It's getting steamy in here...

Posted on 20 Mar 2015 @ 1:31am by Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D.

1,333 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Chronos - Supply Room D
Timeline: MD-01, 1900 hrs

[ON]

Markum had just finished busting down a Nova Squad Cadet back down to reality. The cadet was trying to tell the CoB proper FTL theoretics. It didn't end well for the cadet. As Quinn was patrolling the corridors, he noticed steam coming from a supply rooms vent. Quinn's face was immediately the color red, positive that only a cadet would somehow screw up the ships enviromental controls.

Quinn accessed the entry pad and as the door entered, he was met with a blast if hot rolling steam. He powered through the cloud and could make out a silouette of a humanoid. "What the hell is going in in here? Damn cadets, this isn't your personal spa to....." The veteran sailor quickly shut his mouth, for as the steam moved, the silouette became more visible, and he realized he wasn't screaming at a cadet. "Doc?"

"Markum!" exclaimed Tuula, quickly reaching for a towel to cover her nakedness. "Ummmm, it's not what it looks like," she stammered as she wrapped the towel around her body. Seeing an unimpressed look on his face, she continued. "All right, it's exactly what it looks like."

Quinn's face was now red for another reason, and he was glad she probably couldn't see the color, but he saw more than he had expected of the doc. "Dammit, Tuula!" he exclaimed in an obvious playful manner, "I would have joined you and shown you how to close the vent to the corridor. The cadets getting on your nerves too?" he asked as he took off his service jacket and sat down after grabbing a towel and wiping his sweat covered scalp.

"Don't even get me started," replied Tuula in a wary tone. Caught red-handed, she figured her best bet was to engage him in friendly banter, rather than a heated discussion about how many Starfleet regulations she was in violation of at the time. She figured it had to be at least four or five.

"We have this one medic, an Andorian. He's completely insufferable. Typical Red Squad dweeb, always quoting regs and proclaiming his superiority." Tuula sighed and took a deep breath. Just thinking about Shras was enough to make her blood boil.

A sauna was a sauna, even if it was just a supply cabinet with 'malfunctioning' environmental controls. And sauna etiquette demanded a certain level of requiescence; raising one's voice as Tuula was wont to do when discussing the subject of conceited Red Squad cadets was a major faux pas. "Well, you can see why a sauna can come in handy," she added.

"No kidding. We have a snobby cadet at the helm that tried to quote rules to Holliday. He asked me to enrich the lad latter." Markum removed his shirt and wiped his head and face again. "Level with me, Tuula, friend to friend, no ranks and all that bullshit, what's the next step with Dru? I've known her for years, and I've never seen her like this. I care a lot about her, and it breaks my heart to see her suffer emotionally."

Tuula thought for a moment. This was a bit of a grey area when it came to doctor-patient confidentiality, but as Markum already knew and was clearly the person that Dru was relying on for support, she didn't see the harm in offering her advice.

"Markum," started Tuula, looking into the older man's eyes, "I don't know the details of your relationship, but you're obviously very close. You were the first person she thought to turn to, and the one she chose accompany her to sickbay."

Gently clutching a towel against her body, Tuula took a deep breath, and calmly gathered her thoughts. "She's dealing with a lot of intense emotions right now, but she has a decision to make. Now, it's her decision and her decision alone, but she's going to need your support. And she needs to know that that support is unconditional, that whatever relationship you have with her and whatever feelings you have for each other, that's not going to change, regardless of what decisions she makes."

"That's the kind of support she needs right now," she added, pausing momentarily before lowering her voice slightly. "The kind that I wish I had."

Markum looked curiously at Tuula. "What happened, with the support thing, for you? I've noticed that you're pretty intense about this. What gives?" The CoB hadn't managed to live this long without noticing when something was personal to someone.

"It was six years ago, before I started medical school," explained Tuula. She had never talked about this with anyone until a few weeks ago when she told Jaana. Now, it felt almost therapeutic for her to share her story. Especially in the context of trying to help Dru. "I was in a bad relationship, and I found myself in a similar situation -- facing an unplanned pregnancy, and a father I didn't want anything to do with. And I was about to start medical school. I didn't know what to do, until I visited a clinic in Helsinki and had the pregnancy terminated."

Tuula took a deep breath and looked up at Markum. "That's why this is so personal to me. While I've never doubted that I made the right decision," continued Tuula, "I didn't have anyone I felt I could go to for support or even talk to about it. I was very lonely, and I don't want Dru to feel the same way, no matter what she decides."

Markum nodded his head and sighed. He knew this had to be a hard decision for anyone to make. He had never been in such a situation, not had he ever known anyone who was. "Doc, I've never been one to pre-judge anyone. I have no doubt that you made the right choice for you, and had I known you then, I would of told you to forget what anyone thinks and tell anyone that speaks poorly of you to fuck off. It's your body, your health, your choice. It's better you did it that way, then to have a child that you didn't want, and one that changed your life so much that you are bitter towards it. Yeah, adoption, but who knows what type of asshole family it would end up in, battered and abused, unloved. Yeah, you did it right, and if anyone says different, you send them to me and I'll encourage them to stay out of your personal affairs."

Quinn wiped his face and his chest as the sweat was building. "As far as Dru, we've known each other for a long time, and we are more than just friends...
we're intimate. I will certainly support whatever choice she makes, and I will stand by her one hundred percent. If she wants to keep the child, I will love it and treat it as if it were mine. She won't be alone through this, and, if you ever need a friend to talk to, us old people make great listeners, probably because we forget everything."

"Thank you," replied Tuula. "I'll keep that in mind." She took a moment to wipe the sweat from her face, before continuing. "Can I also count on you forgetting to inform the captain about this little makeshift sauna?"

Quinn stood up and grinned as he hit a button which closed the overhead vents. "I didn't see anything, Doctor. I'm not sure what you're talking about. And I'll be sure to let the cadets know that this room is off limits."

"Of course, it would be a safety hazard to allow them to enter a room where the environmental controls are malfunctioning," replied Tuula, playing along.

"See ya around, Doc." said Quinn as he turned around and smiled at Tuula before walking out. "Thanks for helping me with the environmental controls."

[OFF]

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

CMCPO Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Chronos

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