Have you tried knitting?

Posted on Sun Aug 4th, 2019 @ 6:12pm by Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Corrigan MD & Lieutenant JG Ilan Rol

1,081 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 99 - Exordium / Epilogue
Location: Promenade
Timeline: MD1 - 0830

ON.

Sweet, delicious chocolate... savouring a bite from the new flavours Michael was incorporating into a new selection for his customers, Carolyn Corrigan offered her thanks as her order was set down beside her. Packaged in a clear box, tied with a ribbon, the contents were unlikely to survive the night. Or the hour.

Saying goodbye, she stepped out onto the promenade. Pausing in mid stride when she saw Lieutenant Rol coming around the corner. Deciding to hope for the best, she continued on her way offering him a passing ‘hello’. Counting to ten in her head as she kept walking. Relaxing when she reached five and no shadow had started following her. Maybe he had a new pet project? One could only hope.

Grinning, Rol had turned the corner only to come out ahead of Carolyn. He was waiting when she rounded the next corner. Quoting an old Earth detective, Columbo, he said, "Just one more thing ma'am."

“How did you ...?” Carolyn began, glancing back over her shoulder with a frown. “You find some hidden tunnels to help you sneak around, Lieutenant or are you just that good?”

He laughed, "A little of everything." He studied her. "So. One month away. Shall we pick up where we left off?"

“Didn’t you find a new hobby while I was gone?” Carolyn asked, resuming her walk knowing he’d probably follow. “I hear knitting is therapeutic.”

He followed her in time with her steps grinning. "Well my hobby is helping people. It's now your turn." He stepped in front to stop he. "We have to talk. Come on Carolyn. I'm not the enemy. I just want to help you. You have to trust someone at some point."

“And if I don’t want to be helped?” She asked, curious. Sure it would make no difference. This was why they invented chocolate. “And I never said you were the enemy, Rol.”

"Well then stop treating me as if I was." He sighed, "Alright how about this. I know where they make the best ice cream. We go and we talk. You tell me how you are doing and we talk about a few things in a casual setting. Friends talking one another's ear off. How about that?"

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Fine. But if the chocolates melt, you are buying me more. And I promise nothing.”

Within a matter of minutes she was staring into a bowl of mint choc chip ice cream, seated in a corner table that offered a view out over the promenade. “So, not enemy Rol, why are you bribing me with ice cream?”

He laughed, "So that you will be lulled into telling me what has been hurting you so much. Those images I saw...They are oddly familiar to me. A self imposed purgatory, something I am good at. I can't help myself so then you will have to do. I know what it's like to relieve things in your mind to be trapped by the past. I wish to help you free yourself."

The entire time he had been speaking she had been sitting, stirring and pushing the ice cream around in her bowl. “I appreciate the thought,” she began, choosing her words carefully. Trying to think of what images he meant but all she came up with was a dull headache. She needed chocolate. Which was her favoured solution to any issue.

“But all of this is isn’t necessary. And why can’t you help yourself? Wouldn’t it be easier than all of this effort?” She challenged, scooping up some ice cream and eating it, “I give you this much, the ice cream is good.”

He smiled, "Oh no. Hades is the master of deflection I won't let you do that. You obviously have trouble sleeping. The Lynn incident...well. What haunts you Carolyn."

“The Lynn incident... Is that when she almost killed me or when she almost killed Kalani?” She asked him, “or is it that by almost killing me, she’s given everyone this sense of entitlement when it comes to my personal life? The devil is in the detail, as they say. And I don’t believe in ghosts.”

"Yet you honour them by letting them have control over your life. As long as you bottle it, as long as you hold it inside you will play into the hand of those ghosts. Trust me I do it daily."

“If you say so,” she said, pushing away the bowl and getting up. Everything from tone of voice to body language just going defensive. “Thanks for the ice cream, Lieutenant. But I’m tired.”

"Carolyn do you hate yourself? Do you wish yourself harm?"

“What?” She demanded, tone incredulous. “Is that what you think? Because it is insane.”

"Then why will you not take steps to help yourself. I know my reasons what are yours?"

“What is it exactly that you want from me Rol?” She demanded. “Do you want me to sit here screaming about horrors of my past? Would that make you happy? My file sure didn’t, or as you called it, a great work of literature.”

He sighed, "I just want you to admit your pain, admit that you need help. It's obviously affecting you to the point where you take sedatives to help you sleep. For the love of potato chips! Just start dealing with the pain." His frustration was clear. He really did want to help her.

“Potato chips?” She repeated, fighting a smile. “Seriously?”

She sighed, “I’ve been back all of five minutes Rol. Just... let it go. I need to sleep.”

He shrugged. "I like potato chips. They are crunchy....fit well in sandwiches." He sighed, "Alright shall we resume the counseling barrage later then? When you've rested?"

She narrowed her eyes, “I’m free in two months. Unless you are still determined to do this sooner.”

"Sooner it is." He stood. "As the Ferengi say, you have a deal."

Knowing nothing she could say would actually change his mind, she rolled her eyes in exasperation. She could argue all she liked, but he would not be beyond going over her head to Hades. "Just make sure you have chocolate and a really good plan," she warned him as she stood. "And thanks for the ice cream."

He smiled, "Come on you missed my pestering, admit it."

“One day it may even pay off. But just not today.”


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