Caroline Curtis

As Lt. Will Tomlinson left the Crew Lounge with the ship's Counselor, he was trying to think about how to approach this. On one hand, he didn't want Anna to feel like he was revealing private information. On the other hand, he was still worried about her. Ever since she bought that thrice-damned bracelet, her behavior had been all over the map. He remained steadfastly silent all the from the crew lounge to Counselor Curtis' office. The trip was far too short for his liking but he knew that he needed to talk to someone. When they got to her office, Will took a deep breath and got ready to talk about the concerns he had for the woman who may be his future wife. Caroline waited to see if Will would speak during the short walk to her office,and for a few minutes after they'd sat down across her desk from each other, too. But he said nothing so finally she made the first move, leaning back in her chair and steepling her fingers, looking over them at him with an expectant expression. "Now...what would you like to talk about, Will?" She knew his concerns had something to do with Anna, which, coming as it did just on the heels of her conversation with Deb, certainly had her attention, but beyond that, he hadn't yet been forthcoming about what it was that had him worried. 
Will got up and got a glass of water from the replicator trying to figure out how to start this. He sat back down and took a drink as he remembered what his father had once told him. "Begin the story at the beginning." His father told him once. Will look at Caroline, the worry evident in his eyes, "Well it all started on our last shore leave. Anna and I were walking around buying a few knick knacks. She reminded me that my Mother's birthday was coming up and we needed to buy a gift for her." Will stated with a faint smile glad to remember something pleasant. Then his smile promptly faded as he remembered what happened next, "Then we went into another shop and she saw...it." His handsome face darkened into a frown, "That damned bracelet." He looked at Caroline again, "Gaudy thing but something about it caught her attention so I bought it for her." Will sat back and thought for a moment on how to put the next part, "Ever since she put that bracelet on, her behavior has been very...erratic. When she put it on, it was as if she were suddenly a million miles away and when she came back, I asked her to take the bracelet off." Will took a deep breath and became very sad, "She suddenly became very defensive and absolutely refused to take it off. Earlier the bracelet seemed to shrink and now she can't even remove it even if she wanted to." 
Will watched Caroline to see her reaction as he continued to talk, "Now she seems to be having nightmares. She told me about her being a woman warrior and how she and her warrior lover were betrayed and ambushed. Her lover was slaughtered in front of her and it was so intense for her and so real that when she woke up, she thought at first that I had been killed. It took a long time to calm her down. She explained that it was more like a memory than a dream." Will sighed and took another drink, "We went down to the science lab and had the bracelet scanned but that didn't do us much good. All we know is that both the bracelet and the stones are both made from an unknown substance. I asked her to have a medical examination done, but once more she went very defensive and it almost took an act of God to get her to agree. Of course I don't even know if she has gone yet or if she did, what the results were." He looked at Caroline and pleaded for help with his eyes, "I think that bracelet is doing something to her Counselor. I think that bracelet is influencing her somehow and I don't know what to do about it. I do know that what is happening to her is scaring the hell out of me." He finished and sat back in his seat while he drank his water while hoping that the good Counselor could help him in some way. Caroline blinked, trying to take this in and reconcile it with what she had heard from both Deb and Anna herself within the past hour. Anna hadn't mentioned the bracelet, but Deb had, referencing the same issue with not being able to remove it, and with its affecting her sleep patterns. Will, however, had a personal investment that Deb didn't, and was evidently considerably more unsettled by it, as a result. Caroline, for her own part, was leery of confusing correlation with causation, and in fact hearing this from a separate source was starting to put a couple of pieces together for her. "You're not the first person to tell me about this, actually," she said slowly after a few seconds pause. "She has indeed gone to Medical, because Dr. Matthews knows about the same issue you're referring to, so she clearly respected your wishes in that regard, in the end, at any rate." Leaning forward, she rested her elbows on the desk and smiled reassuringly. "That being said...I spoke to Anna earlier, and though she looked tired, she showed every evidence of being as much in control as ever. What you're describing sounds like the classic symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder; night terrors, defensiveness, distraction...it's entirely possible that she is dealing with something else, some other issue of which you are unaware, and the purchase of the bracelet itself may in fact be simply coincidence, and her reaction to being asked to remove it a further manifestation of whatever is bothering her internally. I think that the assumption that you should be scared as hell, or that she is being influenced, may be somewhat premature." Will perked up instantly when Caroline mentioned that Anna had gone to sickbay and blurted out, "Really? And what were the results? Is she alright?" He stopped himself and sighed resignedly when he realized something, "Of course you can't tell me if Dr. Matthews told you anything as it would violate medical privacy. I sure hope she tells me." He took a deep breath and digested what Caroline had said, "Counselor, I was taught never to believe in coincidence up front. And the experiences I've had in life have shown me that coincidental events are more rare than naked singularities." He smiled again at her but then rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, "Plus, these events of defensiveness, nightmares or memories or whatever, and anxiety didn't show up until after we bought that bracelet..at least that I didn't see." Will couldn't help but wonder if he had somehow missed these symptoms earlier. "Anxiety can manifest itself in any manner of ways," Caroline said gently, "and as with everything else in the brain, that manifestation can shift and change with changing circumstances. It's entirely possible that the bracelet was a trigger for some buried emotional reaction, or simply coincided with the arrival of other concerns, neither of which you might necessarily have been aware of. I know you and Anna are very close but everyone has private concerns as well; as a matter of fact it's an essential part of our ability to cope with issues as we do." She stood up, moving towards the replicator on the wall of her office and quietly requesting a cup of tea before continuing, "And believe me, coincidences do occur. It sounds as if you have been conditioned to rely on the idea that everything's cause must be easily identifiable -- it's a practical outlook and one I can understand, and your line of work depends on your ability to be practical in that way. But in the realm of emotions...there are plenty of coincidences, and plenty of misunderstandings that arise from them. Having not talked to Anna about the situation, I obviously can't say for sure where the root of the issue might lie, but I think you are causing yourself undue wear on your own emotions, and possibly exacerbating hers by making immediate causal assumptions." She gave him a sympathetic look, keeping her tone light so he would not read it as accusatory. Her primary aim at the moment was to soothe emotions all round while she figured out what was actually going on. "Would you like something to drink?" Will nodded and gave her his empty glass so that she could refill it, "So you think Anna is right and I am overreacting then?" His tone was querying but not defensive. At first he was so sure that the bracelet was the cause but now talking with the Counselor, his mind was filled with doubt. He took the refilled glass and drank from it before shaking his head, "Alright, I guess I can back off a bit and wait and see." He looked at the Caroline, "But if you could, I'd like you to talk to her. Nothing formal, just talk with her and talk about that bracelet. Just see if you notice anything change in her behavior, please? My gut is telling me that if the bracelet isn't the cause, it is somehow involved." Caroline nodded. "I am sure it will come up in conversation, and I will see if I can't learn anything that might help to set your mind at rest one way or another," she said. "In the meantime...have confidence in her ability to meet challenge -- you're both Starfleet officers, capable people, and whatever issues might be at work, she will depend as much on your willingness to trust her independence as well as your willingness to provide support when she needs it." She smiled again, seeing the concern still edging Will's expression. "It will work out, Will, I'm sure of it. And I assure you I will inform you if I happen to notice anything you should know about." Will drained his glass and set it back on the desk before standing and mustering up a smile for the Counselor, "Alright. I'll wait and see what happens but.." He looked at her very seriously, "I just hope waiting and seeing doesn't end doing more damage to her." He nodded his goodbye and left her office not fully comforted by what he had heard but at least he had an idea of which way he might need to go next. He sighed and wished he could ask his father for his advice as well... Caroline watched him walk into the corridor, and then rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand. What a bizarre day... First Deb's report, which had been cause for concern in itself, followed by Will, whose intense concern for Anna was manifesting itself in all sorts of conclusions which might inadvertently be exacerbating a heretofore hidden existing emotional condition. The next step from here was obvious -- talk to Anna, and luckily they were already to eat dinner together later. Unfortunately, she had a feeling it was now probably going to be a working meal.

