Sickbay -- Day 14 (Midday) -- [Semi-private/Unfinished]

[my_god_man]

The first thing Leonard did when he was alone, finally alone and safe -- he resisted a bitter snort at that thought -- was take a shower. Wash off all the sweat, the booze, the sex from the night before. He wasn't gonna think about the night before. Wasn't sure what to think about the night before. The night before was still largely living in

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[nurse_cchapel]

When Christine had last left Sickbay, things had been bad, and not in any way a trauma centre should be. Gore and illness and difficult patients, she could manage. Rampant sex fiends… not so much.

As reluctant as she was to see exactly the state of Sickbay, she knew it would have to be cleaned. She also knew that a certain doctor wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than the utmost hygiene in his domain, no small feat for a cleaning crew. Based on this knowledge, she decided she best get down there before she was ordered. No one else was going to do it right.

Whatever she had expected, this was worst. Oh, there were mused bedsheets and medical tools used for things they probably shouldn't've been, just lying around. But there were also emptied cupboards, a few, err, interesting spots of liquids on an assortment of surfaces, and - dear God, how was it even possible to break a monitor that was built in to a table?

And don't even get her started on the smell. A faint, musky odour of sex and sweat was one thing, but this was indescribably bad.

Standing off to the side, surveying the wreckage, was just the person she was expecting to see.

"Doctor McCoy," she said, raising a hand in greeting. Entrance made, Christine picked her way across the littered floor of Sickbay to Leonard. She wore a disgusted expression that seemed destined to stay. No sense acting as if anything she'd seen or heard or been groped by was perfectly all right by her. She was not amused, and she was showing it.

[my_god_man]

Leonard met Christine's appalled expression and raised her one still-present flush. But there was also relief in his eyes to see her. Of all the people helping to keep Sickbay a smoothly running operation, he trusted her the most. And this was saying a lot as he had unshakable faith in his staff. Well, Anderson aside.

Idly he wondered what had happened to the man. Looking about again, he decided he didn't want to know. He wasn't eager to see how this situation could get any worse.

"Nurse Chapel," he returned her greeting with a nod. Grimaced slightly as his neck muscles were still a little stiff. Likely from stress now, as he could feel the relaxant and the painkiller working away. Looking her over, though, he wondered how she'd fared in all this business. "How are you?" he asked carefully, unsure what etiquette called for in a post-compulsory orgy situation. It sure wasn't a lesson his Momma had ever covered.

[nurse_cchapel]

Christine noticed Leonard's grimace and wondered what had caused it. A good guess would probably be a stiff neck or back, judging by his posture. But she didn't ask, because she knew he'd deny it anyway.

"I'm alright," she said instead. "Thankful to be able to leave my quarters without needing a mask and an escape route in case of infected crewmen deciding I looked suitable for their - " Christine coughed. "- endeavours."

There had been a few moments where she'd been tempted to break quarantine and purposely infect herself, just so she'd get something out of the whole situation. But, upon seeing a few awkwardly recovered personnel this morning, she was glad she'd stayed clean.

... Unlike the medical bay. Christine gave it a sad look, then turned her attention back to Leonard. "And how are you?"

[my_god_man]

"You managed to escape the craziness?" he asked with more relief. "I'm real glad to hear that. Lost track of you there 'bout the time we showed up here." Back when 'here' actually resembled a sickbay. Instead of some vacation house on Risa after a week without cleaning service.

And speaking of losing track... Leonard wondered exactly where Christine had been, what she might have seen. He honestly couldn't recall if she'd been part of decon in shuttle bay -- which meant she might have gotten an eyeful of him, or had witnessed Cassie's molestations -- or on one of the biohazard teams. Hell, she could have even been in Sickbay when things got really funky. After Boudicca had infected him, his mind had just gotten... preoccupied. He wasn't sure what bothered him worse. The possibility she'd seen him naked, or had seen him fleeing his duty as a doctor.

"I've fared worse. Seen worse too, but thank god was drunk at the time." Oh, what he wouldn't give to say that now. "Anyway, I don't know if you heard, but we're gonna have company in 'bout another day here. Admiral Pike is coming to assess the damage. I'd like to have as little damage as possible by then." No small feat. He was determined, though, to show the admiral what him and his staff were made of. "So... where you wanna start?"

