Posted by Lieutenant Commander Katie Nunn (Counselor) in Ensign Bailey’s Quarters - Side Sim

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Katie Nunn (Counselor) in Ensign Bailey’s Quarters - Side Sim

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

<snip>

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

Bump.

Charlie sighed and nodded. She knew there would never be a quick fix but she just wished she could move past it after so many years. Charlie shook her head at Katie’s question and wondered why she’d never thought about looking up the records before. “I guess I would be too scared to find out what really happened to her. My father was injured in the attack and was in a coma for several months afterwards. By the time he regained consciousness my sister and I were already living with our aunt on Earth. When he found out it broke him, he’s never been the same since,” she said quietly as she wiped another tear away. She sighed as she rubbed her weary eyes, gritting her teeth at her throbbing hand.

“It’s like I have this memory in like a snowglobe, perfectly preserved, but I’m afraid to pick it up and look at it in case it changes the picture into something worse…I’m sorry, I know I’m not making much sense…” she said as she pulled the blanket tighter around her.

Dr Bailey