Homecoming -- Part 5

Posted on Sun Aug 4th, 2019 @ 11:49am by Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Corrigan MD & Commander Hades,MD

1,716 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 99 - Exordium / Epilogue
Location: Sickbay, SB 400 & then Vulcan logic centre
Timeline: MD01 --0715 hours

Previously on Homecoming...

It took a moment for the news to sink in and then her eyes welled up. She didn't scream, or shout. She simply cried silently feeling as if her very breath was stolen. Was that why Hades had not stayed? Was he angry at her? She'd been a survivor all her life. She swiped at her tears and took a shuddered breath. "He didn't stay....he didn't tell me himself. I want to know if he blames me I need my husband and he's behaving alike an ass." She threw the covers back and got up on shaky legs. If she had to crawl she would get to him. She continued to swipe at the tears. She looked at Carolyn. "Help me find him."

And now the Finale Episode…

ON:

“He is,” Carolyn agreed, needing little effort to force Kalani back towards her bed. “But yours stays in bed. Got me? And of course he doesn’t blame you. It was not your fault. Here...”

Leaning over she snatched up a box of tissues, handing them over as she wrapped an arm around her friend. “You are a strong, incredible woman, Kalani. You will get through this. And whatever you need, I’ll be right here.”

She hugged her back. "I know I will. I've been a survivor all my life." She sighed, “Will you check on Hades for me?" She asked while dabbing the tissue on her face. Carolyn was right. She needed to stay in bed. Her body felt...as if it could barely function and the little effort she took to get up tired her out. She touched her flat stomach wanting nothing more than to will the child back. She'd been told on Orion that she could not conceive. When she'd found out she was pregnant it had been like a gift from the divine and now...it felt like a punishment. Her head thudded back on the pillow. She closed her eyes and focused. Her connection with Hades, the telepathic one was strong. She could feel the hum of his being in her mind. She called to him. Would he come to her?

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll find him,” Carolyn promised, a hint of anger in her voice as she left the room. The computer told her where to find him and by the time she arrived the hint of anger was decidedly palpable. “You’ve stayed at her side for months,” she shouted at him as the door slid open, not caring who heard. “But when she really needed you, she had to hear that from me?! so help me, get in there, promise her you aren’t blaming her and be with her!”

Hades looked up. He was at the Orion shrine to light a candle of gratitude. He extinguished the match. "Blame her? For what? Her getting injured was my fault."

Carolyn rolled her eyes in exasperation. “It is not your fault. Hades, I can promise you she feels worse than hurting right now and you left her room without a word. Of course she would assume the worst. And then of Doctor Kelley showed up...” she took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus on something else. To at least pretend she was calm as she headed for the exit. “I would advise you to go be with her before she crawls out of sickbay trying to find you.”

He sighed, “Carolyn wait...are you alright?" He quickly walked by her side noticing that her steps were taking her towards sickbay.

“I’m fine,” she replied, “I’ll get my bag from Kalani’s room and get out of everyone’s way. She only needs one person with her right now and it is you.”

As they entered the turbo lift he called a halt. He turned to her. "What are you not telling me?”

Carolyn arched an eyebrow as he halted the lift, “I don’t know what you mean... I told you, Kalani needs you.”

"You know that is not what I mean. Must you always turn this into an argument?" He was clearly frustrated, it cracked his Vulcan shell.

She sighed. “I’ve been where she is, okay? Where you both are. It’s just... raw. I didn’t expect to be the one to tell her, that’s all.”

"I am so sorry Carolyn." He paused. "Do you wish to speak about it?"

“Hello? Me here,” she pointed out. “Just focus on you and her. Let the rest of us mortals figure out our own issues.”

"You do realize the moment I tell Kalani she'll want to focus on you." He sighed, “Carolyn I...." He looked away. "I am glad you have returned." He simply said.

“Then don’t tell her,” Carolyn said simply. At his last sentence she smiled up at him, “I promised I would come back. I may not like making them but I do keep them.”