“Deck 19,” Anna requested after stepping into the turbolift, barely noticing as the doors slid shut and it started moving. The last few days had been intense, both work-wise and emotionally. The time rifts had posed challenges that had not been easy to manage and had exacted a terrible toll on the Ithaca, both on her crew and the ship itself. The ship had been destroyed rather than risk sealing it into the rift and leaving it there, though its condition had precluded ever being used in service again, and her crew... It was difficult for her to understand how they’d even survived what they’d been through. Stepping off the turbolift, she made a sharp right and followed the curve in the corridor until it brought her to the office of Caroline Curtis. She needed to find out about the prognosis for the Ithaca crew before the day got any older. With the rifts now sealed the health/security of the beings that resided within was secured as was this area of space. No other ship would become ensnared as the Ithaca had. Anna pressed the chime, hoping she wasn’t interrupting; they were well into beta shift now. It took a moment for the sound of the chime to penetrate Caroline’s consciousness; she’d been sitting with her head on one hand in that half-place between dozing and waking for several minutes now. It had been a long day for the medical sciences, as every member of the rescued Ithaca crew had had to be physically examined and emotionally comforted as they adjusted to their new situation. Caroline had taken care to make at least fleeting contact with every one of the hundred and nineteen rescued officers, something which took not inconsiderable time and energy, and the idea of a nap without bothering to make her way back to her quarters was becoming increasingly appealing. The ping at the door, however, brought her back to herself and she shook her head sharply, blinking rapidly to clear away a bit of a grainy feeling as she looked up. Ithaca or Reaent? she wondered absently. The sudden influx of unfamiliar (and in more than one case, unstable) new faces would be hard on her own crew as well as the newcomers; the next few days were undoubtedly going to be busy. “Come!” Stepping forward as the door opened, Anna paused as she approached Caroline’s desk, noting immediately how exhausted the counselor looked. “Hey there,” she greeted her friend, “You look like you should be in bed.” “I feel like I should be in bed,” Caroline agreed with a tired laugh, pleased to see the Chief Science Officer and gesturing her promptly into the chair across the desk. “But time, tide, and incident reports wait for no man, unfortunately. How are things on the bridge?” Taking the indicated seat, Anna leaned back, a grin crossing her face at the amended quotation. “Things have settled down considerably with the sealing of the rifts and we’re now on our way to Starbase 2.” Her smile faded as she quietly added, “I’m sure you’ve already heard but the Ithaca was destroyed before the main rift was closed.” Caroline nodded slowly. “I have. It’s been a popular subject of conversation, actually.” Unsurprising; these people had made their home aboard that ship for roughly half a century. “Little purpose to leaving it intact, though, I imagine.” “If we couldn’t remove it from the rift, the consensus was that it should be destroyed before the rift was sealed.” Anna shrugged, adding, “When I was aboard with the away team, it was clear that it was decaying rapidly.” She hesitated for a moment before asking, “How are they doing, Caroline?” Caroline folded her arms, leaning her elbows on the desk with a mildly troubled expression. “They’re a mixed bag,” she said after a considered silence in which she determined how much she could say and still retain confidentiality. “Some have held up better than others to the enforced stay aboard the Ithaca; those who maintained the heaviest responsibility load as their superiors aged seem to have suffered most greatly in their own stability. Some of them are too young to remember anything else and they seem to be doing better, the human mind being as adaptable as it is.” Anna nodded, feeling the terrible frustration that stemmed from the inability to effect change. They’d managed to finally free some of the Ithaca’s crew from the hell they’d been trapped in but by the time they’d initially discovered the buoy left behind by the doomed ship, it had already been decades too late to really rescue them. “Their families left behind...this whole thing has happened over one week’s actual time as far as they are concerned. I can’t imagine what it will be like for them to go back, some of them so old...and the others that died during the endless journey..how will their families deal with it?” Caroline smiled sadly. “As a mixed bag as well, probably. Everyone approaches loss differently, though there’s no way to make it easy.” She paused, then cocked her head in a half-shrug. “It’s a dim silver lining but at least we’ve provided some closure as to what happened; the families will know what became of them. It’s...harder the other way.” “The other way?” Anna asked, hearing the hesitation in Caroline’s voice and wondering at it. “You mean when there’s no way to know what happened?” Caroline nodded, realizing from the intent way Anna was watching her that her tone must have betrayed more than she’d meant it to. “Yes,” she said, reaching to the still-glowing computer screen at her elbow and switching it off. “Had we not come across her, the Ithaca might have been simply declared missing in action, and that sort of uncertainty...well, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.” “Yes, yes, I can see where that would be an even worse situation,” Anna agreed slowly, as she watched Caroline’s expression. The other woman’s tone had been such that Anna was convinced that she was speaking from personal experience. For a solid three seconds, she debated whether or not to ask about it. “It sounds like you have firsthand experience, Caro,” she said gently, leaving it up to Caroline whether she wished to expound on it or not. Caroline chewed over that question herself for a moment and then shrugged again gently. “My fiance...” She paused, then began again, “I was engaged, about three years ago...to a man named Joseph Palmer; he was a security officer aboard Starbase 1123 when I was first posted there. He was later assigned to the Detroit on what was supposed to be simple border patrol.” She paused, finding with distant, almost analytical surprise that the subject was still painful to talk about even with the distance of time and other occupation that now separated from it. “I haven’t seen him since; the Detroit never, as far as anyone seems to know, put back into port, at a Starfleet facility or anywhere else.” “Oh Caro, how terrible,” Anna breathed, unable to find words to offer up as any kind of solace in the face of such heartbreak. For a moment she imagined herself in the same situation, finding out that Will hadn’t made it back and was considered lost. It didn’t bear thinking about and she resolutely turned away from such a hopeless, pointless imagining. “I’m so sorry that... ...you’ve had no closure, that you’ve had to assume his death, that the thought sometimes crosses your mind that he may yet be still alive but suffering somewhere... “...you’ve been through such hell,” she finished quietly. Caroline smiled gently, seeing the earnest sorrow (and perhaps slight fear) with which Anna had received this particular bit of her past. “It’s alright,” she said, shaking her head slightly, reassuringly. “It’s been a good number of years now...I’ve had a chance to take it in...” More or less... “But you can understand why I’m glad that we’ll be able to provide real answers for those who knew the Ithaca crew.” “Yes, I understand why this is better, of course, I do,” Anna agreed, still trying to grasp the enormity of Caroline’s loss. “What’s next for them?” she asked. “I assume they’ll be transferred to the starbase for more dedicated treatment where necessary,” Caroline said, relaxing slightly, unconsciously, at the change of subject. “While I’m willing to do all I can for them, the sort of reacclimation they need to do isn’t something that our facilities are geared towards. Their families will be contacted. Some will return home, some...won’t.” She chuckled softly. “Who knows...some of the younger ones may rejoin Starfleet; I get the impression that the military discipline and structure was what held this group together, and it would be most familiar to them.” “It’s often said that a ship’s crew forms its own family, but in this case that is literally what happened. It may be difficult for them to part from each other. Their own family situations have changed so radically by the abnormal passage of time that they may choose to stay together in some form,” Anna said, meeting Caroline’s gaze with obvious concern. “They wouldn’t be forced apart would they?” Caroline shook her head. “Starfleet can control the placement of its officers; only a few of these people are actually officially enlisted or commissioned, and those who are have long since moved beyond retirement age. Once they leave the Fleet, where they go from there is up to them.” She paused, folding her arms in front of her, and added with quiet irony, “A foreign concept to some of them, I would imagine.” “Hmm, indeed,” Anna answered, still wondering how any of them had managed to stay sane under the conditions they’d endured. “So...” she smiled, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “We’re at the tail end of another temporal adventure. Care to give odds on whether or not it’ll be our last one?” Caroline grinned suddenly, remembering Anna’s long-suffering attitude towards the temporal anomalies which seemed a regular part of the Reaent’s work. “With you aboard?” she teased, shaking her head. “I’m not sure I’d take any bets on the subject.”

It was with a smile on her face, but also a feeling of mild back-of-the-mind trepidation that Caroline dropped into the chair in her office and told Deb to patch Schawnsee through. It wasn't that she was sorry to hear from the Reaent security officer; far from it. It was more that nagging worry that hung with you when you sent a patient off for treatment elsewhere; were they getting the proper care, had you done the right thing, was there anything else you could have done. It hung with Caroline now even though she was sure the answers were yes, yes, and no in that order, and she shook off the feeling with an actual slight shake of the head as she watched the screen flicker to life in front of her to display Schawnsee's face. "Hello, Kat," she said, her smile widening slightly. "Good to hear from you." Kat's smile continued as the call transferred from Deb to Caroline. She was truly happy to see the doctors from her ship -- not really just the doctors, but folks who had become her friends. "Hi, Dr. Curtis. It's good to see you again. I have really been missing you follks and all of the officers on the Reaent. I'm glad that I have actually been able to call. Did you get my letter that I sent?" "Yes, I did...and a report from Dr. Macready as well. It sounds as if you've made the most of your time off the ship," Caroline said, leaning back in her seat and folding her hands over her chest. Schawnsee's desire to see everyone was obvious and quite genuine, and Caroline couldn't blame her for that; in a sense it was a relief, as it meant she might be coming to terms to some degree with the reality and solidity of the people she dealt with aboard Reaent. "Doc? The nurses here told me that I may be able to take a field trip back to the ship, if it's in the area? Do you have any idea when that might be? I'd love to see you all face to face once again. I really want to see Angel. I sometimes hear him at night in my dreams calling to me. But you're the only one Iwould tell that too. I know you know he has the way of speaking to me with our native no speak that I have never mastered." Kat had a tear welling up in her eye as she spoke about her husband. She quickly wiped it away and continued trying not to let it show. "Anyway, do you know when the Reaent may be by this way?" Caroline cocked her head slightly, not missing the shake of the other woman's voice in speaking about Angel but also not missing that Kat wanted to appear stoic, and so letting it pass in favor of the other question. "We're in the Benecia system at the moment, if that helps any. Where we'll be after that, I couldn't say; I'm not privy to official details on that score." She grinned. "My spies are everywhere but they don't extend quite that far. Let me know if you make any official plans, though...I'm sure we'd all be glad to see you." "Definitely...I cant wait to get back home. I miss it, and you all, a lot. I'm really seeing how I needed this, though, and thank you again for making the arrangements with this doctor. He's been very nice and very understanding about everything. If it wasn't for you and Drs. Deb and Merina, I'm not sure what would have happened to me. I will never be able to thank you enough." Caroline smiled. "You're a strong person and you'd have managed. But everyone can benefit from a rest now and then. And you don't need to thank me; I'm just glad you're feeling better." Kat smiled, then looked at the clock on the wall behind her. "Dang it...I'm almost out of time, and I have a feeling Angel is busy and couldn't get to the comm fast enough. Please tell him that I called and I can't wait to see him. I'll let someone know if and when I get the chance to come to visit the ship. Bye, Counselor...it's been great talking to you, and again, thank you ever so much for all you did and for sending me here. I now know how much I needed it. Got to go, tell the Reaent..." The com-channel faded out over her voice, goes back to the Federation insignia as Kat's face disappeared. "Yeah...don't worry, I'll tell them," Caroline said to herself with a slight smile, leaning forward to flick off the console. Kat was going to be ok; she'd turned things inside out for herself but they would go back to normal. And that made Caroline feel good.

