Poking Places

Posted on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 @ 8:33am by Chief Petty Officer Adriana Keen & Lieutenant Commander Morai Keen

3,031 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Quarantine!
Location: Quarantine Facility
Timeline: Evening Before Release

ON:

Keen was not claustrophobic but being 'kept' in a place and not being allowed to leave was something he could do without changing his habits all that much, he had years of losing his freedom. He had faced the Cardassians in death camps; a little quarentine did not phase him all that much. Being with his Kitten made it bearable and almost acceptaable. He could not have made it very well without her though; to miss a month or so of his Little One's growth would have crushed him and to not see the sky on a clear day will kill him.

The small set of rooms were a common area and separate rooms for the people, he had one with his Kitten and they could be attended to by the medical staff yet some privacy.

Adriana was looking forward to leaving. The first two weeks had been the worst; she'd been in a constant state of fear for the baby, unable to get a straight answer from any of the doctors about whether the baby was alright, if something had happened, if the exposure that had actually killed one of her crewmembers had hurt her child.

Thank god for Morai. He'd been calm and rational throughout the whole thing, helping to keep her steady when she was just looking for something or someone to fight. Now they were being told a few more days and they could go, and Adriana was getting restless. She paced around the common area now, eager to get out and wanting to go home to see her family.

"Adriana." Keen said as he watched her pace. "You look like a penned up Kitten in a cage; it is not all that bad, aside from the poking which ..." He stopped at what he wanted to say. "Never mind, Love." He had a flash for a second and had to partly shake off the images and his back began to itch when he knew it should not.

Adriana stopped suddenly. "Sorry," she said and crossed the room to where he was sitting. "I just want to get out of here. I know we live on a starship, it's a fairly confined area, too, but..." She looked at him seriously. He had just called her Adriana. They were alone, and he had just called her Adriana. That was odd. Usually when they were alone he only called her that if he was upset or angry. "I- I'm sorry, Keen Cat. Did I do something wrong?" she asked, a little worry in her eyes.

"No, I-I was just thinking that we were being monitored..." This was not the Cardassian place; he had to shift the shirt on his back as it rubbed the scarring. "I guess old habits are hard to break; when the possibility of being listened to..." He gave a fake chuckle. "They do not do that with Federation Medical facilities."

It is a fact he had the repairs done on the physical body but he would get an itchy back as though the repair had not taken, usually his Kitten would knead cream into his back during these times but she was so anxious he dare not ask and get her worrying about him.

She frowned a bit and sat down next to him. Her husband sometimes said or did things that others thought were paranoid, but he'd lived through things that most people in the Federation only saw in history books. Genocide, concentration camps, and occupation by an enemy force being the most prominent. They were not his best memories and most f the time he seemed to live without them interfering too much.

Sometimes he needed help remembering that those times were past though. "I'm sorry," she said again and offered him her open arms.

Never one to refuse affections from his Kitten, Keen did a rare thing and lay with his head gently in her lap; his back was bothering him and she often knew how to make it feel better. No place softer than any cuddle of his Kitten."

"My back... please." He said as there is no place more comforting than with his Kitten.

Adriana leaned down and kissed his forehead, smiling softly, then made sure he was lying comfortably so she could run her hand over his back. Her nails scratched ever so lightly every so often, but mostly she used her palm and fingers to gently sooth the smooth skin of his back. She'd never even seen the scars he still felt he carried; they had been surgically repaired before they had met, but he still felt them sometimes.

While one hand ran up and down his back, the other played gently with his hair. After a few minutes she asked, "Does that feel better?"

"Would you consider it good if I were to purr like my Kitten?" He said as his body relaxed and the muscles did not itch along his back. "How's the Little one?" Keen turned his head to place a kiss on her belly where the child grew.

Adriana smiled widely. "Little One is fine. It's been a heck of a struggle to get the doctors not to tell me if Little One is a boy or a girl with all the tests I've been forcing them to run, as you know. We're all finally convinced nothing has gone wrong because of that- that psychic radiation or whatever we want to call it."

"I think we would know it really?" He smiled. "There is nothing like being a parent... I thought I knew my Flock but I know more of you and the little one; feel more than with my flock. The Prophets blessed us; they are not likely to take that back."

She covered his mouth with her fingers. "Careful, Keen Cat. You'll tempt fate," she said nervously. It had taken them so long to get pregnant- almost two years from when they started trying until she finally conceived- and she was a little paranoid about 'jinxing' it.