"You and I just keep adding to the list don't we?" He asked sounding exasperated.

“There’s a list?” She frowned, “of what?”

"Of difficult conversations we need to have yet avoid." He sighed. He now looked tired, as tired as a man who hadn't slept in months.

She said nothing at first. Resisting the urge to argue that point. “Let me grab a few hours of sleep and I’ll come back and relieve you, you look exhausted.”

"I am fine." He'd been dragging his sorry butt through the days existing not really living. His medical brain had logged on as auto pilot a long time ago. He sighed, "Take a few days. Acclimate to being back on the station."

“I think I remember where everything is,” she reminded him. “Fine. But for the record, I’d rather be useful. You need rest, sleep in Kalani’s room, I don’t care. Just sleep.”

"That is difficult." He sighed. "If I sleep maybe she won't be awake anymore." It was a fear if he left, if he turned he'd loose her again.

“You know everyone was warning me how you seemed more detached, more Vulcan,” Carolyn said quietly, studying him, “but I think they are way off base. You are scared and that’s okay. If it makes you feel better, I’ll watch over her while you sleep. At least for tonight.”

For the first time, in a long time Hades could hold the mask no more. He called a halt to the lift and braced his hand against the wall. Suddenly all the fear, all the pain, all the worry came flooding out and the damn that had been holding the emotion at bay left. He sank to the floor and wept.

Carolyn knelt down beside him, leaning back against the bulkhead, waiting it out as she held his hand. Not wanting to stop him. Mindful even this much, a full blown Vulcan would dislike. She just wanted to remind him that he wasn’t alone.

Hades cried for a good while letting out all that he'd kept in. When he felt drained he leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He was glad she was back. Not only was it like having a sister back she had a way that he trusted...something that he hadn't allowed himself to do a long time. Trust was not a luxury he could afford these days. He sighed letting out a shuddered breath. "I almost lost her."

“I know,” she said quietly, holding his hand tightly. “What happened? Her initial scans suggested hours maybe, not weeks?”

"About two weeks after you left she began to fade. I knew I had to try something that...was unorthodox. It was the only way. My life force to infuse hers. A Katra transference." It had not been spoken of on Vulcan. It had not been done since Sarek and Michael, Spock’s human sister. The fact that he'd just met the man when the Enterprise had been stranded here for a while had gotten him thinking researching the life of this man and then he'd read about it in the Admiral's autobiography. He'd moved heaven and Earth to get the procedure and then tried it. Untrained, he could have harmed them both but it had worked. Everyday he'd felt her getting stronger.

“As ideas go, it’s ... a little insane,” she reasoned, her tone light, “but I get why. I really do. And it worked. But what has it done to you? You look exhausted, Hades.”

He sighed, "A small price to pay. Some of my life force for hers. The Katra transference was meant to be a one-time thing. There were several bleeds after you left, Doctor Henderson was called to do brain surgery to relieve the swelling. It worked for a while then something else would happen. Each time I had to do the transference to use our telepathic link to bring her back a bit more." He should have rested between this and on Vulcan he would be in hospital resting but he had just worked and stood vigil at her side and worked. His body had started crashing slowly but he would not give up and she'd woken. That was the key.

“It’s a big price to pay,” she corrected, shifting so she could look at him. “Please, take time and look after you. You need to be together. Rest and grieve and do whatever it takes to move on from this.”

He gave a nod. He took a few moments to compose himself and then stood helping Carolyn up. "I will be moving the wedding up as soon as she is well."

“Sounds like a good plan. And anything you need, just say. You okay to go back?” She asked him. “We can stay in a turbolift all day if you want, tell the Admiral we were encouraging physical activity for the crew.”

He smiled a little. "Yes. Let us go back."

She smiled, standing back as she ordered the lift to resume. "Hades?"

"Yes?"

"That talk?" she said, sounding uncomfortable. "It'll happen. I promise."

He smiled this time in true. "I hope so. There is lots to say on both our parts."

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