Lt. Langston Physical-ly Meets the CMO

Posted on 01 Jul 2016 @ 4:32am by Lieutenant JG Felix Langston & Commander Jayla Kij

1,608 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Risky Business
Location: Sick Bay
Timeline: MD 3 - 1000 hours

Lt. Felix Langston came to his room on Deck Two with his foot locker in hand and bag slung over his shoulder. Well, this is it, he thought. The doors opened with a soft whoosh as he approached. He took a look around and smiled to himself; this was one transfer that he wasn't going to regret making. He threw his bag down on the bed and put his foot locker beside it. There would be time for unpacking later, he had some things to do first.

First on his list was his transfer physical in Sick Bay. He opened his bag and dug out a PADD with the ship's information on it. He had been so busy since the briefing that he forgot to look at a layout of the ship. He hoped the information on his PADD was still accurate. He looked down, Deck Four, sounds good to me. He tucked his PADD under his arm and headed to the turbo lift. A slight hiss greeted him as he stepped through the door.

"Deck Four," he called to the computer. The computer answered in an affirmative beep and the lift made a small whirr as it moved down. The doors opened and Felix stepped onto Deck Four. Some of the other officers were hurriedly moving down the hallway, making preparations for the ship's imminent launch. Felix wished he could be on the bridge to pilot it out of the Starbase, but he wasn't scheduled to be on duty yet.

Felix followed the directions on his PADD right up to the doors of Sick Bay which whooshed open to reveal a bustling medical bay as the doctors and nurses rushed to get things prepped for the launch. Felix just stood in the doorway, hoping that he wouldn't disturb anyone. He raised a hand halfway up to try to get someone's attention.

"Um, excuse me," he said quietly. "My name's Lt. Langston, I'm...uh...here for my physical."

Jayla glanced over and grinned to herself. She handed the PaDD in her hand to the nurse she'd been speaking with and hurried over to Langston. "Hello," she said, giving him a characteristic smile. "I'm Doctor Kij. Come with me."

Felix followed the bubbly brunette in front of him. He looked around at the bio-beds and instrument panels adorning the walls, swallowing a slight gulp. Physicals are necessary, he thought to himself, just sit still when she tells you and be done with it.

Felix spoke up. "I'm all yours, Doctor, just tell me what to do."

"I love when men say that," she joked. "Hop right up here," she said, patting the nearest bio bed.

Felix smiled and chuckled to himself as he did just what the smiling Trill asked. He sat up as straight as he could on the bio-bed and tried to see the readings on the panels that were nearby. The chips and buzzes of the computer consoles were like a familiar symphony and it helped him feel more at ease in his new home. This CMO seemed cheerful enough already, maybe he could find a home here.

"So, Doctor," he said, "I'm guessing you have a name to go with those spots."

"I told you," said Jayla with another grin. "Doctor Kij. Or did you mean a first name? That's Jayla," she added, taking out her tricorder and starting her scans.

"I'm so sorry," Felix said, "I got so distracted by y'all's setup in here that I guess I forgot you said that." He shifted himself, trying not to move too much as the Doctor scanned him. "As long as you're offering that first name, I'd be happy to hear it," he said, trying his best to smile and play it off.

"I just said it," she laughed. "Jayla. You're awfully distracted. Or are you always like this?"

"Again, I'm terribly sorry," Felix said to the jovial doctor. "Truth be told, I'm just really jittery. This is my first day at this post. I didn't think I'd be accepted as the Chief Flight Control Officer; this is a big day for me. I still have yet to meet the Captain and the XO." Felix smiled as the doctor's blinking tricorder wove in and out of the air around his face and shoulders.

"Ah, they're big softies," Jayla replied with another grin- or perhaps just a wider version of the same one. "Well, the Captain is, anyway. I haven't had much chance to talk to the XO, yet. He's new."

