Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Years Past - Meeting Her Crush… But Not That Kind Of Crush

Posted by Lieutenant Kreed (Chief Medical Officer) in Years Past - Meeting Her Crush… But Not That Kind Of Crush

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Years Past - Meeting Her Crush… But Not That Kind Of Crush
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Leah grinned. “Hmm, well I’m ethnically Spanish and I grew up with a lot of Spanish dishes mixed in with other foods we had access to on Aldebaran Three. But my family comes from a couple regions and my mother was always very insistent about sharing family recipes. So given these regions, there’s a lot of grilled seafood and meats, olives and olive oil, vegetables, and rice. My favourite dishes have always been paella, a Spanish omelette we call tortilla, a cold soup called gazpacho, and small sharing dishes called tapas are quite common before, after, or during a meal. But right now, I’m going to go grab myself tortilla and some salad. Since Mr. Dawes has your food sorted, did you want me to grab you anything to drink?”

~Leah Hart, NP

“Water, please.” he said.

A moment after he was left alone, a pair of Medical Cadets approached the table. “Excuse us, but aren’t you Ensign Kreed?” one, a Caitan, asked. Kreed looked up and said “I am, yes. May I help you, Cadet?” They seemed nervous, but said “I… I just wanted to know what it was like being awarded the Drakon Cluster. I mean, the Academy hadn’t awarded that in almost a decade! Surly it was incredible, right?!” Kreed took a deep breath and said “Yes, Cadet. The experience is one I will most surely never forget.”

Kreed

From the food synthesizer Leah used the program card to order her_tortilla_and grabbed a garden salad from the ones on offer with a basic oil and red wine vinaigrette. She watched the cadets swarm Kreed and that breath almost seemed like he was drawing patience from somewhere as d slightly exasperated. But she reminded herself to be careful not to apply Human emotions and body language to another species. Still, after she grabbed water for them both, she moved back to the table with a subtle air of authority. “Cadets,” she greeted evenly as she set the tray down and took her seat.

~Leah Hart, NP

Kreed looked at Hart and nodded his head once. “Cadrts, if you will excuse us. Nurse Hart and I-” and another Cadet stepped forward and blurted out “Tell us what it was like when the Command Admiral of Star Fleet came to see you!” and another said “Is it true you are meeting the President of the Federation?” and still another said “Is it true you are being awarded the Medal of Honor?!” Kreed looked at Hart and exhaled slowly.

Kreed

“That’s enough,” Leah said with a tone that brooked no argument. “I understand you are curious, but you are overstepping and Ensign Kreed and I are in an important meeting. And if my words don’t convince you I’m serious, these should,” she added, tapping the Lt (j.g) stripes of her uniform.

~Leah Hart, NP

The cadets all stopped and looked momentarily stunned before one said “Oh… uh… sorry. Ma’am! Sorry ma’am! We’ll be on our way.” and they shooed the other cadets away. Kreed looked at Hart and said “Thank you. I know after I recover there are plans to present me in such a way as to illicit… well… that exact reaction; but right now, it’s just tedious and exhausting.”

Kreed

She nodded as she took her seat. “I don’t blame you,” Leah said matter-of-factly. “And you’re welcome. I’ve been a nurse long enough to not care if random people like me, so long as the person in my care is okay. I’m a bit protective,” she said. More like she’d physically block people if she had to, and she had had to in a few occasions. But the odd bruise, sprain or hell, even once a broken finger, we’re all a part of the job, and that had only gotten more true after she left the ER for psychiatric care. Though her patients were often more dangerous to her than the people who came to see them.

“Do you understand why they are among such a fuss over you?” She asked before cutting into the tortilla and piping a bite into her mouth.

~Leah Hart, NP

Kreed shrugged and was about to speak when the manager came back with a bowl of wriggling, small grubs. Kreed nodded his thanks and picked up a pair of chopsticks and ate one. “Thank you, they are excellent.” he said and the manager smiled and walked away. Kreed moved the grubs around with rhe tips of the chopsticks as he spoke. “I know why, yes. ButbI do not understand why. Again, I think it is a difference in perspective. They-” and he tilted his head towards the ground of cadets who had moved away but kept glancing his direction and whispering, “- see it as something extraordinary. Command sees it as something ‘heroic’. The reporters see it as something brave.” He picked up a grub, looked at it, dropped back in the bowl and picked out another and ate it “I see it as I did what I was supposed to do, what Star Fleet had trained me to do. I don’t u derstand why doing what they expected is special.”

Kreed

Leah considered him, nodded and smiled softly, considering how to explain it. “There are many cultures that have mythology about heroes, about people who do what are considered to be great things. The thing is Kreed, despite what we are taught as Starfleet officers, about duty, honour and risk, most people really don’t have to test their courage to such an extreme. So those cadets are in awe because you embody everything they are being told they should live up to. And, the shadow side of this is as well that because you are an example of what Starfleet wants for its personnel, they want that to be visible. That’s unfair to you, because you’re a person, Kreed, not a marketing brochure. But it is something that does happen, because at the end of the day they know hero worship can bond people together. Potential officers and crew might see what you did and go ‘wow, I hope I can be like that someday’, and the reality is that we all hope that they never have to find out themselves what they would do in your situation. These things all conflict and still exist at the same time.”

~Leah Hart, NP

Kreed pondered her words while he ate silently for a minute or two. He then looked at her and said “I u drrstand the need for the propaganda. No organization the size of the Federation and Star Fleet could survive without it. No, that is not what I do not understand. What I don’t understand is why are they surprised by what I did? Why is doing whatever it takes to ensure the best possible outcome for those around you… the exception? Isn’t that the overall spirit of the entirety of the UFP? At least… it’s supposed to be.”

Kreed

She ate a bite of her salad and then set down her fork, folding her arms in front her her and gazing deeply at Kreed. “Yes, that is what we are supposed to do, but rarely does it require such an all encompassing potential sacrifice. Kreed, I know in your mind you were just following a logical set of steps, but really if you step back and look at it, what you did was extraordinary. They don’t give medals for expected actions, they given them for going above and beyond. It should never have been down to just you, but it was. And in the face of that, your rose above and did what you had to. That takes courage. And so yes, they honour that courage because they can’t ask us to put our lives on the line each time we put our uniform on without recognizing the potential for sacrifice.

~Leah Hart, NP

Kreed shrugged. “Perhaps.” He thought a moment and then said “I think the circumstances were extraordinary. But I would like to believe that most of us would have e done the same in my position. You, for example. I have no doubt that had you been on the Taliskar and been able… you would have done what I did. Perhaps even better than I did, I do not know. But I do believe that everyone is capable of such. That is one of the reasons I became a doctor. To ensure that there will always be someone there to do the expected during the extraordinary.”

Kreed