Plans to help a friend

Posted on Mon Dec 10th, 2018 @ 5:25am by Lieutenant Commander Ariana Monroe-Wayne & Commander Hades,MD
Edited on on Mon Dec 10th, 2018 @ 5:27am

2,624 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 96 - A Visitor From the Past
Location: Promenade - Restaurant
Timeline: Current

ON:

With a long morning & afternoon out of the way & having changed out of the old style uniform and into her own clothing now she was finished her work for the day Ariana made her way to get some dinner. She could have eaten in Marcus' quarters but she felt like a change. Walking to the restaurant she was about to choose a table when she spotted a familiar, if sleeping, someone in the corner.

Walking over to the table she stood for a moment before gently reaching out her hand and placing it on Hades shoulder. "Doctor....Doctor Hades"

Hades hadn't know how he'd fallen asleep. He had been awake one moment and then asleep the next. It had been a long day and after McCoy's surgery he'd been hit with two more that had been long and complicated. He was tired, sore and hungry. He'd stopped in just for a bite and then he'd been planning on sleep. Sleep came before the meal, it would seem.

He roused at the gentle prodding and looked up at the counselor. "Counselor, I was just...."

"Sleeping!" Ariana smiled as she took a seat opposite him, even though she hadn't been doing the stressful surgeries he had she was feeling just as tired thanks to her pregnancy. "I can understand that you're tired Doctor, but I think your quarters might be best for sleep." She grinned.

Hades scrubbed his hand across his face and made a non committal sound. He looked at the food before him not really wanting to eat now.

"I've been waiting for time to talk to you" She picked up her glass and took a sip of the cold milk she had. Her tray of food was one that Marcus usually gave her full if everything she needed for good nutrition. "You've so far managed to dance around every question I've asked you, what I want to know is what is going on between Rol & yourself?" She looked at Hades curiously. "I know there's something going on with you Doctor, let me help?"

He almost groaned out loud but held it in. Hades smiled a bit, "He...like you asks a lot of questions. I've never been good with counselors. He's just more....persistent then most." He thought a moment, "Perhaps I should go and rest.."

"Hold it doctor!" Ariana looked at Hades. "Let me rephrase that. Either you can talk to me in a nice social setting or I can find out what's going on without you telling me, and remove you from duty pending a good night's rest and full evaluation!" She sat back in her seat. "I can feel there's something wrong, I'm offering to help you."

Hades, who had just gotten up, sat down heavily and sighed. "Alright counselor. You win." He stared at the food in front of him that had gone cold. "Where do you want me to start." The last thing he needed was to be pulled off duty.

"How's about at the beginning" Alicia relaxed back in her seat with her hands resting on her stomach. It was a pose she was starting to enjoy and in some ways it gave her a sense of security too, the urge to protect her baby was a powerful one. "Tell me what you've been trying to hide, I'm not here to judge you just to help."

Hades sighed. He stayed quiet so long that many would have wondered if he'd answer at all. Finally he began, "It's not easy. It's been...a long few years for me."

“I don’t expect you to talk about everything now” She smiled. “This is hardly a private place to talk, just tell me what you’re comfortable with for now and we can meet in my office next time. I just want to try and help, at least it’ll get Rol off your back for a little while.”

Hades laughed, "Nothing, and I mean nothing, short of launching that man out of an airlock will get him off my back." He studied her for a moment. "You know, you two are a lot a like, you never give up."

"Would you think much of a Counsellor who simply gave up and stopped bothering you? Who seemed not to care?" She smiled. "We never give up because we care, we have both chosen Counselling to help others not give up when the going gets tough."

Hades shrugged, feeling a bit more alert now. "Fair enough."

"So tell me..." She took a sip of her drink, cuddling the glass as she relaxed in her seat. "That's what I'm here for both as your Counsellor and your friend.

"I guess the best place to start would be just before my coming to the station." He thought a moment sipping the tea that had gone cold while he was asleep.

"This has not been an easy posting for me. In fact many thought, and some still think, that I shouldn't be on the start base." He let that sink in.

"Go on..." Ariana looked at him as she nibbled on some wafer that had come with her dessert earlier on. "I want to hear all about it." She offered a warm smile.

