What's Up, Doc?

Posted on Sat Mar 6th, 2021 @ 7:51pm by Alden Loxley & Karen Dawson MD

Mission: Six Days to Santo
Location: Fortune's Echo
Timeline: Day 24 - Early Afternoon

He'd had a meal with Daiyu, a shower followed by a chat with Ali and a woefully short nap, and Alden hadn't been able to settle. Sure, he was back safely among folks he largely considered to be family, but he wanted to be gone from here. He wanted to leave Santo in their rear-view, needed to get away from civilisation, idiots, and brawls.

While Chloe tinkered, while Whit and Kindra settled in and while Jonas, Tristan and James did whatever they did right before the Firefly was readying to leave, Alden sought Karen. He brought a peace-offering brown paper bag full of certain cheesey pastries and he knocked on the ceiling hatch that led to the doc's private bunk.

"Hey!" He called up. "S'only me."

Karen opened the door only a few seconds after hearing his voice. She blushed like a schoolgirl. Alden was special to her in ways she only started to put into words. When she looked down at the brown bag, her smile grew wider.

"I can see that," the doc replied, then motioned to the bag. "Bribe? Or gift?"

"Gift," Alden said, oblivious to the nuances behind the blushing. "Definitely a gift." He offered them up to her first, holding the bag of pastries above his head as if he were merely a messenger sent to deliver said wonders. "You ok?" Then he stepped back and looked a little sheepish. "But if you could spare a coupla minutes, I'd be grateful too."

As he'd pushed upwards, Karen might have noticed the duck tape bandage on the left side of his forehead, if she hadn't, Alden drew unintentional attention to it by fussing it with his fingertips.

"I can spare more than a few," Karen answered while she carefully looked at the covered-wound. Then she helped him inside and motioned for him to sit on the bed before she set her treats on the nightstand. Then she began to dig into the trundle drawers before she asked, "I'm doing better - PTSD and all... Looks like you been through a fight with a hover truck."

Alden took the offered seat on the bed and quietly glanced about the neatly kept space. Karen had carved a place for herself out of visual and easy reach of the others, a privacy one step beyond the other crew cabins. He didn't spend much time here, but every time he did, that fact resonated.

"A sheriff's deputy," he corrected, with a wry smile. "I'm okay," he added, a little too defensively. "Anything I can do to help you, though?" Alden asked then, worry for the doc swiftly manifesting. He looked guilty as hell for a moment. "I'm sorry," he noted. "I really didn't mean for Santo to be so... complicated."

"That seems to be the normal, of late." Karen sounded none-too-thrilled by the fact. Yet, as she pulled out her field kit and opened it up, she began to work ever so gently.

"It really does," said Alden on a soft, unhappy exhale.

With gloves and a steady hand, she carefully pulled away the tape from his skin. Her intense blue eyes looked at the clotted wound, then into Alden's own eyes. The butterflies, yet again, fluttered.

"...I know you didn't plan for any of this," Karen rationalized while she gently cleaned his wound with a disinfectant-treated stack of gauze in her left hand. "I know you want to protect everyone. Give everyone fair shares and all... I would have walked, had you not come back."

Alden offered a wince followed by a bright smile as the tape came off. "Ow," he said, but he was playing rather than complaining. It seemed for a moment that Karen looked deep into his very soul and he let his own gaze linger in that visual lock with hers, wondering what was going on in that complex and brilliant mind. As she spoke, and at least some of that inner thought revealed itself, Alden reached out and let long fingers wrap about her extended arm, closing in a supportive squeeze about Karen's wrist.

"I'll always come back," he promised, despite the fact that this wasn't entirely within his control. "I don't wanna lose ya, doc, and I sure as hell don't wanna be the reason you leave. I know there's been a lot of... upset and changes... currently we're looking at a whole ship full of new folks, but we're out in the black now for eight or nine days." He smiled. "Paying customer. No cargo. Growing some veggies. Peace, quiet and time to reflect." Alden took a slow, deep breath and let go of her arm. "We can play cards until we get bored, talk some, and let the dust settle."

There was, he considered, a hell of a lot of 'dust' hanging about the place. Drake. Noah. Serenity Valley.

Like a kitten that leaned in for an ear rub, Karen leaned her head into his hand with a confession. "Don' think I'd of gone far, had you been stuck on Santo... I care about you too much."

"Care about you too, doc," said Alden, fondly, then added, with an impish grin. "But I reckon Ali would keep ya warm."

Karen looked down a moment. Guilt was all over her face while she attempted to bandaged his wound with butterfly stitches. Internally, she had practiced this part of her confession, but now? She felt she might sound a doxy.

"Ali knew I was out my damn mind on alcohol when she bedded me," Karen spoke matter-of-factly. She would not place all the blame on Alison, but it was very much true. "I... well..."

