Sister Mary Ruth: Counselor

[Kansas_Jones 0]

“Sister Mary Ruth: Counselor”

Doctor (Lt. Cmdr.) Rue Wydown and Cmdr. L.E. JoNs

 

Left Ear JoNs stayed where she was near the doorway, not answering Doctor Ruth Wydown's inquiry about her current sleep patterns for the first few seconds. Left Ear considered her own stern command looks to be pretty well developed over the years, with the added bonus of the feline bad azz type of vibes, but the "look" that the medical doctor was currently leveling at the Exec was pretty darn convincing. The panther cat considered her options and then finally decided to be honest.

 

"I am sleeping for say a good solid four or five hours. Then, I have a nightmare about the shooting. After that, forget about going back to sleep, so I'm up, working out, grabbing something to eat, and then handling some reports before finally reporting on first shift. Eventually, I get so worn out and I do sleep through the night, but then the cycle starts all over again."

 

The five foot five inch athletic Caitian ran a big brown paw through her high and tight mane, deciding to go for a quick retreat and fall back into the command officer mode that came to her so easily ... and right now was a convenient excuse for not meeting a personal problem head on. "Look Doctor, I really need to go investigate a new personnel issue we have going on at the security offices ... I can come back and ..."

 

Crossing over the office replicator, Wydown kept her eyes on the First Officer as she spoke, recognizing the 'blow off' language. It was only as she turned her back to face the replicator that she broke her gaze. “Your little 'personnel issue', if that’s what you want to call her, can sit in the brig for twenty more minutes. She’s not going anywhere any time soon. You’ve got time to talk. Rue tapped commands into the replicator, watching the Caitian’s reaction in the glass reflection. She wasn’t sure if she was reading the younger woman correctly - whether the woman was annoyed, surprised, mad or amused. But Rue knew she had her attention for the moment. She smirked for a moment at JoNs facial expression, then confidently wiped it off her face as she looked over her shoulder.

 

”Don’t look so shocked; when you’ve been in the service as long as I have, you come to appreciate just how fast news spreads in a community this size. The ship grapevine, with all its idiosyncrasies, is a never ending web of intrigue that provides endless entertainment for busy bodies and poop stirrers,” She picked up the tray of beverages and turned back to her desk. “I used to hear a helluva lot more chin-wagging until I moved into these digs. But I still have my sources.”

 

She smiled warmly as she arranged a selection of beverages on her desk: coffee, tea, water and the infamous banana smoothie. “I didn’t know what you’d prefer. So take your pick.” She settled herself back into her desk chair and motioned to the chair across from her. “You said you’d had two incidents, perhaps reactions, is it? Tell me what triggered them?”

 

Left Ear’s muzzle had jutted up to an angle of defiance, her green eyes flashed with anger, and the tail had taken to thumping ominously. The feline XO could go full on military martinet and pull rank on Wydown, citing the need to know information that the medical officer shouldn’t have had any sort of access to, or just a bad ship board gossip attitude in general, or any other of a half dozen trumped up accusations.

 

Instead, the younger officer moved away from the doorway and started walking towards the desk, keeping her eyes on Rue. “Normally Doctor, for such a bold statement like that and a complete disregard for rank respect, I’d give someone hell. But, as a general rule, I also try not to tick off the one woman with medical command access to the hypo enema cabinet,” a paw gently grabbed at the yellow-ish beverage, “and I’ll try this one, thank you. It smells pretty good.”

 

Left Ear placed her own personal Padd down on the flat surface of the desk and then sat down heavily in the offered chair, Banana Smoothie firmly held in one paw. “The first reaction happened in the shuttle bay during the exchange. The kid who shot me showed up as one of the guard contingent. And I wanted to hurt him. I’m not talking about a disciplinary cuff across the ear either. I wanted to really hurt him Doctor. The second incident was just a little bit ago, out in the corridor. A piece of engineering equipment discharged, and I reacted, or winked out or whatever.”

 

I’ve been around the block a time or two.” Rue grinned. “I really don't know the answer to ‘why now’. Could be any number of factors. Maybe you've just now figured out you're not as infallible as you think you are. Maturity will do that to you. Maybe it’s the idea that it was a kid who attacked. There had to be an element of shock there. Or, maybe the stars just aligned and boom, Bob's your uncle, there you go. You're the only one who can answer that question. But that’s going to take some time. And don't expect that the answers are going to come right away. Which will probably frustrate the hell out of you too.”

 

Out of an obsessive compulsive need to keep her hands busy, the Doctor picked up a stylus off her desk and started to twirl it in her hands absentmindedly. She smiled, continued to talk. “I'm going to tell you this, not because I’m trying to patronize you. Or try to illicit some sort of sympathetic response between the two of us. I just want you to know that there have been others who've set sail in the same boat you're in now, and you’ll find solid ground again. In time.”

