ten_fwd | [Sickbay]: Round Five Scans and Vaccines

Current Location: Section 23 Baker, Room # 1631: Sickbay

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[Sickbay]: Round Five Scans and Vaccines

Sickbay is fairly ordinary for a ship's hospital. There are no terrifying devices or humming machines you might see in a sci-fi thriller. The biobeds along the walls are equipped with biofunction monitors, but look fairly standard. Instead of silver trays filled with metal tools and sawblades, there are an array of small devices that look as harmless as cell phones. As for the staff, they're all well-groomed and friendly. As a matter of fact, all personnel look harmless. Well, perhaps excluding the sun avatar, but Trance Gemini is as skilled as the Starfleet officers.

If you're new to the ship, no doubt you've been escorted here by the security team. Nothing to worry about, the doctors just want to make sure you aren't carrying any viruses or are vulnerable to terrible space disease. Once you've been checked over — a quick scan from a tricorder and any necessary vaccines — you'll be free to go! Lollipops are optional.

"All right, come in," one of them calls out as you enter. "Don't be shy. It's just a scan and a hypospray, nothing to worry about."

[ooc: Sickbay is as always OTA! For new characters, tagging isn't mandatory but going to sickbay ICly is. So if you'd prefer to skip threading with one of our doctors, you can handwave that your character got a clean bill of health and a shot and were sent on their merry way. For those who are tagging, we have Trance Gemini, Beverly Crusher, and Rory Williams, with Julian Bashir by request only (and possible appearances by Simon Tam). If you have a preference, please specify in the subject line of your tag who you would like. If you would like more details about sickbay, here's the wiki page. If you haven't made your intro yet, you can assume the doctors will want to see your character shortly after they arrive, and backtagging is love!]

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Speak of the devil, and he shall appear--perhaps Ezri should have eaten more apples in an attempt to keep him away, but Julian had just come into the room to lend a quick hand--he wasn't technically on duty today, and there weren't as many people to deal with as last time. But he wanted to see if there was anyone about he recognized, first, and second to get a read on the new faces on the ship.

It's Ezri's uniform that draws his attention first, actually, the grey shoulders more in line with what he was wearing than the normal duty uniforms of the Enterprise crew. It immediately gives a visual cue that she's from closer to his timeline, or even farther on. He's not discounting that possibility.

"Hello, there," he greets--rather cheerfully, actually. There's no war here, no Dominion, he hasn't needed to do extensive triage in weeks--he's feeling rather fantastic about all that.

Dammit Julian why do you have to be so friendly?! The closer the overgrown man-child got, the more the new Dax fidgeted and shifted her weight, slowly moving away. She moved a finger up to scratch at her temples, her spots itching in nervous tension.

Still it was really nice to see him, even if he had no idea who she was.She couldn't help herself. "Julian!" Ezri burst out. She was really nervous about seeing him but...she was glad he was here.

"Sorry. You don't know who I am do you? It's okay. You know what? I'm just going to sit here, I'll get the next doctor to give a once over."

Oh, you're not getting out of this that easily, Ezri. Julian looks momentarily surprised, he really hadn't expected such an exclamation, or such familiarity. Starfleet was a big organization, and he couldn't expect anyone that showed up in a uniform like his to recognize him so instantly. Much less someone to be familiar enough to call him by his first name.

His interest is most certainly piqued.

"Ah, yes, I'm afraid you do have the advantage there. My apologies, Q didn't exactly have our convenience in mind when he decided to entertain this nonsense."

He should do just as she said and move on. He was surely flirting with the Temporal Prime Directive in heinous and potentially disastrous ways--not that he hadn't already done so with Jadzia, Ziyal, and Dukat. But Julian had never really learned when not to press his luck.

"Anyway, you're here and so am I, and since I'm qualified to clear you from quarantine it seems rather silly to wait, doesn't it? It won't take more than a few minutes."

There was no way out of this. Ezri knew Julian well enough to know that. And while it was tempting to try and run off like a scared school child, Julian was faster than her. And knew the ship better. And it wouldn't solve anything. So, Ezri nodded solemnly, accepting her fate.

Facing him like she was facing the executioner, Ezri took a deep breath. "Alright. Guess there's no getting around this. I'm Ezri." She left off the Dax part. It wasn't too late for him to get called off on a medical emergency. She listened, just in case, hoping and hating herself for hoping someone else needed help.

