YEET !

Shoya could read the true answer in that reply – you’ll leave when we say you can leave. Which was not the answer she wanted to hear. She was tired. She’d been hard at work all day, and her wings ached beneath her top.

Glaring at the IV in her arm, she asked, “Am I free to go, Nurse? Or am I being held here on your orders?”

“Believe it or not, we really do work to let you out of here as quickly as we can.”

She gave Shoya an apologetic smile, but there wasn’t any leeway offered in it. “You’re improving, but I’d like to see you keep a little food down before you go, and some of your vitals still need observation. I am holding you here.”

Shouldn’t be more than another hour, really, but it was asking for trouble to give a window of time like that. Crew always found a way to latch onto it and make a stink the moment it passed.

Nerd cred… what an odd term. But if having it meant he might be able to contribute to this little competition, he would accept it.

“Oh, uh… j-just a lot of people,” he replied, attempting a smile. “I’m not always the – the best with crowds. B-but it’s fine! I’m fine.”

Christine took a long sip of her beer, watching his expression over the rim of the glass until she set it back down on the table. “It’ll be quieter, at least, once they get going with the questions... but I’m sure we can find something else to do, if you’d rather head out.” She shrugged smilingly. “Like I was saying, it’s mostly an excuse to be out doing something. Not about winning.”

“That’s exactly what it means. Who’d’ya think would be t’blame for it, if the best nurse I’ve got let herself go?” Leonard snorts softly, because while he tendency is to be at his most dignified when among his team, he and Christine know each other well enough at this point for him to relax in her presence. There is a limited number of folks who have been privy to the good, the bad and the ugly, and she happens to be among them. 

This casual demeanor is no match for the way she clings to him, if only for a second, probably without even realizing it. He supplies a crooked smile, touches the pad of his thumb to her wrist, and at last allows their contact to break. For such a busy man, he finds himself with plenty of downtime during those blessed passages of time during which they can boast a healthy ship and an empty medbay. He’d never wish this sort of sorrow on anyone, but he is pleased to know that now of all times, he’s best equipped to offer her a shoulder to cry on. 

(So to speak. Leonard’s fairly sure she’d never actually cry on it, regardless of her situation.)

“C’mon. Walk with me.” He’s not sure where they’ll go, but the Enterprise is roughly half a mile long. They’ll figure it out.

She makes a small tch sound, only a little lacking her normal warm wryness. “Well, I would hate to reflect badly on you.”

It doesn’t make anything better, but it is nice to go back and forth with him a bit. Maybe she does need the reassurance that she still has healthy relationships. People she can count on to be exactly what she knows them to be.

Another reason she appreciates Leonard’s presence, specifically — it is easier to admit anything to someone who’s already heard all of her old baggage ( and, yes, whose issues she knows so much about, too. ) She’s not above admitting to herself that it’s easier to bare her soul to someone she’s already passed that milestone with.

Honestly, she wouldn’t mind just wandering without stopping anyplace specifically, so Christine follows him without asking where.

there’s so many groovy things to do

“You probably understand more than you think.” Bruce heard noted the fondness in Daphne’s voice for her friend.He laughed a little at how she said she’d make the interview ‘painless.’ “I’m not trying to limit what you want to ask. If its a genuine question, ask it. I don’t do a lot of interviews.They don’t have to be some grand thing.But based on your previous work…I’m not worried about what I usually worry about.” And that was a rare thing when it came to him and the media. He filed his notes away in a drawer. Bruce checked his watch. “Assuming there aren’t any surprises or code greens. Take the time if you need it. I should probably work less anyway.”

She asked if here was an angle he wanted. “It’s your interview. As I said, I’m trusting you. If I don’t like a question, I’ll tell you. I may even refuse to answer but I won’t stop you from asking them.”

“I promise you I don’t,” Daphne answered, but she was grinning a bit. She was used to people assuming she wasn’t particularly smart, —it didn’t sting the way it did when she was young,— but there was still no faster way to get into her good graces than actually respecting her intelligence.

It was almost funny, knowing how much of her previous work involved yelling and.....well, breaking-and-entering, that he’d trust her based on that. But she supposed those stories had been exposés of real bastards with ( previously ) good press, not casual interviews with controversial heroes. “I’ll try not to nag on questions you decide to avoid.”

“Ensign Trainor. In Engineering.” Shoya had no hesitation in ratting the man out. He could have killed her. “I told him I did not want coffee. I did not know I had to specify that it is like poison to me.”

With a small sigh, she glanced to the IV in her arm, clearly still considering just yanking it out. “I do feel better. I think I would be fine on my own,” she lied.

“You shouldn’t have had to,” Christine agreed out loud, although she was speaking more to herself than the crewman, a pang of that trademarked Medical Staff protective anger creeping into her tone for a moment.

Her smile returned as she finished entering the name and set her PADD aside, though. “I’m glad you feel more well.” She glanced at the screen of vitals again before raising her eyebrows good-naturedly at Shoya. “And we’ll take your assessment under consideration.”

It was the most he could muster at that particular moment, his brain still trying its best to come to terms with what had happened on this mission. But making an effort to respond was just the first step in recovery, or so Pavel assumed.

It was something, and Christine seemed to approve of the attempt.

“I-I’m not tired.” A lie. His body felt absolutely shattered after the ordeal, but his mind was going a-mile-a-minute, leaving him incapable of actually going to sleep. Not to mention the fact that he didn’t want to be alone. “I would prefer to have tea now, maybe in the rec room?”

She couldn’t help dropping a quick, light kiss into his hair, and... well. Maybe she didn’t particularly try to stop herself, either. “All right. I won’t keep you too long, whenever you decide you might need to sleep.” Just as long as you need.

“The rec room would be great,” she agreed with an encouraging half smile and a little nod, slipping one arm loosely around his shoulders.

“We can catch up a bit, if you feel up to it. Haven’t gotten to sit and talk to you in a couple weeks.” Disasters notwithstanding, she genuinely would appreciate the opportunity to chat with the kid.

   “I’m Willow!” Which isn’t going to help the dude at all, but she doesn’t know that. She’s still mostly laughing at the fact that a Gate had been just right there, and she’d not seen it. “Skies, you think if anyone’d see a Gate…” 

   She tries to stand up in her tittering, hitching giggles, but pain snags at her, in her side, so hard she Blinks again – sees nothing in bright hues but her. Good. Good! No other Amyra. Yet. 

   “Ow. Fuck.” Hand at her side. Smiling up at her. “What’s a bull… uh… air? Bull air? Like, the air of bull? Is bull a… a animal-y thing? Or a person? Or a…” Lightheaded in pain for a second. “Uh. Anyway. What are you?” 

The..... Willow goes bloop again and Daphne startles. Again. She’s still glancing around for where they ( or she? or it? or whatever ) went when Willow reappears in obvious pain, and Daphne has to decide that, yeah. Weirdo alien teleportation aside, she’s probably somehow the bigger threat in this conversation.

That’s kinda sad, Willow.