{And It All Comes Crashing Down} [Open]

[habitualenabler]

I don’t care what went wrong, I want those couplings-

[The man stopped mid-tirade as he realized he was no longer lecturing an ensign but nobody, jabbing his finger at empty air in an unfamiliar hallway.]

-rewired…in an hour?

[He glanced around at the new surroundings, scratching at his head in confusion. He had never been here before- he was

Comments

[in_the_file]

[ Linette had stood in the turbolift for longer than she would like to admit. It never failed to amaze her how when people on this damn station were returning to normal, she always managed to screw something up. She knew she shouldn't of said it to McCoy, but she wanted to go and take that leap of faith that she and Jimena had talked about. Disappointment hurt more than she thought it would, leaving a numb feeling. Right, that was why she had decided to stop hoping for the best.

Slowly she stepped out of the turbolift and began her way down the Promenade. By this point she was merely walking without an destination. Eventually she would end up somewhere and tell Holly not to let anyone find her. ]

[habitualenabler]

[He was entirely confused. How was it even possible? One minute he'd been on the Excelsior trying not to let the ensigns melt down the engine, and the next he was standing in some hallway on some station he'd never seen talking to its computer of all things.

It was a weird day.

Be honest with himself, he'd already forgotten the directions he'd been given and pride wouldn't let him ask again, even to a computer. Especially one that had been as...snarky as that one. He'd never hear the end of it.

So whatever. She said that it was unlikely that anyone was in sickbay anyway, so it was almost pointless to go there. And then he turned a corner and froze.

How amazingly handy.]

[in_the_file]

[ Her focus was on something in front of her but not entirely there. Just enough to register where she was going and how to avoid people in her way. It had been a long time since she felt this disorientated and lost inside her own head. But that was how she was when she finally just crashed. Her mind would pull back enough so that nothing emotionally registered.

Maybe that was just how it needed to be for now. She didn't even know where Leonard was and refused to ask Holly. If she didn't know then he most likely wanted to be alone to work through whatever happened to him during the whale's stay. McCoy had brushed her off. Everyone else had turned to their crews or people that were close to them. But Linette was used to working through pain by herself. She had been doing it for over a year.

She stopped slightly in front of the person that was in her way. Her eyes didn't raise but something inside her head made her able to address him. ]

Can you move? I need to go this way.

[habitualenabler]

[Had hadn't seen her like this- well, he hadn't seen her in a long time. There, but not. Only this time he had no idea what was upsetting. He hoped it wasn't something he'd done, then stopped that line of thought as he remembered that he hadn't been there in a while, so he couldn't possibly have done anything.]

What, I don't even get so much as a "hi" or a "nice to see you again" or how about "oh my god I can't believe it's actually you?"

[in_the_file]

[ That drew her attention up. Alex. The stupid emotional woman of her wanted to scoff at him. He was back, great she was still hallucinating. The medical student though - the mind set she put herself in at the moment - just offered him a smile. If the whale had left and he was still there, then it was her own fault she was hallucinating. Either she was that much out of it or too lonely so her mind was giving her someone to talk to.

Either way she couldn't find herself to give more of an emotional response other than that smile. ]

Hi, it's nice to see you again.

[habitualenabler]

Again? What are you talking about, Lin? I just got here and this is the first time I've seen you. Ran into one smartass of a hologram, though.

[in_the_file]

[ Sadly her smile didn't last. ]

That's Holly. The station's computer. Didn't know she was a smartass though... huh.

[habitualenabler]

Holly, huh? Hilarious.

[in_the_file]

Yeah. Julian named her that since she's a hologram. It's so clever, not everyone else can think of it.

[habitualenabler]

[He had danced around the issue enough, so he folded his arms and looked her in the eyes, a serious look on his face.]

Alright, you're upset. What's up?

[in_the_file]

[ Even though she looked back at him, it was obvious she still wasn't fully there. Properly. Well, she was in thought at least. But she had placed that emotional wall back up so that nothing could register on that level. Though Alex and Leonard were really the only people that had to do just one thing and it'd shatter. But Alex wasn't really there, after all. ]

You're in my head, Alex. You should already know.

[habitualenabler]

You know I always got lost in there, Lin.

[in_the_file]

Yeah. You never were good at directions.

[habitualenabler]

You still haven't answered my question. And don't even bother trying to hide it. Something's wrong.

[in_the_file]

[ Linette's smile fell again and she just stared at him. She couldn't put it into words when she was shutting her emotions off. Clearly he had already noticed that was the case. She bit her lip for a moment and just continued to look at him. He had seen her in the worst condition of her life. Seeing her lonely shouldn't be something that new. ]

[habitualenabler]

[Of course he came back right in the middle of something. It always seemed to work like that.

At least it was something he was used to.

He closed the distance between them in two small steps and wrapped his arms around her. He really had missed it.]

Oh come on. I won't be mad, I promise.