Judgement – Medical Checks Are A Pain Too!
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
::ON::
"I can walk by myself you know. I can just ask the computer to point me to the infirmary," Draylin said to the security officer walking behind him. The El Aurian kept looking over his shoulder, his distrustful nature loathing the fact that an armed officer was breathing down his neck.
"I have my orders, sir." The officer sighed, this was the tenth time they'd had this little exchange.
"So you've said," Draylin replied, rolling his shaded eyes. The officer's closeness had him on edge. The smell of whatever disgusting aftershave he used was making him sick and Draylin sped up, just wanting to be further from him. Finally, he sighed in relief when see through doors with medical symbols came into view.
"Good, here we are. Thank you soo much for seeing me here. Bye bye," Draylin told him and walked into the infirmary.
"Hold up, Mr. Tal." Draylin muttered a curse under his breath and turned. "Yes?" he asked with a small smile. "I have to get the doctor's report. Carry on, sir," the young human said.
As she noticed a security officer enter sickbay accompanying someone who, to all accounts 'appeared' to be quite well, Chelsea raised a curious frown, handed over and walked to meet them.
"Good Morning, Ensign Jackson. Nice to see you. What can we do for you this morning?" Chelsea addressed the Security Officer who she knew by sight from his own standard medicals.
"Morning, Commander," Jackson smiled in greeting. "Our security checks at the docking bay gave us a red flag on one of the incoming passengers. He's on parole and the terms of it are on this padd," he said, handing Chelsea the item. "As you can see, one of them is regularly taking some drug I can't even begin to pronounce," he joked with a chuckle.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Draylin muttered, looking around the infirmary.
"Now then, Mister..... " Chelsea looked at the padd. "...Draylin. Don't be grumpy with Ensign Jackson, he's just doing his job." The CMO smiled at the young officer and tilted her head in the direction of the replicator. "Why don't you get yourself a cuppa while I check this out, Ensign?" She dismissed him temporarily. "I'll call you when I'm done..... OR if I need you."
"Cubicle five please?" she said to the El Aurian and led the way there.
Draylin nodded to her before following. "You won't need him," he said, feeling the need to point it out.
"I don't suppose I shall, and even if there were some 'incident' I can handle myself, but I think he deserves to feel he's not just being summarily dismissed as of no use." she replied frankly. "Up on the bio bed please.... " she gestured with an open hand as she picked up a bio-scanner and set it ready to begin the test.
Following the order with the hope that it will be over soon, Draylin hopped up on the biobed and made himself a comfortable as possible. When the bio-scanner beeped, he winced slightly, his sensitive hearing finding it uncomfortable, despite the inhibitors he was on.
Seeing him wince, Chelsea thought a little about what could possibly be hurting him. It could only be his hearing as there was only audio output... unless the scan itself was producing something ultrasonic....still sound tho.... she set the equipment to silent.
"Inhibitors present and in the correct doses." she confirmed aloud. "Your record however, does not show the mandatory amount of sessions with the Counsellors." she shook her head gently. "I expect you've been busy?" Her tone was not hostile and her raised eyebrow allowed him some license to discuss this with her before any further action would become necessary.
"I was. I don't just sit around waiting for my appointment to come up. Besides, I still have," he paused to check the chronometer, "sixteen hours to see someone," he smiled.
"Yes, but you're two sessions down, so you'll be a little pushed to find they can fit in both in one working day - although in the circumstances, I'm sure there must be a junior counselor free. Would you like me to set something up so you don't have to take both sessions in a row.... I'm sure you'd like a break between them?" Chelsea kept her tone level and pleasant, she was her usual serene self. It didn't matter to her if Ensign Jackson had another visitor later today if the Counsellor's offices shut before Draylin had done two sittings. She smiled patiently at him.
