Sorry I'm Late With the News

Posted on Tue May 5th, 2015 @ 11:53pm by Lieutenant Commander Robin Swift M.D., PhD & Petty Officer 1st Class Drusilla Dupree
Edited on on Tue May 5th, 2015 @ 11:57pm

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Dru's Quarters
Timeline: Current

* * * Dru’s Quarters * * *

After Nico had run off to see Robin, Dru had indeed rolled over and gone back to sleep. It was something of a luxury, sleeping in late in her own bed. A girl can only sleep so long, however, and eventually the growling of her stomach awakened her. She sat up, taking a moment to get lucid, then checked the time. Past lunch. That was odd, Nico’s session would have been over two hours ago. He’d promised to bring lunch too. She slipped out of bed and checked the living area and kitchen. No Nico. More odd. She decided to call Robin when the chime at her door rang.

When the door opened, Robin didn’t wait and let himself in. “Okay, I know this is weird,” he said, standing in the living room, “but I need you to calm down.” He looked at her, silently judging him for barging in and telling her to calm down when he was the one who seemed out of sorts.

“Ah, right,” he said, continuing. “Nico is in sickbay. He’s okay--don’t worry about that, but...well, I can only tell you a little about why he’s in sickbay.”

Dru gasped aloud and crossed to look up at Robin. “Sickbay? If it wasn’t serious, you wouldn’t be here. And you tell me to calm down? You know that’s a sure sign that something awful happened when you lead with that Robin. What’s going on?” Tension was creeping into her neck and she reached up to rub it.

“Okay, so…” he paced a few times, then turned around to her. “Two things actually caused him to be remanded to sickbay. First, while he was seeing me this morning, I noticed him acting strangely so I scanned him and found that he appeared to have been poisoned, but not--”

“Poisoned?!? Why would he be poisoned? Who the hell would want to do that?” She was pacing now but then stopped as she reached Robin again. “Okay, calm down Dru. What’s the rest and who do I need to hunt down?”

They were both speaking so quickly that only someone who really knew them would be able to keep up. “As for him being poisoned, he was a spy.” He wiggled his head and said, “He was a spy!?” in a shrill, mocking voice. “Oh, yeah, you already knew that. Anyway--as I was going to take him to sickbay for that, an admiral from Command needed him in an interview room for what turned out to be a really crappy interrogation, recalling Nico’s time in prison and being tortured and all of that. He almost had a full on nervous breakdown! So, now he’s in sickbay for the poison, which had mostly dissipated and wasn’t lethal, and for the nervous breakdown...all sedated-like.”

“Sedated…” she repeated. “Where in sickbay exactly, Robin?” Though Dru suspected she knew.

“To keep him away from that witch I have him safely tucked away in the psychiatric section. But don’t worry, it’s really only to keep the admiral from being able just waltz in and question him further.” He took her hand. “I also pulled a few strings and have a laundry list of visitor restrictions that will take her forever to find loopholes for, but you have already been granted authorization to visit.”

She squeezed Robin’s hand even as she covered her mouth with her other one. It took a minute to process but finally she nodded. “Is he really alright? If she was probing into that, it could break him wide open.” She hated the tremor in her voice. Dealing with patients was second nature but suddenly it was a whole different ballgame when it was….personal.

“He was hit pretty hard by her questions. When I got him to sickbay I made sure he wouldn’t have any dreams before he was sedated,” Robin said, remembering the look on Nico’s face just before he finally managed to get him under. “I just hope it’s working as well as I think it will. His race can have pretty overpowering dreams and memories, but when I left, everything looked good. My hope is that this will calm him enough so that he and I can continue discussing certain things that he does need to remember...and that I can’t discuss with you because it’s classified like crazy.”

“Yeah, I get that part.” Dru seemed distracted suddenly as she pieced it all together. “I can see him, yes? I need to get dressed or something and get there. He’ll wonder why I haven’t been there yet. Robin...I…” She stopped and grabbed him, hugging him tight. Tears stung her eyes and she blinked them back. “What the hell is happening here?”

He hugged her back and rubbed on her back. “Some craziness, Dru. Some real craziness,” he whispered. “But, the good part is that you can see him anytime and he’s in a private room, so you could even stay there for a while if you wanted.” He pulled back from her and pushed away some strands of hair from her eyes. “It may even be safer there since no one is allowed into his room except for certain people, and all of those are known.”

“Safer? For him or me?” It occurred to her suddenly that all this was related to that Cardassian. She mentioned the idea to Robin. “You think there’s still the possibility they’d use me again?”

“I don’t know that this is connected, at least not in that way,” he replied. “But security procedures have been upgraded in the section of Piper where Nico is, so it could be much safer for the both of you. However, I guarantee that we could get a security detail to keep tabs on you frequently, if you wanted.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary, really. I can’t see anything happening there with so many of the staff moving about. I need to get dressed.” She hurried across to her bedroom door, then stopped. “Are you coming too?”

“I actually just left from there,” he said sheepishly. “Sorry it took so long for me to let you know. I only just found out that you two were, uh, you know...an item. But I’ve been up for quite a while and this whole ordeal has worn me out. If I’m not mistaken, I think I’m getting old, so I need a nap, at least.”

Dru finally smiled. “So he told you I see.” She nodded slowly. “Yes. Now you go get some sleep. I’m going to get decent and get to Piper. Even if he’s sedated, he’ll know.”

He put a hand on her cheek. “He’ll need your help to get through all of this, you know. And it seems that your relationship with him has helped. So it may be best if you did stay with him for a while in there.”

“I’ll check in with Dr. Crane when I get there. And don’t take this the wrong way but go home. You’re wiped. I’ll call if anything happens and you’re needed.” She reached up, wrapping her fingers around his. “We’ll get him through. Somehow.”

He smiled. “Okay, kiddo, don’t keep him waiting,” he said. “Yes, call me. Otherwise, don’t. I’m gonna’ go zonk out.” Before he walked out the door he stopped. “We’ll get through this, you know.”

“I hope so.” She smiled as he left, but as she turned back to get dressed, she had to admit she was deeply worried.

********************

Lt. Cmdr. Robin Swift
Freaking Out a Friend

PO2 Drusilla Dupree
Appropriately Freaked Out