Post by Scribe on May 13, 2011 3:12:57 GMT -5
NEW EARTH COLONY, GAIA
December 2, 2170
Staring down at his padd while on the NX, McCulloch hadn't moved from where he sat in his private quarters for over half an hour. The incoming message all but crippled him, for up here in planet orbit he was helpless to react or respond. And this wasn't the type of thing that could be handled by a return text or holovid call, although the thought cross his mind on what he could say.
Stressing out, he closed the note and pulled up a new, blank pallet. Typing fast, he half thought he should have called Stark, but didn't.
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
Stark, you around?
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: CMO Stark, T.S.
To: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
Yeah, just going over some medical reports. What's up?
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
What are you doing tonight?
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: CMO Stark, T.S.
To: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
Stroking to pictures of Elena Rose, what do you have in mind?
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
I need a drink. A stiff one.
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
I need to talk to you Stark.
------------------------
The messages one after the other made Dr. Tennyson Stark, known to most, simply as Stark, sit up and pay attention. Each sentence, ominous with grim undertones, was enough to raise all kinds of alarm bells. Sitting up at his desk, he put down the data padd he had been studying and typed out a response.
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: CMO Stark, T.S.
To: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
Get your ass over here.
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
I can't until I'm off duty. I'll take my ship planetside though. Eighteen hundred sound good?
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: CMO Stark, T.S.
To: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
Yeah. See you then.
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
See you then.
------------------------
While this wasn't an immediate solution, taking some sort of action, no matter how small, made Mason feel like this was at least progress. He once more opened the original incoming and read it before shutting the entire padd off. This could ruin him in a way, and McCulloch knew something like this could only be handled by a man like Stark. There was no one else.
Getting off duty thirty minutes early, he didn't shower or change and went straight to Maribel, signing her out and strapping himself in. Maxy had every intention of returning back to the ship tonight and doubted anyone would even notice he was gone, which was preferred. Flight control clearance underway, he checked his harness straps and nodded when the release green came over the mic. Less than twenty minutes later he was planetside, landing in the hangar and shutting down his ship so fast, Maribel might have felt cheated. Giving her a pat, he whispered to the machine, "See you soon kiddo," and tucked his helmet under his arm. Heading straight for Starfleet Medical without saying much to the ground crew he typically chatted with.
"Stark?" Mason hailed the intercom outside Tennyson's office, arriving earlier than anticipated at seventeen hundred twenty. "It's Maxy."
"Come on in," Stark beckoned his guest in, having already got the bottle of Romulan Ale ready. The stuff was damned hard to come by and Stark had planned on drinking it on a special occasion, or when he somehow got time with that hot Betazoid nurse who kept slapping him every time he smiled at her. Okay, so it was a little rude thinking about going down on her like the Titanic when he was asking for a tongue depressor but what do you do right? However, the tone of Maxy's messages told him that the guy needed something stronger than usual.
Stepping inside, seeing the blue bottle, Mason exhaled, "Thank God." He dropped his helmet off on a chair and slumped down on the couch. "You already bang that nurse," he knew why Tennyson kept the bottle and where in the office it was located. "Or you ran out of everything else?"
"You sounded like you needed something that would react like a brick being slammed across the side of your head," he said pouring the said brick into two short glasses. "What's up?"
"I feel like I got a brick slammed across my head." Mason took his drink and gave a quick, mock toast before he took a sip. "There's no easy way to say this, so..." He shrugged and didn't beat around the bush, "I know you don't agree with my engagement to Bethany." Never mind what else he'd been doing. "And I got a note today." Mason shook his head and took out his padd, reading it. "Maxy. I need to talk to you because I received a positive pregnancy test result today and I'm at five weeks. If you recall, you were last down here with me." McCulloch closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "About five weeks ago." He glanced up at Stark. "Please call me as soon as you get this because I'm scared. We need to talk."
To add clarity, Maxy finished reading the note, no longer needing to look at it, "Thanks and I can't wait to hear from you. Justine." Looking as lost as the first time he read the message, Mason stared at Stark. Drinking back the rest of the ale. "I'm screwed Stark. I'm totally screwed."
Oh he certainly was.
Stark tried to maintain a poker face because the first thing out of his mouth would have been something along the lines of don't you know what fucking rubbers are? In this century, the suckers kept swimmers out like Fort Knox. "Okay calm down," he said gently, utilizing a rarely seen bedside manner he reserved for hot patients. "Have you seen her? This girl Justine?"
