Ties That Bind Us

Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2020 @ 7:38pm by Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Corrigan MD & Commander Hades,MD
Edited on on Mon Mar 9th, 2020 @ 10:39am

1,737 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 105 – Evacuation
Location: Mercy
Timeline: MD1, 1300 hours

“...why did we bring the paperwork?” Doctor Corrigan lamented as she took a cautious sip of her hot chocolate. The drink was - at best - barely adequate. What she would not give for her favourite chocolatier to create the real thing. Instead she had an abundance of patients, a small mountain of reports and far too little time. Which was good, in a way.

Busy was good.

From her seat, Doctor Reid grinned as she added another PADD to the growing pile, “because we didn’t want the sordid details of Jimmy O’Shea’s infected toenail falling into enemy hands? Those, by the way, are updated shift rotations. Doctor Fal helped with slotting in his medical staff. They’ve been an incredible support.”

“Quite,” Carolyn agreed as she sank into her seat. She picked up the PADD and skimmed through it, raising an eyebrow. “Why is Mendez in my OR?”

“Because you need a break?” Reid offered meekly before a familiar sight offered her a welcome distraction, “Doctor Hades! Come on in, I was just leaving.”

Hades entered the room somewhat slowly. He kept a weary eye on Carolyn.

Carolyn nodded as Dr Reid retreated, allowing silence to settle in the wake of her departure. “I’ve already sent an update to your first officer,” she offered, “was there something else you needed?”

He sighed. "We need to talk. I mean really talk."

She frowned, “I can’t listen to more lies and half truths. But I guess we do. Not here. I suddenly have time -“

As she spoke, she stood. Too quickly or else it was hours of rushing about with no food. Either way the sudden dizziness made her sink quickly back down into the seat, eyes closed at fighting the urge to throw up over her desk. She heard movement and held up a hand. “I’m fine! Don’t touch me!”

Once it had passed she stood again, slower this time. Much better... “Fal and Reid have staged a mini mutiny to let me go home and sleep. We can talk there. This isn’t the place.”

With that said she moved past him, keeping as much distance and control as she could. All the way to the turbolift and right throughout the short trip she was hyper aware of his presence even as she maintained that distance.

“You wanted to talk, so talk,” she told him, closing the door to her room so they didn’t wake Rainbow. Arms folded she leaned back against the wall, arms folded.

Hades sighed. "Perhaps I better start with the little one." He said. He didn't sound himself. He sounded smaller, tired. "I was the only one who knew of Haris' Romulan heritage. The formula Adari made would have worked to a point. The only thing that was missing was taking account the Romulan side of things and even then...If I supressed the rebirth genetic markers I knew you could carry and I... I honestly couldn't let you loose this child. Because of you and your past and because I promised Richard's mother before she died I would keep him safe. I failed that, I wouldn't fail his child."

The entire time he spoke, she stared out of the viewport, trying to let him speak. Because of her, her past. And a promise to someone she had never met. “Don’t forget the good of your colony,” she reminded him quietly. “And please, don’t pretend this was for my benefit. I was just .... God, I don’t know what I was beyond somebody for you to play God with.”

"No!" He said. "It was more then that. "Carolyn I have always seen you as my family. Yes it benefits my colony but..... my first concern is you."

“How can I believe that?” Turning her gaze on him. “How am I supposed to know what to believe anymore? I trusted you, confided in you. And you violated that in every possible way. When? When did you decide on this little experiment?”

"It wasn't an experiment. I had been working on this a long time and had tested it successfully. I wouldn't do anything to endanger you." He sighed. "You mean so much to me."

“Maybe you care about the child I’m carrying but no,” she countered, pushing off the wall. She stood with her back to him, trying to quell her anger.

“If it wasn’t an experiment then why? Why did you do this?” she demanded. “Why me? Why Harris...? You had not right to treat me without consent and I’m what? Supposed to thank you? Be grateful?”

