Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei (Chief Medical Officer) in Nightmares Tell Us What to Pray Against

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi (Chief of Security) in Nightmares Tell Us What to Pray Against

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei (Chief Medical Officer) in Nightmares Tell Us What to Pray Against
Posted by… suppressed (34) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
“I promise I’ll try.” Aasrel said. He squeezed her hand. “Nothing is going to happen, okay? I’ll be okay.” Then he sighed softly. “I just… want to be able to help. I… I feel guilty for getting the surgery.”

~ Aasrel

Her head tipped to the side and she leaned in and kissed him. “Please don’t. I’m glad you got it. You were able to get the donation. It makes everything I’m dealing with worth it, knowing you’ll be okay now.” Bethany reached over and turned out the lights. She sat on the edge of the bed until he fell asleep. Then she sat in her chair, resting her head on her folded arms on the mattress. Her sleep was haunted by Nightmares.

Bethany

Aasrel smiled sadly. To him, it was only worth it if she was going to live. She had to. He lay quietly for a while, thinking about it. He’d been given the sleep aid and the nightmare meds again, with the nausea med. He slept soundly through the night, sleeping heavily and long.

~ Aasrel

Bethany slept fitfully haunted by monsters both past and present. Jonan made the mistake of trying to wake her and make her go to bed. The security chief proved her worth and skill, that despite the lightheadedness of her recovery, Jonan was thrown to the floor. The only thing that saved him was her deeply ingrained discipline.

She apologized profusely. Jonan thought it was hilarious and told her she was going to work twice as hard the next day in her exercises if she could that. He did get her to go to bed.

Sleep was non-existent after that, and her heart rate wouldn’t come down. She was out with a nurse exercising when Aasrel finally woke up.

Bethany

Aasrel woke in pain. His head was throbbing. Likely because of his stunt the day before. He wanted to sit up. He reached for his own bed controls and started moving the bed up. It made him dizzy, but he got what he wanted. He stopped at most of the way up. He wasn’t sensing anything right now. Where was Bethany? Not in the room. He had to think. he must be out walking. That was good for her. He was fine without her for a while.

~ Aasrel

Harkins walked in a few minutes later. “Well at least you didn’t try to get out of bed this morning.” She spoke carefully as she she read his monitors, “You have another round of scans this morning. How are you feeling?”

Harkins

Aasrel huffed. “I feel okay. My head hurts a little.” It was more than a little, looking at his readings. “I just want to get up. And maybe eat.”

~ Aasrel

Harkins sighed, “Dr. Izei we can’t get you better if you down play your symptoms. Plus you are scaring the life out of Bethany.” As she spoke she prepped a hypo with his pain medication. “There that should help. Poor girl barely slept all night and when she did she was having nightmares. What do you want to eat? You will get up after your tests this morning.”

Harkins

“She’s having nightmares again?” Aasrel asked. “Talk to Th’rethiss about giving her what it was you gave me. Please.” He shrugged, “I don’t care, anything’s fine.” He needed to hurry up and get her better.

~ Aasrel

Harkins brow went up. Again? “Well, I would in her place. I imagine she feels trapped. There is a clock ticking and no one can stop it. With this horrible mission she can’t even reach out to family or friends. The only person she has is sick and she is off duty. She can’t even work and do what she can for the crew to distract herself. I feel bad for her.” She adjusted his pillow. “I’ll be right back with your breakfast.”

Aasrel nodded miserably. “That’s why I don’t have all this time to waste. I need to look for her cure.”

Harkins shook her head, “Killing yourself won’t help her.”

Aasrel scoffed as if that were ridiculous. “I’m not going to.”

Harkins was gone a few minutes and returned with a tray full of a variety of hardy warm dishes from biscuits to oatmeal with toppings, to eggs, and other various items.

Harkins

“I hope that’s to share because I can’t eat all that,” Aasrel commented, picking up a biscuit and sticking an egg in it.

~ Aasrel

Harkins smiled, “No, but with an upset stomach it is better to eat a little every so often. This way you have food when you get hungry. Besides the more you eat, the more energy you have, and that helps your body heal. I’ll be back with Th’rethiss when you are done.” Then the nurse left.

Harkins

Aasrel ate some, finishing the egg, sausage, and cheese biscuit he’d put together, and a glass of orange juice, and then set the tray aside. His PaDD had, at some point, been moved to the other side of the room. There was no way he could reach for it… He peeked at the door. Th’rethiss wasn’t coming yet and today should be busier. He’d have time.

