Two Old Friends Meet

Posted on Fri Jan 11th, 2013 @ 7:40am by Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D. & Janice Gree

Mission: The Struggle Within
Location: Piper Memorial Medical Center

* * * Piper Medical Center * * *

Shortly after the departure of Eli, Oz, and Jackson, Will sat taking one last look over the data he’d amassed over the previous few days. He stopped to rub his tired eyes as his badge beeped. Kiere announced that Aia Hawke was waiting in room 349. He thanked her and then sighed aloud. In all the craziness of the past days, he’d forgotten she was due to bring Saye in to be checked. It wouldn’t take long, then he decided he’d stop off and have a drink on his way home, before he crashed good and hard for some much needed sleep.

He rose and made his way to the next deck up and into the room with Aia and the baby. He gave her a tired smile as the door closed. “Hello, Aia, how are you?”

Her answering smile was just as tired - for her the issue was having her first child and an almost-absent (read: overworked) husband. “Hello, Will,” she said. “Saye seems energetic and happy as a lark - a loud one. Her mother... isn’t quite so energetic.”

“Typical for a new mother. She gets to sleep all day and night while you....you do not. Am I right?” Will lifted the baby from her arms to let her stretch out on the biobed. With one hand he pressed the panel to bring up the diagnostic arch to begin scanning, then cooed to the baby, who answered back.

“Yes, that sounds about right,” she laughed as she lay back.

The glow of the scanner began and Will turned to place Saye on a table nearby where her own scan began. “She looks wonderful, I must say. Anything seem out of place? Not normal? Anything you’ve noticed?”

“All of her toes are at the ends of her feet and her fingers are on her hands.... though, she seems a bit small. You know, compared to the charts. She’s centimeters smaller.” She held up a hand, her fingers just barely separated. “Even though she’s been eating just fine.”

“And she hasn’t been crawling yet. Isn’t she supposed to be doing that already? She’ll get on her belly but just lay there,” Aia frowned.

Will smiled as he glanced over to her. “One thing holds true for every baby, Aia. And that is that the charts are averages. Some do those things younger, some older and every baby has their own schedule. Granted, there are ages that if they reach them and they haven’t managed certain things, then we look closer for a cause. At her age? No cause for concern yet. Anytime now you’ll look up and she’ll be in another room.” He checked Saye’s weight and nodded. “Looks fine. Both you and the Admiral are trim, it’s to be expected she will follow in your footsteps.” He wrapped her back up and stroked her forehead as he spoke, his voice growing softer, more sing-song. It didn’t take long until Saye’s eyelids began to droop, then closed.

“By the looks of it, perhaps I should take a recording of you talking to her like that.” She sighed. “I’m tempted to just stay here and take a nap.”

“You certainly are welcome to if you wish. I was saying those same words earlier.” He checked the readouts and nodded. “Everything looks just fine Aia, aside from your lack of sleep. Get some. Take Saye to the nursery now and then. You can sleep, she gets to socialize, everybody wins.”

“Socialize? At her age?” Aia looked at him like he was nuts. “I suppose you really do need a nap, Will.” She smiled to soften her comment. “I can just see her making all the boys in the nursery swoon with her youthful good looks.”

“You might be surprised. At this age, babies like to see other babies, even if they do play independently. They aren’t sharing yet but more...playing alongside the others. They develop a great love of faces at this age and start to mimic sounds.” Will pulled the rolling stool over by the biobed and sat down. “So how are things otherwise? We’ve not really had a chance to talk much the past few months.”

“Oh, they’ve been interesting, what with Jonas getting himself killed,” she said it casually.

“It was bound to happen, Aia. Living on borrowed time never applied to anyone more than him.” Will shrugged slightly. “Did you get what you were looking for? The tie-in to Nahi? Unfortunately, Natalia lost her perspective, her grip on reality and did some stupid things. You know how that ended up - we lost her before I could get the rest, but at least Jackson got some closure and some answers.”

“Yes. Fortunate for him. And good riddance to Levin. Tell me about Natalia, though. Being pregnant, I didn’t really get the full story.”

Will frowned briefly. “Unstable in the extreme. I had her right in the palm of my hand. She was afraid of me but then something put her over the edge. She lost it entirely and I don’t think that was due to Levin. The autopsy showed some oddities that seemed to have no cause but I’m still looking into it. Tell Lucius that as soon as I have an answer, it will be in his hands.”

“In your hand? You mean before she was dying?” Aia was sure he did mean that. “So mentally unstable. Was that part of her as a person or the influence of something else?”

“The Natalia I knew was always the shrinking violet type, not overly outspoken, not the strongest backbone. Certainly not the sort to carry out the kidnapping and almost kill Jackson, especially given the fact that he always held such an attraction for her. What I saw at the end?” He shrugged. “It’s something I’m going to figure out.”

“I’m sure you will, too. May I sit up?”

“No nap?” He pressed the panel to make the arch drop back down, then offered his hand. “Go home, take one there. Otherwise, you’re doing just fine.”

“Thanks,” she smiled, sitting up and releasing his hand. “Luc has been telling me to get a nanny in for a few hours a day. I suppose I should do that.” Slipping from the biobed, she moved to pick up Saye, who was just starting to fuss about being left alone. Softly, she hummed to the babe and held her close. Having her in her life now, Aia had a tiny inkling of how Lucius felt about Li and, to a smaller degree, his lost son Nahi. If little Saye were threatened, Aia had no doubt that she’d die protecting the girl.

“Good idea. Take care Aia and as for all the rest, I’m glad it’s over. We got our man at least...and our woman.”

“We did,” she nodded and, gathering Saye, waggled her fingers at Will. “We’ll see you in another few weeks.” She kissed Saye’s temple and headed out.

Once Aia was gone, exhaustion washed over Will and he sat back down on the stool. aAline of an old song by the Stones came to him and he sang it softly.

“What a drag it is getting old....”

The thought made him smile and he realized that while his body may be tired, his brain was still moving at light speed. He sang another line, paraphrasing just a little.

“Doctor needs something today to calm him down....”

Dammit, the song really was catchy, even it it was about that old standby valium that was so popular in the 20th century. What Will had in mind was far more healthy, at least compared to a drug, and he rolled over to the terminal and put through a call. When he got an answer, he spoke hurriedly.

“I know it’s late....my place? Twenty minutes?”

The response came back, "Um... Okay, Doctor."

Will closed the connection and departed sickbay, a sudden spring in his step and a whistle on his lips.

**************
Lt. Commander William Harding, M.D.
A Few More Miles To Go Before He Sleeps

Aia Rios-Hawke
Sleepless on the Starbase