From: Bethany \ (mouse3of3_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Aug 19 2007 - 10:28:51 PDT
"Aftermath"
Cont. from "The Long and Meaningless Post Title..."
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Location: USS PATRIOT
Stardate: 2.70819.1257
Scene: Counselor's Office
Whatever Tam was expecting when she walked into her office, it wasn't this.
Sterling-Jade was sitting on the small sofa, crying and punctuating it with the occasional sniffle. She was wearing civvies- she'd probably come from either her quarters or sickbay- and her nose was already bright red. She'd been at this a while. She looked up when Tam entered, then lowered her head and sniffed again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be in here, but..." Her voice trailed off as new tears started to slide down her cheeks.
"It's fine." Tam took the circuitous route to the sofa, picking up tissues en route and handing them to Jade before sitting next to her. The other woman didn't seem to notice. "But why here?"
"Daniel's family's in our quarters, and I didn't- didn't-" She paused to blow her nose. "I didn't want to be this upset in front of them. And I came by to see you but you weren't here so I let myself in and then..."
Tam winced mentally. She'd had to stop to talk, hadn't she? Just because she wanted to introduce herself to Stephens. "I'm sorry, I went down to the mess hall and something came up. I would have been back sooner otherwise. Do you want to stay a little longer?"
"Yes." Sterling-Jade didn't say much for the next few minutes. Instead, she sniffled a little more and blew her nose again. Tam waited, knowing that she'd say something soon. She and her mother-in-law were more alike than they realized; both had had to take time for it to come out, instead of just blurting out immediately whatever was bothering them. Sure enough, within minutes the tears were more dried up and she started to talk.
"I had no idea that Daniel was... They couldn't contact me. So I didn't know. And then Nancy, she didn't want to decide, so she waited, and now we won't know. And..." She continued in a similar vein for some time. Tam really couldn't do much, and was pretty much restricted to patting her back, passing her tissues, and murmuring comforting things. She tried to ignore the passing thought of how much of her job that this entailed.
When the stream of words and tears were both dried up, Tam said quietly, "Do you feel any better now?"
"A little." Sterling-Jade got up and threw away the pile of used tissues. "I need to get back to sickbay, Daniel might wake up soon. I want to be there."
"All right. Go on ahead, but feel free to come back anytime." She stood as well as the other woman walked to the door.
"Thank you." And she was gone, back to sickbay.
Tam made her way over to her computer to make a note of it. She had an excessive list of "notes" on the Clarkson family already this week, having seen Marty already, and his mother after he talked her into coming, and now Catherine. She just hoped she'd have the chance to add one for Daniel if he decided to come by; she knew he was alive and talking, but there was still a lot of uncertainty.
She was still thinking like this when the door chime went. "Come in!"
DJ Samuels made his way in. "Hi, we had an appointment?"
"Hi. Please, sit. How was your engineering shift?"
She would just have to focus on what she could do.
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NRPG: So when's the new mission? Huhuhuh? :)
Hi, Leigh!
Bethany B.
Tam Niala
Counselor
USS PATRIOT
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Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you sell.
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