Posted by Lieutenant Commander Alexis Bonner (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in Guest Quarters - Family Woes Part II

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Dr. Solomon Kane (Chief Science Officer/Research & Development) in Guest Quarters - Family Woes Part II

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Alexis Bonner (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in Guest Quarters - Family Woes Part II
Posted by… suppressed (29) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
“Doctor, dammit. I paid extra for all six letters.” Kane said and then stood up. “You go home. I’ll get the dog. Because the odds of you using that walk as an excuse to not go back to our quarters are pretty damn high.” and he walked around the desk and lightly smacked her somewhere entirely inappropriate for the workplace and said “Go on. Shoo. Out.” and he started herding her to the door.

Kane

Alexis did a little hop and looked at him wide eyed. All the while being pushed out the door. “Okay, okay I am vacating your office, doctor.” She might have been laughing a little. Once outside the door and outside the labs she looked back at him, “What makes you think I won’t get distracted on my way home all by my lonesome?” Why was she teasing him?!

Bonner

“Because…” Kane said as he walked her to the door and then locked the lab to all non-department personnel, “… I have a PaDD with your name on it just lying on the bed. And if you don’t go there in the next five minutes, it will delete its contents and then you’ll never know what I wrote on it.” He kissed her cheek and turned and walked away, waving behind him. “See you in a few!”

Kane

Alexis lost a whole 30 seconds just staring after him with a bemused look on her face. Then she suddenly turned and hurried to the nearest lift in the opposite direction. The man drove her to distraction. “Deck 3.” Alexis got lucky and the lift kept moving till it got to deck 3. People we’re used to her walking around totally distracted by what ever problems she was working on and so no one stopped to speak to her. Except when she had to back track because ops was replacing a panel. She entered their quarters, forgoing any normal routines for claiming the PaDD on the bed. She snatched it up with a goofy grin, silencing the beeping with seconds to spare.

Bonner

The PaDD was almost done counting down when she opened it. On the screen were the words “Food, two episodes of Lucy, and then bed. We are both worn out with all of this, and until we get it all settled we need to be rested and focused. Now open the door.” and there was a chime at the door.

Kane

Alexis reached up to let her hair down while she read, only to remember at the last moment she’d done that in his office…and scattered the styluses on the floor…they drove him crazy. Of well, she would just claim she was helping out the clutter and chaos back. That thought was quite satisfying. After reading, it was all familiar and rather easy to speak into the ear piece so he would hear her. “Bossy. Can’t I have a shower first?”

But the chime Rand and she moved into the living area putting the PaDD with the endless stack on the desk and hit the control to open the door.

Bonner

It was Kane and Frigga… and Kane was carrying a larve, flat,square box that smelled amazing. “Pizza. Lucy. Bed. Let’s do this!” and he moved past her and to the couch, setting the pizza on the table le and kicking off his shoes.

Kane

The pizza made her mouth water. She grabbed drinks and napkins from the replicator. Frigga sniffed and wagged her tail pitifully looking at Kane and the pizza box. “Oh no. You’re too spoiled already. No pizza.” She went back over to the replicator, slipping out of her boots and jacket (that got tossed over the back of a chair) and returned with a bowl. One of those rice, meat, broth concoctions that Solomon was always giving Frigga. Alexis set the bowl on the floor and flipped open the pizza box. She lifted a slice out of the box, the melted cheese pulling and stretching until it finally broke. She gathered up the strands and plopped them in a heap on top of her slice, and then took a bite off the end. Pizza and television. It was so incrediblynormal it was shocking.

Bonner

Kane went in the bedroom and came out in a few minutes in gray sweat pants and a t-shirt. He flopped down on the couch and said “Okay, sexy… hit it. Let’s see what shenanigans that cooky Lucy is getting up to tonight.” and he grabbed a napkin and a slice of pizza and leaned back and moaned softly. “Oh yeah… perfect end to a screwed up day.” and he chuckled as he took a bite.

