Starin' At An Everlovin' Fool
Thursday, 21 Aug 2521
Everyone had already gone down, but she knew that she should check on him to see if he needed more pain meds. Arden had at least told her what worked for Joshua; she carried two pills in her pocket as she made her way to his cabin. Annoyance made her lips a thin line as she knocked on the door and waited to see if he was still awake. The smile was compressed as well and as the moment went on, she was almost happy that he was not answering.
- - -
Joshua was tossing and turning restlessly, never surfacing but never falling into deep sleep either. His shoulder bothered him too much and his dreams were unpleasant ones, filled with stitches silently screaming and this awful feeling of him having done something wrong, but never being able to find out what it was. The knocking on his door shook him back into consciousness, albeit groggily, and he said, "Yes, I'm awake, come in, whoever you are."
--
The door opened with nary a noise. Rina spent a lot of time here, she observed with wry amusement. But as she stepped in and looked at her patient, the thin smile returned. "So how's my favorite patient?" she drawled. "Notice you ain't dead yet? You want a pain pill or two or four?"
--
"Yes, please, whatever you can give me." He struggled with his good hand to push himself upright in his bunk and then wrapped his sheet around himself. He had noticed Kiera hadn't been around much. In fact, he wasn't sure he actually had seen her at all since that evening down in the lower levels of Pericles Station. Rina had said nobody was pissed at him, but that was right before they started screaming at each other, so he wasn't sure how much stock to put in it. And the look on Kiera's face was starting to give Rina's statement the lie again. He'd just keep his mouth shut.
--
"Water?" she asked. But she didn't move nearer to him. Her arms were crossed, her eyes cool, and after regarding him for another moment, she made herself comfortable against a wall.
--
She hadn't given him the pills yet, and she didn't look inclined to either. He wasn't sure whether her question about water was legit or whether she was planning to ask him if he wanted a bunch of different things and then not give him anyway. Well, if that was all she did, he'd be getting off easy. "Water would be nice."
--
She bored holes in him a long moment more and then pushed off from the wall with a wry grin. "Well, that's long enough to take in the biggest damn moron that I've ever seen. And now that the amazement is worn off. . ." She shrugged elegantly and moved to get him a glass of water. Soon the pills were held out, but she kindly held the water so that he could take the pills and not have to juggle the water. "So you wanna tell me what the hell happened? You weren't dancing with a big hairy man when I ran off down there."
--
"He was trying to eat Arden. I had him tripped and on the ground and was trying to keep him out of action until Nika and Arden had the other one under control." He shook his head. "I had him too."
--
Kiera sat down on the bed with ginger care not to jostle him. "Do you mind if I make myself at home?" But before he could answer, she stated, "Don't matter if you say no. I've been on my feet near about forever doing surgery on the most brave dumbass in all the world. So I know you'll understand if I sit." She flashed a smile that was ninety percent sass and ten percent concern. "Under control ain't what I saw when I ran up, honey."
--
Damn, she was pissed. "I miscalculated. Used the wrong hold at the wrong moment and he managed to pin me. And, well, ravage my shoulder." Picturing the scene, an ugly thought popped into his brain and his face scrunched up in disgust. "I guess it's good I have the 'Verse's foremost authority on prion disease onboard. Just in case...you know."
--
"Mmm hm," she agreed softly. "You know I ain't never seen your girlfriend so pale. Don't look good on her." She got up gently and went to the door and palmed it closed before sitting back down. "Wanna tell me what made you do it?" Kiera made herself comfortable, although with the earlier awareness to the bouncing of his bed. "I'm curious. I'll listen. I won't promise to not tell you periodically what an everloving fool you were, but I'll listen."
--
"Which part?" Joshua chuckled and then winced as his shoulder felt the laughter. "The fighting of the stitch, the grabbing of the woman, or the whole damn ill-fated rescue attempt?"
--
"You're a nice person who cares, so I know where the stitch rescue came from. I can even justify the grabbing of the woman. Hell, she wasn't bad lookin'. But throwing yourself at an enraged giant without a weapon, that's just dumb as hell. Thanks for the excitement tho'. I got to kill a few dubiously moral people, shoot an enraged mutant and best of all, do frantic, life-saving, reconstructive surgery on a man that I'm dangerously close to calling a friend." She hit him a sneer. "Good times."
