Judgement – Children at Heart
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Lieutenant Bridget Stapleton
Post Details
::ON::
It hadn't taken Kaelin long to realize just why he had picked Pediatrics as his specialty. In fact, the first moment the three children in his care laughed at something he'd joked about, it immediately made him despise the idea of going back to the quiet sterility of the pathology lab. He tried to push these feelings aside, but given his situation, he found the task quite difficult to achieve. As he did some paperwork and the two boys in the unit slept, Margaret rambled on happily as she sat, swinging her legs, on a small chair Kaelin had placed next to his own. He'd tried getting her to sleep, but the toddler refused, climbing out of bed the minute his back was turned. In the end, he'd turned to one of the nurses for help, who informed him that the off-duty Pediatrician often carried her around, which helped her sleep. Somehow, Kaelin doubted that.
"And then Lowa wanted to pway on the swing, but I got there first, so was my turn, and Lowa said..." the girl went on and on. Kaelin had tried to pay attention. He honestly did, but somewhere between Margaret's allergy incident, that had landed her in the Infirmary to begin with, and her fight with Lola over rights to the Arboretum's swingset, he'd zoned out.
So much so, that he didn't notice a new presence in the room. Margaret's vocal stream had suddenly dammed up and she sat still as stone, her eyes on the doorway. She wore an openly wary expression as she watched the tall woman lean against the frame of the door. A smile and wink from the newcomer didn't improve Margaret's opinion one bit.
Kaelin didn't notice Bridget come in, still focused on his paperwork. Only when he felt a pull on his lab coat did he look down to meet Margaret's big brown eyes.
"You not litening," she accused, and Kaelin couldn't help but grin at the serious look on the three year old's face. "Der's a lady here," she said, pointing to Bridget. Kaelin turned to see her, the grin still on his face.
"That's no lady, that's Dr. Stapleton. Can you say Stapleton?" he asked, and Margaret just shook her head. Chuckling, Kaelin pushed himself up off his chair and went over to greet his friend, the little girl coming after him, taking hold of his white lab coat.
"I see you have a new appendage," Bridget observed, still smiling.
"Yes. The other two went out like a light the minute the nurse tucked them in, but this one," he paused to lift the little girl up. As he did, she let out a small squeal of delight. "Isn't the 'nap' type," he explained, settling the toddler on his hip, making the action look quite natural for him. "This is Margaret. Margaret, this is Bridget. Can you say Bridget?" he asked her. The little girl, suddenly shy around the stranger, buried her head in Kaelin's shoulder. The Deltan laughed. "She's just a little shy. She's been having some problems with her R's and L's, so her parents are trying to get her to talk more and more," he told Bridget before motioning for her to come further into the Pediatrics unit.
"From what I heard in the hall, she's making a lot of progress today," Bridget said to his back, following Kaelin into the room. "So what brings you here, besides being motivation for little Miss Margo Motormouth?"
"Oh, the Chief Pediatrician is out sick for a while, so Dr. Adams asked me to fill in, since Pediatrics is my specialty. Well, it was before I switched to Pathology," Kaelin told Bridget before putting the little girl onto her bed. "I have to talk to the lady for a bit now, Margaret. Here, why don't you read this and then if you can tell me the story once I come back, I'll be sure to give you a treat. How's ice cream sound?" The little girl's eyes brightened excitedly. "Okay." Suddenly, Kaelin lowered his tone, enough for both of the females in the room to hear, but giving his voice an air of conspiracy.
"But don't tell anyone. It'll be our little secret okay?" He winked and the little girl nodded, mimicking Kaelin's gesture clumsily as he ran the tips of his fingers over his lips as if zipping his mouth closed. As she turned her attention to her book, Kaelin stood up straight again and walked up to Bridget, a smile still present on his face.
"That should hold her for a good three-point-five minutes," Bridget quipped, knowing all too well the attention span of someone so young.
"Yeah. So, what have you been up to this morning? I'm really sorry about leaving you alone with Ai'lani last night. Hope you had a good time. I came around his quarters around midnight and he wasn't there. What time did you two go your separate ways?" Kaelin asked Bridget, leaning back against the desk.
