An extra gift

Posted on Saturday, 23 January 2021 - 6:07pm by Lieutenant Alex Kingsley & Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali

Mission: Operation: Trail of Tears
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD2

Carrying a small box tied together with a simple red ribbon in one hand, and a cup of coffee in another, Lieutenant Kingsley left the desk of their Chief Medical Officer before she set off to deliver the gift. She paused in the doorway, unsurprised to find T'Lanna seated at her son's bedside. At first she thought the other woman had fallen asleep and so quietly set the small box on the small table and made her leave.

“Alex” T’Lanna had felt Alex’s presence in the room. She smiled as she turned to look at the other woman. “Please stay.”

Alex flashed her a small apologetic smile, keeping her voice low as she spoke. "I didn't meant to disturb you. I just realised I forgot one of the gifts..." she gestured to the box.

“Another gift ...” T’Lanna reached for the box and carefully picked it up. Opening it she smiled as she saw a little pillow inside with a tiny tooth motif on it. “It’s a tooth cushion!” T’Lanna grinned. “For baby’s first tooth, Alex I love it! Thank you!”

"Glad you like it. My mum buys these for everyone, she said it's a great way to remember little milestones," Alex explained, "I'm not sure if any other species does this, I mean, it is a little odd."

“Not really” T’Lanna grinned. “Some cultures keep far more unusual things.”

Alex thought about that for a split second before admitting, "I don't think I want to know..."

T’Lanna grinned. “Nope you don’t. So how are things?” She didn’t ask a specific question, not wanting to pry into anything Alex didn’t want to talk about.

"Things are okay, busy but I'm sure you will be busier than everyone on the ship once you get this little guy home," Alex smiled as she peered down at the sleeping baby. "Soral has promised to rest more so I'm trying to make a dent in my research thesis."

“What thesis are you doing?” T’Lanna looked at Alex curiously.

"Its for my biomedical doctorate," Alex told her, "I put the whole idea of finishing it on hold when I took on a permanent position on the crew but one of my old professors at Cambridge is willing to take a delayed submission."

“That’s wonderful” T’Lanna smiled. “I’m not much on the science side of things but what are you writing about? I know you said biomedical but what does that entail?”

"My master degrees are in biomedical science, microbiology and epidemiology," Alex told her, "right now, my thesis is around the creation of an antibody which can be quickly modified to adapt to new protein spikes and produced in mass quantities. There was an outbreak about two years ago on a colony... they were weeks away from help from the Federation, limited supplies... something fast and easy to produce could have saved lives. One of my friends is working on the genetic sequencing, I'm currently trying to perfect the serum to cultivate the samples."

“Wow! That could save so many lives!” T’Lanna looked suitably impressed. “Best of luck with it.”

“Thanks. I just need a time machine to fit it all in,” she grinned. “I’ll let you get some rest.”

T’Lanna smiled. “Thank you again for the wonderful gift.”

“Of course,” Alex smiled. “I’ll check in on you both tomorrow. If you need anything, you know where to find us.”

T’Lanna nodded. “The same goes for both of you, my door is always open.” She smiled warmly.

Alex gave a brief nod. "Thank you."

T’Lanna simply smiled and nodded before looking back towards her son.


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