Like before, he reached up and silenced the fall alarm. Then he eased himself out of bed, one foot on the ground at a time, then a hand to steady himself. The room was spinning violently. He had to keep a tight grip on the bed. He moved slowly toward the foot of the bed, toward the counter where his PaDD was set.

~ Aasrel

Bethany walked in about the time he let go of the bed. All it took was a quick scan of the direction to know why he was up - his PaDD.

Jonan had worked her to the point she was sweating. When he said she’d pay for that reflex he had meant it. She was grateful for a sonic shower because she didn’t think she had the energy for having to rinse, soap, rinse, dry off. Her heart rate was still up, she was still dizzy, and if she wasn’t careful her balance was off. Jonan ordered her to go sit, preferably lay down, and rest.

Bethany was suddenly by Aasrel’s side, ducking under his arm, her arm going around him for support as his knees seemed to buckle under him as he let go of the bed. Her foot twisted and stumbled under her as the room started acting like a fun house floor. She grit her teeth as she took his weight, squeezing her eyes shut and focusing on the tactile feel of the floor under her feet rather than her rebellious head. “What are you doing?” She hissed.

Bethany

The longer he was up, the worse his symptoms seemed to be. His stomach was going to rebel if he didn’t hurry this up. The room looked like one of those psychedelic drawings, nothing was still. As soon as Aasrel let go of the bed though, his knees buckled and he was headed back towards the floor, and fast.

Suddenly Bethany was under him and his descent slowed but did not stop as Bethany fell too. “My PaDD. I needed my PaDD,” Aasrel insisted. He needed to protect his head - and Bethany. One arm around her, he reached the other behind them, hoping to grab something or break their fall.

Aasrel’s hand collided with the floor, his palm stinging from the impact. Shooting pain stabbed his wrist as he tumbled the rest of the way down, hitting the ground hard. Bethany was on his right, this time it was his left side that collided rather abruptly with the ground. He sat dazed for a long minute, unable to focus on anything. Everything was moving too much.

~ Aasrel

Bethany knew how to fall. She knew how to take the impact of cushioning someone when she did. She also knew not to fight with them too hard when they struggled. Aasrel was fighting to protect her. Instead her arms came up and wrapped loosely around the helmet, taking the impact instead of his head.

She heard the crack, but wasn’t sure where it came from. She knew it wasn’t her. Oh her elbows and forearms would be a bit sore, maybe bruised but she knew she hadn’t broken anything. … Unless of course her mind was numb to it because it was really bad.

The room seemed to expand and contract but she managed to get beside him and keep his head still. “Jonan!” At least her voice was steady. “You could have asked,” she hissed at him. “You promised… Just be still.” The big Klingon entered the room, “I need help in here!” He almost roared to the larger bay. He took Bethany’s place, and she scooted out of the way. Two more medical officers entered and helped Jonan get him back on the bed. Harkins appeared beside her, helped her up, and took her out to a biobed to have one of the other doctors check her. Th’rethiss was muttering what was possibly curses as he hurried into the room.

Bethany

Aasrel babied his arm, holding it close to his body. When he heard her call Jonan he shook his head… to little effect as she was holding it still. “No, don’t call… Oh, too late.” He said under his breath. “I’m fine, honestly.” Jonan and two of the other officers lifted him up and back onto his bed. “Ouch, hey, I can move myself, thanks.” Then he saw Th’rethiss rush in, muttering what looked suspiciously like curses and he groaned quietly.

~ Aasrel

Bethany wanted to stay, but knew she would be in the way. Harkins promised to tell her what was going on, BUT she had to behave and get checked herself.

Th’rethiss lowered the bed down and a field flashed to life over his legs. The cranial and neurological scanner was rolled into place over his head. Th’rethiss issued clips orders to the nurses, but he didn’t speak to Izei. He didn’t trust himself to be calm and professional. He ordered a hypo for the vertigo and the nausea and a booster of the pain meds. Hypo and dermal regenerators were passed back and forth. Jonan took his injured wrist carefully and took scans and images of it.

Th’rethiss

Aasrel was still enough for the scans of his head and his skull. He gave no problems to Jonan as the nurse scanned his wrist. It was a simple hairline fracture, nothing too bad but painful all the same. The scans of his head showed he’d jarred everything pretty good, he was lucky there was no bleeding but they’d want to check again later. He was definitely going to feel it and he’d probably made his symptoms worse. He still did not want to be made drowsy but he didn’t notice them giving him the hypo of nausea and vertigo meds. Then he seemed to realize Bethany was gone. “Hey, where’s Bethany? Is she okay? She didn’t get hurt, did she?”