"It was about two thirty," she said, her cheeks deepening to a peachy pink. Part of the blush came from anticipating Kaelin's reaction and questions, but she also colored at memory of the discussion with Edward.
Kaelin blinked in surprise. "Really? Wow. And there I was, all worried about the two of you getting along," he laughed.
She joined his laughter a moment, and finished it with a sigh. Might as well tell him and get it over with. "Yeah, we went to a holosuite after dinner." She knew he disapproved of them, and wondered how he was going to feel to know she had taken Ai'lani to one.
"Oh, good thing I left. I don't like those things. So, what did you do?" he asked, curious. Though, really he wanted to know what Ai'lani had been up to. He hadn't seen him since they'd parted that night and the other Deltan hadn't answered his call that morning. Probably still asleep.
"Lemme get a cup of coffee, and I'll tell you," she said, procrastinating to give herself time to form her answer in a way that would minimize Kaelin's objections. She was groggy from lack of sleep and just on the verge of being cranky. If Kaelin launched into one of his little soap boxes about holosuites, she wasn't sure whether or not she'd be able to keep from snapping at him. Moving toward the Peds replicator, she ordered a strong shot of espresso, and while it materialized she continued.
"I've got this program that my uncle had made especially for me. It's a dance club from Earth's history. Ai'lani and I played a couple roles from the storyline in the club. I don't know if he really had fun or not, but he's a good sport and played along."
She sipped from the tiny cup and let the hot liquid slide slowly down her throat. "I know you don't like the holosuites, but I hope you don't mind that Ai'lani went along with me. I did enjoy his company, even though..." She stopped herself on the verge of saying something she'd regret. Kaelin was defensive about Ai'lani the way she was defensive about enjoying holosuites.
"Even though what? Did something happen?" He was a little worried now, but surely Ai'lani wouldn't put himself in any compromising situation.
She caught his expression and the tone of his voice, realizing that she'd given the wrong impression. "No, nothing happened. It's just that we argued, and I have a feeling it won't be the last time." She smiled, awkwardly. "I mean it's not a bad thing... necessarily. But he's... prickly. I guess I don't have to tell you that, though." Oh lovely. From the frying pan into the fire.
"Really? Ai'lani and I never argue. We discuss things we don't share an opinion over, but it's not arguing," Kaelin explained. "I've never found him to be...prickly. Set in his ways, yes, but not outwardly confrontational. I do know that, if a subject is brought up that he has an opposing opinion of, he won't shy away from saying it. But, it isn't arguing."
Bridget shrugged; it was coming down to semantics and perception with Kaelin, and she was to tired to debate it with him. She just should have kept her mouth shut.
Changing the subject, she pointed toward the toddler's bed. "Looks like your naptime theory needs some work." Margaret was sound asleep, book laying open to the page where she'd closed her eyes.
"So does your evasion tactic," Kaelin said, giving her a small wink, but letting the subject of Ai'lani go. He walked over to the replicator and got himself some tea. "Well, I'm glad you had fun last night either way. I know this next is probably none of my business and you don't have to say anything, but I hope we didn't give you any trouble with Edward," he told her. He knew that people often said he was naive and too trusting, but he knew people well enough to know that people rarely reacted well to their spouses spending much time with Deltans. He'd been mixed up in such situations more often than he liked.
She avoided his gaze as she replied, "Well, not much. He was a little confused about some things but I think we worked it out." Ai'lani's powerful attraction had worked on both of them, much to Edward's chagrin. A thread of jealousy had worked it's way into his mind throughout the evening, and he'd been having trouble deciding whether he was more jealous of his wife or her dinner companion.
"I understand. It's happened to me too. I got into a lot of arguments during my last assignments. I can't tell you how many times I've been accused of trying to steal someone's wife," Kaelin explained with a smile.
"I can imagine." She toyed with the smooth ceramic-like finger hole of the espresso cup. This was really not the thread of discussion she wanted to go into. She liked Kaelin, but sometimes the innate Deltan-ness was unnerving.
"So how's Chelsea? I haven't seen much of her this morning, but I heard what happened," Kaelin began, leaning on one of the bulkheads.
Bridget was grateful for the change of subject. "Not so good right now. She's still in her wedding dress, Rick is still in a coma, and she just shooed all of the staff out of Emergency." Bridget tilted her head in thought. "It was pretty odd behavior, actually."
