Who's scared of needles?

Posted on Tue Jan 26th, 2021 @ 1:28am by Lieutenant Anna S. Thesia M.D. & Lieutenant Dean House

Mission: Healing of Minds
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Backlog - Current

That was less painful than he thought it was going to be, reporting in to the Captain. Now as this part going to be the same way? He wasn't always particularly taken well or at face value with the Doctors on the ships he's been on. Regardless, heading to Sickbay and coming in looking for Doctor Thesia.

Outside Anna's office, he was greeted by a young nurse who asked, "Good morning, sir. May I help you?" The nurse was carrying a box of supplies she had just retrieved from storage. All of the staff was busy restocking the supplies they had used during their most recent emergency, and making sure sickbay was ready for the next time something happened.

"Yes, ma'am," giving a look to her a moment, also listening to the room itself, but never moving his gaze. "I was looking for the Chief Medical Officer so I can do my preliminary check in."

"Ah, through there", she pointed at Anna's office. "Don't mind the ducks." She then walked around him to resume her duties. They had all worked a lot of overtime those past three days, and it was time to finally wind down.

Dean gave a particular glance and mouthed, "Ducks?" Okay, that was going to be different. Following her with his gaze until she was out of view since turning his head backwards wasn't a bright idea. Broken necks never were.

Moving over to the office and if the door was open, stepping inside. Taking a look at the office itself and personal items. "Excuse me, Doctor?"

Anna looked up from her desk, which was covered in several large PADDs, as she liked having all the different documents open on separate screens rather than having to switch back and forth on just one. "Yes?" The room as otherwise in good order, and the thing that stood out most were the realistic paintings of different species of ducks - always a drake, a hen and several ducklings - on the walls.

"She wasn't kidding..." said under Dean's breath, noticing all the duck pictures. Okay...and here people thought he was insane. "I'm here for my evaluational check up so I can be cleared for duty."

Anna put the PADDs down and rose. "Great. Finally someone I don't have to chase down." She moved to make some tea, setting out a mug saying 'peculiari-tea' on it, and filled it for him. "Here, have some tea, and follow me to the examination room. It should be available again." She walked out the door.

"Why would you have to chase someone down. You're just a person like anyone else, doing their chosen profession and what they love to do." Dean gave a glance at the mug. "Cute." Picking it up and taking it with him after a sip. Following her to the exam room and plopping down on the bio-bed.

"I know", Anna said, more in response to the remark 'cute' than the other things he'd said. "So tell me, is there anything bothering you, or anything I should be aware of with you?"

"No, Doctor. Nothing that I can tell." Giving an idle glances over his arms. Dean shook his head, "No, not really. You probably want to look over my medical record though."

"Most definitely", Anna said. "I always do that. But records don't tell the full story, and it's always best to be honest with your physician."

There was an eyebrow raised, "You don't have that high of a clearance? But you're the Chief Medical Officer, ma'am."

Anna shook her head. "I do, and now I know who you are, Mister Dean House. Could have introduced yourself." She smirked. "I saw your file. I still don't think it tells the whole story."

"I apologize, Lieutenant. I should have." Giving a light nod. "And of course it doesn't, but the details would be boring."

"I'm Anna", she smiled and flicked on the sensors. "I can see you've got some scar tissue nobody ever took care of. Is there a reason why?"

"Alright, Anna. Dean." Smiling lightly. Giving a look down where some of them were, even with his uniform still on. "Yes, because I didn't want them to be removed. Regardless of my body's ability, they were bad enough to keep. It's a reminder and to some, think it shows character and what type of person one is." Raising an eyebrow again, "Would you like to touch them?" that was a joke. Hopefully she got it.

"I wanted to offer to remove them for you", Anna said. "But if you want to keep them, that is, of course, your choice. However, a scar is always a weak point. If you are looking to achieve the best your body can be, I suggest you get them treated. But I'm not going to make you."

Dean shook his head, "They aren't a weakness, besides, if you do a scan you'll probably see the underlying tissue is just fine...or..I think.." He closed one eye for a moment, "Should be?"

