Nurse O'Dell

Posted on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 @ 6:37pm by Ensign Fiona O'Dell & Ensign Briaar Gavarus
Edited on on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 @ 1:56pm

Mission: Mudd on the Souls of Mankind
Location: USS Hera, Deck 9, Junior officer's quarters
Timeline: 2396

Though there was discomfort, it was like the tide. The waves rolled in and everything just submerged, the pain vanishing in the eternal sea, only to return in a few hours as the tide of meds subsided and the pain returned. Six broken ribs, a ruptured appendix and a brand new gizzard were all knitted back together and reconnected by expert holographic hands. But the body still needed time to adjust and recover, the bruising and swelling of the tissues from the trauma of the injury and subsequent surgery was still, at the close of the 24th century, a recovery process that took time and rest for organic beings.

Thus the morning, such as it was on a starship, was quiet and calm, save for the chainsaw snoring of Ensign Briaar Gavarus. Which was a welcome sound to her partner in crime Ensign Fiona O’Dell, who had snuck into her bestie’s quarters and made breakfast while the great space swine slumbered. Snoring meant that her porcine pal was resting comfortably, which was of great concern to O’Dell.

Given that she had been the one, however indirectly, for said broken ribs and ruptured organs, she felt miserably guilty about her friend’s injuries. This despite all assurances that the runaway mech which had manifested her preferences and personality was not her fault, and that there was nothing she could have done to prevent it. The neural link, an experimental technology, had made a connection with her subconscious which had left the tiny test pilot mentally drained in a literal sense, as the variable mode fighter had then literally walked away from its landing pad and nipped out to the pub for a pint.

Classic O’Dell behavior, in the form of a 1 metric ton spacecraft. An affectionate mechanoid that had nearly hugged the esoteric engineer to pieces in its oddly expressed affection for Gavarus. Which led to the current moment, with O’Dell carrying a tray laden with beers and liquid foodstuffs, all of which had been approved for the recovering patient, whom O’Dell felt obligated to nurse back to health.

“Briaar? Hey, tis mornin’, aye? I thought ye might want some breakfast…?” Unlike when she would wake the towering Tellarite with a yip and snark and perhaps a tribble on the snout, the genetically gimpy ginger instead approached quietly, not wanting to startle her portly pal from her slumber but wake her gently. After all, her injuries were her fault, and thus nursing her back to health would be her responsibility and atonement, she had decided.

It took a few moments and a few repetitions with increasing, if still gentle, volume to get the portly porcine to finally stir. But the remnants of pain medication, combined with her usually deep sleeping pattern, led to Gavarus ever so slowly opening her eyes.

"Whassit? Huh?" The injured engineer muttered almost incoherently as she tried to roll off of her back, unaware of the two body pillows at her side to keep her from doing so which she had no memory of putting there. Completely re-knitted ribs needed time to fully heal, and lying supine was on the 'to do' list from the ships EMH, Dr. Power.

"Ugh... the hell? Fee? What are you doing here?" Gavarus grumbled gruffly as she attempted to scooch up in her bed, with little success, thanks to her extremely sore muscles.

“I’m, um, I brought ye breakfast?” O’Dell replied with some uncertainty, holding the tray of beers up as an offering. “I kin, uh, I kin go if ye want… or I could try to help ye up?”

Gavarus let her head go limp for a second, as she sighed as quietly as she could. O'Dell was clearly still blaming herself for what happened, which only served to break the touchy Tellarite's heart a little every time. Composing herself quickly, she looked back over and managed an authentic, if weird, smile.

"Fee. I... uh... I could... I could totally use a hand if you don't mind. And breakfast sounds like a good idea to me." She was being a bit overly gregarious, hoping to alleviate some of her best friend’s guilt, which somehow served to make her feel worse. "But, yeah. I need to sit up more or I'll frickin' drown on it."

“Alreet!” O’Dell chirped cheerfully, setting the tray down on a side table before stepping up to the bedside, heaving one of the side pillows out of the way, tossing it onto the foot of the bed, then holding out both hands. “Now ye reach across yuir body wi’ yuir left hand, and we roll ye onto yuir side. Twill sting a bit, but we need to git ye on yuir side so’s we kin get ye sittin upright, then ye can go piddle and we’ll get ye set back oop in bed so ye kin have yuir breakfast wi’oot wearin it.”

