Three Is Company

[Nicolas Lepage 0]

Nick stands in front of Drankum's bar waiting for Carst and Jons to arrive. Despite being tired he's actually looking forward to spending the evening just having fun.

 

Carst rounds a corner and heads straight for the bar's entrance. Seeing Lepage, he walks over and greets him. "Hello Doctor, I'm not late am I?"

Nick smiles as he sees Philip. "No, you're just on time. Where did you leave Jons?"

 

"Ah, sadly she can't make it," Carst replies, "She's heading out on the Pandora's Box, doing more investigating."

 

"That's too bad." Nick frowns. "Oh well...we'll have to have fun without her. Suppose you haven't been here, yet?" Nick turns around and leads the way into the bar.

 

Phil follows Lepage into the bar, taking in his surroundings. "No I haven't. Seems like a fun place..."

 

Nick walks over to a table and sits down. "Yeah, it's not too bad if you want to have some fun and relax. Lots of nice ladies, too." He smiles as he remembers Carst flirting with Mary Alice earlier that day.

 

Carst can't help but notice Nick's smile, and he smiles back. "Really? Hmm...Um, you and the nurse, anything going on between you two? Not trying to barge in on your personal life or anything..."

 

Nick's smile turns into a grin. "No, there's nothing going on between Mary Alice and me. We're friends that's all. After my last experience with a woman I'm trying to take things easy, you know."

 

Carst breathes a sigh of relief. "Good, didn't want to flirt with someone's girlfriend..." As he looks around, Philip eyes go right to the bar. He motions towards it. "Shall we?"

 

Nick's eyes follow Phil's gaze and he nods. "No worries. I'd have let you know if you had flirted with my girlfriend. How's your first day been?" He gets up and walks over to the bar.

 

Carst follows Nick to the bar. He remembers what happened earlier in sickbay. "Oh, good. Aside from threats of torture, a physical, and someone drawing a phaser at me, it's been fine." His thoughts turn to the nurse, Mary Alice. "There was one bright spot."

 

Nick chuckles as Philip mentions the 'bright spot'. "You should not flirt with just any woman. No wonder people want to shoot you." He tries to catch the attention of the barkeeper who nods and tells him to wait just a moment.

 

Carst laughs, "Hey, that wouldn't stop me." He looks around the bar, noticing how crowded it is. "What have they got for gambling here?" he asks.

 

"I've got no idea. I'm not much into gambling. Now seriously, I'd be interested to know who drew a phaser on you and why." Nick was curious and quite eager to hear the whole story. He ordered a pint of Guinness and turned round to look around the place, leaning against the bar.

 

Philip listens to Nick's question, and orders a beer. He'd have to find out about the gambling later. "Good question. It was Shephard, from security," he pauses, trying to remember the man's name, "Ronin Shephard. It was his way of hazing." He pauses, remembering. "He pulled a charged phaser on JoNs and I. I'm suprised she didn't attack him..."

 

Nick raises his eyebrows and looks at Carst. "The Ronin Shephard, Commander Hawke's cousin? Oh man, he's gonna be in trouble. I bet

Commander Quark didn't like the news. I'm sure if JoNs had attacked him he'd have payed us another visit down in sickbay." He laughs trying to imagine the scene. "Anyway I hope you didn't let him scare you. Generally, people here are nice. You just shouldn't give them a phaser."

 

Carst smiles. "Yeah..." He gulps half of his beer. "Everyone's been friendly enough."

 

Nick frowns. "Just do me a favour and don't tell anyone that I didn't torture you. It would reflect badly on the medical staff if people found out we're actually nice."

 

Carst grins from ear to ear. "Not a word."

 

Nick smiles and looks at the door as someone enters. "Oh look, it's Mary Alice." He waves to catch her attention and she makes her way straight toward the two of them. Just before she arrives Nick whispers. "Go for it."

 

Carst's grin widens, if that's even possible. "Hello, Mary Alice. I'm glad you could make it. Need a drink?" he motions for the barkeeper.

 

Mary Alice gives Nick a significant look and then smiles at Carst. "Hello, boys. How about a screwdriver?"

 

Nick smiles and decides to let the two have their fun. "Hey, Mary Alice. Glad to see you could make it."

 

Carst sees that look. He orders Mary Alice her drink along with another beer. "The good doctor and I were just discussing the station. Everyone seems nice and...friendly."

 

"Oh, we try our best not to scare the newcomers right away. That's why we hired 'the good doctor'. He's not half bad at pretending doctors are nice people. But just wait until you've been here for a while." Her smile widened and then she turned to look at Nick."You look awful. Are you sure that baby's still on Earth and not in your quarters? You look like you haven't slept in days."

 

Nick frowned. "Why, thank you. I keep hearing that a lot lately. Unfortunately I cannot return the compliment. You look...reasonably well tonight."

 

Mary Alice punched him on the arm and turned to Philip. "So what have you done to be sentenced to duty on Aegis?"

 

Philip hides the grin that appears after that last comment. "Nothing...This is my first official post. I actually requested being posted here..." He takes a drink of his fresh beer, hiding his face.

 

Mary Alice gives Carst a look of mock surprise and leans a bit closer to him, talking in a low voice. "You mean you actually WANTED to come here? You're a brave man, Mr. Carst."

 

Nick, who is just finishing his beer chokes as he hears the remark. When he finishes coughing he grins. "Brave indeed."

 

Carst's grin returns. "Yeah, I reported for my physical, didn't I? I almost didn't make it..."

 

Mary Alice gives Carst a sympathetic look. Then she turns to Nick. "I wonder why everyone's so afraid of physicals. I mean it's not like it still includes rubber gloves or anything."

 

Nick chuckles. "And on that note I'd like to leave you two. You know I haven't slept much last night, Mary Alice." He gets up and pays for the beer. "Thanks for joining me for a beer, you two. We definitely need to do this again."

 

Carst nods to Nick. "It was nice talking with you, doctor."

 

"My pleasure...and please call me Nick." He turns to look at Mary Alice. "See you tomorrow, even though I might spend most of the day in the lab."

 

"See you and sleep well, you need it," Mary Alice says with a smile.

 

Nick nods at Philip and Mary Alice and turns around to walk out of the bar.