Exposure

XIV

The doctors and nurses buzzed around sickbay frantically, tending to their dozens of confused and injured patients.
"How the hell did you end up with all of this all over your face?" Vahn asked as he scrubbed away magnetic caulking from Lieutenant Suoh's face.
He laughed under his breath, "It's beyond me, Doctor. I honestly don't even remember what I was doing."
"You're lucky it's not in your eyes." he muttered, his antennae curling with frustration.
As T'Ve used an autosuture on one of her patients, she seemed a little distant. She had felt something strange from her wife... but how could she explain it?
"Nurse?" Crewman Xereth asked, "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I am." T'Ve said softly, picking up a bandage to wrap the wound, "How did you say you obtained this injury?"
"I think I fell through a window."
T'Ve nodded, "Yes, that would do it. Do you require anything for the pain?"
"No, no, I'm alright. Thank you Nurse." Xereth said hesitantly, "I'll just... be on my way."
T'Ve sighed, recognizing her confusion was affecting her ability to work. She took a deep breath and in vulcan fashion, logically pushed it away.
"Nurse," Cerese said as she entered sickbay, "I have a few patients for you."
"Yourself included, I would imagine." she muttered, "Please, sit."
Sivna, Ejhisseh, and Cerese sat on the edge of the same bed, watching T'Ve gather supplies.
"What happened?" she asked, examining the three with a scanner.
"They had direct exposure to pure energy from a star." Cerese explained.
"And you, Miss Surnyn?"
Cerese turned her head to show T'Ve the irritated skin around her ganglia.
"I see... you have trauma to the skin. I will tend to Ms. Zhiquitren and Mx. Tissa, and then I will attend to your pain."
"Thank you, nurse." Cerese smiled gratefully.
"Second degree burns." T'Ve muttered under her breath as she picked up a dermal regenerator, "Look at me."
Sivna looked up at T'Ve and smiled to which she frowned and said, "Don't do that, you're cracking your skin."
"Never have I ever been told to not smile." they said, trying their best to hide their smile.
"This will not hurt...much." T'Ve said, and began the regeneration.
Within seconds, the burns faded, new and healthy skin taking its place.
"Be careful– the skin is new and therefore fragile." T'Ve advised, gently rubbing her fingers over the new skin.
"Thank you, Nurse." Sivna said, finally allowed to smile, "I've got to get back to the bridge. I can't have Maggie steering the ship alone, they'll steer us into a blackhole."
"They were in a shuttlepod when they did that." Cerese smiled.
"What?" Vahn asked from across sickbay.
"I'll explain it later." Cerese promised and rubbed her aching head.
T'Ve moved onto Ejhisseh, fixing up her burns and sending her on her way.
She zoned out, caring for Cerese with what felt like autopilot, lost in her mind as she thought about what she had felt from her beloved wife.