Hades bet she did but did he really have a choice? He would try one last time to get out of it before he continued, "How much time do you have?" He said it jokingly but the story was lengthy.

“I have as much time as you need but if you’re not comfortable going into it all now just give me the shortened version and we can come back to it, more in depth, next time we speak.” She smiled warmly.

Hades sighed. "Well then..." He took a sip of water preparing this throat. "The short version was... in the last few years I lost one of my best friends, to whom I was married to, and a child she was carrying, which was not mine. I sank into a depression because I did not love her as I should have and thought it my fault, I spent some time immobile in a coma, found out I had a rare genetic condition due to the El Aurian and Vulcan DNA, got a new job here, fell in love, was abandoned again by the person, lost one of my best friends while he was defending his sister, and that is just the surface scratch."

"Ouch!" Ariana looked at Hades in surprise. "I am....so sorry." She offered a warm yet comforting smile. "I can only imagine how many memories it must have brought back when I arrived in sickbay." She paused for a moment. "We're not exactly in the best place for a counselling session but I can see that we need to cover everything a little at a time. What do you feel you need to cover first?"

He sighed and shrugged a purely hopeless shrug, "I honestly don't know. My main concern now is my cousin Braxton and pulling him out of whatever...depression has set in...and with the new revelations I need to help him first. For Hades putting others first had become a coping mechanism for survival.

"Can I help?" Ariana looked at Hades. "It's going to sound strange but ever since I met him I've felt a.... connection of sorts." She shrugged her shoulders. "Plus I owe him, he saved my life twice and that of my baby too. I have a feeling Nicole would want me to help him.

Hades smiled a bit. "I guess that would be good. Maybe I can fill you in on Rol's theory." He all but rolled his eye saying the man's name."

“Please do” Ariana nodded. “Is it something he considers to be that much of a concern?”

"Rol is worried enough to have gone to the XO." Hades said.

“Then it’s obviousiy serious!” Ariana relaxed back in her seat and rested her hands on her bump. “What is the theory?”

Hades rubbed the bridge of his nose. "He thinks that Braxton has some repressed memories of the day his wife died."

"I see" Ariana nodded. "I know he finds it extremely painful being around me. He has since the first time I met him. Last time he visited me we had a....heart to heart about Nicole but he couldn't wait to get away."

"I'm not surprised. I must admit to being thrown off myself." He studied her and he wondered if his own discomfort with her wasn't because she was so like Nicole. Hades had talked with Nicole regularly. When he'd seen Ariana he'd been taken aback but Braxton... it must be beyond difficult for him."

"Perhaps what we need to do is find a way to jog his memory about what happened with Nicole." She looked at Hades. "I have a suggestion...What if we changed what is different in my appearance so I look like Nicole? You did say I'm very much like Nicole and Brax's reaction to me confirms that."

He thought about the idea. "Perhaps but... first I have to find out what was done." He scrubbed his hand down his face and sighed. "Actually I think that..."

Just as he was about to continue his badge chirped. =/\=Lieutenant Rol to Hades.=/\=

Hades raised an eyebrow, "If I wasn't sure he was Bajoran I'd be worried he was telepathic."

Ariana grinned. "It is uncanny I'll admit."

Hades tapped his badge. "Go ahead."

=/\=Can you please meet me in your office?=/\=

Hades sighed, "Why?" The weariness in his voice showed.

=/\=I have some news about Braxton.=/\=

"On my way." He severed the coms and looked up at Ariana. "I guess I should go and find out what this is about."

"Do you want me to come with you?" She looked at Hades.

He looked at her a moment. His gut instinct was to say no but Rol was a bit much. "Perhaps...for protections."

Ariana nodded. "Then let's get going."

=/\= CMO's Office =/\=

Rol had been waiting for a good fifteen minutes for the good doctor. In that time he'd been sitting on the Sofa outside the doctor's office typing away on his PADD.

He looked up and saw the doctor and his boss. "Right on time." He stood.

Hades sighed and then entered his code for his office. "Come on in," he said.