Edited 2014-10-30 22:00 (UTC)

Her reactions were setting off all kinds of warning klaxons in Julian's head--she'd sounded surprised to see him, but not displeased--unless he'd desperately misread some social cue. Honestly, that wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. His head tended to run away without his sense sometimes. And now she was acting as if she expected him to bite her.

And her nerves hardly helped him relax. The lack of a last name felt significant, as if she were hiding something--and as something of an expert in the field, Julian could tell.

"It really isn't that bad, just a basic medical exam. It's nothing to be nervous about, it'll be done before you know it."

She was trying to relax, really she was. The problem was all of the other 8 Dax hosts were also reacting and she was having an awful time sorting it out. Emony wanted to cry, Jadzia was just happy to see Julian and it was very confusing.

"If only you knew." Ezri mutttered, or hopefully muttered to herself. "Well, there's no use prolonging the inevitable. Better get on with it." The Trill hopped onto the bio bed. "And...I'm sorry."

Unfortunately for Ezri, Julian's hearing is better your average Terran by a rather large margin. He's starting to make connections, the sinking feeling he has about what was happening increasing more and more every moment. Her apologizing doesn't help.

The neurochemical indications of being Joined are there, which only serves to further solidify the theory Julian has--one he doesn't like in the least.

He freezes when the tricorder's DNA scan reveals the symbiont, not it's name but it's genetic signature just as unique. "...Dax?"

Ezri couldn't help it. Emotions were bubbling forward, the entire situation nerve wracking. But now, now Julian knew what she was trying to hide, knew that somehow, somehow soon, Jadzia would die. And then there was the whole Temporal Prime Directive that Q completely messed up. Times like this she wanted to crawl under a bed and hide. Unfortunately for Ezri, she was never alone anymore.

A couple of tears escaped and ran down her cheeks, nervousness, sadness and relief fighting for supremacy and she just couldn't handle it.

"Hi Julian." Ezri wiped at the tears with a hand. "I'm sorry, I don't usually cry this much. It's Emony. I think." Or Jadzia. But she couldn't just say that.

If she hadn't been so nervous, hadn't told him her name already, Julian might have been able to believe that the woman in front of him was a past Dax, but he knew their names and Ezri didn't fit there. And he might have been able to believe she was from some far-flung future, but everything about this situation didn't indicate that either.

At the confirmation, Julian felt almost physically staggered. What had happened--and when both were questions racing in his mind, over and over. He shouldn't ask. He shouldn't. He should draw impartiality around him like a shield, banish the thought to a corner of his mind, wall it off. His friend was going to die, and be reborn, because Dax was simultaneously going to outlive them all, barring some disaster, and just as long-lived as the rest of them. And it was wartime. It was likely that one of them would be lost, he knew that, he'd been up hours on multiple nights with the calculations of probability going through his head. They were right next to the wormhole, practically next door to Cardassia, it would frankly have been a miracle if all of them survived. Dax had been actually the most likely to survive, according to all his projections and mental scenarios, barring the catastrophic destruction of the Defiant with all hands lost. He'd selfishly hoped that he'd be at least the first, if not the only, to go, so he wouldn't have to deal with the loss.

After a moment of being overwhelmed by the realization, Julian finally managed to compartmentalize his emotions. He had to deal with what was in front of him, first and foremost. His hands even managed not to shake as he administered the vaccines and antibiotics, and entered the medical information into the computer--taking a moment to request from Doctor Crusher additional security clearance, since Jadzia was aboard and she certainly wasn't going to learn about Ezri here from him.

"And there we go, you're cleared," he said--managing false cheer, as if he hadn't just had his world rocked. "Have you gotten the tour yet? I could show you around."

Ezri made a face, despite her emotions and the situation. She knew Julian. And she was a counselor. And she wasn't stupid. Julian was doing what he was so good at, compartmentalizing his emotions, walling them off so he could work. And keeping secrets. She knew just how good he was at keeping secrets. And as much as she appreciated it, considering what was going on, it wasn't healthy for him.

"Julian." Ezri reached out for his hands. "It's me. You don't need to be brave for me. It's just us. You just found out something dreadful is going to happen to one of your best friends. It's okay to not be okay. It's healthy. You're supposed to be upset. Talk to me." She gave him a self deprecating grin. "I'm a counselor you know."

And she was not leaving him like this. No counselor or friend would do that.

