Relationships Are Messy

Posted on Tue Jun 20th, 2023 @ 7:23am by Lieutenant Michael Amato & Lieutenant Thraxina

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 3: The Peace Ship
Location: Medical Division

Thraxina was a busy woman, what with her usual duties, which she was determined to fulfil even more efficiently than ever: she wouldn't have anyone accusing her of slowing down or doing a shoddy job just because she was pregnant; going for regular check-ups with Doctor Slattery due to the unusual nature of that pregnancy, plus all the other distractions and trials of life abord a starship. So, it was a couple of days before she got to pop into sickbay and look for Mike.

Nurse Johnson thought she was there for the usual and tried to manoeuvre her into a cubical and get her into a gown but Thraxina explained who she was there for and the strawberry blonde junior nurse took her over to Amato's examination room, where he was, apparent, free.

Thraxina popped her head into the room.

"Hello Mike, have you got a second for a quick word?" she asked with a serious tone.

The claustrophobic office was spartanly furnished, the tiny desk was covered with a stack of clipboards and a desktop. Mike looked up, "Ah sure," he responded. When Lt. Thraxina came calling, it was rarely a good thing. "Just trying to get caught up on charting, so many people have come through here since the... incident," he added.

"Oh 'incident' - is that what we're calling it?" Thraxina asked, sitting, a little more serious than her usual carefree demeanor. "Not 'monumental cock-up by engineering with attendant fatalities and lie-changing injuries'?" she asked bitterly.

She looked down at her hands balled on her lap.

"People keep telling me how heroic I was putting us in that spin to minimise structural damage... try telling that to Doctor T'Mora, and Sowande and Darnell." she said despondently. Gods, she hadn't come to here to get this off her chest, but it sort of just came gushing out.

Suddenly she put her head in her hands and gave an anguished cry: "Oh God Mike, what if I could have done things differently and saved them?"

Mike sighed, "It was a split decision," he commented, "Things happen in a split second... Your and the Captain's quick thinking saved hundreds of lives. As far as I heard we were a minute or two away from the ship exploding."

"My brain knows you're right" she said, looking up with philosophical little shrug "... but my hear doesn't believe it." She forced a little smile. "Anyway, I didn't come here to bore you with my problems, I came here to bore you with someone else's" she looked at him more squarely.

"I know it's none of my business, but is everything all right between you and Toby. He... well, he just doesn't seem his usual stupid happy self, lately. Or am I just imagining things?"

Thraxina and Mike didn't always get on so well, but the one thing they both cared about was Toby. Or, at least, Thraxina still did.

"I guess so..." Mike responded, "We haven't seen much of each other lately... Too busy I guess... Somehow we've seen less of each other being on the same shift." He sighed, "I take it he's been talking to you," he said, "More than he's been talking to me."

"We usually have a chat on Friday afternoon when we both knock off the Bridge at the same time." she answered: false constructs though the 'days of the week' and even the time on the chronometer were when you were whizzing around the galaxy at warp speeds.

"He just seems a little down and when I prodded him he accidentally let slip that you two are, well, he said 'screwed up'; listen Mike, Toby's a little younger than you, not just in years, he's innocent and this would probably never even occur to him to ask, and it's none of my business really, but, well, are you seeing someone else?"

A flash of anger welled up through Mike's green eyes. He almost responded in a nasty way, but he calmed down almost instantly, "No, I'm not seeing anyone else," he responded. He anxiously began to tap one of the clipboards against the desk and then finally added, "I've been preoccupied... So has he... Him with his whiz kid experiments... Me with my brother's death."

Thraxina took that in: how he had juxtaposed Ensign Dienstag's experiments with something as, for Earthers, emotionally heavy as the death of a sibling.

"Do you think Toby's work is... unimportant?"

"That's not what I said," Mike corrected, "Just clearly both our priorities are different and we both have been distracted."

"Good!" Thraxina shrugged "Then there's nothing to worry about"

"But... when we hit Nimbus III... if we ever hit Nimbus III, maybe you two could spend a little more time together and... you can look at the latest edition of Spider-person and not me, hey?" she said, getting up.

Mike sighed, "I suppose... Doesn't sound like much of a vacation planet though." he responded, "And he usually discusses Spider-Man and the other comicbook stuff with Carter."

"Carter? Oh... Carter's a real person, then? I thought it was his imaginary friend." replied Thraxina with a frown.

"He's real alright... Ensign Carter Page, damage control officer, about Toby's build, greased black hair, hazel eyes..." Mike responded, "They graduated the academy together." He then looked at her, "Yeah I'm a tad jealous," he admitted.

"Yeuk! Greased hair? Sounds hideous!" Thraxina exclaimed.

"Well, I guess I should say, slicked with hair product, not sweaty greasy," Mike added.

"Hmmm, still!" hmphed Thraxina, she thought she knew the kid he meant: he looked like a young Adolf Hitler.

He leaned back, "Look I know we've had our differences, our misunderstandings... But I don't never intend to come off as a jerk."

"Really? that makes it worse if it's accidental!" she said seriously, then burst out laughing. "Sorry, but you are soooo serious about things sometimes." she sat back in her seat.

"I know we've had one disastrous meal out together before, but why don't you, me, Toby and Greasy-boy go out somewhere, it'll force Toby to realise where his affections lie: and it'll show Crater-face Carter Page that Toby's spoken for and he needs to 'sling his hook'!"

Mike chuckled at that, his bored expression breaking. "We could do that, sure," he said, "Although I'd hate to put Toby into a corner... But I don't want to trap him in a relationship if he'd be happier with someone else. Even if it's Carter... Gosh, it would be like dating himself."

"Oooh, I wish I could date myself!" Thraxina gushed dreamily "Funny, good looking, intelligent..."

"I think I'd be miserable if I dated myself," Mike responded, "Toby and I are extremely different but that's why I love him and love being with him. Maybe we're just growing apart."

"Well..." Thraxina sighed "... maybe just give it one last shot: but if it's over, it's over. That's what I always say!" she pronounced sagely. To be fair, she herself hadn't had a relationship that had lasted more than a few days.

"Right, well, sorry, love to sit here and talk about your disastrous love life a bit longer, but I've got a date with Doctor Slattery." she said, waving her hand airily "Oh, not like that, he's just going to be looking at my lady parts" she smiled and jumped up. At that level, Amato could probably see that she was palpably starting to 'show'.

Mike grimaced at mention of the name. Slattery was the worst doctor he had been forced to serve with. He nodded as Thraxina took her leave and then returned to his thoughts.

 

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