Draylin narrowed his eyes lightly at her, his empathy picking up something subtle he couldn't put his finger on. Only that something about the woman in front of him was off. He leaned unconsciously away from her, a bit wary now, but saying nothing other than: "No, I'll set it up myself, thank you." His tone was even, but not pleasant. As Chelsea ran her scan over him, she could see he was El Aurian, but with some odd physiological differences.
"Is something wrong? Are the scanners too loud?" she asked.
"No..." Draylin said, closing his eyes at the beeping. "Yes..." he admitted, shifting away a bit.
Chelsea turned them off. She had collected the data she needed and it wasn't necessary to have them on all the time now. It didn't normally give anyone any problems but it was clear the El Aurian was being adversely affected.
"Thank you," he said gratefully. "My hearing is a bit acute, even with the inhibitors," he explained, thinking that with the scan she'd know what he was talking about.
Chelsea nodded. She found it hard to imagine what that must feel like and was compassionate in understanding at least the science of it, which in itself was daunting. "Do you find this all very.... heavy?" she searched for the word. "What did you do to warrant being treated like this? Or shouldn't I ask? You don't have to tell me, I have the medical details on a need to know basis, the rest is your personal data and you're not obliged to reveal it to me unless you wish to." she explained.
"I didn't do anything. I just wasn't developing at the proper speed and my mother though a geneticist could help me get back on track. He didn't help me. He just got a four year old test subject and kidnapped me for ten years." Draylin spoke evenly, keeping his voice as unemotional as possible. He wasn't ashamed of what had happened to him. It wasn't his fault.
"That's awful!" Chelsea said, shocked. "You must have been traumatized.... surely?"
"I was. Kind of had a Stockholm syndrome going on for a while, but I eventually got over that. Then at 18 I left the foster home I was in and well,...things just happen from then on..." he explained, actually feeling a pulling sensation in his stomach as he remember the day he left the home. ~How did they expect someone who's only known freedom for four years to survive out here?~ he wondered for what he knew was the thousandth time since the event had happened.
"Good things or bad? What made 'them' - whoever they are.... the Federation I suppose? - decide you needed to be imprisoned by suppressors? It seems extreme unless you fell into bad ways? - You don't have to answer that if you'd rather not... " she reminded him
"No, it wasn't the Federation. And the inhibitors are a good thing. All my senses are too sensitive for me to function properly. As for bad way..." he paused, looking down at his hands, which were gloved to limit contact. "Let's just say there's not a lot of choice when you're an eighteen-year old kid and only know what independence after you read it from a dictionary three years earlier."
"Well, that just goes to show that things aren't all they seem at first because I wouldn't have imagined that inhibitors would be anything but a negative experience and apparently I was wrong with that pre-conception. Are there other pre-conceptions i have wrong, I wonder?" she opened a metaphorical door for him to come towards her if he wanted to.
"I don't know. What pre-conceptions do you have? As far as the inhibitors are concerned, they do have their bad sides. While they do help me function physically, they slow down my mind, impede the natural speed at which impulses go through my brain as well as the rest of my body. That is, I must admit, unpleasant." Draylin told her back, meeting her eyes through the tinted glass of his eye-wear which obscured his own eyes. "I suppose you could say they dumb me down. But that's to be expected. I am well aware that people fear Augments."
"If you weren't *dumbed down* as you put it, would you be dangerous?" Chelsea asked with complete frankness. There was no point in trying to understand or assist if she was going to pussy-foot about.
"I don't know," Draylin replied in an honest tone, looking thoughtful for a moment. "I've never felt dangerous," he admitted.
"Never felt out of control?" she asked.
Draylin shook his head. "I've always felt very...evened out, if that makes sense," he finished with a laugh.
"It makes sense to me but it doesn't fit with your *danger to the public if unmedicated* status". She shrugged. "Are you saying you would you prefer to remain medicated, for your own comfort?"
"In a way. I'd prefer a more focused drug that just inhibited by senses and not the rest of my central nervous system, but you can't have everything in life, can you?" he asked rhetorically.
