I was never here

Posted on Saturday, 22 May 2021 - 6:01pm by Lieutenant Scarlet Rogers & Lieutenant Ryan Rose MD

Mission: Operation: Neu Reich

Scarlet lay on the biobed, waiting for either Ryan or an EMH. She was expecting anyone but Ryan. In the meantime she looked at her hands. They were still tingling, with a slight tremor. A few light burns grazed her fingers' pads, but nothing major.

Ryan had Alex recovering, and had changed uniforms before visiting Scarlet, just to make sure he had no blood on himself. "Sorry for the wait." He quickly pecked her cheek with a grin. "How's the pain level?" He asked.

Scarlet blushed and looked over to him, "surprised that you're treating me and not Barney. I'm glad." She sat up on her elbows, "I'm not hurting. I just have a cut on my cheek, so yay, blood. Then my fingers are a bit burnt and tingling from the power surge."

Ryan made a 'shhh' gesture, putting his finger to his lips. "I wanted to make sure you were ok." He began to gently clean and then close the cut on her cheek.

Scarlet smiled and giggled quietly, "thought you always stuck to the rules."

"Well I won't tell if you don't." He smiled, taking her hand in his. He did do a neural check, and checked the minor burns, to make sure the tingling wasn't anything to be concerned about, but used it more as an excuse to caress her hand. Seeing that all she needed was a dermal regenerator, he grabbed one and got to work. "You can be happy to know your back up power idea is working quite nicely." He made a vague motion to the rest of the bay.

Scarlet smiled, "not mine, just something I pulled from archives, oh, except the self recharge, that was my team." She watched him work. He was so gentle she really appreciated it and wasn't sure if it was love or just him as a doctor. "Perhaps a movie night tonight? Unless you fancy the mess hall?" she asked phishing to see if he was OK with something so public. That said, it wouldn't be long before someone spotted them leaving his quarters together in a morning, or her leaving after a movie or dinner.

"Either is fine with me." Ryan replied. "It might be nice to let the crew know I do exist outside of this sickbay." He semi teased. "I think half of them think my name is actually doc."

"You're secretly an EMH, aren't you?" she teased before cautiously asking, "you sure you want to go out of the safety of your quarters with me? In public?"

Ryan momentarily froze. The mention of EMH bringing back memories that did no good to dwell on. "What?" He snapped out of it to catch the tail end of what she was saying. "Of course." He paused, it finally dawning on him what she appeared to think. "Scarlet, I'm not embarrassed to be seen with you. Geez, I'm sorry. Is that what it looked like?" He tried to think of what might have given her that impression.

Scarlet blinked, "I don't think you're embarrassed of me. I just wasn't sure if you wanted to keep this hidden since you're a department head." She put her free hand softly on Ryan's arm, "I wouldn't have thought bad of you if you did. You're a chief, I get it."

Ryan shook his head. “No, no. There’s no hiding anything with a crew this small even if I wanted to, which I don’t.” It wasn’t as if the entire crew hadn’t known about his tumultuous marriage and divorce. “They’ll just be happy that I’m happy.” He smiled.

Scarlet nodded, "I've been cautious, just in case. I feel I can relax now." She sighed happily.

Ryan leaned in and kissed her. It was chaste, just a peck on the lips. Not something he would normally do in the middle of sickbay, but he wanted to assure her of his feelings. “You don’t need to be cautious on my account.”

She blushed at the kiss, but smiled. "Well, then," Scarlet chuckled, "I guess once you think I'll survive, I'll see you for dinner tonight in the mess hall for a burger or something."

“Sounds good.” Ryan finished up and did a final scan. “I think you’ll survive just fine.”

"You sure?" she asked as she sat up. She swung her legs round and looked to the floor, "I vomited on the XO."

Ryan couldn’t help but chuckle. “He’s been through worse. He won’t hold a grudge, don’t worry.”

"You sure?" Scarlet asked looking back up, "the Vulcans I've worked with have always held a grudge or had a long memory."

“I’m sure.” Ryan stepped back, giving her space to step passed him. “No dizziness or nausea?” He asked, now that she was standing.

"No, don't think so," she shrugged, "I feel a bit travel sick, but that's not new and I hear that's normal on a first voyage. I haven't got cabin fever yet, so I may survive my first time on a voyage yet. Also, I vomited because some other person puked."

“That’s very common.” Ryan commented. “Everything looks fine. Just let me know if you do get dizzy or nauseous.”

"You'll see me tonight anyway," she kissed his cheek, "thank you. And thanks for not making me see Patch Adams aka Barney. He's… weird. Love him though."

Ryan nodded. It would be a little bit before he could interact with the EMH for anything other than an emergency, but Ryan had no doubt the new program was capable. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Scarlet touched his arm softly. She knew he missed the old EMH and she was trying everything to restore it, but it must have been hard. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Ryan," she smiled and then headed for the door.