"We're not exactly alone in the middle of Sickbay," he points out, ever pragmatic when he needs to be. It's a symptom of being a trauma surgeon, helped along by his mind's enhancements. He has learned how to deal with situations as they existed in front of him--he didn't need to break down at the moment, that was dangerous and pointless. Especially when it wasn't something he could change. Even if he could save Jadzia, it would make sure the woman sitting in front of him didn't exist--not as she was, anyway, which was close enough to ending one life to save another that he wouldn't even consider doing it.

But his eyes were ever the most difficult for him to control, and the hurt and shock were showing through there, plain as day. He can appreciate the advice to lance an infection before it can cause more damage, something that applied just as well to emotions. If he were on the outside looking in, he'd be the first to suggest to whatever hapless person that was getting the world as they knew it severely distorted that they needed to take Ezri up on the offer. But he was also a bit of a hypocrite in that regard.

"Come on, I'm technically not on duty today--I can leave whenever I please."

"You look like you could use a drink. I could use a drink if I could decide what I want--not what all the other hosts want. Do you know how many times I've ordered raktajino by mistake? Quark tried to give me blood wine once." Ezri made a face, the memory making her nauseous again.

"So, what you're saying is you wormed your way in here when you weren't on duty, wouldn't leave me alone and gave me a physical all when you could have been doing something else. Something enjoyable. You know, I seem to remember you getting awfully upset at Kira when she tried something similar."

It was hard for Ezri to go back. From her perspective, everyone had already adapted to her presence on Deep Space Nine. She had trouble remembering that it was a very different situation here. And Dax of course wanted to pick up where she left off with her friends.

Life was hard sometimes.

"That sounds about right," he admits, because it's always easier to deal with this sort of thing by Not Thinking About It, as much as he's ever able.

"I've not been working constantly for days on end. We have four different Chief Medical Officers around here, cycling through duty shifts. I have more free time than I know what to do with, with all my research back on DS9." Not that he hasn't restarted some of it here on the Enterprise. He offers an arm to walk her to Ten Forward, just as if nothing at all was wrong.

"Doctor Crusher is the only one officially assigned here, of course. Then there's myself, Leonard McCoy, and...well, there's two of him, actually. One older, one younger." It's all incredibly complicated and they're going to spend weeks with Temporal Investigations when they get put back where they belong. "And others who aren't Starfleet. We've more doctors than anyone knows what to do with."

"Alright, so where shall we get to know each other? Or you get to know me. I already know you. Well, you kind of know me don't you? The Dax part. This is all way too confusing. I wasn't supposed to get the symbiont you know. But things happen, destinies change, and then just like that you're someone else. 9 different people. I didn't used to ramble either. I do that when I'm nervous. "

Ezri got up off the biobed and started to walk toward the door.

"If we have so many doctors on board the Enterprise, then you can afford to take some time off. Which means not lurking in sick bay. What are you doing for fun? Have another Alamo recreation here?"

"Ten Forward should be good enough, and we can get you that drink." And one for himself. Maybe quite a few. Maybe Guinan had some scotch behind the counter.

"Alamo? No, I don't..." She knew...rather more about him than Julian was expecting, given his relationship with Jadzia. Which, was, admittedly, about as close as he was to anyone. Within his limits, of course, until recently he'd always had to hold something back, and he was back to that again. He had to wonder just how close Ezri was to him in the future.

"It's not quite the same without the Chief. He's around here, but I've not spoken with him...He's from this timeframe, he's not met any of us."

"You're avoiding the question," Ezri remarked teasingly. "I just might take that to mean you don't actually have fun here. I bet I can do a great imitation of your CMO voice if you make me. "

Ezri reached over and offered him a hand as she stepped forward toward the sickbay doors. Julian had always been such a good friend. She didn't want to hurt him. But she had. And there had been no way around it. In a way it was good the Chief was current with this time line. That way he couldn't be hurt too. There was too much hurt going round.

"I am not avoiding the question," Julian says, indignant. He has fun, thank you. Reading is fun. He has holodeck programs. He has conversations with other transplants and crewmembers. So there.

He was excellent at hiding the hurt, the confusion, and the wondering if he'd tried, done all he could, because he knew he'd never give up on Jadzia. And it almost felt like he had to, because he couldn't make a decision that would end in the woman in front of him not being who she was, that wasn't fair to her.

It was maddening.

