Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in side - sim: What No One Else Sees

Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in side - sim: What No One Else Sees

Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in side - sim: What No One Else Sees
Posted by… suppressed (39) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Helena had finally been released from sickbay. She had the box of pills Grey had given her, in her pocket and she walked down the corridor of B deck to the lift. The lift was on its way up to A deck and the bridge. Helena declined getting on. She’d wait for it to come back. The last thing she needed was for Grey or Marceau to think she was trying to sneak onto the bridge. She glanced down at herself, still in her gym clothes, and smelling like Grey’s muscle salve - not likely. The lift returned and she rode it down one deck and then turned toward the aft section of the ship and made her way slowly down the corridor. She wanted to sleep, but first the hot shower the doctor insisted she remember to take.

Helena

When Marceau heard Helena was no longer in sickbay he was glad to hear it. Just getting off his bridge shift he was headed down to her quarters to find her. Instead, he caught up to her in the corridor. Smiling awkwardly as he slowed his pace to match hers, he said, “Helena… How are you feeling? What did Doctor Grey tell you?”

~ Marceau

Helena didn’t really need to slow for him to catch up. On the off chance the odd, intense doctor was watching her, Helena had no intention of giving her a reason to be annoyed with her. “She said I could come back and take a warm shower and rest.” She sniffed and wrinkled her nose. “I don’t smell it anymore, but I am sure that salve she put all over me is leaving a stink in the corridor.” She grinned, like she found it funny, but she looked tired. Several laps around medical and then walking back, Helena was loathe to admit she was tired. “She said I could report for my next shift if I behave.” When that was, would be determined if Marceau decided to insist in the two days he thought she needed or not. If he had already changed it, then Grey knew she wasn’t scheduled for the next day. She pressed the control and stepped into her room.

She wanted to sit down. She did not want to have to change the bed sheets when that nasty sticky salve got all over it. She leaned against the locker for support and carefully toed her shoes off, trying not to let fatigued muscles make her loose her balance, and then she grabbed the hem of her shirt and lifted it up over her head and off. She tossed it toward the basket on the other side of the room, but missed.

Helena

Marceau set his hands on her shoulders and steered her towards the bed. “Sit. Rest. That…” He sniffed, “stuff Doctor Grey gave you doesn’t smell that bad.” It did, it smelled terrible, but Marceau was a doctor too, and he’d smelled much worse things.

“Aww Marceau. I don’t wanna go to bed with this sticky smelly stuff all over me.” There was the Helena he was used to, grinning and attitude. “Besides you ordered me to listen to her and she did tell me to take a warm shower.” She wasn’t above using his words to get what she wanted - which was to get rid of that nasty stuff and then go to bed and not get up.

“Your next shift is in two days. Enjoy your days off.” He gave her a meaningful look. And then his expression shifted and he looked like he wanted to ask something he was afraid to ask, so instead he studied the bed.

~ Marceau

Helena grabbed his arm to steady herself as she stepped out of her gym shorts. It didn’t phase Helena at all. They had been playing poker for years, and Marceau had been her doctor for longer. She gave him a look. “What is it?”

Helena

Marceau held still to support her. It didn’t phase him either, even with the context of what he was thinking about. Between poker and having been her doctor, he’d seen her undress more than enough times. When she gave him that look though he flushed red and shrugged awkwardly before working up the courage to ask. “Well, we were talking earlier....”

~ Marceau

She moved into her small bathroom and turned on the water. Helena nodded, a somewhat nervous smile, “We were.” Oh where was this going? It was unfamiliar and Helena had never known Marceau to willingly delve back into a potentially uncomfortable conversation with a girl. Unless it started with “Ehm…” because he was nervous. He was flushed red and seemed cautious more than nervous. “Did you want to continue that conversation?” she asked as she stepped into the shower. Ugh…the hot water made the stuff smell worse again. Double punishment, even though Helena wanted to scrub the stuff off as quickly as possible, she had to go slow and be careful. Her muscles could spasm and then she would get hurt.

Helena

Marceau nodded shyly. “I do…” He seemed to be getting nervous, starting to rub his hands together. “Ehm.... I mean, you meant it, right?” He asked at last, looking into the bathroom like he was terrified of the answer. He couldn’t quite see her while she was showering. He was sitting on her bed. “That you’d want to…” The words go on a date with me didn’t quite make it out.

~ Marceau

Marceau couldn’t see the furious blush that rushed over her skin. It had nothing to do with him talking to her while she was in the shower. It wasn’t the first time. The last time…oh wow…was when she’d been released, finally, from the infirmary after this infection. He hadn’t left her alone for days. Afraid she’d fall and get hurt. “Marceau…?” Helena took a breath. “Let me ask you something. When have I ever told you anything that I didn’t mean 100%?” She sounded tired, even to herself, but the words rushed out, “Yes I meant it. I want to go on a date with you.” There was a soft thump as she leaned back against the shower wall for support. At least the stuff wasn’t on her back.