Mason shook his head, "No. I contacted you." He stood and moved over to help himself to another round of Stark's bottle, glancing at his friend and grateful, as always, for the lack of judgment that was never passed. "I came straight here after duty."
This was the kind of conversation he was used to having with patients, not one's best friend. "Well what do you want to do?" He asked cautiously, uncertain of what was Mason's view on the subject of kids. The guy was engaged, so it had to be a possibility.
Surreal was the only word that kept coming to mind as Mason felt like he was having deja vu from seven years ago. "Wake up from this reality into a normal one? Get clipped like a stallion?" He was trying to be funny, "Hell, I don't know Stark. Are you asking me if I want to have Justine have this.... this... " He couldn't say 'my child'. That was too real. Baby wasn't exactly settling well either. "Kid? No. Okay?" He looked right at Stark. "I don't."
Stark was silent for a moment before he spoke. "Well that's your decision but unfortunately it means shit. What you need to find out is what's hers? Until then, you're twisting yourself into knots for nothing. If you don't want the kid, then tell her straight out. The thing you got to deal with is the possibility if she chooses to have it."
"If she decides to have it, I'm screwed Tennyson..."
"No you're not," Stark replied, ignoring the usual irritation that came with hearing the use of his given name. "It will be fucking messy but you're not fucked. I mean these days, having a kid is a good thing. Improve population numbers, you've seen the propaganda. If you're asking me if this will ruin your life? It will complicate it but it won't ruin it. And if you don't want to be a father, you can do that too. If she decides to have a baby, that's her business, your participation in bringing new life to the world ended the minute you rolled over to go wash your dick in her sink."
The word father make Maxy cringe and he felt his throat drying, not that the rest of the lecture was helping at all. "I thought you, of all people, would understand." Anger rose but he sat back down on the couch instead. Mason was quiet a long time, staring at the blue drink that he felt he couldn't even swallow back. He could deal with all sorts of situations in the field, life or death, flight or fight, but when it came to this type of stress, McCulloch couldn't handle it. "If I can convince her..." He couldn't look at Stark, but continued talking, "If I can get her to agree... would you do it?"
Ah fuck, he should have seen it coming. He should have. "It's a big fucking ask Mason." He replied, his expression unreadable. Of course he would, he knew that even as he said those words. Mason was his friend. "If you can convince her...yeah," he nodded. "I'll do it."
Justine said in her note she was scared and that was the only piece that was keeping him together this much so far. That crazy, assholic hope. "Thank you." A nod and sip, not wanting to know what Justine was going to say, want or do, he had to convince her somehow. That was how it had to be or his life was pretty much over. "Thank you."
"I need a drink," Stark said filling up his glass and downing it. "You need to go see her, talk to her about this and then you both need to come back and see me ASAP. Don't fucking dawdle."
"If she agrees and I can get her to do this tonight," Mason could tell this was not Stark's first choice, "You need to stop drinking." He already knocked Justine up, he wasn't going to have her messed up further due to a drunk doctor. "Sorry. And. Thanks." He wanted to finish and wasn't ready to go, but Maxy did stand and took a deep breath.
"Yeah right," Stark took a look at the glass, assaulted memories that he did not want, feeling the sick, hollowness when he recalled the words that Vera had used.
It was the best decision for both of us.
Both of us. He almost snorted out loud but then Mason would have no idea why. "Don't mention it."
He stood before Tennyson's desk and set his full glass down, studying his friend. "You don't believe in termination?"
"I don't believe in it being a choice for two." Stark said after a moment.
"What is that supposed to mean? It's the woman's choice only? You? This is coming from you?" This was borderline hypocritical on everything he knew about Stark.
"Yeah," his eyes lifted up and met Mason's filled with fire that hadn't been quashed, not after all this time. "It is a woman's choice. Your Justine decides to have this kid, what fucking say do you have in that? Your ability to make any decisions about this ended the minute you shot your load. Everything that happens after that point is solely her choice. If she decides you're going to be a daddy, that's what going to be. If she decides you're not because it’s best fucking decision for both of you, you won't. Get it? You're not the one who has to go through the procedure, she does. And because she does, she gets all the power."
Maxy felt Stark's words like a brick slammed across his head, chest and balls. It was becoming crystal clear that this was not a topic of conversation and Mason wondered just what he had released here tonight. About to say something, about to try, he shook his head and left his glass on the table, turning and picking up his helmet. "I'll let you know what happens." The side of the helmet showed his callsign and a graphic of motion flashing down the back to the neck. It represented power and speed. Two elements he felt very removed from at the moment. "I'll call."
