Every Dok has a doctor...or at least a doctor's son

[shut_up_wesley]

Who: Wesley and Dok
What: A rather curious, if worrying reunion
Where: Dok's house
When: Mid-Afternoon
Rating: PG
Status: Incomplete/Closed

Comments

[ridokulous]

The night before, Dok had arrived home. The only thing he knew as he stood in his driveway, peering up at his house, was that it felt like it had been a while since he'd seen the place. But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? Hadn't he just returned after a long day of exploring the town? That was what he assumed, at least, and it felt plausible, so he didn't dwell too much on it. Of course, if he had, he would find no memory of doing any of that. The truth was that he hadn't been in Aternaville for months -- three to be exact

[shut_up_wesley]

Beep. Beep. Beeeep! Beeeeep!....

Wes had been watching the tri-corder display so long it took a moment for him to realize anything had changed, but the oscillating brain wave pattern spiked suddenly, shooting out of the theta of deep REM and attempting, desperately it seemed to approach consciousness.

"Dok, can you hear me? It's Wes, try to respond." One hand reached out, holding Dok's pale fingers in his. "If you can hear me, try to squeeze my hand, twitch a finger, anything." Dok's heart rate was spiking and Wes cursed the fact that he didn't have a stablizer with him, if just to make sure the man wouldn't go into cardiac arrest.

'No, not going to happen, not on my watch! But, should I risk moving him at this point?

The tri-corder continued to bleat it's warning and Wes licked his lower lip in nervous concern.

'Don't have a choice, he could die at this rate!"Alright, I'm going to take you into the hospital...we'll be there in no time." Steeling himself, Wes thought back to how his mother taught him to carry and unconscious

[ridokulous]

He could hear the question, and he was beginning to pick up more and more of what was going on around him, which he supposed was a good sign. However, when he tried to move his lips to speak, he found that he couldn't

[shut_up_wesley]

Wes did catch the slight movement, but he was more worried about Dok's heart-rate which had increased again, as if the taxed organ were doing it's best to burst right out of his chest. Ignoring the obvious 20th century movie reference that came along with that thought, Wes staggered across the lush, green lawn right up to the emergency room doors of the clinic.

"Dr. Pierce!" He called, knowing that the man was probably in his office. "Doctor, it's Wesley, I need help!" Maybe it was a little dramatic to stumble into the emergency room yelling but the combination of adrenaline and fear pumping through Wesley's body could make him do nothing more. Gritting his teeth, Wes watched as Dok's fingers twitched again... the man was trying to tell him he was in there, somewhere, but couldn't reach him...

[ridokulous]

His heart rate might have slowed if he could have, you know, communicated at all. It was mostly just the feeling of being helpless in his own body that had caused such panic. To know that your body just isn't responding, no matter how much you attempted to order it to do so...it was a scary feeling.

Well, feeling like a burden to his friend didn't really help much either.

Still, he had to wonder exactly why he couldn't wake up. What had happened that caused him--

And there was the dizziness again. Even this time, it was so profound that he nearly blacked out again. Luckily, the fact that Wesley was there kept him in decent enough control that he just managed to get by with his consciousness, forcing himself to calm down at least a little.

Distantly, he couldn't help but think, with no spare amount of exasperated sarcasm, that today was shaping up to be just awesome.

[shut_up_wesley]

When it became obvious that Doctor Pierce wasn't in, or at least, wasn't near-by Wes lowered Dok onto the closest bed in the emergency room and pulled the privacy blinds closed, their sharp metal clak-clak-clak-clak-clak almost deafening in the silence of a place that looked like it hadn't seen real traffic in years. Flipping on a few of the monitors and attaching, particularly, the heart monitor to Dok's thumb as he'd read that it was done, Wes settled into a chair to rest his burning arms. in a few moments he would perhaps go looking for the doctor, but not until he pondered the bizarre case before him--

For some reason, something he read about trauma victims can to mind, that sometimes victims of a terrible shock would lapse into a coma, and the idea of waking would send their body into a panic...was that it, was that what had happened? Suddenly exhausted; arms quaking, Wes let both hands rest on the bed.

'Nothing to do but wait...again...' The young man thought uselessly, eyes roaming around the small, dim space--dark eyes

[ridokulous]

Between the feeling of being placed on the bed and the sound of the privacy blinds clicking closed, Dok was somewhere between relaxed and terrified. He could hear rustling, but wasn't sure if it was the doctor or Wesley. Judging by the fact that no one was being briefed on the situation -- unless the doctor was telepathic, which he wouldn't put past the town, judging by the experiences he'd had so far -- he would guess that he was still alone with Wesley

[shut_up_wesley]

Wesley had, in fact, managed to find Dr. Pierce not long after he'd gotten Dok settled, but the fact remained that there wasn't much to be done--blood samples, maybe, but that was about the extent of it...and the tri-corder would have revealed any blood abnormalities with a scan anyway.

