Impromptu Therapy

Posted on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 @ 10:23pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Mason Malone & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko

Mission: Character Development
Location: Security Section
1490 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

Xavier left engineering feeling a shade uneasy. He liked O'Connell, he was uncomplicated and just seemed to be a good man who wanted to do a good job in his new role. In many ways, he was the typical Starfleet officer, hoping to make connections with his new colleagues and perform his duties to the best of his ability. Xavier admired this, after all, he too was the same when he first became Chief of Operations, despite the circumstances being far from ideal. He thought about that beach on Betazed and shuddered. His memories were now a mash-up of his family's greatest hits and he knew it would take a while for his head to make sense of it all.

He stepped into the turbolift and stood for a moment, uncertain of where he wanted to go. His meeting with O'Connell had naturally made him think of Finn, which made him think of the way she left and all the people she had left behind, which made him think of her friends. "Deck Seven."

Xavier stepped out near the security offices and made his way around the deck. He passed Dash along the way and he nodded at the Trill, but he didn't stop, Kevan wasn't whom he had come to see. Eventually, he came across the very man he was here for, near the armoury. "Hey Mason, how's it going?" He asked casually.

The security officer looked tired but offered a smile anyway before throwing a quick glance past Xavier see if Dash was keeping an eye on him. Remembering a rebuke about rank and duty from the Trill, Mason decided to keep it professional since he was on duty. "Lieutenant Leiko," he greeted formally, "what brings you to security, sir?"

Xavier grinned at Mason's formality. "Honestly no reason other than to make sure you're okay," the Betazoid said. "I know that Finn leaving must have affected you, you two were pretty close."

"It did sir," Mason answered after a moment of consideration. "We were, she's my best friend. And it kinda hurt that she just up and left like she did. I wanted to find her but George thankfully has more sense than I do." He offered a sad smile. "He's less impulsive than I," he clarified. "You were close too right? She told me about Benedict on a number of occasions."

"Malone, Mason," Xavier quickly corrected. "I'm here as a friend, please stop calling me Sir." Xavier wasn't too fond of the title that came with running his own department, especially during informal conversations. He thought back to only a few weeks ago when he continued to call Finn Sir after her promotion, despite her protests. The memory made him sad. "Yeah we were close," he finally said, snapping himself out of his reverie. "She was great for bouncing ideas off and drinking rum," he added with a smirk. "I think George was right though, going after her would have been a mistake."

"I know..." Mason sighed, "he was right to stop me. He said it would've destroyed my career and he's probably right." He looked up at the Betazoid offering a sad smile. "She's my mud buddy and we shared a few movie nights." He realized the first might need a bit more elaboration. "Mud obstacle courses, we ran quite a number of them, it's great fun and exercise. Do you think she'll come back?"

"A mud obstacle course?" He repeated a look of pure disdain on his face. "That sounds awful. Good luck replacing her on that," he said with a grin so as to not hurt the man's feelings any more than they currently were. "I honestly don't know," he said in response to Mason's question. "I like to think so, but then I didn't think she would leave in this way. I guess we really didn't know what was going on his her head." But I should have, I'm a bloody telepath!

"I knew she was upset.... I've tried to help, but it didn't help any did it?" He shook his head. "It also didn't exactly help that I killed her clone either. She felt horrible about that too, and you getting hurt." He sized the man up for a moment. "You didn't have any lasting injury from that, did you?" He bit his lip. "I uhm... I heard about your telepathy. And I know how she feels about people reading her too... Don't feel bad sir, none of us saw this coming."

Xavier rolled his eyes. "Finn would blame herself if the ship dropped out of warp a second later than the Captain ordered it to." It was ironic that the first time he had met the engineer she was basically sabotaging the ship. "No lasting damage thankfully. If you hadn't killed the clone, she would have killed me, I owe you my life, Mason." He purposely skipped talking about his telepathy. He liked Mason but he didn't know the man well enough to talk about something that was personal to him and still rather raw.

"No you don't. I was doing my duty as security officer. I'm just sorry I didn't catch on sooner. The clone played her part really well. Too well, I didn't catch the difference in her mannerisms when I really should've." Mason shook his head in denial. "I'm glad I got there in time, and Finn was back in time for your egg to hatch. What was that like? She never did tell me."

"We never got to see it," Xaver replied, a touch of sadness in his voice. "It was too dangerous to let him hatch on the ship and the Commander wouldn't let us go." He shook his head, banishing that particular thought from his mind. He knew Zora had her reasons but damn, Finn really needed that day, and so did he really. "Benny was the only one who knew Clone Finn wasn't our Finn. Smart boy, I miss him."

"Maybe you can visit him sometime?" Mason offered a small smile. "How did he find out? How did you find out?" A touch of guilt crossed his face. "She sure had me fooled even though I should've known, in hindsight."

"Maybe," Xavier said with a sad smile. He felt a wave of sorrow and guilt that didn't come from himself. The wave took him by surprise, though it wasn't unpleasant, even though they were negative emotions. It just felt good to feel something again, anything positive or negative. "Finn is the best person I know with deflecting, and I'm a telepath. Don't beat yourself up Mason, seriously. You showed her love and support and she knows where you are when she is ready."

"That's what her dad said too, and George." Mason cast him a sharp look then. "So you know how I feel then? it's coming back at last?" He gave a curt nod. "Good for you, hope you're yourself again soon. It's just, she's my best friend and I can't help but think I should've seen this coming.... why didn't I?"

Pain. Sorrow. Guilt. Grief. Xavier shuddered slightly. "Look Mason, in the nicest possible way, these feelings are totally normal and healthy. However, if you let them control you they will overwhelm you too. You can't control or even predict what someone is going to do, you can only control what's within your power." The memory of Chief Daniels and that phaser flooded to the surface again. Scared. Confused. Lonely. Powerless. Another shudder. "You're not good to her, or us, like this. She's not dead, that's something."

The shudder was unmistakable this time and Mason cast the man a look of concern which he tried to make with a smile. "Since when are you a counselor sir," he tried to tease though he knew the man was right. He was just having a hard time losing his best friend on the ship, and as far as he knew his duties weren't affected. Or were they, if the OPS chief came to check on him? "Your telepathy is back again isn't it," he finally asked, somewhat more blunt than intended. "I'm sorry you get overwhelmed by my feelings, I'll try to reign them in but alas I'm no Vulcan. It'll get better I promise, I just need some time."

"Never apologise for your feelings," Xavier said, skipping the question about his telepathy, again. This guy will not take a hint. "I'm not a counsellor but I know something about feelings and how they can take over. Just think about what I said Mase, we'll see Finn again, I'm sure of it." He gave the human a friendly pat on the arm, a slight nod, and left.

Left speechless, Mason watched him go. Then, with a shake of his head as if to clear it, he went back to work.