Helena

“Never, but-” he started, but her words rushed out anyway so he stopped talking. Then he heard the soft sound as she leaned against the shower wall. “Are you sure you’re okay in there?” His mind was in overdrive. She meant it. She meant it! He was so excited and nervous all together in one it made his stomach hurt. “When.... When should we do it?” His voice was breathless with nervousness. “The date… What should we do?”

~ Marceau

Helena sighed. If she said she was okay then that wasn’t telling him 100% the truth. She was tired and she could feel her muscles beginning to twitch and shake some. Not like earlier, but mixed with a very wet floor, it was an accident waiting to happen. “Umm…no not really.” She tried to scrub the last of the salve off and then rinse the soap.

Just because of what they were talking about, the thought of it being weird for him to help her crossed his mind. But then the idea of her muscles spasming and her slipping and falling came to him and the idea it might be weird was immediately forgotten about. He headed into the bathroom to help her. “Careful. We don’t want you to slip and get hurt.”

Helena laughed, “No I really don’t want to do that. If I get hurt following Dr Grey’s orders, there is no telling what that woman will do. She’s a little…different.” Helena didn’t want to speak poorly of her, but she’d certainly made Helena wonder.

She let Marceau help steady her as she stepped from the wet shower to the dry but cold floor. She reached for a towel and wrapped it around herself even as Marceau steadied her. She felt a rush of time, “Brings back memories doesn’t it?” And suddenly the circumstances and conversation coalesced together.

She laughed slightly nervously. “Ummm…I guess that depends on how long my personal doctor says I have to stay in bed.”

Helena

Marceau grinned and shrugged, still obviously nervous as his hands shook while he tried to help her. “There are lots of things we can do anytime that your personal doctor will approve of. Like… Even today.”

~ Marceau

Helena moved carefully back into the main room and with Marceau’s help (he always worried so much, about everyone) she sat. She knew from previous experience it was futile to try and rummage around her quarters for what she needed. Marceau would just stand there in front of her and not let her get up. So instead she sat and looked up at him, “Oh really?” Her voice had a slight teasing quality, but the blush gave away the nervous giddiness. “And is my doctor going to tell me what the prescription is?”

Helena

Marceau sat her down and then stood in front of her just in case she decides to go rummaging for something. Then he looked down at her and smiled, “A day’s rest. But you know what you can do while you’re resting? Have a meal with someone. Or watch a movie with someone.”

~ Marceau

Helena caught his gaze and gave him a truly mischievous look, “Marceau? Are you going to bring me dinner in bed?” Her mind jumped from dinner to a movie to then breakfast in bed with him. Her brain told her to slow down even while the idea made her heart race. Thinking about food reminded her of something though that made her expression dropped it’s teasing and she reached for the floor. She stopped just short of bumping into his hip and sat up. He wasn’t budging. “Dr Grey gave me pills to take. They’re in the pocket of my shorts.”

Helena

“Let’s start with dinner,” said Marceau, smiling. He reached down to her shorts and handed them to her so she could get the pills out of the pocket. “Muscle relaxers?” He asked. That was what he’d give.

~ Marceau

“Ummm....actually no idea. She didn’t say, and she scares me enough I wasn’t going to question her.” Helena pulled the small pill box out of her pocket and then tossed the shorts into the bin. “I’m supposed to take one at dinner and one at lunch tomorrow. Or…she said that was wrong. I’m supposed to take it ‘while I eat’. Promotes healing or something. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to just swallow it or crush it into my food.” Helena waved a hand before he could say anything. “I know I know, I should ask and not just take things. Really she scares me.”

Helena

Marceau gave the pill box a dubious look and then gave Helena a similarly dubious look. “You need to ask her. I don’t know by looking what those are and it sounds like Doctor Grey wasn’t clear. If you take them wrong you could get too much or too little of the medicine. I can’t imagine anyone scaring mon pilote intrepid so much she can’t ask a question.” The lecture went on with Marceau standing over her.

The words were close enough she didn’t need to ask him to translate. Helena blushed and glanced down at her hands for a moment. It had been years since anyone gave her butterflies. Then she looked at him. “Can’t you just look in my medical file and see what she said?” Helena was serious.

Eventually he sat in the chair next to her, giving her one of those concerned looks of his. “I don’t want anything to happen to you because of a medication mistake.”

~ Marceau

Helena’s head tipped to the side and she sighed just a little. “I don’t either. She gave me one when I first got there. She said it was for pain.” Helena leaned sideways against the pillows, needing the extra support.

