Getting To The Bottom

Posted on Fri Aug 2nd, 2019 @ 2:02am by

Mission: For Whom The Bell Tolls
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 04 13:30 Hours
934 words - 1.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Razmi came hurrying into sickbay. Someone had told her Stef was injured but not to what degree. Her eyes were wide with near panic until she spotted him sitting on a biobed. He appeared to perfectly conscious so it couldn't be that bad. And, Tadez was standing over him. "What's going on? Are you all right?" She looked back and forth between two men. Razmi was surprised because she had not realized that they knew each other.

Stef slowly turned his head, resting eyes that were bright with pain on her. "I will be alright," he assured her, "eventually."

"Well what happened?" Razmi twisted her hands around in front of her, afraid to touch him. He looked in so much pain and she didn't even know why yet.

"We had a male type conversation." Tadez replied calmly. "It got a little out of hand." He shrugged. "There was an emotional reaction and here we are."

"A what?" Razmi frowned. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "One of you tell me the whole story please. I want to know why my best friend is lying in a bed in sickbay."

"Stef came to me to see what my intentions were in dating you; I told him that is between us and his expectations of how I should do this had little weight in what I am going to do." Tadez said calmly. "In a very unlike Vulcan showing of emotion he slammed a fist into my desk; I presume to intimidate me, and the desk was harder than his hand and thus we have a dented desk and Stef has a broken hand." He continued. "With the emotional outburst being not Logical and his injury I naturally got him to Sick Bay. That is the short version of events."

"Well Stef is not a normal Vulcan, at least that's what I've been told. But that doesn't sound like you at all. What in the universe made you think you needed to defend my honor like that?" Razmi had her hands on her hips now and she had turned back to Stef.

Stef sighed softly, looking at neither of them. "He mentioned my wife not liking this," he murmured, "I slammed the desk at that point, telling him Svara is gone. I only wanted to make sure his intentions were good."

Razmi could not believe this. She could understand Stef feeling protective of her, but honestly he had not spent much time with her since leaving Marga III. "I was under the impression that I was allowed to live my own life if I accompanied you off Marga III." She turned her attention to Tadez. "And how could you say something like that to him? He has no romantic feelings for me."

"I feel responsible for you," Stef admitted, "like you felt responsible for me on Marga... I feel I need to look out for you here, like you did for me."

"He wanted me to promise to love you as he loved his late wife." Tadez told her in his diplomatic neutral tone. "And since I am not him I cannot live up to those standards and I did not think his wife would want him pushing his expectations upon our budding relationship ." Tadez defended calmly. "How we are is for us to discover without falling short of his expectations that if I do not live to that level I will break your heart?" The last part had a bit of a bite to the tone as he tried to remain calm. "He expressly said I needed to love you as he loved his wife... I did not know she was no longer with us, I replied to his statement only."

"I can't believe either of you right now." Razmi said, taking a deep breath. "I know I haven't exactly had a lot of experience in relationships, it's not something I'm proud of in fact it's a great source of embarrassment to me. But I don't think Tadez has taken advantage of me. He's done nothing more than touch my hand. I believe if I expressed that I didn't like what he was doing then he would stop. But why did you not come to me to ask that?" She wasn't even sure what to say to Tadez about his behavior toward Stef. "I need to be alone, you two figure this out and find a way to get along." She walked out of sickbay in search of a dark area where she wouldn't be found so easily where she could possibly let out a few tears in private and get her body to let go of these feelings threatening to overwhelm her.

"I should go after her." Tadez informed Stef. "While I respect your wanting to look out for her; please keep you opinions out of the relationship; I care enough for her to allow you to have an opinion; but I do advise you allow her to be happy without the fear of rejection; I would not do that to her.

Stef wisely said nothing, though he definitely felt the rebuke. It wasn't a promise he could give either.

Tadez did not want her to get far enough a head he could not find her; apologize for his part and try to comfort; he did not at all like seeing her upset. But he did fight the urge to punch Stef in the nose for denting his desk. He would be discreet and give her time.

Razmi
Civilian Navigator

CA Stef
Yeoman/Animal Caretaker

Lt. Neenyo Tadez
Chief Diplomatic Officer