[nurse_cchapel]

"If by 'escape', you mean 'remain painfully aware of the exact level of wrongness exhibited through the infected crew,' then yes." Christine gave Leonard a small smile. Things may not have seemed so funny the other afternoon, working the decontamination unit in the shuttle bay, and downright disturbing was a better descriptor for her stint in Sickbay after that, but, hot damn, it sure was funny now. Funny in the way where she wanted to drive it from her mind and never think of it again.

Her smile faltered at Leonard's announcement. From the few times she'd met Pike conscious, he was a perfectly fine man, but anyone with the title Admiral on board anytime soon did not seem like such a good thing. "And he's not going to be too impressed if he shows up and Sickbay looks worse than it did after our run-in with those Romulans, is he?"

Christine sighed. "Bio-hazard suits and sorting out what can be salvaged seem as good as place as any to start," she said. "Shall we?"

[my_god_man]

Despite all the many things he was feeling -- and the many things he wasn't allowing himself to feel -- right now, Leonard had to crack a bit of a smile. God, he loved Christine's wit. And her no-nonsense ways.

"Hard to think of anyone bein' impressed by this mess. Except maybe one of them wrong-headed Andorian impressionists," he snorted. Then nodded at her ever-pragmatic approach. Looked at some of the surfaces around them and resisted swearing. Poked open a couple of cabinets instead, until he found some unused surgical gloves. "Ya know it's gonna be a long day's work when you need safety equipment to get to the safety equipment." Handed her a pair. "Just hope the suits are still usable." He'd been thinking in terms of damage, strictly. The idea that someone might have... Oh god, it made his skin crawl. "Eh... so to speak."

Damn, this was gonna be a long shift.

[nurse_cchapel]

Even the tiniest smile from Leonard McCoy, on a day like today, was a victory. It was either he smiled or everyone got a strip torn off of them, and she definitely preferred one alternative to the other.

"Wrong-headed Andorian impressionists, huh?" Christine asked, quirking one eyebrow at her boss and friend. "You're going to have to tell me that story sometime." While he dug around for something, she surveyed her surroundings again, expecting at least one clean surface to lean on. There didn't seem to be one, so she stood still until Leonard handed her a thankfully clean pair of surgical gloves.

… the suits. Oh, god, that hadn't even occurred to her.

She cleared her throat and shifted her weight. "It sounds a bit weird to say, but maybe we should decon the suits before we get started, just to be safe."

[my_god_man]

"I can sum it up easily enough for ya: Unfortunate choice in doctor's office decor. Sucked bein' the new kid in the practice an' havin' little voting sway. Still, coulda been worse. At least I wasn't the receptionist. I think that poor thing wore glasses just so she could take them off."

She had a good point about deconing the gear. "Yeah. Here's hoping the sterilization chamber's still workin'." He didn't want to think about what contaminants they'd be crawling with after this, if they couldn't get it working. With an edge of trepidation, Leonard carefully made his way over to the equipment locker. Stopped to pick up the remains of a lab chair. How anyone had managed to rip it out of its computer station was beyond him.

Briefly, unwillingly, images arose of superhuman displays of strength and speed. Some for the purpose of getting at him, some he'd even performed for the sake of escape. Some... some for nothing more than single-minded, violent, mutual pleasure.

Christ, not now.

He tossed the chair out of their way and continued on. As he expected, the equipment locker had been ransacked. A few suits were scattered about the floor. It was hard to tell their state of sanitation. Only one remained untouched in its sealed case. "You go on an' suit up. I'm gonna see to the sterilization chamber." Leonard hoped that whatever problems he may find were within his limited realm of technical knowledge. From the sounds of things, Engineering was still up to their tits in work.

[nurse_cchapel]

Christine nodded sympathetically, fighting an urge to chuckle at Leonard's story. She could see how that would have made a lasting impression. Pun intended.

When he started to move, she followed him. The more closely she looked at the medical bay, the more fiercely she didn't want to know what visuals she'd missed.

"Honestly, now," she exclaimed when Leonard held the last sterile suit out to her. "I like to think of myself as open minded, but what the hell would possess a person to think this was somehow involved in sex?" The handheld tools, liquids, and non-optimal surfaces, she could stretch her imagination to include, but bio-hazard suits? It would have made things safe, sure, but precluded the contact that had seemed to be many a crewman's goal.

