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DrDMatthews

Something To Smile About....Finally

Deb was in a foul mood.....had been for hours....days even. Now that she was back on the ship, she was still in a foul mood.

This mission had launched her into an emotional whirlwind. The ten plus hours spent shifting through debris on that scorching sand pile masquerading as a planet had done absolutely nothing but exacerbate her already lousy mood. She had never been overly fond of forensic analysis gathering. The meticulousness of that particular task was better left to the experts. But when the specialists were unavailable, the job usually fell to the medical staff and in Deb's experience, the experts were always unavailable.

She glanced at the "evidence" she and Merina had managed to collect. There were nearly a hundred specimens all neatly packed away in air tight bags. They were clearly labeled as to the date and time they were found as well as where they were located. Some were as large as a forearm and an ankle. Most were much smaller, tiny remnants of bone and skin or the slight remains of various internal organs. There were also several teeth. Some evidence was so miniscule as to be unrecognizable to anything other than the tricorder. They had taken the machine's word for it when the tricorder insisted the microscopic dot they were looking at was indeed biologic evidence that had once belonged to a living being.

Deb watched as Dr. Studly laboriously logged each item and carefully placed it on the gurney he'd brought with him into her office. From here, Rocco would personally escort them to the labs then round up a team to begin a thorough study of each piece of the evidence. Some would be easier than other but, before all was said and done, they would know the species of each being represented in those little bags, their gender and age and hopefully, their names. The last was nothing but a wish. Not all of those lost on that ship were in Starfleet's DNA data base. Millions of beings were registered there but many millions more were not.

Merina came to the door and knocked. Deb waved her in. The Caitian leaned against the door jamb and quietly watched Studly as he worked. She'd survived an attack on that godforsaken planet as well as a ship crashing practically on top of her. Other than the dirt and grime clinging to her usually lustrous fur, Merina looked none the worse for what she'd gone through.

It took a bit under thirty minutes for Studly to finish his log, check it against the one on Deb's tricorder and then take himself and the evidence off to the lab. "Good riddance," she thought. In her current frame of mind, Deb hoped to never again see the contents of those little bags. She leaned back in chair and looked at Merina.

"Why don't you go take a shower and get some rest?" It was phrased as a question but her tone left no room for discussion. "And later, we're going to discuss whether or not anyone from this department should be allowed to accompany Jon Shamor on any future away teams."

Merina didn't argue. Instead, she turned and slowly walked toward the main entrance. But a strange sound came rambling from deep in her chest as she left. Deb wasn't sure if it was a groan, a growl or a laugh. She didn't bother asking either.

The CMO shook her head and forced herself to stand. As much as she hated to admit it, she was sore in places she'd forgotten she had. She followed Merina's trail to the exit glancing around Sickbay as she went. Rocco was still there, standing by the gurney loaded with the precious evidence. He as talking to someone on his comm. She assumed he was gathering the team needed to examine the samples. He happened to look up and Deb waved to him letting him know she was leaving and he would be in charge for awhile. How long before she returned as anyone's guess. She knew it would be at least a couple of hours. It would probably take that long to clean the dirt and stink off her body.

A few minutes later, she entered her quarters and found it....dark. For a nanosecond, Deb was concerned. Aidan said he was going directly to their quarters for a shower. But it appeared nobody was here.

That's when she noticed the dim light coming from the bedroom. He was here after all. She slowly made her way through the living area, not bothering to order the lights on. When she arrived at the door to the bedroom, she found Aidan standing beside the bed, studying something on his padd that must have been extremely important because he didn't hear her approach. She leaned against the door and stared at him appreciatively. He'd already taken his shower and now stood in the dim light with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.

For the first time in quite awhile, Deb couldn't resist smiling.

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