Anna shrugged. "It's your choice. Some people like that sort of thing. I was with a Klingon once who was very proud of her scar. But she was disappointed when I told her it's not my idea of sexy."

"I suppose you will be pleased to know, that is has nothing to do with being 'sexy' with scars. Like I said, its a reminder and my past, thank you for not pushing the issue, Anna."

"The first thing I want to do is make sure you're comfortable coming here", Anna said. "Of course, I'm also going to have to be responsible for your readiness to do your job. But what good is perfect health if you're still unhappy? If you want to do something that's not necessarily ideal from a medical point of view, I'm not going to say no unless it's downright stupidly dangerous."

Dean shook his head, as he'd heard all of that before, more times that she's probably said it. "You can dispense with all that covering your butt stuff, Doctor. Also I'm probably the only person in Starfleet that doesn't mind coming to Sickbay that being here isn't their profession. Also..I do stupid on a regular basis."

"Oh, so you're one of those?" Anna laughed. "And no, I'm not worried about covering my butt. I'm half Orion, I'm not self-conscious about that sort of thing."

There was at least a little smirk, "Sometimes one of those, yes."

"Well, for now, it looks like you're in good health, and can start your duties", Anna concluded. "So I guess I'll be seeing you around often?"

"Mayhaps. Or get caught stealing supplies to fix myself. Is that an invitation?"

"Not for the stealing part, but yes", Anna smirked. "Look at the bright side. If you come here, I'll always treat you to a nice cup of tea."

"Shit." It slipped out, "I completely forgot about the tea." Reaching for it to take a drink, even if it had started to get a little cold. "Thank you for that, and sure. I'll make an excuse to come by. How about next time I hit my knee on a desk."

Anna laughed. "You should get with engineering and ask them how they'll react to vandalism, though."

"Vandalism? What vandalism?" Dean gave a glance around, "I don't see any."

"Well, your knee will heal, but who's going to have to replace that desk?" Anna wondered.

He chuckled a little bit. "The replicators of course. Maybe I should back order like sixty of them before we get too far away from Deep Space Nine."

"Hm, I don't want to have to sacrifice some of my medical supplies just so we can stockpile desks in our cargo bay, though", Anna replied, sounding thoughtful. "Tell you what, I'll just neglect mentioning the source of your injuries in your medical records. How's that?"

"Well if you want to do that, how about I just say I ran into a desk, and just come see you anyway?"

"That's too easy", Anna laughed. "No, the easy way almost never works. That's the first thing I learnt about Starfleet."

"Sometimes the easiest and most simple way is the actual best way."

"Yes, it always appears that way", Anna agreed. "It just never works. But of course, that never stops us from trying."

Dean gave a little shrug, "Maybe we can prove the system wrong. What's your favorite thing to eat?"

"Chocolate", Anna said. "Closely followed by roast duck. Replicated, of course. I do not kill animals. We've recently had a chef join the crew, and she's very creative with her food. I mean, yes, she's had a bad batch of ingredients delivered, but that's not her fault, and the crew didn't get too terribly sick."

"Hmm.." giving Anna a curious look for a moment. "Well I like to cook but far for me to step on the Chef's toes. Also, duck is something I've never actually cooked before. Chocolate I think I can handle though."

"I've never used chocolate for cooking, but maybe there are some interesting ways?" Anna asked. "I'd love to be surprised. I'll try anything once."

Dean gave a little motion with his hand, "Some molés use chocolate, specially in Mexican cooking."

"Well, you'll just have to show me then", Anna said. "Meet in the lounge after this shift?"

"Well I'm not on duty yet, but after your shift, sure. 1800?"

"Yes, I'll have had a chance to finish up by then", Anna agreed.

Dean nodded, "I guess I should get out of your hair until then."

Anna nodded. "Yes, I'm sure it would be a mess soon, otherwise." She smirked.

He didn't say anything, just moved forward off the bio-bed and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I'll see you in a few hours."