Felix raised his eyebrows into a slight curl and nodded his head. "Softies, huh?" he said. "Interesting. I'll have to keep that in mind. What else can you tell me about this ship?"

"It's small enough that everyone knows everyone else's business," she told him, thinking about the rumors that were still circulating about her personal life. "So as long as you don't mind not having secrets, you should be okay." She finished the preliminary scans and went on to the secondaries.

"No," Felix said, "no secrets here. My life's pretty much an open book. I've pretty much been on display since I was a kid. Not easy to have secrets when your old man is an admiral at Starfleet Command." He shifted a little bit as the scans continued. "Oh," he interjected, "something you may not pick up on that scanner, I have an allergy to cats. No one has one on board, do they?"

"There are five that I know of," she said. "Is it a severe allergy? I mean, will their dander on other people's clothes bother you?"

Felix answered, "It's nothing terrible. It only gets really bad when the cats rub against me, which they always seem to do when I'm in the room. It's like they know I'm allergic and they want to make me suffer."

"Try fidgeting and staring at them," she suggested. "People who are allergic to cats or just don't like them tend to go very still and not look at them. To a cat, that's tantamount to friendship. They're backwards sort of creatures. They ignore their friends because there's no danger from them and they can't eat them. They pay attention to prey or possible predators, so if you stare at them, they'll think you're hunting them. Fidgeting helps because then you don't have a nice still lap for them to jump into."

Felix nodded again. "That's good to know, I never would've thought of that. I usually just try to avoid them altogether," he said, trying not to fidget during this exam.

"I've owned several cats in the past," she replied, turning her attention back to the scans. She frowned at one of the readings. "So," she said casually. "You do any boxing?"

Well, he thought, no sense in hiding it now. "Yeah, I'm a boxer," he said, "although I'm mostly retired now. I was an amateur champion in my youth. Ironically, my name was Felix 'The Cat' Langston. My trainer gave me the name because I had a purr-fect right hook. I was also pretty nimble. What gave the boxing away?"

"Aside from the facial scarring, a couple perichondrial hematomas on the right ear," she answered. "Also known as cauliflower ear. I can drain the hematomas and reattach the skin to the cartilage, which should take care of it, but we'll have to keep an eye on it."

Felix winced a little bit as the doctor read off the injuries he'd sustained when he was younger. However, he perked up a little when the doctor mentioned her form of treatment. "Really?" he said. "No one's offered to do that for me before. Is it something we need to take care of right away?"

"Not immediately, if you don't want to, but it should be as soon as possible," answered Jayla. "We can schedule something for a later date, if you prefer."

"That'd probably be best," Felix said. "How long will it take to recover?"

"You'll be back on duty the following day," Jayla promised. "Granted, you'll have to take it easy on the physical activity for a few days- and definitely no boxing."

Felix smiled at the doctor and sheepishly replied, "As you wish, Doc. I guess I'll have to postpone my upcoming holographic bout with Roy Jones Jr. Let's schedule something for next week, this hasn't given me any trouble so far."

"Not surprising," she replied. "They typically don't for a very long time, but can cause permanent damage if left untreated. I'll check the schedule and get you on there. For now, I'm declaring you fit for duty."

Felix hopped off the bio-bed and onto Sick Bay's floor. "Thanks, Doc!" he said. "Is that all you need from me?"

"That's all for today," she said. "I'll be in touch about the hematoma."

Felix smiled at the joyful Trill. "Well, as far as Docs go, you're the nicest one I've ever met," Felix said. "Thanks for everything, and for help with the ears." He turned and walked towards the doors of Sick Bay.

Jayla grinned again as he left. It wasn't the first time she'd been told she was unusually friendly and cheerful for a doctor. Maybe that's why she'd become a doctor in the first place- so there would be at least one cheerful one.

She turned to head to her office, but found Nurse Lane standing between her and her office, arms crossed. "Fine, I'm going," she relented, instead heading for Sick Bay doors. This half shift stuff was starting to wear on her.

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