Posted by Civilian Yavia Crockett (Nurse - Sacred Heart Hospital) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be

Posted by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice-Commander, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be

Posted by Lieutenant Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be
Posted by… suppressed (29) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Tenkiller lay there until he heard the rhythmic breathing of both women. He turned out the lights, but turned on the soft lights under the waterfall. He turned his head and looked at the faces of the two women in his bed… in his house… in his life…

In his heart.

He had no idea what led to this. And he knew that it would be hard and difficult and trying going forward. But he also knew that he wouldn’t trade this for anything. They… he… all of them… belonged here, together. Of that he had zero doubt or reservation. He leaned over and kissed V’s cheek, then Sharah’s. He then laid back and shut his eyes, the feeling of peace and completeness flowing through him and carrying him off to sleep.

Tenkiller

---

Yavia woke first, the room was a soft brown tinged with golden tones from the sun filtering through the solar tubes. There was a soft light coming from behind the bed and she could hear the water as soft under notes to Sharah and TK’s deep breathing. Yavia hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time, or content. She rolled to her side and grinned. Sharah hadn’t moved all night. Her hair though, all that glorias silky black hair looked like it had gone to a rave. She looked adorable. Except for the mumbling and soft moans. Yavia brushed her hair away from her face, she could feel the headache building along with the confusion and disorientation. She would have to be careful, she didn’t want Sharah to become dependent on her ability to help the physical pain, but for today, it wouldn’t hurt. Yavia didn’t like knowing she was in pain. A gentle caress over her temple eased the pinched look on her face.

She slipped an arm around Sharah and she gazed over at TK. He was an amazing person, caring, compassionate, and incredibly patient. Not to mention he was hot. She grinned to herself and her memories of the night before, but was careful to keep them to tight to herself. Her hand lifted to play with the section of his chair that was hanging over his shoulder and stopped. She had a type! Long black hair. She let her hand smooth down his arm and tangle with his fingers. She wasn’t certain how this happened quite so fast, or what would happen going forward. Certainly not boring peacefulness, but she was certain it would be bright and happy and wonderful. She settled back against the pillows. She had promised Sharah they would both be there when she woke up and she didn’t intend to move until she had to.

Yavia

Tenkiller felt the motion and stayed still. He was a light sleeper most of the time, but he stayed still and let V do her thing. When she settled back in, he cracked his eyes open and looked at her. “Hey, you… did you sleep ok?” he asked softly. He took her hand in his and smiled. “How is our other… third?”

Tenkiller

Yavia folded one arm under her head and opened her eyes again to look at him. “Mmmm I slept wonderfully, right where I should be.” She squeezed his hand a smile playing across her lips. She glanced down at Sharah, “Another headache. I can only do so much. She was moaning a little bit ago. She felt…confused and upset. Strange dreams I guess, but she didn’t wake up.”

“What about you. You sleep okay having to share this gigantic bed with the two of us?”

Yavia

“Nightmares.” Tenkiller said softly as he looked at Sharah. “There’s something weighing on her mind.” He looked at V and smiled. “And I slept great. Having you two here just felt… right.”

Tenkiller

Yavia smiled at him, “I’m glad because I don’t want to be anywhere else. It was…We’re whole.” She squeezed his hand and glanced at the still sleeping woman between them. “I’ll take nightmares,” her voice was very quiet. She glanced down at Sharah and rub her hand up and down her arm before looking back at him. “There is a part of her that has given up, on everything. Not just hopeless but accepting of it. If she’s having nightmares that means she scared, she has something she feels is important enough to not lose.” She drew in a breath and let it out. “I felt it, last night, when she said she could kill people. She was afraid, is afraid. I can’t imagine Sharah ever hurting anyone, not even by accident.”

Yavia

Tenkiller nodded. “She has a tremendous gift. But she is scared of it. There was a very wise Earth philosopher in the twentieth century. Many people followed his philosophies and teachings. And one of his core tenants was ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’. Sharah is carrying that as a burden.” He looked down at her and concern and affection vied for control. “I wish I could show that she isn’t some kind of weapon. She is a person. And her gift has the ability to do a whole lotta good for people.”

