Just Keep Swimming

Posted on Fri Jul 15th, 2022 @ 10:40am by Ensign George Paxton & NVeid tr'Rehu

Mission: Character Development
Location: Holodeck 2
Timeline: In between missions
2503 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

"You have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this," George dropped his towel on one of the lounge chairs and dove straight into the deep end of the pool. It had been a long day, and swimming was the perfect way to relax.

"Howso? That bad a day?" NVeid asked as he too dove in.

"Just busy, not all of us engineers are workaholics you know," George chuckled. "Has everything been working out okay since this afternoon?" He asked gently motioning towards NVeid's eye.

"Yes thank you. The dizziness has passed as has my headache. My vision appears to have normalized. I hope I didn't burden you too much with such a personal affair?" He lazily paddled to the side of the pool as he regarded the young engineer.

"Of course not. I enjoy any opportunity to learn something new, besides it was a welcomed reprieve from the millions of analyses we're running to try to find traces of sabotage that the clone might have left."

"How's Finn dealing with all of that? I understand she had a very hard time but this ship is pretty much her baby isn't it?" The Romulan offered a sad smile. "I know she's aching to get back to work even though right now she really shouldn't. I hope all of you are making sure she doesn't overdo it?"

George made a face as he thought carefully about what to say, not wanting to divulge any information that might get his chief in trouble. "Yes, the Athena is her baby, along with Benedict," George smiled. "I will say that she hasn't worked any overtime in engineering since she's been back." Not that she doesn't do it from her quarters, he thought to himself. "I know she's been dying to get back in a surfing program on the holodeck, but she hasn't done that yet either, which is good right?"

"I don't know," NVeid answered honestly, "I don't know what surfing is so I can't really judge. But it's good that she hasn't gone beyond her limits. She needs rest more than anything right now."

"Surfing is basically where you're on a large board, you paddle out in the ocean to where the waves are a good size. Then you position yourself in front of it and paddle until the wave picks you up, at which point you push yourself to a standing position and ride it until the wave dies. I've only tried it once and I was pretty awful at it," George shrugged. "What were you thinking for tonight? Laps, a race, both?"

"Both? And I've never been surfing...is it fun?" He pushed up to the side and haitled himself out, water cascading down into the pool as he did. "Did you enjoy your leave? Do anything fun?"

"I think it's more fun the better you are at it," George chuckled. "Maybe we should try it sometime." He casually paddled to the end of the pool to start a lap. "I had a good time on leave. I signed up for that tournament, which was interesting. Besides that I just hiked and ate too much delicious food. Have you had a chance to talk wth your son since we got back on the ship?"

"No. They're out of immediate communication range right now. I'll be able to exchange messages again when they get home." NVeid got up on the block and positioned himself, ready for the count down. "All on your own?" He queried curiously. Obviously, he'd heard some rumours but he didn't want to appear to be prying.

"I spent some of it on my own, the rest I spent with Senior Chief Petty Officer Malone," he said with a giddy smile before pushing off from the wall and swimming his first lap. "What about you? Did you spend time with anyone other than your son?"

"Sadly no." As George pushed off, NVeid performed a graceful, almost splatter-less dive into the pool. It.took several strong strokes before resurfaced and ploughed towards the other side of the pool. "Unfortunately right now there isn't anyone that has really caught my interest, romantically speaking that is." He smiled as he circled back on the opposite side of the pool. "Sounds like you found someone though..."

"Are the rumors spreading already?" George feigned a look of shock, knowing word traveled fast on a ship. "But yes, I believe I have. I consider myself quite lucky, to be honest. I'm sure you will find someone in time as well," he smiled once more before kicking off the wall and swimming a few consecutive laps.

"I don't know but I can sense your happiness. It's hanging like a cloud around you. I'm not actively looking for someone, so we'll see. But I'm happy you have found someone to be with."

"Thanks, I am too. Maybe my happy cloud will rub off on others," George kicked off again to swim. "I think I'm relatively warmed up. Shall we race?" He asked after emerging from the water.

"Oh I was under the impression we already were," the Romulan chuckled as he went over to the side and pulled himself out again. His greenish skin glistened with water droplets in the artificial light as he walked. "What is a happy cloud, and can clouds do that?"

"You're the one that said my happiness is like a cloud hanging around me," George laughed as he too exited the water. "I do believe that happiness can be infectious though. How many laps are we doing?" He asked, bending down into position on the starting block.

"Oh true," the Romulan admitted in regards to the cloud comment. "I don't know.... Four?" He positioned himself too. "Computer, vocal count down from three." As the count down ended, he dove forward and sailed through the water, coming up several strokes later.

George emerged shortly after, out of breath as he tried his best to keep up with the Romulan. "Great race, NVeid. Clearly, I need to spend more time in here if I ever plan to beat you at a race."

"You do," the older male confirmed. "Though I'll have you know I'm still not at peak performance. It took me quite some time to be able to swim again to begin with, after I was... Severely injured. A lot of practice, and perseverance...and many a time, I wanted to give up."

George simply nodded. It was obvious the man didn't want to discuss his injuries though George was curious as to what had happened. "I'm very glad you didn't give up. If you had, I'd be missing out on a good swimming buddy."

"I know you are curious..." The words were soft spoken as NVeid stopped swimming. "It's Human nature to be, I've found. A few years ago, I was held captive by my own people, on a charge of treason. I was tortured, to the point of death. They revived me...and did it all again. It is how I lost my eye... They thought it was a toy, to play with...I think. I recall laughter...and it wasn't pleasant." He fell still and even forgot to tread water for a moment, causing him to disappear below the surface.