Following Hades in Ariana turned to look at Rol. "What's going on with Brax....sorry Braxton?" She hoped her minor faux pas would go relatively unnoticed. She didn't know herself why she called him Brax.

Rol was surprised that Ariana was there but given Hades' antagonism towards him he wasn't surprised. He smiled, "Brought protection huh Doc?"

Hades grinned back, "Yes well never face a foe without backup."

Rol let that one go but it stung. He'd only been trying to help. "I had hoped to get the XO's help and she offered it but I think that I found out some things that might help us. There is only one person who knows the truth of that day...well two but only one will be willing to tell as his resume should read coward."

Hades looked up from sorting some PADDs on his desk, "Oh?"

Rol continued, "The commander that day. He took over from the captain and rumour is that it was Braxton who got the ball rolling for the abandon ship command."

Hades sat down processing things.

Ariana looked at Rol then at Hades. “Okay since I’m the one here that’s somewhat out of the loop, give me the short version of the story that includes what I need to know.” She looked at Rol. “What exactly is it that you suspect about Braxton? Doctor Hades has said that you suspect some repression of memories?”

Rol gave a nod. "Recently the station was invaded by werewolves....or rather Braxton's old marine unit." He grinned, "They were interesting but nonetheless Lai'lira, a friend of Braxton's walked in and said that she saw two of his buddies talking with him. One had a pose as if he had just finished a mind meld but...he was human or at least in appearance. Braxton was dazed, as one would be after a mind meld, and then there were the feelings she sensed because she was an empath. I did some digging and found out that Braxton had been having nightmares prior to their visit. It just happened to be a coincidence that..."

Hades sat up. "The medical protocols!"

Ariana looked at Hades in surprise. “What about them? Are you hoping you’ll be able to get Braxton to volunteer for a medical examination? Readouts would show whether he’d recently been involved in a mind meld wouldn’t they?”

Hades was lost in thought for a moment and didn't respond.

She then looked at Rol. “You think they were trying to put the nightmares back in whatever mental box they’ve started to creep out of?”

Rol gave a nod. "I think so. I just don't understand..."

Hades jumped up triumphantly. "Got him!"

“Well don’t keep me in suspense” Ariana looked at Hades waiting to see what it was he’d come up with.

Rol perked up to listen too.

"Nicky. That's the one that Lai saw right?"

Rol gave a nod.

"I've been trying to get at him a while now, I met him, didn't like him but something about him was familiar and he always seemed to be able to control his emotions more then the rest." Hades smiled, "I have a program that runs a medical scan on all those who disembark on the station. I pulled up the files history from when they were onboard and it seems that Mr. Nicky is Vulcan. Not half, not one quarter, full." He looked up at Rol. "Memory block is starting to sound right and possible."

"Plus extremely dangerous to mess with" Ariana sighed. "Whatever memories they've blocked could cause all kind of problems when, or if, released. I'd suggest if you're planning on trying to get to those memories you have a Vulcan on hand whose done it before and you have me there to be his 'mental' guide....of sorts."

Hades sighed, "And we have a very stubborn Braxton who will probably fight us."

Rol smiled, "We also have one other thing. My theory is this goes back to the day Braxton's wife died. If that's true then the XO during that time is here on the station."

Hades stared at him, "You're sure?"

Rol gave a nod and looked over his shoulder at Arianna, "That's where you can help."

“What would you like me to do?” She looked at Rol waiting to see what his idea was.

"The XO, if we can get close to him maybe you can sense things see if he's hiding something."

"I can try" Ariana nodded. "The only downside is my a-typical Betazoid look, it's always a dead giveaway when someone is Betazoid. I already suggested to Commander Hades that perhaps changing my looks might work with Braxton, maybe we should do a trial run with the XO? It would need to be under controlled circumstances though maybe a glimpse of Nicole somewhere might jog a memory or emotional response?"

Rol looked up. "That actually is a great idea."

Hades sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Alright. Look let's give this a sleep over and we'll reconvene again soon."

Rol sighed, "I guess so."

Ariana nodded. “In that case I’ll bid you both goodnight.” She stood ready to leave. “Call me when you need me.” With that she headed on her way.

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