 

“Years ago, I lost a colleague in an attack on what should have been a routine away mission. Let’s just call it as being in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong moment. It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t do anything to cause it. But there was always …” she swallowed, “ … doubt in my mind that there should have been something I could have done to stop it. If I should have reacted faster, made better choices, said something different, zigged right when I should have zagged left.” She shrugged. “You name the question and I can tell you, it ran through my head. And then some.”

 

JoNs idly picked at the dregs of her smoothie with the straw, staying quiet for some moments and digesting everything Rue had just passed along to her. The feline then placed the empty container back on the desktop and then stretched her weakened right shoulder with a purred grunt before finally speaking into the silence.

“That sounds pretty close to what I am feeling now, and I agree with the wake up call that I’m not invincible. And I’m sorry about your colleague, but in this business we never really know when that magic bullet is going to hit … Zigged. Zagged. Should have had a faster reaction time. Would have dove behind a bio bed if given half a second more. Could have commed for help quicker. Aye Doctor, the attack was a wake up call,” a paw waved through the air, illustrating her frustration as she went on, “and the straight forward callousness of the kid during the exchange because he wanted to unload into my hide again is just …” Her gaze went anywhere but on Rue.

 

The feline XO sighed and her eyes again sought out Wydown. “But, that’s over and done with, and I need to be firing on all thrusters right here in the present.” A paw pointed gently at the chief medical officer and JoNs offered a self depreciating smile that show cased her fangs, “And, no, I really have no desire to illegally commandeer a shuttle and go chasing after the Boggie kid. The thought of the incident paper work alone is enough to give me heartburn.”

 

Her one ear flipped back in curiosity. “Now … how exactly are you going to handle this Doctor? Technically, you would need to inform Corizon that his XO might be wigging out on him. Although … I haven’t gone streaking naked across the shuttle bay or attacked anybody or any … tables recently.”

 

Left Ear snorted, “Actually, not to change the subject, but this situation with Patterson? I don’t normally micro manage the chiefs and their departments especially if there is a full on discipline problem because my heavy handed reaction is usually just shy of that said swift cuff to the head. If you need support though Doc, I want you to know that you can call on me. Ship dynamics can be a bit of an education, and with all this internal and external hoopla lately … I know medical has been hopping down here. How are you doing?”

 

The Doctor barked out a laugh. “Me? Oh I just roll with this coaster. Of course, I could start selling tickets on this thrill ride with all this drama, drama, drama around here. Wilson and Patterson’s antics could create a sell out crowd.” Her shoulders shook as she tried to keep from laughing out loud again. She swiped away a stray tear from her eye from the effort. “If I even think anything is beyond my ability to reign it in, you’ll be the first person I call. Honest. Lt Patterson’s issues,” Rue motioned to the PADD that JoNs had laid on the edge of the desk. “Just so that you’re up to date, while I’m not upset about her, um, reaction to the medical exam - a table is no biggie - I am concerned about her state of mind. She made a rather public announcement after the incident in the middle of sickbay no less, and I had to reign her back into a private setting to see what was going on. Even then, I didn’t get much out of her. I’m going to ask Zier to do a full psych eval on her. Maybe then we can help her develop a support system of some sort. The worse thing is I can’t protect her from ship’s 411 Hotline. After a public display like that. I mean it’s one thing to be known as Sister Mary Ruth of the Sisters of Perpetual Profit. It’s a whole different ball of goo for everyone to know the details of your private business.” She sighed.

 

“As to your situation,” Rue smirked. “I bet you thought I’d forgotten that we started out talking about you.” She waggled her finger at the Commander, teasing her. “Yeah, I’ve got keep the CO up to date on your situation. There’s all ready a memo in his box. I’m pretty sure, given what I know of his background, he’ll understand. We’ll be looking out for you to make sure you don’t get too tripped up. And that’s also reason why I won’t clear you medically for an away mission just yet. I want to make sure you can handle it not just physically but mentally too.”

 

JoNs’s ears and whiskers drooped a bit at the ‘no away team clearance’ sanction, but she knew better then to buck the CMO on a matter such as this. For right now at least.

 

Wydown paused, flashing an innocent look, “Of course, if you do plan to go streaking naked across the shuttle bay,” Rue motioned to herself, “Please let Sister Mary Ruth know first so she can sell tickets. Just need five, ten minutes notice, or so.”

 

The Caitian panther couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at that last statement; the soft and pleasant sounding purr carried within the confines of the office. “Not a problem Doctor, I’ll be sure to let Sister Mary Ruth know as soon as I feel the need to flash.”