"Well, perhaps you can... I mean this is the 24th Century and we've advanced with the drugs and procedures we can do. I mean I know there was a procedure once when a whole spinal chord was transplanted. What we can do with cerebellums now would boggle the minds of physicians from even a couple of dozen years ago, let alone a couple of centuries. It's only a matter of research..... " Realizing that was a dirty word to a man with the history that Draylin had, Chelsea qualified what she was saying.
"I mean research on artificially cloned individual cells, not whole sentient beings of course! In fact, I do have a specialty in genetic research which lends itself to the study of how to isolate threads of DNA and cellular differentiation. I could start a project if you'd like to assist me. I don't know how qualified you are but there are observations you could make as an interested party? What do you say? Do you have other things you'd rather do while you're here? Or would you object and should I keep my nose in my own business?" she asked, equally as frankly as she hoped he would be with her back.
"I'm not sure how much help I'd be. I'm more of a social studies, psychology kind of person," Draylin admitted humbly. "And, unfortunately, I'll only be on DS5 for a few days. But if you think that maybe you could find something to help, I'd be happy to prolong my stay for a while," he told her. He was genuinely curious as to how she hoped to achieve this, and a specific inhibitor like the one she spoke of was very tempting to consider.
"Well, I can only try and your help would be vital." Chelsea shrugged gently, trying not to pressure him. "I would understand completely if you had other obligations or were skeptical and didn't wish to observe or assist."
"Well, you have to admit, doctor, the offer is very tempting for someone like me," Draylin told her knowingly with a smile. "And my other obligations aren't nearly as interesting. I'm sure my wife would understand if I was away for a bit longer."
"It's entirely up to you. Perhaps your wife would like to join you? I don't know her situation but this does affect her indirectly. Does she have to use the inhibitors too?" Chelsea asked.
"No, she's not an Augment. She's a baseline El Aurian....Wow, I hate that word," he added under his breath. "Unfortunately, it's sort of stuck into my vocabulary. But no, Illiana doesn't need any therapy."
"That must be relief at least." Chelsea said sympathetically.
"Yeah it is. And she doesn't seem to mind me, either," he smirked.
Chelsea smiled too. She liked the idea that Draylin had someone to care for him who found him lovely just the way he was, with or without all this 'modification' that she was sure, despite his bravery, *must* be a real pain in the ....system... to him.
"Or it could just be an act," he added thoughtfully, though didn't seem serious. "If it is, I have to hand it to her, putting up with me for 312 years must be a pain," he laughed.
"THREE HUNDRED AND TWELVE????" Chelsea boggled. "I'm hoping my fiancé will put up with me for thirty two, or thereabouts!" she laughed. "three hundred plus years together! You can't be SOOO bad as you make out then! I think I've rumbled you and your 'bad boy' street cred is busted! You're Mister nice-guy underneath, aren't you?" she teased gently, watching the old man's young expression and sparkling eyes. He was having his own little game with her too, she concluded and liked his sense of humour.
tag?}
"Well, *I* have never made myself out to be a bad guy," Draylin laughed. "But yeah, Illiana and I have been together a hell of a long time. And, technically we're not married. Well, not legally anyway. We've just been living together in a romantic way for three centuries," he explained with a smile. "So, really, getting married that way is meaningless. If you love someone strongly enough, then a document saying you're married is pointless. You should just be happy you're together."
Chelsea nodded. She could see that made sense. "I know what you're saying is true. I just have a feeling that some sort of public commitment is a nice way to ..... hell, what difference DOES it make? I should talk to Rick. We could just have a party to celebrate and leave it at that!" she began to nod resolutely.
"I'll do it tonight!" she decided.
"Good," Draylin smiled. "And besides, marriage as a legal commitment is more of a social thing that it actually meaning something. But come on, I think in the 24th century, we should be beyond that," he explained. "But, if you've got a more traditional fiancé, watch out, because this kind of thing causes ripples. It did for Illiana and I, but I've learned something about marriage, so if we don't meet each other again, just keep this in mind. You need to make a choice before starting an argument. Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?" he smirked.
