SD: 961002.22 JL ( Cmdr. T Blake, Cmdr C. Blake)
Lathee
Cait was late getting home from work. Granted she told Toby she’d be a little later than normal as today was the start of the first free clinic, but this was bordering on extremely late even for her. It could be that she got tied up in an emergency given the nature of her profession and with communications still spotty and unreliable, she might not have been able to let him know. Finally he could sense her approach to their quarters.
The door opened, squealed open to be more precise and Cait stepped inside wincing as the door squealed shut again. “That’s new…I’m sorry I’m so late. I tried to com you but all it did was beep.” She was a bit pale with a tightness in her face that was only now relaxing.
The twin squeals, one from the door and one from his daughter alerted Toby that not only was Cait approaching but she was now home. He looked up from where he was fixing dinner for the three of them, the two fairy lizards already munching away on their flowers and fruits, taking in the state of his wife, the pan came off the heat and he made his way over to her, “Cait? What happened?”
Cait braced herself as their daughter launched herself at her mother. The little imp was caught and swung up into Cait’s arms as Jewel performed aerial loops around her pet. The required hugs, cuddles and belly bubbles were applied before Cait bent to set Rose on her feet.
Rose wrapped her arms around her mother, kissed her cheek, then patted her momma’s arm. “Poor Momma. Daddy make better. The toddler scampered off to her little room sensing that her parents needed her gone for the moment.
“Don’t laugh, but I was afraid to walk home by myself…” Cait moved into the safety of Toby’s embrace, resting her cheek against his chest. He could feel the trembling she fought to control. “I had…a rather unnerving encounter this evening.” In low tones the doctor filled her husband in with the details of her activities that night. “When I realized what was keeping me from coming home, I put a lid on my fear and just did it. I know it was silly to be afraid of walking alone. Really, I spent three months with someone trying to kill me day and night on Katan’ka.”
Toby held his wife and listened, ignoring dinner for the moment, then when she finished talking and he’d soothed her trembling he stepped away to move back to dinner, putting it back on the heat and resuming cooking, “Totally different situations Cait, and mentally you know this, however right not you’re not thinking about that. Katan’ka was a combat situation; you knew it was you went in with that thought. Here it’s supposed to be safe, it’s supposed to be alright. I don’t think anyone back at Starfleet realized just how bad it had gotten here, they don’t seem to think much about such things usually.”
Glancing over at Cait he turned his attention to making the gravy, “Rose requested chicken steak for dinner.”
“You do make a fab chicken steak. Much better than mine.” She moved to lean against the door jamb and watch him. “I realized today just how sheltered Starfleet had kept me. I’ve never seen anything like what I was shown at the clinic and a thorough investigation is going to be made to see if people are being turned away because they don’t the money the doctor is requiring. Jon’s delusion came from somewhere.”
Looking at Toby, Cait suddenly shook her head. “There I go changing the subject. This was one instance when I think my empathy was a liability. All I could feel was his emotional pain, I couldn’t pinpoint the source and it was so…powerful, I couldn’t really read his body language. I kept thinking you’d know what to say to him.”
“What you aren’t taking into account was until recently there was no Starfleet presence here, and no real Federation presence.” He starts to mash the potatoes, “It’s entirely possible that the doctor was not really Starfleet or Federation, and was only pretending to be so. He could also be so delusional and mentally imbalanced that he has it all wrong as to what happened.” He glances at Cait, “Another thing that we’ve all been sheltered from and that’s being hated on Federation planets. This is, nominally, a Federation planet, a Federation colony, and Starfleet and the Federation are very much not liked, and blamed for much. Because they’ve had to leave this colony on its own for this long.” He starts putting the food on the table and fixing up Rose’s plate. “It’ll be a long hard fight Cait, and I will need you to be on your best behavior, no more barfights.”
Cait nodded. “I’m not going in, guns blazing in righteous indignation but will do my best to find out the truth and try to get the situation on the road to correction if it proves true.” She studied her husband for a moment. “I’m going to say something you’ll probably want me to seek therapy for and I can’t believe I’m saying it but…Graves may not have been so wrong in his kleptomania as I’ve thought he was. I legitimately requisitioned the spare medical replicator on the Vimy because I knew they were heading for an overhaul and the one currently installed in sickbay is brand new and not the only one we have in operation. I think Graves has encountered situations and people in need where his hands were tied and he didn’t have things the people needed. That’s a terrible position for a healer to be in and it’ll wear down the nerves of a saint. I saw that on Katan’ka. When we got cut off and supplies were getting slim to none, personnel were lost that I knew if we had any of the supplies we were lacking, we could save them.”
“The civilians here have a right to be pissed off at Starfleet. After all, the things they would normally be getting has been siphoned off for the war effort and they suffered for it. That’s only one part of a whole long list of more.” Cait carefully measured out enough coffee for her and Toby to have a cup each. “Getting into a bar fight was the last thing on my mind when I headed into that bar. I haven’t felt the need to be rowdy since after Katan’ka, and I don’t count the time we were reliving puberty. I didn’t lay a hand on anyone until I got swatted into a wall like a bug by a bar chair wielding barbarian queen. I would have stayed down and tried to contact security if she hadn’t come over to kick me while I was down. After that the only thing I could think of to get us out of the mess was to incapacitate our foes. At first, I was a bit annoyed at getting into trouble I hadn’t started and had actually tried to stop but, when I thought it all the way through, I decided it was a good thing and that you my dear husband, are a genius.” She gave him one of the grins he knew so well.
“Why would I say you need therapy for thinking kindly of Doctor Graves for what he had done in the past?” He got Rose’s plate made up and called out “Princess your chicken steak is ready! Come eat it.” Then he got things for him and Cait ready so they can eat too. “A person can have good intentions even when they’re breaking the law, or ignoring the rules. The difference between a good man and a monster, the monster never accepts responsibility for their actions. A good man will.” He glanced at Cait, “The problem is, as it always has been with most good men who end up on the wrong side of the law, once their debt is paid, most people continue to hold it against them. After all, once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker, or so they think, no one bothers to look into the why only the result. Come eat.”
Cait sat down, chuckling softly. “My problem with Graves is not his kleptomania. It never has been. That’s between him and Starfleet as far as I’m concerned. My problem has been how he’s treated me and his staff. I’ll be the first to say he’s a crack surgeon, one of the best I’ve ever seen, better than me in a lot of ways.” Cait furrowed her brow in thought. “I wonder who doubted him so much that he feels the need to constantly seek validation with his arrogant attitude…” She shrugged and turned her attention to the wonderful meal that Toby set in front of her.
Cmdr. Tobias Blake
Liaison
Cmdr. Caitlin Blake
Medical Director