Finally Free

Posted on Sat Sep 26th, 2015 @ 10:17pm by Ensign Reva Madhava & Lieutenant Commander Ophelia Payne & Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Lieutenant Commander Solis

Mission: Further Challenges

Reva and Riley hadn’t made love again - Reva had been serious about trying to pack up her little ‘bot. The task wasn’t easy: first, the ‘bot attempted to stab Riley in the shin and use a sharpened leg to slice through his boot, then it had defended itself against Reva, cutting her hand before she was able to grab hold of it and hit the disable button. Looking at the cut on her hand, she was glad the little ‘bot hadn’t attacked them that morning, while Riley’s shins and feet were bare. Then again, she was also concerned that it hadn’t attacked them then - that was the point of the little ‘bot now: to protect her. She had more work to do on it; for now, she put it in with Riley’s things in his bag.

“Good thing Piper is our first stop,” she said, putting a bandage over the cut.

* Piper Medical *

Before leaving the Takei, Reva had donned a long-sleeved turtleneck shirt under her bulky, oversized cardigan and jeans. The turtleneck hid the jewels around her neck while the cardigan hid her figure. Once in Piper, she’d presented her cut for treatment first and Solis had quickly set it right. She was slower about pulling the turtleneck off to let him see the collar.

He gave a low whistle as she held up her hair so he could examine it. “That asshole meant business. Tell me he’s dead?” Solis moved his tricorder slowly over the collar. “Yeah, I know a doc shouldn’t say such things but…..” He frowned as he examined the readings. “Is he?”

Reva nodded. “Riley took care of him when he saved me. But this thing... it hurts. I mean, not right now, but if I tug on it and when he used it.” She looked down, frowning.

Solis nodded. “It’s a nasty piece of work. Basically, it pierces the spinal column and then that allows little sensors to spread out all along the nerves. That’s why it’s such a total mind and body experience. The longer it’s on, the larger the network grows.” Solis grumbled something unintelligible. “The good news is, I’m awesome and I can remove it. You’ll be under for a little while though; it’s rather painstaking work.”

Swallowing hard, she closed her eyes and hoped the network wasn’t so large or extensive. Knowing that Fisher had meant this as a permanent adornment made her sick. How many other women had he put something like this on? “Can you keep it in one piece?” She looked at the Doctor. “Isn’t there an ‘off’ button? Something to make the thing recall its tendrils?”

Solis’ eyes narrowed as he shook his head. “You’re right about one thing, it’s usually meant to be permanent. Just out of curiosity, why would you want it kept together and not smashed into little tiny bits and torched?”

“To study it. And then I’ll get to do the smashing and torching,” she answered. “So, schedule this for tomorrow?”

“Can you stand to have it on another day, Reva?” he asked. “It’s early afternoon, we could get it done today if you want. You’ll have to stay overnight so we can make sure there’s no damage but you should be home later tomorrow.”

“I don’t want it on another day,” she shook her head. “Raj said I’d likely need to be in Sickbay for a couple of days, so leaving tomorrow would be great. I just want to get home.” And not have to leave again, she added to herself. “I suppose that means I have to change?”

“It does.” Solis put away the tricorder and turned back to her. “Ophelia will take you in hand and get you changed and prepped for surgery while I get ready too. I’ll send Mi down to deal with the anesthesia.” He crossed his arms and smiled at her. “The next time you see me? You’ll be back to normal. Should I make arrangements for Riley?”

“Arrangements? Oh, can he spend the night here? Yes, I’d like that,” she said, realizing that Riley was her security blanket. Without him near, she wouldn’t be comfortable. When Ophelia entered the room, she stood and pulled her shirt back on. “I don’t think I’ll ever be normal again, Doctor Solis, but I’ll settle for having this thing off my neck.”

“You’ll get there.” He patted her shoulder reassuringly. “Just be patient with yourself, okay?” He turned to Ophelia and rattled off a string of instructions, then hurried from the room. “Don’t worry, it’ll be great!” he called back to Reva.