~ Aasrel

Jonan showed the scans to Th’rethiss who gave the order for the settings on the bone knitter and dermal regenerator for the surrounding tissue. Th’rethiss had wanted to let his brain and head heal on its own, but he was going to have to interfere to help the swelling go down before the man killed himself.

“Harkins took her to Elbbirt,” Jonan said as he worked. “She is going to check Cmdr Gadi out.”

“You are lucky you are awake. You pull a stunt like that again and you’ll end up in a coma. Do you understand that?” Th’rethiss asked him. He was stern, forceful, and far to matter of fact for Aasrel to think he was exaggerating. “Then you will no good for her at all.”

Th’rethiss

“Yeah, yeah, I understand.” Aasrel said. It seemed like he was still taking this too casually. Until he mentioned Aasrel couldn’t help her in a coma. Then he seemed to get serious. “I just need to find her a cure before it’s too late. She can’t wait.”

~ Aasrel

Th’rethiss was becoming more than annoyed. “I know she can not. I am trying to find her a viable option, but I keep having to run in here because you are the cliché of a doctor being a horrible patient.” He took a breath. “I am happy to have your input, Dr. Izei. I will make sure you are provided whatever research you need, as long as you stay in bed. It will take both our expertise to help her. You are lowering her chances if you cause yourself to be removed from the equation.”

Th’rethiss

Aasrel grinned mischievously. It was a look he hadn’t given anyone but Bethany in some time. But he’d been known before now to be a difficult patient. He turned serious once more and nodded, the movement hurting his head despite the boost in pain meds. “Okay. As long as I can help.” He was supposed to limit screen time. That was a rule he’d have to get around.

~ Aasrel

Th’rethiss wasn’t too concerned with the screen time. His body would take care of that. The headaches would make it impossible to see straight or keep food down if Izei pushed it. The pain could even get so bad he might blackout.

Harkins figuring he was after his PaDD picked it up from the far counter to give it to him. Bethany had been standing in the doorway long enough to have heard. “He won’t need the PaDD or the research.” She was too exhausted to hide how she felt. She was tired and scared and out of options. She looked haunted to everyone in the room. She looked at Th’rethiss, “The surgery will fix me. I have decided to go forward with it. As soon as you are ready.”

Bethany

That caused Aasrel to shoot up, sitting up as far as he could with his legs still force field restrained. The sudden movement did not feel good and Bethany would be able to tell. “Bethany, no. You don’t know if it’ll fix you, remember? We just need more time.” He looked at her, the room spinning once again. “Give me more time.”

~ Aasrel

Didn’t he understand that was exactly what she was doing. Giving him time to heal, to get better, so he would be around. So they could both be around. She just looked at him. He was sick and making himself worse over her. He was going to end up in a coma and with serious brain damage. “I don’t have more time. You and Th’rethiss both said so. It’s on the face of every medical officer every time they look at me.” Every time he looked at her.

Aasrel was getting really worked up over this. Th’rethiss was lucky he was force field-ed to the bed. “Don’t say that. We have time. I just need to be able to work. Bethany, I can do this.”

“I know you can.” There was no doubt about that. She just wasn’t sure they had enough time. Not with his recovery being set back every time he opened his eyes. She was conflicted between going through with it and giving him his request, and Aasrel could tell. So could everyone else. Slowly the extra staff slipped from the room.

Th’rethiss had already decided he wouldn’t do it. He still felt that it was the best option, but she was making the decision under duress, and not her own, but Izei’s. Izei’s blood pressure was going up Amanda the bed was reading spikes in pain and vertigo. He could guess from her appearance what Gadi’s stats were. “It will take me at least another week or two to finish researching how to perform the surgery. It’s never been done, removing the psilo-gland. It is uncharted territory.” Which made the risk factor go up exponentially.

Bethany

Aasrel knew that was a lie. There was risk but Th’rethiss knew how to do this. He felt bad about it but he kept quiet. He gripped the side of the bed. He was dizzy and sick though the meds were helping.

~ Aasrel

Bethany looked at Th’rethiss and smiled sadly. “I vetted every single person on this crew including you. You may never have done a psiloectomy, and maybe no Betazoid would ask for it, but you have the skill to do it.”