Kane

Alexis grabbed a PaDD that sat on the table and scrolled through for the last one they watched. The large screen went from blank to the stylized heart and script of the title scene. Alexis turned her head to look at Solomon. She had told him once that Soulis didn’t ruin the idea of marriage for her. There were too many good examples, her parents included. She had know her mother didn’t like her, but she had thought hoped they were at least happy together. She hadn’t changed her mind, she was just very sad for both her parents, for different reasons. She stared at him another moment. He hadn’t needed to do everything he did, but his presence and support was deeply felt. Alexis didn’t really have words to express what she was feeling. She curled her legs under herself and leaned against his shoulder. “Thank you.”

Most people couldn’t keep up with Alexis’s mind. Most people couldn’t grasp the radical trains of thought and tangents she shot through at warp speed to arrive at the points she did. Most people were confused by the random statements that came from her at odd times.

Kane was not most people.

He didn’t look at her, he just chewed and watched tv. “Anytime, doll. I got you. You know that.” The last sentence wasn’t a question. It was stated as fact. It was his way of letting her know that she did indeed know that, even if it got lost in the noise sometimes.

A content and amused smile touched her lips. “I do know, and once I know something I don’t forget.” She kissed him quickly on the cheek between bites.

A clown showed up at Lucy’s apartment and she decided she wanted to be in Ricky’s act again; she ends up performing a slapstick routine with Ricky and a cello, not to mention she impersonated a seal. Alexis went through at least three slices of pizza and a lot of quiet laughter before the end. She thought the lengths Lucy went to be in Ricky’s show were absurd.

Alexis laughed out loud at the end when Lucy was offered a TV show. “I wonder if that’s based on her life. Wasn’t she married to Ricky in real life?” She uncurled herself and went into the bedroom, to return in an oversized thin flannel nightshirt. She refilled their drinks before settling in the couch again.

Bonner

“She and Ricky? Yeah. His real name was Desi Arnez. They owned and ran Desilu production studios. Named it after each of them. It was a big-time studio back then. I woulda loved to have been able to tour it… meet some of those actors. I hear they were a riot on and off screen.”

Kane

“Maybe it’s a museum now? There are lot of places like that in California. It might still be there?” Oddly enough they could probably ask her mother. Or easier yet they could do a library search on the computer. Alexis found the idea of being someone else, acting totally different from your personality daunting. She knew people did it, but it was a skill she felt eluded her. She liked the idea that they were as humorous off screen as they were in their show.

Though this episode just made Alexis shake her head in disbelief. It was hard to believe that people believed in such things. In order to get on the good side of a producer who was interested in hiring Ricky, Lucy holds a seance, because the producer was intrigued by numerology. (Alexis wasn’t sure but she didn’t think the two things were the same.) Lucy attempted to provide the voice for one of the spirits. Most likely the fact she was yawning ever minute or so stopped her from appreciating the humor.

Bonner

Kane picked the next to the last piece of the pizza and said “Hun, go to bed. You’ve earned a good sleep. I’m gonna finish this pizza and come right in. Go, don’t make me smack you again.” and he grinned.

Kane

Her cheeks turned pink, “Ugh you are so bossy today.” Grinning she sat up and kissed him. “You better, I sleep better when you’re there.” Then in as much of a hurry as she could manage, she went into the bedroom. The lights dimmed only slightly in the room. Frigga quickly took Alexis’ spot on the couch.

“Don’t watch Lucy.” Alexis slipped into bed, exhausted and hoped her brain stayed quiet long enough to fall asleep.

Bonner

“I won’t.” Kane said. He polished off the last of the pizza, made sure Frigga had water and snacks, and then went in the bedroom and laid down. He leaned over and pulled open the drawer of the bedside table and pulled out the dark-lensed eye covers he wore so the bedroom light stayed on. “You know, I think I’m gonna tie a neural monitor into the lighting system in here. Light stays on till you are approaching REM cycle, then it slowly dims the light. Never off, just maybe to thirty percent.”

