Posted Nov. 26, 2020, 7:55 p.m. by Lieutenant Revna Edman (Counselor) (Jennifer Ward)
Cpt. Frederick Jameson shook his head as he listened to his Yeoman explain the situation….again. “Yes, yes. I get it. I could order her, but it wouldn’t matter. She’d just smile, nod, ‘Yes, Captain’ and go right back in there. What do you want me to do about it? She’s the most stubborn officer I’ve ever met. If the Breen had waited 10 years we could have put her on a shuttle alone and they would have given in after 24 hours.” Jameson laughed at his own joke.
The Yeoman just nodded. “Of course, Captain. But right now…it’s going on 58 hours. You told me to…”
“I know what I told you. Okay, okay.” Jameson got up and left the bridge. “Mr. Crutch, you have the bridge.”
Down on the CCU deck Jameson moved down the corridor and stepped into the nurses station. “Katie,” he said by way of greeting.
Katie sighed. “Captain.” She nodded through the window. “She’s been in there … I lost count of the hours. But he’s finally looking at her. She won’t leave now.”
Jameson looked through the window, pinched the bridge of his nose, and settled in to watch. “I never get tired of watching her work. No one else on the staff can do what she does. But you know what Katie, I went into Star Fleet to be a doctor, not babysit my counselors.”
Katie chuckled. “Don’t let her hear you say that.”
Jameson nodded and groaned. “Look at that, he cracked a smile. Now I’ll never get her out of there.”
Katie got up and said, “She’ll be out in a minute.” She grabbed a tray and went into the room. “Lieutenant, it’s time for me to change his dressing.”
Revna looked up at Katie and nodded. She reached over and squeezed the man’s hand. “I’ll be back when she’s done.” Revna walked out pulling the privacy curtain as she did. She stepped through the door and sighed seeing the captain. “Don’t say it. Don’t even think it. Not happening.”
Jameson chuckled. “Oh really?” he said. “We do whatever you say, Cpt. Edman?” The sarcasm dripping from his voice.
Revna snorted. “Not now. He may not be willing to talk yet, but at least he’s responding. You know better, Jameson. The window is so small.”
He shook his head. “Katie’s giving him something to sleep. So guess what. You are, too.” He took her hand and tucked it into his elbow and walked her back down the corridor. “Sleep,”he ordered. “I’ll even give you a sedative if you don’t listen. It’s been 58 hours, Revna.”
She shrugged. It wasn’t the longest she’d sat with a patient. She could do longer and he knew it.
“I know that look. Don’t you get all ignoble on me. And how many hours before that with Pethro?” He wasn’t letting it go.
Revna thought back, “Two days. She was easier. She was just in shock. She wasn’t lost.”
Jameson nodded, “And you went straight to him, even though he was still in surgery and then unconscious. You could have, should have logged off.”
“Oh come on Jameson! There was no way to know when he would wake up.”
“It’s not like you run the whole counseling department alone. And you aren’t the only trauma specialist.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “No but I was the only one free at the time.”
“Uh huh…” Jameson rolled his eyes at her this time. “He’s being moved to a regular room after he wakes up. So you are going to rest and then you can go back.”
“Alright, Captain. I mean it though. Someone needs to stay with him.”
Jameson chuckled. “Yes, your highness.” And walked away leaving Revna at her quarters.
Revna woke up six hours later and contacted Katie, but her patient was still asleep. She returned to the counseling suite that they all shared, though mostly it was for doing paperwork. It was very, very rare that they actually saw a patient in these offices. She sat down at her desk, door still open, and pulled up the feed for the patient’s room, watching.
Some time later, Revna smacked her desk. “By Frigga’s hearth fire!” She got up exiting her office.
Zharaha chuckled, “Figure something out, Lieutenant?” The woman asked as she rose up.
Revna nodded, “I did. And it irritates me!”
Zharaha laughed, “Jameson was right. again. Wasn’t he? You needed sleep.”
“Don’t you dare tell him that. Man goes around like he’s king of the land enough as is.” Revna moved back down the corridors and back to the CCU. She walked up to Katie. “Has he woken up yet?”
Katie shook her head. “No. But he’s getting ready to. The orderlies are here to move him.”
After Rochvan was moved Revna sat down in a chair next to him. The conversation hadn’t changed. Still he wouldn’t talk. But after several more hours he seemed to relax and even laughed some at the stories that Revna was telling him.
After a week Rochvan had a visitor, but wasn’t aware, yet. His younger brother had finally made it to Centurion. He stood outside his brother’s room watching Revna talk to him. They were playing a board game.
“I’m sorry Sir, I don’t get it. He’s not talking.” The man asked Jameson as he watched his brother with the Counselor.
Jameson nodded. “Not where we can understand. Watch his hand, his fingers. See them tapping? Your brother is using Morse Code. Lieutenant Edman knows it. He is tapping out answers to her questions. He’s not ready to actually give voice to what happened, but he’s talking to her. If you watch when he seems to space out, she’ll change it. Instead of tapping on the arm of her chair, she’ll start tapping her foot against his, or pick up one of the chess pieces and tap out what seems to be a random rhythm. It’s not random though. It’s code. And then your brother will start responding again.”
The game finished, Revna sat back. She tapped out on the table, “Ready?”
Rochvan nodded, swallowed and then looked at her eyes. He whispered. “Yes.”
Revna walked out of Rochvan’s room, pulling the curtain. Coming out to his brother, she nodded. “He’s ready. He’s even eager though it’s hard to tell. Don’t push. He’ll tell you, eventually. It will come in bits and pieces. It will take time. But one day you’ll realize, all of a sudden, you know the whole story.” She stepped aside and let his brother into the room. A moment later tears would be heard and Revna closed the door.
She glanced at the Captain. “I’m going to write my report and then I’m sleeping for 3 days.”
Lt Revna Edman, Counselor
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