Feeling like an asshole because Maxy had no idea what was going on with him. "Max," he called out. "Wait."
"I get your point Stark." He glanced at his best friend, "I don't need anymore lectures of how I'm irresponsible with my dick or how much of a fucking bastard I am to want to talk Justine out of this. Okay? I hear you. Loud and fucking clear." The guilt that had been building since he first read the note and how he disappointed both Bethany and Justine and god, even to a degree... All that was more than enough, but he wasn't expecting to take on the additional heat from Stark. "I'll go talk with her. All right?"
"No you don't get my point," Stark said in a less acerbic tone than before it. "I divorced Vera because I got home from Betazed to have her tell me that she terminated the child we conceived. I didn't even know she was pregnant. She did while I was gone, so I couldn't object to it."
Letting that sink in, he was starting to see, "I didn't know. I'm. I'm sorry." Mason stood there, looking down where Stark sat.
"I didn't mean to come down on you so hard," Stark apologized. "Just this opened up a lot of wounds I thought I'd drunk away. I haven't been able to share the same room with her since it happened and all that time, I was thinking, how come I didn't get a say in the matter?"
"And now you're resigned to believe that it's the woman's choice only? Was that real or you just... reacting? To your past?" The driver of the lecture wasn't entirely clear and he regarded his best friend by sitting down in the chair across from Stark's desk. "And you think it's bullshit. Like me?"
"I believe that if you don't want to have a child, you shouldn't but you need to prepare for yourself, if she decides she does." He said with a sigh. "If you can talk her out of it, then go for it but make fucking sure that's what you want because once that child is gone, that's it. You're reacting on fear and a whole lot of stuff you never considered, well it's here and for once you need to think clearly on what you want to do, not because it will fuck things up with Bethany but for yourself."
In truth, it wasn’t Bethany he was thinking about, although it should be. In his mind he had never comprehended what killing a child meant. Maxy simply didn't think that way. Couldn’t. "I've never wanted a kid, come on. You know that. I don't want marriage, I don't want kids. I don't want anything's that going to..." Mason took a deep breath and sighed, leaning back in the seat. He didn't know what the hell he wanted these days. "I think I'm thinking very clearly. What else is there to consider? I don't want Justine to have some kid that happened to be the bi-product of our one-night coat room romp."
"Fair enough," Stark nodded, guessing that was as clear as Mason could make it. "Talk to her, get her over here and I'll do the procedure. With any luck, she can be home before breakfast."
He nodded and sat, staring down at his helmet before rising and leaving it behind on the chair. "I'll be back soon." Mason gave one last glance of good-bye before he left, "I hope." A soft wave and he exited Stark's office as if leaving for a death sentence. This would either go great or not at all. There was no in-between.
"Good luck," Stark wished him as he left, unable to decide which outcome would have suited him best. Either way, he'd stay sober enough for the procedure because after, he was going to get drunker than hell itself.
End
December 2, 2170
Staring down at his padd while on the NX, McCulloch hadn't moved from where he sat in his private quarters for over half an hour. The incoming message all but crippled him, for up here in planet orbit he was helpless to react or respond. And this wasn't the type of thing that could be handled by a return text or holovid call, although the thought cross his mind on what he could say.
Stressing out, he closed the note and pulled up a new, blank pallet. Typing fast, he half thought he should have called Stark, but didn't.
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
Stark, you around?
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: CMO Stark, T.S.
To: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
Yeah, just going over some medical reports. What's up?
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
What are you doing tonight?
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: CMO Stark, T.S.
To: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
Stroking to pictures of Elena Rose, what do you have in mind?
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
I need a drink. A stiff one.
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
I need to talk to you Stark.
------------------------
The messages one after the other made Dr. Tennyson Stark, known to most, simply as Stark, sit up and pay attention. Each sentence, ominous with grim undertones, was enough to raise all kinds of alarm bells. Sitting up at his desk, he put down the data padd he had been studying and typed out a response.
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: CMO Stark, T.S.
To: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
Get your ass over here.
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
I can't until I'm off duty. I'll take my ship planetside though. Eighteen hundred sound good?
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: CMO Stark, T.S.
To: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
Yeah. See you then.
------------------------
INCOMING PM
From: Cmdr McCulloch, M.A.
To: CMO Stark, T.S.
See you then.
