What A Day...

Posted on 27 Nov 2016 @ 10:32pm by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler

2,221 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Geisler/Corwin's Quarters
Timeline: MD 11 || 0115 hours

Once making sure their newest prisoner... until it was decided what would be done with him... was secure in the brig with a guard, Joey made her way to the quarters she shared with Harvey. Of course, he would be referred to as Captain Geisler since this was an official meeting, and instead of just walking in, she reached out to press the chime. It might have seemed a foolish thing to do, but she didn't know if he was already speaking with someone on the other side.

Harvey had been in his quarters long enough to change out of his Away Team gear into a white t-shirt and a pair of sleep pants when the door chime sounded. He'd just walked back out into the living room with Rico and Pequeno in tow.

"Who could that be?" Harvey asked, stopping himself from sitting on the couch. He looked back to Rico to see he'd already obtained a sock from his away mission, and Harvey didn't have to imagine how bad it smelled. "Come in!" he called out, not looking at the door and shaking his head at Rico.

Joey walked in with the PADD in hand and stopped just far enough inside the door for it to close behind her. She didn't really know what to expect upon entering, but seeing Harvey ready for bed wasn't even in the top three. Then again... it was late, and after what he'd just been through, he deserved the chance to sleep. Perhaps, the news she had for him would help with that. "Before you look at me like I've grown a second head, I didn't know if you would be talking to anyone, and didn't wish to burst in on anything important."

With that being said, she glanced toward the two dogs before closing the distance between her and Harvey. "I just escorted our guest back to his cell after talking to him. He was a bit resistant to talking in the beginning, but that changed rather quickly. He handed over a chip," she said, holding the PADD out to him. "We have a contact and coordinates."

Harvey took the PADD but didn't look at it yet. "I know this is doubling as my office, but it's still our home. I also know we haven't told anyone about us, but word will get out sooner or later. You have every right to barge in," he told her with a reassuring smile. He was tired, but even after a day like today, there was little need to stick with so many formalities. They survived, and though they weren't out of this yet, Harvey felt if his posture remained straight for one more second, he might break in half.

"I'll remember that for next time," she said, offering him a smile as she settled down on the couch. It wasn't long before their two canine companions made their way over to where she sat to get some attention from her. Even though they hadn't been gone long, to Rico and Pequeno, it felt like a lifetime. Joey scooped the little black ball of fur up and placed him on her lap just as the larger white dog jumped up next to her, leaving room on her other side for Harvey to sit if he chose to.

Joey gently scratched both of her furry boys and leaned back. Like Harvey, she was tired. There was something about engaging in a fight the size they'd been in along with basically running for their lives that drained a person. Physically, mentally and emotionally. Still, she needed to unwind before there was any hope she'd fall asleep. "I have to tell you... there was, and is, no way in hell I'm going to let those bastards have you or this ship," she said, looking up at him. Joey knew she had problems talking about things she felt, but it was something she knew she needed to work on, and what better time? "You mean a lot to me, Harvey, and I promise that as long as there's breath in my body nothing will happen to you."

He sat down beside her and placed a hand on her knee. "Thank you," he told her. "You mean more than you know to me. I would do the same for you in a heartbeat. Believe it or not, I was prepared to go with that backstabbing Karemma back to his father if it meant I could get to the Cochrane and its crew."

"I know you were, and you had to know there was no way I was going to let that happen," Joey said, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek. "Thankfully, there was another way. Soon, we'll have our people back, then we can go home." She gestured to the PADD he held in his hand. "I think this is what we'll need to get them. After you've had the chance to look it over, I'll bring it to the officer on duty so we can get under way."

Harvey looked down at the PADD in his hand and powered it up. The information displayed in the typical Karemma script. It took only a moment to translate it to Federation Standard. With the computer still coming back up, star charts were unavailable. However, Harvey didn't need any charts to know where this led. In fact, all he could do was chuckle. The chuckle soon turned into a full belly laugh.

Unable to help herself, Joey looked at him with a raised brow. "What's so funny?"

Still laughing, Harvey handed her the PADD. It took a couple more moments to finally calm down and compose himself. "All that work, all of this guessing, and the Cochrane is in the one place we all want to go." He pointed at the screen and tapped on the coordinates. "Those will lead us to an asteroid field. But it's not just any asteroid field. It's Unity."

"Unity?" Joey found herself asking in disbelief as she glanced at the screen. Things just kept getting more and more interesting the further they got into things, but the proof was right there. She knew the coordinates, but why hadn't she recognized them before now? Exhaustion. "I should probably get these to the officer on duty, then. You get some sleep. You deserve it."

Harvey yawned. "If only," he muttered. He looked at her for a moment before clapping his hand on her knee twice and standing. "We're not far from Unity. Maybe ten or twelve hours. No, there's too much to be done." With that, he retreated to the bedroom to change into uniform.

