Various - Day 16 - Afternoon - private/unfinished

[nurse_cchapel]

Walking along the hallway to her quarters, Christine rubbed one hand across the back of her neck. She was achy and tense and exhausted. The aftermath of the Enterprise's first mission had consumed her every waking minute, it seemed, in addition to turning minutes that were supposed to be sleeping minutes into waking ones. For two nights in a row

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[nurse_cchapel]

Replacing things in her kit, Christine shot a smile at her self-proclaimed 'awkward patient.' "Last I spoke to Mr. Scott, you're due for the afternoon shift tomorrow," she said, sealing the kit back up. "I'll let you work it on a few conditions: no climbing into that mess of pipes and wires someone decided was a safe design for a ship, no getting into fights, and if the pain is unbearable, you sit down and make someone call Sickbay." Despite the smile, her face plainly said she wasn't kidding about this. She wanted to hear about the first sign of trouble.

"Don't mention it, Cassie. I understand and respect your privacy on the matter, though I do suggest you talk to the doctor at some point soon. Yours is the last file I've got to update," she added with a soft laugh, just enough to let MacArthur know this was all right. "And I think we make fine friends, sweetheart." With most of her time spent with the other medical staff and her only real interactions outside of Sickbay with the odd yeoman she'd gotten close to over time, having a new friend in this engineer certainly would not go amiss.

[engine_girl]

Cassie grinned and said, "Thanks. I'm glad that you're going to let me go back to work. I have enjoyed the bit of down time that I've had, BUT there's only so much time that I want to spend in here. And at least I don't have to worry about facing The Chief. As far as I remember I didn't have a go at him."

Shifting on the bed, she winced a little."I'm not planning to go picking fights. The way that I'm feeling, I'm more likely to be walking away hurridly blushing." she couldn't help giggle at that thought as she continued, "And I promise that if it gets too much for me, I will let you know. I will admit that I can take a bit of pain, but I 'aint going to be a martyr to it."

"I'm glad that we're friends And if you ever need anyone to talk to, then please come and find me." Cassie really meant it. While she was happy to chat to people on board, she wouldn't say that she found making friends that easy. So having Christine's friendship meant a lot to her.

[nurse_cchapel]

Watching MacArthur sit up and move around a bit, Christine noticed a wince, which could easily have been caused by pain or uncomfortable memories. Assuming the worst, she gave a frown. "How's the side feeling? Most of the pain should be out of it, but if it's still unbearable, there might be a few more tricks I can pull." Might involve a trip to Sickbay and sneaky use of that one machine she wasn't too sure of herself on, but she would do it.

Nevertheless… Christine rested her hand on the engineer's shoulder. There was something warm about the woman that she could see being nice, in times of stress. "Thanks, Cassie, I'll keep that in mind."

[engine_girl]

Cassie felt her touch on her shoulder. It felt nice that she was willing to do that. She reached up and put her hand on Christine's and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Then she got around to admitting the truth. She wanted to be able to say that she was ok, BUT that would be an outright lie. Whatever was going on inside her still hurt. Ok, not as much as it did, but it was still hurting. She guessed that now was the time to admit the truth.

"I really don't want to say this but it does still hurt. Not as much as it did, but it's still hurting more than I'd like. If there is anything that you can do to make it hurt even less, I would be happy to let you try." She said with a smile.

[nurse_cchapel]

Christine chewed on her bottom lip. This was venturing into dangerous territory. To have just left the medical bay and to be returning - and not just returning, but sneaking in a patient whose file didn't say anything was wrong with her, too - was cause for suspicion. Oh, she could work her way around Leonard easy enough, since Cassie would have to talk to him eventually, anyway; it was just those damn Starfleet Medical jerkoffs that would give her grief. Honestly, what did they know about discretion and the value of privacy on a starship? Not one of them had ever spent any amount of time in space, save for a few diplomatic-type medical missions. If a crew was going to spend years together in confined quarters, respect needed to pull even with health on the list of things important to not only the medical staff, but the whole crew.

She was dead tired, too, but… what the hell.

"Come on, Cassie," Christine said, picking up her things and heading for the door. "Let's go for a walk."

[engine_girl]

Cassie looked at her and said, "Hang on a moment. I'll just pop on my uniform. I look a right mess in my Academy sweats and at least it wont look quite so suspicious if I walk in to sickbay with you in uniform right?"

Standing up she moved to get ready and stopped for a moment. It was now that she realized why she had spent the last two days in her Academy sweats. It was far easier than trying to put on her damned uniform.

"Err sorry to ask this Christine, but could you give me a hand." She said with an slightly embarrassed grin.

[nurse_cchapel]

Ah, uniform to diminish suspicion. Engineers were always surprising Christine with their cleverness, it seemed. She had moved to stand almost impatiently next to the door while MacArthur had stood up. At the request, though, Christine deposited her things on the nearest surface, flashed her 'I'm a nurse and I'm here to help' smile and said, "Sure thing, sweetheart."

[engine_girl]

Cassie giggled as Christine helped her in to her uniform.

" God, This makes me feel like I'm a kid again." She thought.

Eventually, with Christine's help, she managed to get dressed.

"If Doctor McCoy is around I promise that I will try to speak to him ok. I would like to get that over and done with so that I don't have it on my mind" Cassie moved to head to the door with a grimace.

[nurse_cchapel]

Christine nodded as she followed the engineer to do the door, picking the stimulator and her kit up on the way. "Sounds good to me," she commented idly. Conflict resolution, she knew, was just as essential to a functioning starship crew as respect was. So conflict with the CMO is the last thing she suggests having hang around, if only so she didn't have to deal with it.

Stepping into sync with MacArthur once they got out into the corridor, she let the older woman set the pace. She didn't need the support she had the last time the duo had trekked these halls, but pain was still obvious in her motions. At the lift, Christine offered a quick rest without saying expressly so. Stepping in between MacArthur and the call button, she asked, "How are you holding up?"

[engine_girl]

Cassie winced and said, "Not bad. But could be better and I really hope that I don't have to cough any time soon!"

She tried to pull herself completely upright and really wished she hadn't.

[nurse_cchapel]

After calling the lift, Christine turned to give her patient-friend a sympathetic smile that somehow transformed into a series of generic, meaningless reassurances. Nurses, she realized, somewhat abstractly, spent the better part of their time just being nice and helpful, instead of actually healing. As this was an almost disheartening thought, she stopped the babble as she stepped onto the lift after MacArthur.

Grabbing a handle, she gave a verbal command and pursed her lips as they were transported to the deck the medical department was on.

Just outside of Sickbay, Christine held up a hand to make her companion pause. "Just a minute," she said, "I have to check on something first."

[engine_girl]

Cassie looked at her freind. She knew that she was making life difficult for her, but right now there was nothing she could do.

As they were about to walk in to sickbay Christine stopped her. Cassie did as she was told but wondered what was going on.