Tenkiller

Yavia looked perplexed. “I know she was born with her telepathy and that’s unusual for Betazoids. And something about it prevents her from being able to filer or turn it off.” Her hand kept up that soothing motion. “No wonder she gets headaches. Ilena, one of the other nurses, told me Sharah has actually lived longer than most. They usually die in childhood. But why, in this universe or the next, would she think she’s a weapon?”

Yavia

Tenkiller looka at Sharah and sighed. “Thats for her to tell you, not me.” he said softly. He kissed Sharah’s cheek softly and then looked at V. “She’s special. Very special. And really amazing.” and he smiled a half-smile. “Just like you. I really am the luckiest guy in the whole galaxy. I have both of the most amazing women I have ever known with me. And its just… perfect.”

Tenkiller

Yavia reached over and set her hand on his shoulder. She could feel his concern and worry and how much he cared for her. “Fair enough. In her own time.” She watched him kiss her and she could only smile. “You are pretty amazing yourself you know. That or your just crazy taking all this” and she waved between herself and Sharah, “on all by your lonesome.” She laughed softly and leaned across to kiss him quickly. “If you are trying to butter me up so I’ll make breakfast, it’s working, but not until she’s awake.”

Yavia

“We need to remember that, tell her she’s amazing and she’ll cook. We don’t even have to be specific,” there was a hint of a smile to Sharah’s voice, despite being muffled by pillows. She yawned slightly. “She is awake.” She rolled slightly, not much, she was pretty well tucked between them. “Who can sleep with you two jabbering?”

Sharah

Charles smiled down at her, his genuine happiness at her being awake was like a kid at Christmas. “Hey, you… good mornin’. How’d ya sleep?” he asked and then hugged her. “Sorry if we woke you.” he said. He then grinned and said “So are we planning any more late night walks? I’m asking in advance so at least I wear shoes next time.” and he chuckled.

Tenkiller

He hugged her and Sharah didn’t want to let go, ever, and he was so brightly happy, she just wanted to enjoy it for awhile. There were so many questions with no truly simple answers, though. “I slept longer than I usually do.” She shook her head, all those untamed wild, bane of her existence curls flew everywhere. “Is it pathetic to say I’d would rather wake up to your jabber every day than alone with just the noise in my head?” She looked up at him. “Yeah, mostly likely there will be more.” Sometimes it just helped.

Yavia hugged her, and then let go, moving away a bit, to give her room to move. “You gotta tell me though, how amazing that was, seeing TK in the middle of the woods wearing nothing but a phaser.” The image sent Yavia into a barely restrained fit of laughter.

Sharah turned red which only made Yavia laugh more.

“Okay I have no idea what you groceries you got, but I’ll cook.” She hugged Sharah wrapping her up in warm affection and then leaned over and kissed TK. She slipped out of the bed and with a happy sigh. “You two better not go back to sleep,” she wagged a finger at them.

“Yavia,” Sharah said before she could leave, “leave the paw-paws alone.”

At the door she paused and looked at Sharah and made the most elegant pouty face they had ever seen and then slipped through the door.

Yavia

Sharah laughed, “You had more than your share. And if you don’t pace yourself his Ma won’t be able to keep up.” She pushed herself up and sat back against the pillows. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”

Sharah

Charles put an arm around her and pulled her, gently, to him, holding her against him but allowing her to move away… or closer… as she wished.

Sharah didn’t stiffen or pull away. She simply closed her eyes and breathed in slow and controlled once, twice, and a third time. It was a type of meditation - feeling the rhythm of the colony and how it was affecting her and finding how best to ride it out. It was incredibly easy that morning. It was simple and short. Most days it took so long that she felt rushed to finish getting ready for the day, but this was necessary, the rest was extra. She contributed it to Tenkiller and Yavia, their presence.

Then she was leaned closer to him, turned and curled up against him, head on his shoulder, her arm slipped across his abdomen in a light hug.