Placing Pequeno back on the floor and giving each dog one more pet, Joey rose to her feet and followed behind him. "Ten to twelve hours? That's more than enough time for you to sleep for a few before you jump back into it. What happened on Razmena was pretty traumatizing, honey, and you should try to rest for a little while. There will still be plenty of time to do everything that needs to be done before we get there if you trust your crew," she said, closing the distance between them. "Call the bridge officer with our new coordinates, then close your eyes for a while. I will, too."

She needed to start expressing things verbally, because he wasn't a Betazoid. "If we all keep going the way we have been, mistakes could be made. I really don't think I could handle it if anything happened to you. Please?"

He sighed, not because of her comments, but because he was certainly fatigued. They'd been through a lot in the last four days, and he hadn't slept that much. "How can I rest when the Cochrane isn't yet safe?" he asked her, turning around to face her. He made no attempt to mask his fatigue, much less the weight on his shoulders. "Especially since we're closer to them than we thought."

Joey frowned. She knew he wanted to keep going, but her conscience told he he needed to rest for a few hours before the former doctor ended up a patient. "They're going to need you at your best. Standing here, you look like you're about to pass out where you are. None of us knows what we're going to encounter when we get there," she said, moving over to him to take his hands. "An hour?" She would have preferred a few, but she knew he was eager. "We can be on our way while you rest. I know you're the Captain, but this ship has an amazing crew. Trust that if something happens, you will be alerted."

Harvey shook his head. "We're all in the same boat," he told her. "The entire crew needs rest. Just as I'm no good to them without sleep, they're no good to me without it either." He leaned against the bulkhead and closed his eyes, trying to think of the best course of action. The operations team would still be spending the next hour making sure the computer was properly configured, but at least the ship was back under her own power.

"You're right," Joey said, moving to the closet to grab a clean uniform. At some point, she needed to get to Sickbay and have her mouth taken care of, but that would have to wait. There were more important things that had to be done. "I'll increase patrols once we're closer to our destination. Just in case anyone tries to be brave." With him, there was no need to feel shame, so she shed her away team gear to begin putting her uniform on.

He remained unmoved, trying to think about their options. And, what he needed to do, but his mind just wasn't clear. "Joey..." he said softly, shoving off the bulkhead before walking over to stand beside her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "You are also right. I've been awake for twenty hours, and it feels like twenty days. The rest of the crew isn't much better. Tack on twelve more hours of transit time, and we're just not going to be any good for anyone."

Joey stopped with her uniform shirt still in hand. "That's what I've been trying to say. You can order split rotations for all departments until we get where we're going just so everyone has some time to rest. You're the Captain. You can make this work, and it will work."

Sighing, he knew he didn't have much other choice. "We'll sleep," he told her. He let go and moved over to his side of the bed where he'd set his combadge earlier. He tapped it, saying, "Geisler to bridge."

=/\= "th'Daven here," =/\= came back the response of the officer of the watch.

"Ensign, as soon as we're up an running, set a course for Starbase Unity. Maximum warp."

There was silence on the other side of the channel for a moment. =/\= "Captain... are you..." =/\=

"You have your orders, Ensign. Also, inform Administration to have the Senior Staff assemble in the Briefing Room in three hours. Geisler out."

Rather than Joey bother getting dressed again, she moved over to him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "It's all going to work out," she said, climbing onto her side of the bed after pulling the covers back. "I promise you that." She settled back on her pillow and pat the bed next to her.

He knew she was right, but it didn't help him feel any better. In fact, as he climbed into the bed, he could feel every ounce of his fatigue. Even the bedspread felt heavier than normal. It had been months since his body had taken punishment like what he'd been through today. "I just can't wait to get home," he told her. For the first time in years, he missed Earth, sunshine, the breeze whistling through his hair... "We'll get there," he said, his body and mind starting to shut down.

"We will, and when we do, we'll go straight to the ocean and relax on the beach for a while," she said softly, moving toward him just to be able to know he was there without actually invading his personal space. Soon her eyes closed and she found herself relaxing to the point she fell asleep almost immediately.

Though he was almost asleep, Harvey noticed she'd stopped talking. Opening his eyes and squinting in the dim room, he saw her sleeping form beside him. His mind started to wander, wondering if Joey were not in his life what the last few days would have been like. He was certain that they would be quite different. Jackson and Kylar would have wrecked havoc on the Black Hawk after they'd arrived in this forsaken universe. He probably would have died on that station, or worse, taken prisoner. Part of her job was to keep him safe, though he couldn't question now her motives. There was more than duty that compelled them both now.

Harvey sighed once more before closing his eyes again. She was more than what he needed. And though he couldn't yet say it to Joey, there was no doubt that he loved her. For now, they had to sleep. Three hours would pass very quickly.

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