Words Can Wait

Posted on Tue 16th Nov, 2021 @ 8:46am by Mary Elizabeth Gregory & Khellian s'Siedhri MD & Maiek s'Ethien & Makila i'Hartelhai

2,080 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: A Good Day to Hunt
Location: Romulan Medical Clinic, Tivoli Gardens
Timeline: MD-6, 2320 hours

Maiek's arm rested heavier on Mary Elizabeth's shoulders than he felt it should, but the support actually made him feel as if he could breathe more deeply. He was certain it was a psychological thing, taking comfort from one's love he was not entirely certain of that origin of the feeling.

"One does not appreciate the bodily requirements of oxygen until one cannot breathe." he observed dryly, his lips the slightly more pale green, with the faintest undertone of copper. It was a sickly hue that indicated he was not getting enough oxygen from each breath, despite the brilliant emerald of the blood still sliding from his split lip.

Mary Elizabeth didn't answer immediately; she was too conscious of not wanting to jostle Maiek as they moved toward the tram. That required vigilant concentration on how she moved. At last, they got in and found places to sit.

"That's true," she said. "Oxygen is overrated--until it's not." She studied him. "You know there are small clinics on several decks between here and Tivoli Gardens. I know Dr. s'Siedhri is Romulan and thus preferable, but are you sure you don't want to visit a clinic that's closer?"

"No." he offered a chuckle and spoke softly, trying not to fight for breath. "Dr. s'Siedhri is favorable to my cause, and he won't turn me out for not only being a Romulan but also for being betrothed to you. He too has found companionship with a human female from time to time. The speciesist tendencies are not found in him, and to be blunt I like the man. He has honor."

It took them some time to reach the door of Dr. s'Siedhri and when they pressed the button to request entry to the clinic he met them at the door, having been prewarned by Makila that someone was coming. She'd felt them both coming as a maelstrom of pain, sharp worry and the softness of their affection for each other.

Silently he gestured them inside and closed the door behind them all. "Onto the bed in the center room with him, if you please Miss Gregory..."

"Thank you." Mary Elizabeth shot Maiek a wicked and mischievous look at the doctor's directive, but she helped Maiek onto the bed in the center exam room and didn't try to sit on the bed with him--though the look she gave Maiek said she was tempted. "Do you feel better lying down or sitting up?" she asked Maiek once he was settled. "I'll help you lean back if you like."

Warmth lit in his dark eyes as he noted and drank in her look. "I fear neither position is comfortable" he responded quietly reaching out from this vantage point to draw fingertips down the planes of her face, lingering on her lower lip. "I must look a fright, but I would like to leave the bruising if I may, Doctor?"

Khellian's head shot up in surprise at the young man's request; he'd been getting his Romulan scanners out of the drawer that they lived in, in the depths of the storage unit. "Proving a point, young Maiek?"

"If needs must."

"I see that you are, indeed." The older man chuckled as his eyes found the bonding bracelet that she wore, and the startling ring that matched it. Reaching out he patted their clasped hands with his, before the scanner began to whirr over the young male. Khellian winced at the readouts, detailing injury after injury- bones broken, internal lacerations. "Makila? Would you fetch a hemocyanin stimulator please?"

"Of course. Shall I also program up some T negative?" The woman's curls were a riot around her face, from her abrupt rise from bed.

"Yes, yes," Khellian answered absently "Two units."

As the owner of a pub, Mary Elizabeth could easily imagine the amount of blood that needed to be replaced--two pint glasses full. She tried not to wince at the thought of that much blood loss in the man she loved and kept hold of Maiek's hand. His pulse thudded beneath her fingers, a sensation that made her want to wilt with relief. She could no longer imagine her life without him in it. With her free hand, she brushed a lock of hair from his face.

"Shakespeare, my people's greatest playwright, once said, 'The course of true love never did run smooth; but either it was different in blood.' But I don't think he quite had this situation in mind."

"Maybe he did," Maiek teased, then closed his eyes and recited "If thou rememb’rest not the slightest folly, that ever love did make thee run into, Thou has not loved." The dark fathomless eyes opened again and he licked his dry lips as if desperately thirsty. "I had to stay, and take what was given to me. It." and he paused to consider what words to speak next. "It sets a precedent among my people. If I, pure, highborn despite being 'only' an artist caste, can love a human so deeply as to take such a beating for loving her without yielding." He gestured with his hand vaguely in front of him, and hissed out a breath when it caused his whole chest to spasm in resentment.

"I hate that you had to take what they dished out," Mary Elizabeth said. "Are you likely to have to take more such abuse?"

"It is unlikely." Dr s'Siedhri answered for him. "What is likely is that the ambassador is having them killed, due to their temerity to act so destructively against something that she herself approved of."

Mary Elizabeth's eyes widened. She glanced at Maiek. "She can do that? Part of me is all for it; the other part of me is a bit stunned." She rubbed a thumb against Maiek's hand. "I'm re-evaluating how politically serious the idea of our marrying is. It's extremely serious, isn't it?"