“I’ll always worry about you, Sharah. V too. Thats just what happens when you… care… for someone as much as I care for you two. And yeah, it is wild and strange and weird and scary and just… so out of the norm.” He looked at her, smiling a soft smile as he traded a finger down her cheek and looked at her with a sense of wonder and affection and a myriad of other things. “But its also amazing and wonderful and exciting and fantastic. I haven’t been as happy as I was waking up to the two of you as I have been in… I dunno how long.” He laid his head back, closing his eyes and listening to the water for a brief moment. “I feel whole, like I have all of everything. Like… my circle is finally complete.”

Tenkiller

His words made her smile, even as she tipped her head gently into the caress and closed her eyes to stop from crying. His emotions wrapped her in a warm safe little bubble. It was overwhelming but she didn’twant him to stop either. “Nothing for me has ever been the norm. I wouldn’t know what that would feel like anyway.” Truth but playful. She wanted so badly to say she was happy, to share in that intensity of feeling. She was hesitant, afraid to feel anything too intently lest she loose control of it.

Out of everything he had repeated to her over and over yesterday that last statement took root. Being whole, that alone they were incomplete, unable to function completely without the rest. That putting all the pieces into the whole would make everything better. She tightened her arm around him for just a moment. “You think about that circle a lot, it’s important to you.” A statement and also a question.

Sharah

“Lesson of my people.” he said and slowly ran his hand up and down her arm. “Circles are sacred, and they come in many forms. Drum circles, tribal councils, family, community… all of life. All of creation is circular and cyclical. A tree begins as a seed, grows, reaches to the sky, drops seeds of its own, the tree dies and falls and becomes part of the earth, and feeds the seeds which grow into trees… Everything in creation has a role to play. It may be immense… it might be very small. But all of them are needed for harmony. Without all the parts of the circle, it will always be incomplete.” He looked at her and smiled. “And I’m really happy that you’re part of mine.” He leaned his head forward and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

Tenkiller

It was going to take her awhile to get used to that. The way he was always putting an arm around her, holding her hand, giving her swift soft kisses, the way he rested his hand on her leg every so often during the movie. Sharah wasn’t complaining; she just didn’t know what to do with it. She felt confused, conflicted, and overwhelmed. He was the same with Yavia. Sharah envied her. It didn’t confuse Yavia. She knew exactly what to do with it, and how it made her feel. Yavia knew where and how she belonged. So did Tenkiller. “You know exactly who you are and your place in things don’t you? It makes you feel very serene.” There was no place for an abnormality, a monster, like her. She was a weapon. A forgotten one maybe, but one never the less.

Sharah

“We can’t be anymore than what we are. But we can use what we are to benefit others.” He looked at her, and lifted her chin so she faced him. “You are not a danger, Sharah. You are not a threat. In fact, you saved a lot of people. I’m not talking about you being a doctor. I mean what you did for those people that were gonna rush the hospital.” He squeezed her tight, but kept his eyes on her eyes. “Hun, I know about your gifts. When I got to Oed, I was briefed on a lot of people and groups. You were one of those people.”

Well that certainly explained the utter confidence that came along with all those statements he kept making. He knew, about the protest, what she had done. That revelation made Sharah stare up at him in utter stillness, from the look in her eyes to her breath - waiting. She had assumed it had gone unnoticed or unexplained because no one came asking. She assumed C’tain or Eraras had reported it. Hell Devri had been right there. Maybe they just hadn’t believed it. She should not have let Markus convince her everything was fine. Her gaze slid down, away from his. They knew about her, they talked about her. She should have told on herself, and she opened her mouth to say so.

He put his hand up and shook his head to silence any protest. “It was never bad, nor was it deeming you a threat. You were… are… listed as a potential asset in the case of Oed having another wide-spread disaster. Your abilities can… and have… helped so many people, hun.” He took a breath and there was a feeling of strong conflict within him, followed by resolve. “What nobody outside of the CCDA, Colonial Intelligence, the Police Commissioner, and the Governor’s office know is that those protests? Like the one you stopped? They were manufactured. The people were being manipulated by empaths. Not blatantly. But they were there, in the crowd, pushing people’s emotions to the brink of violence. If you hadn’t stepped in? Sharah… people could have gotten killed. The protest at the Government Tower only ended peacefully because the CIA managed to grab the empath that was in the crowd and get him away.”