"I want to help you - are we doing that research or not?" Chelsea said, stirred back to the point by his mention of whether or not they would meet again.
He smiled. "We are. And I meant after that, in case we don't meet again," Draylin clarified. "Sorry, I've had a long trip. And at my age, the memory is the first thing to go," he winked.
Chelsea smiled back. "Let's get started then, shall we?" she walked with him towards the lab. "We need to get our new young research Intern involved and perhaps our pathology specialist too. You'll like Kaelin, he's Deltan." she talked him through the next stages.
Draylin moved to follow her to the lab, pausing to adjusting his shirt. His gloved hands stopped what they were doing as she mentioned her pathologist being Deltan. "An empath?" he asked, not liking the idea one bit.
"I... yes, I believe so... is that a problem?" Chelsea stopped and looked at Draylin quizzically.
"Um...I'm just not very comfortable around empaths and telepaths," Draylin admitted quietly, looking down at his feet, visibly uncomfortable with the idea.
"Well, I don't want to make you uncomfortable. Perhaps we should do this just the two of us then?" she ventured, waiting for his response to give her a clue how much he really did *not* want to work with Kaelin after all.
"Yeah. I'm more comfortable with that. I just don't like people who get inside my head. It makes me nervous," Draylin told her, following.
They disappeared into the lab and began working, it was some time later that Chelsea was forced by her other commitments to call a pause and leave it at that for the day.
"Same time tomorrow?" she asked Draylin brightly.
"Of course," Draylin replied charmingly before wishing her a good day and leaving the Infirmary, a satisfied smirk taking over.
OFF:
A JP between:
Draylin Tal
Visitor to DS5
and
Commander Chelsea Adams
CMO & 2CO - DS5
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
| Title | Medical Checks Are A Pain Too! | |
| Mission | Judgement | |
| Author(s) | (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Commander Chelsea Dunham | |
| Posted | Sat Jan 22, 2011 @ 9:32pm | |
| Location | Infirmary | |
| Timeline | BACKPOST: SD33 - 08:45hrs |
"I can walk by myself you know. I can just ask the computer to point me to the infirmary," Draylin said to the security officer walking behind him. The El Aurian kept looking over his shoulder, his distrustful nature loathing the fact that an armed officer was breathing down his neck.
"I have my orders, sir." The officer sighed, this was the tenth time they'd had this little exchange.
"So you've said," Draylin replied, rolling his shaded eyes. The officer's closeness had him on edge. The smell of whatever disgusting aftershave he used was making him sick and Draylin sped up, just wanting to be further from him. Finally, he sighed in relief when see through doors with medical symbols came into view.
"Good, here we are. Thank you soo much for seeing me here. Bye bye," Draylin told him and walked into the infirmary.
"Hold up, Mr. Tal." Draylin muttered a curse under his breath and turned. "Yes?" he asked with a small smile. "I have to get the doctor's report. Carry on, sir," the young human said.
As she noticed a security officer enter sickbay accompanying someone who, to all accounts 'appeared' to be quite well, Chelsea raised a curious frown, handed over and walked to meet them.
"Good Morning, Ensign Jackson. Nice to see you. What can we do for you this morning?" Chelsea addressed the Security Officer who she knew by sight from his own standard medicals.
"Morning, Commander," Jackson smiled in greeting. "Our security checks at the docking bay gave us a red flag on one of the incoming passengers. He's on parole and the terms of it are on this padd," he said, handing Chelsea the item. "As you can see, one of them is regularly taking some drug I can't even begin to pronounce," he joked with a chuckle.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Draylin muttered, looking around the infirmary.
"Now then, Mister..... " Chelsea looked at the padd. "...Draylin. Don't be grumpy with Ensign Jackson, he's just doing his job." The CMO smiled at the young officer and tilted her head in the direction of the replicator. "Why don't you get yourself a cuppa while I check this out, Ensign?" She dismissed him temporarily. "I'll call you when I'm done..... OR if I need you."
