Chapter 3 - Somebody To Love
Mei-Wan McCall hurried down a curving corridor on Deck Five and came to a stop outside a door with a nameplate reading: M. Vargas. Mei-Wan took a deep breath and touched a control at the side of the door. After ten seconds she touched the control again.
The door opened and Mei-Wan's eyes went wide as she saw Commander Lee McGuire standing on the other side of the doorway. She glanced over at the nameplate to check it, but she was in the right place.
McGuire slung his uniform jacket over his shoulder and turned to look behind him. "Melissa, you've got a visitor," he said with a thick Irish accent.
The normally stern looking McGuire turned back to Mei-Wan and gave her a warm smile as Melissa Vargas walked up behind him wearing only a silk robe that clung to every curve of her body.
Vargas smiled nervously. "Mei, what's up?"
"Its 0730. We were supposed to go down to the Emergency Bridge this morning," Mei-Wan said.
Melissa frowned. "Your Tactical Certification. I'm sorry. I forgot."
Mei-Wan smiled. "We can do it another time if you want."
McGuire grinned. "I'll let you ladies get about your business."
He turned to Melissa and gave her a quick kiss. She looked at him a moment and then softly asked, "I'll see you tonight?"
McGuire smiled wide. "You can be certain of that."
Mei-Wan took a step away from the doorway as McGuire walked past her and quickly disappeared around a corner. She turned to look at Melissa who was lost in thought.
"Well?"
Vargas looked up at Mei-Wan. "Come in. Give me a minute to get dressed."
Mei-Wan entered Melissa Vargas' quarters as the Chamberlain's Operations Officer walked out of sight into her bedroom. Mei-Wan noticed cushions from a couch lying on the floor along with two wine glasses.
"I thought you still had medical duty planetside?" Melissa asked from the other room.
"The Zimmer arrived early last night, so Preston sent everyone from the Science Department back to the ship. I was already aboard so I got to sleep a couple of extra hours. I don't think our CMO was happy about archaeologists and geologists practicing medicine in the first place," Mei-Wan said.
"At least you got to sleep in."
"After yesterday I needed it," Mei-Wan replied.
Melissa walked out of the bedroom wearing her uniform and sat in a chair.
"Still, I'm really sorry about forgetting, Mei. I know this means a lot to you."
Mei-Wan nodded. "It seems you had other things on your mind."
Melissa smiled as she reached down to put her uniform boot on. "Yeah."
Mei-Wan turned to her friend. "McGuire?"
Vargas looked up. "Why? What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing. I just can't picture you two getting along very well."
Melissa slipped her last boot on and leaned back in her chair. "Oh, we get along just great."
Mei-Wan frowned. "I didn't mean…" She shook her head.
Melissa stood to her feet and walked over to a mirror and checked her hair. "Come on, Mei. I'm sure you've had a shipboard romance or two. You married a starship captain."
Mei-Wan looked down. "Jack and I didn't get involved until we ended up in that prison camp."
Melissa turned to Mei-Wan. "Okay, but before you met him there had to be a guy or two you served with."
Mei-Wan sighed. "No."
Melissa attached a Comm badge to her uniform and pointed to the door. "I'm ready."
The two women exited into the Deck Five corridor and walked briskly toward a turbolift.
"You've been in Starfleet over six years and there hasn't been a single guy you've been involved with aside from your husband?"
Mei-Wan rolled her eyes. "No, Melissa."
"Okay, there had to be someone you were at least mildly infatuated with."
Mei-Wan sighed as the two of them entered the turbolift. "Why is this such a big deal with you?"
"Its not." Melissa watched the lift doors close. "Deck Twenty-one," she said to the turbolift.
"Its just most everyone I've known in Starfleet has had a variety of romantic encounters. I find it a little hard to believe there wasn't anyone in six years time you were interested in."
Mei-Wan looked down at the turbolift floor. She looked up at Melissa Vargas and smiled. "My first assignment there was a guy I sort of liked."
Vargas grinned. "Sort of?"
