The way home
Posted on 18 Aug 2022 @ 7:54pm by Lieutenant JG Oliver Stevens & Lieutenant C'Tora Kuroka & Lieutenant Xu Chang Lau
Mission:
Through the looking glass
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD1
2413 words - 4.8 OF Standard Post Measure
ON
C'Tora stepped into a side room were a half dozen Stasis pods were located along with a single bio bed for long term patient examination. C'Tora removed Xu from the stasis pod and placed her on the bio bed and pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down and watched the read out data from the bio bed, He gently placed his hand on her arm.
" Hey Xu, You know that things out here haven't really been the same without you. I 've run just about every single test I can think of.I have tried to stimulate the neural pathways, I've tried introducing messages through synaptic suggestion and a host of other procedures. But then I Remembered something that your daughter told me just recently. She said that you'd wake up on your own, and when your ready to do such. "
I've got some beautiful images of your daughter after she was born, She's very beautiful Xu. The reason things went sideways for us so quickly is because you gave birth to a goddess, and events have been rather interesting since you've been gone. There is so much to tell you and there are a lot of people out here who miss you very much and we're all waiting and praying for your return. "
C'Tora lowered his head and sighed, and then continued to speak to her in the same soft tone. " Of course the one person who misses you out here the most is Oliver, He misses you so much. You know right after the incident it took me nearly three days to get him out of Sickbay. I had to order him to go get some rest. You know Oliver loves you so very very much, I know it would make him so happy if you were to wake up and return to us out here once again. "
C'Tora put his hands together and shook his head. He was still staring at the floor as he spoke. " You know Xu, when I first started as a Doctor, I was told that I was very exceptional and everyone had high expectations of me, I was able to come in and bring people back from the brink of death. I have lost very few patients over the years.... And maybe somewhere along the way.... I got cocky? Did I start believing in my own hype? Perhaps this is a wake up call to humble me a bit. But since your a close friend I've been kicking myself and racking my brain trying to figure out how the hell to get you out of this coma. "
C'Tora stood up and checked the print out of the bodies autonomic functions. There was nothing out of the ordinary to much, everything within normal tolerances with the exception of one tiny thing. There were two minor spikes in the REM readings. Being curious he had the computer go back to the time frame of each of the spikes. The first was the larger of the two and the timing surprised him greatly. The larger of the two spikes occurred when he was talking to Xu about Oliver, The second occurred when he was berating himself about not being able to help his friend. He looked back over at Xu with a look of disbelief. " Can she hear me? Does she understand? " He then had an idea to experiment with and test the results. If it worked then he had more information to work with, if not it was just the waste of a little time.
C'Tora tapped his combadge. Lieutenant JG Oliver Stevens, Please report to Doctor Kuroka in Sickbay. C'Tora poked his head out of the room. " Nurse! When Lieutenant Stevens arrives, please escort him in here please. " The nurse looked up and gave him a puzzled look and nodded. " Of course Doctor Kuroka. " Still wondering why the doctor wanted to meet him in the Stasis pod room.
Lieutenant Cassandra Higgins Quarters
Yes doctor was all Oliver could really say. >I>I will be right there. He was surprised and reluctant to leave who he presently had his arms wrapped round.
Why did the doctor need him? He kissed Cassie, untwined himself from her and pulled on his clothes. "I am up to date with all my medicals I promise," he grinned.
"Well, you'd best not keep him waiting!" She kissed him back, a lingering kiss not really wanting him to go, she would rather feel his muscular arms wrapped around her as they had been all night.
"Can I see you for dinner later?" he asked turning at the door hoping she had followed him for one more kiss.
"How about a make something... We can continue where we left off then!" she added coyly.
Sickbay
Sickbay was a slow flow of activity today. He nodded at one of the nurses as he entered. "Where is Dr C'Tora?"
The nurse turned towards the voice as she looked up from her duties. Oh.. Good, your here Lieutenant Stevens, right this way please. " She stopped in front of a door marked Cryogenic Pod Storage. " Doctor Kuroka is waiting for you inside. " She said and returned to her duties. As the door swished open Oliver could see C'Tora's back as he stood in front of a bio bed observing the monitors, but from the angle he was standing at he couldn't see the upper half of the person who was laid out on the bio bed being examined. The large Caitian continued his work.
Oliver stepped in. He couldn’t see who was in the bio bed but it was a high chance it was Xu. It had to be. Why else would the doc call him down? He felt suddenly very awkward and guilty. Very guilty. He had resigned himself to she was lost forever and moved on. Now he was seeing Cassie.
C'Tora suddenly looked over his shoulder and grinned. " Oliver, Thank you from coming so promptly. Grab that chair by the wall and bring it next to the bio bed please, I need your help with an experiment. " He watched the read out on the bio bed as he spoke. " Earlier while I was running a routine exam on Xu, I noticed something a little odd. I tend to talk to my patients while I examine them, weather it's in here or out there in Sickbay, it doesn't matter. I still treat them with respect. However this time I noticed that when I spoke with her, that there was two spikes in her REM pattern. The second and smaller one was when I was berating myself for not being able to heal her sooner and get her back on her feet. The larger one was when I was talking to Xu and I brought up you and your daughter, The spike continued as long as I spoke about you. "
C'Tora turned to face Oliver and moved enough to where Oliver could see Xu clearly. " What I need you to do is to talk with her while I observe the read outs to confirm my theory, I also recalled the words of your daughter before she departed when I asked her to heal Xu, And she told me that she would wake up when she was ready to. Is this her way of saying that she's ready to wake up? " He asked.
