Downtime Can Be Dangerous (Porter/Delevan)

[Isabeau Delevan 0]

Medical had been very quiet the past few days and Isabeau was looking forward to when they would be back aboard Aegis. Part of the reason she'd been excited about accepting a posting to Aegis was that it offered the opportunity to treat civilian patients. The Mercury was a beautiful ship but time on duty tended to drag a bit. She was hoping they would receive an updated report on the Breen stowaways in the next few days. She thought about them often-especially young Kevin and his mother. She knew that DJ had taken a special interest because she’d treated them and the young boy had stolen her heart.

 

Porter's good mood had evaporated quickly after lunch with CPO Wills. He shouldn't have gone to the gym right after lunch, even though he had only had a light snack. His current discomfort wasn't exactly due to lunch, but he had not had his mind on what he was doing. After a light workout he had decided to do some laps, and that's when it had happened. He hoped it was just a sprained ankle or a torn ligament and nothing worse. Something the docs could fix right away. Finally he approached the doors of sickbay and slowly limped inside.

 

Hearing the doors open, Isabeau looked up from her workstation, where she'd been doing her best to find everything she could on the Portas system. There wasn't a whole heck of a lot but she had found something interesting. She was surprised to see Damian Porter limping in. She rose from the console and went to meet him. "Hello, Mr. Porter. What happened?"

 

He had to restrain himself from saying something he'd later regret. It wasn't Dr Delacour's fault that he had not paid attention. "I did some laps and I sprained my ankle or something."

 

Yes, cheerful as always. She'd only talked with Porter a couple of times and each time he'd appeared to be in an impatient mood. Still, he did an excellent job and a great Ops manager was probably worth his weight in latinum. Isabeau resisted the urge, with some difficulty, to make sympathetic clucking sounds because she knew it would annoy him. That's why it was so difficult to resist. "I wish you hadn't walked all the way here, Mr. Porter. You probably have aggravated it even more. We could have come and fetched you," Isabeau added cheerfully. "Please sit down on this bed and I'll take a look." She patted the closest biobed.

 

Porter raised his left eyebrow as he imagined some meds ‘coming to get him'. Definitely not an option. "No need to make a fuss, doc, it's nothing, It just hurts and I don't want to be limping all over the place." The pain didn't bother him all that much, but the thought of everybody asking what had happened did. He just hoped the Doctor would hurry up, he had to be back on the bridge in 30 minutes and he still wanted to take a shower.

 

"I'll try to restrain myself, Mr. Porter." Isabeau smiled pleasantly, adding "I was merely pointing out that you may have made it much worse by stressing the initial injury. On the bed if you would and I'll see what's going on with it."

 

He climbed on the nearest biobed and took his shoe and sock off. God, he was glad he wasn't a doc, having to be nice all the time and listening to all the people whining. He'd probably make way too much use of sedatives. "So, how's the move going for you guys? You got everything you need down here?" He thought he should at least make an attempt at some small talk.

 

A tap to the work screen brought up his medical file and she prepared it for another entry. "I guess we do. This a very nice facility." She picked up a medcorder and set the parameters. "Things have got to have calmed down for you. Must be nice for you to get a chance to catch your breath before everything has to be moved back to Aegis." She gave him a wry smile and then scanned his obviously swollen right ankle.

 

 

She had to remind him. "Honestly, I can't wait to get back out of this can and back on the station. Just sitting here and waiting is annoying, and gets me in trouble, apparently."

 

Yep, Type A personality. She really was looking forward to treating some civilians. "Well, all you've done is twisted your ankle, Mr. Porter. You're not in trouble." Other than being a prime candidate for an ulcer, she thought to herself. Isabeau dropped the medcorder to the side and went to get a hypo and a muscle regenerator. "I can get you fixed up and on your way."

 

Thank god, he hated to waste his time with stuff like this. "Thanks Dr Dumas, I appreciate it," he said in a tone that didn't sound like he did. The truth was that he was annoyed with himself, he didn't mind Dr Deneuve, and she was decent enough.

 

"Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers, Mr. Porter. My name is actually, Delevan," she responded mildly as she walked back to him and injected his neck, which he angled for her.

 

Delevan, right, at least he got the D right. "Sorry, doc, I'm horrible with names." Actually he wasn't, he just usually didn't care enough about other people to remember their names. "I shall try to remember it this time."

 

"I don't want to add to your no doubt already immense burden," she replied dryly. "What I would appreciate is your giving this ankle of yours a little respect for the next day or so." She activated the deep muscle regenerator on a light setting and ran it over his ankle. "I'm taking down the swelling and repairing the muscle now, but there will be a weakness present for the next 24 to 36 hours and it needs to be allowed that time to heal completely."

 

"Don't worry, I will sit most of the time during my shift anyway, which starts in 20 minutes, by the way. And after those 8 to 10 hours I plan on getting plenty of sleep." He was certainly not going to do anything different than he usually did, but he didn't feel like getting into this with the Doctor.

 

As usual, I am talking to myself, she thought and mentally shrugged. She'd already learned, as every other doctor in Starfleet learned--repairing the physical malady was usually the easy part. Behavioral modification--not so much. She set the muscle regenerator to the side and stepped back, looking at Porter thoughtfully. "You're all done, and you only need to come back if it starts to throb. I'm going to give you a couple of tablets to take in 6 hours. The analgesic I gave you in the hypo will be wearing off by then. Any questions?"

 

Porter shook his head as he got up from the bed. He figured that hopping off would not be a good idea. "Thanks doc, no questions, tablet pills in 6 hours, be careful in the next 36. I'll see you around, hopefully not in here anytime soon."

 

She took the tablets from the dispensary and handed them to him in an envelope. "Yes, to all of that." She doubted he'd do any of it. "And hopefully not in here anytime soon, Mr. Porter. Take it easy." Might as well spit into the wind, she told herself and not without some amusement. "Take care of yourself--enjoy the downtime."

 

"See you doc." With that he turned and walked out of sickbay, it felt decidedly good to do that without a limp.

Edited December 22, 2008 by Isabeau Delevan