Thorne in Her Side

Posted on Sat Mar 16th, 2024 @ 1:03pm by Lieutenant Maximillion Thornehill Junior & Lieutenant Commander Gwendolyn Griffith

Mission: Double Dealing
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Concurrent with Pirate Attack

Gwen had finished checking on the Ambassador, Lieutenant Barth was reading up on the ship's logs since he'd been gone, and the general sense of panic was over. Things were still tense, however, as they had members of the crew still on the station. Still, her little corner of the universe was back under control and ready for the next crisis.

The only exception was biobed three where their third guest was sitting up, looking across Sickbay with a 1000-light-year stare. She felt for the Lieutenant. If she'd been kept from her family for two years, and then found out they had no idea she was gone, she wasn't sure she'd take it well either.

She grabbed a stool and pulled it over, perching herself on top of it. "How are you feeling?"

Max was sitting up on his biobed, knees up and resting his arms on them. He gave her a side-eye. "Oh...great. Never better. Thanks, Doc," he said, dryly.

She fixed him with a no-nonsense glare. "And the real answer would be...?"

Max sighed and straightened his legs, stretching a bit. "I just...want to hug my parents right now. My sister, too. I'm trying to grapple with the idea that two years have passed without me."

"I know. It was touch-and-go for a bit," she said, the over-dramatization obvious in her voice. "The entire galaxy was off its axis, but....somehow....we muddled through, despite your absence." She gave him a grin and a nudge.

Max cracked a smile. "You know what I mean. I've missed....hell, I don't even know what I've missed. At least I'm sure this isn't some dream and I'm still in that pod." He gave a slight gallows chuckle. After a moment he looked at her again. "What's your name? Griffith?"

"Doctor Gwen Griffith," she said. "My friends call me Gwen, or Gigi for short. But please, feel free to call me Doctor Griffith."

Max let out a full laugh and visibly relaxed. "Thanks, Doc. I needed that."

"On the side of good news," Gwen said, "you don't seem to be suffering from anything, and our scans are coming back negative for any issues with blood work or cloning. You're the real you, and we can discharge you shortly."

"That's...great," he said. "And then what? I go back to the Saint Augustine? I go home? Do I even have a career right now?"

"You're not out of Starfleet," Gwen said. "You're still a Lieutenant. You have all those choices open to you. The real question is, what do you want to do?"

"I want to see my family," Max said. "I want to get as far away from this station as possible. I want..." he paused and swallowed hard. He wanted to figure out the vision he'd had, the face he'd seen. He'd never been a huge believer in the idea of a reaping angel coming for a person at the moment of death, but now he was starting to reconsider.

"Mister Thornehill?" Gwen prompted, looking concerned at his expression. "What is it?"

"I think...right now...I want to sleep in a real bed and eat something sitting at a table, not in my lap," Max said.

Gwen gave him an sympathetic smile. She stood up and looked over his readings on the biobed monitor, then confirmed them with her tricorder. "I don't think that should be a problem. Go stretch your legs, and when you come back, I'll have the quartermaster assign you a place to sleep. You can just report in every eight hours to make sure nothing sneaks up on us."

"Thanks, Doc. I will," Max replied, standing up slowly and walking out of Sickbay, things still weighing on his mind.

Gwen stored his readings to his file, cleared the bio bed for a new patient, and returned to her station to continue monitoring her other patients.