--
"I *am* trained in a martial art, you know," he said, his pride a little hurt. He knew the fact that he was sitting on his bed, unable to use his left arm should have him stepping away from statements like that. But he had just misstepped. It just meant he had to train harder. "I shouldn't need a weapon. Next time, I won't let my opponent get me into a position like that."
---
"Apparently the stitch was a master at the same one. Shoulda asked him to train ya." She sighed and tilted her head. "You're an easy target, Joshua, and I'm gonna try for a little bit not to snark at you and try to be the friend that I've just accused you of making me want to be. So how is Rina? Bet she covered you with kisses once you all were alone. She did have me worried a bit as I was scrubbing up. She looked close to near fainting and I ordered her out so I didn't have to trip over her body. I've let her be while she hovered over you and she ain't much for conversation with me, so I've been a bit concerned about her."
--
"You're allowed to snark. I deserve a thousand times worse." Joshua looked down at the redhead sitting at the end of his bunk and sighed. "Well, there were a couple of kisses. And then there was a lot of screaming, and no, before you say it, not the good kind. We both said some mighty ugly things."
--
"Yeah, I'll----," Kiera started to say and then she made a face. "I'm trying to be good and supportive like a friend should." She composed herself and nodded. "But you made up when she realized that her anger was just about seeing you lying there with tubes and such coming out of you. I mean, a little blood is just a bit alarming." Kiera nodded again as if to convince herself of something and then let out a breath as if she had been holding it in. "Screw it all! I can't do it. You shoulda been screamed at. Joshua, you ain't got the sense you was born with. If you are martial arts trained, then you shoulda known that you were already tired from wrestling the woman. And big is big." She shook her head. "All he had to do was sit on ya. He didn't need any special," and she used the quote fingers, "martial arts moves." She went silent, shaking her head. "Are ya made up yet?" she finally asked.
"Aikido is *about* using your opponent's strength against them. It's like judo in that respect." He looked down at his right hand, which was twisting the sheet into a little bundle. "And we argued a little more than just about the fact that I had some tubes in me. But yeah, we made up." I think she agreed to marry me in the future, he thought. Does that count as making up?
--
As much warmth as he had seen so far finally made it onto her face. "Well good," she responded. "It will help the healing process. Besides, you need her. Either to stand behind as you do aikido poses or to drag you back when someone just plain shoots you." She finally seemed to relax, the icy glint melted from her gaze. "When was that bandage and drainage pad last changed?"
--
Why did everyone seem to think he got shot all the time? He was pretty sure he had gotten shot at a lot less than everyone else on the ship. But he seemed to have gotten out of Kiera's doghouse, so he just let it go. He moved his eyes down to his shoulder, trying to remember the last time the bandage had been messed with. "It was Arden...but I don't remember when. My sense of time has gotten a little off kilter," he admitted.
--
She was holding a gauze pad when she returned and some new tape. "This will hurt a little" she warned him as she changed the dressing.
--
"Sweet Jesus!" He bit his tongue as it felt like she was tearing his wound open all over again. "Is it okay for me to pass out and in a completely unrelated note, how long til these gorram pain pills kick in?"
--
She snickered. "Not long now. I could give you a shot; that would be faster. And yes, you can pass out it if makes you feel better.
--
"And miss the pleasure of your snark? Never." And he gritted his teeth. Like he had told Rina, suffering through the pain now might help him to remember not to be so stupid in the future. And considering how some of the other people in that fight had ended it, some recovery pain should be the least of his concerns.
--
"Aw, you make me feel bad," she retorted. She smoothed the last bit into place and stood up. "There." Again, there was the uncharacteristic pause as she looked at him. Abruptly, she reached out and smoothed a lock of hair away from his forehead then followed it with a swift kiss in the same spot before moving back to the door to leave. "You sir, are an unmitigated idiot who has a woman who loves him nie unto death and needs to remember that aikido doesn't work on creatures who don't speak Japanese. The doctor in me respects the need to save lives, but Dr Kiera only really cares about the lives who can pay her or the ones she cares about. I care about you. Be a little more careful next time. Arden and I are only just passable miracle workers." She opened the door and closed it behind her as she left.
--
As the pain pills started to kick in, he thought about that kiss on the forehead. The woman that everyone thought cared only about money had a sweet spot in her. It touched him. He'd try to be more careful the next time. Because, he thought as merciful sleep began to take him over, there almost certainly will be a next time.
Go to CREW or to Timeline Season Four, April 2521 to Dec 2521
Go to Mutineers
