"Assumptions"

[Avery Tynte 0]

Avery leaned against the front desk, watching Trichon leave. The conversation that had occurred between the two had been brief, but none the less confusing for the young Lieutenant. Had he been talking to Commander Light…or rather had he been addressing himself? This is not the time, Avery. He told himself. This was a phrase that had apparently become his theme lately.

 

He walked around the desk and sat at his usual seat. Logging into the console he began his work. Avery found it oddly reassuring that even in the midst of danger and peril the paperwork…the paperwork of all things…still had to be completed and filed. He started work on the latest of the injury and treatment reports.

 

Avery was running, true, but he could accept that for now. The events with this, or rather these changelings had taken him by surprise. It brought back memories that he would rather not recall. But as he told himself, many times lately, this was not the time. He had accepted this and moved on of course; being able to detach one’s self from the situation, albeit a talent Avery had far from mastered and rarely was able to use, was one of the upsides of being a doctor.

 

Still his subconscious hammered him with nagging thoughts and feelings. He filed Crewman Nata’s treatment for a broken wrist in her file, adding the circumstances that it occurred under, including the accident report from the security department.

 

Reinforcing the knowledge that he could do nothing about the changelings or any of his other personal problems at this point, he closed the book, for the time being, on those long lived and recurring problems in his life. He then turned his thoughts to a more immediate matter.

 

Glancing up at the door to Andrea’s office, Avery continued to tap at the console in front of him. He wondered if all three of them were still in the room behind that door. With all the visitors to Sickbay after Aaron had entered the office, all Avery really knew was that Andrea, Aaron, and Miranda had gone into the room. Everything else, he assumed.

 

He assumed that a conversation, mostly pertaining to Andrea’s recent drug use, was occurring. Drug, that was a word the medical staff had yet to attach to the matter, Avery realized. But that was exactly what it was. Drug use. He assumed that this conversation would culminate in Miranda confronting Andrea about her disappointment in the Chief Medical Officer. He assumed that things would not be the same between Miranda and Andrea for quite some time.

 

Filing Ensign Matro’s tumble in Engineering, and the small surgery that it had taken to correct the damage to his legs and chest, Avery continued assuming. He assumed Andrea would get through this, though how worse for the wear was yet to be seen. He assumed Aaron was acting to try to mend the rift between the medical staff and it’s chief.

 

He stopped tapping for a moment and looked at the door to the Chief Medical Officer’s office again, this time staring for a moment. He did not resent being left out of the conversation. He was new here and he knew bonds took time. Bonds like those between the three people in that office. When those bonds were broken, it took time to rebuild them. It was also an extremely private matter. Avery would offer his support when and where it was needed, but he would not try to insert himself in this further then they needed him too. He would not breach that privacy.

 

It would be hard, he knew. Even in the brief period he had been here, he had grown to like this staff. Andrea had become a role model to him. There is nothing worse in this life then to watch your role model stumble. He resumed his tapping. But Andrea was human, and humans often made mistakes. Pesky little habit, he thought. He also knew that whatever pain or sorrow he felt at watching Andrea go through this was only a pinprick of light in the vacuum of space compared to what Miranda was feeling. Miranda’s feelings had been evident while her and Avery had been testing the compound Andrea was using. He hoped that those issues could be resolved, and that the first steps were being taken behind that door.

 

And meanwhile, while all that Avery assumed was going on behind that door, along with everything else, took place. He would serve as the gatekeeper in Sickbay. He smiled as he thought of the events that role had already led him into. And the assumptions resumed. He assumed that he was not the most beloved person of Nemesis right now. Heck, the Monkien was likely constructing a voodoo doll resembling the doctor even at this moment. Avery assumed that should the changeling be found to be hiding as one of the crew, Nemesis’ finger would be pointed squarely at him. Well he did not really have to assume that one, Nemesis had told him so. How do you get yourself into these positions? He mocked himself. It’s a talent, he thought raising one eyebrow.

 

Next, Avery assumed that Fitzgerald would be calling ahead next time, due to the fact his prescription was not ready when he arrived. And the fact that Avery had been so busy arguing with Nemesis that he hardly noticed Fitz at first. I must polish my multitasking, Avery thought.

 

Indirectly Fitz had brought Avery to his next assumption. Something was going on with Commander Light. He could not put his finger on it, but something was definitely happening. The few conversations between Trichon and himself, while brief, had left him wondering, and the slight bending of words, the use of figurative speaking that did not sound at all figurative, and the double talk and back tracking had led Avery to believe Trichon was hiding something. However, as long as it did not threaten Commander Light’s health, or that of anyone else aboard, it really was not any of Avery’s business. Therefore, he assumed he would find out when and if he needed to.

 

Avery looked up as he finished filing the injury reports for the week. He stared at the edge of the desk for a moment. All of this thought and assuming had brought him right back to the point at which he was leaning there, thinking about the changelings. He found it odd how things found ways to circle around on themselves. He smiled despite the situations around him and stood. Picking up a padd he began walking towards the supply closets. Inventorying the supplies was another one of those unstoppable things that rode right alongside paperwork.

 

Entering the closet Avery made one last assumption. At this point, nothing could surprise him.

 

But that last one drove home the problem with assuming. Sometimes…you are wrong.