George waited patiently for NVeid to resurface and even then let a moment of silence linger before speaking. "I'm sorry that happened to you NVeid," his tone was compassionate and his whole posture gave off a sense of kindness. He truly felt for the man. "I can't imagine how difficult that must have been. How difficult it must still be for you to live with that."

"Finn probably can..." NVeid guessed, his voice a bare whisper now. "Nearly my entire blood volume was lost... I'm grateful to whoever had the sense of keeping my blood in stock for auto transfusion in a just in case scenario. I do it here too...just in case in the hope to never need it myself."

"I..." George's face twisted in sorrow. "I hadn't really thought about it like that. Finn is always so strong, I think I just assumed she could handle anything thrown her way." He realized that he hadn't really checked in on her outside of work and that perhaps he should have. "Beyond that, she never seems to need or want help for personal matters. Even you, I never noticed that you had an assistive device for seeing until you came in with an issue." He shook his head. "Can I ask how you ever moved past what happened?"

"That's why we need to keep an eye on her... because she's keeping up the brave face. But I know different, I don't need to sense it to know it." He fell silent for a moment. "I've never fully moved past it, I don't think I ever will. But I had friends who helped me to keep going because..." Shame coloured his face and he allowed himself to sink a little in the hope of cooling off a little. "After being humiliated as I was, after being made to feel like nothing.. I wanted to be nothing, I wanted to not be the burden I was made to feel. I wanted to cease to exist...so I..." He paused again. "I think I already told you this...or I may not have.. I don't recall who does or doesn't know, not that it matters..."

"It does matter because you matter NVeid. You are a wonderful person. I know it can't be easy, but I'm grateful that you're still fighting," George spoke with tenderness, trying to reassure the Romulan.

"It doesn't matter who knows," NVeid amended, "at the time I thought I did what everyone expected...and I gave up. Thankfully, a nurse paid attention." The compassion he senses and felt waving from the other man was almost overwhelming and it brought tears to his eyes. "I fight, but the demons remain."

"You don't have to fight them alone you know. You have friends here, including me. I'm always here should you need someone," George gave him a soft smile. Though they had already been friends before, George felt as though he had grown quite close to him in the past few moments with the surgeon and his heart ached for the struggle that NVeid carried with him every day.

"I'm alright now.. it's just difficult to talk about it. Most days are easy and some are just...bad. it's not something I like to discuss because I know the hurt it causes. Not just to myself but to those listening too. You're hurting, because I'm hurting as I tell you. And that's unfair."

"I bet Finn feels the same way and that's why she never tells anyone anything. The pain I feel as you tell me is sorrow, that you had to go through such a harrowing tale. That doesn't mean I don't want to be here for you. Maybe you don't think it's fair, but friendship isn't about fairness. It's about being there for one another in your time of need. Let me be there for you when you need someone to listen. I promise it hurts me less than it does you and if listening will help you feel better then it's worth it," George lent a smile. "Remember, I have a whole cloud of happiness right now, I'm sure I can share some of it."

"I never had a great many friends," NVeid confessed, "not growing up, not during my time with the Tal Shiar, nor after accepting service on a starship. I was the outsider. The oddity... Since coming to the federation, I had a few friends, perhaps one or two I could call close. One...I almost married, but I let her go to let her pursue her dream. I had just gotten Jarron and I couldn't unsettle him again."

"That must have been difficult," George said. "You must be a very good father to him, to have given up another love."

"At the times, I was all he had. His father had just died, and he was sent to me as I was the one who rescued him from the Romulans...my superiors." His expression hardened at that particular memory, another which had almost cost him his life. "Jarron was all I had too, in terms of family, at the time. I didn't want her to regret not taking the leap and then blame me forever for missing her chance. You have to understand, she was much younger than I." A small smile now touched his lips. "How old do you think I am?"

"I'm not sure. I know romulans live longer than humans. Maybe 60?" George guessed.

"Not quite," NVeid chuckled, his mood lightening. "I'm fifty-one standard years old. And I'm not full Romulan, my father is Betazoid."

"Ahh right, I keep forgetting that. You seem wise beyond your fifty-one years then," George chuckled before letting out a small sigh. "What do you say we swim a few more laps? Then I think I'd better check on Finn."

"Sure. I'm not sure I'm wise.... experienced is probably a better word. Sometimes, I do feel old." Taking a deep breath now to center himself he lazily swam to the side. "I don't really feel like racing anymore tonight," he confessed.

"Fair enough," George swam a last lap to the deep end of the pool and then pulled himself out of the water to dry off. "Thank you for trusting me enough to share your story," he said as he grabbed a towel to dry off.

Nodding, NVeid pulled himself from the water as well and pulled on a robe. "Thank you, for listening. If you see Finn, tell her she's always welcome to come to me if she needs a kindred spirit?"

"You could join me if you'd like," George offered. "I fully expect to be turned away at the door and since she's my superior officer there isn't much I can do about it, but we can try," he smiled.

"And you think she'll want to see her surgeon in her off hours?" NVeid got himself dressed as he spoke, dropping the robe to pull a shirt over his head.

"I don't think she'll want to see anyone at all, but she's more likely to talk to you than me. I'm in her chain of command. " George thought for a moment before putting his clothes on. "How are we supposed to keep an eye on her when she's so secluded?"

"I don't know. We can't force her to allow us to keep her company. And I daresay she won't appreciate a ruse."

"I guess the best we can do then is try. I still think you're more likely to break through than I am, but it's up to you," George slipped on his flip flops and headed for the door.

Doing the same, NVeid slung his damp robe across his shoulder. "Computer, end program."