The doctor nodded, in affirmative. He personally suspected that not only could she do such a thing, she might sully her own hands with it. The boy was her family, and Khellian could see the affection between the two. Maiek raised his eyes to meet hers. There was a hint of uncertainty in them as he looked at her "We are definitely making a statement politically. I was not anticipating loving a human, but I would change nothing about our courtship." His bruised fingers brought her hand to his lips. "We can endure the tempest the elements conjured in the face of our passion, ar'rhea."

"Yes, we can--and we will," Mary Elizabeth said. "I wouldn't change anything about our courtship, either--except your broken bones--if I could."

Maiek laughed, and immediately regretted it as the broken ribs screamed at him. He wheezed out his next breath, turning a rather sickly olive color.

Makila pressed a tube with a suction end that she pressed to his left lower chest. The tube shone a brilliant red at the tip for a moment, and within an instant had activated the micro scalpel inside and entered his body to spew brilliant emerald liquid, and the change in Maiek was immediate. He sucked in a breath and exhaled with an open mouth, the tension leaving him as the container behind him filled with sticky emerald blood.

"Thank God we got you here in time," Mary Elizabeth muttered as she looked at the blood swiftly filling the container. She glanced at Dr. s'Siedhri. "That looks to me like you'll have to operate, correct?"

"Might not need to." the doctor answered with a gentle smile at the young woman. "Depends on how that lung behaves once the blood is out of the space it should be occupying."

"Elements preserve me." Maiek swore softly, taking the first deep breath he'd been able to take since the injuries had occurred.

Makila chuckled as she found and fused each broken rib in turn, returning the unstable chest to the strength of a solid state. Each hum of the osteoregenerator caused Maiek to relax further. Each rib fused was one less white-hot spike of pain in his chest. Khellian placed a mask over his face and switched something on, which caused a fine blue-green mist to emerge. Maiek breathed it in, causing little white eddies to form in the mist.

"Do you need for me to back off a bit so you can work?" Mary Elizabeth asked. "I'm not sterile or anything; we came straight from the pub." She had no intention of letting Maiek's hand go, however, unless the doctor said it was necessary.

"We don't need a sterile field," Makila answered, grinning at their joined hands. "Besides, I think he likes you holding his hand."

Maiek muttered something under his breath in Rihannsu and both of the other Romulans chuckled. None of them seemed inclined to share the joke, but Maiek opened his eyes, and caught Mary Elizabeth's gaze. "I'm alright, beloved. That is why we're here." His voice was stronger, as if there was more force behind it.

Mary Elizabeth let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "You're sounding much better."

Raising his fingertips he brushed over the spots on her cheeks that had been so pale earlier. "I was not so broken that the good doctor could not fix me. Had I been so, I doubt that I would have been left in my quarters. I imagine that this is part a test of my loyalty."

Mary Elizabeth stared at him. "I know you and Dr. s'Siedhri here said you aren't likely to have to fight again--but at what point will these blokes be satisfied?" She let out a breath. "I am Starfleet trained. I'm about ready to ignore everything my sensei ever taught me about physical combat being a last resort. Those blackguards left you with a bleeding pneumothorax." She glanced at Makila. "I think that's what it was?" Mary Elizabeth looked back at Maiek. "You could have died from that!"

"Hemo-pneumothorax, if we're being specific." Makila corrected and nodded slowly. "It's unlikely that it would have killed him by itself. Romulans have similar fail-safes as Vulcans do. But he would have been seriously ill for a while if it had not been corrected. It would absolutely have been life threatening if he were a human."

Khellian took up where Mary Elizabeth had left off. "It would be within your rights as his Fiancee to challenge his attackers. Romulan social customs do allow formal challenges in this instance, because he doesn't have a clan matriarch to offer retribution. The ambassador can because she is a direct female relation to this young charmer here. They're expecting that you wouldn't know about that, and that you wouldn't respect it if you did know--being human. While I don't ever advocate violence, the challenge itself would be an enormous political statement in support of our two peoples being able to coexist. Love conquers all and all that rot."

"If I challenge them and lose, what would be the likely political result?" Mary Elizabeth asked. "I believe in being realistic. I received the standard Starfleet training in armed and unarmed combat for enlisted crewmen who aren't in security. I'm no match for well-trained Romulan fighters. That said, I do think assassinating these blokes is...a bit much, even though I'm angry enough at them right now to want to knock heads together."

"It would be my highest honor to have you challenge them in Romulan tradition for my sake," Maiek whispered and smiled gently at his intended bride. "If...the ambassador has already dealt with them, the challenge wouldn't be able to be completed. It would be enough just to make the challenge. I would never intentionally place you in danger."

"I am willing," Mary Elizabeth told him firmly. "Look what you've endured this evening for my sake. I'd be a pretty poor betrothed not to put myself at equal risk. That's what they want to see, isn't it--if I have the respect for Romulan ways and the spine to challenge them?"

"Essentially, yes," Maiek answered, his eyes closing at her admission. It rocked him to the core, and solidified in his heart that she was the perfect choice for him. He drew her fingers to his lips and kissed them softly almost reverently. "I am without words, beloved."

"My dearest Maiek," Mary Elizabeth whispered in his ear, feeling as if she wanted to melt into his arms, "words can wait; your love is enough."

 

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