"Finding one another"

Posted on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 @ 12:27pm by Lieutenant Cassia Cavendish & Lieutenant Samaire MacBride-Reece [Lalor] & Commander Kyle Reece & Lieutenant Nicholas Reece [Reece] & Staff Sergeant Liam "Swede" Reece [Reece]

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: Medical bay - Burns unit
Timeline: MD4 - 12h00
1681 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

After she returned from her stint piloting down to the temporary base of Operations on the planet, Samaire finally managed to be beamed to main medical. It was organised chaos now, she noted, as she snagged a nurse and got directions to where Liam was.

She walked to the recovery rooms just outside the burn unit. As she entered the area she found her gaze drawn to the small girl curled up on a mat by a wall with a black cat curled beside her. She let out the breath she didn't realise she had been holding and let her legs carry her to Skylah's sleeping side.

Sereph blinked her yellow eyes open as Samaire dropped to her knees and yawned in greeting. Patting the cat with one hand, Samaire stroked a hand down her niece's hair and offered up a prayer of thanks.

Skylah didn't wake but Samaire was fine with that. If she could sleep then it was a good sign.

"Sam," a soft voice came from behind her.

Sam turned. "Cassia."

The other brunette moved to Sam and they hugged. "Are you and Nicholas okay?" Sam asked.

"Yes, and Kyle as well. Liam is in recovery, his brothers are with him" Cassia said as they pulled apart. "I made sure Skylah had some food and she has been okay. She will be glad to wake up and see you."

"I am glad to see her well as well." Samaire said softly as Cassia led her to the room.

Sam paused on the threshold of the room.

Every bed in the room was filled, there were even portable gurneys filled as well. While the disaster had cost them many lives, the Elysium's medical staff were performing uncounted miracles on those that came to their door.

Off to one side, the Reece twins could easily be seen, as they were the tallest one in the room. Kyle was leaning on a set of crutches next to a bio bed, while Nicholas stood opposite him. They were both looking down and talking quietly to a heavily bandaged individual in the biobed.

Samaire took a breath and felt Cassia's hand on her shoulder before she moved into the room and headed across to the bio bed. The room was quiet enough that her footsteps were heard clearly as she got closer.

Cassia followed her into the room.

Sam paused at the foot of the bed. "Liam?" She managed to get out.

As both women approached, the two elder Reece brothers turned their attention to Samaire and Cassia. As Kyle was on Liam's left side, he moved back to allow Samaire to approach her husband.

Liam looked over at Samaire and smiled weakly. "Hey.." he croaked quietly.

She had sworn that she would not cry or show upset as she walked to him. But by the gods it was hard. "Hey yourself Hero." She said as best she could.

Liam grinned a little brighter and tried to take in a deep breath, only to collapse in a strong coughing fit.

"Hey, little brother," Kyle said softly to Liam. "Remember what the Doc said. Your lungs are recovering too. You gotta take it easy." He turned his attention to Samaire. "Apparently the super heated air burned his lungs as he breathed. Sthilg is doing the best he can to stave off any infections. Meds and treatments are very low in supply at the moment." His face expressed how much he hated giving his sister-in-law this news.

Samaire nodded almost robotically. "The replicators are on limited power supply but..." she took a breath. "Base camp is being set up. A medical bay will be among the first things set up so we can transfer people down there." Her hand reached out to take Liam's gently. "It will be nice and cool down there."

Liam's left eye softened some when his love moved closer. "I..I couldn't…let Sky get…get hurt…"

"Thank you" Samaire said and brushed her lips gently over his. "Now you need to get well."

Liam made a soft, approving sound when he felt Samaire's soft, delicious lips touch his. "Is that..an order?" He tried to smirk playfully as he spoke.

She rolled her eyes and straightened. “Not from me but I think your big brothers may want to issue that order.”

He smiled softly as he replied. "They always..think they…can boss me around."

A tear suddenly fell from the corner of his eye. "I hope Sky…is okay."

"She is fine. Safe and well." Samaire said softly. "You saved her and Seraph."

A look of relief crossed Liam's exposed features. "Good!"

After a couple beats, he opened his eye and gazed up at his beautiful wife. "What happened?"

