Burn To Ash: A Star Trek Fanfiction (Spock x OC)

Chapter 5

I woke early the next morning and stretched a bit. I definitely felt better, but I felt a sort of apprehension at it. I dismissed the thought as I dressed myself and chatted a bit with Lucille. Better to just enjoy it while it lasted.

The both of us went to breakfast together, and I went to sit with Spock while she went to sit with the people from Medical. Almost as soon as I sat down and started eating, Spock began speaking to me.

"I am very pleased to see you looking well-rested, Ensign Evans," he said. His voice sounded slightly husky, and I suddenly felt very hot. The feeling quickly dissipated, and I cleared my throat.

"Thank you, Officer Spock."

"I wish to discuss your recent behavior with you now, Ensign, as you were not willing to discuss it yesterday evening. As I said yesterday evening, you have been acting in an illogical, erratic manner for the past 2 days. I wish merely to know if you are unwell," he said. My heart skipped a beat. How was I supposed to tell him what was happening? My palms began to sweat a little.

"My manner is very easy to explain. You see-" I was then cut off by someone yelling.

"Hey, Evans!"

I turned my head a little to see a tall man, about my age, with bright red hair, a chiseled face, the red uniform of engineering, and dark eyes looking back at me, making his way over. I jolted a bit, but I didn't let it show. Something about his face, the chiseled-ness, the dark eyes, seemed to be familiar to me in some way. I didn't like it, and I didn't like him. But I was determined to not get in the brig for disorderly conduct, so I sat up a bit straighter, determined to be civil. 

"Do I know you?" I asked as calmly as I could. He scoffed.

"Oh, you know me. You remember the guy who you told to shut up, first day here?" he asked. I thought a bit, then realized what he was talking about.

"You were the guy who was clowning around while the Captain was speaking. What's your name, Mitchell or something? Why're you over here?" I asked, trying to contain my irritation. He scowled.

"I'm here because I just want you to know that I'm gonna have fun putting you in your place. You'll learn that a quick mouth isn't gonna get you as far as you think it's going to, Evans," he said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, my quick mouth's gotten you over here. So it's got to have done something. Excuse me," I said, my teeth grinding against each other. I could feel Spock's eyes boring into my back as I left. Once I was out of the cafeteria, I went to the training room and slumped against the wall. I didn't like that Mitchell guy, but at least the interaction bought me some time against Spock. I stood up as everyone slowly filed in. Sulu assigned us to doing weights, and informed us that this was our last day of training before we were assigned to our proper positions on the ship. 

Great. Another thing to worry about.

I could see Sulu take small, concerned glances at me for the whole day, but I didn't let on. Better if as many people were kept out of my mess as possible. I skipped lunch, partly because I wasn't hungry and partly to avoid Spock, and was passing the Medbay to go to dinner, when I heard 2 familiar voices from inside the Medbay. 

"Come on, Spock, how important is this? I have to be at the mess hall; I have insulin to give out! I'm already stressed enough as it is with 50 milligrams of Kinerall disappearing!" Dr. McCoy's voice rang out. My eyes went wide.

"I would have not have consulted you on this matter if it were not a serious one, Doctor. It concerns a certain ensign assigned to Mr. Sulu's group," he said.

"I think I know which one you're talking about, Mr. Spock," Sulu's voice replied. At hearing this, I made myself flat against the wall, inclining my ear to the wall, which was thin enough that I could hear what was being said.

"The ensign in question, Ensign Evans, has been acting in a most illogical, erratic manner for the past 2 days. Yesterday, she wandered into my room, apparently by accident, and she has skipped several meals for seemingly no reason at all. She also, the other day, appeared to be in quite a lot of physical pain when I was dining with her. Twice, I asked her the reason for this behavior, and twice she failed to answer. I have become quite concerned for her well-being," Spock said. 

"Now, just a minute. I admit, that is strange behavior, but I saw Miss Evans in her quarters the other day for the cramping Spock mentioned, and I found that it was stress-related. Couldn't she just be nervous about her new environment? For many of the ensigns, this is their first time away from home. She could just be trying to adjust," McCoy remarked.

"A very plausible explanation. Some of the ensigns on the bridge have been a bit jittery," Kirk's voice remarked. I jolted a bit at the sound of Kirk's voice, but listened on. 

"No, Captain, I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Spock. The other day, I saw Ensign Evans drop a weight on her foot. The weight weighed 5 or 6 pounds, easily. She didn't even flinch. It was almost as if...as if she didn't feel it. And then yesterday, when I asked her to demonstrate some curl-ups, she looked angry at me. Like she was going to explode," Sulu said. They went quiet for a moment or two.

"That is odd...and you said she didn't even flinch when she dropped the weight, Sulu?" McCoy asked.

"Not even a twitch," he confirmed. "I've been watching her, and she seems alright now, but...I don't know. It just seems odd that she would act like that," he added. They went silent again.

"I agree with Spock. Something has to be done. But she may not take too kindly to us asking about her," Kirk said.

"Precisely. Therefore, I propose that we observe Ensign Evans closely, and watch for indicators as to her condition," he said. 

"I agree," Sulu said.

"I agree also," Kirk said.

"I suppose I'll agree. But if anyone has any updates on her, I want to know as soon as possible," McCoy said. I came off of the wall and quietly left for the mess hall. 

I suppose I felt a bit happy that they were concerned about me. But I was already broken. I didn't need anyone to waste their time repairing me.

Well, anyway, they had their mission: to find out what was wrong with me. My mission? To act as normal as possible.

I went to bed with that goal in mind.

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Here's Chapter 5 for all you amazing people!

Also while I'm here, I've endeavored to depict PTSD as accurately as possible, but if you have PTSD and you feel that I haven't written Violet's PTSD accurately, please let me know, and I will try my best to correct myself!

See you in about a week or so for Chapter 6!