Kane

The idea made her heart pound even though the lights were still on. Alexis rolled over to face him. She hated he needed the glasses. Sometimes when he wasn’t home she’d try turning the lights down lower and lower to make herself sit in the dark. She had limited success. It couldn’t be restful for him to sleep like that and it had been bothering her for awhile. “I can sleep in the other room, so you don’t have to keep the lights on. Or we can just…turn them down.”

Bonner

“Nope.” was the only immediate response that came from him as he settled in. Once he was comfortable, he turned his head to look at her. “I knew this was a thing before we got together, and I’m not going to let it drive either of us out of this bed. We are togethet,together, together we stay. Now…” and leaned forward quickly and gave her solid, lasting, and wholly intimate kiss and then pulled back slowly, “… go to sleep. Tomorrow may be just as rough as today. I love you, Lex. Goodnight.” and he laid his head back down. One if the advantages of the dark lenses… it was impossible to tell if his eyes were open or not.

Kane

Whatever response Alexis might have given was lost when he kissed her. She was not in
agreement with his pulling back and sighed when he did anyway. “I love you, Solomon.” She glared at his hidden eyes though. Like she would be able to sleep now. She settled in next to him, her hand finding and lacing through his. If she was fanciful she might wish for a way to just skip tomorrow.

Bonner

---

Kane woke early, earlier than he would have liked, and yawned quietly. He laid in bed for a few moments and then slowly and carefully extricate himself from the bed, Alexis, and Frigga. He got dressed and went to the kitchen and got a glass of water. He then looked at the duty rotation for the day and experiments beginning, running, and about to complete. He was about to walk out the door when he stopped. He didn’t know what had happened with Alexis’s parents. And he didn’t relish the idea of Alexis dealing with that alone. So he flopped down on the couch and began reading his daily reports.

Kane

It was Frigga bounding off the bed a little while later that woke Alexis before the alarm went off. Frigga’s goal was water and then climbing onto the couch with the steak keeper. It was quiet and Solomon was up already, probably in the lab. Alexis stretched and then got up deciding a shower was in order but first she was going to check patient status. With that in mind she padded softly into the other room to pull the information up on the work station console. “Morning,” she spotted them both on the couch and smiled. “I thought you were in the lab already.” She keyed in the request to access the Secondary Sickbay monitors skimming the readouts.

Bonner

“Was about to-” Kane said while reading, “- but I figured your parents would want another chat, so I waited to see. Any messages from your dad?”

Kane

Alexis, satisfied with the vitals she was seeing switched screens. “No, not yet. But I gave Dad my schedule after they got here, and he knows that a middle of the night emergency means I am going to be occupied for awhile. He, at least, isn’t going to expect to see us before this evening.” Shutting down the console she made her way across the room for a glass of water and then sat next to him on the couch. Frigga stretches her nose over for attention and Alexis ruffles her ears. “You go ahead if you need to,” the understanding being that need just wasn’t work related, but that work was something they both needed at times. “I’m going to get ready, walk Frigga, and go in early. I promise you will be the first to know when I hear from or see them.”

Bonner

“Done.” and he gave her a swift peck on the lips and then got up and went into the bedroom to get dressed.

He emerged a few minutes later and went tot he replicator for a breakfast sandwich. “Let me know if your dad calls. I’m gonna go see about shrinking the power cell for that headband.”

Kane

When he emerged Alexis was standing at the counter, three PaDDs spread in front of her, absently eating a bowl of cereal. She tapped her left ear, where her ear bud was, “You’ll know a half second after me.” It was weird how integrated into her life that little device was, how she anticipated the sound of his voice randomly throughout her day. It was weird, but a good weird. “Let me know if you want me to reserve any time with any equipment or labs when you are ready to test the headband. I’ll make sure they are available. Tricorder can give you some readings, and you’ve got freaky ones in that black bags of yours, but the equipment in sickbay is more accurate and detailed than a standard tricorder.” She didn’t offer to help because 1 Kane was a capable doctor in his own right, and 2 it was up to Myqian and Kane if they wanted anyone else involved. She moved over to him and kissed him, softly, letting it linger longer than she should, but not as long as she wanted.