((NOTE: This log is set prior to the 9/2 sim.)) This station is such a marvel, Anna thought as she exited the liftbank area on deck 364. She remembered some months back, while the Reaent was visiting SB 435, that she'd commented to Caroline that Federation starbases all seemed to be very sterile, bland places. They lacked the grungy unpredictability of her home station, Kilo and to her way of thinking, it made them dull. Well, SB2 was different. It was vast and packed with life, a real hub of industry and definitely didn't have that homogenized Fed vibe. She had a feeling that no day here was ever 'business as usual'. It was a shame they wouldn't be spending too much time here, but a couple of days was better than nothing. While at lunch with Will and Caroline, they'd talked about the different amenities the station offered and one that really appealed to the females at the table was the state of the art spa advertised. Will hadn't seemed to mind if they abandoned him and a quick comm to Debbie had showed that the CMO was equally enthusiastic. Anna had gone back to the Reaent to secure the baby octopus who'd escaped an ignominious death as an entrée and he was now happily...or at least safely, secured in Sci Lab 2, the pH balance of his new tank being monitored by one of the scientists who had stayed on board to monitor an ongoing project. Her rescue project a success, she was now on her way to the spa to meet Caroline and Debbie. This area of the station wasn't as high traffic as where they'd eaten lunch, Anna noticed. The shops were clearly full of high end merchandise and she passed innumerable boutiques for clothing, jewelry and footwear. As she approached the spa, she was struck by its elegantly understated facade. And she immediately saw that Debbie and Caroline had beaten her here. "Sorry, if I'm late," she said with a smile as she approached the two. "Took me longer to get back off the ship than I thought it would." "Not to worry," Caroline replied cheerfully. "I take it our newest crewmember is safely stowed away?" She and Deb had sequestered themselves on one of the benches outside the spa, awaiting the third member of their party, and she quickly pushed herself to her feet as Anna approached, shaking herself out of the thoughts that had occupied her in the meantime. Caroline liked coming back to starbases like this one; it gave her a grounded feeling that was simply not to be had on a starship, and made her feel a bit more at home, though she had to admit SB2 was not much like her previous home bases. It was close enough to be reassuring, however, which was something she had found she needed, particularly after the debacle with Schawnsee and the craziness of the week or so previous. "It'd hardly be a worthwhile vacation if we were expecting you to hurry all over the place, would it?" she added wryly with a grin, glancing from Anna to Deb. Deb stretched her legs. "About that new crewmember," she remarked with a grin. "We have a state of the art aquarium in Sickbay. I think it's saltwater so you're eight legged friend might enjoy it. Then again, he might get a bit more pampering in his own private tank." She stood up and rubbed her hands together, her smile brightening. "In the meantime, it's our turn for a little pampering. You have no idea how I'm looking forward to this." "I don't think so!" Anna laughed, thinking that Mr. Pinchie had it all over her tiny cephalopod in size and could probably cut the little guy in half with his pincers. She glanced between Caroline and Debbie, already anticipating the afternoon. "I haven't been in one of these places since the Academy and am really looking forward to this." * * * Two hours later... "Mmmm... I don't think I have a bone left in my body--the massage was wonderful," Anna murmured from where she lay resting in a tub full of something warm and loamy with the consistency of oatmeal that she'd been assured would slough all the dead skin cells from her body. She had a towel wrapped around her head to ensure the conditioner that smelled like exotic flowers didn't dissipate too early. Her eyes were closed so that the facial mask of clay purportedly from some rare mine on some planet who's name escaped her, could rejuvenate her skin from the ravages of working in a sterile space environment. She didn't know about erasing the damages wrought by working in a ventilated atmosphere but it sure tasted good she thought, using the tip of her tongue to sneak another taste. She was sure the attendant had said it wasn't poisonous... Or was it that it wasn't toxic to clothing? Now, she couldn't remember. Caroline mumbled something that sounded like assent, her eyes half-shut and her head tipped back against the wall behind her; rather than Anna's mud bath-like experience, she had opted for something which looked like nothing so much as a hot tub full of Tang. Once reassured by the earnest young attendant that despite its radioactive appearance it was in fact some sort of muscular relaxant and rejuvenant from a planet she had never heard of, she had allowed herself to be eased into a floating prostrate position which had proved utterly soporific, and she was now drowsing with an expression of great contentment. Anna's voice broke through the haze and she opened one eye slowly, giving her friend a sideways grin. "No wonder this place came so highly recommended. If they'd had a place like this on Starbase 1124 I'd never have gotten a lick of work done..." Deb's head rested against the back of the soaking tub while the deep lavender liquid swirled around her courtesy of the sixteen jets strategically placed to insure maximum coverage. She couldn't begin to pronounce the name of the whatever it was she was soaking in but it smelled wonderful. Her hair was in a pony tail and her face was covered in the same delightfully tasting clay mask Anna had chosen. She could barely move after the massage and she didn't bother opening her eyes when she spoke to her partners in pampering. "I could get used to this. We should petition the powers that be to install a spa on the ship." "Yes, I'm sure Captain McQueen could be persuaded to free up some space to put one in--especially if you requisitioned it as a medical necessity, Deb." Anna tried to grin but the mask was uncooperative. "I can think of no good scientific reason for installing it...but Caroline...with the way business has been booming for you the past couple months, you could add your voice to Debbie's and claim it is a wonderful mental health stabilizer. It's true, after all--my mental health feels wonderfully stabilized right now." Caroline laughed, rolling over lazily in the bright orange liquid and resting her arms on the edge of the tub. "Oh, I'm sure we could find a scientific reason...perhaps you can put one of your petty officers to work on a paper regarding the long-term effects of ingesting that stuff you have on your face," she responded teasingly, noting Anna smuggling another bit of clay out of her mask. "We're not the only members of Life Sciences that can be turned to your purposes. Personally I'm in far too relaxed a mood to contemplate attempting a report to the captain on anything. Remind me when we're back on the ship." With a wink, she released the wall and let herself bob up and down rhythmically for a moment before rolling over again. "I have to say, this whole place isn't quite like anything I've seen before; my experience with Federation facilities has rarely been anything like so elaborate..." "We'll have to word the requisition carefully," said Deb as she allowed her arms and hands to float on top of the soothing liquid. "We could make it sound like something we need for rehab. If we get rid of some of the equipment in the physical therapy room, I'm sure we could fit a couple of these spa tubs in there. And we already have a masseuse or two on the roster." She smiled proudly. "Yep, I think it's worth a try." "I'm putting my credits on Deb." Not wanting to knock it over, Anna carefully felt around the tub's wide ledge, searching for the delicate china cup she'd set there before the mask had been applied to her face. She could still smell the fragrant steam of the tisane but where was...oops. The telltale clatter of cup against saucer told her she'd found it. She finally decided enough was enough and forced her eyes open, feeling the mask begin to crack with the movement. "Hey...when did they bring pastries?" "Perhaps they have a Betazoid on their staff," Caroline said with a chuckle. "Or have simply heard of Reaent's affinity for baked goods in all things. Either way, they're certainly well-prepared for us." Feeling far too comfortable to move for her own dish yet, she looked up at the ceiling, an ornate affair that bore little resemblance to usual Fleet bulkheads. "We're being given a fair length of leave here...I wonder if Starfleet has decided they don't know what to do with us," she added dryly. "I'm sure they'll find something to do with us," quipped Debbie, sinking a bit lower into the lavender bath. "And it will probably result in our needing another spa day....or two. All the more reason to get one installed on the ship." She smiled mischievously. " I happen to be on very good terms with the XO. I think I'll talk him to helping us with this. In the meantime, I'm content to stay here for as long as they'll let me." "He's definitely an ace in the hole," Anna chuckled, lifting her feet so that her toes suddenly reappeared from the depths of the tub and she could rest them against the rim. "If we're going to get the tubs, we need the botanicals to put in them. I suggest we pick up some samples and get them programmed into the replicator." Leaning back, she closed her eyes again, luxuriating in a feeling of great well-being. "This so beats a sonic shower." "A sonic shower?" What's that?" asked Debbie, softly patting the water with the palms of her hands. "Once we get the tubs installed, I'll never take another shower." She grinned mischievously. "I'm pretty sure I can get my husband hooked on this too." Her smile broadened. "Wouldn't that be fun."

