Unity – *Backpost* Catching Up
by Lieutenant Ryan Milarno & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
ON:
Chelsea was in Sickbay, doing some paperwork in her office when her comm badge bleeped.
=^= Adams =^= she responded but the next thing she heard nearly blew her away. It was a good job she was sitting down.
=^= Hi Chels...it's Ryan...=^= he seemed nervous for some reason. =^= I thought I should maybe let you know I'm back on boar-d now...=^=
=^= RYAAAAAAANN!!!!!!!!!! =^= Chelsea squealed, her joy at hearing his voice very much apparent.
=^= When did you get back? What happened? Tell me everything? No wait.. we should have coffee? Where are you? Are you free? =^= It all came out in a jumble.
Ryan laughed. =^= I am free for a while yeah...I’ll meet you for a coffee say in about ten minutes? =^= he asked.
=^= Deal! Where? =^= Chelsea replied, grinning with happiness at the prospect of catching up with Ryan and getting his news.
=^= Erm...actually is my quarters ok? I don't feel like going out to be honest...=^= (she'll c y hehe)
=^= oh? Are you ok, Ry? =^= she sounded concerned.
=^= Yeah I'm fine...just a long journey back to the station that's all...=^=
Chelsea accepted that. =^= Ok, did you find out about your father? No, it's ok, I can ask that when I get there. I'll see you in a few. Adams Out =^= She went and got Ed to take over and hurried to Ryan's old quarters, sounding the chime and then suddenly being overcome with a sense of shyness about what she must look like. She wished to the Prophets that she'd done her hair at least. She was smoothing it and tidying it when she heard him respond to the chime.
Ryan was setting the coffee down on the table near the sofa when the doors opened. He turned around to greet her. "Hey..." he said, it did seem awkward, there breakup still very much etched in their minds, maybe that contributed to the awkwardness or maybe it was something else, but Ryan didn’t have a clue why he was all shy now.
Chelsea too was feeling very emotional. She walked in and looked at the man in front of her, about to rush forward and hug him but as he straightened up she stopped dead in shock.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you with it....but it's not something I wanted to say over the comm either...but it’s still me...Ryan..." he chuckled.
The body language was Ryan, from behind he was clearly Ryan, his hair was Ryan's, cropped short as he always wore it, and his eyes.... Chelsea stood there with tears welling in her eyes. "Oh my dear God" was all she could rasp, her throat almost closed. "What have they done to you Ry?"
His eyes were those of the Ryan she had loved and for whom her heart still held a beloved place but the Cardassian ridges, the exoskeleton bones on his forehead. Chelsea burst into tears. She couldn't help it.
She stood there, lost and confused and unable to do anything but shake uncontrollably.
"Heyy..." he said softly as he walked closer to her and hugged her tight. "Don't be upset..." he said as he walked her over to the couch and sat her down.
"What happened?" she buried her face in his shoulder and allowed herself to be hugged. It felt important to be physically close to him, not for any other reason than to be sure he was still himself and still actually here, inside all that new genetic change.
"The Bajoran genes you discovered were covering up the Cardassian ones..." he began. "But it was time for them to be 'seen'...I had no control over the mutation...it just happened..." he told her.
"Does this mean you were never Bajoran?" she was still confused.
"No I ‘am Bajoran...Human, Bajoran and Cardassian...precisely one half Cardassian"
"You found him? Your father?" the way he said that told her he had done so.
As he answered, Chelsea tentatively put up the tips of her fingers and gently explored his new face with the lightest of touches. One of the new ridges was red and as he winced a little she immediately withdrew as if it were hot to touch.
The pain had stopped and he answered her. "Yeah I did...the penal settlement in Jalanda city...the mutation happened there too..." he sighed. "Of all times and places.."
"We don't understand enough about re-emergence after surgery. Perhaps there's a time limit? There aren't enough long term subjects to study it conclusively. Perhaps because we sparked the Bajoran genes with that virus, it went on until it dug out the deeper layers?" the doctor in her thought this out aloud.
"How do you feel, more importantly?" she asked. "Was it awful? What's he like? Are you ok? Does it hurt?" She was full of questions again.