A shower and fresh uniform did wonders for her. Alexis took a travel mug of tea with her, and after getting Frigga in her vest they left for a walk. “Come on girl. A walk and then I have a patient that could use your attention.” Frigga bounded down the corridor to the lift. In the arboretum Frigga took off, Alexis following along the main path.

She stopped hearing a familiar sound. Her father’s voice. He always muttered while he worked. A habit Alexis had picked up from him. “My dad’s in the arboretum. My mother isn’t here.” She spoke into the ear piece. She wondered if she wanted to disturb him or not, but Frigga made the decision for them. The dog bounded very to Anthony whining and wagging her tail.

He looked up with a soft chuckle. “Good morning, Frigga.” He looked up spotting Alexis and stood, dusting off his knees. “Good Morning, Alexis.” She hugged him, she had to because she adored her dad. “Hi Daddy....how…umm…” Anthony grinned gently. “I needed a break. I know you are supposed to be on duty soon. Can we…you, Kane, and I meet sometime later when you’re both off duty? Not your mother, just us?”

Alexis nodded, “Of course. I will let you know what time.” Alexis called Frigga and left for her shift. “He wants to see us whenever we are both off. Just him not my mother.“

Bonner

There was a pause and then the voice in her ear said No problem. Just give me thirty minutes heads up and I’ll be there… or wherever. Maybe our quarters.

Kane

Okay Alexis didn’t object to it, and it would provide privacy and time. No one heard from her all day, except for Kane who heard the occasional murmur as she worked. Alexis didn’t want to deal with whatever problems or solutions her parents were in the midst of. She willinglybthrew herself into her work, working through breaks and lunch. She had put off a few things to deal with the fiasco that was yesterday, so today she made up for it. She worked 3 hours over, but that was actual necessity and not avoidance. Alexis was completing notes in a patient chart when Frigga started whining and nipping at her hand. Looking at the time Alexis saved the chart and sent her father a message: ‘Hour and a half, our quarters.’

“Alright Frigga. I’m done. Let’s go for a walk.” Shebturned off her console and left sickbay. *I’m finally done. Taking Frigga for a walk and then going home. Told my dad an hour and a half.”

Bonner

Got it. was the only response, but forty-five minutes later Kane walked through the doors of their quarters. “How’s work?” he asked as he stripped off his uniform top and walked into the bedroom.

Kane

Alexis had already changed into soft leggings and a knee length off the shoulder shirt. She was playing with Frigga who seemed a bit wound up. Her gaze followed him until he disappeared through the door. “No emergencies. Mostly routine. My surgical patient seems to be doing well. Probably will remain on bed rest. Did you manage to shrink the power cell?”

Bonner

“Yeah.” he said from the other room. “About thirty percent. And with the weight decrease, I was able to pair the dermal contacts with neural impulse detectors. Makes finding the right wavelength a ton easier and faster.”

He came out wearing jeans and a t shirt with four Earth English Letters and four numbers on it: CBGB 1973

Kane

“Finding the frequency faster is good. focused exposure to the incorrect frequency could cause headaches or vertigo. Will the final be calibrated by hand for each individual or more self automated? How long do you think it can be worn?” She tugged a toy away from Frigga and tossed it in the opposite direction and then looked up at him, “CBGB?”

Bonner

“Final will be by hand, but it should find the wavelengths close enough to make that easy. Could be worn a few hours without side effect. Country, Blue Grass, and Blues. It was a club back in the 20th century on Earth. New York City. Contrary to its name, it was a punk bar. It was the punk bar.” Kane looked at the chronometer and said “Fifteen minutes. You okay?”