It seemed, despite her diminutive stature and lack of physical strength, O’Dell was quite familiar with how to pull an invalid upright in a sickbed, which was yet another unexpected skill of the tiny test pilot who seemed to demonstrate the oddest skillsets at times.

"Gotcha." Gavarus replied weakly, still exhausted and groggy. She reached her thick, three fingered left hand as far as she could towards the outstretched hand of her waiting friend. There was a mild sting just like O'Dell promised as she slowly turned to her side with O'Dell, feet braced against the side of the bed, serving as a leverage point since she couldn’t move the tubby Tellarite pulling with all of her might.

“Atta way, yuir doin’ great! Noow that yuir sittin oop, ye joost lean forward to get yir weight to shift, and get yuir legs under ye, and then comes the hard part- standin’ oop. Atta way, atta way, ye got it…” After what seemed like a solid hour of shuffling, grunting, wincing and griping, Gavarus had been successfully repositioned and helped to her feet.

Once the exhausted engineer was up, O’Dell slipped in by her side to help brace her as Gavarus began slowly waddling toward the reclamator. Which might have actually helped were she anywhere near Gavarus’ size- instead she just served as a steadying point. At one point Gavarus even planted her hand atop O’Dell’s head to steady herself like a cane, which worked, with no complaints from her self-appointed nurse. “Look at you, yuir doin fantastic!”

"Ow... Ow... Ow... Ow..."

Once in the reclamator, Gavarus tried to pull up on her nightshirt, a loud green number with the words "& Eggs" in bright yellow letters across the chest, and lower her underwear. But as she tried to pull them down, a stab in her stiff side made her immediately regret the action. "SHIT!! AGGGH!"

Literally recoiling from the expression of pain, O’Dell recovered quickly and scurried to the rescue. “Tis alreet Briaar, I got it, I got it, I’ll get it for ye, dinna hurt yuirself, tis alreet…” Moving nimbly around her stiff and sore partner, O’Dell tugged and peeled and worked the panties off her injured compatriot until they had made it to the deck, then she backed away to give the large mammal room to work.

“Now spread yuir legs a bit, and ease yuirself down, like a squat… not too quick or yuir liable to hurt yuirself… aye, there ye go, that’s a girl!” Cheerleading from the sidelines may or may not have been helping, but the space swine was getting it anyway. Stepping back out the door, O’Dell called over her shoulder. “Okay, I’ll give ye a moment a’privacy here, joost let me know when yuir done?”

While she hadn't been self-conscious around Fiona in forever, Gavarus suddenly found herself tremendously embarrassed but didn't want to let it show lest it upset her pint-sized partner in crime. Instead, she bit her lip and slowly scooched down stiffly onto the reclimator and tried to relax to let herself pee.

As it seemed to be with all things now, it took a bit of effort to break the seal and get things going. "@#$&! How does pissing hurt?! What the effin' @#$&."

“Oh, the bein harder to relieve yuirself is usually a side effect of the anesthetic, tends to make yuir innards a bit slow for a few days. If ye dinna poo by tomorrow night, we’ll get a laxative from the doctor,” O’Dell chimed in from outside the closed door. "Everything hurts after they mess around in yuir innards, so they tell me."

After a second as the initial soreness let up a bit, she leaned over a little. "Uh. T... Thanks, Fee. Where did you learn all this shit?"

“Aw, well, by the time I showed oop, me Da was already an old man, and years ‘a drinkin dindnae help. So his health was often poor, and he slipped and fell and broke a few things along the way. Me brothers all decided since I was the youngest and I couldna argue, I was to be Da’s nurse. So I was allays helpin him with stoof like this, getting him up and down oota chairs and bed and the like, bringin his meals, helpin him sit up… the usual stoof,” O’Dell casually rattled off how she was an oddly qualified caregiver. "Plus I was not the healthiest child, as they were always trying to figure oot why I was a runt, and I was a little fragile, so... lots of time wi' doctors and the like."

