Perchance to Dream
Posted on Wed 24th Jul, 2019 @ 7:08pm by Lieutenant Commander Dallas Briggs & Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD
Edited on on Sun 11th Aug, 2019 @ 12:28am
1,528 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Main Sickbay
Timeline: MD 6, 1515
Previously in our story ...
Victoria pushed gratitude toward the counselor and the artist, and then she simply became vapor and rose up out of the room, through the next floor, finally the attic and out through the roof of the Addams home. She continued to rise until she came to the deck and Main Sickbay where Dallas still lay quietly resting. He was no longer surrounded by the living, but only by machines which monitored his vital signs. Victoria hovered over her husband for a moment, resting her hand on his shoulder, not letting it go through him, but resting it in the air just above his skin.
"I've heard your aura can help you heal, Dal. I can't interact with matter to reflect it on your body. I don't know how I did that before, so you'll have to wake and do that yourself. But I'm here, and I'm staying. I'm going to be right over you until you awaken, darling. You are not alone," she told him. Then she rose up to the head of his bed and tucked herself into the monitor. No one would see her ... because she didn't interact with the reality of anyone else in Sickbay at the moment. As she watched over Dallas and waited for him to become conscious again, she tried to absorb the events of the very long day.
Dallas got off shift and came through the door to the XO’s quarters. As he came in he noticed how dimly lit their quarters were. He stopped and looked around for her. She was setting the dinning table in the other room. Candles, fine silverware, wine, the works. He smiled, sneaked up behind her and pulled her into him. She was intoxicating to him and he was a happy man. “What’s for dinner, beautiful?”
"Nothing, if you distract me," she laughed. "I need about five more minutes on this baked ziti dish, the wine is chilling, and the dessert is finished." Victoria's com dinged and she groaned. "No! I'm not on call!"
She tapped the badge and said, "Victoria Briggs here. This better be an emergency."
=^=Not exactly,=^= said her yeoman, =^=but it also won't take but a minute. I can't find my copy of the Orders of the Day for tomorrow. Did I lose it, or didn't you send it?"
She pushed out of Dal's embrace and walked to the table in their living area to pick up her PADD. Opening it, she scrolled through, not bothering to see if she'd sent it already, and sent it. "That should take care of it, either way."
After a heartbeat, the yeoman responded, =^=Yes, Ma'am. Have a nice evening.=^=
Victoria had already walked back toward Dallas. "Now, where were we?"
Dallas took Vicky in his arms, “We were just about to do this...” Dallas let his words trail off then kissed her tenderly.
Victoria lost herself in the moment ... and then the ziti dish finished it's cooking cycle, and a ding jolted her. She pulled back, leaning her forehead against Dal's. "Keep that thought on the back burner until after dinner."
The alarm dinged again, and she sighed and stepped back. "You have time for a quick wash, and dinner will be on the table when you come back. And don't forget," she laughed, walking toward the appliance, "tomorrow night starts your week of cooking."
“Now that sounds like fun!” Dallas teased as he headed for the bedroom. He grabbed some comfortable gym shorts and a t-shirt along with underwear and socks and headed for the sonic shower. After stripping down he got in the shower and let the sonic waves wash over his tired shoulders and back, relaxing him and removing the daily grunge. After a few minutes, he felt as good a new and got out of the shower and began to get dressed.
When her husband came back into the dining area, Vic was just setting low music on the computer. Something soft and soothing, that matched the mild fir-tree scent of the candles and the low lighting. "Come and sit," she ordered, taking her own chair. "Lunch was a very long time ago and I am close to expiring from hunger." The smile she gave him mitigated her XO's-orders tone of voice, however.
Dallas came over and grabbed the bottle of wine from the ice bucket where it had been cooling off and popped the cork. He let it breath for a few seconds before pouring a glass for Vicky and one for him. He put the bottle of red wine back in the ice to keep it chilled then sat down in his designated chair. "Everything looks and smell delicious and what’s that other scent that is mingling with the food, I can’t quite place it.”
"The candle, probably," Vic said, pushing the hot dish of ziti toward him. "It's something that was in the commissary today. It's supposed to smell like fir trees in the forest. I've never been in a forest of firs, but if that's what they smell like, I'd love to go. It's nice, isn't it? Not overpowering, but a pleasant background."
“Yep.” Dallas snickered, “I feel like we’re among the trees right now, we just need a tent.” He winked at her, “Everything is perfect darling, perfect.”
Victoria watched Dallas quietly, letting her mind flee the present day trauma and go back to when she'd first met the man who became her husband and greatest treasure. She examined his face wondering, if they'd had children, who a little boy have looked like him or like her ... or some combination of the two of them. As she studied him, she realized his eyes were moving rapidly under his eyelids. She sat up straighter. Was this something to be concerned about, or was it normal?
An electric disturbance flickered around the replicator until it finally erupted violently, then there was an explosion that engulfed the entire room.
Dallas woke and immediately began coughing, but everything hurt, his whole body. He tried to sit up, but it was difficult. There were small fires everywhere, and the place was destroyed. Black burned splotches were all over the walls. It looked like a war zone in their quarters.
Briggs could only see out of one eye, and he immediately looked around for Vicky. He tried yelling over the klaxon, “Vicky! Where are you? I can't see you!” He tried to stand, but he couldn’t. There was something wrong with his right leg, so he slid along the floor leaving a trail of blood.
He slid to the other side of the table, then flipped it away. There he found Vicky, or her lifeless body, lying in the mess. He scooped her up in his bloody hands and cuddled her as he rocked forward and back as he wept. He stopped and looked up at the ceiling, then yelled out as loudly as possible, “NO!!!!!”
Dallas woke up to the living world yelling out loud, “NO!!!!” He sat up in the bed abruptly and looked around, grabbing his chest with one hand where it was sore. He was in a private room, alone, save for his wife's ghost.
"Dal, Dal, calm down," Vic urged. "You were dreaming, probably monsters brought on by medication. You're going to be okay," she said, trying to calm him.
Abruptly, the room's door slid aside. Dhuro Lanis and Dave Longworth hurried through, past the threshold and over to Briggs' bedside from where they had heard him cry out. "Easy, pal, you're in the main infirmary," Longworth said as he approached the bed. He had one eye on Briggs and the other on the vitals display above the bed. "I'm Dave, I'm your nurse; this is Dr. Dhuro."
Lanis ran a medscanner over Briggs' chest. "Lie back down, and stay down," Lanis said to Briggs. "Your lung tissues are in very delicate shape right now. I do not want your lung tearing open from the inside. Is that clear?" He spoke in the brisk tones of someone who expected to be obeyed quick, fast, and in a hurry. He locked gazes with Briggs until he could be certain his patient understood.
Dallas was breathing heavily after the nightmare woke him. He nodded slowly then relaxed back down onto the bed. "It was just a dream," he said softly, "just a dream."
Lanis nodded and set the medscanner down as he bent to check the chest tube that had been inserted into Briggs' side. "Unfortunately, it wasn't all just a dream," he said in a gentler tone. "Do you remember why you were brought here?"
"Well, it was a nightmare, but just that," Dallas said. "I was attacked and stabbed in the chest. I have to assume that someone found me in time.." Dallas began to relax and close his eyes, he hadn't seen Victoria yet.
"A petty officer in an observation walkway," Lanis supplied. "How are you feeling? Are you in any pain?"
"My chest hurts like hell," Dallas groused, "but I'm thankful to be alive."
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