Not so fast!

Posted on Wed Jul 20th, 2011 @ 6:49am by Ensign Andrexi Callai MD & Lieutenant Torrna Maliya MD

Mission: Too Close for Comfort...
Location: Sickbay

It had been a long, relatively uneventful day for Andrexi Callai. Part of his new responsibilities as Assistant CMO had involved ensuring that the ship and crew were adequately prepared for emergency medical needs. To that end, he'd requisitioned a large chunk of a cargo bay for medical storage space, in the event that main power went down and they were unable to replicate needed medications and supplies.

He'd treated a couple of minor injuries -- a fracture, a small plasma burn. Then there was the young crewman with radiation exposure from working on the quantum... flux... erator... something. It didn't matter. Her exposure was low enough to treat without any lasting effects. Granted, it had caused a few grumbles among the Engineering staff when he'd informed him that the compartment she'd been working in would have to be thoroughly decontaminated. He'd even managed to get in a dozen physicals.

All in all, it had been a productive day. There was plenty of work to be done tomorrow, but Andy was ready to call it a day. "Dr. Torrna," he called out as he stuck his head into the CMO's office. "I've finished the task list. Unless you need something else, I'm going to go ahead and check out."

Maliya who'd been as busy as her young assistant had been wrapping up some paperwork looked up, "Don't tell me you are one of THOSE Doctors, Kid." she said with a chuckle.

Andy cocked his head in her direction, a confused and curious expression emerging. "Which kind of doctors?"

"Those that don't practice what they preach. How long are you going to skirt around your physical?"

"My phys--?" He paused. Then a slow glimmer of realization passed across his features. "Oh." He glanced past her to the display panel on the bulkhead. "Oh, look at the time," he joked, making a sudden move toward the door.

"Hold it!" she growled as she stood up and casually walked over.

He turned back, favoring her with the 'whipped puppy' look, as the women at the Academy had called it.

To which Maliya almost laughed. Yeah it was cute, but cute didn't work on her. "What was that about?" she asked.

In response, Andy simply smiled. At least the kid was good natured. "I'd offer to do it myself," he said, still showing the puppy eyes, "but something tells me you won't agree to that." When she looked over at him, he tapped his temple knowingly. "I am empathic, you know."

She laughed softly, "Very true." she said then thought for a moment, "I'll trade you. I do yours, you do mine." she said finally, really in no mood to pull rank.

"That sounds fair," he agreed as he led the way out into Sickbay and headed toward the nearest biobed, onto which he hopped gracefully. "Your tricorder or mine?" he asked, drawing and waving his own device tauntingly.

Maliya chuckled and took his tricorder out of his hand and began calibrating it. "Alright, you know the drill, tell me what I need to know." she said as she began scanning him. The Kid, she had to admit, was cute. And his eyes were actually quite striking, now that she was this close to look properly. She was fully aware he may be reading her, and was absolutely fine with it.

"Name, rank, and service number, absolutely," he said with a chuckle. His face seemed to flush subtly. "Nothing really new since my last physical. Broke my leg in three places last year."

Maliya noticed the slight flush and smirked. "It's healed well. What did you do to break it in three places?" she couldn't help but ask as she scanned him.

"No exciting story to it really," he said with a shake of the head. "We were searching a collapsed building and the rubble under me gave way."

She nodded, "And here I was hoping we would trade scar stories."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you," he said with his trademark smile. "I don't have good scar stories."

The Bajoran shrugged, "Oh well. Anything else I need to know?"

He blew out a puff of air as he thought about the question. "I like dogs, long walks on the beach, and people who smile?"

Maliya chuckled, "Any special reason I need to know tha particular piece of information?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in a silent challenge.

Andy studied her curiously. "Weren't you the one who said, and I quote," he glanced toward the ceiling as if reading the information from thin ar, "'It's important to get to know your colleagues when you're assigned to shipboard duty'?"

"I don't know, I say a lot of things." she shrugged, "but yeah, you're right, I guess. I'm a cat person by design."

"Oh," he shot her a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry."

"I don't follow."

"Cats," he shook his head, "they're so... How did she put it? One of my Academy classmates. She used to say that dogs have owners and cats have servants."

Maliya chuckled, "Yeah. I was powerless against it. A Trill colleague of mine just showed up at my door with this white ball of furr of a ragdoll type, handed her to me and left. The rest is history."

"Hmm," he said with a nod. "So they're infectious. I always suspected..."

"Cats or joined Trills?" a chuckle.

Andy paused for a long moment, considering the question. And how much he found himself amused by Commander Aix's personality and sense of humor. "Maybe both," he conceded.

"You've met Aix?" she was nearly finished with the scan.