"Well, it's an odd situation," Kaelin pointed out with a shrug. He hadn't seen Chelsea all day and didn't really feel like going to see her. She was probably upset and he had enough of his own emotions to deal with, quite honestly. And if he went to see her, that would just make him want to comfort her and get way too involved with her emotions, thus neglecting himself. He knew it would come off as selfish if he told anyone this, but in his own mind, it really wasn't. It was more about self-preservation.
Bridget gave a half smile. "Yeah it is. Rick doesn't seem to be in mortal danger aside from the coma. But as of the time I left, they still had no idea how to rouse him." She sighed, compassionately shaking her head at the sad circumstance. "At least they have both families there because of the wedding, so the support system is already in place."
She sipped her coffee thoughtfully, making a silent prayer for Rick's recovery. She looked about the room briefly and took in more details. Brightly painted, child sized chairs were scattered about the room. Toys piled atop one another in a fuzzy, furry mass in one corner. A dolls house, showing recent renovations to the furnishings, littered the middle of the floor.
"Sooo... are you going to be moving to Pediatrics, then, do you think?" It was something she'd been meaning to ask him before now, at any rate. She had a curiosity about what had made such a radical difference in occupations for someone so young. You can't get much polar opposite than pediatrics and pathology. And in the past she wasn't quite sure how to ask about that.
Kaelin shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I spent years in Pediatrics so I've had my fill."
"Pathology sounded more interesting, then? I can imagine it was quieter, at least." She glanced over at Margaret, who'd started sucking her two middle fingers as she slept.
"No. It was less stressful. When I was in my last year of Residency in Pediatrics an epidemic broke out and all eight of my patients died. It was too much for me to handle, so I had to get out. Do something else," Kaelin explained, looking at the little girl on the bed as well before reaching over and lightly pulling the covers up over her shoulders. She snuggled into her pillow in response.
"Oh..." Bridget instantly regretted her probing questions as her eyes flicked up to his, filled with compassion. She hadn't considered the possibility of a tragedy being the reason for Kaelin's change in career. "I'm so sorry." Open mouth, insert both feet and an elbow. It's classic Bridget.
"Don't be. It's not your fault. And you didn't know about it. It's in my files, but not something I really like talking about. It took me a few months to really stabilize myself before I got back to work. That's when I switched to Pathology and started my Residency all over again."
She nodded, catching the drift when he said he didn't like talking about it. She had more questions... more curiosities. But those could wait for another day.
"I guess I should be heading back," she shrugged, feeling awkward and not sure what else to say. "I'm on rounds right now."
"Okay. Oh, I won't be able to make lunch. I made plans with Ai'lani. I haven't seen him in almost..." he looked up at the chronometer, "Thirteen hours. Need my fix soon," he laughed.
A chuckling snort escaped Bridget's lips, and she shook her head. Kaelin had unknowingly smoothed over the awkwardness of the previous subject. It was one of the disarming -but appealing- things about his personality. "Wow, honey. You really got it bad, don't you?"
"Well, it's not really uncommon, Bridget. I mean, we're Deltan. I'm really attracted to him. It's natural," Kaelin explained with a smile.
"Sure it is," she replied to his matter-of-fact explanation, with a teasing tone in her voice. Bridget knew there was more than just a natural interest, at least from Kaelin's perspective.
She opened her mouth to say more, but her padd made two beeping tones. One of the nurses was paging her. She stepped toward the door but stopped to look over her shoulder. "Lunch tomorrow?"
"Sure," Kaelin nodded. "Meet you out front at noon?" he asked to confirm.
"Absolutely. I'll be looking forward to it. And an update on little Maggie, too." Bridget nodded toward the sleeping toddler.
"Will do, Bridget," Kaelin smiled, giving her a small wave as she exited the infirmary.