“We hit something, A quantum filament. Miraj tried everything but somehow, it hit us bad. And we are in another galaxy now, lightyears from the Alpha quadrant and we have found a base on a P Class planet for us to settle on while we fix things.” Samaire said softly.

Cassia had frozen at Samaire's words about the P class planet. She had been a prisoner on a Breen Ice planet. She was not happy about it. But she knew there was no choice.

Nicholas felt Cassia freeze up at the mention of the Ice world the sensors had found. He moved over behind her and gently wrapped his arms around her, supporting her with his strength and love. "I won't let anything happen to you, Imzadi," he quietly whispered into her left ear.

Cassia nodded and leaned into him in silence.

Hearing the dreadful news of their predicament, Liam tried to be upbeat about it. "Well…always..always wanted to…go camping with…with my family."

Sam gave a small laugh at that. “Yes, well next time we will have to pick a better planet.” She said with an almost too bright a voice. “For now though...” She glanced at Kyle for help. She was starting to fail.

"For now," Kyle moved closer, seeing that Samaire needed a hand. "You have to rest. You're no good to your family or the ship if you don't heal, little brother."

Liam looked up at Kyle and, for a moment, seemed to be about to argue the point. However, his body informed him that that would not ho over well. So instead, he sighed softly and nodded carefully. "Alright. I'll rest." He turned his eye to Samaire and smiled softly. "I love you, Sweetheart."

“I love you too” she said kissing him gently.

Liam relished the kiss and returned one back with as much warmth and love as he could muster at that moment.

Afterwards, he let out a contented breath and closed his eye, his body finally giving up to sleep.

They all stood there for a few quiet beats, just watching Liam sleeping. Then, Kyle let go of his right crutch and reached out to gently squeeze Samaire's left shoulder. "He'll come through this, Sam. One thing about Reece men, we can take a beating and get back up. It'll just take time."

She nodded and took a breath. “He better,” she got out from between clenched teeth. “Or I will get the doctors to resurrect him just to kick his arse.”

Kyle gave Samaire the same lop-sided grin that Liam would give her when he found something she said or did funny. "Of that, I have zero doubt." He gave her a little wink as he finished speaking.

Sam gave him a smirk back. He was her friend first before her brother in law.

"Sam," Nicolas spoke up. "If you want to sit with Liam for a bit, Cassia and I could watch Skylah for you two?"

Sam nodded. “Thank you Nicholas. She will want to see him as well, but if you could keep her occupied...”

Nicholas nodded and smiled warmly. "Of course." He then kissed Cassia on the left side of her head. "C'mon, babe. Let's go spend some time with our niece."

Cassia nodded and with Nicholas left the bedside.

Sam looked up at Kyle. "Where is Vanessa?" She asked, dread in her stomach.

Kyle gave Samaire a disarming grin. "She's okay. She's out helping save the injured crew. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt in the shaking."

Sam nodded. “Thats good.” She said honestly. “I am glad you are both okay.”

Nodding slowly, Kyle replied grimly. "Yes, we got lucky. Unfortunately, a lot of our shipmates weren't so."

“I know,” Samaire said softly. “It's bad Kyle. Really bad. And I am not sure we will be able to fix the ship.”

"Hey," he said with a confident tone in his voice. "Starfleet personnel are the best trained crews in the galaxy. So long as we have each other and hope, there isn't anything we can't accomplish."

Samaire nodded. She knew that hope was in small supply these days. “And how long do you have on the injured list?”

Shrugging slightly, Kyle replied. "Doc said a few days to a week. Vanessa threatened me with more pain, if I didn't follow all of the recovery instructions." He smirked slightly as he recalled his love's promise.

Sam rolled her eyes at that “Well if you do not behave I am sure she can ask for help from your brothers to make you behave,”

This made Kyle chuckle warmly. He was very happy that his baby brother had found someone like Samaire. She was an honestly good person. "Oh, I'm sure there wouldn't be much left of me, once she was through."

“Most likely,” Samaire replied to her friend. “So best behave and get well."

Being the gentleman that he was, Kyle smiled and dipped his head respectfully to Samaire. The more time they spent together, the more happy he became that she had chosen to marry his baby brother and join the family.

Samaire lapsed into silence and sat there watching Liam sleep and heal. She was keeping herself together. She needed to. Once he was well she could fall apart. Until then, she had to remain together.

~OFF~