------------------------
While this wasn't an immediate solution, taking some sort of action, no matter how small, made Mason feel like this was at least progress. He once more opened the original incoming and read it before shutting the entire padd off. This could ruin him in a way, and McCulloch knew something like this could only be handled by a man like Stark. There was no one else.
Getting off duty thirty minutes early, he didn't shower or change and went straight to Maribel, signing her out and strapping himself in. Maxy had every intention of returning back to the ship tonight and doubted anyone would even notice he was gone, which was preferred. Flight control clearance underway, he checked his harness straps and nodded when the release green came over the mic. Less than twenty minutes later he was planetside, landing in the hangar and shutting down his ship so fast, Maribel might have felt cheated. Giving her a pat, he whispered to the machine, "See you soon kiddo," and tucked his helmet under his arm. Heading straight for Starfleet Medical without saying much to the ground crew he typically chatted with.
"Stark?" Mason hailed the intercom outside Tennyson's office, arriving earlier than anticipated at seventeen hundred twenty. "It's Maxy."
"Come on in," Stark beckoned his guest in, having already got the bottle of Romulan Ale ready. The stuff was damned hard to come by and Stark had planned on drinking it on a special occasion, or when he somehow got time with that hot Betazoid nurse who kept slapping him every time he smiled at her. Okay, so it was a little rude thinking about going down on her like the Titanic when he was asking for a tongue depressor but what do you do right? However, the tone of Maxy's messages told him that the guy needed something stronger than usual.
Stepping inside, seeing the blue bottle, Mason exhaled, "Thank God." He dropped his helmet off on a chair and slumped down on the couch. "You already bang that nurse," he knew why Tennyson kept the bottle and where in the office it was located. "Or you ran out of everything else?"
"You sounded like you needed something that would react like a brick being slammed across the side of your head," he said pouring the said brick into two short glasses. "What's up?"
"I feel like I got a brick slammed across my head." Mason took his drink and gave a quick, mock toast before he took a sip. "There's no easy way to say this, so..." He shrugged and didn't beat around the bush, "I know you don't agree with my engagement to Bethany." Never mind what else he'd been doing. "And I got a note today." Mason shook his head and took out his padd, reading it. "Maxy. I need to talk to you because I received a positive pregnancy test result today and I'm at five weeks. If you recall, you were last down here with me." McCulloch closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "About five weeks ago." He glanced up at Stark. "Please call me as soon as you get this because I'm scared. We need to talk."
To add clarity, Maxy finished reading the note, no longer needing to look at it, "Thanks and I can't wait to hear from you. Justine." Looking as lost as the first time he read the message, Mason stared at Stark. Drinking back the rest of the ale. "I'm screwed Stark. I'm totally screwed."
Oh he certainly was.
Stark tried to maintain a poker face because the first thing out of his mouth would have been something along the lines of don't you know what fucking rubbers are? In this century, the suckers kept swimmers out like Fort Knox. "Okay calm down," he said gently, utilizing a rarely seen bedside manner he reserved for hot patients. "Have you seen her? This girl Justine?"
Mason shook his head, "No. I contacted you." He stood and moved over to help himself to another round of Stark's bottle, glancing at his friend and grateful, as always, for the lack of judgment that was never passed. "I came straight here after duty."
This was the kind of conversation he was used to having with patients, not one's best friend. "Well what do you want to do?" He asked cautiously, uncertain of what was Mason's view on the subject of kids. The guy was engaged, so it had to be a possibility.
Surreal was the only word that kept coming to mind as Mason felt like he was having deja vu from seven years ago. "Wake up from this reality into a normal one? Get clipped like a stallion?" He was trying to be funny, "Hell, I don't know Stark. Are you asking me if I want to have Justine have this.... this... " He couldn't say 'my child'. That was too real. Baby wasn't exactly settling well either. "Kid? No. Okay?" He looked right at Stark. "I don't."
Stark was silent for a moment before he spoke. "Well that's your decision but unfortunately it means shit. What you need to find out is what's hers? Until then, you're twisting yourself into knots for nothing. If you don't want the kid, then tell her straight out. The thing you got to deal with is the possibility if she chooses to have it."
"If she decides to have it, I'm screwed Tennyson..."
"No you're not," Stark replied, ignoring the usual irritation that came with hearing the use of his given name. "It will be fucking messy but you're not fucked. I mean these days, having a kid is a good thing. Improve population numbers, you've seen the propaganda. If you're asking me if this will ruin your life? It will complicate it but it won't ruin it. And if you don't want to be a father, you can do that too. If she decides to have a baby, that's her business, your participation in bringing new life to the world ended the minute you rolled over to go wash your dick in her sink."