::OFF::
Ensign Kaelin Niers
Clinical Pathologist
Temporary head of Pediatrics
DS5
&
Ensign Bridget Stapleton
Doctor (General Practice) - DS5
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Lieutenant Bridget Stapleton
Post Details
| Title | Children at Heart | |
| Mission | Judgement | |
| Author(s) | (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Lieutenant Bridget Stapleton | |
| Posted | Tue Jul 05, 2011 @ 5:08pm | |
| Location | Infirmary - Pediatrics Unit | |
| Timeline | SD38 - Late Morning |
It hadn't taken Kaelin long to realize just why he had picked Pediatrics as his specialty. In fact, the first moment the three children in his care laughed at something he'd joked about, it immediately made him despise the idea of going back to the quiet sterility of the pathology lab. He tried to push these feelings aside, but given his situation, he found the task quite difficult to achieve. As he did some paperwork and the two boys in the unit slept, Margaret rambled on happily as she sat, swinging her legs, on a small chair Kaelin had placed next to his own. He'd tried getting her to sleep, but the toddler refused, climbing out of bed the minute his back was turned. In the end, he'd turned to one of the nurses for help, who informed him that the off-duty Pediatrician often carried her around, which helped her sleep. Somehow, Kaelin doubted that.
"And then Lowa wanted to pway on the swing, but I got there first, so was my turn, and Lowa said..." the girl went on and on. Kaelin had tried to pay attention. He honestly did, but somewhere between Margaret's allergy incident, that had landed her in the Infirmary to begin with, and her fight with Lola over rights to the Arboretum's swingset, he'd zoned out.
So much so, that he didn't notice a new presence in the room. Margaret's vocal stream had suddenly dammed up and she sat still as stone, her eyes on the doorway. She wore an openly wary expression as she watched the tall woman lean against the frame of the door. A smile and wink from the newcomer didn't improve Margaret's opinion one bit.
Kaelin didn't notice Bridget come in, still focused on his paperwork. Only when he felt a pull on his lab coat did he look down to meet Margaret's big brown eyes.
"You not litening," she accused, and Kaelin couldn't help but grin at the serious look on the three year old's face. "Der's a lady here," she said, pointing to Bridget. Kaelin turned to see her, the grin still on his face.
"That's no lady, that's Dr. Stapleton. Can you say Stapleton?" he asked, and Margaret just shook her head. Chuckling, Kaelin pushed himself up off his chair and went over to greet his friend, the little girl coming after him, taking hold of his white lab coat.
"I see you have a new appendage," Bridget observed, still smiling.
"Yes. The other two went out like a light the minute the nurse tucked them in, but this one," he paused to lift the little girl up. As he did, she let out a small squeal of delight. "Isn't the 'nap' type," he explained, settling the toddler on his hip, making the action look quite natural for him. "This is Margaret. Margaret, this is Bridget. Can you say Bridget?" he asked her. The little girl, suddenly shy around the stranger, buried her head in Kaelin's shoulder. The Deltan laughed. "She's just a little shy. She's been having some problems with her R's and L's, so her parents are trying to get her to talk more and more," he told Bridget before motioning for her to come further into the Pediatrics unit.
"From what I heard in the hall, she's making a lot of progress today," Bridget said to his back, following Kaelin into the room. "So what brings you here, besides being motivation for little Miss Margo Motormouth?"
"Oh, the Chief Pediatrician is out sick for a while, so Dr. Adams asked me to fill in, since Pediatrics is my specialty. Well, it was before I switched to Pathology," Kaelin told Bridget before putting the little girl onto her bed. "I have to talk to the lady for a bit now, Margaret. Here, why don't you read this and then if you can tell me the story once I come back, I'll be sure to give you a treat. How's ice cream sound?" The little girl's eyes brightened excitedly. "Okay." Suddenly, Kaelin lowered his tone, enough for both of the females in the room to hear, but giving his voice an air of conspiracy.
"But don't tell anyone. It'll be our little secret okay?" He winked and the little girl nodded, mimicking Kaelin's gesture clumsily as he ran the tips of his fingers over his lips as if zipping his mouth closed. As she turned her attention to her book, Kaelin stood up straight again and walked up to Bridget, a smile still present on his face.
"That should hold her for a good three-point-five minutes," Bridget quipped, knowing all too well the attention span of someone so young.
"Yeah. So, what have you been up to this morning? I'm really sorry about leaving you alone with Ai'lani last night. Hope you had a good time. I came around his quarters around midnight and he wasn't there. What time did you two go your separate ways?" Kaelin asked Bridget, leaning back against the desk.