"It is professing faith in the Prophets." Keen said calmly. "I was a Vedek and good things come when the timing is right and once blessed by the Prophets it comes under their protection, that is why I never worried about the little one."

Adriana nodded. "I know," she said, but it was more that she knew Morai believed and that he didn't worry. Adriana didn't worship the Prophets, or any deity, though she sort of believed in a god of some sort. Religion was something they didn't necessarily agree on, but they didn't fight about it either. Sometimes she envied the comfort Moria got from his faith, but not enough to follow him in it.

"I can't help but worry, though," she continued. "You didn't see Ensign Park's body." She shuddered, like she did every time she'd mentioned the dead young man these past several weeks, which had been more frequent than she'd have liked.

Keen sat up and looked into the sky on a fair day; the clouds trying to form as she looked back at him. Placing a hand to the cheek he shook his head. "No... I didn't and I think you might like to tell me what you saw?" He touched her heart. "I mean from here and not your eyes."

Adriana shivered again as if she were cold. She'd talked a little to the doctors and the counselors here at the facility, but they seemed much more interested in how she and the crew had been affected by the physical stimulus caused by those obelisks than her reaction to a dead crewmate whom she admitted she hadn't even known.

"I didn't even know him," she said yet again, but this time rather than using the words to try to dismiss her reaction, she used it to add to her grief. "He was so young, he looked like he'd barely gotten out of the Academy. I don't know if he had any friends on the ship who will miss him, I don't know if he had family who will mourn him. He was just a kid, though, and just like that-" she snapped her fingers- "he was gone."

She covered her belly protectively. "And if it is that easy- that fast- to kill a full grown person- without even anyone touching him... No one laid a hand on him, but he was just... dead. Blood coming from his eyes and his ears and his nose." A tear slipped free from her eyes and she leaned towards her husband, trusting him to catch her.

Keen had told his Kitten he would always be there for her and this was not an exception; he easily caught her and held her close as nothing is softer than his Kitten; and sometimes the Stone Vedek and what he went through helps. He knew how to be strong when needed.

"If an adult was hurt so badly, killed so easily, then how badly could our baby have been hurt? He was just a kid, and I keep thinking about our kid," she whispered into Morai's shoulder.

"No one is invincable; no life is under garuntee that it will survive." Keen said calmly. "What we have to do is live... really live while we can..." Keen thought of the 3463 lives he witness be taken; he prayed for them all and cried over them. "Living and surviving is always a question of mortality... trust me when I say to question what could happen will do more damage than if something did."

Adriana cuddled into her husband as he held her tightly. Being in his arms felt so safe. He would never let anything happen to her or, more importantly, their child. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you or our baby," she said as she allowed his strong arms to sooth her.

"Never worry about what might happen." Keen stroked her back and just tried to sooth her. "Until you are in that box... I mean situation to think about it." Keen said as he reflected. "If one dwells upon the worst they cannot live the best."

She was silent for a half a beat, then Adriana started to laugh. Very quietly, but a real laugh. "I think I'm rubbing off on you, Keen Cat. Just which one of us is the optimist who figures everything will work out alright and to take things as they come?" she asked.

"I have been terminally exposed to Kitten Vibes." Keen teased. "Convinces one to be positive." He put his lips to her forehead for a quick peck.

She smiled up at him and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I've never been scared like I am sometimes now. Is it because I've got so much to lose, or just because I'm pregnant and emotional?"

"Everybody grows up at some point." Keen smiled. "Being a parent might be a reason?"

She took one of his hands in hers and placed it over her stomach. "We're going to be parents," she marveled for the umpteenth time.

"Love has truly blessed us with a miracle." Keen replied as he just let his hand rest upon his family; to touch them both brings a smile he can never hide.

Adriana grinned and lifted her chin to kiss him.

Just then the Common area had visitors; it was a Man in his mid forties from close to; if not actually , Earth by Keen's guess with a Nurse in tow; the look on his face told Keen a lot; identified him despite never having met himbefore, he wondered if that is how others see Keen?

"Counselor..." Keen greeted.

Adriana almost blushed at someone walking in while she was cuddling her husband and about to kiss him. She was ued to their quarters being unlocked; Morai had an open door policy, especially with anyone he considered a friend. But they always locked to door when they needed a little 'couple time.' She sat up a little straighter, pulling back to a more publicly proper distance from him.

I am John Meyers, chief of this section." He kept his gaze upon Keen. "Are you alright Commander; there were some readings that we got that gave us ... concerns?"