"I don't know doc. I had reconciled things to Xu was gone completely," he said sadly. This felt odd. He had spoken to her comatose form so much at the beginning but now his life had moved on. It felt so long ago him and Xu.
"Hi," he said gingerly. "I wish I had exciting things to tell you but lifes been going on as normal."
C'Tora looked to Oliver and could see that he was conflicted in his feelings, about what he couldn't guess. " I understand that this has to be difficult for you. I know you thought she was gone, but right now she needs your help and your voice to guide her back to us. This hasn't been easy for any of us, especially Xu. If you'd like I could step out and monitor the readouts if you'd like to have a private conversation with her. I'll be able to monitor her medical stats and be able to observe you, but I'll disable the audio if you'd like some privacy to speak with her. " Said C'Tora with understanding in his voice and eyes. " It's up to you Oliver. "
"I don't know what to say Doc," he told him honestly, "I had reconciled in my head Xu was lost for good. I moved on with Cassie. I'm sorry Xu. You were gone. Our daughter was gone. I figured if you loved me you would want me to move on with my life. Where as if there's a chance of you being conscious again and back in the world I want the very best for you but ..... its all changed now ...."
C'Tora stood there for several moments with a bewildered look. " I was unaware that anything had changed, It seems that I've placed both you and Xu in an awkward situation and for that I apologize. I got excited when I noticed that Xu's readings changed when I spoke about you Oliver. if you are uncomfortable being here, then you may leave if you so desire and I'll go about trying what I can to return a friend and crew member back to duty. " C'Tora gently touched Xu's shoulder. " I would really love to hear your thoughts on the matter Xu. This is something that the three of you are going to have to work out amongst yourselves. The Federation doesn't really enforce relationship types unless it becomes a morale problem. On my last duty assignment we had a polyamorous relationship between a male and two females and it wasn't a problem because they made it work. I'm not suggesting that as an option, What you decide is up to the three of you. "
"Where am I?" the voice was weak with an exotic and melodic tone that was entirely unmistakable. Her eyes open, her skin still pale as she started trying to rise up onto her elbows to look around at her surroundings. "Who are you?"
Oliver was just about to inform the doc that he’d likely have his arse handed to him by both Cassie and Xu if he suggested a 3way relationship and he likely didn’t have enough stamina if such a situation was to occur as hell just pleasing her women was a full time endeavour …. when he jumped. Her voice. He had spent such a long time wishing to hear it again ….
“I’m … it’s Oliver …. Xu your name is Xu. What can you remember?” He asked.
Her eyes darted from the Human to the feline thing and then back to the Human. Neither face was recognisable to her but even more disturbing was she did know anything. Her last memory was of a birthday party when she was a child.
"I... I don't remember anything!"
C'Tora moved beside the Bio bed and began doing scans with his tricorder and uploading the data into the medical computer. " All vitals are within normal parameters, It appears you have amnesia. " Your name is Xu Chang Lau, You've been in a coma for a bit. What is the last thing that you can remember? " C'tora asked in a gentle voice, wanting to make her as comfortable as possible.
"I..." she paused, sifting the memories she could recall and only one thing felt clear and vibrant in her mind. "An old women, using a bamboo brush to draw images on canvas She was humming a tune!"
C'Tora watched as Xu stared blankly into space. " Xu! Are you alright? " He glanced over at the display. Her REM patterns have increased, It's like she's in a waking dream, We'll let her be for for right now and perhaps she'll remember something or get and answer to a question. For all I know she'son the verge of total recall. " He said to Oliver and continued to watch the monitor readings .
"That would be ... Im not sure," Oliver said unhappily. This stuff wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to fall in love, have a child, have that child leave him, have his girlfriend go comatose with no diagnosis of ever coming back, to move on and fall in love with someone else and then have Xu wake up. Was he being punished for being the father of a goddess he wondered?
C'Tora watched as the REM patterns began to decrease and he spoke softly to Xu. " Xu, Can you hear me? " He asked. " Did you remember anything or see something in your mind? " He sensed some confusion from Xu and smelled some frustration from Oliver, He didn't know what was troubling him. But then again He was a doctor and not a counselor, C'Tora knew he would help them any way that he could and was glad that Xu was once again amongst the living.
"I don't remember anything!" tears welling in her eyes as she revealed this to the two men before her.
C'tora gently laid his hand on Xu's shoulder. " Don't worry about it for right now. It is most likely that the memory loss is only temporary. Your memories should come back to you in time. " In most cases the memories did with the aid of medical treatment and with the help of a counselors training and techniques. " I'm going to place a neural stimulator on your forehead and see if that will help back some memories to you, Don't expect a sudden rush of memories to return all at once. It has happened like that before, but the majority of the time it takes many sessions and time. But regardless of the outcome, your not alone. You have us here and the entire crew to help you, your apart of this crew family and we don't turn our backs on family. " stated C'Tora in a very matter of fact tone.
"I'll erm .... get the counselor," Oliver said. C'Tora mentioning family did not make him feel any better.
OFF:
Lieutenant C'Tora Kuroka
Chief Medical Officer
USS Andromeda
Lieutenant Xu Chang-Lau
Mother of the Goddess & Ex coma patient
USS Andromeda
Lieutenant Oliver Stevens
Transporter chief
USS Andromeda