Taking the suit, Christine moved a little ways away, finding a relatively clear spot on the floor. If she was going to topple putting on the suit - it had happened before, when she'd been easily distracted - she refused to land on anything lethal. She tucked the suit under her arm while she fixed her hair, then stepped into it slowly, pulling it on over her blue uniform dress. Thankfully, she maintained her balance.

When she was ready, she looked back to Leonard, as ready to get to work as she'd ever be. "Where do you want me to start?"

[my_god_man]

Somewhere on this ship -- maybe even still in the kitchen -- there was a much used and abused bottle of, ironically, extra virgin olive oil. Leonard felt he couldn't comment on the misappropriation of items for sexual use. He was having enough trouble swallowing as it was now.

No, don't go there with the snark, please don't go there with Christine Chapel stranding right there.

Leonard made a brief, non-committal noise as he turned to tend to the chamber. Hoped he could beat down that flush by the time he had to face Christine again. Or at least get it to the steady level it'd been since stepping in the 'Bay. In a rare moment of luck, he discovered that the chamber was wholly intact and operational. The sex fiends had just decided to use the small enclosure for some really up close and personal. Damn, was nothing sacred? Well, at least sterilizing the chamber itself would be easy enough.

"How 'bout thanking an entity or two of yer choice? The chamber's online! Let's get those other suits in there and start this wash load. I'll scrounge for bio-clean up gear." If they could get enough units set up, a team could be formed. Well, that's if there was anyone left who still knew their ass from their elbow.

[nurse_cchapel]

Since her entrance into the medical bay, Christine had noted the CMO's colour to be slightly more flushed than usual. She chalked it up to exhaustion and left-over adrenaline. But now, something she'd said had caused him to go off like a light. Instead of a faint blush over his strong cheekbones, Leonard, from his forehead to the neck of his undershirt, was practically glowing red. She'd seen dimmer Mardi Gras fireworks.

Christine took advantage of Leonard's turning away from her to compose herself, coughing into her hand and trying to force the smirk off her face. The last thing she needed today was an accusation for insubordination because she was laughing at his obvious discomfort. It was difficult, though, when a man who looked like Leonard McCoy started blushing like a school girl.

"Hallelujah," she said, a sarcastic, but enthused reaction to a healthy chamber. It was a start, at least. It they could get some suits and some staff, they could have Sickbay looking good as new within a few hours. Christine adjusted her gloves and headed across the room, still having to pick careful trails. A thankfully minor amount of shifting supplied her with the bins she'd been in search of. She set the three of them - each clearly labelled for laundry, combustion, or general debris - up in a row in the centre of the room.

As she started with solids on the floor, sorting them into their bins, she said, "You don’t suppose anyone else will be functioning well enough to give us a hand, do you?" She tossed a scanner onto a nearby bed, the beginnings of her pile of things that could need repair. "I don’t exactly fancy doing this all by my little lonesome, you know, Leonard."

[my_god_man]

The other suits loaded in the chamber, Leonard started the sterilization sequence. He had a feeling it'd take a while to find the clean up gear. And sure enough, the Universe still wasn't disappointing him. There wasn't any to be found in the equipment locker, of course. He waded his way over to the storage closets. Nope, nothing there. Maintenance closet? Forget it. He was actually relieved to see all three biolabs still in lockdown, intact. Frustrated, he tried the isolation rooms. Forget that. .... His office? Too easy. Goddamnit!

As he wandered about like an amnesic squirrel in an acorn factory, he called back to Christine. "God, I hope so 'cos I don't fancy it either. I haven't seen Anderson since shuttle landing." And that was perfectly fine with him. "Seen too much of Rousseau. Eh, she might not be up to snuff quite yet. Left Zosto in charge of decon in the shuttle bay an' haven't heard since. Jovan was here until after I... left." Thankfully, he was in his office when that came out. It was a nasty sock to the pride, what he'd done. Oh, he could say up and down to himself how it was the spores and he'd been senseless. Didn't make one lick of difference.

Giving up for the moment, Leonard came back over to Christine. Sighed heavily and dropped down next to her to help out. "Can't find any clean up gear. Looks like it'll be gloves, a towel and elbow grease if we don't find the sweepers at least." That stiff neck was now a stiff neck and shoulders. "Anyway, as soon as we have serviceable suits, I'll put out an APB."