"Computer, begin personal log, stardate 61001 mark 2." Caroline let herself drop onto the couch in her quarters with a sigh, tipping her head back against the wall. For a moment she didn't say anything further, letting the silence hold the floor while she got her thoughts in order. "We're a day out from Wolf 359 yet. It's a day closer than we were, but I can't help noticing the tension starting to build (that is, after all, what I'm here to notice). And I can't help feeling it myself, either." She paused, then frowned. "I'm honestly starting to wonder if -- ouch!" Her introspection was broken by a loud yelp as a heavy, pointy weight landed on her shoulder. "Nelson, stop it!" The small orange fluff-ball of a kitten which she had purchased at Starbase 435 mewed in her ear and then toppled from his perch, landing -- claws down again, of course -- in her lap. Caroline made an aggravated noise at the impact, then paused and smiled slightly. "Poor kit...probably wondering what all those lights are about, huh?" she murmured, stroking the small animal's fuzzy back absently. "You and me both, I guess." The kitten mewed again, rolling over onto his side and pawing gently at her fingers. Nelson had been named after Horatio Nelson, a general of Earth in the mid-1800s. However, the young cat was about as far away from the straight-backed staid military discipline for which he had been named as anything Caroline could immediately imagine. Closer inspection of the room around her revealed that since the morning, he had managed (through, Caroline could only assume, dedicated effort, or perhaps as a response to the inexplicable loud noises and flashing lights) to completely tip over one of the chairs in the room and roll it over onto its side. "You're a little hellion, aren't you, kit?" He mewed proudly in response. Caroline chuckled, slouching back gently against the couch and looking up at the ceiling before resuming her log. "I'm honestly starting to wonder if we might not do better to pull over somewhere and get our bearings a little bit; we haven't stopped moving since we got here. No one will actively go for the idea -- I wouldn't like it myself, to be honest -- but if whatever the Captain is planning at Wolf 359 doesn't pan out, we may need to consider the idea of finding somewhere to hole up." She paused, then looked down at Nelson and smiled tightly, her voice taking on a heavy note of irony. "After all...it's not like we don't have plenty of time."

The alert lights were starting to give Caroline a distinct headache. They'd been going on and off with increasing frequency over the past few days, though she had only the roughest idea of what the latest crisis might have been, as she had not been to the bridge since the encounter with the Klingons some days earlier. Her curiosity about just what, exactly, was happening, had, therefore, been increasing exponentially through this latest chaos -- especially given the medical alert she had witnessed being called in sickbay. She knew that a team had gone down, that a crash had accompanied their return; she knew something of the injuries and she knew that the Reaent was now being pursued in the direction of, of all places, Wolf 359. But she knew nothing of what had been discovered, or whether any progress was being made towards their safe return. Caroline, quite frankly, wanted to go home, so to speak. She'd more or less come to terms with the fact that she was not going back to the starbase any time soon, but she felt she was within her rights to at least vehemently prefer to be in her own time. She also was coming to the definite conclusion that her official position aboard this ship was not particularly conducive to actually solving the problem at hand so much as its aftereffects, a fact which rarely if ever came up on a starbase but now was starting to bother her. She would have liked to do something on the medical front, though the chaos had not yet served to overwhelm that department; she wasn't entirely sure how she could best contribute, but the thought was now percolating with clockwork regularity in the back of her mind. For now, though, she'd settled for a quick nap and the salmon salad sandwich, soup, and coffee arranged (rather artistically for a computer) by the mess-hall replicator on the tray she carried before her. Turning away from the wall, she scanned the room quickly as she moved among the tables, looking for a familiar face -- and quickly found one at a seat next to the window. "Anna!" she said, a smile popping onto her face as she stopped next to the young CSCI's table. She knew Anna had suffered head and shoulder injuries during the AT's return but there was no sign of it now, which was a relief. "How are you doing? Mind if I join you?" Anna had really felt hungry when she'd come into the mess, thinking a quick break would give her some extra energy. Instead, she now realized it may have been a mistake to sit down. Or perhaps spaghetti had been a poor choice. She'd only eaten a third of the pasta, and now it seemed that all she wanted to do was close her eyes and take a nap. She was starting to drift off when she heard her name being called. "Caroline." Anna looked up from her plate, her smile coming automatically, as she reoriented herself. "Of course, I don't mind, please take a seat," she replied, indicating the chair opposite her own. "You may have just saved me from an embarrassing encounter with my plate." Caroline chuckled, seeing the exhaustion in her friend's eyes as Anna looked up. "Glad to be of service," she said dryly, sliding into the indicated chair and setting her plate down. "And I shall keep a sharp lookout and move the plate should it become necessary, now that I'm here. You look about done in." And she had a right to, she reflected. Calling this a "long day" would be putting it mildly. "I'm glad to see you made it back alright," she went on, sipping at her coffee and absorbing the shock of the hot liquid for a moment before going on. "It sounds as if the trip to meet the Guardian didn't exactly go as planned." Leaning back, Anna took a long swallow of still-warm tea. "Well, alerting the science station to our presence on the Time Planet wasn't part of the plan, it's true," she replied dryly. "Nor was taking out the back part of the shuttle bay, but hindsight is more than satisfied with having gotten back at all. Will Tomlinson pulled a rabbit out of his hat with that one." Setting her teacup back in its saucer, Anna stretched, and felt her shoulder give a twinge. "I don't know what's going to happen--what we're going to do about all the ships on our tail, but is was very good to find out that we are in the correct universe at least." "Oh, that is good to hear," Caroline said, nodding. "I wish it hadn't been quite so chaotic in the obtaining, but that's good progress." And it was; she could imagine good things for crew morale given this sign of hope, even if, in reality, she had to assume it didn't provide all that much practical help towards getting home. "I take it you don't know why we're going to Wolf 359 either? It's a subject of hot debate these days." She paused, then chuckled. "Sorry, I don't mean to grill you. But you know the adage about medical being the last to know..." "I have heard that before," Anna chuckled. "However, it's not something I think Debbie would put up with if she were here." Her laughter fading to a faint smile, Anna shook her head, saying, "I don't know why we're headed where we are. Captain McQueen didn't say." Anna's expression turned speculative as she watched Caroline. "Mentioning Debbie has reminded me of something I thought of earlier today. She and I once talked a little bit about the ship's arboretum. Do you enjoy gardening at all?" "I...can't say it's something I've ever turned my hand to, though not for lack of interest," Caroline said, looking somewhat surprised at the question but smiling at Anna's suddenly pensive look. "Why do you ask? Making plans to help with the work down there when this is all over? I suppose as a biologist, it's something you've had experience with." The arboretum was actually one of the locations on the ship which she hadn't had any occasion to investigate yet; by the time Caroline had come aboard, the place had already been in a state of some disrepair. "My current professional interest in plants is focused on lichens. They're nitrogen-rich and, unfortunately, very fragile," Anna replied. "I'm working on a project to boost their immune systems but my interest in the arboretum stems from a visit to a beautiful fern garden on a starbase we visited a while back. I was in the ship's arboretum earlier today and noticed, not for the first time, that it could use some real attention. Looks like all systems are functioning but there's not a whole lot in place. For good reason, it hasn't been a priority. Maybe we could have something similar to what was on the starbase. It was so beautiful, really tranquil." "That's certainly something that's been in short supply here," Caroline said with a smile. "I'm sure the whole crew would appreciate a little attention to it -- and I'd be glad to help you if you need an extra hand, whenever things calm down enough." It was good to be thinking of other things than the current chaos, even if it was a project that would have to keep until after the current situation was settled. Although..Anna said she had been down there earlier...Caroline cocked her head curiously. "Or have you already started?" "Started? Oh, no -- nothing like that," Anna replied. "It's just something I thought about a little while ago and seeing it again today reminded me of that." "Well, I'm glad you were able to catch a bit of a break, in that case, even if it wasn't quite as tranquil as it could be," Caroline said with a chuckle. Picking up her sandwich, she took a large bite and chewed thoughtfully. "If we don't find what we need at Wolf 359, we'll need to find some place to hole up. Break the tension. Not permanently," she added hastily. "But...we'll need somewhere to go to ground, if we've got the attention of the 'present' Federation. We can't spend the whole time running. Unless there's some way to hide our signature, but from what I heard on the bridge, our abilities in that regard are limited at best." "They followed the shuttle and tagged the ship, and unless we can get the very short-term cloak working again, which, when it was working, gave us nine minutes of cover, they can track us easily. We're faster than they are though." Anna finished her tea and smiled tiredly at Caroline. "I really do wish we could have spoken with them and explained our situation. Confrontations such as these are very rare but they have occurred." She stood up, suddenly wanting nothing more than to catch a few hours of sleep. "We have another day or so before we reach Wolf. We'll see what happens then." Caroline nodded, looking up as Anna got up from the table. "I guess we will," she said agreeably. Settling back in her chair, she ran a hand down her face, then returned Anna's smile, again noting the tiredness in her expression. "Meantime, you get some rest. A nap'll do wonders -- or at the very least will keep the room from spinning, which is important. And you've certainly earned it." Anna had a lot on her plate, that was for sure; Caroline felt increasingly impressed at how, thus far, her young friend had handled the situation. "I'll see you at Wolf, I suppose."

