Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Sickbay- Gathering the Pieces
The moment Leah stepped out of Roman’s room, she affixed a mask of ease upon her face and forced herself down the corridor. Each step seemed increasingly harder until she finally slipped through the doors into the medical bay. Leah stepped to the side, face drawn, and leaned against the wall. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. Innnn. Ouuuuuuut. Innnn. Ouuuuuuuut.

It wasn’t Roman and his situation that she was struggling with, even if trauma processing and suicidal patients took a lot of physical and mental energy. More than anything it was the similitude between their families that had triggered her own responses. She was too good at her job and too practiced at maintaining a professional mask where needed to let her issues interfere with the work they were doing together. That did not mean, however, that Leah wasn’t having her mother’s incessant criticism running in a loop in her mind just now. She had done some work to negate the narcissistic abuse, but at the end of the day it wasn’t something you could entirely escape. She could only work to ensure it didn’t take her down. Most days, it could. Today it would not. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t feeling emotionally fragile in this moment.

In short she needed a break. A chance to take a breath and check in with herself before she and Roman continued the hard work. They were close in certain ways and so far away in others, but she truly was proud of his progress. He had no idea what huge steps he had taken already. And yet, she knew he wasn’t in a good enough place to release him. He wasn’t ready.

“Doctor Hart, are you alright?”

Leah smirked, eyes still closed. Nurse Cappet. There was only one person who called her ‘doctor’ here, because she was in fact a doctor wth a PhD. But the confusion between that and the medicallylicensed doctors was too confusing in medical settings, so it was standard for NPs to be called ‘Nurse’. She was okay with that. She wasn’t ashamed of being a nurse. She enjoyed her work. “I’m okay, Sienna. Just need to take a breather before I go make a call on behalf of a patient.”

“Okay, if there’s anything you need, just let me know, alright?”

Sienna didn’t seem convinced, and Leah couldn’t blame her. Still, Leah nodded. “I will.”

She remained there for a few minutes, before moving further into Sickbay. She saw that Kreed’s office was empty, so she went in and sat at the desk. She had the computer look up Henry and Maryann Caliano.

~Leah Hart, NP

Henry was ex-Fleet, a Captain. He’d retired about twenty years ago, reason given, his family needed him. Captain Caliano had a fantastic fleet record with several awards and commendations. He’d been an Engineer and moved up through the ranks. He was in seventies now, but still had numerous contacts within the Fleet.

He had one child, Jason Caliano, a Lieutenant in Starfleet until five years ago when he passed in the line of duty, in a Klingon attack on the USS Ardent. Jay’s file listed his injuries and the cause of death of succumbing to numerous burns over a large body area. He’d died before the Ardent was found and the remaining crew rescued.

Maryann Caliano was nothing more than a military spouse. Henry’s wife since the two of them were in their twenties, she had waited patiently for him back on Earth during his career, doing clerical work and such things. She’d taken care of Jay on her own until Captain Caliano retired.

The Calianos were easily reachable by communication device, they still lived in the same home in Salisbury, England. Maryann didn’t always answer, but Henry always did. A habit he gained during his service.

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO