Hurricane Solis

Posted on Mon Jun 29th, 2015 @ 4:33pm by Lieutenant Commander Solis & Lieutenant Commander Earl Crane

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Piper Medical Center / Solis & Julisa's Quarters

* Piper Medical *

Solis materialized in the emergency wing and as soon as he was all together, he was on the move. He entered a lift to take up to the offices level and now he was moving along the corridor at a rapid clip. He breezed past Earl’s open door, still grumbling, and entered his own.
“Computer, lock door,” he ordered. Then he just stood, trying to get a grip on his raging emotions so he wouldn’t trash his own office. Focus....., breathe….think about anything but…. He tried not to think her name, hoping that would help him calm a little but his rebel thoughts were happy to fill in the blank.

Julisa…..Julisa…..Julisa….

They also reminded him that Julian was right about inviting Murphy and his stupid law in. Solis still wasn’t sure what had happened but he felt like he had emotional whiplash and had missed whatever happened to get Julisa from point A to point B. The thought pushed him past the boiling point and the mug that had been sitting on his desk was in his hand, being hurled at the wall, then lying smashed into pieces on the floor. Too late he remembered that Earl was on the other side of that wall. Maybe here wasn’t the best place to be. He needed to be somewhere so he could smash things, so something to burn off the rage before it reached the danger point. Before he could move a step, however, someone was knocking on his door.

Earl had retained a couple of sneaky privileges from having been acting CMO. One of those was the override code on the doors. He keyed that in and, whether Solis wanted it or not, opened the man's office door. "What's wrong with you?" He demanded as soon as the door was open. He saw the wreckage of the mug and frowned then regarded his much younger friend. "Jules said Nikki Gold is on her way back to Earth. Far side of the known universe, practically. So what's eating you?" He entered the room fully and let the door close behind him.

Solis simply growled and looked as if he might dash for the open door. He opened his mouth to try and explain it to Earl and then wasn’t sure how to answer the question. Giving up on verbal expression, he grabbed hold of Earl’s collar, his fingers brushing Earl’s throat. In a rush, he let the argument replay in his thoughts so Earl could follow. Finally he let go and turned, kicking the pieces of the mug away and across the office.

Earl had nearly decked Solis, but paused as he saw the earlier conversation with Solis and Julisa. It was an unpleasant way to get information. "She was okay with the Nikki situation? Seriously? This is Bajun Julisa we're talking about? The annoying, hot-headed Bajoran? And you think she was okay with Nikki Gold being in sickbay? Being here, messing around with your lives?" Earl watched Solis, wondering if he'd need to defend himself in a moment.

“She seemed to be fine and then, once Nikki left, she just…” He threw his arms up in the air. “Then suddenly everything was my fault and she was pissed at everything. After it was all over! I did everything I could to settle this issue… what else was I supposed to do?” The storm was rising again as he turned to look back at Earl. “It’s not my fault that woman is crazy and obsessed! And we went from Julisa swearing that it didn’t matter if we never got married because of things like this…” He paused and shook his head. “So what the fuck happened? Because I don’t know.”

Placidly, Earl nodded and agreed, "That woman is crazy. Haven't ever known her to be obsessed...." He looked at Solis, grinned and acknowledged, "You meant Nikki. I know. If Ehlana had had the sort of week Julisa has had...," the older man ventured out onto a limb, "I might just cut her some slack and not get mad at her. You know, having an ex-lover of mine show up, claiming to be married to me, and then finding out that I hadn't told her she died in my arms." He held up his hands to forestall an outburst, "I know, you were under orders, you couldn't tell her! I get that. It's just not a good week, though."

“I wasn’t mad till she insisted it was all my fault.” He growled once again. “I even had Ray draw up a real marriage license...you know since we are engaged….and that made her even more mad. I give up Earl. I can’t do this. I didn’t make Nikki nuts, I didn’t tell her to do any of this. I won’t take the blame for it.” He looked around the office and decided that if he stayed, he’d likely be reimbursing medical for new furnishings. “Maybe I should have….no nevermind, doesn’t matter.” He looked back at Earl, wondering if he would make it out the door or if Earl would tackle him first.

Earl had known Solis a while - a few years by this point, and knew the kid had some volatile emotions under his usual happy-go-lucky self. Those had been showing quite a bit lately. But Earl had actually known Julisa long before he'd met Solis - long before she had met Solis. And he was friends with the one person who knew Julisa in ways Julisa didn't even realize: Siri. He wondered what take Siri would have on this argument. "Do you recall how ...ah... private Jules is about her life?"

Solis nodded. “We all are to some extent. So, you're saying it’s my fault that Nikki couldn’t keep her mouth shut? What about the fact that now everyone knows what she tried to do to me too?” He began tugging off his lab coat but was so wound up he was having trouble getting the sleeves off. “So this is all about how she feels about the situation? Does it matter that this crazy woman tried her best to force me into a situation that was completely unacceptable? I get that Julisa’s had a rough week, but what about my week?” He finally grew too frustrated with the lab coat and ripped it, getting his arms out of the sleeves. “I was so damn worried about how Julisa was taking this, and trying to undo whatever it was that Nikki did so we could get back to normal. Being told it’s all my fault is hard to swallow.” He tossed the coat aside as his rant wound down.

"I wasn't saying it was all your fault. Though you might want to cut back on sharing that magic wand," Earl injected some humor into his comment. "Remember when Julisa first showed up on DS-15? All attorney, no personality? Well, no personality beyond that of a brillo pad."

“This magic wand hasn’t been shared, Earl.” Solis rolled his eyes. “Nikki was the one time and Julisa had her own entertainment during those months she was away.” He sighed aloud. “Your point?” He was eyeing the door again.

Earl shook his head, marveling at Solis' knuckleheadedness. "She buries what she's feeling, particularly when faced with someone else's emotions. You've been pretty angry about Nikki. Did you give her a chance to voice her own feelings? Or did she say everything was 'fine'?"

“Well when she said it didn’t matter and promised that she’d never leave me again, I believed her.” Solis pressed his hands to his eyes. “We talked about this a lot over the past few days. She had plenty of chances. But you know what? No one ever asked how I felt or how I was dealing with this. It was always concern about Julisa...and I was the worst about that. I didn’t even stop to think how I was dealing with it. That was a mistake, Earl. And I know her tendencies but why….why didn’t she ask?” He moved to step around Earl. “I need to get out of here.”

Catching his uniform jacket, Earl pushed Solis farther into the office. He was frowning heavily and took a moment to sort through Solis' words. He spoke gently, "Sol, no one had to ask how you felt about this situation. You've been carrying your anger around rather openly. Openly enough that you've got a couple of candy-stripers scared of you. I'd bet that you didn't temper that at home, either. What should Jules have asked? For you to calm down so she could get mad?"

"Actually, at home we’ve been dealing with the Betazed issue, and no I wasn’t stomping around in a rage either, aside from the day I discovered Nikki was here.” He looked back at Earl for a moment and his tone softened. “She has got to learn to talk to me if she has an issue, Earl, instead of clamming up and then lashing out at the one person who loves her most in this universe. What the hell am I supposed to do here?” His eyes misted over as rage gave way to unbridled worry.

"She might be smart, book-wise, Sol, but she's not when it comes to people. You saw that on DS-15: she taunted Elis into nearly attacking her." An overstatement of what Elis had nearly done, but just about accurate as to what Julisa had done. "She doesn't respond well to other's anger. If she were Ehlana.... Well, I might turn her over my knee for being obtuse, but I'd abide by the First Rule of All Husbands."

He had to smile at the idea of Earl turning Ehlana over his knee but it was brief. “And that is?”

"Ah... young padawan... It was taught to me on Earth centuries ago. The number one rule... Well, beyond 'happy wife, happy life,' is: Apologize. Whether you think you've done something wrong or not, apologize," Earl patted Solis' shoulder. "It's gotten me out of trouble more times than not. Though, there was that one time when I apologized and she asked if I even knew what I was apologizing for. Then I had to apologize for apologizing. It was awful."

“And if she won’t talk? She has to get out of this habit, Earl. I can’t do this again. I’m not some mild-mannered guy….as you well know.” Solis smiled again, finally.

"Then yell at her about that. But try not to get mad at her. She doesn't know any better. Her Prophets know that if she couldn't sustain a relationship with an easy-going, intelligent, sensitive, sexy, ravishingly good-looking older man, she's not going to be good at maintaining a relationship with the likes of a young pup like you," Earl clapped Solis on the back and smiled.

Solis let out a slow breath and tapped his comm badge. “Solis to Lt. Bajun.” He waited and then got the dual beep that meant Julisa couldn’t be reached. “Computer, locate Lt. Bajun.”

=^= Lt. Bajun is not on the station =^= came the computer’s reply.

Startled by that response, Earl looked at Solis. "How is that possible? Didn't you leave her in her office?"

“I did.” He tapped his badge once more. “Solis to Chief Petty Officer Siri.” It was with some effort that he kept his voice calm.

"Siri here! What can I do for you, Solis?"

Earl spoke up, "Siri, lovey, where'd Jules go to?"

"Oh, hi, Earl! Julisa headed out of here right after her argument with Solis. I think she's been going to Iapetus, a little bar by Saturnalia."

Now Solis did sound worried. “Siri, have you heard from her since then? The computer says she is no longer on the station.”

"Ah... No... I haven't heard from her," Siri answered slowly, "She should be on the Station. There's no reason for her to have left. Hang on a sec, you two." Siri could be heard doing something then speaking to Ray about Julisa.

Solis looked at Earl, his expression not happy. “What the hell is going on Earl?” He realized he was still on the channel to Siri. “Check with Ray,” he requested.

"Ray got a text that she's larking off to Archadia for a day or two," Siri came back and announced.

“I see. Thank you.” Solis closed the channel and looked silently back at Earl. He had no idea what to do now. “I….umm…..I’ve got nothing. I didn’t think she would...leave.”

"Maybe she didn't. Maybe she turned off her commbadge?" Earl, too, was at a loss.

“One way to find out,” Solis answered. “Though I don’t think she would tell Ray she was leaving if she didn’t intend to go. I am going to check. You coming?”

Leaving the kid alone was a bad idea; Earl nodded, "I am." They left Sickbay.

Soon, Solis and Earl arrived at the quarters he shared with Julisa. Solis unlocked the door and they entered in a hurry.

“Julisa?” Solis called out. When no answer came, he checked the other rooms, finally ending in the bedroom. The closet door was open and her uniform had been dropped on the bed. “Not here Earl,” he called out.

Standing in the living room, Earl saw the blue pendant on the table. He went over and peered into the bedroom, seeing the same things Solis saw: the closet and the discarded uniform. "Archadia, then."

Solis turned his dark eyes on Earl. “Then I need to go find her. If she left here, she had to take a shuttle or something. The docking bay should have some record or someone saw her go. She’s not exactly unknown on the station.” He reached up to open his collar so he could change out of his uniform. “I will find her.”

"You'll have some help," Earl said, tapping his commbadge and turning away to speak to a few people while Solis changed. Once Solis was dressed again, he said, "Siri is checking outgoing shuttles, ferries and transports. Lt. Gilroy is running a facial recognition program."

“Thank you.” Solis was packing a small bag, mostly with the necessities doctors always had on hand, plus a change of clothes. “How soon will they know anything?”

"Could be a few minutes, could be an hour," Earl shrugged. Siri had told him that she had recognized Julisa's look - one that told her Julisa wanted to be alone. "Didn't you two take a few days on Archadia?"

“Some time back, yes. Do you think she would go there, knowing that might be a place I’d check?” He paused as he saw the necklace on the table. Reaching down, he picked it up, moving his thumb over the smooth stone. The urge to throw it hit hard and he forced himself to put it back on the table and step away. Apparently he hadn’t completely settled down yet. An idea occurred to him, however, and he sat down at the main terminal. He pressed in a command and moments later, sucked in a breath. “Earl...look.”

"Hmm? Nico? What was he doing.... Is he taking her necklace off?" Earl was uncomfortable watching the feed - the way Nico touched her was intimate. "He just got married."

“That’s not Nico,” Solis said quietly. “His brother Niro I’m betting. I met him a few nights ago. Long story, but he was the one who accompanied Jules when they rescued Nico.” Solis’ thoughts were a whirlwind but one thing came clear. He opened a channel to the docking chief, asking if there were any vessels registered to Niro. After a short wait, he was informed that the Korenna was, in fact registered to that individual and that it had departed only a few minutes ago. Solis closed the channel.

“Well, it’s more than we had Earl,” he commented.

"I suppose," the old man responded. "Do you want me along on this trip to Archadia?" He realised he might need to go: if only to keep Solis from ripping Niro's head off.

Solis considered the offer. What if showing up made things worse? What if not showing up made things worse? Julisa knew very well that he would check the feed and figure out where she was….maybe she wanted….he grumbled aloud and came to a decision. She was his and he was not going to sit home, while Niro did….who knows what. He would find her and bring her home. The alternative was unacceptable. Finally, he sent a message to Dr. Harding and closed the terminal.

“Let’s go Earl.”

"Right-o." And just like that, Earl became Solis' sidekick.

*****************
Lt. Solis
Chaos Incarnate

Lt. Commander Earl D. Crane
Caught in a Tempest