So Wesley had dozed, his head resting on his recovered arms, the steady narration of the documentary a comfort--as if he were back in the lecture halls of Starfleet Academy. It wasn't until something touched his hand that he stirred, bleary-eyed and blinking at the form on the bed.

"Uuuuhh?" Dok groaned, moving his head slowly until their eyes met and Wesley's heart jumped to his throat

[ridokulous]

Luckily, he'd taken a few moments to gather his bearings before turning his head, or else he'd never have been able to answer all those questions. When asked how many fingers Wes was holding up, he blinked and muttered, "Three

[shut_up_wesley]

A lance of worry struck Wes just as he was starting to relax--'what do you mean you don't remember?' Dok was obviously not confused or disoriented--he recognized Wes, knew he was in a hospital--but obviously had no idea how much time had passed

[ridokulous]

Dok blinked when he heard that the last time he'd been seen was exactly the last time he'd remembered being here. It was startling to think that he'd just lost three months of his life. While it wasn't necessarily uncommon for him to have his brain tinkered with while under Millennium's employ, it had never been like this. Back then, it was just brainwash. He had never had his memory as wiped as it was now, and definitely not covering such a long span of time

[shut_up_wesley]

It was obvious the gap in his memory was really bothering Dok, and something about his expressions as he thought to himself made wes think that he already had an idea or two about what had happened, but if thinking about the experience made him ill, Wes had no intention of forcing him to talk about it. Instead, he only shook his head.

"I was just in the right place in the right time to help, that's all. The same with you...I wouldn't have noticed the door was open if I hadn't walked home from school the direction I did." It made Wes feel awkward, any time someone complimented him like that--they both seemed such small deeds compared to things he'd done in the past. "I'll stay here as long as Dr. Pierce lets me," he promised, inching the chair he sat in a little closer to the bed. Dok would be scared of being alone after all of this

[ridokulous]

The idea of not being alone at a time like this was immeasurably comforting. It wasn't exactly that he would be afraid if he was -- though, perhaps there was a little of that -- it was more that having Wesley around made the whole thing seem much less awful. It was an invaluable feeling to have

[shut_up_wesley]

Suddenly all of Dok's odd behavior from the moment they met made sense at the phrase "what I was made to do..." and a shudder of pity went through Wesley. He knew that there were a lot of people that found their way, or made their way to Aternaville to escape their pasts and whatever had happened to Dok must have been awful. So awful, in fact, that the slightest act of kindness had him weeping openly.

"Not ridiculous at all..." Wes strained, his heart breaking a little at a time as the implications of Dok's confession were made clear. There didn't seem to be a day in the man's life that he once believed he had control over his own fate...at least until he arrived in town. "I...missed you too!" No longer caring who saw or what they might think, Wes all but pushed past Dok's hand, wrapped both arms around his chest and hugged him tightly. So much had happened since Dok had left--Dairine vanishing and not telling him, that horrible, horrible alternate timeline which he still remembered so vividly, mostly because it played off his

[ridokulous]

The monitor behind them sounded, giving away how erratic his heartbeat had become, and how it skipped to hear how strained the boy's voice was. At least he wasn't alone in that regard.

Never had that been more apparent than when Wesley spoke again.

"I...missed you too!"Those words, coupled with the emotion behind them, struck Dok almost entirely dumbfounded. So much so that it took him a moment to react to the hug itself when it happened. When he did, though, it was as though someone had opened a floodgate. His arms found their way -- cautiously, to make sure that nothing attached to him got displaced -- around Wesley. It was gentle at first, but soon became a little tighter, almost like he didn't want to let him go. He couldn't even be bothered to attempt remembering the last time anyone was this close to him -- physically and figuratively -- since he knew that he would find nothing if he did

[shut_up_wesley]

It took Wesley some time to convince his own body that Dok wouldn't disappear again if he let him go, and when they finally did release each other, Wes was sniffling a little but smiling, ear to ear. He didn't want to tell Dok what had happened while he was gone, but to save it...for a time when he was rested and they could talk about everything and maybe, just maybe Dok would tell him what his own past had been like. Even if he didn't though, Wes figured that would be just as well, especially if this was the closest to starting over the other man could get