Reopening Old Wounds

[Erich Jaenke 0]

Reopening Old Wounds

Something Keb and something Erich

 

Keb brought Erich to her quarters and set up some emergency lights to supplement the dim backup lighting. She wore a soft blue dress that floated around her ankles as she tried to make their rations palatable.

 

Erich sat motionless on her couch. The earlier plasma-electric shock made his senses all wonky. The past day felt foggy...murky. Every action drifted in time. Thoughts faded in and out. He felt her intense worry.

 

“I’ll be fine Keb. Don’t worry,” he slurred. If only she could feel his disappointment and guilt.

 

“Good,” Keb said. She was coping with the knowledge that he could read her thoughts by speaking as little as possible. It ironically made her thoughts louder, but the whole idea was still new to her. She was wondering how Dr. Scott had managed to mold her into some kind of nurse for Erich--and yet she couldn’t let him spend the evening alone after his injury. Someone had to keep an eye on him, and she would rather it was her.

 

Setting the meals on the table in front of her and filling a couple of goblets with water, she sat next to him. “With the replicators out of service, this is the best I can do,” she apologized.

 

“It’s fine, Keb.” His head bobbed as he followed her movements. “I’ve consumed plenty of interesting food in my time. I’m glad I can simply sit down. My mind is...” He stared blankly at her.

 

She put a hand on his forehead. “You’re not feverish, are you?” Her touch was electric to him--though not quite as electric as the earlier shock.

 

He saw Keb’s father, slumping on the floor, for an instant. Then he could smell the perfume that Nurse Elanna had worn when she’d brought a younger Erich his drugs. He felt pain that must have been Keb’s, and the dizzying silence the drugs had always brought him. And for an instant, both their childhood fears filled his head and heart.

 

Erich jumped back. “What was that?” Keb’s concern for him was overwhelming even as she pulled her hand away. His breathing was heavy, but slowing. He struggled to understand what happened.

 

“Did I hurt you?” she asked in panic.

 

“No,” he lied. “I was not prepared.” His eyes watered, surely from all the stress. “What did you do?”

 

She looked at her hand as if there were something growing on it. “I--I was just checking if you were warm,” she said. “Like my mom used to when I was little.”

 

“As when you got sick with Altarian Pneumonia and they couldn’t figure out what it was because you were human. You were in the ship’s sick bay for weeks. Right?”

 

Keb gazed at him for a moment and then turned away; she’d been remembering that time, but she hadn’t said anything out loud. It was disconcerting. “Yeah,” she whispered. She couldn’t help feeling vulnerable, knowing that he could see inside her head and dig out her most painful memories.

 

She’d been thinking of how her father had tried to be there for her when she was sick and the doctors were probing her, procedures she’d had to be awake for. He’d fainted at the sight of his daughter’s blood--a brave officer who had led many an away mission, but couldn’t withstand watching his little girl under a knife. She was left alone at the doctors’ mercy despite his best intentions.

 

He looked down. “I’m sorry, should not have said anything.” He looked to her. “Ask me something...anything.”

 

It was hard to decide what to ask. “Tell me about your family...what would they think about your having a candlelit dinner with a human?”

 

“My parents have never been off Betazed.” He smiled. “They would read your good intentions as I do. My father fixes timepieces, both mechanical and electronic, in his shop. My mother sings in a band...still. Guess that is where I got my engineering and vocal skills.”

 

Keb smiled; he cared as much for his family as she did hers. “You sing, too?”

 

“Yes, just don’t ask me to sing. It’s embarrassing,” Erich admitted. He felt relaxed. No ship, no crisis -- for this moment at least. Both of them were more relaxed--perhaps for the first time together.

 

Several minutes passed as they ate in quiet repose. In the silence, her thoughts flowed freely. It took some effort not to answer her inner thoughts, reassure her he was fine.

 

Erich took his last bite. “So, I’m not sure what to ask you. Even sitting there you said volumes.” He turned to look at her. A great deal could be told about a person through their eyes, even for mind readers. His smiled turned into a tiny laugh before he looked away. “You have a very beautiful mind Keb, I wish you could see it.”

 

Keb couldn’t help blushing in response, and put a hand over his. Again her touch poured through him like water down a stream. He inhaled deeply, held it, and then exhaled as his heart rate slowed. His eyes dilated, his expression froze. For him, the room changed. A woman in white walked through a swinging door. She carried with her a medical tray and a smile.

 

“Time for another treatment Erich. You’ve been such a brave boy. I’m sure they’ll release you soon. But as long as you are here, I’ll take care of you. How are the voices today?”

 

Erich looked up at Elanna with huge eyes. “Good. They are not as loud. I think I can sleep now.”

 

“Good. It’s important for the voices to slip silently into the background. That reminds me of the book I gave you to read. How’s that line go?”

 

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 

“Well,” Elanna interrupted herself, “That’s not the happiest line from that book, but promise me you won’t let anyone take your gift away. You’re one in a million, you understand?”

 

A young Erich nodded.

 

“We’ll silence the voices, okay?”

 

Another nod, then the hypospray’s hiss.

 

Erich jumped out of his seat, knocking his knees against the table as he stood. “I-I need to go.” He was crying as he broke the dream state she’d somehow placed him in. He turned away from her and started for the door.

 

Keb ran after him, completely confused and scared that his injury was affecting him. She grabbed his arm and he turned toward her; she started to apologize.

 

He took her hands and looked into her latte-colored eyes. “Y-you didn’t do anything wrong,” he stammered. She could see that he was still shaking. She wrapped her arms around him. He froze in dream once more.

 

Keb? He thought harder. Stop. She still held him.

 

Keb...stop. How could she hear? She was human and he couldn’t bring himself to ask out loud.

 

KEB!

 

She jumped. He hadn’t said anything, but she’d heard his voice--something like his voice--filling her mind. Erich’s disembodied voice resonated throughout her body. Her eyes grew wide as she gazed back at him in shock.