Sharah did not look surprised by his revelation at all. At the time she just knew it had felt wrong. Even Korczak had mentioned how strange it was for a whole crowd to suddenly change their behavior so quickly. She couldn’t then or now, pinpoint what had felt so wrong. That many people so angry and violent was wrong to begin with. It had completely overwhelmed her, attacked her, and she had felt the break, the snap in her brain as it became more than she could handle. Then she had done…well whatever it was, and passed out. She understood why he saw it as a good thing, she did, but she felt like no one was listening…

He smiled at her and said “Sharah… I’m so proud of you. You are an amazing, talented, wonderful, beautiful woman… and you did an amazing thing. A thing I haven’t and won’t tell anybody about. But I promised you… no secrets.” And then, for no other reason than he thought it was right, he kissed her. Fully and openly, and then pulled back and looked at her. “You are wonderful, and I am really happy you… all of you… is here.”

Tenkiller

Then she was still for a totally different reason - he’d kissed her, really kissed her. She could fall into that, the feelings, the safety, the warmth. Oh she didn’t know what to do with that at all. She felt like the ground had given way and she was falling.

Sharah

Charles watched her closely. He pulled her to him and held her close and started to gently rock her. “I’ve got you, Sharah… now and always. All of ya. Nobody here is scared of ya, hun. You are our Sharah… every bit of ya.” He kissed the top of her head and smiled. “And if I knew kissin’ ya could provoke that kinda reaction, I’d have done it yesterday.” and he chuckled.

Tenkiller

Her head rested on his shoulder and focused on the motion as he rocked her and the feel of his arms as he kept her there. She was their Sharah. The idea sent a thrill through her…hope and belonging. She wasn’t sure she trusted it, but maybe she would get there. Her head shook against his neck. No secrets, and it was easier to know how much he knew. “I’m scared of me.” She stayed against him a moment longer. Yes she was going to just ignore the comment about him kissing her. Deal with one thing at a time, and she couldn’t deal with that yet. She sat up and looked at him. “I’m scared, Charles. Of me, of what I am, or could be.” She turned to the door where Yavia had appeared and was preparing to slip back out. Sharah’s request reached her mind first, “Stay.” She wanted Yavia there too. No secrets and no information two had and the other didn’t.

Yavia had come to the door to tell them to get off their lazy butts and come eat. Sharah was talking, finally and she wasn’t going to mess with that. She knew she and Sharah would talk eventually, but if Sharah felt comfortable telling TK she was not upset. Then Sharah asked her to stay and she came all the way into the bed room and slipped back onto the bed next to her. She gave Sharah a quick hug before settling back.

“I can’t…” Sharah took a deep breath. “I don’t know how I did it. I don’t even know if I can control it. I don’t even really know what I did. We know the result.”

Telepathy was a wonderful thing and ideas and thoughts could be shared quickly and totally, but Yavia knew Sharah had a need to get it out. “What result? What did you not know you did?”

“The protest…the way they dispersed…”

Yavia had been inside the security ward, but she had heard. “That was you? You…you calmed them. Made them want to leave.” Yavia thought back to the sudden and quickly spreading relief and calm…they had all assumed it was simply relief that the CCDA and Police handled it. “That’s why you were sick.” Sharah had been admitted to the hospital. When Yavia had asked, Ilena told her Sharah had been empathically overwhelmed from the riot and passed out.

Yavia

Sharah nodded and looked at him, “I could have just as easily hurt them.” She grabbed and squeezed his hand, “Please. Please don’t tell me it’s okay because I didn’t hurt them because it all worked out for the best. Because that’s a reckless point of view. I could have easily reacted with fear or anger and made it worse. I could have lashed out and hurt them to protect myself. I was drowning and couldn’t get above it and I reacted. A warp drive is an amazing thing, but without a containment field around the matter and anti-matter tanks explosions happen and people die.”

Sharah

Charles looked at her, and a wave of sympathy and concern… and oddly enough relief… came off of him. He looked from her to V, and he sat up and took a hand of each woman.