"I can't really tell you how i feel to be honest, cause I don't know..." he answered honestly as he leaned forward and picked up his coffee. "But he was middle aged to old...didn’t know who I was at first until I screamed at him...the strange thing is...he could see I wasn’t well...but he seemed to care, that’s baffled me. And the pain, hurt like hell"
"Is that what sparked off the mutation? Proximity to him?" Chelsea had never come across a case of spontaneous genetic resurgence so it was all new to her.
"I don't like the word *mutation* I'd prefer to call it re-emergence" she said, squeezing Ryan's free hand.
Ryan smiled. "No it wasn’t the proximity, I asked the same question...it was just time...I guess" he told her.
"Ry, I'm really sorry i was so emotional just now. It was such a shock. It took a while to get used to you with Bajoran ridges but I wasn't expecting this. Actually, now we're talking, you're the same person you always were.... and I feel safer with you as a Cardassian than i have with most people I ever met."
"Ironic isn't it...you were brought up in a way to despise and be wary of them...and now here I am...one of them" he chuckled.
"Yeah, funny how prejudiced we can be and how wrong. Well, not funny really... sad actually. I mean you're still the best friend I ever had.... I love Rick very much and I know you love Nora, but I'll never lose that place in my heart that's still got Ryan written on it. I still feel warm and safe with you and I think I always will. So all they said to us about Cardassians couldn't be more wrong, obviously." she sighed.
"Actually...about Nora...she's gone...well not gone but we've gone our own ways...but what you said about never losing that place in your heart...I feel the same and I always will" he smiled.
Chelsea's eyes filled up again. She looked down to hide it. "I'm sorry to hear about Nora." she said sympathetically. ~But not sorry to hear the rest~ she thought but didn't put into words.
"What will you do next? Will you go back to Bajor? Or stay?" Chelsea's heart pounded as she waited to hear his reply. Since he'd been gone she had been very lucky to have won Rick's love and she was grateful for that, but she still missed Ryan's company. His jokes, his fire, and the way he was always there to advise her and support her. Perhaps it was unfair to hope he would stick around. It seemed selfish. But perhaps if he found a new girlfriend, they could be friends too. Chelsea had found it hard to learn to like Nora because she felt it was her fault or perhaps she made her a scapegoat for their problems. A fresh start might be nice.
Ryan looked at her. “I’m staying, and if you’ll have me when I’m ready I’ve been given your old job...”
"IF .... IF........... IF I’ll have you?" she choked, hurling herself back into his arms for another hug. "WHAT THE F...........frack... are you talking about? IF you DON'T come back I'll.... um... I'll..... ooops, am I threatening a Cardassian? Is that wise? Oh what the heck... I'll bash you black and blue!" She was overcome.
Ryan laughed. "I'll take that as a yes then"
“You'll take THIS.... “She pushed him "as a yes! And this... and this....” she pummelled his upper arm but not as roughly as she was making out.
"Will it not be weird do you think?" he asked.
"Yes, but I'll get used to your ridges....." she deliberately misconstrued what he was asking, smirking with delight that he was coming back.
Ryan smiled. "I should get back to duty in a day or two, once they settle and the colouration turns browney white...so basically when the pain goes"
"Sure but you were always a pain on duty, so what changes?" she ducked in case he whacked her "And to answer you about the job... i might be CMO, but you'll always be the boss. We've always been an awesome medical team and you were always my mentor.... whenever Ed would let you" she grinned. "Actually, truth is that ED is CMO and you and I are *both* his ACMOs so nothing's changed there either!"
"Ahh well the teams back in business then" he grinned. "I look forward to it"
"Not as much as I do!" she was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Ryan reached for his coffee when his door chime sounded. "Ohh no I completely forgot...come in..."
Pia did as she was bidden and came in. She was surprised to see the CMO here. Not having been on the station long, she didn't know a lot of the staff but the CMO had welcomed her after she'd met the Chief Counsellor so she knew Chelsea's face.
"Doctor Adams" she said, smiling. "Hi, Ryan"
Ryan looked up at her. “Heyy...oh so you two have met?” he asked.
"Um... Medical Department! Sherlock Holmes" Chelsea laughed.
"Yeah but...oh never mind" he chuckled. "Make yourself comfortable..." he said to Pia. "Would you like something to drink?" he asked.
"No thanks" Pia said and sat down.