Mei-Wan laughed softly. "Okay, so it was more like obsessed with for a couple of months, but he wasn't interested in me."
"What's his name?"
"Does it matter?"
"Come on, Mei."
Mei-Wan rolled her eyes. "Kyle Hoffman. He was in command of the Archaeology Section on the Farragut. Like I said, nothing happened. He hardly noticed me."
"Don't be too sure. Men can be incredibly inept at letting you know they're interested," Melissa said.
"I'm sure."
The turbolift doors opened onto Deck Twenty-one and the two of them entered a straight corridor.
"So why didn't you let him know how you felt?"
"I told you he wasn't interested."
Melissa sighed as they turned a corner. "So you felt that strongly about someone and you didn't even mention it to him?"
"I'm happy with how things turned out, Melissa," Mei-Wan said.
Vargas looked at her friend. "That doesn't mean you couldn't have had fun with Kyle 'what's his name'."
Mei-Wan shook her head. "How did this get turned around onto me? I thought we were discussing your life."
"You were giving me a hard time about Lee McGuire and I was trying to find something in your past I could relate it to."
"Then how about we get back to you and McGuire?"
Melissa grinned. "Okay, suppose this Kyle guy had been interested in you, then you would have gotten involved, right?"
Mei-Wan let out her breath. "Maybe."
Melissa rolled her eyes. "Are you trying to drive me crazy?"
"Its just I don't know if the two of us would have worked out."
They stopped at a door which was labeled: Emergency Bridge.
"I don't know how well Lee and I will work out and really for right now I don't care, but I do enjoy spending time with him."
"Okay, I'm happy for you," Mei-Wan said with a resigned smile. The door slid open and the two women entered.
***
Jack McCall walked through the entrance of the Chamberlain's Sickbay toward the office of the Chief Medical Officer wondering why he had bothered. Of course he knew it was to satisfy his wife's insistence that he do something about the dreams he'd been suffering through almost nightly for more than a year. However, this was not the solution she had suggested to him on more than one occasion.
Doctor Taylor Preston rose from behind his desk with a warm smile on his tired face. Jack could tell this was a man who had seen far too much misery the last twenty-four hours.
"Surprised to see you in here, Doctor."
"I got back an hour ago and thought I'd check the medical logs," Preston said.
"If you're busy I can come back later."
"No. What can I do for you, Captain?"
Jack took a deep breath and sat in the chair across from the Doctor.
"I've been having trouble sleeping lately and was wondering if you could give me something for it."
Preston's eyes narrowed. "Just lately, Captain?"
Jack looked down. "Well, for a while."
The Chief Medical Officer slowly sat in his chair and leaned back. "Captain, I'm really too tired for this kind of game. I know you've suffered from this ever since you escaped from that prison camp."
Jack sighed heavily and looked off to his right. A moment later he looked up at Preston.
"Okay, so it's been a year. That's why I've come here."
"There isn't some magic pill for this. I would suggest a full workup with me and then a session with our Counselor."
Jack almost allowed himself to get angry, but caught it. "Look, I'm a patient asking for help with a problem. Are you going to help?"
Preston leaned forward. "You're the captain of this vessel and in my opinion you're suffering from severe post-traumatic stress and a fair amount of guilt about those who died under your command in that camp."
Jack shook his head and frowned as Preston watched him. "I'm just having trouble sleeping."
The doctor stood up from his chair and walked out of the office. Jack sighed and closed his eyes. He hadn't expected this kind of response from his own Chief Medical Officer.
A moment later Preston walked back into the office and turned to the captain.
Jack slowly rose to his feet and watched the Doctor hold up a hypo-spray.
"This will help you enter a deep sleep," Preston started. "However, there are only three doses in this. In four days I want you in here for a full medical exam."
Jack started to protest, but Preston cut him off and said, "No argument, Captain. Four days."
Jack McCall reluctantly nodded and Taylor Preston handed him the hypo. Jack looked it over a moment. "Thank you, Doctor."