"Cubicle five please?" she said to the El Aurian and led the way there.
Draylin nodded to her before following. "You won't need him," he said, feeling the need to point it out.
"I don't suppose I shall, and even if there were some 'incident' I can handle myself, but I think he deserves to feel he's not just being summarily dismissed as of no use." she replied frankly. "Up on the bio bed please.... " she gestured with an open hand as she picked up a bio-scanner and set it ready to begin the test.
Following the order with the hope that it will be over soon, Draylin hopped up on the biobed and made himself a comfortable as possible. When the bio-scanner beeped, he winced slightly, his sensitive hearing finding it uncomfortable, despite the inhibitors he was on.
Seeing him wince, Chelsea thought a little about what could possibly be hurting him. It could only be his hearing as there was only audio output... unless the scan itself was producing something ultrasonic....still sound tho.... she set the equipment to silent.
"Inhibitors present and in the correct doses." she confirmed aloud. "Your record however, does not show the mandatory amount of sessions with the Counsellors." she shook her head gently. "I expect you've been busy?" Her tone was not hostile and her raised eyebrow allowed him some license to discuss this with her before any further action would become necessary.
"I was. I don't just sit around waiting for my appointment to come up. Besides, I still have," he paused to check the chronometer, "sixteen hours to see someone," he smiled.
"Yes, but you're two sessions down, so you'll be a little pushed to find they can fit in both in one working day - although in the circumstances, I'm sure there must be a junior counselor free. Would you like me to set something up so you don't have to take both sessions in a row.... I'm sure you'd like a break between them?" Chelsea kept her tone level and pleasant, she was her usual serene self. It didn't matter to her if Ensign Jackson had another visitor later today if the Counsellor's offices shut before Draylin had done two sittings. She smiled patiently at him.
Draylin narrowed his eyes lightly at her, his empathy picking up something subtle he couldn't put his finger on. Only that something about the woman in front of him was off. He leaned unconsciously away from her, a bit wary now, but saying nothing other than: "No, I'll set it up myself, thank you." His tone was even, but not pleasant. As Chelsea ran her scan over him, she could see he was El Aurian, but with some odd physiological differences.
"Is something wrong? Are the scanners too loud?" she asked.
"No..." Draylin said, closing his eyes at the beeping. "Yes..." he admitted, shifting away a bit.
Chelsea turned them off. She had collected the data she needed and it wasn't necessary to have them on all the time now. It didn't normally give anyone any problems but it was clear the El Aurian was being adversely affected.
"Thank you," he said gratefully. "My hearing is a bit acute, even with the inhibitors," he explained, thinking that with the scan she'd know what he was talking about.
Chelsea nodded. She found it hard to imagine what that must feel like and was compassionate in understanding at least the science of it, which in itself was daunting. "Do you find this all very.... heavy?" she searched for the word. "What did you do to warrant being treated like this? Or shouldn't I ask? You don't have to tell me, I have the medical details on a need to know basis, the rest is your personal data and you're not obliged to reveal it to me unless you wish to." she explained.
"I didn't do anything. I just wasn't developing at the proper speed and my mother though a geneticist could help me get back on track. He didn't help me. He just got a four year old test subject and kidnapped me for ten years." Draylin spoke evenly, keeping his voice as unemotional as possible. He wasn't ashamed of what had happened to him. It wasn't his fault.
"That's awful!" Chelsea said, shocked. "You must have been traumatized.... surely?"
"I was. Kind of had a Stockholm syndrome going on for a while, but I eventually got over that. Then at 18 I left the foster home I was in and well,...things just happen from then on..." he explained, actually feeling a pulling sensation in his stomach as he remember the day he left the home. ~How did they expect someone who's only known freedom for four years to survive out here?~ he wondered for what he knew was the thousandth time since the event had happened.
