When the Chips are Down

Posted on Sun Aug 16th, 2020 @ 11:44am by Lieutenant Avery Paxton III & Lieutenant Scott Hayes

Mission: The Avenger
Location: USS Wayfarer - Sickbay
Timeline: 12hrs Ago (after "Explosive Tendencies", before "Let's Go!")

:ON:

Avery hated to admit that she was injured, but the burns on her extremities and the incessant ringing in her head since the conduit erupted weren’t leaving her much choice. Frustrated, she gave in and headed towards sickbay. She couldn't keep going like this. At least, not if she wanted to continue making repairs in engineering as efficiently as possible.

She walked into sickbay, clutching the back of her neck with one hand as if that would somehow help with the headache. “Does this still count as one of those rest days before we can talk about that drink?” Avery asked with a smirk. She never liked to let on that she was in pain, so naturally humor and sarcasm were her go to forms of deflection in these cases.

"If you weren't resting, no it doesn't," Scott called out from his office as he assembled some equipment. Thankfully someone called ahead to give him some time to start preparing and be aware of anyone coming in through the door. "Make your way to the surgical bay," he said as he exited the office and began making a visual assessment of the damage, the Lieutenant was possibly not quite aware of the extend of the injuries yet herself, he was thinking as he collected a dermal regenerator and called to his assistant to take over if anyone else should come in.

“To be fair, I haven’t worked any overtime since our last meeting, but I do still have to work my actual shift” She stated as she made her way to the surgical bay, wondering why on earth she had to go to the surgical bay and not just a regular old biobed in the main area. “And this just happened to occur during my regular shift,” she said, wincing as she pulled herself up on to one of the beds. “So I don’t think it should go against my count of good behavior days.”

"We'll have a discussion on the long term effects of overworking yourself at a different time. They don't just go away overnight," Scott began as he finished his visual assessment. "Lay back for me please," he continued as he went for his scanning equipment. The arch on the bed wouldn't be needed at this time, thankfully.

She took a breath, moving wasn’t the most pleasant activity in her current condition, and grit her teeth as she slowly rotated and laid back. “By the way, what happened to ‘I tend not to let first impressions be my first impressions at times like this. I give it at least a week out in space before I form opinions…? I got my ass chewed out by the XO based on your report.”

"That would have been my personal impression, not my professional one," Scott said as he took his hand scanner to the affected areas, the hands, arms and side of her head. "Whatever my personal feelings may be, they must be left separate from the medical side, then, what use is it if it is subjective?" he questioned as he picked up his PADD and began taking notes and looking over treatment options. "Anyway, back to the matter here, this conduit gave you a nasty one. You have a mild concussion and several extensive burns across your hand, arm, shoulder neck and side of your head. The good news is, this is easily treatable, even the slight hair loss from the burns," he presented warmly with a very optimistic tone.

Avery bolted up, “Wait, what?! Hair loss?” She hadn’t seen herself in a mirror yet. “Please tell me you can fix it,” she looked at him intently as she asked the question. She wasn’t usually one to care about her looks that much, but losing a whole patch of hair was different.

"Avery, please get back down," Scott said harshly, "you are going to injure yourself further." The doctor took a sharp inhale of breath, "There is a small patch of hair missing on the side of your head," he pointed to the side it was on, "it is only a small patch, but once the skin has been healed I can stimulate the regrowth of the follicles and help cover it up until then. We are talking two, three days at the most. No one will know any different."

She narrowed her eyes in protest, Avery didn’t like being told what to do and she definitely didn’t like the sound of “two, three days at most”, but she laid back down and paused for a minute before spitting off another question. “So how long am I stuck in here for before I can get back to engineering?” There were repairs to be done and she wanted to get back to complete them.

Once more Scott raised an eyebrow, "You will be out of sickbay within the next few hours, but going back to engineering today is out of the question." He braced himself waiting for a fight coming, "While I can fix the physical symptoms, the concussion means you will be spending, at least, the next twelve hours off of your feet recovering, so I suggest you get in touch with engineering when we are done to give them your orders."

Fury was starting to build up inside her. A few more hours in here and then twelve more after that?! She took a moment to consider her next strategy. The XO was already on her about working too much and she knew from prior experience that Scott was a tough negotiator. She took a deep breath and let it go. “OK,” she said, too exasperated to try to fight it, “but I get one more day marked off towards getting a drink, deal?” She was too tired to do any real negotiating, but she couldn’t completely let it go either.

In probably one of the harsher tones that would ever pass Scott's lips, his face changed. His eyes narrowed. His brows furrowed deeply. His hands rested on his hips after he almost slammed the scanning equipment down. "Lieutenant, your care, in fact, your health is no bargaining chip." He paused for a second to let that sink in. "You follow medical orders or I add more concerns to my report."

