The smallest treasures

Posted on Saturday, 3 April 2021 - 11:53am by Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali & Emerick

Mission: Operation: Trail of Tears
Location: Sickbay

{ON}

With recent events put behind her T’Lanna walked into Sickbay and made her way through to where Jayce had been spending much of his time since his birth. Today was a special day, he was finally coming home and she was excited, yet nervous, to be collecting him. She was surprised to see Emerick active given that it was pretty quiet in Sickbay, she offered a smile as she walked over to him. “Hello Emerick”

The EMH aboard the USS Standing Bear greeted the woman with a learned smile. He was programmed with dozens of facial expressoons and the basic understanding of how to use them, but was begining to learn a deeper appreciation for the usages. "Hello, lieutenant, how are you?"

“I’m fine thank you” T’Lanna offered a smile. “Grateful to be normal me again, no screaming voices or overwhelming emotions in my head. Just the normal for me now.” She offered a warmer smile. “Thank you for taking care of me, I appreciate it.”

"And no silent void either," Emerick added reassuringly. He nodded appreciative of her compliments. "Jayce is certainly going to be happy to see his mother."

“As I will be glad to have him home. I’m just grateful that you’ve all taken such good care of him for me.” She looked towards where Jayce was lying, she was already gently greeting and soothing her son with telepathic waves. The bond between Betazoid children and mother’s was a close one. “I’m not sure whether to feel excited or nervous!” She grinned. “I’ve been longing to have Jayce home but it’s going to be a big change.”

"I think being both nervous and excited are normal emotional responses in this case," Emerick said. "His neural pathways looked pretty strong, I suspect he's going to have some strong abilities when he matures, not quite full Betazoid strong, but still reasonably so."

“You think so?” T’Lanna looked towards Jayce curiously. “I wasn’t sure, Jason was Human so Jayce is a mix of three races. Though I guess two of them being telepathic races makes up the difference.”

"Considering the genetics, the odds were against him to have abilities, but there's potential from the scans and tests I've run. He's healthy, and we won't exactly know for a while, but the markers are there."

T’Lanna offered a warmer smile. “That’s wonderful. If Jayce develops like other Betazoid children he won’t have his gifts until he reaches puberty so there’s a long time to wait. It’s finally going to feel like we’re a family now, it’s been strange trying to sleep without him with me.”

"Puberty will be the time we get to know for sure," Emerick nodded agreeing. "Let's go reunite the two of you properly." The EMH walked the woman over towards the biobed that had been modified to take care of Jayce.

Emerick carefully lifted the small child up, gingerly held him for a moment and handed him over to the child's mother. "He's been a very good patient. Probably one of my best patients."

“I’m glad he’s been well behaved for you Emerick.” She gently cradled Jayce with a very proud smile. “The Captain told me that he was setting up holo emitters in the altered areas where children would be, if you ever want to drop in on Jayce to visit feel free. It can’t be very interesting being stuck in Sickbay when your program is active during quieter times.”

"Gladly," replied Emerick. "I am sure Lieutenant Kolani will be happy to hold Jayce too," the hologram added reassuringly. "He's free to be released into your care, but will need his normal checkups and a few hypos from time to time."

T’Lanna nodded. “Just let me know when and we’ll be here.” She smiled warmly. “I am extremely grateful to all the medical staff for your care in looking after not just Jayce, but me too.”

Emerick chuckled. "Yeah, two Doctors, an EMH, a nurse or two and a technician. It's quite a medical staff," he added with a hint of sarcasm. The Standing Bear was not known for its medical facility.

“One more thing Emerick” T’Lanna smiled at her son then looked up at Emerick. “I can’t exactly explain but ever since the nebula and all the exertion, I feel ... different somehow.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I can’t put it into words, I just ... don’t feel entirely me!”

"I would imagine that the experience has been traumatizing," replied Emerick. "Detach yourself for a moment. I'll put it this way, in your professional opinion what course if action would you recommend to a patient who recently was abducted and experimented on by an alien species, gave birth to a child who's biological father is not present, and was overwhelmed with the echos of billions of lives lost, and who lost her empathic and telepathic abilities for several hours?"

He pressed onward. "Would you suspect said patient would be able to return to duty promptly feeling their normal self?"

T’Lanna shook her head. “If anything I’d be telling the patient to expect a long road of recovery. The hormonal change in pregnancy is an upheaval enough, but with everything else ... I’d be concerned to say the least.”

"Good," Emerick replied."Because I'm not programmed with much beyond basic psychology and some expansion subroutines as needed, I much rather refer patients to you. So, take your advice."

T’Lanna nodded and smiled. “You are wiser than you realise Emerick, do you mind if I come back and talk to you again?”

"I don't mind at all," he replied. "That is what I am here for. Feel free to stop by anytime you need someone to talk to."

Nodding T’Lanna offered a smile and headed on her way, her precious little one cradled safely in her arms.

{OFF}