Confession Time

Posted on Fri Apr 24th, 2015 @ 11:22pm by Lieutenant Commander Nicolao & Lieutenant Commander Robin Swift M.D., PhD

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Counselor's Office

* * * Dru’s Quarters * * *

Nico awoke with the distinct feeling he was supposed to be somewhere. He turned his head, watching Dru as she stirred, seeming to sense he was no longer asleep. The sight of her brought back that wave of calm that had taken him over the previous night as she fell asleep in his arms. But where was he supposed to be? As soon as the question rose, the answer came with it.

Robin.

He glanced at the time and saw that if he hurried, he’d just make it. He couldn’t miss a session, that was one of the hard and fast rules. There was no wiggle room. He leaned over to kiss her lightly.

“I have to see Robin in a few.”

Instinctively, she ran her hand down his side and kissed him again. “And I was just getting used to you being in my bed. Oh well…” She opened her eyes fully. “Ask him when he wants me back to work, would you?”

“I will. After I tell him you’re home. We forgot that earlier.” He kissed her once, then again, and finally slid out of bed. “I’ll bring food when I come back. You take it easy. That is not a request.” He dressed hurriedly and was out the door.

“Noodles!” she yelled. “And pie!” She was sure he didn’t hear her, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t have gotten that from the replicator later.

I heard that… The thought rose in her mind, then it, too, was gone.

She giggled and turned back over in the bed.


* * * Counselor Swift’s Office * * *

Since Drusilla had been taken, Robin had cancelled most of his patients or referred the rest to other counselors. Now that she had been found safe he decided he couldn’t really keep putting it off any longer and was back in the office. With two sessions already under his belt for the morning he was feeling it all coming back to him and was already back in the swing of things. Now it was time to see Nicolao for a meeting, he assumed, would revolve mostly around this whole ordeal.

Resetting the room after his last patient left, he waited in the foyer and was happy to see Nicolao arrive just in time.

“You seem a bit winded,” he remarked as the doors closed. “Did you almost forget? To be honest, I could forgive missing this one. I almost didn’t come in today, myself.”

Unexpectedly, Nico turned a faint pink. “Umm..sort of. I almost overslept and woke up thinking I had to be somewhere. Then it hit me.” He looked past Robin to the inner office. “We need to talk. But then we always do, don’t we?”

Robin smiled as he led Nico into the session room. “Kinda’ my job, isn’t it,” he said as a statement of fact. “Well, have a seat, get comfortable and talk when you’re ready.”

The doors closed behind them and Nico remained standing. He wasn’t sure where to begin today, so much had changed in a short time. His discomfort radiated out, touching Robin. “A lot’s happened since you left sickbay,” he began.

“Take a deep cleansing breath, Nico. You seem a bit distressed,” Robin said. “There’s no need to rush, so just take your time with it.”

Nico did as Robin asked and took a deep breath. Finally he spoke. “We had sex.” Those were not the words he’d intended to come out of his mouth and he mentally kicked himself. Maybe Robin hadn’t heard. Yeah...right. “Can I have some tea?” He moved to the counter without waiting for an answer.

Robin said nothing and watched as Nicolao fumbled through trying to make his own tea. Finally, he stood and took over the process. Neither said a word until the tea was ready and they were both sitting across from each other in their respective seats.

Finally, Robin spoke. “Now....say that again?”

“Can I have some--”

“Uh, no. The other thing.”

“Oh.” Nico sipped the tea and wondered what it would take to have the floor open and swallow him up. It didn’t happen and he sighed inwardly. “We had sex. And by the way, Dru is home. It was there...not….in sickbay. Just to clarify.” This was getting worse by the second.

“Well, that’s...nice.” Once Robin realized he was just staring, he snapped out of it and added, “I mean, that it wasn’t in sickbay. Good call on that, I guess.” He decided he needed his own drink now. Screw the tea, it was time for coffee. “So, I take it, then, that’s she fully recovered?”

The question caused Nico’s face to go from pink to red. “Uhh...you could say that, yes. She seems to have gotten her strength back.” Oh dear gods, had he really said that? He ran his hand over his face. “She’s great.” He choked on his tea and set the cup aside.

Robin could smell the coffee in his hands, but he was a bit too disturbed by what he was being told to even lift the mug. He finally settled on placing it on the end table. He cleared his throat. “Good. Good to hear.”

Have you ever been in a situation so awkward that you just didn’t know how to move on from it? For example, you’re standing on a transport, with standing room only, and you go to place your hand on one of the poles to steady yourself and you wind up placing your hand on some stranger’s hand. You both jump back like you’ve been electrocuted and just look at each other trying to figure out what just happened. Or you have this hilarious joke running around in your head for days and, when you finally get around to telling it to your friends, you forget it halfway through and everyone is just staring at you. Or you see what you perceive to be a friend across a crowded room and you smile, wave and suddenly realize that you really have no idea who that person was. This situation was worse than all of those combined.