Her morning business having trickled to an anti-climactic conclusion, Gavarus strained to clean herself up and grabbed her panties from her ankles so she could pull them up with her as she creaked herself back up to wash up. "Damn. I guess that benefits me here, then. Aggh. Ow."

As soon as she made it to the reclamator door, O’Dell was under her arm, offering her the minsicule amount of stability the lightweight lass could provide. Slowly, Gavarus waddled back to the bed, grumbling with each stiff step. "That... was entirely too exhausting."

“I know… takes a lot oota ye to knit yuir insides back together, and it hurts and it isnae inny fun and I’m sorry, Briar. We’ll get ye back to bed and comfy agin then ye kin start samplin’ beers, aye?" Leave it to O’Dell to be trying to look for the bright side in all of this. Scrambling ahead, the midget Mariposian crawled up onto the bed ahead of her slow-moving pal, to stack the pillows at the head of the bed to make it easier for her to sit up. Scrambling back off the bed, she moved to guide Gavarus in. “Atta girl, back to the bed, now eaaaaasy does it… that’s right, joost like that. Now one foot up on the bed… I know, I know it hurts, I’m s’sorry… almost there, other leg now…”

Even as she spoke O’Dell got under the cumbersome calf of Gavarus’ left leg and helped ease the load of the hardest part, straining to get the left leg onto the bed. Setting it down as gently as possible, O’Dell was a bit out of breath, but still pulled up the sheets and tried to make her porcine pal as comfortable as possible.

"Fee! For shit's sake, stop saying you're sorry or I'm just gonna start farting on you." Gavarus leaned back against the propped up mountain of pillows O'Dell had somehow constructed while the grumpy engineer was relieving herself and let out a stiff groan. "As... as soon as I'm confident I can do that and not push out one of my stomachs."

Busying herself tucking the sheets under the patient, O’Dell avoided eye contact as she spoke. “I canna help it, Briaar. It’s my fault yuir in this state and I joost… I feel terrible is all, and I swear I dinna mean it. I know, I know, I hafta stop and ye aren’t mad at me and when I say I’m sorry it joost upsets ye more but I am, I’m so sorry. I hurt me best friend and damn near killed ye, and wrecked the Chicken, and… and… and…”

A number of things were clear in that moment. O’Dell was still clearly distraught, and exhausted herself. While she was trying to put on a cheerful front, just bringing it up started her winding herself up. But she took a second to sniffle sharply, then resumed her more chipper bedside manner, smiled unconvincingly and scooped up the tray of beers with a bit of effort. “But there’s beer, so that’s good, right?”

Hanging her head slightly, Gavarus let out a sigh. In her head, she all but screamed "It wasn't your FAULT, Fiona. The Chicken shouldn't have been able to do that. Gonadie will figure out exactly what happened, but you didn't do anything wrong. You had a dream where you hugged me. There's nothing frickin' wrong with that! Please stop blaming yourself for this! It's killing me!"

Which was when she realized she’d said all of that out loud. Given the mounting level of pain she was in and the toll it was taking on her already short temper, instead of backing it up or trying to elaborate, Gavarus sighed and tried to smile and simply said, "So what's... what's on the menu, Nurse O'Dell? I've got a prescription to day drink after all."

It was abundantly clear that O’Dell was incredibly sheepish about the whole affair, but the fact that she was now causing her friend emotional harm also registered with her. Thus her desire to make her injured chum comfortable managed to outweigh her surprisingly deep guilt streak, and she proudly held aloft the small tray she’d brought, which had six different beer bottles, a large cup of gelatin, and a glass of some sort of orange juice.

“I dinna know inny of these brands, but the Aldebran Pale Ale smells pretty good- ye want to try that first?”

"Well, they make kick ass whiskey. Let's give it a shot." As she was about to reach for the glass on the tray, Gavarus instead scratched her nose while she thought for a second and had an idea that might help cut the nearly unbearable tension between the two best friends. "How does it taste? Is it any good?"

