Sisters again

Posted on 21 Jan 2015 @ 11:49pm by Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Ensign Jaana Voutilainen

1,071 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo, Deck 3, Tuula and Jaana's quarters
Timeline: MD07: 1600 hours

ON:

At the kitchen table, Tuula was moping over some cold mustamakkara -- blood sausage -- a traditional delicacy from her homeland. She hadn't said more than a few words to Jaana ever since that day that Zuwtt came to their quarters, and Jaana had spend the past few days away from the quarters for everything but sleeping. For Tuula, was unbearable for her to see her sister like this.

She needed to end it, here and now. To her, being right was fast becoming less important than having her sister back. She would apologize to Jaana for keeping secrets from her, and promise to tell her everything from now on.

Hearing the whoosh of the door to her quarters open, Tuula looked up from her cold sausage. "Jaana!" she exclaimed. "I have to talk to you!"

Rushing through the door Jaana started speaking at the same time as Tuula did. "We need to talk," She chuckled when she heard her twin say the same. Jaana was so happy the ball was finally happening. She could finally present her gift to her sister. She'd spent the last couple hours making sure everything was ready. Tuula and her luckily had the same size so she could model for the magic dress, to make sure it fit. "Me first." She said and took a seat across from her sister.

"I know I haven't behaved as I should have lately." she started, shoving the empty plate to the side. She couldn't stand the smell of food, not even when it was cold. Taking a deep breath she started to explain everything. "I'm sorry for the way I reacted, It's just..." she had this conversation in her head numerous occasions, but now she really needed to say it she was lost for words. "You really shocked me by telling me what had happened all those years ago. No let me finish, I need to say this" she interrupted Tuula when she was trying to reply. "I wasn't shocked by what you'd done, even though you know my opinion about an abortion. And even though I still believe we could've managed raising a little baby. What hurt me the most is that you didn't come to me. We share everything. Come on, we are 28 and we still live together." She tried to bring some humour to the conversation to stop her eyes from getting more moist then they already were.

"It hurts that you thought you couldn't come to me with this. I would have never pushed you to make a decision you're not comfortable with. Just the idea that you had to go through all that. Not just the pregnancy and the abortion, but also everything that happened with Zuwtt prior to that."

"I should have told you sooner," replied Tuula, wiping a tear from her eye. "But you were so busy with your studies in those days. I didn't want to make you worry. And, truth be told, I didn't think you would understand the choices I had to make. I was afraid of how you might react. And... I was ashamed. Not about the abortion, but about the fact that I'm supposed to be a strong, independent woman and I let Zuwtt manipulate me like that."

Tuula pushed herself away from the table and turned towards Jaana, looking her sister in the eye. It was so wonderful just to see her face and talk to her again. "But that was all a long time ago. These past few days have been hell. For the both of us. I missed you. Let's never fight or keep secrets from each other again, okay?"

She smiled. "Oh, yes. I can't stand to keep secrets between us," she exclaimed. "These past few days have been hell to me as well. Not only because of what you told, but also because I've been working on a little project of myself the last days." Without waiting for a reply she continued. "Do you remember that I was drawing all the time the first weeks after your accident. When you were in recovery and such?

"Drawing?" asked Tuula, raising an eyebrow, wondering what her sister was getting at. For her, that was a dark time. One she'd rather forget. Jaana was the only thing keeping her sane. "I remember you with a PADD, but I thought you were studying."

"I wanted to find a way for you to walk again. That was the only thing I could think of to make you happy again, really happy. I've been doing a lot of research for it, but never came to a solution that could give you the use of your legs back permanently. So I put it aside. But when I heard of the upcoming ball just hours after we had our fight I decided to look it up again. I've found a engineer who was willing to help me and he has created a exoskeleton hidden under a dress that gives you the ability to walk and dance again, just once more."

"Really?" exclaimed Tuula. For a moment, she didn't know what to think. She had experimented with clunky exoskeletons and radical treatments, and still had a microchip or two implanted into her body from failed attempts to return mobility to her legs. None of it worked, or worked well enough to replace the simplicity of her chair. She began to tire of colleagues seeing her as their next project, and just wanted them to accept her for who she was rather than constantly try to "fix" her.

But then she looked up in Jaana's eyes. There, she saw that in spite of everything, her sister still cared for her and loved her enough to devote so much of her time to trying to help her, and couldn't help but break out into tears of joy. Quickly, Tuula pushed herself forward and wrapped her arms around her sister's waist. "So this is why you haven't been to our quarters; you've been busy working on this dress for me. Thank you so much. I love you; lets never fight again."

Jaana grinned and agreed with her sister, while turning around and started pushing her sister towards the door. "Come on, we have to get you in that dress."

OFF

Lieutenant (J.G.) Tuula Voutilainen, M.D.
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Jaana Voutilainen
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

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