Follow Up Visit

Posted on Sat Jan 12th, 2013 @ 5:58pm by Mallory (Jade) & Lieutenant Commander Terrell Kona
Edited on on Sat Jan 12th, 2013 @ 6:03pm

Mission: The Struggle Within
Location: C.H. Mayo Medical Center

* * * C. H. Mayo Medical Center * * *

Terrell was attempting to organize his office yet again. No matter how many times he tried, he always seemed to be cleaning things up. It was a drastic change to his pre-joined state where he was somewhat of a clean freak. It was very ironic how much changed after the joining. Now that he had been joined for ten years, he didn’t allow himself the time to reminisce anymore. Reminiscence led to regrets and regrets do no good to anyone. Since you can change anything, there is no sense in regretting anything.

Snapping himself back to the present he figured he better get back to work. He had an appointment with Jade, whom he now knew to be Mallory Reynolds. She was making great progress getting her memories back and healing from the injuries sustained while in captivity. Terrell still had trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that she had been a slave. This day in age, you would have thought that things of that nature had been eliminated. So many accomplishments for the humanoid races and yet so many things still happening. It seemed the evil nature of humanoids would always find a way to cause each other harm.

At that moment Mallory arrived for her followup appointment.

Dressed casual, but nice, she wore camel colored flare-legged pants, a crisp white button down blouse with short sleeves and stylish boots that boosted her five foot seven inch height up to five foot ten. Her light golden brown hair was hanging loose and long down her back and spilling over her shoulders. There were no remaining bruises anywhere and she wore makeup today, which made her eyes stand out even more than normal.

She smiled as the nurse showed her into the Assistant CMO’s office. “Hello Dr. Kona,” she greeted him, wondering what sort of thoughts her arrival had interrupted. “How are you doing today?”

Kona was rendered speechless. The individual he was looking at now, was nothing like the woman he had seen a few days earlier. She was night and day from how she had looked before and if the nurse had not said her name, he would not have even known who she was. The shock must have registered on his face, which was something that happened to him very few times. Having several lifetimes of memories tended to keep you from being shocked that often, but this was something out of the ordinary. “Ms. Reynolds, it is very good to see you again. You are looking well to say the least,” he said when he finally could find his voice again.

Inclining her head, she came closer. “Thank you, doctor. I’m feeling well, all things considered. Oh...and it’s Miss, not Ms.” However, that caused her to frown slightly. Now that she knew more and had more of her memories back, she was aware of a lot more...and perhaps he had it correct. “Of course, you could just call me Mallory, since it is my name after all.”

Terrell was intrigued by the ‘all things considered’ statement and the frown when she mentioned being single. He wondered what type of memories she was remembering. Memory loss was always a delicate thing as when remembering some patients tried to fill in things for the missing pieces and when the real memories came back they were rarely what was filled in by the imagination and left some very depressed. He always strongly urged his patients to take their time and don’t rush it, but in the case of Miss Reynolds, or Mallory as she wanted it, he had not had the chance to give her such a suggestion. “As you wish Mallory,” he started. “If you are comfortable, tell me about some of the memories you have been able to recover. Are they fond memories or have they caused you pain? A key thing to remember with any memory loss is to give yourself and your mind time to recover everything before passing too much judgement. Memories are like a puzzle and you never get the full intent of the picture with just a few pieces.”

Moving over to sit down in one of the chairs, she pushed her hair behind her shoulder. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked him to call her Mallory? Some doctors were more formal with their patients, though she hadn’t been.

“My memories are both fond and bittersweet. Fond because I can remember my friends and the crew I worked with before I was kidnapped...bittersweet because I remember that they are all dead now. At least those that served on the same ship as I did.” Hands in her lap, she laced her fingers together and fell silent for a few moments.

Terrell realized he was still standing and hastily sat down in one of the chairs across from her, grabbing a pad off his desk. He realized that her unexpected appearance must have affected him more than he had originally realized. He had known from the first time he saw her that she was a beautiful woman, but this was even above what he had expected. He was not normally taken off his game like this though and though he should probably reflect on that later. Getting back to the topic he said, “So you served in Starfleet? You mentioned a ship, so I am assuming a starship. Have you remembered what job you held? How do you know that all your friends are dead? Is that a feeling or another memory that has resurfaced? Like I said earlier, it is very important to not jump to any conclusions when memory loss is involved. The mind can play terrible tricks on us if we let it.”