Looking about, O'Dell shrugged her narrow shoulders, then gingerly slid the tray of beers onto the edge of the bed. Plucking up the bottle in question, she swirled the bright red translucent fluid about, eyeing the color and the bubbles. Passing it under her nose, she took a long sniff, savoring the scent. In the traditions of her people of course Fiona knew how to brew and distill, as tending such things was a part of life growing up. 'Because the stuff from the replicator dinna have inny spirit', as it was said.

But her brewing knowledge did her no good when it was a tour of cheap beers of the galaxy. She just followed her nose, and tried everything. If it came across a Starfleet bar, it was guaranteed not to kill you. Since this was on the list from Dr. Powers, it was even prescribed. Tilting it up, Fiona took an experimental sip. Rolling it around in her mouth, she considered it, swallowed it, then nodded. She took another sip before passing it to Gavarus.

"Kinda sweet, almost fruity flavored. A wee bit- BELCH!" O'Dell had to pause as she was practically pushed back by the force of her beer burp. "Christ jaysis, I was gonna say 'sa bit bubbly fer me ta-BEEELCH! Aw, pog me thoin!"

A smile cracked the flabby face of the Porcine Engineer, the first in a while, as she chuckled slightly at O'Dell's reaction. As she took the bottle, she winced slightly as laughing and freshly re-knitted ribs didn't get along all that well. But it was a minor stab of pain that passed quickly enough. "Sounds like it's good."

Taking a sip, Gavarus shrugged slightly and smirked before taking a larger swig of the medically prescribed beer. "Breakfast of... *BRAAAAP*... champions. Heh. What else is on the menu?"

"Let's see here... there's this'n which is supposed to be a great old Earth tradition..." Plucking up an aluminum can from the selection that bore a red white and blue label that identified it to be of a winning quality. "Replicator said this was a 'Peebeeyar'. Sooo... " Popping the tab, O'Dell took a sip and shrugged. "Not s'bad. Try this'n?"

Talking the can, Gavarus cricked an eyebrow. "Pee bee... Pee Beer? This is not promising." Taking a swig immediately after the diminutive acting nurse, the picky pig grimaced slightly. "Not surprisingly, the medically approved beers all kinda taste like it. Ah well. It's beer." Then she took a longer swig. "I was totally expecting Doctor Sunshine to prescribe some kind of bland, tasteless chalky ass drink, so this is still damn preferable."

"Alreet, let's see what else we got here..."

Thirty minutes later, eight beers and one more trip to the reclamator, the drunken duo were now chatting.

"I kin git ye s'more beer if'n ye want, Gavarus. Doc dinna say ye couldnae get hammered, an' look! Hic!" O'Dell smiled that hazy, not at all with it and definitely blind drunken smile she tended to wear when she was blitzed. Which was a sight Gavarus was quite familiar with, having seen it plenty of times now throughout their association. Having the pixie pilot test her beers was more than enough to get the lightweight leprechaun snockered, and it had worked. Now she seemed relaxed, calm and happy- more back to her usual self, as opposed to skittish and over-apologetic. "Look, we're day drinkin on orders! Hah! Slaint!"

Normally, eight beers would have barely registered to the porcine patient, but today she was still on painkillers with a completely new gizzard and two recently operated on stomachs trying to process the beer to the best of their abilities without any other food to absorb it at all. As such, she was a bit tipsier than not. But she was also feeling remarkably little pain in the healing process, so she was happy with that. And she was even more happy that O'Dell had gotten out of her own head. "So... wha' 'bout you, Fee? Did Doctor Smiles put you on any kin'a special diet or rest regi... reggy... regimen?"

“Aye… m’supposed to take some pills and eat more fish. Ah hate bloody fish, tastes awful… but Doc says me brain’s running on a low tank of somethinorother, so I need more… soomethin.” Under ordinary circumstances, O’Dell was an incredible lightweight when it came to drinking. Recovering from exhaustion and an electrolyte balance that was way off, drinking beer on an empty stomach had her feeling no pain. Fortunately, it seemed to have also relieved her overwhelming guilt over Gavarus’ injuries. Wobbling slowly from side to side, her face bore her best ‘happy drunk’ ear to ear grin.

