Lieutenant JG Roy Bancroft - Light the Way

[Carter Schimpff]

(( Primary Sickbay, Deck 7 – USS Artemis-A ))

Bancroft: =/\= ::quietly:: But I figured… you were at least still practicing? ::beat, tilting his head slightly:: You’re not the type to sit on your hands while you have the skills to help people in need. I refuse to believe that. =/\= 

Gila didn’t look back at him, just quietly shook her head.

Sadar: =/\= I, uhh... N-No, I-I’m- ::clears throat:: D-Did the transition go well? I left, uhh, n-notes for my ongoing patients. I-I hope there were no issues. =/\=

Bancroft: =/\= Your notes were immaculate. Just like always. ::a beat, soft but steady:: That’s not what I asked, though. ::leaning further forward:: I asked whether you were still practicing. =/\=

She twisted her anxiety ring slowly. The question lingered like smoke in a sealed room – unwelcome, but impossible to wave away.

Sadar: =/\= I, appreciate the consideration, Doctor… ::looks down at her hands:: W-Well, I’m d-doing disciplinary duties a-at the moment, and I have m-my nephew to look after, s-so- =/\=

Bancroft: =/\= Those sound like good reasons. And true ones, I’m sure. ::long pause:: But they’re not the reason, are they? =/\=

Sadar: =/\= I’m not- ::looks back up at him:: ... I don’t know. Who would want to be treated by a doctor like me? B-Besides, the DS224 medical staff is very competent. =/\=

Roy sat with that for a moment.

His hand rose instinctively to smooth the edge of his mustache – a gesture born of stillness, not vanity. Her voice hadn’t cracked on the words, but something else had. Something underneath. And he felt it break as though it were in his own chest.

Who would want to be treated by a doctor like me?

Not dramatic. Just devastating.

Not in how it was said – but in how plainly she believed it.

The DS224 medical staff is very competent.

oO I’m sure they are. Oo

A wall thrown up around her shame, hastily mortared with reason. But he wasn’t interested in tearing it down. Not yet.

Now was the time to hold still. To breathe with the wound.

To tell her what he saw.

Bancroft: =/\= ::softly, earnestly:: I would. I did. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat. =/\=

He stood – not to intimidate, not to create distance, but because the weight of his own emotion had become too much to bear sitting down.

Bancroft: =/\= You stood by me when everything was falling apart. When I’d made a mistake I expected to end my career. You could have so easily been rid of me – run me up the mast, or out of the fleet with one stroke of a stylus. =/\=

He stopped before the console, hands resting on its edges as though grounding himself.

Bancroft: =/\= But, you didn’t. You saw something in me. Something worth saving. Worth redeeming. That’s the doctor I remember. =/\=

Sadar: =/\= Response =/\=

Roy exhaled – not a sigh, not quite – but the kind of breath that carried the ghost of frustration. Gila Sadar: as stubborn in self-contamination as she was in conviction.

Bancroft: =/\= ::sternly:: I reject that, Doctor Sadar. Fear doesn’t make you a villain, and proactively naming yourself a villain doesn’t make you a hero. It just lets the wound fester where nobody can see. =/\=

Sadar: =/\= Response =/\=

Her response cut through him – not for cruelty, but by despair. And suddenly, the sting was personal.

He’d treated patients crushed beneath rubble, writhing in pain, unable to see their own bodies – and this, somehow, hurt more. She was speaking from beneath a collapse only she could see, convinced the damage was too severe to mend.

Or, worse, that she wasn’t worth mending in any case.

Bancroft: =/\= You were drowning, alone, and terrified of your own skin. That’s not a recipe for great decision-making. ::beat:: And I’m not here to excuse what you did – that’s not mine to give. That kind of absolution can only come from within. =/\=

He sat back down – not just physically, but emotionally – his voice gentler now, grief-laced but unwavering.

Bancroft: =/\= I’m here to do for you what you once did for me – shine a light on the path. I can’t walk it for you. But I will walk beside you. =/\=

Sadar: Response

TAG/TBC!

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Lieutenant JG Roy Bancroft

Medical Officer

USS Artemis-A

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