“Sharah…” he began with a smile, “… what you did and what you could have done are not the same thing. You didn’t react with fear or anger… because that isn’t who you are.” and he squeezed her hand. “You aren’t that kind of person. Yes, you can get angry and frustrated and fed up and overwhelmed… but so can all of us. But you are also a doctor. An officer. And a genuinely caring person. And those kind of people… even when they have the ability to cause great harm… don’t. People who cause great harm are mean, and cruel, and selfish, and hateful. You… hun… you aren’t any of those things. Even when you ‘could’ have been, you weren’t.” He took her face in his hands and looked her in the eyes. “You are a good person. And sometimes… thats all it takes.”

Tenkiller

Sharah was frustrated and it showed. So much so she closed her eyes as they began to water. She tried…she gave everything to being a good person, to not be what her world was afraid she might become. “I know that. I know it’s all okay this time. That doesn’t guarantee next time. And there will be. I can feel it, boiling and seething under the surface. It seeps out all over the place. The noise is louder and the louder it gets the more everything seeps out and I can’t stop it.” She could never stop the input but she had always been able to control what she let out. It was like now that she’d actually opened the container there was no going back. She was terrified and everyone just kept telling her it was ‘okay.’ She pulled away from his hands. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Sharah

Charles shrugged and said “So don’t stop it.” as plainly as if he was saying ‘Water is wet.’. “I’m not scared of you. V? You scared of Sharah?”

V squeezed Sharah’s hand, “Not even when she’s holding a laser scalpel.” She smiled softly at her and squeezed TKs hand too, keeping her concern to herself. She could feel Sharah’s terror. Not because Sharah was oozing all over the place, as she put it, but she was just very in tune with the woman in front of her.

He looked at her and took her hand in his and squeezed it. Not enough to be painful, but enough to provide stability… something solid. “Let it go, Sharah. All of it. I promise you… its not going to be what you think. Let. It. Go.“

Tenkiller

She took Sharah’s other hand in both of hers. “Maybe it’s like a pressure valve. You need to release it, let the excess out, so that everything flows and works correctly.” Still holding her hand she reached up and brushed her fingers through her hair. “It’s okay. Even if it’s fear or anger, it’s a feeling, and we all have it. The feeling won’t do damage.”

Yavia

Sharah looked at them like they had just merged into one physical body and grew tentacles and 6 eyes each and gills on their necks. “No! It’s all fine and good to say you aren’t afraid, but you aren’t the only ones that would be affected. This isn’t an experiment. Certainly not a safe one.” 3 block radius, that was how far she knew for sure. She had a feeling she could reach much much farther. 3 blocks…woods, the road - vehicle with a lawn crew, houses half a block away on 2 sides, one empty, the other soon to be. “You can’t choose for them, neither can I.”

Sharah

“You aren’t choosing anything for anyone except yourself, Sharah.” Charles said and then he just looked at her for a moment. His eyes narrowed slightly and he looked at V and rrhen back at Sharah. “Sharah… I know you don’t trust yourself right now. But do you trust me? Do you trust Yavia? And you don’t have to answer that.. I know you do. I can feel it. So....” and he squeezed her hand tight, “… let it go.”

Tenkiller

He was staring at her and then at Yavia and then they were both staring at her. Sharah was shaking her head no before he ever opened his mouth again. That was not fair! No. No no no! What would they do if it all went horribly wrong? Knock her out? Would that even work? She shook her head no again.

Yavia was not playing fair either. It was like she was poking at all the places where Sharah felt things were escaping and seeping out. ‘Sharah you have to do something, before it hurts you. We have you, sweetheart.‘

She didn’t even know how. It wasn’t a pressure valve that simply let a little bit out, it was like the whole gasket blowing. They were waiting…trust them or…or what? It wasn’t a choice, it was simply trust them. She would have curled into herself, try to hold herself together if they hadn’t been holding onto and squeezing her hands. She began to cry, and what little hold she had snapped. There was no warning or slow build. It hit them like wrecking balls, over and over again. It wasn’t just emotion but the physical signs as well. Terror, hopelessness, and despair. It didn’t stop, it wouldn’t stop.

Yavia was an average empath/telepath for a Deltan but she had not expected the enormity or the strength of it. It rocked her backwards into the pillows and she gripped Sharah’s hand tighter to keep from letting go. She felt sick to her stomach as the terror hit and the ache in her heart at the hopelessness and the metallic taste of blood as she bit her cheek to stop from screaming fear.

