Small Victories

Posted on 11 May 2020 @ 12:50pm by Lieutenant Rosine Deschamps & Lieutenant Commander Amelia Warner

998 words; about a 5 minute read

As a doctor, it pleased Amelia to know that yet one more member of the crew returning to them. After having lost so many that could never be reclaimed, each one that could be was--to her--a victory. She didn't know Lieutenant Rosine Deschamps at all, but she was a part of the Odin and today was a good day. Doctor Warner stood next to the bed as the last of the anesthetic worked its way out of the woman's system, and she would awake soon.

There is this indescribable state of being between consciousness and unconsciousness. Where you know that you aren't quite unconscious, but don't belong to the conscious world either. There was probably a more scientific explanation to it all, and seeing as she was a Science officer, Rosine made a mental note to learn more about it soon. She'd been in this state for a while now, aware that something had been wrong, but unaware of her surroundings.

In an attempt to pull herself to full awareness, she'd run a mental check on herself. Name: check. Personal information: check, for the most part. Current situation: unknown. Date, time, location, all unknown. This had undoubtedly caused the spike in her heart rate that had alerted the doctors she was about to wake up. Last memory: work in progress. Too many unknowns, too few answers in this state of nothingness. With effort, Rosine pried her eyes open, to stare right into a doctor's face.

"Welcome back to the land of the conscious, Lieutenant," Amelia said. Her smile was warm and her voice was gentle, letting the other woman ease back into things as much as possible. She pulled out her tricorder and began running a few scans to confirm the results of the biobed scanners.

Lieutenant. That matched with what she remembered. But the woman herself didn't seem familiar. Slowly taking in the limited surroundings she could see from where she was laying, there was something familiar and yet not. Eyeing the tricorder that was running over her, it didn't bode well for her health. What question to ask first? So many questions, too few answers for now. "Where am I?" she finally asked. Her voice croaked. From lack of usage? What day was it? More questions! It didn't make breathing any easier.

"You are in sickbay on the USS Odin," Amelia went on kindly. "I'm Doctor Warner. Do you remember your name?"

Odin: check. At least, somewhat. Warner: unknown. One out of two was a start. Though she figured it was more like a half out of two. Which wasn't much of a start. "Rosine Deschamps," she replied after screwing up her face in thought. At least that much she knew because she'd thought about it already. She still didn't like the sound of her own voice.

Amelia smiled again. "That's a good start," she said. "Would you like to try sitting up? Can I get you some water?"

Sitting up? That sounded good. Less bodily harm than expected then. Water sounded good as well. So, she nodded in acknowledgement of both questions. "What day is it?" she asked the question that was foremost on her mind. She knew she wouldn't like the answer.

Amelia answered as she moved to the replicator, which was close by. She was hesitant, because she knew it would be a shock, but lying or avoiding the question would be worse. So, she told the woman the stardate as she came back with the glass.

A shock, perhaps. But hardly a surprise. Rosine took a sharp breath that made her head spin for a moment. She'd managed to sit up to accept the glass of water, but now slumped somewhat back, still trying to come up with the last memory she had. It felt like longer than the few weeks that had passed. Did she remember the last Christmas? Her last birthday? They were foggy memories and she wasn't entirely convinced it were the last ones. Something was wrong. More questions to pile on. "How am I doing?" she asked, gesturing towards herself.

"You're not screaming in disbelief at what I just said, so I think you're doing well," Amelia said earnestly. "Physically, you are also well. You've been in a medically-induced coma for these weeks to help your body on the healing process, but your body and our treatments have done their work. You seem to be back to your normal state of health, which is why we were able to bring you out of the coma now."

Rosine took in everything the doctor was telling her. There were quite a few layers to it. She'd been in bad enough shape to require an induced coma. Yet the doctor was talking about being back to normal, so that was that. She'd have to look up her chart at some point, because she was the kind of person who had to know what had happened, but not quite right now. Getting back to her quarters sounded like a good idea right about then. She needed some time alone to process all this. Suddenly Sickbay seemed to be confined and keeping her trapped. "Can I go?" she asked, swinging her legs slowly out of bed.

"Not quite yet," Amelia said quickly. Her smile was firm but apologetic. "I want you to remain here in sickbay for twenty-four hours for observation just to be safe and make sure everything is as okay as we think. After that, you are free to return to your quarters and to duty."

Not exactly keen to return to duty immediately, but even more so to be alone, Rosine narrowed her eyes. Not that she didn't understand the doctor's reasons, but still. Taking a few more sharp breaths, she tried to not focus on the confined feeling Sickbay was giving her. There would be nothing to be done about it, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

--

by Lieutenant Rosine Deschamps & Lieutenant JG Amelia Warner

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