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]

Sickbay, thankfully, was more or less empty when Christine went inside, leaving MacArthur in the corridor. Two of the Academic-types from Pike were on the other side of the room from where she was headed. They looked deep in conversation - likely about the disgrace brought on by the Enterprise's medical staff, but that was a bone to pick another day - and she liked it that way. A closed CMO's office door suggested a fuming Southerner on the other side. Well, as long as he stayed there, she wouldn't have to explain herself to him, either.

Quickly she switched out the osteogenic stimulator for the tiny tool that looked more like a stylus than anything else. A crash course in using it during the rescue crisis gone wrong didn't really qualify her to use it, but Christine Chapel was nothing if not a quick student. Grabbing the accompanying gel, she walked out of Sickbay with the same ease with which as she had entered. Mission: accomplished.

In the hall, she flashed her waiting patient a smile and quirked her head down the hall. "Let's go," she said, "We're not going to be interrupted down in the bio-research lab." Regulations be damned.

[engine_girl]

Cassie nodded and prepared to follow her and said, "Ok, I'm with you."

She wondered what was going on in sickbay at the moment. And what was going on in Christine's mind. Cassie knew that what she has asked her to do had broke more than a few rules but she would be the one to face the music for that with a certain CMO. She wasn't going to let her face that one alone.

[nurse_cchapel]

The lab Christine was thinking of was one that had been used not even once since their mission officially started, though she'd overseen it as a triage station during the Battle of Vulcan. It was more a place for standard science than medicine, but it did have a chair that could be adjusted to a bed-like surface.

Leading the way but noting where her companion was behind her and adjusting her pace accordingly, Christine was thankful for the lack of personnel in the area. An ensign, she could dismiss with a cool glance, but a lieutenant? Not so much. And she dreaded to think of what would happen if someone like Commander Spock caught her sneaking around like this. Hell, the way Leonard tells it, Kirk was kicked off the ship for less.

At the lab, she gave her clearance code to enter and found it, just as she'd suspected, empty. Setting her things down on a workspace, Christine nodded at the chair. "Take a seat," she told MacArthur. "And promise to forget that we're using this room for something other than research and testing."

[flubber2kool]

"Well you could always say that you were researching the use of this technique and that I was a willing test subject." She winked at Christine as she sat down.

[nurse_cchapel]

Christine laughed nervously, shaking her head. "I doubt that would look much better on my service record," she said. "Technique experimentation without consent of a department head and notification of the captain or first officer? I'm sure it's akin to some terrible faux-pas down in Engineering, and, in any event, not something I want to be doing less than three weeks into my first 'Fleet assignment."

Instruments arranged to her liking, she moved to press the foot pedal that would level out the chair. While MacAthur adjusted to the new horizontal position, getting herself comfortable, Christine moved to the door and locked it. Generally, if someone was in the lab, anyone else could walk right in after them. This way, anyone new entering would need the same clearance she'd used to get in.

[engine_girl]

"Oh hell compared to some of the things I've done in the last five or six days that would be pretty tame." she said with an embarassed grin, "And I've still got my physical to get. Oh god that is going to be fun."

She shuffled in to the seat and relaxed as best she could, "Ready when you are."

[nurse_cchapel]

"At least you have some sort of excuse," Christine said, snorting. "Not roundabout stories like this one."

Retrieving a small container from the workstation, she moved to her patient. Rolling up her shirt, she said, "You should know that this isn't foolproof, either. There's only so much I'll be able to do. Medicine is not magic." Squirting a little of the green gel onto MacArthur's abdomen, she added, "Sorry if it's a bit cold"

[engine_girl]

Cassie said "Oh you have an excuse. One pushy Lieutenant Commander who wouldn't let you get a doctor and insisted that she be treated in her room. And if anyone tries to say any different they will have said Lieutenant Commander on their case"

Cassie winced a bit as the gel went on to her skin. " Yeah I know. I have had enough run ins with the medical establsihment to know that. And from where the pain is coming from I have a feeling that this is a reminder of a misspent youth."

[nurse_cchapel]

"Hope whoever catches us is scared of you, then." Christine switched out the gel for the laser-based molecular repairer, then moved back to MacArthur's side. "Now this might have a bit of a strange sensation going along with it, but it should build up just enough scar tissue to make you feel good as new again," she said, eyes on her patient's face. She felt like some sort of medieval doctor - making guesses at treatments without much basis. "Any questions?"

[engine_girl]

Cassie couldn't help laughing which probably wasn't the best thing she could be doing. But she couldn't help it.

"Sorry. Just had an image of Doctor McCoy quaking in his boots. Not that that's likely to happen."

Cassie then listened to Christine as she told her what was going to happen. "Nope, I have no questions. I'm sure that you're doing your best for me. So carry on nurse."

[nurse_cchapel]

The laugh looked a little painful, but at least it was a laugh. And that was one of the best unscientific medicine Christine knew. "Doctor McCoy's bark is worse than his bite. He's prickly enough on the outside, but he's really quite soft at the centre," she said. "Very human, I guess."

With a little nod, Christine positioned the delicate medical tool in her hand over MacArthur's damaged ribs. She hesitated, unsure of herself.

[engine_girl]

"Yep and rather handsome too." Cassie said as she blushed a bit at her comment.

She bit her tongue about making the comment about how human he was because she really didn't want to think about what had led her to be in this position in the first place.

Cassie noticed Christines hesitation and said, "Look, I trust you and I know that if that thing seems to be making things worse you will stop. BUT if you don't want to do it I would understand that to."