It was a sight that served to make the infirmed engineer extremely happy and relieved. "You don't like any fish? What about, like, shrimp? Would that work?" As she spoke, her liquid filled middle grumbled. "Craaaaap, a week of all liquids. Beer or not, this sucks. Go eat something so I can smell it and live vicariously through you."

“M’nae fond of it. I dinna like the smell, mostly. But he says it has to be fish for the oils or something,” O’Dell slurred, then peered owlishly at the laid-up engineer. “Are ye sure? I dinna want ye to be… hic! To be hungry and tempted or nothing…?”

"Fee, look at this gut." As she spoke, she rolled ever so slightly jiggling her ample middle which rose like a dome in the center of the bed. "When am I not tempted to shove food in it? But you need t' eat real food n' I can drown my sorrows in my liquid lunch." As she spoke, she had a broad and genuine smile on her face. She was impossibly happy to see Fiona smiling again.

“I thought ye were joost shaped like that? Aren’t all Tellarites… I mean, round?” O’Dell asked as she clambered off the bed to toddle to the replicator in nothing remotely resembling a straight line.

"Most." Gavarus chuckled. "But not, like, all." She took a drink from the last beer she was still nursing.

"You should see my sister, Parra. She... I shit you not... She's built more like Paris. Seriously, Imagine my big ass head on Commander ThunderJuggs' body. Frickin'..." She trailed off as she spoke. "Hey, could you bring me another one 'a these... 'Mee Lee walk aya Best' ones?"

“Aye, that joost seems like it would look daft,” O’Dell ventured as she punched up the recommended diet meal from Dr. Power on the replicator. When it arrived, she punched in the code for Gavarus’ beer, only to make a discovery. “Ach, this swill comes in six-packs! Save some trips…”

Hefting the six-pack in one arm and her fishy meal in the other, O’Dell dropped the beer off with Gavarus then set her plate on the foot of the bed to take a bite. As she did so, her face scrunched up in the expression of every child forced to eat something she didn’t like. “Bleaaaaaaagh…”

“So ye nivvir talk aboot yer clan? Ye dinna like 'em none?” O’Dell tried to talk around her eating, as maybe it would not be so bad if she was distracted while she was choking down something awful tasting.

Cracking open a fresh beer, Gavarus passed a second can to O'Dell. "I dunno. I like 'em fine, I guess. They just... They don't much care for me. I've got nine sisters and seven brothers. My dad is a senator and my mom's a councilwoman. Two of my brothers and three of my sister's are in Congress. I've got an older brother who's the chief engineer of the DOYLE. My sister Quinaa is Ops Chief of the VENTURE."

Rolling her eyes as she spoke, Gavarus took a huge swig. "I joined Starfleet to shut them up. 'Look! I'm doing something with my life! I'm not just sitting in my room @#$&ing around with engine parts. Is this good enough?!' Ugh. It's never good enough."

As she spoke, the Tellarite snorted as she noticed the drop cloth with engine parts in the corner.

“Waaaaahl, I think yuir enoof,” O’Dell raised her beer and took a little sip, then tried to cram another mouthful of fish flesh in her mouth, with some degree of success, then she took a few long swallows of beer to wash it down. “Augh, that’s bloody awful. I dinna know yuir family were so highfalutin bigshots, Briaar. That musta nae been a lotta fun growin up?”

As she continued to drink, O’Dell’s accent was thickening as her conscious control over it waned.

"Yeah, no." Gavarus was glad she was a vegetarian as the smell of the fish was enough to make her want to give up, but she swallowed another swig of beer to distract herself. "EVERYTHING was a competition. And you know what sucks even more?! I'm the engineer on an experimental, badass flying, transforming robot that's going to change everything and it's TOP SECRET! So I can't even brag to miss perfect pants Professor of the Tellar prime institute of engineering!"

Grunting slightly as she winced slightly, her buzz being cut slightly by a wave of mild pain in her guts, Gavarus sighed. "But what about you? I know you have a shit-ton of brothers where you mastered the art of being an epic wingman. What was up with that?"