"I am fine, I can see where you might get them as there are always things that are not seen at first, some even years later. Thus is the duty we have chosen... Counselor Meyer?"

"We're alright," Adriana reiterated, then after a pause asked, "Are we going to be allowed to leave soon?"

"You have been here for nearly a month; I do not see any reason to detain you, Mrs. Keen." Meyer said. "You will be alowed to leave on the morrow."

Adriana started to smile but suddenly the way the counselor/doctor phrased it bothered her. "You do mean... both of us, right?" she asked. "Both of us are free to go tomorrow."

"The Commander will need to remain for some additional testing for another day or so." Meyers said. "Just as a precaution."

"Then I'm NOT allowed to leave tomorrow," Adriana said matter-of-factly in a voice Keen would recognize as being one that is not up for argument. She'd used the same tone when she told him that their marriage would not be like his parents', where his father was able to mandate things to his mother and she submitted to it, even things that broke her heart.

"That will not be needed; he will be in some testing and you might endure periods alone." Meyers said calmly.

"Adriana will not be swayed," Keen said calmly. "You should let her know why you wish to keep me from her?" Keen surmised. "Also you should ralize it is because of her that I am able to do what I do."

"You mean your relationship with your wife is why you are calm so much despite outside stimulus?"

Adriana cleared her throat loudly. "Excuse me, 'his wife' is sitting right here. Our relationship with EACH OTHER affects us BOTH. We are married together, not separately. You can't pretend that he is the only one affected by what is going on with us both." She reached over and took his hand in hers.

"Commmander Keen seems to be repressing what happened and there is a danger he is not getting proper treatment here, we need to determine what is going on before we release him." Meyers said. "As a counselor he did not deem anything wrong with the Command Structure despite the obvious signals."

Adriana paused for a second. "You... think there was something wrong with him because hes to himself and we are unsure if he is recovering or supressing didn't sign on with the people who wanted to start a mutiny on the ship? Instead he wanted to support the command structure and try to help the Captain reestablish the trust and relationship with the crew? And you have a problem with that?"

"He is not talking of what happened." Meyers said calmly. "He is keeping his feelings to himself."

"Trust is the basis for all counseling." Keen said. "You might say that I do not trust you. I have a few select I talk to and them alone."

"And keeping us here locked up in a comfortable cage isn't likely to make us trust you. You wanted to make sure we were healthy after that stuff we were exposed to, and we are. So when are you going to let US go?" Adriana asked belligerently.

"Is the report you gave all that we will get out of you, Commander?" Meyers asked. "Then you will both be released in the morning as you have not exhibited any ill effects."

"Good," Adriana said and turned her sudden smile on her husband. "If that's alright with you, my Dear," she said in an almost teasing tone.

"Nothing like keeping family together." Keen put his hand around the waist of his Kitten. "You could have asked me this earlier but you seemto think I blank things out where I have learned a valuable lesson."

"What is that?" meyer asked.

"That nothing kept in the forefront of the mind and not let the mind process to memories they form loops, and with each rotation get stronger and more harsh." Keen shrugged. "That is where 'not letting go' comes from in a way. Normally brains process then file away memories for future need. When you can do that with all your memories then you are a calmest of calm people."

"Is this why you've been keeping us here this long? You could have let us go weeks ago if you had just asked," Adriana pointed out.

"No there are testings that needed to be done and those are time sensitive. Letting you go on the Morrow is where our judgement is apparant. You may go in the morning." Meyers turned to leave. "I think you still need to have more time talking of your experiances; the readings show you have some things you have not expressed fully." He continued his way out.

Adriana waved her fingers at the departing counselor and nurse. "We'll keep that in mind. Bye now."

"Last night in the pen, Kitten." He played with her lower back nearly to the small of her back but not yet. "Might not get much time alone with the Clan around?"

"Not going to begrudge the family spending time with us are you, Keen Cat?" she asked. She smiled as she thought of her- their- family. From her parents, brothers and sisters, brothers- and sisters-in-law, her uncle, cousins and their spouses, nieces and nephews, there were 20 people eager to see them both. It did get a little hectic at times, she had to admit.

"Never for an instant." Keen tickled the small of her back. "Family is the most important thing in life."

She shivered a little under that personal, intimate caress she knew so well from him. "And the love that blesses us with that family," she whispered and then kissed him deeply.

OFF:

Lieutenant Commander Keen Morai
Chief Counselor

Petty Officer 1st Class Keen Adriana
Operations

 

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