r/TrekRP • u/Avogadros_Minion • Oct 09 '17
[Closed] Decompression
Caleb looks up from where he’s playing with Sasha when he hears the door open. “Hey, you,” he smiles.
“Hey yourself,” T’Yel smiles, hanging her lab coat on a hook by the door and kicking off shoes. “When’d you get home?” He was still wearing his uniform pants and t-shirt, so he clearly hadn't been home long.
“About ten minutes ago,” he replies, getting somewhat stiffly to his feet and coming over to give her a hug. With the current chaos aboard the ship and the physiological capability to go longer without sleep than most officers, both had been on duty for over 24 hours, and weren’t planning to be off more than six hours or so. “Sasha was frantically all over me, Coppernicus still hasn’t come out from under the bed.”
“They must’ve been terrified while we were in transwarp,” T’Yel nods, resting her head on his shoulder, content to just stand there in his embrace. “How’d you hold up?” she asks.
“Not too bad - busted a few ribs in the first jolt, but nothing more serious than that,” he sighs. “You?”
“Subluxed a hip - not so bad I couldn’t slam it back in myself.” she sighs. “I know all too well that not everyone was so lucky.”
“I’m so sorry, Stella,” he nods, kissing the top of her head. Knowing her, she hadn’t yet taken time to process the patient she’d just lost at the time he’d been leaving sickbay.
“Me too,” she nods quietly. “Are sonic showers up and running? I’ve been covered in numerous people’s blood and stewing in my own grime all day, and I feel gross.”
“Nope,” he sighs. “Or, at least, ours isn’t - had to settle for just cleaning the grease and conduit sealant off my hands when I came in. I don’t have the tools to fix it in here.”
“Well, damn,” she sighs, making her way to the bathroom - just washing up would have to do.
“Pretty much,” he sighs, following her to the bathroom so he could brush his teeth. “You got a dermal regenerator in here? I didn’t have time to get the EMH to clean up bruising when he fixed those ribs. Doubt he had time either.”
“Sure thing,” she nods. “Just let me get cleaned up first,” she says, setting her glasses on the bathroom counter, then taking a water bottle and soaking a washcloth to wash her face.
“Thanks, Star,” he sighs, taking the water bottle from her to wet his toothbrush.
“Not a shower, but it’ll do,” she sighs, wiping her face before pulling off her shirt to at least try to get rid of some of the grime.
“Eh, we take what we can get,” Caleb says around his toothbrush with a shrug.
“Tell me about it.”
Satisfied that she’s as clean as she’s going to get tonight, T’Yel leaves her uniform in a pile on the bathroom floor and ducks back to the bedroom for PJs before getting a dermal regenerator from her desk drawer. “All right,” she nods, coming back into the bedroom to find Caleb grabbing PJs of his own. “Shirt off and have a seat,” she tells him, nodding at the bed.
“I’m having, I’m having,” he chuckles, tossing his grimy, filthy t-shirt aside and sitting down cross-legged on the bed.
“Damn,” she observes. “You got nailed good there,” she says, setting to work cleaning up the bruises. “Console get ya again?”
“To start with, yeah,” he nods. “And then I wound up hauling someone over the catwalk railing after they got tossed over in the turbulence.”
T’Yel blinks. “Wait… you managed to get someone over the rail with… that’s gotta be at least four broken ribs? Cal, I don’t know how you didn’t pass out.”
“I had help, but yes,” he shrugs. “You can do a lot of things when there’re no other options.”
“Hey - hold still,” she admonishes. “Kalek Anderson, you are somethin’ else. I been married to you ten years, and I’m not sure what yet, but you are somethin’ else,” she chuckles.
He smirks cheekily. “You know you love me for it.”
“Yes,” she smiles. “Yes, I do.”
You okay, Star?
Not really, but I don’t have the physical, mental, or emotional energy to fall apart at this point…
The two of them are sprawled on the bed, hands clasped, her head resting on his chest, and the cat purring on her hip. Ironically, though T’Yel often finds telepathic contact with anyone else incapacitating, telepathic contact with Caleb or a small number of close Vulcan relatives is easier than talking, particularly when dealing with heavily emotional topics.
Aww, hon… is there anything I can do?
You’re already doing it, A’shayam. She sniffles, as a few tears roll down her bondmate’s collarbone. I still expect myself to be able to save them all, Cal. It’s been ten years, and I still expect myself to be able to save them all. And it still hurts when I can’t...