Behind Closed Doors

[Nicolas Lepage 0]

Joint Log – Chirakis and Lepage

 

Kirel entered sick bay as though she were there for a routine department inspection. She had masked her symptoms as long as possible, but it was clearly more severe than she had hoped. Being unable to actually see the injury had hampered her usual self-treatment, and the recent nerve pain was a good indication that it had gone beyond the scope of field medicine.

 

Up until now the residual adrenaline from combat had numbed the pain. Now, having arrived at Aegis, her tempo had slowed and the injury had time to become more than a bother. Her Klingon training told her to ignore it, but her Bajoran body did not allow such luxuries. Therefore, her "departmental visit" would become a physical without many realizing that she had what she considered a gross physical weakness.

 

She stood at the entrance, looking for Dr. Lepage.

 

Nick had only come back five minutes ago after the department head meeting. He had expected her to come by and he had also guessed there was more to it than just establishing a working relationship. He hadn't spoken up during the meeting but there was obviously something wrong. So he walked up to her as she entered and smiled. "Let's go to my office. It'll be more quiet in there." At those words he looked around sickbay which was even busier than usual since he had advised his staff of the upcoming drills and he wanted to make sure everyone would be prepared...at all times, whether it was only a drill or a real emergency. He was not going to be caught with his pants down again and he had made sure his staff understood what he expected of them.

 

Turning towards his office, she gave a curt nod. "I see you have begun," she said, referring to the commotion around them.

 

"It was about time," Nick answered as he followed the XO into his office."We've finally dealt with the aftermath of the move, we're almost completely restocked and now I want to make sure that we're ready for whatever life, or Drankum for that matter, decides to throw at us." He grinned as he closed the doors behind him and walked around his desk. He gestured toward a chair to indicate she should take a seat. "I'm glad you're taking the time to come here, Commander."

 

Though the proffered seat looked inviting, she remained standing. "Close your shades, please, Doctor," she said.

 

Nick had just been about to sit down. The request struck him as odd and he looked questioningly at Chirakis. After a second he shrugged, went to the big window overlooking main sickbay and closed the shades. He refrained from making a joke about checking for bugs since he had the feeling the XO was not in the mood for humour. "You certainly have me interested now. What's going on?"

 

"Unfortunately, I cannot take the offered seat, Doctor, but I do thank you. I have need of your skills, and I trust you will be discreet." Slowly, deliberately, she unsnapped her uniform jacket. "The jacket I can remove. I'm afraid you will have to cut off the tunic."

 

With some difficulty she worked her arms out of the jacket. Her tunic was stuck to her back where a deep gash ran from just below her collar to mid-lumbar. The wound was old and oozing, crusted in several places.

 

Nick hurried forward to help her out of the jacket. He frowned deeply as he saw the stains on the tunic. "You should have come here sooner," he said as he tried to figure out how best to go about removing the tunic. "Whatever I do it'll definitely hurt. The fabric is stuck to the wound. It's probably going to bleed again when I remove it. Lie down on the couch." He was glad he had the small couch in his office. Usually it served him well during night shifts when he wanted to take a nap. Also, the med kit he always kept within reach would come in handy just now. "Dare I ask?"

 

With some difficulty she lay on the couch, positioning her arms so they didn't pull on the tunic. "I lived. He did not. Beyond that I cannot say. Federation Security." In reality, she remembered little of the actual combat, only that her opponent had sailed into the quarry minus his head.

 

Coming back to the couch, Nick knelt beside it and placed the med kit next to himself. "Uh huh. Like I said, it's gonna hurt. Do you want me to give you something before I start?"

 

She gave a snort. "I left the need for those behind when I entered the House of Ghorr, Doctor. Proceed."

 

A small chuckle escaped Nick. He opened the med kit and took out a pair of scissors. "It's your choice. Just let me know if you change your mind." With that he started cutting the tunic. When he had finished, he gently pulled the fabric off the wound. It wasn't all that easy and sure enough it started bleeding again in the places where the fabric had stuck to it. "I need to clean this before I can suture the wound."

 

Under normal circumstances Nick would have insisted on some more extensive treatment. The cut ran pretty much all the way down her back and it looked bad. But what struck him the most were the old scars all over Chirakis' back. Of course he knew she must have been through quite a lot during the Occupation but seeing these scars reminded him of his own ordeal at the hands of Cardassians. Trying to shake off the memories he concentrated on his work. He picked up a small piece of gauze drenched with a disinfectant and carefully started to clean the wound. "I'll only start repairing the deeper layers of tissue. I'll dress the wound as well as possible but you'll have to come back tomorrow so I can see whether it heals properly. If I closed everything up right now there might be complications because the wound is contaminated. I'd like to make sure there's no infection before I suture it all the way.

 

As Nick wiped the disinfectant through the wound, a shudder ran through her body. The gash had cut dangerously close to her spine and had injured branching nerves. Prone on the couch, she buried her face, cringing, stifling a gasp as the bruised nerve sent yet another jolt from her back to the tips of her fingers. Her hands clenched in reflex, then relaxed. Resolved to endure, she did. Barely.

 

Nick stopped for a moment as he saw that Chirakis was in pain. When she had relaxed a little he finished disinfecting the wound. "It's a pretty deep cut. I'll have to make sure the nerves are not damaged beyond repair." Gently, he ran his fingers down her back about 5 centimetres left of the gash. "Can you feel this?"

 

"Yes," she replied, her jaw clenched.

 

"Do you feel tingling or pain in you hands or arms," he asked, picking up the tricorder.

 

"I do."

 

Nick suppressed a sigh. Telling her she should have come to see him much sooner wouldn't change anything right now. Instead he scanned her back and what he saw made him frown yet again. "The cut is fairly deep and there is some damage to the nerves. Nothing that's irreversible but it might take a few days for the nerves to recover. I'll use the autosuture for the deeper tissues. I'd prefer you to stay in a bioregenerative field for a couple of hours but somehow I have the feeling you won't."

 

Kirel took several minutes to mull over his proposed treatment. She knew the wound was severe, but her main concern at this point was the station. If they were attacked now and she were in the bioregenerative field, she would have failed them. Then again, if they were attacked now, whether or not she were in the bioregenerative field would probably not make much difference. Her words to Drankum at their last meeting came to mind: "We're already dead."

 

She turned her head slightly to meet his gaze and mustered a half-grin. "Perhaps I can inspect the bioregenerative field for a few hours?"

 

Smiling Nick shrugged. "We don't have to tell anyone what kind of injury you got. It's not like this one is going to leave a scar...not if I do my job right." With that he picked up the autosuture and worked his way from her shoulder downward. "I could also go get the field generator and you can stay here watch me do paperwork."

 

Kirel nodded. After the Doctor's ministrations, remaining in a prone position for a while felt like a good idea.

 

After finishing on the Commander's back, Nick got up and picked up the field generator as well as some more bandages and an antibiotic. When he got back into his office he positioned the field generator and administered the antibiotic. He made sure the XO was comfortable and he hoped she might even be able to sleep for a while. She really looked like she could do with a nap. Everything arranged to his satisfaction, he went back to his paperwork. After all there were twelve colonists who needed a physical and he wanted to go through their files before they'd come in.