Ophelia laughed and shook her head. “One of a kind.” Her tone was affectionate. “If you’ll come with me, we’ll get this show on the road. I’ll find Riley too, and bring him in before the anesthesia.”

“Thanks,” Reva said, smiling faintly. She went with Ophelia, dutifully showering and sitting still while Ophelia bound her hair up and trimmed away the short hairs on her neck. In a gown that opened along her back, Reva followed Ophelia to an operating suite. Riley was there in sterile scrubs. “Rye,” Reva hugged him.

“Hey, babe,” he whispered. “Soon, this thing will be gone and then I’ll take you home. Till then, I promised to do what Ophelia says.” A smile tugged at his lips. “I learned long ago not to cross her. That means I can stay till Dr. Mi gets here and you are asleep.”

“Oh good, I like that I’ll be under before you leave,” she held his hand. “And Solis said you could be here tonight. Will you?”

He laughed softly. “Try and pry me away. I’ll be here when you wake up. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”

“It will, indeed. Okay Reva, up on the biobed, stretch out and get comfortable,” Ophelia ordered.

Reva did so and pulled the blanket Riley handed her up to her neck. Dr. Mi came in shortly and set about putting her to sleep. She held onto Riley’s hand till she was under.

He bent down and kissed her once more. “Call me --”

“The minute she’s waking up. I will. Now shoo.” Ophelia waved him out and a few minutes later, Solis entered and got to work.

* Five hours later *

Solis pulled down his mask and let out a long, slow breath. “Well, ‘Phelia, that’s that. I tell you if it had spread any farther, I’d be blind by now.” He looked down at the smooth skin of Reva’s back with more than a little pride. Everything looked perfect.

“You did good.” Ophelia rested her hand on his arm and smiled. “Now, you go, get out of here. We’ll get her moved and revived and you can take a break, get dinner...do something before you come back to check in a few hours.”

“Hey, I might go out dancing or something,” Solis protested.

Ophelia laughed. “I know you. See you later on.”

Once he was gone, two of the medtechs gently turned Reva back over. A few minutes later, Riley entered and Ophelia stepped over to the biobed. She pressed a hypospray to Reva’s neck.

“And...in ...3...2….1…..”

“Mmfm,” Reva groaned and shifted on the biobed. Her grip on Riley’s hand tightened. “Aren’t we starting?”, she asked.

Her question got a laugh from both Ophelia and Riley. “You’re all done sweetheart,” he answered. He raised her hand to her now collar-free throat. “See?”

Her fingers moved over her neck then she smiled. “Oh...,” she choked up, “It’s done.” She meant more than just the collar being removed. “Can I sit up?”, she looked over at Ophelia.

“If you feel up to it, certainly,” Ophelia answered. She slipped her arm beneath Reva and helped her sit up. “Dr. Solis said everything turned out just fine. He’ll be in to check on you later tonight.”

“So I should be able to feel my feet?”, Reva asked. When Ophelia and Riley both looked alarmed, she laughed. “I can, don’t worry.” She stayed sitting up even when Ophelia eased away from holding her up. “I’m good. And we’re going to a room for the night? Could I have my sweater, please? And Rye, could we please have Bubba’s for dinner?” There was a chance Reva just might be a needy patient.

“We’re ready to move you to your own room,” Ophelia informed her. The request for the sweater concerned her, however.

“I went out while you were in surgery and got you some of your favorite pj’s.” Riley smiled. “You can change once you’re settled in. Then we’ll get Bubba’s to send something down.”

“Oh, thanks,” Reva kissed his cheek. Although she was feeling okay, she was taken to her overnight room in a hoverchair, where she changed into the pjs Riley had brought, donned her sweater and curled up in the bed with Riley. “Dinner can wait a few minutes. I just want to sit here with you.”

“You’ll get no argument from me.” He smiled and snuggled her in close. “You know you were in there for five hours? I had time to go home, get your clothes, eat dinner, take a nap….” He laughed lightly. “Raj and Desta stopped by to see how you were doing. He got her some dinner, then got her settled into a room on the next deck up. She’ll come later, she said. Raj had to run off to his office to check on a few things.”