"I think I may have found some files on their tactical systems," Caroline mumbled absently. "Should I forward them to your console?" She looked up at Anna for confirmation. The young science chief had enlisted her help in beginning research on the capabilities of the Klingon ships who had appeared on the Reaent's sensors, which had resulted in their current slog through the ship's computer library with mixed success. Under any other circumstance, Caroline might have enjoyed the chance to dive back into historical research; since entering the medical field it was something she had had less time for as a pastime. However, the current situation was less than ideal; any action they took was a potentially future-altering one, and the recommendations that would come out of this research had more importance, potentially, than anything Caroline had ever worked on. Exactly what she had been hoping for as part of her first foray into non-station assignments. "They're some new prototype form of the class, though, I think you said?" she added, bringing her attention back to the problem at hand and leaning back in her seat with a troubled expression. "So it's hard to say whether this data will be entirely accurate." Anna nodded absently, and then looked up, meeting Caroline's gaze with a smile. "Yes, please. Send 'em over. The historical record is that there was only one prototype with a cloak but our current situation shows that to be inaccurate by three. I personally don't have much faith in the accuracy of the database." She looked back to her own work screen and offered, "The Captain requested that their scanning abilities be ascertained and I've found that -- it looks like one parsec (3.26 light years) with a near instantaneous result." "Well, it's better to have a number to work with, even if it's inaccurate, than none at all, I suppose?" Caroline said, raising her eyebrows slightly at Anna's lack of confidence in the information library. "Coming your way right now." Tapping the station in front of her, she passed the data in front of her over to Anna's console. "I just wonder...if the record doesn't show 4 ships, what else isn't it showing? I didn't mean to say that I don't think the technological portion-" Anna broke off as the doors to the lab slid open and revealed Wade Knight standing there. "Hello," she greeted him with a smile that was immediately hopeful. Scraping the last few bits of cake icing off of his plate, Wade stepped into Reaent's main science bay. Moving up beside Annabelle quietly, he leaned against the edge of her work station. "How's it coming?" Eye level with the cake plate, Anna raised hers to meet his. "They can spot us almost instantly if we get within 3 and a half light years of them and...the database does list their communication frequencies." Anna traded a glance with Caroline and then looked back to Wade. "What have you come up with?" Caroline leaned forward against her console, angling around to look at the engineer expectantly. She didn't know him, other than having seen him at the staff conference, but Anna seemed hopeful that he might know something about the situation. "Well, it shouldn't be too hard to outrun a couple of old Klingon garbage scows for a few hours until I get that cloaking device set up." Wade set the empty plate on the desk behind him and scratched the back of his head before continuing. "It's going to be a major pain in the posterior, getting that thing to work. But it's going to be nowhere near as difficult as getting us home." "Tell me about it," Anna groused. "We have no scans of our trip through the distortion and so there's not really anything to hang our return trip on." She opened her mouth to add to her tale of woe and then stopped, looking between Wade and Caroline. "Have you two met?" "I don't believe so, though I saw you making your voice heard at the meeting," Caroline said with a smile in his direction. "Caroline Curtis...ship's counselor." Not exactly a title she was used to yet... "Pleasure to meet you." Wade extended a hand and managed a weak grin in spite of his apparent exhaustion. "Ship's counselor? I'm sure you've been having all sorts of interesting conversations lately." Anna noted that Wade was clearly not one of the crew that Caroline had been having interesting conversations with. He'd been just as exhausted after the last temporal anomaly and he'd seemed emotionally drained also, but he hadn't deemed it necessary to unburden himself to the counselor. She wondered what his story was. They'd worked closely together a few times now and she was curious. Caroline smiled faintly at the comment. "You could say that. This ship and this crew have both been through quite a bit," she said. "For right now, though, I'm doing my best to help with the research effort." She gestured vaguely at the console she was sitting at, and then laughed slightly. "Though I'm afraid I'm woefully unfamiliar with the temporal theory involved." "Quite a bit indeed," Wade said, nodding, before a slight smile played across his lips. "Well, I suppose it's a good thing we have someone on this ship well-versed in temporal theory." Leaning against the wall, Wade sighed and the smile slowly faded from his features. "Not that it really helps us much." Anna leaned back so she could see Wade's expression without breaking her neck. "That doesn't sound very positive..." He shrugged, circling around Anna's back and pacing slowly around the room. "Well, I've got a pretty a good idea of how to get us back to our time. I mean, traveling forward in time is a helluva lot easier than traveling backwards. But then, saying it's easier isn't exactly saying that it's easy." Anna smiled at Caroline while Wade perambulated. She'd seen him think something out before and the last time it had involved a pencil and the Theory of Relativity. "Well, we were able to do the backwards part with little or no trouble as I recall, Wade." She shot him a grin over her left shoulder. "How about you clue us in on the way back?" "I'm sure you've heard of time dilation, right? The faster you're going, the more slowly others will observe your time progressing?" Picking up the cake plate from the desk behind him again, he shook the crumbs off and tossed it to Caroline like a Frisbee. "Think fast." Caroline blinked, snatching the projectile plate as it arced into her hands. Eyeing it curiously, she spun it in her fingers and then set it down on the console. "Yes, I've heard of time dilation..." "And so have I, of course," Anna replied, giving Caroline a thumbs up for her quick reflexes. "Right. Luckily, when we're traveling in a warp field, we're not subject to time dilation; otherwise we'd all be living in the two-hundred and fortieth century instead of the twenty-fourth. But that's not the case with impulse. The main idea is, we make enough power for the impulse engines to get us up to about two-thirds the speed of light, and even at that speed time dilation doesn't really play that large of a part. In order to travel forward in time eighty-four years we'd need to approach speeds of near the speed of light." Wade stopped his pacing for a moment and looked between his two companions. "Sorry, I can be a bit wordy at times." Anna paused, her tea cup, contents now quite cool, suspended in mid air. "I'm not bored, believe me." She motioned him on and took a sip. "So you're saying that if we can boost further power to the impulse engine...we can use time dilation to get us home instantaneously even without the wormhole?" Caroline looked as if she was trying to process this and wasn't certain of her interpretation. "We can't count on the wormhole just conveniently showing up," Anna interjected. Wade shook his head slowly, "We won't be able to 'boost' anywhere near enough power out of the warp core to make a steady acceleration towards the speed of light. As we get closer and closer to that speed, we're going to need exponentially more power to accelerate." He paused his pacing for a moment, scratching his chin. "The 'wormhole' or space-time distortion or whatever we encountered back there is just not a practical bet at this point. There's nothing to say that we'd even find it, or that it wouldn't just send us further back in time. And if it did send us forward in time there'd be nothing to say how far forward it would send us." "Sadly, that's all too true," Anna agreed glumly, "But I still would like to have the chance to scan that area of space where we came through. We haven't been able to do that, due to keeping a low profile." "Well, if I'm wrong, and we are dealing with causality here, the best thing we can do is take ourselves out of the picture," Wade explained with a nod. "And if I can somehow figure out how to get enough energy to that cloaking device and get it working, we may be able to go on a search for that wormhole or whatever in the hell it was. But I still don't think it's going to be very fruitful." "We know the coordinates where we came through the distortion, and it's my hope that it was not a random occurrence," Anna replied. "The gravimetric distortion we experienced can be easily programmed and then scanned for." "That's true. If the wormhole does exist in this time, there's a pretty good possibility that there might already be someone there looking at it," Wade's voice slowly drifted off. "What if there is already someone there looking at it, and they kept some record of it!" "Tobias Jeran has been researching the database for any cosmological events that might pertain to the current situation and so far, nothing has come up," Anna replied. His momentary excitement subsiding, Wade nodded and smiled. "Well, maybe it will turn up something. Even the slightest bit of information could help us a great deal." "I live in hope, Mr. Knight." Anna smiled back but the expression quickly faded away. "If we aren't able to locate the distortion from this side of history, what else can we do to get back?" "Well, like I said, we can use the impulse engines to get us up to a speed which will dilate time enough to get us back. But it's going to take time to piece it together. We won't be able to make energy enough to get there at a constant rate of acceleration, but I believe we may be able to use high powered bursts." Pausing, Wade took on a somewhat defeated posture. "And there's going to be some serious problems that go with it." "Problems like...what?" Caroline asked, cocking her head sideways slightly. "Yes, what sort of problems?" Anna inquired, wondering why Wade looked so glum. "Problems like having to store large of amounts of highly volatile plasma somewhere aboard the ship, extreme inertial forces which the inertial dampeners may or may not be able to...dampen entirely. And of course the problem that if I'm not completely precise in my calculations we could end up a hundred eighty four years into the future rather than eighty four." "Oh, that would be a problem," Anna muttered, not entirely sure whether she was more concerned by the volatile plasma catching fire or the prospect of traveling too far into the future. Wade managed a comforting smile and a wink. "Oh, you needn't worry yourself at all. You've got a Knight on the job. If that's is the only way to do this, I'll find a way to do it right."