She gave him a small smile. “Yes, I was an officer in Starfleet.” Her gaze drifted down to rest briefly on Kona’s collar, his pips to be more specific. “I was the Chief Medical Officer aboard the USS Bakara.” Her deep brown eyes were a bit sad, understandably. For her, it had been mere days since these events had happened. At least it felt like that, despite in reality how years had passed. “I know they’re dead because I saw their bodies.”

“Interesting,” stated Terrell, “so all my extra explanations about the medical procedures we have done was somewhat redundant for you. My apologies.” Frowning he continued, “I am not familiar with the USS Bakara. Now I am not an expert on Starfleet starships, but given my several lifetimes of knowledge, I normally have at least heard of many of them. What was her primary mission?” As a side note he added, “Also, if at any time you do not feel like talking about this anymore, please just let me know. The starbase has several very good counselors that might be better suited to this type of cognitive stimulation therapy. I thought it might be easier to talk to me since we have already had some interaction on this subject. I do want to do a full body scan on you to ensure that all your previous wounds are healing as expected and that no new maladies have surfaced. Once you are comfortable with that being done. I am here for you in any medical capacity you need. Physician, Counselor, or friend. Always remember that.”

“Redundant? No...I didn’t think that. Not at all. It’s not as if I knew at the time who I was or what I had done before.” It was her turn to frown slightly, as she didn’t want things to be odd between them. “The Bakara’s mission was classified, though I’m not sure if that holds any relevance now...for all I know, it’s been declassified by now, since it’s been seven years.”

She shrugged and held the other doctor’s gaze. “If it’s alright with you, I’d rather just talk to you about all of this, since I do feel comfortable with you and we seem to have a good rapport between us. For now though, perhaps we should get those scans you want out of the way so you can give me a clean bill of health.” Mallory gave him a small smile. “And before I forget to say it, I will remember your offer of being my physician, counselor or friend. I appreciate that very much. Thank you, Terrell.”

Seven years, thought Terrell. Strange that those memories would be the first to surface, but he would have to pursue that later. “No need for the thank yous. I am here to help in any way I can. Why don’t we remove ourselves to the exam room and get that scan done. I want to make sure your body is healing as it should from the injuries you suffered earlier.” Terrell made sure to avoid the words captivity or enslavement as he didn’t want to trigger the wrong emotions.

Leading Mallory into the exam room he signaled for her to climb up on the biobed so he could begin the scan. Once Mallory was up on the bed, he said to her with a big smile, in his best doctor voice, “Now this won’t hurt a bit.” He didn’t need to tell her to be still as she was a medical professional and knew the need to lie still during a scan. Adjusting the controls for the depth of the scan and magnification level he instructed the biobed to begin the scan. Once the scan completed, Terrell was pleased with the results. “So it says here that you are a perfectly normal, and healthy, 33 year old Human female. Does that correspond with how old your memories say you should be? What is your birth date?”

“Well that’s good. I feel fairly normal and healthy.” Mal joked, but gave an odd smile. “Yes, it matches how old I am...or how old I was. My date of birth is May 7th, 2347.” She waited quietly for him to do the math, watching him while laying still on the biobed.

“2347? That can’t be right,” stated Terrell.

“No, that’s correct. 2347.” Of course, she wasn’t really thirty-three anymore. Chronologically, she was forty. Physically she was thirty-three.

“Well a birthdate of 2347 would make you 40, not 33 and the scans do not lie, so,” said Terrell with a thoughtful expression on his face, “it seems you have lost seven years somehow and since it is not just memory loss, as your body did not age as well, that would suggest some form of stasis.” Adding as an afterthought, somewhat to himself, “I wonder if that implant that was blocking your memories in the first place could shed some light on this conundrum? Maybe Norval has had a chance to analyze it by now.” Looking at nothing in particular, his mind continued the analysis process, “or an extended stasis has been known to cause partial and temporary memory loss as well, so that could explain some of this. A stasis of seven years would be considered extended, but then what does that implant have to do with things.” Realizing that he was being somewhat undoctor like, he mentally smacked himself back to reality and focused on his patient again. “We can get all those questions answered in due time. At least we know all your physical injuries are healed completely.”

