A Friend in Need

Posted on Wednesday, 18 November 2020 - 11:20am by Lieutenant Alex Kingsley & Lieutenant JG Maximus Mackenzie

Mission: Operation: Ouroboros
Location: Jupiter Station, Medical Bay
Timeline: 2393 - MD 02

ON:

Mac sat bolted from the dream....nightmare he'd had. His mind was going in a thousand directions. Was he really seeing Haru's experiences on Utopia Planitia? Haru had been there after the synths but...

He scrubbed his hands down his face. "Can't be..."

The sound of approaching footsteps heralded the arrival of a visitor, just moments before Alex came into view. She had been about to begin by chiding him for the attempt at resigning without so much as a word to anyone but she couldn’t. Seeing Haru, unconscious in the bed and the expression on her friend’s face ... she feared there had been news to make him look so troubled.

“Mac?”

Mac looked up at the familiar sound of Alex's voice. Soral had just left a few hours ago. The support of his friends had kept him going. Even Talaran had been there. "Alex." He stood and hugged her.

“If I am guaranteed a hug every time I’ll come visit more often,” Alex teased as she hugged him back.

"Sorry...I'm not usually this emotional."

Alex smiled, “you have good reason. And I’m guessing you probably haven’t slept much either.”

He paused, "Honestly...no. Not in days."

“There’s a spare bed right there,” she pointed out. “I can sit up. It’s only fair, you two did it for me.”

He smiled a little. "No...not until he wakes up."

“That’s rather unfair to Haru, he will feel all kinds of Vulcan guilt when he sees you all in a mess.”

He smiled, "Nice try but would you sleep if Soral was here?" he motioned to Haru.

"No," she admitted, "at least not willingly. But my point stands, he needs you strong."

"I am trying, Alex. They don't know what will happen. They've run through so many what ifs that my brain actually hurts." He looked at Haru. "Alex do you know an Andrew Kingsley?"

There was a long pause. "Why?" she asked, the question escaping on a breath as she stared at the floor, trying to keep her composure. Why would he ask that?

"Haru...he kept saying that name last night. As if he was dreaming or...reliving a nightmare."

More silence as she considered his words. She had met everyone on her father's team, Haru was not one. So why would he be saying her father's name..? "Andrew Kingsley was my dad. Well, my adopted father. But he died. On Mars, during the synth attack. He served on Utopia Planitia."

"Haru was at Utopia Planitia during the Synth incident." He said. He walked over and took Haru's hand. "He was younger then, still a junior...it was suppose to be a five day stint. He must have known your father."

"Oh." Alex said quietly. She hadn't met anyone who had survived - at least not anyone who had physically been on the shipyards at the time. Then again, it wasn't like she had obsessed enough to go looking either. All that had mattered was that her father, a huge part of her world that her life gravitated around, had been ripped away. "Maybe."

She cleared her throat, straightening. "If you wont sleep, what can I bring you? Some semi good food? Chocolate? I found a great place that sells amazing chocolate."

As if on cue his stomach rumbled. "Chocolate is good maybe a burger?" He asked hopefully.

“I’m sure I can find something worthy,” Alex assured him with a warm smile. “I’ll be back in five.”

When she left he took up his post by Haru's side. "Wake up for me. Please..."

Finding food on a station was easy and while unhealthy, she returned with a bag full of burgers and fries and drinks. “You better be hungry,” she warned, “I wasn’t sure just how hungry you were...”

Beginning to unload the bag on the nearby table, she then pushed it towards him. “Eat.”

"Will you eat with me?" He asked.

“I can do that, I did get some extra fries,” she admitted, pulling up a chair. “But it’s mostly for you. So eat. You’ve had a lot to deal with, you need calories. Really unhealthy ones, obviously. Cos they taste better.”

He smiled a little. They ate in silence for a few minutes and then Mac spoke, "How are you doing?"

“I’m good,” she assured him. “Tired, but hopefully while we are here everyone can just pause and take a breath. Soral is hurting but saying nothing. I don’t think I’ll ever break that stubbornness but I’ll keep trying.”

He smiled, "He is stubborn. Pain is something difficult for him to understand." He paused, "How much do you know about his past...growing up I mean."