Andy broke into a laugh. The irony of her going straight to Aix as the joined Trill of choice was not lost upon him. "I performed his physical."

"Whaat?" she asked as she returned the enhancer probe back into its socket with a chuckle and handed the tricorer back to him. "Healthy."

"I was worried." He nodded for her to sit on the biobed next to his. "What do I need to know?" he asked as he activated the tricorder and calibrated it for Bajorans.

"Took a shrapnel to the base of my spine during the War. Healed up well and all, but it tugs when I'm particularly tired or not warmed up properly. Other than that, nothing." she said, "what were you worried about?"

"That you'd find that I'm carrying some deadly plague or am infested with some life sucking alien parasite." He shrugged at her stare, still studying her bio readings. "This is Starfleet. That sort of thing happens every Tuesday, according to the fleet medical logs..."

She chuckled softly. "You're weird."

"Maybe," he shrugged, then gestured toward the shrapnel displayed on the screen, shooting her a grin. "But at least I know when to duck."

"Touche." she smiled as she observed him work.

Once his scan was complete, he began to compile the reasons. "Have you been to the Danton sector lately?" he asked, raising a curious eyebrow. He transferred the readings to the monitor to show her. "It looks like you've developed antibodies to the Danto-D virus, but I don't see an infection in your medical record."

"No, I came here straight from Earth." she said with a frown, making her nasal ridges even more pronounced. "Hang on a second."

He paused from his studies of the antibodies and glanced back over at her expectantly.

"Check back to year before last. Special Diagnosis Unit. Immunization for Danto-D. I'd forgotten. Surprized it's still in my system." she said, "We had a case that presented as Vyckfal's Disease but was actually Danto-D. Everyone who'd come into contact had to be immunized."

Andy called up the records of her immunizations while at that post and found the reference. "All right then," he nodded in satisfaction, "we'll just update that in your record..." He tapped a few controls and the pertinent information was noted. "Everything else looks pretty good. Anything you'd like checked out?"

~Yes but you'll sue me for harassment for that~ she thought amusedly. "Nah, I think that's it."

"Harassment for what?" he wondered idly without looking at her, his attention still on her medical record.

Maliya gave a small laugh, "take your pick, sexual, child abuse, conduct unbecoming."

"Oh," he said with a nod. Then he paused as what she had said set in. "Wait, what?" He shot a look at her and noticed the grin directed toward him. Andy grinned and looked away again, redirecting his attention to her medical record. The redness in his face returned again, even deeper this time.

Maliya genuinely smiled this time, "Andy..." she ventured with the individual name awkwardly, "I was mostly teasing." she said gently.

"Mostly," he repeated with a snort, looking back at her and raising a skeptical eyebrow in amusement.

"I wasn't kidding about the serious eye-candy that you are." painfully blunt and unphased, the trademark Maliya.

"Thanks," he chuckled quietly, his face reddening even more. "I think...?" He paused, uncertain and questioningly mouthed the words 'eye-candy' to himself. It wasn't a phrase he was familiar with, but it sounded like it was meant to be complimentary.

Promtly she facepalmed, "Yes, it was a compliment." a chuckle followed, "I don't beat around the bush as you can see." she chuckled. "Or feel...or...oh you know."

The corner of his lip quirked upward, but the redness didn't fade. "You're great eye-candy too," he said, willing himself to stare only at the monitor. "I like your..." He rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

"Touch the real thing at least, so you can speak with experience." she chuckled refering to her nose.

"What makes you think I haven't before?" he asked with a teasing smirk.

She looked at him for a long moment, as if trying to read him. "You're too shy about it. But you can sense my intention...if you ever decide to take up the offer, my nose is here for you, my young friend." she chuckled.

Andy laughed, tapping away the final controls which would update and synchronize her medical chart. Then he paused, glancing at her suddenly in confusion. "Why are you thinking about weddings?"

"Never been to a Betazoid one, I hear you guys go naked." she said with a smirk.

He shook his head and chuckled quietly to himself. "Everyone is always so interested in our weddings..."

"And everyone gets hot and bothered over Bajoran noses. Your point?" she slipped off the bio bed and smoothed out her uniform.

"Which, perhaps," he began sagely, an amused gleam in his eyes, "may suggest that Bajorans shouldn't attend Betazoid weddings?"

"Fuck, didn't think about that." she paused suddenly and had a Eureka momemnt and did the 'Aha!', "Right, I've got it!" she said looking over at him, clearly running along with the joke.

"Dare I ask?" he raised a skeptical eyebrow.

She chuckled, "You'll know in due time, my young friend. In due time. Now, unless you've got other reasons, I think we can call it a day. I got some paperwork to do, and you got some clocking off to do."