any time together in the past month.
Ignoring the younger man's implied insult, he responded neutrally, "Yes, that's right."
"You won't mind if I catch a ride out of here? I've finished setting up the disaster relief centres in the worst affected areas and the onsite staff have all received basic disaster management training. It'll be up to the Alcasians to do the real work of putting together more permanent communications and medical infrastructure. As far as whether or not they can maintain the peace…. Well, only time will tell, but I need to return to Sol System and my next assignment."
"Of course."
"How's Beverly?" he asked, his eyes moving to the privacy wall behind which Ogawa had disappeared. Picard stiffened as the other man turned the conversation to his Chief Medical Officer, as he'd subtly done each time they'd interacted during the past two weeks.
"Lieutenant Ogawa tells me that Dr. Crusher's injuries are non life-threatening," he assured the other man just as the nurse appeared from behind the screen.
"Dr. Crusher will see you now, Sir," she nodded to Picard and glanced uncertainly at the other man at his side. He smiled and extended his hand toward her.
"I don't believe we've actually been introduced. Peter McArthur, though everyone apart from your boss calls me Mac. And you must be Alyssa."
Alyssa shook his hand and decided to let either her boss or the Captain deal with his presence here in Sickbay. She excused herself and moved to grab a tricorder from one of the biobed stations in sickbay's main examination room. She'd discovered that the one in the private area needed to be recalibrated. And although she'd successfully set her patient's arm without it, she needed a detailed scan to check for concussion or internal bruising that the biobed scanners might have missed. Beverly was not the most docile of patients, rarely managing to keep still and a tricorder was always her go to tool when treating her boss.
She turned and followed the two men into the exam room. The Captain was stationed just to the left of the door, while Dr. Crusher's friend leaned against the wall across from the biobed. The two men's body language couldn't have been more different, Alyssa thought as she surreptitiously glanced from one to the other while running the tricorder wand over her patient.
Mac's body was loose and relaxed, leaning indolently back against the wall, hands clasped behind him. The Captain's stance, on the other hand, was rigid and his entire bearing indicated his discomfort. She was just wondering about the true nature of Beverly and Mac's relationship and pairing it with the rumours circulating around the ship about the Captain when one of the returning results caused her hand to pause, hanging frozen in the air, and her eyes to widen.
"- I wanted to make certain that there was adequate security for the site."
"And I understand that. But why were you so near the perimeter without a security escort, Doctor?" Picard demanded.
"It was supposed to be perfectly secure," she explained with forced patience. "And honestly, it's a good thing that we went out there. Otherwise, we never would have discovered the lapse in security in that area of the perimeter, nor would we have known about the disgruntled-"
"Sweetheart, only you could describe having a vaporizer held to your head as a positive outcome," Mac inserted, his tone a mixture of amusement, fondness and exasperation.
Picard unfolded his arms, dropping them to fall rigidly at his sides. A muscle ticked and jumped in his jaw.
"Explain," he bit at McArthur, his eyes not leaving Beverly's.
"There were three of them. At first we thought there was only a pair…. While we were busy subduing the two who jumped us, the third circled around and got the drop on us. Grabbed Beverly around the neck…". Picard looked between the pair, a subdued look of horror on his face. "Beverly went limp, dropped to the ground, and I took him out with a stun," he said simply. When it looked like Picard was going to insist on more details, he elaborated, "We've been in tight spots together often enough that the manoeuvre was executed with textbook precision. She was never in any real danger, Captain."
An awkward silence descended on the room as Beverly sent Peter a mutinous look. She couldn't look at Jean-Luc. She already knew what she'd see there - disappointment and accusation. And she had already heaped enough recriminations on her own head without him adding to the load. Besides, she couldn't handle a sanctimonious dressing down under the guise of caring about her wellbeing. Not right now, when everything was so close to the surface.
"It was nothing, Captain."
"It doesn't sound as if it was nothing, Beverly," he snapped back.
"I'm perfectly fine," she said and caught Alyssa's gaze. "Aren't I, Alyssa?" Beverly looked over to find Alyssa unresponsive, wide eyes focussed on the tricorder in her hand. "Alyssa?"
"Uh… yes, doctor." She glanced towards the two men in the room before addressing her boss. "Doctor…. Your results…. Did you want-"
"If there's nothing of immediate concern could you transfer them to the terminal in my office please, Alyssa?" The nurse's eyes again flicked between her boss, her Captain and the man now lounging against the wall of the private exam room. The atmosphere was stilted and uncomfortable. The tricorder in her hands and its single irregular result suddenly felt like a ticking bomb, one that she had no desire to set off.
Relieved, she replied, "Of course, Doctor. Would you like me to replicate a new uniform for you?"
"That won't be necessary. I'll head back to my quarters to shower and change. Thank you, Alyssa." Making a mental note to wipe the tricorder data after transferring the results to Crusher's office console, she quietly left the room.
"If that's all, Captain," Beverly said flatly, finally meeting his eyes.
His first instinct was to snap at her that no, that was not all. What he wanted was to tell McArthur to clear the room and to force her to talk to him. They were still friends after all. However, something about this situation felt different, and as much as he would like to believe that it was down to the man currently moving off of his position against the wall and offering Beverly a hand up off the biobed, he didn't think that that was the case.
This distance between them couldn't be traced back to their arrival on Alcase two weeks ago, but rather to their departure from Ba'Ku over a month ago. What it came down to was that he was no longer certain that he had the right to demand anything of her anymore, and that knowledge caused him to hesitate.
Instead of giving into his desire to make it personal, he drew himself fully upright and held her eyes. "In the meantime, no more visits to field sites without a security escort, Doctor." She nodded her head. "Is that clear, Commander?"
"Yes, Sir," she answered softly.
As he exited the private examination area he just caught the next words exchanged between them.
"Are you alright, Bevy?"
"I don't know, Peter." Her voice sounded dejected and he had to ignore every instinct he possessed telling him to turn around and talk to her. He paused just outside the door, then, remembering her cool reception only minutes previously and the probable cause of it, he forced himself to move toward sickbay's doors. Suddenly, he felt not only surplus to requirements, but very much like an intruder.