Judgement – Precipitations
by Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Chelsea Dunham

Previous EntryNext Entry
Post Details

Title   Precipitations
Mission   Judgement
Author(s)   Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Posted   Sat May 28, 2011 @ 9:59am
Location   Promenade/Turbo Lift/personal quarters
Timeline   SD37 - Lunch time (Directly After New Friends)
On:

Rick and Chelsea walked arm in arm along promenade, towards the nearest turbo lift. As they stood there waiting for the lift to arrive Rick moved suddenly and put out his right hand to catch his watch that suddenly slipped from his wrist.

The sudden move startled Chelsea. “What's wrong?" she asked, before she saw him open his hand with the watch in the palm of it.

"How did *that* come off?" she looked bewildered.

"I think the strapping has worn down" said Rick thoughtfully as he examined it in the palm of his hand. He stroked a finger along the old leather wrist strap that had become frayed and worn.

Chelsea looked at it. "You'll have to have that repaired quickly, we never know when.... I mean... one day you'll want to give that to your... our... if we have any kids...." She had realised at the point where she started to say *you never know when...* that she mustn't say too much but the more she tried NOT to say anything that would give anything away, the more she tangled herself into knots.

"It's an important heirloom, is what I mean....." ~For the Prophets' sake just give it up!~ she admonished herself.

Rick's face scrunched up in a bizzare mix of a 'frown' and a 'I know your not saying something look', his head pulled away slightly so as to better take in Chelsea's full picture. "Did I miss something here?" said Rick at first thinking that this was leading to a conversation about kids, but then that thought being taken over by a sense of deja vu. "I just got the sense of deja vu"

Chelsea smiled affectionately and laughed softly. "I get that a lot." she deflected gently.

Rick's face cracked into one of empathy, highlighted by his gentle smile and a slight tilt of his head, he stroked her cheek gently with the back of his hand then said sweetly and softy "stop deflecting gorgeous......what is it?"

"I..... I can't tell you....." her love for him welled inside her and she felt like she would burst with it. She couldn't lie to him and having secrets from him was killing her. "But please, just trust me and get the watch repaired." She felts so unhappy about what she was having to keep from him and so guilty that she was having to ask him to trust her blindly when all she wanted was to tell him everything and share the experience, just as they shared everything, small or large. Yet here was something 'major' and she was keeping him out of it. It felt so wrong and it tore her apart."

The turbo lift arrived with a gentle ping noise, the door slid open invitingly and they both stepped in, the door sliding close behind them. They stood in the turbo lift for a moment in quiet, but holding hands, then Rick said "Have we had this conversation before? There is something very familiar about this....." He gazed at his watch looking at it like he was trying to remember something.

There was something in Rick's bewildered look that tore at Chelsea's heart making her long to protect him. She felt she couldn't say anything for fear of Eric Dunham's words that it would do harm if he knew about the time-travel incident. Chelsea had no choice, medically as his doctor, nor personally as the person who loved him above all else in her life, but to protect him first and worry about the principles of having to lie to him later, as long as he was kept safe by it.

"No babe, we haven't" It felt like the most heinous crime to have lied to him like that. Chelsea had to look away from him for fear of him seeing too much in her face or eyes that might give her away.

Now she not only had to keep secrets to keep him safe, but she had taken the unforgivable step of lying to him.... the thin end of the wedge as she saw it. Love is about trust and Chelsea and Rick trusted each other implicitly. Now, Chelsea had been forced to break that trust, something she was about to swear she would never do, yet here, on the day before that vow being made, she was already breaking it. How would this end? What if he found out, which presumably he would somehow *have* to. She longed to turn back and tell him everything but what if that meant he'd get hurt, or possibly worse......... she could NEVER risk his life for her own inner-comfort.

She stayed facing away but clung to his hand with her own, as if the force of pressure from her grip might somehow convey to him how desperately she loved him no matter what.

=^= Computer stop turbo lift =^= said Rick with almost Vulcan like emotionless tone in his voice. He wrested his hand from Chelsea's grip and turned to face her. His eyes boring into her soul, with unadulterated love, like they had done on the holodeck just a matter of hours ago. "That was the first time you have lied to me." It was a question. It was a fact. One that Rick wanted to put out there to show that he knew.

"Rick......... Rick I ........." Chelsea looked back into his eyes and felt like she couldn't go on. "There's only one reason in the universe that i would ever lie to you but i still feel like I've betrayed you, even though i did it to protect you. Your dad said something bad would happen if I let you remember.... I.... Please tell me you haven't lost your trust in me? I couldn't live if I thought you didn't trust me...... "

Rick smiled, a single tear rolled down his cheek as he placed one finger over her lips and said softly "shhhhh.....I believe in you, I trust you, I love you."

"Thank you" Chelsea sighed, the relief that swept over her making her feel light-headed.

"How much *do* you remember about the watch?" she asked tentatively. Now that the subject was out in the open, it seemed worse to just leave him at the mercy of flashbacks. She didn't want to say much more, but if he told her things he had remembered, she didn't see how that could be doing any more harm that his own recovering memory was causing naturally.

"A man.....a man had my watch...." Rick trailed off in thought "but....I can't picture his face...." he trailed of again his brow furrowed in deep concentration. Then he shook his head "it feels like there is more but its not coming to me....what's going on?"

"Please don't ask me to tell you things, if you remember them by yourself then I won't have put you at risk. Does that make sense?" She tried to work with this but was stumbling around in the metaphorical dark, desperately trying not to put him into danger's way yet not to lose him in the darkness either.

Rick nodded somewhat resignedly "It makes sense......especially if my dad is involved." ~Because~ Thought Rick to himself ~that means time travel~ He nodded, and as Chelsea looked into his eyes she could see him begin to connect the dots to his father, his area of expertise, and her mysterious words.

~Oh Prophets.......... I mentioned his dad..... now it's not just what he's remembering it's being helped by what I said.~ she suddenly realised with real terror clutching icily at her heart. "Rick... I don't know what he meant by his warning..... we should talk to him.... " she tried to backtrack, terrified now that she had done the one thing she had tried so hard not to.

"urrmmm yeah...sure..." he said distantly as he try to puzzle through what was going on through his mind =^= computer resume turbo lift =^= he smiled and hugged Chelsea reassuringly to show that he was fine, but as he held her, images began to appear in his mind that he couldn't connect to any given experience of them. The turbo lift stopped and Rick followed Chelsea's back out of the lift. He felt a dampness on his nose, and when after removing his fingers from touching it he say a little bit of blood on his finger tips, he wiped it away, and away from his nose, not thinking anything of it.

If Chelsea had seen the blood, she might have been prepared for some of what was about to happen over the next 24 hours but she was walking with him behind her at that point.

When they got to Sickbay, she kissed him and had to go directly back to work, resuming her shift after lunch. She could not know that the next time she would see him, he would b being brought to her as an emergency inpatient.

Off:

A JP between:


CAG Squadron Leader
Lieutenant Commander Richard Dunham


and

Commander Chelsea Adams
CMO & 2CO - DS5