Watching as most of the crew which had gathered in the food court drifted away to pursue other interests, Anna looked from Caroline to Will, the only other two still remaining at the table with her. "We still have a little time before we have to get back up to the ship. I'd like to take a look in the pet shop across the way, if neither of you minds, and Will...you said you would show us the shop where you bought the beautiful globe for your mother." Smiling at the other two, Anna stood up, declaring, "I think it's only right that we do our bit to boost the local economy." Caroline nodded, pushing her own chair back from the table as well. She had been quietly sitting through most of the meal, listening to the conversation between the Reaent crew who had assembled (many of whom she did not know), but as the group had begun to dissipate, she was quite amenable to continuing the wandering she had been doing with Anna around this somewhat run-down version of a Starfleet installation. "That sounds fine to me...after all, it's not like we're showered with opportunities to spend our pay," she said, smiling. "We should certainly take advantage of it." She glanced at Will to see if he was coming along. Will nodded and stood as he spoke, "Absolutely. One thing my father always said: 'Son, if beautiful women ask you out, always take them up on it'." He chuckled as he left with Caroline and Anna; walking toward the pet store. "Your father is a very wise man, Will," Anna replied, trading a laughing glance with Caroline. "I hope all of his advice is so sage." They walked into the shop, and she allowed herself a few moments to adjust to the cacophony. It had been in the back of her mind for a little while now that she'd like to have a pet. It had to be the right pet though. She glanced around, noting the shop cleverly had small mammals right up front. There was very little as adorable as fur covered young. She wasn't swayed. She already knew what she wanted. She strolled past the aquatics display and then gave short shrift to the reptiles. Fish...well, beautiful as they were, they had a shocking death rate and sometimes ate each other. Reptiles, well, on the whole she liked them. They were mild creatures for the most part but not overly companionable. Give them a hot rock and a few crickets or a rodent and they demanded nothing more of you. Anna came to a stop in the noisiest section of the shop. The crazy clicks, chitterings and outright screams caused her to smile fondly as she came to the birds. Every size and hue; many she recognized and a few she didn't. Her arrival caused very little interest among the winged set but a salmon colored cockatoo raised his crest at her and gave her the fish eye--a sure sign of agitation. Apparently only one of them was feeling those love at first sight pangs. "Hello there, gorgeous," she crooned. "I bet if I was holding a palm nut you wouldn't be so standoffish." Caroline laughed at Will's comment as she followed Anna into the store, but was prevented from a retort by the surge of animal noises which met them as the door opened. "Quite a selection," she murmured under her breath, grinning as she looked around and came to a halt in the outer section of the store near a large pen of orange Terran kittens and another of a large six-legged and flop-eared mammalian species she didn't recognize. Seeing Anna making eyes at a bird in the rear of the shop, she laughed. "Looks like someone's made a new friend." Will nodded in response to Caroline's comment, "Apparently so." Will went to the shopkeeper and spoke with him. A few moments later Will slowly approached Anna and the bird that had her attention. He put a gentle hand on Anna's shoulder and offered her a bag. Inside the bag were nuts to feed the bird. "Here, try these." He whispered to Anna. With all the noise, Anna hadn't heard Will's approach and she turned in surprise when she felt his hand on her shoulder. She took the bag from him with a questioning look that quickly changed into a smile as she saw what was in it. "Thanks!" She whispered to him before reaching into the bag and drawing out a large, thick hulled nut. She carefully held it at the end with her thumb and forefinger as she offered it to the cockatoo who was now giving both herself and Will a leery look. "Come on, sweetheart, look what he brought you," Anna cajoled, using the same voice that always got her nieces and nephews to eat their morning oatmeal. She held her breath as the bird's crest started to relax and he moved closer to the side of his cage. Sliding the nut just through the cage bars, she watched with delight as he took it in his beak and then settled back on the perch using one of his feet to hold the nut while he ate it. "Just look at that beak," she said proudly, as the shattered remains of the nut fell to the bottom of the cage. "They can rip a finger off at the knuckle." She took another nut out of the bag and offered it to Will. "Here, you can give him the next one," she offered generously. "Gee, thanks." Will replied dryly as he took a nut out of the bag and held it just as Anna did. Will and the cockatoo locked eyes for a moment before he slowly moved the nut into range. The cockatoo snapped it up with a quick dart startling everybody. To his credit, Will didn't hardly flinch even though the cockatoo's beak did hit Will's finger and a small droplet of blood was forming on the tip. Will looked at the cockatoo who seemed to have a rather smug look on his face. Will looked at Anna, "I think he likes you more than me." He smiles with good humor. Anna winced a little at the speed with which the large parrot grabbed the snack from Will's fingers and was relieved to see he hadn't been too badly bitten. She took the bag of nuts from him, and then took his arm, turning him away from the cage that housed the orangey-pink menace and the new love of her life. "Clearly, he's very discerning," she teased him. "I think we should go see if Caroline has fallen as hard as I have." She started walking back up the aisle, still holding his arm. "You did a great job staying calm, Will. You could have really scared him if you'd over reacted. Nice reflexes, Lieutenant." Caroline looked up, hearing her name; while Will had gone to investigate Anna's avian find, she had become distracted by the pen of cats -- kittens, really, as by their fuzziness and somewhat galumphy look, she judged them to be only about six weeks old. One of them in particular had reacted with interest as her fingers entered the pen to stroke the little wriggling furballs, sniffing and pawing a little at her hand as he poked his head out from his brothers and sisters. She had just reached down and picked him up to have a closer look when Anna approached, hauling Will by the arm. "So what is the verdict?" she asked, looking somewhat amused, glancing from Will to Anna and back again as she ran her fingers lightly over the kitten's back. "Does the bird get the seal of approval?" Will smirked slightly, "I think Anna is in love..." He gave her a 'loving' glance for a quick second, "...with that bird." He grinned at her reaction to his look of love. He looked to Caroline, "And how about you? You seem to have a little friend of your own as well." Caroline bit down on a laugh, noting that Anna was looking at Will more or less as if he was crazy, and glanced down at the fuzzy kitten now climbing around in her palm with an expression of contentment and beginning to gnaw mouthily at her thumb. "He seems to be making himself at home," she said, smiling. "Then again, if I were stuck in a crate with seven brothers and sisters, I suppose I'd be excited at a change of scenery too." "Yes, I am in love," Anna replied cheerfully, reaching over to give the little orange-striped fluff ball in Caroline's hand a gentle scratch behind the ears. "When I fall, I fall fast. How about you, Caroline? Is the little guy a keeper?" "I think he might just be," Caroline said with a chuckle, lifting the little tabbey-cat fully out of the crate and giving him an eye-to-eye look. He seemed entirely unfazed by the human face staring back at him and batted at her nose playfully. "The last time I had a cat was when I was a kid," she said thoughtfully, and couldn't help reflecting that a pet would be a nice addition to those permanent quarters back on Reaent, to make it feel a little more like home. She glanced back towards Anna and grinned. "Between the two of us we'll make a regular menagerie of Reaent...all we need is to get Will a python or something, now." Will grinned and shook his head, "Nah, if I were to get a pet it would be a German Shepherd. They are great with kids and protective as can be." He looks at the two ladies, "Well, are we done here then? We still have that other shop to visit." Anna nodded, still watching Caroline with the kitten, before looking back to Will with a smile. "I think we're ready. We can stop back to finalize things before returning to the ship." She went to have a word with the proprietor and came back shortly, reporting, "He's open for a few more hours, so no worries." Will nodded and patted Anna's hand that was attached to his arm gently as they got ready to leave. He look at Caroline and offered his other arm to her, "Counselor? Shall we go?" Caroline chuckled and gave the kitten a last scratch on the head before setting him back with his siblings. "I'll be back," she muttered down at it cheerfully, then turned and accepted Will's gallantly offered arm with a laugh. "Lead on, Mr. Tomlinson. Shore leave doesn't last forever, after all."