Helena

Marceau looked at her. She was serious. She really wanted him to do that. “I can… As long as I have a legitimate medical reason to access your file.” It was something he’d done before. “It would be an easily defensible decision.” He picked up his PaDD and logged in, navigating the medical systems. “Then maybe there’s something else we could do?” He asked shyly, almost under his breath.

~ Marceau

The pills were strong anti-inflammatories and she was to take one with food around dinner and again at lunch the next day. The files contained the same readings that Marceau had taken himself. The severity and more precise readings from the medical bay equipment was listed. She was ordered to rest until her next shift. No gym. Only stretching and short sessions of running if she was feeling well enough.

Even before their surprising earlier conversation Helena never hesitated to let Marceau access her medical file. He was her her best friend, her doctor, and her CO. She trusted him to know when he did or did not need to know that information and to not abuse it. However she also knew that looking at her file meant his earlier frustration and anger over her behavior was going to get her a lecture as soon as he was done reading. Helena also knew she deserved it.

In response to his question. “I would like that.” She also knew that wouldn’t stop the lecture.

Helena

Marceau uttered a French phrase of frustration, not a curse, more of a French idiom, as he read. A smile appeared on his face at her words, and then vanished again as he looked over the records. Then he looked at Helena with one of those looks. “They are strong antiinflammatories, I just wasn’t familiar with that babe for them. You will take one with dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. You will stay out of the gym and away from the MACOs for…” He looked over the detailed readings from the med bay, “a week at least.”

Helena’s eyes widened slightly. He found out about the MACOs! Crap! She hoped she didn’t get Baumann in trouble. Of course Marceau knee Helena well enough to know she made her own choices.

He sighed, one of his exhasperated why must patients be this way? sighs and then continued on with one of his lectures. “Your muscles were severely fatigued and spasming uncontrollably. You could have been really hurt, Helena. Or you could make it worse. Do you want to receive a medical discharge? Because doing that to yourself again could earn you a medical discharge. You need to pay attention to how hard you’re working yourself and how your muscles are handling it. I’m not saying don’t ever practice with the MACOs, I’m glad you take your safety seriously. I just want you to be healthy and safe.” He could go on but he paused momentarily to take a breath and then sighed again, putting his hands on her shoulders with one of his concerned, caring, and worried looks, “What would I do without mon pilote, hm?”

~ Marceau

Helena smiled up at him. Not her normal fun, playful, outrageous smile, but something much deeper and honest. She set one hand over his. “I promise I won’t leave you without your pilot.” Then feeling suddenly uncertain she flashed that sassy smile. “So what are we doing? And are you going to let me get dressed or am I wearing a towel all night?”

Helena

Marceau looked down, surprised and distracted from his lecture. “Ehm?” Then he chuckled nervously. “Dîner? I’ll go get something and you stay here.” He eyed her, a teasing, cute look, and the words made it out before he could think about them, “As for the towel… That depends on whether you want to wear more than that all night or not.”

~ Marceau

The only response he got before he left was speechlessness. Did he…did he just…suggest…? Helena sat stunned for several moments after he left. Finally she seemed to start thinking again and got up, carefully and traded her towel for her robe. It was more secure, loose enough to not aggravate sore muscles, and warmer. She knew from past experience sometimes she got cold chills after. When he returned she was following doctors orders and in her bed resting.

Helena

Marceau seemed to realize exactly what he suggested, turned bright red, and rushed out the door. Several minutes later he returned with two trays, setting them on Helena’s end table and pulling up a chair for himself. Helena was resting. Good. It took him only a moment to notice what Helena had selected for evening attire: a bathrobe. Shyly and quietly, he averted his gaze and picked up his fork.

~ Marceau

She sat up a little when he came in, stuffing pillows behind her back. “Thank you, Marceau. I appreciate it. Really.” Helena looked at him, her brows lowering in confusion. Why was he uncomfortable? He was quiet, and though they never engaged in non stop chatter the quiet felt awkward. Perhaps he had changed his mind about a date? That was okay, they were still friends. They could forget the conversation ever happened. She ate quietly for a minute. “Did you manage to get Engineering to put a shelf in for the model my mom sent?”

Helena

“Logan said they would work on it before he stepped down, but I will speak to them again to make sure the job didn’t get lost in the changeover.” Marceau said. He looked up at her and smiled, but it felt forced and awkward. He seemed like he wasn’t sure what to say. He hadn’t at all changed his mind about the date. He just didn’t know how that changed things between them and it was stressing him out. In his thoughts he moved his arm too quickly, dumping his drink all over the table and floor. He stood and cursed in French, rushing to clean it up.

~ Marceau

Helena smiled back at him. “I’m sure they can handle it. I have some extra zip-ties I use to secure my models if you need them.” The drink spilled and Helena set her plate aside and quickly sat up. She moved his plate aside as well and swung her feet down to the floor. “Here,” she reached for the towel she had set aside earlier. “I’ll get another.” She grabbed the frame and used it to steady herself as she stood.

