Love's a Bitch

Posted on Sun Feb 21st, 2016 @ 1:42am by Seyla & Marla

* Piper Medical Center *

Marla had been in the Piper waiting room since receiving notice that Dae had returned. Jackson had been there as well and Camille had been in and out until she had to leave for work. Marla had finally sent Jackson to go get some sleep before he fell over. Now, tired of sitting in the silent room alone, she rose and moved down to the room where Dae was sequestered.

As Will had explained it to her, the removal of all the implants had to be done in stages, with time between to let Dae’s system recover from such invasive procedures in-between. It had horrified her, though he’d been trying to put her at ease. She stood before the window, looking at Dae as he lay sleeping...or was he in stasis? ….behind a containment field. The idea that he could awaken any moment and assimilate half of sickbay before he was stopped shook her to the core and she closed her eyes. Suddenly, she wished for Seyla. Maybe she’d call her soon. And still, she stood, looking at the prone figure, hoping for anything that seemed like the Dae she knew.

Bella’s voice bounced down the hallway to Marla, “...so sad! Did you see that over her eye? She was so pretty but now? Ugh... I feel so bad for Jackson!”

“Shh, Bella, inside voice, sweetie,” Seyla hushed her girl as they came up to Marla. “Marla, how is he?”

Marla turned and immediately hugged Seyla tight, then Bella. “They are working on him but Will said that it’s slow going. They have to do a little at the time, then let him rest.” Marla’s voice was hoarse with emotion. “It’s terrifying, Sey. I thought I’d be okay once he was home.”

Seyla shook her head. She’d seen others infected by and recovered from the Borg; sometimes it wasn’t successful at all. Looking through the plate glass at Dae, she frowned. “They need rest, too, Marla. The surgeons, I mean. And they have how many of their own to recover? Oz, Dae, some security guy and a pilot? And that spider.” She shuddered. Talk about nightmares: a Borg spider that could scuttle through air vents....

“I know,” she whispered. “I think I need to get out of here.”

“Let’s go get you a drink, Marl,” Seyla put an arm around her and led her out of Piper. Once they were in Saturnalia, she waved to Shelley to bring them three drinks and they took a table.

Marla downed the drink and signaled Shelley for another one. “Thank you, both of you. I was losing my mind.” The drink came and Shelley, picking up on the atmosphere at the table, waited in case Marla drained this one. She did and Shelley placed a third in front of her.

“It’ll work out honey.” She patted Marla on the shoulder, then returned to the bar.

“She’s right. Dae will be fine; he has some of Starfleet’s best working on him, even if it seems to be taking awhile,” Seyla said.

“I want to go to your place tonight, can I?” she asked.

“Of course,” Seyla nodded, surprised. “You’re not okay with staying at Dae’s when he’s in sickbay like this?”

“I have been but…” Marla stopped and sipped her drink. “I really need to talk to you.”

Seyla glanced at Bella, wondering if she had somehow infected Marla with her brainlessness. “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”

Marla looked around and leaned in closer. “It’s personal Sey. I need advice. Serious advice. I can’t do that here. Everyone expects us to be on duty.” And it was true. Someone at almost every table seemed to be looking at them.

“Oh. Then let’s go home,” she slid from the booth.

Bella piped up, “Sven is here, Sey. I’m going to ...,” she rolled her shoulders and Seyla nodded.

“We’ll see you in a bit, then, dear.” Seyla and Marla headed out.

* Seyla’s Quarters *

Once they were inside, Marla had made a beeline for the bar and poured herself a small glass of Sey’s mysterious green whiskey. She had a sip, then settled on the sofa.

“Okay, Sey, here it is. I’ve had nightmares ever since Darwin told us about Dae and the rest being assimilated. Not dreams of him coming home and assimilating me, but of more trips...more danger...more worry and uncertainty.”

“Such is the life of someone who loves someone in security or intel or... hell, Starfleet.” Seyla was familiar with the concern - she used to have such concerns for Darwin, in a mild way, and he’d been a friend. “They tend to do stupid things that are dangerous.”

“And he won’t stop. He can’t! He is the chief of Intel. By my reckoning that makes his position one of the most dangerous on the station. I know he still goes out in the field and he loves it. I...I hate it.”

“Ask him to quit, then.” Seyla knew that Dae would sooner cut off a foot.

“I can’t and he wouldn’t anyway. It wouldn’t be fair to him.” Marla sighed. “I just don’t know if I can take the stress, always worrying that I’ll end up like Li and get a call someday soon that he’s dead somewhere distant and gone forever.”

“That is a chance,” Seyla agreed. “What’s better, to have loved and lost or to have never loved at all?” She paused and grimaced then asked, “Did I really just quote a song? Oh my god, I have to stop listening to the shit they play at Saturnalia.”

Marla rolled her eyes and continued to sip the kick-ass green whiskey. “Agreed. I just...I feel awful saying this but I can’t deal with it Sey. I think I could stand being away from him better than I could take something like this happening again….or the huge stress of never knowing if he’ll come back every time he leaves.”

“So you’re leaving him? Now or after he’s recovered?”

“I don’t know. I need to see him through this. I don’t want to leave him at all but I don’t see any other way. Once he’s back at work and busy, it won’t matter so much to him...maybe.” Marla looked back at Seyla, panic hovering in her eyes. “I’m an awful person.”

Seyla shook her head and took Marla’s hand. “No, you aren’t, sweetie. Some people can handle it, like Jackson with Oz. Most of those are people who have seen the same thing their loved one sees. But others, like you, can’t. There’s no judgment in that, Marla.”

“He won’t be happy.” Marla shook her head, then reached up with her free hand to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye. “Do you still need me here? I can get my old quarters back and take care of things here as I used to.”

“Of course you can return, dear,” said the spider to the fly. “You know my door is always open to you. I can put through the request for your former quarters, if you’d like, and you can rebuild your client base while doing the books here.”

Marla nodded and hugged Seyla tight. “Thank you so much. I’ll send out some messages tonight. I will be in Piper for the next few days but I’ll come down here for breaks and get back to work.” She smiled back at Seyla, her relief evident.

Seyla smiled, but was worried. “Perhaps you should hold off on those messages, dear. I’d hate to have Dae learn you started seeing clients again while he was recovering from this Borg attack. You know he’d blame me. Take a bit longer, be there for him, then once you’ve told him, you can start work again.”

“Alright.” The idea of being without Dae hurt deeply, but the stress of the past two weeks had nearly killed her. She didn’t admit it to Seyla but the days of doing nothing had worn on her too. “I will. I should….I should get back in case he is awake. They’ve severed the link to the collective and he’s been able to speak to me mentally, in very short bits.”

“That’s good, Marl,” she said. “I do need help with the books, so your return will be good.”

Marla rose and nodded. “Thank you Sey. I’ve...I’ve missed you. We’ll talk tomorrow.” She turned to go.

“We will. Get some rest.” Seyla watched her go then sadly shook her head, thinking that love was a cruel thing.

***************
Marla
Seyla
Bella
Shelley