Echoes

Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2020 @ 7:12pm by Lieutenant Commander Ariana Monroe-Wayne & Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Corrigan MD

1,275 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 105 – Evacuation
Location: USS Mercy
Timeline: MD1 0100 hrs

Fingertips brushing across the now darkened screen, the words still echoing around in her head, Doctor Corrigan took a deep breath and reached for the next batch of letters. This was a particular kind of agony. Bittersweet as she read the letters between Harris and his brother. Reading the private letters had felt wrong, despite the argument that - as his wife - she was entitled.

Yet as she read she could almost hear him, as if he were right beside her, reading the words to her. So she read and kept reading. At times the words became a blur, forcing her to take a break before she resumed. How often her name was here, in these letters going back months! From almost her first day on the station... all that time. All those fights!

And then, when she reached the more recent letters, his correspondence turned to his impending fatherhood. Even in a letter, his excitement, his hopes and yes - even his fears - were obvious. Tears this time made reading on impossible.

He had confided so much to his brother. A man he had kept secret. Even from Hades. Never had she imagined Richard Harris - the Scooby Doo of the Scooby Gang - keeping a secret from Hades. But then, Hades had kept so many secrets from him. From her. And from who knew how many people.

When the door chime rang out, Rainbow woke from her slumber, giving a tiny bit decidedly confident bark. “Easy tigger, it’s Ariana,” she assured the ball of fluff, not even stopping to question why she was so sure it was her friend. Lifting up the now excited puppy to avoid her making a run for it she made sure she had a good grip before shouting “come in!”

Ariana had spent most of her time on the bridge during the evacuation, she now had a banging headache. She'd been walking back to her quarters but got the feeling that her friend Carolyn needed some company. They'd had a connection ever since events with Andy but somehow it felt stronger now.

"Hey" Ariana offered a smile as she walked inside. "I don't suppose you've got something for a headache the size of the ship have you? Plus I felt like you needed a friend."

“Yeah, of course,” Carolyn nodded as she turned towards her room before turning back, “do you mind? She is entirely harmless. Well, she licks...”

With that she handed over the puppy and disappeared into her room. She returned a few seconds later with a hypo in hand. “Nothing harmful now, you can let her down if you like.”

Ariana grinned as she petted and cuddled the puppy. "She's so adorable!" She put the puppy down and let Carolyn get to her neck to give her the hypo.

“Give this a few seconds to work,” Carolyn advised as she administered the dose. “We can replicate a new inhibitor. Calibration will take some work but ... yeah, we can do that.”

Ariana nodded. "Are you alright?" Ariana looked at her friend. "I've been connected to you ever since events with Andy, I can feel that something isn't right."

She opened her mouth to utter a denial. But instead all that came out was an anguished sounding ‘no’. Massaging the back of her neck she turned away, gesturing to the small collection of PADDs on the floor. She gestured to them. “I ... Fal gave me letters Harris sent to him... I shouldn’t have read them but ... I needed to feel like he was here. Because everything is falling apart. He lied to us. Manipulated us. Fal warned me but I couldn’t even -“

Sinking into the chair, fighting tears, she put her head in her hands and tried to calm herself down. Rainbow nuzzled against her leg, tail wagging. She absently reaches down and scooped her up. Immediately the puppy curled up on her lap, big brown eyes watching them both.

Ariana looked at her friend confused. "By Fal, you mean Doctor Fal? ... Stupid question of course you do! I guess he and Harris were friends?" She was trying to understand without asking too many difficult questions.

“Half brothers...” Carolyn said softly. “As you know not everything about Hades and their people are what it seems. Harris was half human, half Romulan.”

Ariana took a seat surprised by this latest turn in events. "So that means your baby is a hybrid too. That must have come as quite a shock."

“Not as much as the rest... I don’t know who to ...” she stopped, hesitating. “Fal warned me. About Hades. And I refused to listen to him. Told him that Hades was my friend. And now it turns out that he was right and I was wrong. So so wrong. And I am so angry with him. I am questioning everything I thought I knew. And it’s killing me inside.”

"Wait! Hades? What about Hades?!" Ariana looked at her friend afraid of what might be coming next. Without her father Ariana had fast become reliant on her friendship with Hades, especially after he'd done so much to help her. "Carolyn ... Tell me what's going on!"

Carolyn shook her head. “I can’t - “

"Yes, you can!" Ariana looked at Carolyn pleadingly. "Please Carolyn! I NEED to know!"

After a moment of silence, Carolyn spoke up. “Me, having this baby, having Harris’ baby ... he planned it all. I don’t know when but he healed my scars, the injury that stopped me getting pregnant and then ... then he added fertility treatments to chocolates and teas and ... he admitted it! All for his precious colony so they have hope. Hope! Everything was a lie. Some big experiment.”

"What?!" Ariana knew Carolyn wasn't lying, she'd have sensed any deception and she knew her friend wouldn't do that anyway. "But he ... he helped us! Hades told me he'd help both of us!" She sat looking as confused as Carolyn before a more determined look crossed her face. "I'm going to talk to Hades! I need answers about all of this."

“Maybe what he did for you was exactly that, to help you. I don’t know. I could barely look at him. I still can’t -“ she shook her head, reaching up to brush away angry tears. “It’s like he’s taken this beautiful thing, something I never thought I’d have a chance at again - and twisted it into something dark. I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know if I can stay here....”

"Please Carolyn..." Ariana looked at her friend. "Don't leave, I feel like I've lost my dad as it is and after everything that's happened I feel a connection to you that I don't want to lose! Besides Stacie would miss her auntie Carolyn and you have a babysitting service with us whenever you'd need it." She offered the best smile she could muster.

“I know you’ve gone through so much and you are a great friend ... but I can’t trust him. How can I work with him, after this?” She challenged. “I don’t even trust myself anymore. I was wrong about him, what else?”

She realised her tone had sounded harsh. “I’m sorry. I’m tired and hurt and angry and lost and I don’t know the best way out of this mess.”

Ariana nodded. "No matter what I'll support any decision you make, that's what friends do." She offered a smile. "I'll go and let you get some rest."

Carolyn flashed her a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

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