((This log is set as a continuation of a conversation that began in-sim.)) Kat looked around Dr Curtis's new office as she spoke. "I like your new office. It's a lot more roomy. Oh, yes, Arch was glad I was coming home." Caroline smiled, watching Kat's behavior closely as they talked back and forth. She was definitely more comfortable in her behavior than she had been when Caroline had first spoken to her and that was satisfying to see. "Yes...it's nice to no longer be in temporary quarters," she said casually, not bothering to mention her own surprise at the change of orders which she was still settling into. "And I'm glad to hear that about your husband...I'm sure you were both very pleased to have you out of the iso ward." Kat looked back to Caroline's face. "Yes, sir, very happy. Oh -- you had asked how I fell about the ship. I'm...a lot more comfortable with what is going on. I still wonder what the heck happened, but I am beginning to trust in my fellow officers. Thanks to Tkar, I have been kept up to date with my department. Things are beinning to make sense." Kat was sitting still in her chair, not squirming as she had done before. "That's very good to hear." Caroline had a feeling that Kat had really just needed some time to pull back and process the whole situation; even after just being allowed to rest for a time, she had been showing progress and now she was showing signs of stability and curiosity about her situation which was very reassuring. "How do you feel about getting back to work? Do you feel ready?" she asked, trying to get more of a sense of that stability, and whether it would persist. "Doctor, I think I'm ready to go back to work. You and Dr. Matthews have worked miracles. I can't thank you enough. I now know what you all were talking about when you said I was out of balance." Kat looked straight to the Doctors face, feeling confident in what she was doing. "What we attempted to do was give you time to settle yourself, that's all," Caroline said, smiling at the "miracle" compliment. Then she looked more seriously at the CSEC. "Kat, I know you want to get back to work; in your place I certainly would be. But if you still feel uncomfortable with what you went through and want to talk about it, you don't need to feel ashamed or worried about that. You can take time if you need it." Kat looked away for a moment. She did feel a bit ashamed of the way she had reacted and of the fact that she didnt believe the crew nor even her husband when they tried to tell her she was really home. She looked back up to the doctor. "Sir, I am ashamed at the way I acted. I'm not sure how to...umm..." She hesitated a moment, looking away again, then looked back once more. "I don't know how to apologize to my crewmates. And with Captain Micheals not being here any longer I cannot apologize to him." Caroline nodded understandingly, watching Kat's expression as it passed through several levels of embarrassment. "I think you may find your crewmates more understanding than you think," she said, reaching over to pat her arm gently. "After all, many of them went through the experience themselves too, or at the very least know someone who did. You took it very hard, you took it to heart and it threw you for a loop, but no one can blame you for that." "That, and the imbalance you and Dr. Matthews found didn't help any. How do I make it up to them? I mean I called them liars. My own crewmates. You can't really take that back." Tears began to show in Kat's eyes. She was truthfully sorry for what she had done. "Doc, I want to go back to work. I just hope my crewmates will forgive me for what I have done." Caroline looked somewhat thoughtful. There was no question that Kat was still nervous, but it was not blind fear as it had been before. "I would say that if you talk to them, work with them again and give them time to reassure themselves of your respect for them, things will be smoother than you think." "You think they will really understand?" "I would be very surprised if they didn't. Starfleet is...a difficult world." That was putting it mildly. Having worked as a Fleet counselor for so many years, Caroline knew very well, when she chose to think about it, that Starfleet excelled at putting people through their own private hells from time to time. The one upside of this, however, was that it tended to make crews tight-knit, and good at supporting each other, which could make her job easier on occasion -- like now. Kat wiped her eyes dry with her sleeve. "Thanks, Doc, for the vote of confidence. Tkar seems to be very understanding and I think Jon Shamor is also. Arch just wants me back home. Now I hope this new Captain will give me a chance, knowing what I have been through." "The captain will be receiving reports from me and and from Commander Matthews, as per procedure," Caroline replied. "He'll know the full situation." Kat looked the doctor straight in the face. She had to know how she felt about the situation. Now was as good of a time as any. "Sir? Do you think I'm ready to go back to my full duty?" "I think you are capable of doing your job as long as you have confidence in your abilities and in your situation. I merely don't want to throw you back into the work grind if you do not feel you are ready; it would be unfair." Kat sighs softly, "I think I am ready to at least go back to a part time post. Then maybe work my way back to full shift?" "That could potentially work, if that would make you more comfortable," Caroline said agreeably. Kat smiled, "Yes Doctor. I think that would be the best thing to do. If I feel I can continue during a day I will continue to work but if I feel I need a rest Then I can leave also. would this be satisfactory to you, and to Dr Matthews?" "I will talk to Deb and let you know, but I think we can work with that as the next step," Caroline said with a nod. "Thank you, Doctor. Can I ask you a favor though? I'd still like to have sessions with you if thats ok. It might be fewer and further between but I'd still like to talk things over with you. At least for as long as you are here." Caroline smiled. "Actually I received new orders several days ago -- my post here is now permanent. And of course, I would be glad to speak with you for as long as you like. It's what I'm here for after all." Kat smiled as she brushed her shoulder-length hair behind her ears. "Thank you, Doctor Curtis. It means a lot to me. I will remain off duty until I get my clearance from you and Dr. Matthews. I guess I will be going now; I know you have others that wish to speak to you." Kat stood and offered her hand to the counselor. "It's been great having you here, sir, and for one I am gald you will be remaining onboard." Caroline watched her as she stood up, and the smile on her face seemed to deepen a little bit as she reached out to shake the offered hand. She was still not really used to the idea that this was her new home, but she coudn't deny that the pleasure Kat expressed was gratifying, and a reminder that she was needed here as much as she was back on the Starbase. "I'm glad I am too," she replied after a moment. "I'll let you know as soon as I've talked to Deb." "Thank you,Doctor." Kat turned and walked out of the office standing tall and proud. She had come a long way and she knew she would not have been here if it wasn't for the counselor's numberous hours of working with her. She turned at the door one last time before she exited and smiled and nodded once more to Dr. Curtis, then turned and headed down the corridor.

Kat remained sitting on the bed after Deb left. She knew the CMO was right in what she said, deep in her heart, but waited to see what Dr. Curtis had to say. She took a deep breath and swung her leg back up on the bed and lay back, awaiting the Counselor to enter the room. Caroline stepped through the doors of sickbay, having left the office which until recently she had assumed to be temporary, puffing a stray hair out of her face with a thoughtful expression. She had a great deal on her mind at the moment, but she immediately shook it to the side as she glanced into the isolation area where Kat Swan was waiting -- the chief of security had requested to speak with her, which Caroline saw as a very good sign, given Schawnsee's earlier paranoia regarding the psychologist. Stepping forward, Caroline tapped the door control and stepped into the room, looking at Kat sitting on the bed. "Hello, Commander," she said with a nod, waiting to see how she would be greeted before proceeding any further. Kat looked up as the door opened. She didn't have the shocked look on her face as she had had in the past but wasn't 100% back to her friendly charming self yet either. She nodded slightly at the Counselor as she stepped in the room. She just said in a soft mono tone, "Hello Doctor." That was, if not the most energetic response, at least not hostile, so Caroline pulled up a chair near the end of the bed and sat down. "How are you feeling?" she asked neutrally. "I'm feeling all right. Doctor Matthews says that I needed more than one treatment to get the balance in the chemicals in my cranium back to normal, when I had asked her if I could return to duty. She also told me that I was under your care with her supervision and that I still needed to speak to you. I am just getting antsy to get back to normal if there is just a thing." Kat wasn't 100% even though she thought she was. She still had that lingering thought in the back of her mind that she wasn't where they all said she was. Although it wasn't as bad as it had been and she was not as aggressive or emotional, it could still be seen. "Well...it's going to be a little while before you will be cleared for duty again, though as I said when we last spoke, all of your department's reports can and will be funneled down to you so you can keep an eye on things," Caroline responded. "Though some of the physical causes -- and manifestations -- of your...mental discomfort are being corrected by the drug treatments, the psychological aspects will still need to be addressed so that I can be sure of how you are coping with your situation. Do you remember how you were feeling before Doctor Matthews and I sedated you?" Kat looked to the ceiling closing her eyes for a moment. She slowly opened them and looked to the counselor. The look on her face had an almost ashamed look. "If I remember correctly, I was not nice to you, sir. If this is correct, I wish to apologize. I also remember or dreaming that Deb -- Dr. Matthews was holding me down in her office, in a corner and had to call for assistance from orderlies to assist her while you gave me an injection? Before that I remember the scan and having Angel with me in my quarters. I still remember seeing the inside of the Romulan holding cell, and the Reaent exploding. Or was that a bad dream as well?" Kat looked into the Counselors eyes as if asking for her to help clear up these memories or bad dreams whichever the case may be. At least she wasn't combative any longer but actually trying to figure things out. "Everything that you remember is true -- though you do not need to apologize," Caroline replied, looking back into Kat's eyes calmly. "You were -- and still are -- coping with a very difficult experience. You and many others of Reaent's crew experienced a parallel timeline wherein the Reaent and the other half of the crew were destroyed, and you, understandably, found this unsettling, though you didn't really want to talk about it. Do you feel up to talking about it now?" Kat just sits there thinking, looking away from Dr. Curtis' face. She could feel herself starting to break down a bit as the memory of loosing her husband came back to her. "I... I ..don't know." She tried her best to hold back the tears. "Angel is .. is still alive right? I mean," she takes a stuttering breath, "I remember that right also? He's ok?" She again meets the counselors consoling eyes. "He is perfectly alive and well...the