"Good things or bad? What made 'them' - whoever they are.... the Federation I suppose? - decide you needed to be imprisoned by suppressors? It seems extreme unless you fell into bad ways? - You don't have to answer that if you'd rather not... " she reminded him
"No, it wasn't the Federation. And the inhibitors are a good thing. All my senses are too sensitive for me to function properly. As for bad way..." he paused, looking down at his hands, which were gloved to limit contact. "Let's just say there's not a lot of choice when you're an eighteen-year old kid and only know what independence after you read it from a dictionary three years earlier."
"Well, that just goes to show that things aren't all they seem at first because I wouldn't have imagined that inhibitors would be anything but a negative experience and apparently I was wrong with that pre-conception. Are there other pre-conceptions i have wrong, I wonder?" she opened a metaphorical door for him to come towards her if he wanted to.
"I don't know. What pre-conceptions do you have? As far as the inhibitors are concerned, they do have their bad sides. While they do help me function physically, they slow down my mind, impede the natural speed at which impulses go through my brain as well as the rest of my body. That is, I must admit, unpleasant." Draylin told her back, meeting her eyes through the tinted glass of his eye-wear which obscured his own eyes. "I suppose you could say they dumb me down. But that's to be expected. I am well aware that people fear Augments."
"If you weren't *dumbed down* as you put it, would you be dangerous?" Chelsea asked with complete frankness. There was no point in trying to understand or assist if she was going to pussy-foot about.
"I don't know," Draylin replied in an honest tone, looking thoughtful for a moment. "I've never felt dangerous," he admitted.
"Never felt out of control?" she asked.
Draylin shook his head. "I've always felt very...evened out, if that makes sense," he finished with a laugh.
"It makes sense to me but it doesn't fit with your *danger to the public if unmedicated* status". She shrugged. "Are you saying you would you prefer to remain medicated, for your own comfort?"
"In a way. I'd prefer a more focused drug that just inhibited by senses and not the rest of my central nervous system, but you can't have everything in life, can you?" he asked rhetorically.
"Well, perhaps you can... I mean this is the 24th Century and we've advanced with the drugs and procedures we can do. I mean I know there was a procedure once when a whole spinal chord was transplanted. What we can do with cerebellums now would boggle the minds of physicians from even a couple of dozen years ago, let alone a couple of centuries. It's only a matter of research..... " Realizing that was a dirty word to a man with the history that Draylin had, Chelsea qualified what she was saying.
"I mean research on artificially cloned individual cells, not whole sentient beings of course! In fact, I do have a specialty in genetic research which lends itself to the study of how to isolate threads of DNA and cellular differentiation. I could start a project if you'd like to assist me. I don't know how qualified you are but there are observations you could make as an interested party? What do you say? Do you have other things you'd rather do while you're here? Or would you object and should I keep my nose in my own business?" she asked, equally as frankly as she hoped he would be with her back.
"I'm not sure how much help I'd be. I'm more of a social studies, psychology kind of person," Draylin admitted humbly. "And, unfortunately, I'll only be on DS5 for a few days. But if you think that maybe you could find something to help, I'd be happy to prolong my stay for a while," he told her. He was genuinely curious as to how she hoped to achieve this, and a specific inhibitor like the one she spoke of was very tempting to consider.
"Well, I can only try and your help would be vital." Chelsea shrugged gently, trying not to pressure him. "I would understand completely if you had other obligations or were skeptical and didn't wish to observe or assist."
"Well, you have to admit, doctor, the offer is very tempting for someone like me," Draylin told her knowingly with a smile. "And my other obligations aren't nearly as interesting. I'm sure my wife would understand if I was away for a bit longer."
"It's entirely up to you. Perhaps your wife would like to join you? I don't know her situation but this does affect her indirectly. Does she have to use the inhibitors too?" Chelsea asked.