"Um, is this social, business or pleasure?" Chelsea smiled, only if it's one of the latter two I have to go wash my hair.... "
Ryan smirked. "Medical, Sherlock Holmes!" he got her back.
Chelsea laughed out loud. "Oh yeah, you're SO on the mend! Discharged!" she pretended to get out a rubber stamp and cover the table with ink, threatening to stamp him too.
Ryan laughed. "Oh no, stamping the injured is forbidden!"
"By whom?" Chelsea's tone was dark. "Send whoever it is to me and I'll stamp them"
Ryan laughed. "I dunno...just sounded good"
"So it was you?" Chelsea looked dangerously at her hand and the imaginary stamp and then at Ryan.
Pia laughed. "Um... perhaps it's me who should be washing my hair. I'd say you two have a fairly healthy and helpful relationship. Were you ever a Counsellor, Commander?"
"No, I'd have been rubbish - it takes too much sanity to be a Counsellor. I'd have never passed the exams” She looked meaningfully at her clawed hand apparently around some fictitious implement and shrugged, laughing at herself.
Ryan looked at Pia, *hmmm* he thought to himself and then stopped himself chuckling. "Ok...I'm sorry Chels but I do have a scheduled counselling session, I could catch up again with you tomorrow?" he asked. "Sorry about this, I lost track of time"
"No problem. We don't want you wasting the Counsellor's time." she winked at Pia and stood up. Kissing Ryan's cheek and giving him a gentle hug, Chelsea told him to take care of himself and to call her, then she said to Pia
"Nice to have met you again, Ensign... um... Rimmac, isn't it?" She was usually quite good with names and she got Pia's nearly right.
"Yes, and nice to meet you again too, Commander Adams." Pia replied standing up.
Chelsea waved her back into her seat. "And please, off duty, please just call me Chelsea." She went to the door and left them to it, smiling to herself as she walked back to Sickbay wondering.
OFF:
Lieutenant Ryan Milarno
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
Lt. Commander Chelsea Adams
Chief Medical Officer
&
Ensign Pia Rimmac
Counsellor
NPC’d By Doctor Adams
by Lieutenant Ryan Milarno & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
| Title | *Backpost* Catching Up | |
| Mission | Unity | |
| Author(s) | Lieutenant Ryan Milarno & Commander Chelsea Dunham | |
| Posted | Tue Apr 20, 2010 @ 9:18pm | |
| Location | Ryan's Quarters |
Chelsea was in Sickbay, doing some paperwork in her office when her comm badge bleeped.
=^= Adams =^= she responded but the next thing she heard nearly blew her away. It was a good job she was sitting down.
=^= Hi Chels...it's Ryan...=^= he seemed nervous for some reason. =^= I thought I should maybe let you know I'm back on boar-d now...=^=
=^= RYAAAAAAANN!!!!!!!!!! =^= Chelsea squealed, her joy at hearing his voice very much apparent.
=^= When did you get back? What happened? Tell me everything? No wait.. we should have coffee? Where are you? Are you free? =^= It all came out in a jumble.
Ryan laughed. =^= I am free for a while yeah...I’ll meet you for a coffee say in about ten minutes? =^= he asked.
=^= Deal! Where? =^= Chelsea replied, grinning with happiness at the prospect of catching up with Ryan and getting his news.
=^= Erm...actually is my quarters ok? I don't feel like going out to be honest...=^= (she'll c y hehe)
=^= oh? Are you ok, Ry? =^= she sounded concerned.
=^= Yeah I'm fine...just a long journey back to the station that's all...=^=
Chelsea accepted that. =^= Ok, did you find out about your father? No, it's ok, I can ask that when I get there. I'll see you in a few. Adams Out =^= She went and got Ed to take over and hurried to Ryan's old quarters, sounding the chime and then suddenly being overcome with a sense of shyness about what she must look like. She wished to the Prophets that she'd done her hair at least. She was smoothing it and tidying it when she heard him respond to the chime.
Ryan was setting the coffee down on the table near the sofa when the doors opened. He turned around to greet her. "Hey..." he said, it did seem awkward, there breakup still very much etched in their minds, maybe that contributed to the awkwardness or maybe it was something else, but Ryan didn’t have a clue why he was all shy now.
