JDL | FADM Red & CDR Carrol M.D. | "Free at Last"

Posted on Wed Oct 11th, 2017 @ 12:57am by Fleet Admiral Blyx Red & Commander Marcus Carrol M.D.

Mission: The Round Table
Location: Sickbay | Cold Station Theta

Marcus had reviewed her charts and been amazed at the speed of her recovery. The near death experience had been taken in stride as if it were no more a stress on her body than her daily grind of paperwork. He was on his way to his office where he had a private consult with her scheduled. Fleet Admiral Blyx Red had become his crowning medical achievement when she had been beamed into his surgery with a massive knife wound through the abdomen and lower chest. It had taken several hours of complex reconstruction and now, four weeks later, she was all but one-hundred percent again. Before he released her back to full duty status he would of course run another quick check on vitals and her blood chemistry to ensure there were no hidden or undiagnosed issues but he expected none.

Marcus took a breath and walked into his office. "Admiral, I'm so glad to see you again. Is everything okay? You are still feeling up to this? There are no lingering aches or pains from the wound or the broken ribs?" Marcus walked in and around the chairs in front of his desk, one of which supported the demure woman to whom he spoke. His desk was immaculately well organized with a small stack of case files in a bin and a kinetic toy in the middle that was slowly clacking back and forth across the five suspended balls it consisted of. He smiled, assuming she had started the toy out of boredom.

"Aside from some lingering fatigue that I'm chalking up to being bored out of my skull, no. I'm ready as I'll ever be and this has gone on long enough." Blyx sighed, tearing her eyes away from the Newton's cradle she couldn't help but set into motion while waiting for the surgeon to prance his happy ass through his office doors. "I'm sure you've heard that the USS Vindicator is missing and that several key members of Starfleet's Admiralty are on their way here," she added, watching as he took his space, "I need to be back on official duty, not relegated to reading reports while nibbling on bon bons. Call it testimony to your great skill, doctor."

Chuckling, Marcus smiled at her little tirade. She was ready as best he could tell. "I need to do a quick scan and I'll submit the clearance as soon as we are done." Marcus reached into his desk drawer and pulled out the tricorder he kept there. He detached the wand and sat the handheld portion down on the desk as he walked around to her side. While she was seated he waived his hand before her midsection and then walked around the chair to get a full three-hundred and sixty degree scan. The tricorder on the desk chirped, signaling it's completion and diagnostic results. Marcus stepped back to his side of the desk with a broad smile on his face. He had done a fine job putting the woman back together and couldn't have been happier with her progress.

He spun the tricorder round to review the results. One rib was still in the process of mending but bone structure analysis was satisfactory so long as no one assaulted her in the near future. Organ tissue was completely healed with almost no scar tissue, a fundamentally amazing achievement considering the damage that had been done. Muscle tissue was still slightly weak but some simple exercise would correct that. Then Marcus saw something that shocked him. He flushed and then paled in the matter of seconds. His eyes raised to meet the Admirals and he cleared his throat. Four weeks ago he had told the woman she had lost a child as the result of the attack. Today he would tell her that she would bare another. He tried to say something but for once in his life he couldn't speak. He wasn't sure he wanted to be the one to go through this with her.

A tilt of her head brought the doctor into a whole new light. He looked sick, worried, flummoxed, all in the span of absolutely seconds until each emotion spiraled together to paint an altogether unpleasant picture. What was it that he saw? Had something gone horribly wrong? Blyx cleared her throat and considered snapping her fingers to catch his attention, but thought better of it. He was a doctor, a rather accomplished one, and treating him like an idiot or a dog wouldn't get her, or him, anywhere. "Is something wrong?" She finally asked, one slender raven brow arching high as she considered him.

"Um...no everything seems fine, but...," Marcus trailed off. "There is something I need to check again. Do you mind standing up, Admiral?" Marcus grabbed his tricorder, wand and all and stepped around the desk again. He didn't want to be wrong about this. He couldn't be wrong about this it would mean his career, he was sure.