"It was about two thirty," she said, her cheeks deepening to a peachy pink. Part of the blush came from anticipating Kaelin's reaction and questions, but she also colored at memory of the discussion with Edward.
Kaelin blinked in surprise. "Really? Wow. And there I was, all worried about the two of you getting along," he laughed.
She joined his laughter a moment, and finished it with a sigh. Might as well tell him and get it over with. "Yeah, we went to a holosuite after dinner." She knew he disapproved of them, and wondered how he was going to feel to know she had taken Ai'lani to one.
"Oh, good thing I left. I don't like those things. So, what did you do?" he asked, curious. Though, really he wanted to know what Ai'lani had been up to. He hadn't seen him since they'd parted that night and the other Deltan hadn't answered his call that morning. Probably still asleep.
"Lemme get a cup of coffee, and I'll tell you," she said, procrastinating to give herself time to form her answer in a way that would minimize Kaelin's objections. She was groggy from lack of sleep and just on the verge of being cranky. If Kaelin launched into one of his little soap boxes about holosuites, she wasn't sure whether or not she'd be able to keep from snapping at him. Moving toward the Peds replicator, she ordered a strong shot of espresso, and while it materialized she continued.
"I've got this program that my uncle had made especially for me. It's a dance club from Earth's history. Ai'lani and I played a couple roles from the storyline in the club. I don't know if he really had fun or not, but he's a good sport and played along."
She sipped from the tiny cup and let the hot liquid slide slowly down her throat. "I know you don't like the holosuites, but I hope you don't mind that Ai'lani went along with me. I did enjoy his company, even though..." She stopped herself on the verge of saying something she'd regret. Kaelin was defensive about Ai'lani the way she was defensive about enjoying holosuites.
"Even though what? Did something happen?" He was a little worried now, but surely Ai'lani wouldn't put himself in any compromising situation.
She caught his expression and the tone of his voice, realizing that she'd given the wrong impression. "No, nothing happened. It's just that we argued, and I have a feeling it won't be the last time." She smiled, awkwardly. "I mean it's not a bad thing... necessarily. But he's... prickly. I guess I don't have to tell you that, though." Oh lovely. From the frying pan into the fire.
"Really? Ai'lani and I never argue. We discuss things we don't share an opinion over, but it's not arguing," Kaelin explained. "I've never found him to be...prickly. Set in his ways, yes, but not outwardly confrontational. I do know that, if a subject is brought up that he has an opposing opinion of, he won't shy away from saying it. But, it isn't arguing."
Bridget shrugged; it was coming down to semantics and perception with Kaelin, and she was to tired to debate it with him. She just should have kept her mouth shut.
Changing the subject, she pointed toward the toddler's bed. "Looks like your naptime theory needs some work." Margaret was sound asleep, book laying open to the page where she'd closed her eyes.
"So does your evasion tactic," Kaelin said, giving her a small wink, but letting the subject of Ai'lani go. He walked over to the replicator and got himself some tea. "Well, I'm glad you had fun last night either way. I know this next is probably none of my business and you don't have to say anything, but I hope we didn't give you any trouble with Edward," he told her. He knew that people often said he was naive and too trusting, but he knew people well enough to know that people rarely reacted well to their spouses spending much time with Deltans. He'd been mixed up in such situations more often than he liked.
She avoided his gaze as she replied, "Well, not much. He was a little confused about some things but I think we worked it out." Ai'lani's powerful attraction had worked on both of them, much to Edward's chagrin. A thread of jealousy had worked it's way into his mind throughout the evening, and he'd been having trouble deciding whether he was more jealous of his wife or her dinner companion.
"I understand. It's happened to me too. I got into a lot of arguments during my last assignments. I can't tell you how many times I've been accused of trying to steal someone's wife," Kaelin explained with a smile.
"I can imagine." She toyed with the smooth ceramic-like finger hole of the espresso cup. This was really not the thread of discussion she wanted to go into. She liked Kaelin, but sometimes the innate Deltan-ness was unnerving.
"So how's Chelsea? I haven't seen much of her this morning, but I heard what happened," Kaelin began, leaning on one of the bulkheads.