[nurse_cchapel]

Focused mostly on her task, Christine listened to the sounds of the universe playing cruel jokes on her CMO. Today's soundtrack included shifting through messes in search of relatively essential gear and complaining about his AWOL staff. Though, truth be told, she cared about as much about Anderson's whereabouts as Leonard's voice seemed to suggest he did. It took a lot to make her dislike somebody, and that man had done it in record time. Rousseau, though… they'd have to have a girlie chat about that later, when the French nurse has recovered.

When Leonard dropped down beside her, Christine gave him a reassuring smile, though he didn't seem to notice it. Maybe she was really just smiling for her own sake. She nodded at his words; if nothing else, the suits would be a solid start.

"Help would be nice," she admitted, lips quirking. "Think the captain could spare a few yeomans for our cause?"

[my_god_man]

"I'll bribe him with a solid month of real home cookin', if that's what it takes," Leonard promised. And he was serious too, contemplating a possible interruption in 'negotiations' with Boudicca by comming him. Jim would be just as motivated to get things up to snuff for Pike, if not more so. After all, Leonard only stood to lose his job from all this, not a father figure.

He was about to run another suggestion by Christine, mind only half on what he was doing, when movement caught the corner of his eye. What the hell? There shouldn't be anything moving along the floor. Not in Sickbay. Leonard waited and watched the pile of shredded uniforms and privacy drapes. It stared back uncooperatively. Damn, the stress must be getting to him already. Before he could think any further on that, an alarm chimed from the sterilization chamber. The suits were ready.

Time to call in the calvary.

Nodding to Christine, Leonard worked his way over to the comm. Patched into the ship's broadcasting system and announced, "Sickbay to all available medical personnel. Report at once for decontamination procedures. I repeat, all available medical personnel are to report to Sickbay immediately for decon duty. McCoy out."

That done, he made his way back to the chamber, informing Christine, "I'm gonna suit up an' tear this place apart for our gear. This joke was old five days ago." He wanted his sickbay back, damnit.

[nurse_cchapel]

Christine sorted detritus off the floor until she hit the nearest biobed. Just like everything else, it seemed, this was a start. Considering the size of the place, it was going to be a while yet. And she didn't even want to think about the sticky bits yet.

While Leonard sent out the ship-wide communication, Christine kicked her bins toward the main entrance. Just because the two of them had had to wade through piles of goodness-knows-what to get across Sickbay didn't mean everyone else had to. Regardless of whether it was their job or not, it was doubtless that there would be whiners.

Picking a pair of regulation men's underwear off the floor, she made a face, and said, "We are going to have some bushel of fun analyzing samples of those spores. Their neurological effects are unlike anything I've ever seen."

She turned in her crouch to watch Leonard's progress back to the chamber, grumbling the whole way. He was not alone in his sentiment of the whole mess. When he was back working at the chamber, Christine tossed the underwear into the laundry bin, muttered a few choice words, and got back to work.

[my_god_man]

Shit, yeah, Christine was right. Since first coming back into consciousness this morning -- afternoon? -- Leonard's thoughts had been largely linear and on the present. He hadn't really considered what the next five steps would be after Sickbay was back online.

"God, yes," he paused to groan. Looked back to her with a weary but wry smirk. "Well, one good thing about this breakout. We'll have plenty of test subjects to analyze. So long as we can get them ta hold still." So far, he felt like his old self. Injuries and exertions aside, of course. But that might not hold true for everyone. Suddenly, he had a worrisome thought about trying to get Cassie back in here eventually. Testing her, getting her to stop making friendly with Ms. Palms long enough to evaluate. Playing ring-around-the-biobeds while he tried to analyze the data.

He felt his eye twitch. Right. Suiting up now.

Thankfully, all suits appeared to be intact, even if... pre-used. Leonard was satisfied enough with the sterilization, though. He dressed quickly and came back out to Christine as he was donning the hood. The protective gear was a surprising comfort, outside normal expectations. It was insulation against more than just pathogens and bio-waste. He wasn't sure how to describe it yet. It was something to think about later, though. Because in the disturbing stillness of the Medbay, there was a sudden bellow.

Good to know that Tony was still in one loud, lively piece.