Posted by Ensign Charlie Bailey (Doctor) in Ensign Bailey’s Quarters - Side Sim

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Charlie wiped the tears from her now red and blotchy eyes as she nodded weakly. She was nervous about speaking to the CMO but deep down she knew that this couldn’t continue. “I’d like to talk about it if you have time…?” She replied softly as she took another shaky sip of water.

Dr Bailey

“I always have time for someone who needs me,” Katie responded to the ensign, fondness and sympathy flooding her voice. She kept her arm around Bailey, hugging her gently to her body and steadying her as she sipped the water.

Lt Cmdr Nunn, CNS

Charlie sniffed as she relaxed feeling comforted by the counselor’s arm around her. “I don’t really know where to start…” she said quietly. She’d kept this secret for so long and it was such a part of her that she didn’t know how to begin to unravel it. She had relived that day 1000 times over but it made even less sense to her today than it did back then. Why hadn’t her mother come to get them when the house caught fire? Surely that would have been her first instinct as a parent.

Dr Bailey

Falling easily into her experience as an advocate, Katie kept her arm around the slowly relaxing ensign. “Well, first, I think it’s worth noting that nightmares after a traumatic event are absolutely normal,” she said, her voice calm and soothing. “Nothing you or I say or do now is going to fix them, but they will get better with time.” Her voice took a slight firmness to it as reached the end of the sentence. “It’s very easy to look back and try to figure out motivations behind actions that we don’t understand, especially when the situation ensures that we can’t ask. Have you ever looked to see if there is any documentation about the events?”

Lt Cmdr Nunn, CNS