Avery’s eyes widened in shock. That was not the reaction she was going for. “Okay, okay, it was a joke.” She said defensively, “Sorry it’s just what I tend to do in situations like these. A few more hours here, twelve more hours recovering, whatever you say.”

"Good," he answered back, "when the most important people take risks with their health we all suffer." He picked up a small dermal regenerator and a hypospray. "Now for some options," his face started to soften as he proceeded to the actual medical care, "This process isn't exactly going to be comfortable with the depth of the burns, to help with the concussion I have a mixture here that will help with the pain and if you would like, I can knock you out until this process is complete. You will wake as almost nothing has happened. We will have the hair issue to deal with when we get to that point, but otherwise, as I say, it will be as nothing happened."

“I can take it, don’t knock me out,” she replied. She liked Scott and hoped that one day he’d give in and get that drink and that perhaps a friendship could form. However, she still found it difficult to trust anyone and hated not having some sense of control so being knocked out was not an option. “I won’t even ask you any questions if you want me to keep my mouth shut,” she said with a smirk.

"Keeping your mouth closed will actually help unless you want some scar lines," Scott said, half-jokingly, "actually, the little movement you do the better. So for this, I work differently than other doctors, they will wave their regenerators over you and be done in half the time. For me, I do this in waves. I'm going to run this at a lower frequency and make several passes over each area. It is going to encourage a more natural recovery and make it less likely to see you back here in a few days for a touch-up." He went to the small tray of things over by the side of the surgical bay, "Computer, curtain," he called out, and a holographic curtain flickered into existence around the bay, "for privacy. Now I'll stop for a small break every half hour, but if you need more let me know. I would say, two hours to get your skin back to where it should be. Ready for this?"

“Is that actually how you normally do it or are you just wanting to torture me for my poorly placed comment earlier?” She said jokingly. “Can I get a drink of water before we start? Otherwise, yeah I’m ready.”

Scott returned after a moment with some water in a glass and a straw, "Unfortunately, this is how I do it. That is, unless, you want the quicker method and you end up back here in a few days?"

Avery sat up slightly to take a sip, set the water to the side and then got back down. “No offense, but sickbay is definitely on the top of my places to avoid list, I just haven’t been very successful with it lately,” she chuckled. “Alright, go for it.”

Scott would spend the next two hours going through his process of dermal regeneration, stopping every half hour or when needed. Each slow pass brought a new layer of flesh back to the life it once showed. The skin becomes less inflamed, the blistering ease, the top layer returning to the flesh colour it once held. Avery's head, on the other hand, was a different matter. The skin may be healed but the hair would require some work. During the last break, he got some of his staff to prepare some options to cover the two inches of skin where hair would currently not be growing. When the procedure was over, he ushered his patient to a sitting position.

"Well, skin repair has been successful. We are done, almost" Scott began in a soft voice. "We just need to fix the smaller part of your head where the hair was burned off. But before you say anything," he raised his finger as almost to hush any retort, "I have some options that will cover it up until your hair returns to its usual length to meet with the rest of your hair." He brought over a smaller tray with what most would call extensions that matched her current hair colour, length and style. "These, using a unique adhesive, will attach comfortably to your head. All you need to do is have it adjusted every few days to match the hair that will be coming through.

“Whatever you recommend,” she said, “and thanks by the way. I know I can be a pain sometimes when it comes to accepting medical orders, but I’ll try to be better about it.” It had been a long two hours, but all she had to do was lay there while Scott diligently fixed everything and even though she hated being in sickbay she did appreciate what he’d done for her.

"This is the point it becomes your choice in all honesty," Scott said smiling, thinking he had a breakthrough, "I can only make recommendations here. Well, other than taking this or going out partially bald. I mean, it is a look." He put extra emphasis on look before continuing, "Some would see it as a brave choice, but a choice never the less."

She got up, walked over to a mirror and looked at what the current situation was. “Ehhh, screw it. I’ll just leave it as is. It’s not as bad as I thought, plus then I won’t have to come back here right?” She smirked and looked at Scott, “I take it that I’m good to go now then?”

"You are good to go, I would say check with me again in a week, just to let me see how things are and if there are any signs of redness or itching, get in touch right away," he replied wheeling the hair options away. "The next twelve hours though, off your feet. Relax. That is going to be important for the concussion."

Avery wanted to ask if the recheck in a week was absolutely necessary, but she figured she'd pushed enough of his buttons for one day. "Got it," she said, "and really, thanks. I appreciate it."

She turned and headed towards her quarters. You know, I could totally just cut both sides off and rock one of those mohawk or fauxhawk hairstyles she thought to herself as she left.

:OFF:

Lieutenant Scott Hayes
Chief Medical Officer
USS Wayfarer

&

Lieutenant Avery Paxton III
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Wayfarer