Unable to stomach any more of the foul sea dweller corpse, O’Dell delivered it back to the replicator and recycled it. Taking a sip of beer more her usual size, the ginger mop top toddled back to the bed to climb up on it and sit down cross-legged, facing Gavarus. “Wahhhhhl, I was the baby, ye know? Me brother Malcolm was the youngest, and he’s eight years older’n me. Plus they’re me half-brothers, but… I mean, I dinna think they treated me different fuir that, but because I was s’runty and wee, I couldnae do a lot of what they could. All the hiking and climbing and alla that they liked to do, I joost… they dinna want me taggin along.”

“Twasn’t til I helped Fergus win over a bird- gal he married, too, vurrah nice gal- that they even figured out I was good for somethin’ other’n bein Momma’s dress-up dollie. That and Momma trottin me oot to play something for folks. Da said I should be a proper lady, and he made sure I was taught how to play instruments, how to loom and weave, needlepoint, dancing, cooking… alla the skills that’d ‘fetch ye a foine husband’, he said.”

Despite her own accent, Fiona’s mimicry of her father indicated an even thicker brogue than her own, even drunk, and Gavarus suspected it was likely dead-on.

"A fine husband?" Gavarus scoffed as she took a sip, poking O'Dell playfully with a hoof from under the covers as the tiny test pilot sat in front of her. "In all the time we've known each other, you've never once even turned your head at a guy in any way even remotely "fetching". I'm guessing your family either didn't notice that disinterest or just didn't care?"

“I dinna… I dinna look at anyone. I mean, not… that way. I’m not… it doesnae… I joost…” O’Dell reached for words, trying to come up with some and failing. “I, um, I dinna… bodies mooshin together isn’t somethin’s I’m… I did it once and I dinna like it and I nivvir wanted to do it agin,” she finally admitted, before taking a long few gulps off her beer. “Da still holds oot hope I’ll marry some nice Mariposian boy, or another Bringloidian to keep the traditions alive, but… maybe? I dunno.”

"Sounds like you know." Gavarus shrugged. "If you don't think about people like that... You don't want to do that... then @#$& anyone who tells you ya' should."

The bedridden Engineer finished off her beer and put the empty on her nightstand. She could tell that O'Dell was uncomfortable talking about it so she wanted to take the sting out of the topic. "Sex isn't a universal requirement. If you don't like it, don't worry about it. Our physicals require push ups, not pull outs."

"Hah!" O'Dell barked an involuntary laugh at the joke. "Aye... I like that idea. Mashers don't come after me that often, and I spit vinegar and piss enough I make it look like I'm nae worth the trouble, and I'll scrap if it comes to that. But..." the eyes of the little lass glazed a bit as she stared off in memory for a few seconds, then she blinked it away. Then she smiled at Gavarus, a happy drunk smile. Then her eyes opened a bit, and it was clear mental wheels were turning, however slowly, before she looked a bit bashful and brought a finger up to her lips to gnaw on the fingernail a bit.

"What's... what do ye like about the big sturdy girls? Is it okay fuir me to ask? I mean, I dinna care, I'll still do me best ta help ye bag one, but... I don't... what do they make you feel?" O'Dell blinked wide, then remembered she had a beer, took a sip and had something to do with her hands, cupping the can with both in her lap as she let her curiosity get the better of her.

"Fee, you can ask me anything. Seriously." Gavarus sighed as she thought about it. It was clear, though, that she felt awkward the more she thought about it. "A lot of it is hard to explain if you don't have it... But it's... just kinda... lust."

The portly Porcine shuffled in bed as she cracked open a fresh beer. "I mean... Just chemical... desire. I don't think about it much, really. It's..."

Then her head flumped back. "That's bullshit. I'm sorry. You don't deserve bullshit. I'm... Look at me, Fee. I'm huge. I've always been huge and I'll never not be huge. I was one point seven meters at twelve and about as round. But when I was a girl, I looked at women like that and they were huge too, but it was beautiful. It was good and they made themselves that way."

"I tried for a while..." She chuckled mirthlessly as she looked down at her own body. "And I just couldn't lose a gram... I don't honestly know if I want to be with them half as much as I just want to BE them. Be perfect like that. Be... not this."