last I saw of him he was heading to the flight deck," Caroline responded soothingly, laying a hand on Kat's arm. She could see the tears growing in the security chief's eyes and hoped that she would allow the release rather than bottling up the tension. When Kat heard that Angel was alive the flood of tears came falling down her face as she busted out crying. She leaned forward to meet the counselor and wrapped her arms around her. "Thank you," she sobbed a moment and then allowed herself to relax in the Counselors arms. "I was ... was afraid it was.. all a dream and he was gone." This was a diffenent improvement for Kat. Before she would have held the emotions in, increasing her blood pressure only causing her more harm than good. Caroline let out a soft grunt as Kat suddenly threw herself into her arms. Well, this was certainly better than the paranoia from before -- in fact it was pretty much the exact opposite. She wrapped her arms around Kat's shoulders and shifted slightly to give her head a comfortable resting place, letting her cry it out. "He's here...everything is...more or less back to normal," she murmured. "Unfortunately the timeline which you experienced was not a dream, but neither is the current one." Kat lifted her head from the Counselors shoulder, trying to compose herself, and wiping the tears from her face with her sleeve. "So, they are both...both true. When I woke up hear I thought I had been in an accident or something and had dreamt it while in a coma or something. I even dreamt about me talking to the elders." Kat lets out a big sigh and leans back in the bed once again. "They told me I had to help myself to allow those trying to help me do their job. I'm not sure I understand." Kat once again wiped the remaining tears from her face with her sleeve. Caroline leaned back in her seat as Kat pulled away, and watched her as she composed herself again. "The elders?" she asked neutrally, raising her eyebrows a little curiously. Kat nods slightly, "I am terran but also Native American. In the old days they called us Indians. We believe our elders speak to us in visions, which some folks call dreams." Kat hesitated a moment wondering how much she should say but then remember the Elders words to trust her heart and allow others to help her. " I had such a dream." Caroline nodded slowly. "And what do you think it meant?" She looked to the ceiling and around the room for a few moments hesitating before continuing. "I think it meant that I am supposed to allow you and Dr. Matthews to do what it is you think best for me to get better." She hesitated a few more moments, "I guess that mean to continue whatever medications you and Dr. Matthews deem necessary. As much as I do not like certain things." She looked away as if almost ashamed at what she had just said. Caroline raised an eyebrow at that, and at the ashamed look which followed the statement. "What do you mean?" Kat swallowed hard. "I do not wish to be here, But I know I have to. I would rather do things the natural way, the way our ancestors have done things for many years. But I also know or have been told that this can not be treated that way. And that you had made up the compound that actually helped me get this far. That is what I think is meant 'for me to allow others to help me." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Caroline imitated the sigh. "To be honest, Kat, I am not a great fan of dispensing drugs willy-nilly...the drug treatments are a stopgap, not the final solution. I would be interested to hear what sort of...natural treatments you would be interested in pursuing, if they are things that will help you to become more settled in your surroundings." "I do not know what this imbalance is and if it had been told to Angel and he didnt offer a natural remody I do not know if there is one." She then turns her head slightly to the side. "Was he told why I was here? Was he told about the imbalance?" Kat began wondering if maybe there was some other way of treatment. "Chemically speaking, your brain had been thrown off its natural axis," Caroline responded patiently. "Your husband was there when we were discussing preliminary treatment options; he was fully informed of everything your scans showed. We had his approval to pursue treatment." Kat let out a soft sigh. "If he didn't offer an alternative then there may not be one. Not a natural one that is. Although I do not think I will need a sedative any longer. If you wish for me to sleep, there is an herbal tea that does that very nicely. Our ancestors called it niteynight. It's a blend of natural herbs and flowers brewed to a slow boil and served with honey. Angel and I have used it often to help us sleep at night. I can have him bring me some here if you wish." "I think we've more than passed the point where you need to be sedated," Caroline said, shaking her head. "That was merely because we were concerned you had reached a a point of stress that might be actively dangerous. I don't want to give you any more drugs than I absolutely have to. As a matter of fact the physical symptoms may already be as treated as they can be -- at this point, it's just a question of making sure you feel comfortable and stable with yourself." "Dr. Matthews said something about more medication and more sessons with you and then another test to make sure the chemicals were back in a natural balance. Your saying I'm well enough to leave?" Kat said with a slight uplift in her voice, having forgotten what the Counselor had said when she first came into the room. Caroline resisted the urge to sigh. Kat clearly very much wanted to get out of here, but it was also clear that she was still in the recovery process. "I'm saying the physical treatments and psychological treatments are not identical -- one may be completed and the other may continue. Doctor Matthews will presumably be doing more tests on you to determine the state of your neurological -- physical -- well-being and until I've seen those tests I don't know how long that will take. And we will certainly continue with counseling beyond that. But the sedatives -- which were more to give you a chance to rest than to correct an imbalance -- those you don't need anymore." She paused, then smiled. "You're starting to get back to yourself now, I can definitely see that. And it's a very good thing to see." Standing up, she moved to a nearby replicator and with a few taps produced a hypospray. "For the time being...this will be another dosage minus sedatives and at a slightly lower concentration; when you next work with Deb we'll be able to make a determination from there on any more physical treatment." Kat nodded and sat up, turning to the side of the bed for the Doc to be able to get to her a bit easier. "I understand Doctor." Kat was way more cooperative this time than she had been in the past. Caroline nodded and carefully depressed the hypospray into Kat's neck, then stepped back, not wanting to be seen as invading her personal space any longer than she had to. "Good...in that case I'll be talking to you again soon, unless there's anything in particular you want to discuss right now?" She kept her body language very open, trying to let Kat steer the conversation where she was comfortable. "No, sir, nothing really, except thank you for taking the time and what seems like a lot of patience to deal with me and help me deal with this problem." Kat smiled at the Doc with an honest smile and leaned back in the bed to allow the medications to do their bidding. Caroline smiled back. Objectivity to the situation aside, there was no question that it was satisfying seeing less of the fear and anger at her in Kat's eyes. She replaced the hypospray in the replicator and then laid her hand gently against Kat's shoulder. "That's what I'm here for, Kat -- to help."

Caroline walked into her temporary quarters on board the Reaent with a contented sigh; life had ben busy and she was looking forward to getting some rest. Things were progresing well. The Reaent's crew was returning to their normal activity, though it was tempered still by the memory of the events that had brought them to this point. Caroline was still concerned about a number of them -- particularly the chief of security -- but even they were for the most part showing tentative signs of progress. Caroline was not one to attempt to rush treatment, but she could project that for most of them, she would be able to offer a definite opinion of their long-term fitness for duty within the next two or three weeks. Starfleet Medical had not given her a certain period for her shipboard assignment here, but presumably that term would shortly be coming to a close as well. This saddened her a little. The Reaent's crew was a solid one and had, even in their period of greatest chaos, made her feel very welcome aboard. She would miss Deb Matthews, as devoted a CMO as Caroline had ever encountered, and Anna O'Halloran, the young science officer with whom Caroline had struck up a bit of a friendship. And she knew that for some of this crew, there existed a need for counsel that would last many months, even years -- she hoped to remain in contact with them after her tenure was up. Caroline, however, was not and never had been particularly devoted to the idea of shipboard duty. She preferred an orderly and predictable situation, where she could focus on her work and do some good -- as such she had consistently requested, and been granted, station postings. Starfleet needed good psychiatrists in positions of stability, to whom they could send troubled officers of the shipboard variety, and Caroline had slid easily into such a position. Starbase 1123 had been her longest posting -- she had been there for almost seven years. The Reaent had needed her, and she had felt no regret at being temporarily transferred to give them the support they required. But she couldn't deny a definite feeling of relief at the idea of going home, even if it was not for another few weeks. The comm pinged as she removed her outer uniform jacket and hung it neatly over the back of a chair. "Lieutenant Curtis, you have an incoming message from Starfleet Medical." Hmmm... "Put it through down here." She crossed to a console embedded in the wall and tapped the screen on, which displayed the Federation insignia for a moment before beginning to scroll a message. STARFLEET MEDICAL PERSONNEL AFFAIRS TRANSFER OF ASSIGNMENT NOTICE From: Karen Nelson, Commander, Personnel Affairs, Starfleet Medical To: Caroline Curtis, Lieutenant Doctor Curtis: We spoke recently regarding your transfer to the USS Reaent from Starbase 1123; at the time, the assignment was referred to as a temporary one pending your reports regarding the general mental health of the Reaent crew. However, Captain McQueen and Lieutenant Commander Matthews have spoken well of your performance there and judge that your continued presence might be beneficial to the crew at this time. Therefore, this is your official notice of permanent transferral to the USS Reaent, Captain Patrick McQueen commanding, with the position of Ship's Counselor. Your belongings remaining aboard Starbase 1123 will be sent to the Reaent via courier shuttle at earliest convenience. Thank you very much and please continue to make your reports as scheduled. (scribble) Karen Nelson Commandant of Personnel Affairs Starfleet Medical The screen completed its scroll and went black. Caroline stared at it for a moment in silence. "Oh," she finally said to the empty air after a moment. "Well. That changes things." Turning, she looked around at the quarters which until a moment ago had been merely temporary, and laid a hand against the back of the chair where she had hung her jacket. "Welcome home, Caroline..." she murmured, her eyes scouting the room quickly before turning to the window, the stars streaking by as the Reaent made its way majestically through space. "Wherever 'home' happens to be at the moment..."