Karen looked in his eyes once more. Her blue, intense stare was one of longing. "Well... my heart wants you. I just wasn't sure you wanted a relationship yet." Now Karen wanted to through up, as nervous as she was. The doc physically shook after her confession.

For a couple of seconds, Alden's mind was filled with imaginary views of Alison and Karen, drunk and engaged in all kinds of naked gymnastics. That happy little diversion was shattered as he locked gazes with the Echo's borrowed doctor, and its captain wrinkled his nose as he considered his options before blurting anything out.

"I..." Alden said, then he reached out to place a supportive grip on Karen's shoulder. He could literally feel her anxiety, the tension and the vibrations beneath her skin. "I'm not sure I'm ever gonna be ready, doc," he admitted, honestly and Anouk's image rose up in his head as it always did when he considered the word 'relationship' in a romantic fashion. "Being back on Hera just..." Alden let that sentence trail.

"It opened up old wounds," Karen nodded in understanding, all the while, she tried to hide the hurt of the rejection with finishing up her work on Alden's wound. "I can respect how you feel."

"Reminded me what I'd lost," confirmed Alden, far from oblivious to the doc's feelings as her hands touched his brow. "Damn fucking war stole from all of us," he muttered. Eyes closed, he blew a breath at the ceiling and then looked back at Karen. "I'm broken, Doc," he said. "And I ain't lookin' to hurt anyone else. I'm real sorry if I'm doing that to you now, but I'm always gonna a soft spot for ya."

"I seem to have a soft spot for you as well," Karen continued to smile. She would have her moment of misery later when she was alone. For now, she forced herself to power through. "...But She wouldn't want you to live broken. She'd want you to be happy. So if ever you decide to move forward, I'll be here waiting."

Karen suspected Alden may have been high on something recently, given the red irritation and slight dilation of his eyes, but she decided not to press. He was mobile and very sober with his words.

He'd hurt her, and he knew it, but while he was definitely no expert on romantic entanglements or relationships, Alden knew it was a far worse thing to fabricate feelings than to just be honest. "Mebbe," he said, with kindness and sincerity as he pushed down the past with a hard internal shove. "Mebbe, we can play some music together, spend some time and generally try to help each other not be broken," he suggested, hoping Karen took that the right way. It was friendship, not guilty charity. "If'n that's gonna be a happy thing and not make things worse?"

Karen nodded in full agreement before she sat on the bean bag, pleased with the thought of playing music with him.

"I think it would be nice," she agreed. Then decided to change subjects while he was in a good mood - drug-related or not. "What would be nicer, would be if we upgraded the infirmary some... We're getting more gunshot and head wounds than normal. We need a solid diagnostic bed, a bigger blood bank unit, and possibly some laser scalpels for more accurate surgeries."

"Me too," said Alden, with a gentle smile. Music was one of the great escapes and a means to address emotions he didn't always like to bring out into the light. Music was a cover story for all the shit going on in his head and heart that he didn't want or couldn't talk about.

"Upgrade?" The Echo's captain queried. "Yeah, that's not a bad idea." Mentally, Alden was reallocating and rearranging funds in order to cover the expenses so he was quiet for a moment, letting Karen's words sink in as that cost seemed to sky-rocket some. "I dunno if we can afford all of that right now though," he admitted. "Most of the profits from the last job went on repairs and the hydroponics. What's most important to you?"

"Surgical tools and a bigger blood bank unit are much cheaper than a surgical diagnostic bed," Karen admitted. "And we can use the old blood bank unit to store vaccinations and other medications that need to be stored in cooler temps."

Alden nodded. "Makes sense." It didn't take long to make a decision, since really now he didn't need to run that financial okay by anyone else. First Mate currently being 'just a pilot' and all. Still, Ali's opinion mattered, and her place in the Echo's history was still important so he'd still check with her first. Well, second now.

"I think we can probably afford those," Alden agreed, easily. "I'll need to check the numbers, but if you want to price those up and we can get them here on Santo, just go for it." He had a small emergency fund, and this seemed like a worthy cause in the circumstances, particularly with where they were headed. Alden didn't hide that internal thought either. "I have a funny feeling Ghost might throw the book at us, and maybe I'm wrong, but you and me and Ali making sure we can look after folks if I'm not, that ain't a bad thing. Especially seeing as we're running with a full house and all."

"In the meantime," Karen smiled, humored a bit considering Alden was a man that didn't like to sit still much. "...You stay put. I'll grab my bag, do some browsing and see what Santo has. Once your head stops buzzing, you can head down the ladder and do captain things."

He beamed a dumb grin back at the doctor and simply nodded. "Okay, doc," Alden agreed, but they both knew he'd be moving pretty damn quickly once she'd left. "And, hey," he added, blowing a friendly kiss off his fingertips. "Thank you. For the doctoring. Y'all be careful out there, alright?"

--------