His pleasant expression falters only when they're safely in the turbolift, when no one can see but her, biting his lip because he can't ask what happened. He can't, because then he might be able to think of a way to stop it, and he can't.

Ezri turned her head toward him when the turbolift doors closed, and reached up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on his cheek. "You tried. You did. There was nothing you could do. There was nothing anyone could do. But you saved Dax. The one part of Jadzia you could help. "

Ezri was quite sure that right now was not time or place to go into how she actually never wanted the symbiont and kind of didnt mean to actually get it. One problem at a time. Julian was in for a ride if he thought she could order that drink on her own too.

"Are you sure you're up to Ten Forward?" It was awfully public.

His eyes close, because it's the best way for him to master the impulse to curse something. It helps him to wrench his emotions back under control. Not that he thinks that will really pass, because however they know each other, Ezri seems to be able to read him like a book. He was used to keeping most everyone fooled.

"...I knew it was possible that not all of us would survive. Likely, even. Nearly inevitable. We are right on the Dominion's doorstep, after all."

But it hurts to think about still. There's a difference between knowing something is probably going to happen and knowing that it does.

He opens his eyes again and glances down at her, struck by two thoughts simultaneously: her eyes looked almost exactly like Jadzia's, which due to happenstance of genetics seemed entirely irrational, and she was so much shorter than Jadzia.

"I'll be fine. I just hope Jadzia isn't there."

"Wait. What?" Ezri looked up at him, which was her normal way of looking considering how short she was. It was still odd to look at people from this angle, up instead of down. Ben, well, she was used to looking at Ben from all different heights. Jadzia had gotten used to that one, although Curzon's height and Jadzia's weren't that different. Ezri was significantly shorter than both of them.

"Jadzia's here. On the Enterprise?" She braced herself against the turbolift wall. "I think I'm going to be sick....although i have to admit, throwing up all over you is probably better than throwing up all over Jadzia."

"...well, best that you hear it now instead of walking into a room with her without expecting it. Also, please don't throw up on me." He doesn't have an antiemetic on him, he left the hyposprays in the sickbay where they belonged. You might be familiar with him, but he's not quite ready to be in the phase of the relationship where he can not be disgusted when someone loses their gastrointestinal integrity all over his boots.

"She arrived a fairly short while ago, yes. About a month."

Ezri leans against the turbolift wall, thinking non-queasy thoughts.

"Did I mention I also get space sick. I could even feel the station moving. Never used to happen before I got joined." She paused to swallow. "It's Torias. Because of what happened to him. I feel guilty. More than guilty actually. I feel horrible. I can't stop blaming myself. The first time I met the Captain I actually threw up all over the pilots console."

Ezri gave Julian a grin at her own expense. "Aren't you glad you're in a turbo lift with me?" There was nothing like vomit jokes to keep your mind off the fact that Jadzia was here.

"Why in the world would you feel guilty? You couldn't have done anything. He was satisfied with how he'd lived--he'd wished it'd been longer, of course, but well. He can't be blamed for that, given the circumstances." Julian remembered well Torias' feelings--his pride, his joy in life. He didn't have the burden of remembering how he'd died, that was all. He felt he knew Torias about as well as anyone could that didn't have the Dax symbiont inside of them.

"It's not too late to turn around and get an antiemetic."

" I should have realized that it wasn't ready for a test. I should have stopped and thought about it and realized I was being incredibly reckless and the result of that is Nilani was left alone. " Ezri paused to look at her friend. " I can remember what it felt like, Julian. The explosions, the way my lungs seared. You never do get used to it. Dying."

She did feel better, talking with it to her friend. "You're probably the best person of all to talk about this." Besides Jadzia. "We could make you an honorary counselor."

"Life is unpredictable. Even if you had noticed something wrong, fixed it, that doesn't mean everything would have gone off without a hitch. You've been in space long enough to know. Things go wrong. If not then, it could have been the next time, or the time after that."

Julian wasn't sure how comforting that was, but he knew probably about as much about death as he could for someone who'd never experienced it first hand.

He is so not drunk enough for this conversation. It's so far been nothing but reminders of an inevitable future that he really doesn't want to come to pass.

"My going rate at the moment is a bottle of scotch. Surely with the Chief aboard, there must be one around here somewhere that isn't synthetic." Feel free to chastise him, he knows how bad it is for him, but he doesn't care.

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