Drying Out - Part Two

Posted on Thu Jan 30th, 2014 @ 7:11pm by Lieutenant Commander Nicolao & Petty Officer 1st Class Drusilla Dupree

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Archadia III

She started just walking but the closer she got the faster she walked, then a flat out run into the waves. Soon she was up to her stomach in the water and was splashing around. “This is great!” she yelled. “Come on!”

Not waiting for him she waded out deeper and dove under the water, coming back up several meters out. She looked around for him but didn’t see him anywhere. “Nico?”

A few scattered beachgoers were enjoying the water several yards away but there was no sign of Nico. Another wave rushed in and broke against Dru’s back and following the spray of foam, Nico popped up from beneath it with a roar like a sea monster.

His sudden appearance startled her and she forgot to keep kicking to stay afloat, slipping underwater for a moment. When she came back up she splashed water at him for good measure. “Don’t do that!” she laughed. “I’m not that familiar with the waters here to know if they have people-eating creatures or not.”

He laughed aloud at her reaction and to his surprise, it felt good. really good. “No worries, even the people-eating creatures stay away from me.” He wiped his wet hair out of his eyes, not revealing at all whether he was serious or not.

“Uh-huh,” she said playfully, and splashed more water at him. “And that’s for making me think you’d just disappeared on me.”

She was happy to see him relaxing some, even enjoying himself. But as soon as that thought entered her mind, something brushed against her foot. She let out a yelp and grabbed for his shoulder. “Something’s down there!”

Immediately his mood changed and he leaned back, avoiding her hand. “I’ll take a look.” He dove beneath the water without another word.

She continued treading water waiting for him to resurface. If this had been Earth she would have known what types of life would have been under the water this close to shore, but whatever this was felt big. The thought of it having enormous teeth and a taste for blood, her blood, made her begin to shiver.

Moments later, he broke the water’s surface and held up a small creature that resembled a toad, but with larger webbed feet and noticeable gills. It stared at Dru with bulbous eyes.

“See? No teeth so you’re not on his menu.”

The sight of it didn’t help much, it was horrendously ugly, but he was right. No teeth. With a sheepish grin she said, “Sorry. I guess I overreacted a bit.” She looked at the toad creature and back to Nico. “Thanks.”

“Sure. These little creatures taste great sauteed in butter too. For future reference.” He grinned and tossed the frog back into the water. “That reminds me, phase two of the hangover cure - food. But not of the sort I just tossed back into the ocean.”

“I could stand getting out of the water now, that’s for sure,” she said, beginning to make her way back to shore. Now toweling off she looked up and, for the first time, really looked at Nicolao. He was in amazing shape and his long hair actually looked good on him. Most men didn’t carry long hair well, but with him it just sort of clicked. Turning, she leaned over her chair to pack her things back into the bag and to get her wrap.

He dried off as well and then pulled on t-shirt. He easily picked up on the direction of her thoughts, then blocked her out altogether, inwardly muttering that he’d let his guard down. “Once we find somewhere to eat, you should call home, don’t you think?”

Covered and packed she stood and turned to Nico. “Honestly, he’s not Mother Hen. But I guess it wouldn’t hurt to let him know what’s going on.” They began walking back toward the shops. “Is it okay if I tell him what happened? You actually looked like you were having a bit of fun. He’d like to hear that.”

“If you think he should know, sure. I’m under no illusions that you and I have anything to keep secret from Robin. I’ve accepted the fact that for now, I am living under a microscope.” He reached out to take her bag. “That’s true isn’t it?”

“Eh,” she said, turning her hand back and forth in a ‘half and half’ fashion. “If I think it’s progress, or if something helps or hinders that progress, he needs to know. But I’m not here to report every single thing I see. But, since you are his patient, if he asks me to relay every little thing we did, what all you said, how you reacted to things, I have to do it. But that’s as far as it goes. I can’t tell anyone else about any of this. It’s a trust issue.”

“That’s something of a relief. It’s nice to have someone in friend territory that I can rest assured won’t share beyond us and Robin. Be aware, though, there are things I may refuse to answer for you. Nothing personal. What happens if I request that you not pass something along to Robin?”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, stopping. “Listen, that trust issue extends to Robin as well. If he asks…” She looked down at her hands. She was unsure how to answer this one. “If he asks I should tell him. But I guess it might depend on what it was? I don’t know.” She looked him in the eye. “Just don’t put me in a position to betray anyone, okay? And I don’t want to lose my job.”

No one had ever asked that of her before and it seemed to worry her. Nicolao was a very private person and every bit of this was well out of his comfort zone, so he had to be able to trust her. But knowing that she could very well go back and repeat all of it to Robin may make him not want to trust her at all, even though the line would stop at Robin. This was all protected under the doctor/patient confidentiality agreement. Even Admiral Wegener couldn’t just come in and demand to see Nicolao’s files without a very good reason. But if they ever were to become actual friends…

Sometimes she hated this job.

He stopped and turned to look down at her. “It’s alright, I get it. I just needed to know where the boundaries lay, you know?”

“I’m sorry. I just…” she sighed heavily. “Look, we play by the rules for now, and we can still be friends but, maybe once you’re through with all of this, we can be proper friends. No reporting back to anyone, no judging if something is progress or a set back. Just two people having a good time as friends. And now that I think of it, that has to be the weirdest thing I’ve ever had to say to anyone.”

She smiled, hoping it would help lighten the mood and put him more at ease. She wasn’t sure just how diligent she would be reporting back to Robin, though. If Nicolao had asked her not to report on something to Robin, she couldn’t be sure what she would do. And that worried her.

“Fair enough.” He shrugged. “That’s more than I’ve had since….ever. Even back home as a kid.”

She nodded. “That’s...that’s--” She then began shaking her head. “No. Geez, that sucks. Really?” With an exasperated sigh she said, “No wonder you’re having such a hard time with this.”

They made it to a small cafe and seated themselves. “Listen, I’ll do whatever I can to help, on the job or off. I don’t want you to second guess yourself when you want to tell me things. But I can listen if you just want to ramble on about stuff. It’s no big deal.”

“It’s fine, really.” He glanced at the menu, then laid it aside. “Forget I asked about you keeping things from Robin. That’s old, black collar habits talking.”

“I know we’re not real close as far as friends go, but that could change,” she said, also looking at the menu. “But one of these days I really would like for you to be able to tell me things that I don’t have to go back and tell Robin. That is, if you wouldn’t mind having me as a friend? I guess we could have cleared that up first.” She chuckled. “You may not even want to speak to me after these sessions with Robin are through.”

“I doubt that. Now go call Robin. I’ll order.”

She eyed him a moment. “If I come back and there’s a deep fried frog on my plate, I’ll be highly upset.” Not giving him time to answer she stood and found a communications console. She could have used her commbadge but this was more of a private conversation and she preferred face-to-face communication when possible, even through a screen.

“No frogs, I promise,” he called after her. He’d read the spike of interest as she’d scanned the menu and when she stepped inside, Nico ordered, including a pitcher of one of the local juices. It was a salty and sweet mix that he’d not had in years and was one of his favorites. Alone once more, he sat, people-watching.

**************

Nicolao
Entering New Territory

PO2 Drusilla Dupree
Friendmaker & Hater of Deep Fried Frogs