Nico finally met Robin’s gaze. “That’s not really what I meant to lead with. It just...came up.” That was no better and he took another deep breath and tried again. “I took her home and put her to bed after she fell asleep on the sofa. Then I stretched out on that sofa to sleep and the dream came gain. But this time, there was a storm, and lightning. It struck me and then...there was a rose that bloomed. And it was red. There was color there for the first time. It was...Dru.”

“Very interesting,” Robin replied, elated to be talking about anything other than Nico and Dru spending some time in pound town. “So it was the same place I saw, but it had changed and you think that it is because of your relationship with Dru? If that’s the case, Nicolao, then it could mean a very substantial step in your treatment.”

“What else could it be? It came just after she arrived in sickbay where she finally hinted at what we’d been dancing around, I suppose, and I admitted it was true. You hinted at it too.” Nico paused, eyeing his tea cup and wondering if it was safe to try and drink again. “I woke and she was there. I think I cried out in my sleep. So I showed her the dream. I...well….I told her I’m not good with words like that...mentally told her that is. She made me say them aloud, tell her what I wanted. And well, one thing led to another….” And there they were again. Oh boy.

Ignoring where the rest of his explanation was going, Robin replied, “This is actually very exciting! It seems that your relationship has started to bring you out of whatever darkness, for lack of a better term, that you were under. And don’t get me wrong, Nico, Dru is a grown woman and she can choose whoever she wants to be with. I’m actually very happy for both of you and, had the news not been so sudden, or...even brought up at all, it wouldn’t have surprised me one bit. It almost seems like fate that you two should be a couple, if you believe in that sort of thing.”

“I am still worried about her but a very wise woman swears Dru is not as delicate and fragile as I like to think.” He paused as a thought occurred to him. “Does this mean that she won’t be assisting on my case officially now?”

“Now that your relationship with her has moved on from professional to personal, I would say yes. However,” he finally reached for that coffee and took a sip, “having an external view of what happens with you, other than your own recollection, may be worthwhile. So there may be times when I ask her to sit in on our sessions, with your permission, of course.”

Nico nodded. “I have no secrets from her, other than the things from that time I can’t recall yet.” He frowned a moment. “Which reminds me. You suggested I get out and meet people. Yesterday, I was having coffee on the promenade and met a man, a Bajoran. We talked for a while. But it’s been tugging at me ever since, that feeling that he was somehow familiar but I don’t remember him.”

“Did you happen to get his name? And was there anything in particular that stood out as familiar?”

“Rine. And no, it didn’t even hit me at the time, it was later.” He shrugged. “I suppose it will come to me at some point if it’s there to remember at all. That’s what Starfleet’s wanting though, isn’t it? To find out what it is I can’t remember?”

“Partly, yes. The rest is just whether or not you are fit for duty, in any capacity.” He thought a moment and added, “Have you had time to check his name in the Starfleet database? He may be registered in there somehow, even if just in a civilian capacity.”

“Not yet, but I will. And do you have to report that I said I would have killed that Cardie if I’d found him first?” Nico looked serious now. “The Fleet was happy to have me as a weapon before but now, that might scare them a little too much.”

Before responding, Robin formed the words in his head as tactfully as he could. “Since I cannot say that you were being sincere, or just ‘running off at the mouth’,” he said, using air quotes, “much like many of the other parties involved in the search, I don’t feel that it’s worth being mentioned.” He shrugged, “Besides, I know I thought the same on several occasions...not that I would have had much luck at it if our paths had crossed.”

“And I’ll keep that between us, Counselor.” Nico smiled finally. “Thank you. And for what it’s worth, I’ll do my best for Dru. That is a promise. I’m a little uncertain about how to do this, thanks to my bad track record, but that worry will settle down with time I hope. Also, she wants to know when she should be back on duty.”

“Ah, I’m glad you mentioned that--I almost forgot. Just because I know how she works it won’t mean much to her, and she’ll try to disregard it, but I’ve given her the next week off for recovery time. Not just due to her injuries, but primarily because of the ordeal she went through.” It was Robin’s turn to get serious. “But I need your help with this,” he said, “because she’s going to want to come back earlier and this is a mandatory leave. It may even be extended if she winds up having any issues, such as nightmares, anxiety attacks or anything that may be related. So I need you to keep an eye on her and report anything like that to me immediately. You can tell her I said so, as well.” He grinned, knowing that would make her angry, but she knew how this worked after so many patients she’s helped with.

“Oh, so we’ll both be in the doghouse. Thanks, Counselor.” Nico stood up from his chair. “I should get going. I have to deliver your news and then figure out if I’m going to be sent back to the sofa after only one night.” He grinned at Robin. “But I’ll keep an eye on her.”

“You do that,” Robin said, rising with him. “And feel free to keep any further information about, well, you know, to yourself. That is unless it turns into something weird, which may indicate some sort of mental trauma.” He cleared his throat again. “I do dabble in sex counseling on occasion. Just...putting that out there.”

“I’ll try and forget that. No offense.” He gave Robin a mock salute and left the office.

***************
Nicolao
Spilling The Beans

Lt. Cmdr. Robin Swift
Needing a Strong Drink