"He's shared some of it," she replied as she snagged some more fries, not adding that much of that was via their bond. "Why?"

"It's part of the reason he's stubburn. Growing up he only had himself and he took care of himself it's hard to let others try."

“Good thing he married a red head,” Alex commented drily.

Mac, despite himself, laughed "I can see that. You're a good match." He paused. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"You can always ask," Alex pointed out with a grin, "the chance of an answer depends entirely on the question. Go for it."

He sighed. "The bond that you had with Soral...now that it's gone that he's silent do you feel discombobulated....scattered?"

It was not the question she had been expecting, by any stretch of the imagination. And in truth she was unsure of how to answer it. How did she feel without it? "Empty," she said quietly. "Hollow. As if there is something intangible that is missing. Which is kind of crazy right? For twenty three years I was just fine without it. And it wasn't like we planned it. Any of it. But once the bond was there it was just like this constant feeling that he was there, with me all the time. I'm not Vulcan so I don't know how it is all meant to work or what it is meant to feel like. You'd have to ask Soral about that. But to me it felt right. Natural and easy. And now its gone..."

She shrugged, pushing away the food that was left. "It is what it is, right? There is no point dwelling on what we had, we need to look forward. So... why did you ask?"

"The...link hat Haru and I have it's not like yours. It's like a weaving of the souls but there is always a buzz, an awareness but now....it's empty and cold. I don't know if he's in there and I feel scattered."

Alex was quiet for a moment. “He’s there. You just need some patience, let him heal. And if you feel scattered just remember you have your friends and we are here for you no matter what. You are like a brother to Soral, you are family. We are always here for you.”

He reached over and took her hand. "That goes for you too. I will be there whenever you need to talk."

Alex squeezed his hand, “I know.”

"Can I ask you something else?"

“Shoot.”

He smiled, "You're really not pregnant?"

Alex rolled her eyes as she shook her head, “Soral told you about his little stalking episode?”

He laughed. "Yup. And he'd pretty much decided you were having a girl and she would have your hair and his ears and he'd been picking out names." He smiled. "I never thought Soral would have baby fever. He never wanted kids. Until you."

"Baby fever," Alex repeated with a chuckle. "He was pretty bad. Oh but his face when I explained he was jumping to the wrong conclusions... I suppose, on the bright side, he already has two children. And I'm not sure the galaxy is ready for a one quarter Human, one quarter Vulcan, one quarter Romulan, one quarter El-Aurian ginger baby. I think it might be red hair that would push the universe towards self destruction. I might write a research paper on it. I need to pick some topic if I'm ever going to finish my PhD."

Mac laughed. He squeezed her hand. "Thanks Alex." before he could say anything Haru began muttering , "No Kingsley! Don't do it....Kingsley...Kingsley!" His body began to seize and almost immediately Alex and Mac were pushed out of the room by nurses.

Alex stood in stunned silence as the two of them found themselves out in the corridor, shut out by the doctors and nurses. "What did he mean?" she whispered, not expecting any actual answer. She recovered enough to step back, and pull Mac with her, as more staff rushed in.

"I don't know Alex, I wish I knew." He took her hand and held it. Not because she needed the support but because he did. "I can't loose him." He said honestly.

“You won’t, you two are gonna grow old in a house full of grumpy cats,” she told him. “Ginger ones.”

Despite his nerves, anxiety, worry, he gave a short laugh. That was the beauty of Alex. She had a way bringing light to the darkest situation. The Nurse came out. "He's going to be alright." She said as Mac stepped forward. "The doctor... says that he's locked in his mind. The only way to get him out is to link minds with him."

“Perhaps Soral...?” Alex suggested, “or Vulcan healers?”

"Perhaps. I would suggest you both go and rest a little. He will need to be monitored by us for now."

Mac sighed. "I'm not going anywhere."

“Mac, sleep, at least for an hour. Commander Stillwater wants Soral and I with him when he goes to Earth but I can stay right up until we have to leave. Please? For me?” she flashed him a sad pleading look that Bones would have been proud of.

He sighed. "Alright, but only for a while."

OFF