Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Things We Don’t Tell Our Loved Ones

Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim: The Things We Don’t Tell Our Loved Ones

Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Things We Don’t Tell Our Loved Ones
Posted by… suppressed (19) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
“There is no logic in that train of thought.” Solal commented, shielding his eyes just before the light brightened. “You need to take care of yourself before you attempt to take care of others. I would tell any patient that.” He continued as Achilleas began picking things up. He didn’t have the energy to do much more than attempt to talk Achilleas out of cleaning up after him.

~ Solal

“Would you tell your patients to come in for a check-up if they had shortness of breath, decreased appetite, lethargy, headaches, and trouble focusing?” Achilleas countered while he continued to clean up Solal’s quarters.

CSO Petrakos

“I would. And I’ve been in for those things.” Solal replied simply. “Those on that desk are my nebuliser treatments, for use when the shortness of breath gets too bad, the headaches are treated with OTC pain medication, and the trouble focusing can’t be resolved until an effective treatment can be found. The lack of appetite is to be monitored.” He yawned and lay his head back on the pillow. “The lethargy also cannot be solved until it can be treated. You could go clean your own quarters instead of mine.”

~ Solal

“You’ve been in for those things now perhaps.” Achilleas said as he moved about picking up, sorting, wiping down and generally cleaning in an efficient and brisk manner. “What would be illogical is for me to stop now when I’ve already made a lot of progress. I’m half-ish done with the living and dining area and your bedroom is certainly smaller. I’ll be done in just a jiffy. While I finish this up why don’t you tell me about how you haven’t contacted your parents in months?”

CSO Petrakos

“I’ve been in now whereas you still haven’t seen a psych.” Solal commented. He glanced at Achilleas at the mention of his parents, and then looked back to the ceiling. There was a short silence. “You saw my letter?”

~ Solal

“I did see a psych though, Doctor Grayson actually.” Achilleas said. Solal didn’t think he’d be reinstated as CSO with his boarding evaluation completed did he? Not that he was completely forthright with her. “I didn’t mean to read it but my memory is good and my reading is fast. A glance was all it took.”

CSO Petrakos

“Grayson is supposed to be good.” Solal said with a shrug. “Huh. Reading that fast is a remarkable talent.” He was trying to deflect away from the question of his contact with his parents. “Your quarters look about how you said Kane’s office did yet you’d rather clean my room.”

~ Solal

“Reading that fast is decent especially when science journals need to be consumed on a regular basis.” Achilleas said as he poked his head back into the bedroom. “And your quarters are looking much better now. Why have you not contacted your parents?”

CSO Petrakos

“I haven’t had the energy nor focus to write a letter.” Solal said, hoping that would be a good enough answer. Then he began to pull himself out of bed. He wasn’t going to let someone else do all the cleaning in his space. It seemed wrong somehow to let Achilleas do that. He sat on the edge of the bed a moment. Just dragging his sorry behind out of bed felt like a herculean task.

~ Solal

“And subspace calls aren’t a thing at all.” Achilleas responded with his face and voice deadpan. He went back to cleaning before Solal started to get out of bed. “I’m sure you could record a short video message in a way that masks most of your symptoms. You know that not contacting them will end up making things worse in the long run right?”

CSO Petrakos

“They’re both doctors, Achilleas. And the two of them might as well be telepathic. They’d know.” Solal replied. He could never get away with anything with those two. It was a wonder they weren’t part Betazoid. “I’ll get better and then contact them and tell them I was extraordinarily busy.” He said as if it were the most logical solution in the world. He hadn’t told them about V’alura either and that gave him more time to find a way to cross that bridge too.

~ Solal

“So, better to completely lie about it after the fact, when they’re overwrought with worry from not hearing from you in who knows how long it’ll take until you’re better, than to let them know now where they’ll be aware of why you aren’t as communicative. Yes, that seems like such a splendid plan.” Achilleas said with as much sarcasm as he could pack into his voice. He wanted to have no misunderstandings about how he thought it was a terrible idea without outright calling Solal a baffoon.

CSO Petrakos

Heaving himself off the bed with a sigh and a grunt, Solal gave Achilleas a look. He steadied himself with the end table and then stooped to pick up a pile of dirty laundry. “How many times did you contact your family..” he took a breath, “from Starfleet Medical?” He set the laundry in the overfull hamper and then took a seat in a nearby chair. “They would only worry. They have other things to focus on.” Or worse, they’d do something illogical like drop everything and rush out here to see him.