Kane

“Did you visit there when you were at the Academy?” Alexis had this mental image of Kane out ‘punking’ everyone in the bar that made her grin. Though she had no idea what ‘punk’ actually was. Alexis took the toy that Frigga brought back and she tossed it again. She glanced at the chronometer as well. “Yeah, I think so, but also not really. I don’t see how it could be any more uncomfortable.” It was easier when she was too much in her own head to notice her mother hated her. But Alexis wouldn’t go back to that. She would miss too much.

Frigga took the toy to Kane attempting to play keep away. Despite half an hour in the arboretum the dog still had an abundance of energy.

Bonner

Kane laughed. “No, hun… thst place is historic, doesn’t exist anymore. Closed in the early years of the 21st century. And don’t challenge the situation. As soon as you do, it will get more uncomfortable for sure.” Kane e took the toy and began playing tug-of-war with Frigga, but he spun her in circles one way, then another. Five minutes non-stop and soon she was panting. She let go of the toy, went to drink water, and then walked over and flopped down in her dog bed. Kane chuckled as he watched her. “Hey, you asked for it.”

Kane

Alexis laughed. Frigga watched him, tail sweeping slowly back and forth and the sighed heavily. “She’ll be back, you know. Just because it’s historic and closed doesn’t mean that you didn’t go see where it was. I bet given the chance you’d be a closet tourist.” Alexis stood and went to the counter to get her glass. “Yeah, I know.”

The chime rang and Alexis let out a sigh. “Enter.” The door slid open and Anthony walked through the door. He glanced around and spotted Frigga, on her side, tongue hanging out, panting heavily. Anthony chuckled. “She looks like she had fun.” Anthony made his way over to Alexis and hugged her, a lot tighter than he normally did.

He looked like he hadn’t slept much to Alexis. “Sit down. Do you want coffee?” She didn’t ask, knowing he would say when he was ready. That was how Alexis was. Maybe her father wasn’t naturally that way, but he was with Alexis.

“Cheerwine. I don’t think I can stomach more coffee.” He turned toward Kane and shrugged slightly as he sat in a chair. “What’s Borcheck working on right now?” It wasn’t small talk. Anthony would be taking the wayward scientist with him and it was a consideration to handle before they left. Working those details until he was ready to discuss the purpose of his visit. If they weren’t on board with Alexis he would just wait until it was over.

“Transport welding tritanium can cause micro-fissures in the metal. Those micro-fissures cause metal fatigue and give contaminants a place to hide and grow. Since tritanium is used both in star ship design and medical equipment, its a real concern. Borchek is working on a means to simultaneously weld and fill the fissures. But he’s way off track and headed in entirely the wrong direction. But he’s got tunnel vision and won’t listen to input.” Kane said as he waited for Alexis.

Anthony was quiet while he thought. He knew someone he could have check over Borcheck’s work. “Is that a project you want to keep in house here or can he take it with him to work on and resubmit for your approval later?”

Alexis got 3 drinks and set them on the low coffee table and sat leaving room for Kane beside her.

Bonner

Kane sat down and said “So… you look like crap. That means a long night. Do tell.” and he picked up his glass and handed Anthony his.

Kane

Taking the glass, Anthony drank from it for several moments. He didn’t quite smirk at Kane’s remark. His bluntness was rather refreshing, especially after the previous night. Anthony liked him. He rested the glass on the arm of his chair. “Allison wants a divorce.” His gaze flicked to Kane before returning to Alexis. Allison had been cruel and blamed everyone but herself for her u happiness. Especially Alexis and then Anthony. “Given normal circumstances I would be inclined to give her her way. I won’t make her stay with me if she is that unhappy.” Apparently Cmdr Forbes would be happy to take his place, according to Allison anyway. He didn’t buy it. “Allison thinks that threatening to make things difficult for Alexis and you will make me give her whatever she wants.”

Anthony

Kane listened and when Anthony finished, he looked at Alexis and gave her a small half-smile and wink with his hair-covered eye. He looked back at Anthony and said “Lex and I thought she might pull that card. Not a smart move on her part. Especially for someone so concerned with her social standing and image.” He looked at Lex and said “Wanna tell him?”

Kane