"If I hadn't treated you the child would not have survived. Harris loved you from the moment he met you. I knew that you had lost a child in the past and when you got pregnant I finally thought I could give Richard a life he deserved. When I lost him I grieved and the baby ... well I couldn't let you loose both of them. I knew that it would be successful because it worked before, it allowed a woman to have three beautiful children. There is ... actually no telling if the Rebirth gene will reactivate when the child is older but he or she won't go through the transition, they won't have to die to come bake like Splendora did." He sighed. That was anther can of worms he had to deal with.

“I should never have been able to get pregnant,” she reminded him. “You did that. You had no right to do that!”

She shook her head, arms wrapped herself tightly. He would never understand that kind of pain. “Why did you make a promise his mother?”

He knew this had been coming. "Are you sure you have the time?"

She looked at him. “You two were ... beyond close. He worshiped the ground you walked on. And you... you said you wanted him to have the life he deserved. Fal holds you responsible for the loss of their mother... so please, just tell me why because otherwise I’m going to let my imagination fill in the blanks.”

He sighed. "Very well." He owed her that much. He pointed to a replicator. "Hot chocolate?"

She shook her head as she curled up on the seat, leaving the couch free. “Help yourself.”

He ordered a glass of water although he'd wanted something stronger. Taking his glass he sat on the sofa. He looked at Carolyn. "You know my file. Tell me. What are my bio stats?"

“Male, 38 years old, Vulcan El-Aurian mixed heritage,” she shrugged, “generally good health. In short it is a lie. All of you are essentially a new race after what was done to you all. Altered. So tell me, which parts of your official file are true?”

"The name, the gender. I am however a lot older then my record states." He sighed. "Carolyn I want you to listen to me now. Really listen."

Her blue eyes fixed on him, betraying so many emotions. “I’m listening.”

"Before there was rebirth there was an original test subject." He leaned back closing his eyes leaving no doubt that the pain he was feeling was real. "I was that subject. I was the first to be .... changed. I ran away from the lab, swore I would have my vengeance. I went to the Romulans. The Tal Shiar and the Qowat Milat. They both agreed to help. I was just starting to calm down, to feel normal when Rebirth was revived. This time...it was personal. They stole my son from me. Because his mother got pregnant before I transitioned he was carried to term...just barely. He was taken from the hospital."

He looked at Carolyn, looking old, haunted. "I searched for him. Yanara did too. We found him thanks to a young boy...Armand. He died shortly after. The story is that Armond saved the tests subjects by going to get his uncle. There was no uncle, there was me and those sworn to help. We freed them all, amongst them my son. Thanks to my El Aurian heritage ... well I didn't age that much and I made sure my son was safe. The next time he saw me and the next time they all saw me they assumed I was Armand...I let them believe it."

“Your son...” Carolyn said quietly after a long silence. She couldn’t trust her voice as she added, “who... who was your son?”

He smiled sadly. "Someone who didn't know he was my son even onto the day he died." He paused. Tears slipped down his cheeks. "Richard was my son."

“No...” she breathed, even though she was certain of it. Had been fighting the growing suspicion with every word. “No.... why... why would you hide that from him? He ... you... so this baby...?”

"I hid it to keep him safe. Not even Fal knows that Richard is his full brother. And yes, I am the baby's grandfather." He smiled through his tears. "So you see you are family. My daughter in law."

She shook her head, standing up, trying to remember how to do something as simple as breathing. For some reason it seemed to escape her grasp. She sank down to the floor, curling up as she held the pendant of her necklace, wishing she had Harris right there, to have him say the right thing like all those times he had comforted her after nightmare after nightmare.

But he wasn’t. He never would be and it hit her like a freight train. She closed her eyes, unable to form a single coherent thought.

Hades dropped down beside her and pulled her to him. He held her. "Just breath for me Carolyn." He was crying too. "Just breath."

She wanted to scream at him, her anger still there but his hold was solid and she was too exhausted to fight. Because now they were open, the floodgates did not want to stop. She kept her eyes closed, focused on trying to breathe. To be calm. And as she calmed, the tiredness seeped in as she grew quiet.

Hades gently lifted her and placed her in her bed. He pulled a warm comforter over her scanned her to make sure she and the baby were fine and then left. He needed a drink. He needed to grieve.

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