~ Solal

“I was not allowed to contact my family until the 8th month of my… stay.” Achilleas responded with a bit of irritableness in his voice. “Once I was able to we talked weekly. My mother sometimes called more often. I recognize now why letting me call anyone earlier on would have been a bad idea but it did not help my early rehabilitation. Among other chaotic feelings and thoughts running through me at the time, I had a very deep sense of resentment.” He picked up the hamper and brought it to the cleaning unit. “I’m not going to speculate on the likelihood of your treatment but think about this because it was on my mind often, how much time do we have left with our loved ones? Wouldn’t it be better to maximize the time you have left? Illness or not your parents won’t be around forever and neither will you.”

CSO Petrakos

“I am Vulcan, and based on genetic information gained through testing my parents did upon my adoption, I will most likely live the life span of a Vulcan. I accepted long ago they will pass long before me,” Solal replied with a shrug. “I don’t plan on never speaking to them again. Just until I’m a little healthier.”

~ Solal

“Uggghhh…” Achilleas audibly groaned. Was Solal being intentionally daft or difficult? He placed the clothes into the cleaning unit, shut the door to it a bit too forcefully, then started it up. “Even more so that you should cherish the time they have left! You’ll have much longer to live with regret if you don’t capitalize on it now.”

CSO Petrakos

“What are a few months in the scheme of sixty to a hundred and twenty years?” Solal said. “Regret is an emotion I hope to be rid of when I get rid of this disease.” He stood again, slowly, and began trying to pick up the desk. In a fit of uncoordinated dizziness though, he knocked several things to the floor. He struggled to contain his frustration as he bent down to pick the things up.

~ Solal

Achilleas finally got fed up with Solal and approached him. After Solal had picked up the things and stood back up, Achilleas took him by the shoulders and turned him so that they were facing. “You listen to me very carefully Solal. You know how I have twelve brothers and sisters? My dad, who is the only living child of my grandparents, was the only one who didn’t join Starfleet among his siblings. They all died during our war with the Dominion. It’s one of the reasons why I have so many siblings and that I’m the only one in Starfleet. Not that they wouldn’t be crushed if I died but because our whole line won’t die out if I do. Now I know this seems like a meandering topic but the point I’m trying to make is that family is important and I think leaving them in the dark is doing yourself a disservice. Though you may be adopted it can be argued that your bond is stronger than those related by blood because they chose you. They can provide an emotional support that I cannot, no matter how much you’ll protest and deny that you need it. The initial anxiety that may come from informing them will be worth it for the love and support I’m sure they’ll give in return.”

CSO Petrakos

Achilleas’ hands fit all the way over Solal’s thin shoulders. He was gently turned until he was facing Achilleas, studying his face with a tired expression. Unsure of the reason for this story, he listened politely until the end, at which point he studied Achilleas’ feet and then the ground instead. “I don’t need a lecture on my parents’ love.” He commented quietly. “I don’t want them to worry. Or to drop everything and risk rushing out here.”

~ Solal

Achilleas studied Solal in return before he patted one of his shoulders then stepped back to give them space. His level of frustration was through the roof and he needed to take a literal step back to keep from shaking him. “Maybe you don’t need a lecture. But then maybe that’s not the point of what I’m trying to get at. I said all of that personal family history to try and provide some background on how I view family. I know for a fact that they would hop on a shuttle or a freighter and come make sure I was okay had I not been transferred back to Earth. How I would explain to the Captain why some of my family was going be sticking around for awhile is beyond me.” He sighed as he tried to distill his motivation for this into its purest form. “I get that you and I are very different people with different methods of coping with stressors and other such things. I just know that I would regret leaving them out of the loop were I in your situation. I don’t want that to happen to you. But if you insist that it won’t then I’ll drop the subject.”

CSO Petrakos

Solal looked quite conflicted, still not meeting Achilleas’ gaze, and shrugged awkwardly. He couldn’t say he wouldn’t, not even to end this conversation. He might regret it. He didn’t know. But as it was he just didn’t want to worry them and make them come out which he was sure they would do. “I… I don’t know. I don’t think V’alura’s mom knows either.”

~ Solal

“And that’s something for her to deal with and decide.” Achilleas said softly. “Look, I don’t want to force you to write or call your parents. I just would like for you to give it some thought with the context I’ve given. I know my parents would have wanted to know sooner because they said as such even if they couldn’t have helped.” He turned and went back to collect the now clean clothes.

CSO Petrakos

Solal nodded and then shrugged. “I’ll think about it.” He still didn’t think he was going to do it, but now he felt worse about not doing it. He sat back down on the bed. “I just want to be able to sleep.”

~ Solal