Helena

“No, no, don’t get up,” Marceau said, rushing to clean up the spilled drink with the towel. He didn’t want her hurting herself. He should’ve been more careful and not spilled it. “Where do you keep them? I can get another one. Stay there.” He said quickly, still trying to blot up the spill.

~ Marceau

Helena sat back down and took the towel from him. “There is a small shelf to the left of the door.” She used the towel to dry the top of the small bed side table. She watched him get up and sighed. What was wrong? She found a dry area of the towel and wiped the sides and front down. She decided not to try and clean the floor. Marceau might get more upset.

Helen

Marceau grabbed a towel off the shelf and sat down on the floor, blotting up the spill. “Sorry. I should’ve been more careful. I wasn’t watching what I was doing…” He said nervously, acting more like that first year Academy student than his usual self. He finished blotting up the spill, took both the towels, and put them in the laundry. Then he sat down in his seat again and looked at Helena. “I um.... I was.... I… I don’t want tonight to go like this.”

~ Marceau

Helena sat on the edge of the bed as he finished cleaning, “It’s okay, it’s just a little spilled liquid. These quarters are kinda cramped.” She reached over and took his hand, that shouldn’t be weird, it’s not like she’d never done that before. He was so nervous. She didn’t want him to be nervous around her. Then she had to admit she was nervous too. “Maybe…we should have shared MREs instead. We know how to do that.” She bit her lip a little and glanced around before looking back at him, shyly. It was the same look she had when she had brought him home and surprised him with the convert tickets. She had wanted to surprise him, but had been worried he wouldn’t like it.

Helena

He took her hand, squeezing gently. His palms were sweaty. He chuckled and shook his head. “Want to trade yogurt for peanut butter and call it a date?” He smiled at her, a little more relaxed. “I don’t care what we do as long as I don’t mess it up.”

~ Marceau

“Always.” Helena grinned at him, “I will always trade with you.” She tugged his hand until he leaned forward and she kissed his cheek. “You can’t mess it up. We Know everything about each other. The good and the bad. None of that changes my mind. She handed him back his plate and set her drink on the table between them so they could share.

Helena

Marceau leaned into her and then hugged her as she kissed his cheek. It was a longer hug than their usual ones. Then he leaned back to his own seat so they could eat. He took a bite and then, “Oh, Helena! You need to take one of your pills.”

~ Marceau

Helena paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. “Right.” She set the fork down and looked around. Where did that little box go? She had put it in her lap, but then she’d changed into her robe. Her pocket? Nope. The bedside table? No. Next to her pillow? No. Did she knock it on the floor when she got up? No. “Where did it go?” She set her plate aside, and grabbed Marceau’s shoulder as she stood up to look for it. Helena didn’t see it, but as soon as she stood, Marceau did, she’d sat on it.

Helena

Marceau grinned when she stood, still looking around for it, because he’d already seen it. He grabbed her hand when she used his shoulder as a support. “Helena, be careful.” He warned her, and then he pointed to her bed, grinning again, “Right there, you were sitting on it.”

~ Marceau

Helena smiled softly, “I am, promise.” She turned to look and saw the box. “Of course I was.” She leaned down to pick it up, and Marceau would feel the slight shaking in her arm. Not overly dangerous or concerning but an indication of how far her stubbornness had gone. “At least I wasn’t holding it in my hand this time.” She’d spent a good 15 minutes once looking for a small part they needed, that she had been holding onto the entire time.

Helena

Marceau laughed again and smiled. “Take one now so we don’t forget, and then you’re eating anyway, so that’s with food.” He started eating his meal and pushed Helena’s drink back towards her. “You need the hydration.” He’d felt her muscles quiver. She’d done a number on herself, and he was worried about her.

~ Marceau

Helena sat and opened the box and reached in taking a single pill out. She slipped it under her tongue and picked up her drink and used it to wash the pill down. She grinned and give him a little salute, “Yes, Sir.” She took several healthy sips and set the drink down pushing it slightly towards him. “You too.” She picked up her plate and ate. She never had to worry that there was anything she shouldn’t eat. She knew that Marceau would have made sure there was no dairy on her plate before he brought it up. He had always done that for her, just like she did for him. Well all the BlackJacks did, but now she wondered if there was something more to it. It had been for her, at least with Marceau.

Helena

It had been for Marceau, too, he had just not realized it then. He would’ve done it for any of them, but especially for her. He grinned at her salute and shook his head. He kind of really liked it when she did that. He pushed the cup back towards her a little. “I can get a new drink. You are staying here. You drink it.” Then he gave her one of his pointed doctor stares.

~ Marceau