Chelsea too was feeling very emotional. She walked in and looked at the man in front of her, about to rush forward and hug him but as he straightened up she stopped dead in shock.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you with it....but it's not something I wanted to say over the comm either...but it’s still me...Ryan..." he chuckled.
The body language was Ryan, from behind he was clearly Ryan, his hair was Ryan's, cropped short as he always wore it, and his eyes.... Chelsea stood there with tears welling in her eyes. "Oh my dear God" was all she could rasp, her throat almost closed. "What have they done to you Ry?"
His eyes were those of the Ryan she had loved and for whom her heart still held a beloved place but the Cardassian ridges, the exoskeleton bones on his forehead. Chelsea burst into tears. She couldn't help it.
She stood there, lost and confused and unable to do anything but shake uncontrollably.
"Heyy..." he said softly as he walked closer to her and hugged her tight. "Don't be upset..." he said as he walked her over to the couch and sat her down.
"What happened?" she buried her face in his shoulder and allowed herself to be hugged. It felt important to be physically close to him, not for any other reason than to be sure he was still himself and still actually here, inside all that new genetic change.
"The Bajoran genes you discovered were covering up the Cardassian ones..." he began. "But it was time for them to be 'seen'...I had no control over the mutation...it just happened..." he told her.
"Does this mean you were never Bajoran?" she was still confused.
"No I ‘am Bajoran...Human, Bajoran and Cardassian...precisely one half Cardassian"
"You found him? Your father?" the way he said that told her he had done so.
As he answered, Chelsea tentatively put up the tips of her fingers and gently explored his new face with the lightest of touches. One of the new ridges was red and as he winced a little she immediately withdrew as if it were hot to touch.
The pain had stopped and he answered her. "Yeah I did...the penal settlement in Jalanda city...the mutation happened there too..." he sighed. "Of all times and places.."
"We don't understand enough about re-emergence after surgery. Perhaps there's a time limit? There aren't enough long term subjects to study it conclusively. Perhaps because we sparked the Bajoran genes with that virus, it went on until it dug out the deeper layers?" the doctor in her thought this out aloud.
"How do you feel, more importantly?" she asked. "Was it awful? What's he like? Are you ok? Does it hurt?" She was full of questions again.
"I can't really tell you how i feel to be honest, cause I don't know..." he answered honestly as he leaned forward and picked up his coffee. "But he was middle aged to old...didn’t know who I was at first until I screamed at him...the strange thing is...he could see I wasn’t well...but he seemed to care, that’s baffled me. And the pain, hurt like hell"
"Is that what sparked off the mutation? Proximity to him?" Chelsea had never come across a case of spontaneous genetic resurgence so it was all new to her.
"I don't like the word *mutation* I'd prefer to call it re-emergence" she said, squeezing Ryan's free hand.
Ryan smiled. "No it wasn’t the proximity, I asked the same question...it was just time...I guess" he told her.
"Ry, I'm really sorry i was so emotional just now. It was such a shock. It took a while to get used to you with Bajoran ridges but I wasn't expecting this. Actually, now we're talking, you're the same person you always were.... and I feel safer with you as a Cardassian than i have with most people I ever met."
"Ironic isn't it...you were brought up in a way to despise and be wary of them...and now here I am...one of them" he chuckled.
"Yeah, funny how prejudiced we can be and how wrong. Well, not funny really... sad actually. I mean you're still the best friend I ever had.... I love Rick very much and I know you love Nora, but I'll never lose that place in my heart that's still got Ryan written on it. I still feel warm and safe with you and I think I always will. So all they said to us about Cardassians couldn't be more wrong, obviously." she sighed.
"Actually...about Nora...she's gone...well not gone but we've gone our own ways...but what you said about never losing that place in your heart...I feel the same and I always will" he smiled.
Chelsea's eyes filled up again. She looked down to hide it. "I'm sorry to hear about Nora." she said sympathetically. ~But not sorry to hear the rest~ she thought but didn't put into words.
"What will you do next? Will you go back to Bajor? Or stay?" Chelsea's heart pounded as she waited to hear his reply. Since he'd been gone she had been very lucky to have won Rick's love and she was grateful for that, but she still missed Ryan's company. His jokes, his fire, and the way he was always there to advise her and support her. Perhaps it was unfair to hope he would stick around. It seemed selfish. But perhaps if he found a new girlfriend, they could be friends too. Chelsea had found it hard to learn to like Nora because she felt it was her fault or perhaps she made her a scapegoat for their problems. A fresh start might be nice.