Bridget was grateful for the change of subject. "Not so good right now. She's still in her wedding dress, Rick is still in a coma, and she just shooed all of the staff out of Emergency." Bridget tilted her head in thought. "It was pretty odd behavior, actually."
"Well, it's an odd situation," Kaelin pointed out with a shrug. He hadn't seen Chelsea all day and didn't really feel like going to see her. She was probably upset and he had enough of his own emotions to deal with, quite honestly. And if he went to see her, that would just make him want to comfort her and get way too involved with her emotions, thus neglecting himself. He knew it would come off as selfish if he told anyone this, but in his own mind, it really wasn't. It was more about self-preservation.
Bridget gave a half smile. "Yeah it is. Rick doesn't seem to be in mortal danger aside from the coma. But as of the time I left, they still had no idea how to rouse him." She sighed, compassionately shaking her head at the sad circumstance. "At least they have both families there because of the wedding, so the support system is already in place."
She sipped her coffee thoughtfully, making a silent prayer for Rick's recovery. She looked about the room briefly and took in more details. Brightly painted, child sized chairs were scattered about the room. Toys piled atop one another in a fuzzy, furry mass in one corner. A dolls house, showing recent renovations to the furnishings, littered the middle of the floor.
"Sooo... are you going to be moving to Pediatrics, then, do you think?" It was something she'd been meaning to ask him before now, at any rate. She had a curiosity about what had made such a radical difference in occupations for someone so young. You can't get much polar opposite than pediatrics and pathology. And in the past she wasn't quite sure how to ask about that.
Kaelin shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I spent years in Pediatrics so I've had my fill."
"Pathology sounded more interesting, then? I can imagine it was quieter, at least." She glanced over at Margaret, who'd started sucking her two middle fingers as she slept.
"No. It was less stressful. When I was in my last year of Residency in Pediatrics an epidemic broke out and all eight of my patients died. It was too much for me to handle, so I had to get out. Do something else," Kaelin explained, looking at the little girl on the bed as well before reaching over and lightly pulling the covers up over her shoulders. She snuggled into her pillow in response.
"Oh..." Bridget instantly regretted her probing questions as her eyes flicked up to his, filled with compassion. She hadn't considered the possibility of a tragedy being the reason for Kaelin's change in career. "I'm so sorry." Open mouth, insert both feet and an elbow. It's classic Bridget.
"Don't be. It's not your fault. And you didn't know about it. It's in my files, but not something I really like talking about. It took me a few months to really stabilize myself before I got back to work. That's when I switched to Pathology and started my Residency all over again."
She nodded, catching the drift when he said he didn't like talking about it. She had more questions... more curiosities. But those could wait for another day.
"I guess I should be heading back," she shrugged, feeling awkward and not sure what else to say. "I'm on rounds right now."
"Okay. Oh, I won't be able to make lunch. I made plans with Ai'lani. I haven't seen him in almost..." he looked up at the chronometer, "Thirteen hours. Need my fix soon," he laughed.
A chuckling snort escaped Bridget's lips, and she shook her head. Kaelin had unknowingly smoothed over the awkwardness of the previous subject. It was one of the disarming -but appealing- things about his personality. "Wow, honey. You really got it bad, don't you?"
"Well, it's not really uncommon, Bridget. I mean, we're Deltan. I'm really attracted to him. It's natural," Kaelin explained with a smile.
"Sure it is," she replied to his matter-of-fact explanation, with a teasing tone in her voice. Bridget knew there was more than just a natural interest, at least from Kaelin's perspective.
She opened her mouth to say more, but her padd made two beeping tones. One of the nurses was paging her. She stepped toward the door but stopped to look over her shoulder. "Lunch tomorrow?"
"Sure," Kaelin nodded. "Meet you out front at noon?" he asked to confirm.
"Absolutely. I'll be looking forward to it. And an update on little Maggie, too." Bridget nodded toward the sleeping toddler.
"Will do, Bridget," Kaelin smiled, giving her a small wave as she exited the infirmary.
::OFF::
Ensign Kaelin Niers
Clinical Pathologist
Temporary head of Pediatrics
DS5
&
Ensign Bridget Stapleton
Doctor (General Practice) - DS5