Terrell helped Mallory to sit up on the biobed. “So my dear Miss Reynolds, you are somewhat of a puzzle and I am known to be a sucker for a good puzzle,” he said giving it full charm mode. “I will talk with Mr. Norval about the implant we found and see if we can get any information on it.” He looked through a stack of padds he had sitting on a instrument counter and found one that seemed to meet his needs. “In the coming days and weeks, capture any thoughts, questions, concerns, or anything you want to on this padd.” Terrell handed her the padd. “Then we can discuss those items, if you want, when we meet each time. I only ask one thing and that is to not rush things. As you know, the Human mind is an incredible organ that will attempt to resolve dilemmas it comes across. It is an analytical tool, especially in the hands of a trained medical professional, such as yourself. Given that combination, your own mind might try to fill in gaps in your memories with things it deems to be the most likely scenario and then build on that. Don’t let it.” He smiled a reassuring smile, “given the progress you have already made, I fully expect you to recover all your memories, but that sometimes takes longer than we want it to take and those memories could be rebuilt in an order that doesn’t make the most sense. Don’t get frustrated. There is an old earth saying about time healing all wounds and for the most part it is correct. Take your time.”

“So how often would you like to get together and do you prefer here in the office or would you prefer something less professional, like maybe over lunch sometime?” He was not sure how the last statement would be taken by her. He wanted to make her feel comfortable and he knew that some patients felt more comfortable in a non office like setting. The fact that she was a medical professional added to that as this type of environment was work for her and healing of others and not necessarily herself. Most counselors used couches or an office resembling more of a home than the cold office environment of a medical treatment center. He did not want to cross a boundary though by inviting her to something considered intimate, like dinner. He hoped that his suggestion didn’t offend her.

“Yes, I’ve gone from thirty-three to forty nearly overnight as far as I can remember. Not a pleasant prospect, but on the upside, I look halfway decent for my age.” She remained on the biobed, but turned to let her long legs dangle over the side. Looking down at the PADD, she tapped it against her leg. “So you’d like me to keep a journal of sorts. I can do that.” After a moment, she glanced up and smirked. “You should know better than anyone that solving medical mysteries would be something I’d want to do, especially since it is my own case, but I’ll attempt to be patient. Ha! A patient patient.”

There was so much she had to do. After being missing for so long, she’d have to straighten things out with Starfleet and would have to get up to speed on current medical procedures to be able to practice medicine again. Joy. Mallory hadn’t asked for this. No one asks to see their fellow crewmates get killed and be kidnapped.

“Meeting over lunch would be nice, if you don’t mind?”

Terrell smiled again. He seemed to be doing that a lot in this woman’s presence. He was glad that he hadn’t offended her. “Sounds perfect. Let me know when a good time would be or if anything comes up in your journal that you feel the need to talk about immediately. I also do understand how hard it is to be patient. We, as medical professionals, say all the time how important it is to be patient without ever really understanding the importance. It is just something we take for granted. I have had some experiences that have shown me first hand the benefit of patience and I am just trying to stress to you how important it is.” Terrell really did find himself enjoying this woman’s presence. “Is there anything else you wanted to talk about today? Any particularly disturbing memories you would like to mention, if you are up to it?”

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Mallory listened to him in that quiet, watchful manner she had. It was great with patients and most people because all of her attention was squarely on them. “My schedule is pretty open, Doctor, so it’s going to come down to what time is good for you. Perhaps during one of our lunches you could tell me about what experiences you’ve gone through that has taught you about patience.”

Of course, he could choose not to tell her, but she hoped he would be open to talking to her about something other than herself.

“That is the very least I can do and it would be my pleasure,” he said with a laugh. “I look forward to our lunch and will make time on my busy schedule.”

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Dr. Terrell Kona, ACMO
Fond of Puzzles

Mallory Reynolds (formerly known as Jade)
An Intriguing Puzzle