NDPD!

[00_doctor]

I'm trying not to get discouraged, I really am. However, faced with a bookshelf that seems to think I'm 15 and from the 1950's and an island where the weather, the buildings, and every source of botanic material changes dramatically mid-experiment, I may be starting to see a half empty glass. I was getting somewhere with the kelp, then the island

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[abbysciuto]

Abby had been practically living in the lab for the past week. The fight with Tim had gone from ugly to uglier and the hut was still tense, which meant all of her projects had suddenly had much more priority, which had subsequently meant not sleeping as much as she maybe should have. Lack of sleep had meant needing way more caffeine, so she was on her way back into the lab with another cup of coffee that practically stood all by itself when the box suddenly appeared next to Julian.

"I take it you like what's in that particular box?" she asked him curiously, still standing in the doorway and raising an eyebrow as she sipped her coffee. She'd had a tricorder show up on Monday, although it was still safely in her drawer most of the time since she hadn't really figured out how to use it yet.

[00_doctor]

I'd give Abby a little chat about her caffiene consumption, if I thought she would a) listen and b) not throw me across the room.

"You have no idea. The island has seen fit to provide me with what seems to be almost all the contents of my research lab back on the station."

[abbysciuto]

Her eyebrows went up a little further and she moved closer to him, looking in the crate and not recognizing a single thing, not surprisingly. She'd always wondered who came up with these designs.

"Really? How nice of it. It seems to be feeling generous this month. Almost everyone's gotten something nifty," she noted, trying to figure out whether that was a centrifuge or a hat. Probably a centrifuge. Could be either, though.

[00_doctor]

Almost everyone? Interesting.

"You've been holding out on me. What did you get?"

[jill_langston]

With her pencil held in her teeth and a notebook open in front of her, Jill wasn't exactly watching where she was going when she entered the lab, although that was nothing new. She often found herself absorbed in her notes, even more now that Mayko had a computer and a way to actually set up a working database.

"Oh, Jesus, I'm sorry," she said around the pencil when she practically ran into someone with a large box. She'd seen him in the lab before, but didn't know him.

[00_doctor]

I have to admit I like the fact that this lab always seems to be open, people coming and going all the time. Always some opportunity for collaboration, or occasionally just a chance to take a break and distract someone else.

"Not at all. I should probably move some of this out of the way."

[jill_langston]

Reaching up to take the pencil out of her mouth, Jill pushed it into the twist of her hair against the nape of her neck instead, looking at the box with interest. "Well, at least if you're going to trip someone, you're going to do it with something fascinating," she allowed with a grin.

[00_doctor]

"Something to strive for, always." I carefully place the tricorder and padds on the nearby table and offer her my hand.

"I don't think we have met properly, I'm Dr. Bashir - please, call me Julian."

[purplensparkly]

Trance had been thinking much along the same lines and she had an armful of various plants from different parts of the island. They were things that looked familiar, but could have been completely different than the plants she remembered.

She'd been planning on borrowing the lab equipment to try to determine whether the medicinal properties were similar when she noticed Dr. Bashir bending over a large crate.

"Afternoon, Dr. Bashir," Trance said bright, dropping her plants on a table and bending down to look with him. "What have you got?"

[00_doctor]

"A gift, it seems." I know I'm beaming, I can't help it. "Actually useful research equipment, which will be an enormous help."

"Oh, and call me Julian."

[purplensparkly]

"Oh?" Trance asked, smiling broadly. For some reason, the comment had made her think of Simon, the first Simon, but the memory wasn't a bad one. Not this time. "What kind of research? I mean, I doubt you have equipment for every kind."

At least not with something as small as the crate he had.

[00_doctor]

"Well no, not every kind. I don't think I'll be making any breakthroughs in meteorology or quantum mechanics, but I think my work with trying to replicate some of the treatments we had back home is going to be much easier now. Assuming the island doesnt see fit to suddenly turn all the plants into plastic, or something."

Which I've probably just wished upon us all.

[mayko_tran]

Mayko thought her new computer was pretty hardcore, but the stuff she sees in the lab when she goes in to get set up is on another level entirely.

"Wow," she says, not shy about showing her appreciation. "You mind if I take a look at some of your equipment?"

[00_doctor]

I hesitate, only for a fraction of a second so hopefully it's not noticable. Too noticable, anyway.

"Not at all. Some of it is quite fragile, but you probably knew that already."

[mayko_tran]

"I'm pretty familiar with the concept," she says, giving him a sideways look and a light laugh. "The island seems to have been particularly charitable this year. I've certainly never given anyone a crate of laboratory equipment for Christmas. Wished for one, maybe...."

[00_doctor]

"Have you received a gift?" If the trend is towards the useful we might have a great set up in here before too long.

[doctorcuddymd]

The island had been giving surprising, wonderful gifts - just like it had been last year. But the large crate seemed to be a bit more beyond what others had received. Cuddy actually had to blink once or twice to make sure she wasn't imagining things.

"Did that just appear?" she asked, her tone incredulous but lacking the raw element of surprise that she had before. Time spent on the island had resulted in that.

[00_doctor]

"It did. The island appears to be being generous. It does make me wonder what horror is headed my way to balance the scales, though."

Even the thought of the island's usual torture can't take the shine off the stuff sitting in front of me. At this point even Klingon tar couldn't take the shine off.

[doctorcuddymd]

Cuddy moved closer, the shine and newness of all the equipment apparent. "This is amazing," she said, not bothering to hide the reverence in her voice. "Some of it looks familiar, but I've never seen anything like this. It wasn't around at my hospital."

[00_doctor]

"It all seems to be from my time, although some things never change. A beaker is a beaker at the end of the day."