Charles wasn’t an empath. Or a telepath. Or an anything path. He had no training in psychic combat or combating a storm of emotions from one. So when the force hit him… he let it. As the waves of pain and fear and torment swept him away, he simply went along with it. It was awful… and he felt Sharah’s pain as his own. He was drowning in it… until he saw… felt?… a hand steady him. He looked in his mind’s eye and saw his people standing in a circle around him. The waves raged and pounded and the noise was immense. His circle. Sacred and all-encompassing. He saw V next to him… and Sharah… and he held them to him. And the storm raged around him, but he… they… were safe.

It was horrible and terrifying even without the terror that Sharah felt. The noise was deafening and made Yavia’s physical ears ring with it. She felt Sharah tug on her hand and when she looked she saw Sharah crumple onto the bed. Mentally…Sharah was being dragged down by the waves, further and further away, being drowned, slipping away from them. She felt TK there with them. He had them both and he and Yavia had Sharah. Yavia felt the presence of hundreds or more. They all felt like TK, a spark of his essence.

They were safe, but the storm raged on. Yavia looked up and her heart constricted. It was massive and dark and horrible. A monster born of the chaos and nightmares of milliions of minds. It raged and pounded the outside of the circle clawing to get in, to get at Sharah. Yavia wasn’t sure who the mental image belonged to, but it evoked very real terror.

Finally…it stopped, as it burned through the psilosynine in her paracortex. The input stopped and the pain stopped and Sharah blacked out.

Sharah

Tenkiller rose up from where he had fallen on the floor, his hand still grasping V and Sharah. His nose was bleeding and he had a massive headache. He looked at V and Sharah and said “Are you okay? SHARAH! V! SHARAH!” and he scrambled back next to Sharah and knelt next to her. “V, is she okay?”

Tenkiller

Yavia pushed herself up and scrambled over next to them. She blinked to clear her vision. “Are you okay? TK?” She placed a hand on his shoulder. Her head felt raw and like millions of glass shards were stabbing her brain. “I am. Disoriented and a headache.” Sharah was totally unconscious, but she was breathing. Was she okay? “I don’t know.”

She looked at him and grabbed his shoulders and pushed him down beside Sharah. She needed a medkit, she didn’t bring with her. Then she remembered, Sharah had one in her bag. She leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Stay here with her.” She slipped off the bed and out to Sharah’s room. V kept a hand on the wall to steady herself. Her heart broke in those moments for Sharah. How could anyone live like that? She dug through Sharah’s bag and found the medkit she’d packed.

She hurried back into the room and pulled a towel from the bathroom. She pulled out the tricorder and passed it over Sharah, simultaneously pressing the cloth to TK’s nose. “Hold that there and breath deeply.” Yavia didn’t know what to do. “Her blood pressure is 102/60. That’s probably why she passed out…I hope.” Sharah had said earlier that her psilosynine had dropped right after the protest. “Her psilosynine levels are really low.” Setting the tricorder down she carefully stretched Sharah out. Uncrossing her legs and setting her hands beside her. She put several pillows under Sharah’s legs to elevate them. She returned to the bathroom where water could be heard running and she brought a damp cloth and placed it on the back of Sharah’s neck.

She moved around the bed and set a hand on his forehead. “How are you feeling?” She picked up the tricorder again and scanned him. “Let me give you something for the headache. Then some juice and water. Your blood sugar is a bit low, and the water will help.” She scanned herself then. “Same for me.” She scanned the vials in the kit, picked one and slid it into the hypo. She pressed it to his upper arm and there was a faint hiss as she pressed the button. Then she pressed it to her own arm and pressed the button. She looked at Sharah and back at him. Her concern and worry were palpable. “I don’t know what else to do.”

Yavia

Tenkuller held the cloth to his nose for a bit and blinked a few times. His head was pounding. “I… I can get a medevac here in under two minutes. Do I need to call it?”

He pulled the cloth away and sat up… slowly… and squinted. “My head feels like I went ten rounds with those Klingins at that embassy… without headgear.” He rubbed the side of his head and looked at V. “Are you okay, hun? Can I do anything for you?”

Tenkiller