Th’rethiss shrugged. “As true as that may be, I won’t do the surgery until I am certain of how to do the procedure. That would be careless and malpractice on my part.” Th’rethiss left the room. He had no interest in being in the middle of their lovers’ quarrel.

Bethany

“Bethany please.” Aasrel looked pleadingly at her. “Don’t go through what I am when it might not even work.” He finally had to lay back, feeling awful both physically and emotionally. “Please.” He let out a long sigh, watching the world spin around him. “I just want you to be better.”

~ Aasrel

She sat down next to him, the bed shifting with her weight. “I know, Aasrel. I want to get better, but I can’t…” she paused for a shuddered breath, “I can’t let you kill yourself because of me. It’s not worth it. I can’t watch you die, not when I can do something about it.” He was getting worse instead of better.

Bethany

“This isn’t doing something about it, it might make you worse. Or only better for now. I can’t accept that.” He reached for her hand. “I just…” He had to take a breath too. “I feel like I’m watching you die and I can’t do it. I can’t.”

~ Aasrel

Fingers curled around his. “That’s how I feel. Like I’m having to stand back and let you kill yourself. I can’t do it any more than you can.” She closed her eyes and centered herself before looking at him again. “If I do nothing, I get worse and die. Or I can have the surgery. Worst case the inevitable happens faster. Best case I get better.” She brushed his hair back. “You, on the other hand, are getting worse. You were able to sit up without getting dizzy. Now you can barely open your eyes.” She sighed. “I’ll wait if you behave.”

Bethany

Aasrel just wanted to hug her. Instead he squeezed her hand. “I don’t want it to happen faster. I don’t want it to happen at all.” He was starting to cry and it was making his head hurt more. He wanted to open his eyes and keep them open in defiance, show her he could, but when he tried, he nearly hurled. Her last statement gave him hope and he nodded vigorously despite the pain. “Anything. I’ll do anything.”

~ Aasrel

Her hands framed his face, providing a physical anchor in the confusion. She leaned in so if he did open his eyes, all he could see was her. “I promise I am not giving up. I will keep fighting and I will wait for the surgery until I have no other choice or time left. I promise.” She gave him a quick peck. “Promise me, Aasrel. You will keep fighting to get better. You will do what the doctors say, you will stop pushing and hurting yourself.”

Bethany

Aasrel opened his eyes and looked up at her. She wasn’t fully in focus. It was then that his telepathy decided to spark again, giving him a sudden sensation of everything she was feeling. “I promise. All of it. I will.”

~ Aasrel

Bethany let a gentle sigh out, the relief she felt was physical. She had no idea that her emotions were affecting him and she’d hate herself if she knew. She rested her forehead against his shoulder and slipped her arms around his waist as much as she could. Her arms were slightly tender from where she’d taken the brunt of the impact from where he’d fallen, but it was mostly gone. Elbbirt had made sure to take care of it.

Aasrel felt her relief and smiled. She was relaxing and that let him relax, too. Then her emotions and presence began to fade and he knew his empathy was turning off again. How long would it be before he got to keep it permanently?

Bethany appreciated his worry, she understood it, and the fact he was trying so desperately to help her meant everything. She didn’t have to be a doctor to know that he couldn’t do this. If he wasn’t banging his head around all the time, then maybe, but not with his level of confusion now. She stayed there for as long as he would let her.

Bethany

He would have let her stay there all day if he could. Aasrel loved laying there with her. The activity and trauma of the fall had tired him out. About half an hour later he yawned softly and smiled at her. “You’re staying here all day, right?”

~ Aasrel

Bethany nodded, “Yeah, except for my required exercises.” When he had sat up so suddenly, Jonan had raised the bed to support him. They hadn’t lowered it back down before they all left. “Do you want me to put a movie on and you can go to sleep?” She was sure he needed it and when he was asleep he wasn’t doing reckless things.

Bethany

“Okay.” Aasrel said. He reached for the controls and lowered the bed a little himself. “Whatever you want to watch is fine.” He said as he grabbed some food off the breakfast tray from earlier.

~ Aasrel

Bethany put on the movie that Aasrel had liked so much. She hoped it would help trigger memories. Pleasant ones that would ease his sleep. Th’rethiss had said memory recall was good for him. She was glad to see him eating as well. She probably should eat, but she had no appetite now. Too much worry and stress. She kept the lights where they were easy for him and after he fell asleep she worked from her PaDD. She wasn’t on duty, but that didn’t stop her from checking up on things from her chair.

Bethany