"Why? What's wrong with this?" the short stack waved her hand in the direction of Gavarus' bod. Then her eyes popped open. "Ohhhhhh, you seek to posess that which ye canna be... alreet, that makes sense." Then O'Dell frowned again. "So- scared of doctors or surgeries or sooch? This is 2496 yannow... medical technology kin do all sortsa things. but ye haven't done it, have yeh? Ye talk aboot diet an exercise, boot ye surely dinna want those things."

"So... now I'm confused," O'Dell took a pause to sip her beer, missed her mouth and dribbled some on her shirt, a jersey sleeve top that bore the logo of the Deep Space Niners. "Ye COULD be a glamma gal like Commander Have Ye Seen Me Arse if ye wanted to. Doc could fix ye oop in a jiffy. Hell's bells, they kin change yuir gender in short order, your race wi' a few hours. Species even. But ye stay this way, because you like bein a piggy, and a round one, aye?"

Chugging half the beer can, Gavarus let out a rumbling bealch. "Doc can't make me not... me. Like you said, I could have them change anything but if I was the same me on the inside, then it would never be real. It would be a... Prettier package that would fall apart before long."

"I'm... used to being what I am. If I would have been different, maybe I wouldn't have been an engineer. If I had been different, I wouldn't have tried to get away from home and find myself here with you." Gavarus sighed, smiling slightly. "So it's not all bad."

Holding out her beer, O'Dell clinked cans with Gavarus. "Dinna get me wrong, I like what you are, it's part a who y'are. I'm glad yuir nae superficial. Yuir honest wi' yuirself and the rest of the world, an' I respect that. me too. I yam what I yam, I canna be innything else. Cept when I'm in that starship. Then I'm different fuir sure. I busted up that pirate ship's bridge like a wreckin' crew. Wee Fiona canna do that but hoo, her ride surely can."

The inability to stick to a topic and ramble was the sign that Fiona was absolutely crocked, or 'pissed!' as she often said. The stress of the day before was mostly gone now, washed away by the balm of alcohol and friendship, and the stunted stunt pilot swayed as she smiled. Eyes half lidded, she was content. "Here's to goofin' off and beer liquid diets!"

Raising her beer, Gavarus smiled. She was decently drunk but clear enough to be extremely happy to see O'Dell feeling better. "I'll drink to that, Leprechaun. Which, currently, is all I can do. Heh."

"Ye got ta piddle again, donchye?"

Chuckling, Gavarus shrugged. "Totally. Sorry, but... uh... yeah, I need a little help again. I'm sorry."

"Aye! Have n'fear, Nurse O'Dell's on the job!" The picayune pilot made to roll off the bed, then landed in a heap on the floor, at which point she burst out laughing. "Ow.. not me best tumble ever. M'arright, s'alreet... okay, let's get ye up first, ye know the drill, aye? An' dinna apologize, 'tis nothin wrong with needin' help."

As she moved to the bedside, O'Dell begain to sing, not loudly, but softly, as if she were singing a lullabye. Which she kept up as she helped the hapless hog to the reclamator, helped her with her underwear then handed her a beer while she was draining the tank.

What would you do if I sang out of tune,
would you stand up and walk out on me?

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
and I'll try not to sing out of key.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends...

Finishing up, Gavarus chuckled at O'Dell's random little musical interlude as she pulled her panties up with a little more ease than last time, cleaned up and began to shuffle back to bed. As before, O'Dell was right there as always, helping to steady the infirmed engineer. Grabbing the empty beer bottles and cans from the bed where Gavarus had dropped them, scrambling across the bed to tuck in the fitted sheet, then smooth out the sheets and fold down the cover sheet and blanket to make it easier to get back into. Coming back around her patient, the little woman steered the larger one to the bed, to lower herself to a seat, then to ease her into bed like an old person. After a few minutes of adjusting, Gavarus was back in bed with O'Dell tucking her back in dutifully. "Uh... thanks."