"But?" Planting her feet, Blyx rose as asked and fumbled between the instinctive urge to fold her arms across her chest in demand of answers or stand perfectly still with her hands at her sides. It would have helped if she knew what the hell he was looking for, but the chances of getting a straight answer while he seemed to still be digging was likely slim to none. "Is our tricorder malfunctioning, Doctor?" It was worth a shot. Time was of the essence when it came to getting the station under control... And then there was Aine. Aine still needed to be sat with, spoken with... Hugged. Mother daughter chit chat woven in with Quadrant commander and Station commander banter. His nonsense was polluting that thin river of chances to catch the young Captain when she wasn't neck deep in bullshit.

"Hmm... no the tricorder is freshly calibrated. I just need to be sure of something before I say." Marcus bent with the tricorder and watched the readings come in live. Sure enough she was pregnant. Marcus felt sick and stood back up to keep from passing out and then stepped back to his side of the desk. "Sit down Admiral." He said in a tone much to grave for the situation but affected by his history with the woman. He waited for her to comply and then said, "I don't know how to tell you this but I'm going to have to refer you to an OBGYN. Your results show you are in perfect health. They also show you are going to have a baby." Marcus swallowed hard to clear the lump in his throat in case he needed to scream for help if the Admiral tried to kill him.

Folding her legs one over the other, Blyx chose to study the man's expression and behavior in silence for what felt like an eternity. Any second he was going to tell her he was just kidding and she'd reprimand him about his choice of humor... Only it never happened. What did happen was a slow careful nod of get head as she tried to put two and two together. Either Alek, absent as he was yet again, was about to become a father for the third time she was aware of or...

Xander. Scotch. Memories of the coffee table and jokes about the Angel's share flirted with her cognitive functions, teasing her and demanding she clear her throat and figure the mystery out once and for all, "So... You were wrong when you said I lost a child?" She asked. Her tone was one more of confusion and certainly not one of accusation, "Or has lightning struck twice?" Good euphemism. One for the books.

Marcus looked down to his tricorder and synced it with the records department so he could verify that he had not somehow made a mistake. "This is not the same child that you lost. Genetic comparison suggest different... paternal parentage?" Marcus raised an eyebrow and looked up at the Admiral. She was calm, however, Marcus knew it was the calm like the eye of a hurricane and now he waited for the storm wall to hit. "I'm going to release you back to full duty, but I don't think you should over do it. Because of your miscarriage, even though there were terrible conditions surround the reason for it, you will be considered high risk through this pregnancy. I am referring you to the Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Valeese. You will be in good hands, Admiral." Marcus sat up straight and waited to see what would happen next.

Xander. In the dawning hours of his retirement the peace had been parted by the angel's share indeed. Both of them were on the wrong side of fifty, done with the frivolous nature of youth and everything it brought with it. Their children were grown, serving Starfleet, but Blyx was all too acutely aware of how he'd been robbed of fatherhood until his daughter was already a grown woman. She met the doctor's risen eyebrow with her own steely gaze, a quiet warning that her sex life was off limits when it came to discussion. "I see," she finally responded, running her hands along the smooth arms of the chair occupied. "I'll do what I can to follow your advise, of course... If that'll be all?"

Marcus rose to his feet, "Yes Ma'am." There was nothing else to say. This woman had amazed him again with her "spiritus vitae" she was something else. "Please schedule an appointment with Doctor Valeese as soon as possible... for the child's health. He added hoping to emphasize the import of the appointment. Marcus walked past the Admiral to open the door. He then saluted as she neared the exit. "Welcome back, Ma'am." He dropped the salute, gave a slight smile and bobbed his head slightly as she came past.

"Within the next twenty-four hours." Blyx held up her hand as if to quell the doctor's fears or any additional demands. She got the point, loud and clear. The lifted hand easily fell into a returned salute and she finally allowed him a small smile, "Thank you. For all that you've done."

Now the greatest task of all was at hand...

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Fleet Admiral Blyx Red
Commanding Officer
Beta Quadrant
Starfleet

Commander Marcus Carrol M.D.
Chief Surgical Officer
Cold Station Theta, SB-1170