“And to have our room assignments changed? I want the assignment to be quiet and to not come up on the directory.”

Riley nodded. “He said the same thing - as a safety measure and for both your peace of mind and Desta’s. I requested that you two be put on my deck and he seems to think that will be possible.”

Smiling, she snuggled up to him. “I like that idea. I suppose, with Commander Zeferino on the ship, Darwin will know we’re on the Station. And if he knows, so will Seyla.” She wasn’t exactly pleased with that idea.

“Well, she’ll have to get through me.” He smiled again. “I do have some good news. Eli is on the mend.” He stopped a moment trying to piece together what all she’d heard. “Did you hear about that?”

“Eli? If I did know about him, I’ve forgotten. It’s not the first thing I’ve forgotten in the past few days. What happened to him that he’s on the mend? Is Chance okay? Hey... wasn’t Six in Sickbay when I ...ah, left the Station?”

Riley nodded. “She’s fine and back home. As for Eli, he collapsed several nights ago at Kaleidoscope and Chance said he wasn’t breathing and something was causing neural damage. Six donated some nanoprobes and they were used to neutralize whatever was in his system and repair all the damage.” He paused to take a breath. “They’re here now but Chance expects to take him home tomorrow sometime.”

“Could we go see them?” She sat up a bit and looked at him. “Those two have had such a tough time - first Chance was killed and now... Eli is sick?” She had a flash of jealousy that Eli had nanites in him. “Still, it would be interesting to have nanoprobes.”

“Later. You need to eat and you’re all of twenty minutes out of major surgery. You need to give your body time to recuperate.”

“Okay, I promise to stay in this bed for the whole night. I should eat, though, you’re right. Bubba’s? Will they deliver? I really like their brisket.”

“They will.” He kissed her gently, then rose. “I’ll have them send something down now. Solis said that you should get up and walk every now and then, though. A little here while we wait should be a good start.”

“Oh,” she slid off the bed, holding his arm just in case, and walked with him from the bed to the bathroom and back. “You go ahead to Bubba’s; I’ll do the next circuit by myself.” She had to admit that she felt a little creaky as she walked.

Riley went over to the corner terminal and put a call through to Bubba’s. A few minutes later, the order was complete. He turned to watch as Reva walked slowly around the room. “It will be here in twenty minutes. How’re you feeling?”

“Hungry,” she shot him a smile. “And a bit... some nerves are on fire. You can’t..., Rye, I can’t describe what it was like. Knowing that any time he wanted, he could cause pain with the flip of a switch.”

“No, I can’t,” he admitted. “The very thought of it is beyond nightmare.” He reached out to take her hand as she reached him. “But that nightmare is over and I’ll make sure it stays away.”

“You’ve already done that - you killed him.” As she took his hand and stepped up to him, she thoughts about his actions were all good - she had no regrets about what Riley had done. She did have regrets about Niro and trusting Owain. If she hadn’t been involved with them, she’d never have been on Fisher’s ship.

“I know it’s not going to be easy but you have to put them behind you too. There’s no way you could have known.” He’d read the same thoughts she’d had often since the rescue. “Now you have to focus on moving ahead, not what’s happened in the past.” He pulled her close, being careful of her back. “Dinner’s coming down the corridor. Let’s eat and then we’ll lock the door.”

“Solis will be by at some point.” She went to the bed and climbed in then spread a blanket over the sheet. When Riley accepted the food and brought it over, she smiled and said, “Like our picnic by the lake. That was a good night.”

“We’ll do it again once you’re out of here.” He began to open the food. “Now dig in, then we’ll enjoy ourselves. Solis can wait.” He winked at Reva. “Now eat.”

*******************
Ensign Reva Madhava
Testing Her Nerves

Doc Solis
Getting on Her Last Nerve

Lt. Riley Sukotav
Soothing Her Nerves

Lt. Ophelia Payne
Central Nerve