"No, she's not an Augment. She's a baseline El Aurian....Wow, I hate that word," he added under his breath. "Unfortunately, it's sort of stuck into my vocabulary. But no, Illiana doesn't need any therapy."
"That must be relief at least." Chelsea said sympathetically.
"Yeah it is. And she doesn't seem to mind me, either," he smirked.
Chelsea smiled too. She liked the idea that Draylin had someone to care for him who found him lovely just the way he was, with or without all this 'modification' that she was sure, despite his bravery, *must* be a real pain in the ....system... to him.
"Or it could just be an act," he added thoughtfully, though didn't seem serious. "If it is, I have to hand it to her, putting up with me for 312 years must be a pain," he laughed.
"THREE HUNDRED AND TWELVE????" Chelsea boggled. "I'm hoping my fiancé will put up with me for thirty two, or thereabouts!" she laughed. "three hundred plus years together! You can't be SOOO bad as you make out then! I think I've rumbled you and your 'bad boy' street cred is busted! You're Mister nice-guy underneath, aren't you?" she teased gently, watching the old man's young expression and sparkling eyes. He was having his own little game with her too, she concluded and liked his sense of humour.
tag?}
"Well, *I* have never made myself out to be a bad guy," Draylin laughed. "But yeah, Illiana and I have been together a hell of a long time. And, technically we're not married. Well, not legally anyway. We've just been living together in a romantic way for three centuries," he explained with a smile. "So, really, getting married that way is meaningless. If you love someone strongly enough, then a document saying you're married is pointless. You should just be happy you're together."
Chelsea nodded. She could see that made sense. "I know what you're saying is true. I just have a feeling that some sort of public commitment is a nice way to ..... hell, what difference DOES it make? I should talk to Rick. We could just have a party to celebrate and leave it at that!" she began to nod resolutely.
"I'll do it tonight!" she decided.
"Good," Draylin smiled. "And besides, marriage as a legal commitment is more of a social thing that it actually meaning something. But come on, I think in the 24th century, we should be beyond that," he explained. "But, if you've got a more traditional fiancé, watch out, because this kind of thing causes ripples. It did for Illiana and I, but I've learned something about marriage, so if we don't meet each other again, just keep this in mind. You need to make a choice before starting an argument. Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?" he smirked.
"I want to help you - are we doing that research or not?" Chelsea said, stirred back to the point by his mention of whether or not they would meet again.
He smiled. "We are. And I meant after that, in case we don't meet again," Draylin clarified. "Sorry, I've had a long trip. And at my age, the memory is the first thing to go," he winked.
Chelsea smiled back. "Let's get started then, shall we?" she walked with him towards the lab. "We need to get our new young research Intern involved and perhaps our pathology specialist too. You'll like Kaelin, he's Deltan." she talked him through the next stages.
Draylin moved to follow her to the lab, pausing to adjusting his shirt. His gloved hands stopped what they were doing as she mentioned her pathologist being Deltan. "An empath?" he asked, not liking the idea one bit.
"I... yes, I believe so... is that a problem?" Chelsea stopped and looked at Draylin quizzically.
"Um...I'm just not very comfortable around empaths and telepaths," Draylin admitted quietly, looking down at his feet, visibly uncomfortable with the idea.
"Well, I don't want to make you uncomfortable. Perhaps we should do this just the two of us then?" she ventured, waiting for his response to give her a clue how much he really did *not* want to work with Kaelin after all.
"Yeah. I'm more comfortable with that. I just don't like people who get inside my head. It makes me nervous," Draylin told her, following.
They disappeared into the lab and began working, it was some time later that Chelsea was forced by her other commitments to call a pause and leave it at that for the day.
"Same time tomorrow?" she asked Draylin brightly.
"Of course," Draylin replied charmingly before wishing her a good day and leaving the Infirmary, a satisfied smirk taking over.
OFF:
A JP between:
Draylin Tal
Visitor to DS5
and
Commander Chelsea Adams
CMO & 2CO - DS5