Ryan looked at her. “I’m staying, and if you’ll have me when I’m ready I’ve been given your old job...”
"IF .... IF........... IF I’ll have you?" she choked, hurling herself back into his arms for another hug. "WHAT THE F...........frack... are you talking about? IF you DON'T come back I'll.... um... I'll..... ooops, am I threatening a Cardassian? Is that wise? Oh what the heck... I'll bash you black and blue!" She was overcome.
Ryan laughed. "I'll take that as a yes then"
“You'll take THIS.... “She pushed him "as a yes! And this... and this....” she pummelled his upper arm but not as roughly as she was making out.
"Will it not be weird do you think?" he asked.
"Yes, but I'll get used to your ridges....." she deliberately misconstrued what he was asking, smirking with delight that he was coming back.
Ryan smiled. "I should get back to duty in a day or two, once they settle and the colouration turns browney white...so basically when the pain goes"
"Sure but you were always a pain on duty, so what changes?" she ducked in case he whacked her "And to answer you about the job... i might be CMO, but you'll always be the boss. We've always been an awesome medical team and you were always my mentor.... whenever Ed would let you" she grinned. "Actually, truth is that ED is CMO and you and I are *both* his ACMOs so nothing's changed there either!"
"Ahh well the teams back in business then" he grinned. "I look forward to it"
"Not as much as I do!" she was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Ryan reached for his coffee when his door chime sounded. "Ohh no I completely forgot...come in..."
Pia did as she was bidden and came in. She was surprised to see the CMO here. Not having been on the station long, she didn't know a lot of the staff but the CMO had welcomed her after she'd met the Chief Counsellor so she knew Chelsea's face.
"Doctor Adams" she said, smiling. "Hi, Ryan"
Ryan looked up at her. “Heyy...oh so you two have met?” he asked.
"Um... Medical Department! Sherlock Holmes" Chelsea laughed.
"Yeah but...oh never mind" he chuckled. "Make yourself comfortable..." he said to Pia. "Would you like something to drink?" he asked.
"No thanks" Pia said and sat down.
"Um, is this social, business or pleasure?" Chelsea smiled, only if it's one of the latter two I have to go wash my hair.... "
Ryan smirked. "Medical, Sherlock Holmes!" he got her back.
Chelsea laughed out loud. "Oh yeah, you're SO on the mend! Discharged!" she pretended to get out a rubber stamp and cover the table with ink, threatening to stamp him too.
Ryan laughed. "Oh no, stamping the injured is forbidden!"
"By whom?" Chelsea's tone was dark. "Send whoever it is to me and I'll stamp them"
Ryan laughed. "I dunno...just sounded good"
"So it was you?" Chelsea looked dangerously at her hand and the imaginary stamp and then at Ryan.
Pia laughed. "Um... perhaps it's me who should be washing my hair. I'd say you two have a fairly healthy and helpful relationship. Were you ever a Counsellor, Commander?"
"No, I'd have been rubbish - it takes too much sanity to be a Counsellor. I'd have never passed the exams” She looked meaningfully at her clawed hand apparently around some fictitious implement and shrugged, laughing at herself.
Ryan looked at Pia, *hmmm* he thought to himself and then stopped himself chuckling. "Ok...I'm sorry Chels but I do have a scheduled counselling session, I could catch up again with you tomorrow?" he asked. "Sorry about this, I lost track of time"
"No problem. We don't want you wasting the Counsellor's time." she winked at Pia and stood up. Kissing Ryan's cheek and giving him a gentle hug, Chelsea told him to take care of himself and to call her, then she said to Pia
"Nice to have met you again, Ensign... um... Rimmac, isn't it?" She was usually quite good with names and she got Pia's nearly right.
"Yes, and nice to meet you again too, Commander Adams." Pia replied standing up.
Chelsea waved her back into her seat. "And please, off duty, please just call me Chelsea." She went to the door and left them to it, smiling to herself as she walked back to Sickbay wondering.
OFF:
Lieutenant Ryan Milarno
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
Lt. Commander Chelsea Adams
Chief Medical Officer
&
Ensign Pia Rimmac
Counsellor
NPC’d By Doctor Adams