[Video]
[In the hesitance before he even opens his mouth to say a single word, Dr. Yumeno's eyes show that there is something uprooted and disturbed beneath the steady surface. He doesn't look directly at the camera, blinking too often, his breath too carefully measured. There's a detached hollowness, a strained and deliberately even pacing to his speech,
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Daedalus...
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Re-l! (Oh god, what now, not now) Please tell me you're alright-
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...Why wouldn't I be all right? I'm fine.
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Are you all right?
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Ask me that later. That's not important right now.
[In other words, No, but I still have hours to be on my feet and responsible]
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[Don't you dare shut me out. Don't you dare. Don't do this to yourself...]
You need to think of yourself too.
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Daedalus.
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[And no, that sounds too final, too dismal]
...and when she's well on her way to recovery, I'll put in for some time off. Then, I'll worry about me.
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Please, just--
[He's hurting. He's upset. She just wants to help him. She pauses, trying to concentrate on him, try to put herself there...]
I don't want you to keep hurting like this.
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...He's spent what feels like a lifetime abusing this particular coping mechanism. So why not this once more?
Re-l, her presence something like an embrace, a constant, a godsend.]
There is really nothing to be done for it, Re-l. The truth of the matter is terrible, and I can only do so much.
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[She just wants to be there, to be reassuring. She wants to make sure he's all right. She wants to comfort him as he has to her so many times.]
You knew the complications the moment you found out she was pregnant, and how.
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[There's a shifting sound of a chair on rollers, and a small body collapsing back into it.]
Do you know how many times a day thoughts like that run through my head, Re-l?
I should have found a solution, within that timeframe. Too many other things have been distracting me. This is important. So critically important, Re-l... I should have paid it more mind.
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[She pushes that last bit of consciousness outward to him, knowing where he's sitting. 'Her' hand goes to his shoulder.]
You were attentive. You did what you could.
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[He's in his tiny office now, head in his arms and face-first on the desk, just waiting for the pager to go off again. Instead, there's the sensation that Re-l's right there with him in the room, which doesn't give him so much pause so much as the urgency to release all the pent up frustration, speaking muffled.]
Or cut back on taking up so much personal time for myself! Wasting so much in commute. I miss when all of my work was right downstairs. I miss when the whole of my work could be done from one console, and didn't involve so many juggling acts. When there was only one patient never wanted to let down.
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