"S'okay Briaar. What are friends for, aye?" Looking around, O'Dell removed the detritus on the floor, which ended up taking a few minutes because there was more mess than what they'd made today. But still she hustled and picked up, shoving handfuls of trash and empty dishes, utensils, cups, cans and bottles as well as empty chip bags into the reclamator. While the room wasn't ready to pass inspection when she was finished, it was much closer. Eyes darting around the room, the bonny Bringloidian nodded once quite firmly with satisfaction.

"Alreet, that's all... ship shape? Well, nae that good, but better at least." The adrenaline of being called upon and then burning off the excess had now faded, and Fiona clambered onto the bed on her hands and knees, to drop herself into a sitting position, lotus style on the bed. Close enough to talk but not crowding the patient. Opening her eyes wider to bring herself back to alertness, a rather potent yawn wound itself up as her beleaguered brain, awash in far more blood alcohol content than it needed, made it's demands for oxygen known. Covering her mouth with the back of her fist wasn't terribly effective, but it was at least polite.

Watching, the exhausted engineer, settled back into bed, returned the yawn. Her prominent, if shaved down lower tusks visible. Something she didn't like anyone to see, but never cared about with Fiona. "Aw, C'mon, Fee. You know that shit's contagious."

As she spoke, Gavarus seemed to sink a little lower from her half sitting position, clearly zoning out herself. "If you're tired, you don't have to stick around. I'll be okay."

Eyes furtively darting about looking at nothing in particular, O'Dell looked out from under the random ginger curls that had fallen in front of her face. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and plaintive.

"S'been... was a hard duty shift, an' emergencies and alla... aye. It... I, uh... it's real quiet in me room, and... 'tis hard fuir me to sleep. Grew up in a house fulla men snorin at night, and it allays made me feel... safe. Looked out after, ye know what I mean?" Wee Fiona's eyes shone, though she shed no tears. It wasn't easy for her to say, but she wanted to try honesty instead of blaming being too drunk to walk to quarters or just curling up because Briaar never stopped her.

"Kin... kin I sleep wi' ye? If yuir there snorin' ta saw down a forest an' I feel ye movin' as ye breathe it makes me... ah feel saafe, and ah sleep like a lamb in the springtime. If.... tis alreet wi'ye? Aye?" The sheepish yet optimistic highlander who'd made her way to space asked her friend the sarcastic space swine frankly for a change, somewhat formalizing what had been an unspoken and informal agreement the two never spoke of, yet now she spoke of it frankly.

Rolling her eyes slightly, Gavarus grinned, chuckled, and scooched slightly over. "Why are you still talking? C'mon. I'm tired. Scooch in already."

The smile that spread across O'Dell's face was one of gratitude, and she pounced across the bed to turn oppose the tall Tellarite. Tucking her legs in tightly against her chest, she lay her elbows over and between them, curling up into a surprisingly compact bundle, even for a human being on the small size. Scooting back toward but not crowding the armpit, she slept above the covers, but with the burly engineer's arm about her, which she insistently tugged and moved into position amongst the mass of bright red curls that crowned her head, which seemed somehow too big for her body. As if her head had made it to maturity, but not her body.

Curled up beside yet encircled by the larger life form, with the lights on and drunk, but not that drunk, Fiona O'Dell took a few shuddering, halting breaths as she sought her center, finally finding it in one full and easy inhalation, which ended in a contented sight.

"G'night Briaar. Thanks fuir bein' me friend."

"Computer, lights set for sleep." Gavarus called out as the lights lowered to a much darker level, much more conducive to sleep. "You know you've got me. Now get some rest, Fee. We both could certainly use it."

As she spoke, the generally grumpy, gruff Tellarite was anything but. With a smile across her face, she knew as well as O'Dell that their relationship had somehow morphed into something much deeper than friendship, but there was a comfort in keeping up that idea. And in that moment, she was as contented to be sharing her bed with Fiona as Fiona clearly was to be there. It made her feel safe and happy to be providing the comfort the diminutive red-head needed.

In spite of everything that had lead her to be stuck in bed nursing her injuries, she was happy. In some ways, happier than she could remember being, as the duo quickly succumbed to their exhaustion and fell asleep together.