The word father make Maxy cringe and he felt his throat drying, not that the rest of the lecture was helping at all. "I thought you, of all people, would understand." Anger rose but he sat back down on the couch instead. Mason was quiet a long time, staring at the blue drink that he felt he couldn't even swallow back. He could deal with all sorts of situations in the field, life or death, flight or fight, but when it came to this type of stress, McCulloch couldn't handle it. "If I can convince her..." He couldn't look at Stark, but continued talking, "If I can get her to agree... would you do it?"
Ah fuck, he should have seen it coming. He should have. "It's a big fucking ask Mason." He replied, his expression unreadable. Of course he would, he knew that even as he said those words. Mason was his friend. "If you can convince her...yeah," he nodded. "I'll do it."
Justine said in her note she was scared and that was the only piece that was keeping him together this much so far. That crazy, assholic hope. "Thank you." A nod and sip, not wanting to know what Justine was going to say, want or do, he had to convince her somehow. That was how it had to be or his life was pretty much over. "Thank you."
"I need a drink," Stark said filling up his glass and downing it. "You need to go see her, talk to her about this and then you both need to come back and see me ASAP. Don't fucking dawdle."
"If she agrees and I can get her to do this tonight," Mason could tell this was not Stark's first choice, "You need to stop drinking." He already knocked Justine up, he wasn't going to have her messed up further due to a drunk doctor. "Sorry. And. Thanks." He wanted to finish and wasn't ready to go, but Maxy did stand and took a deep breath.
"Yeah right," Stark took a look at the glass, assaulted memories that he did not want, feeling the sick, hollowness when he recalled the words that Vera had used.
It was the best decision for both of us.
Both of us. He almost snorted out loud but then Mason would have no idea why. "Don't mention it."
He stood before Tennyson's desk and set his full glass down, studying his friend. "You don't believe in termination?"
"I don't believe in it being a choice for two." Stark said after a moment.
"What is that supposed to mean? It's the woman's choice only? You? This is coming from you?" This was borderline hypocritical on everything he knew about Stark.
"Yeah," his eyes lifted up and met Mason's filled with fire that hadn't been quashed, not after all this time. "It is a woman's choice. Your Justine decides to have this kid, what fucking say do you have in that? Your ability to make any decisions about this ended the minute you shot your load. Everything that happens after that point is solely her choice. If she decides you're going to be a daddy, that's what going to be. If she decides you're not because it’s best fucking decision for both of you, you won't. Get it? You're not the one who has to go through the procedure, she does. And because she does, she gets all the power."
Maxy felt Stark's words like a brick slammed across his head, chest and balls. It was becoming crystal clear that this was not a topic of conversation and Mason wondered just what he had released here tonight. About to say something, about to try, he shook his head and left his glass on the table, turning and picking up his helmet. "I'll let you know what happens." The side of the helmet showed his callsign and a graphic of motion flashing down the back to the neck. It represented power and speed. Two elements he felt very removed from at the moment. "I'll call."
Feeling like an asshole because Maxy had no idea what was going on with him. "Max," he called out. "Wait."
"I get your point Stark." He glanced at his best friend, "I don't need anymore lectures of how I'm irresponsible with my dick or how much of a fucking bastard I am to want to talk Justine out of this. Okay? I hear you. Loud and fucking clear." The guilt that had been building since he first read the note and how he disappointed both Bethany and Justine and god, even to a degree... All that was more than enough, but he wasn't expecting to take on the additional heat from Stark. "I'll go talk with her. All right?"
"No you don't get my point," Stark said in a less acerbic tone than before it. "I divorced Vera because I got home from Betazed to have her tell me that she terminated the child we conceived. I didn't even know she was pregnant. She did while I was gone, so I couldn't object to it."
Letting that sink in, he was starting to see, "I didn't know. I'm. I'm sorry." Mason stood there, looking down where Stark sat.
"I didn't mean to come down on you so hard," Stark apologized. "Just this opened up a lot of wounds I thought I'd drunk away. I haven't been able to share the same room with her since it happened and all that time, I was thinking, how come I didn't get a say in the matter?"
"And now you're resigned to believe that it's the woman's choice only? Was that real or you just... reacting? To your past?" The driver of the lecture wasn't entirely clear and he regarded his best friend by sitting down in the chair across from Stark's desk. "And you think it's bullshit. Like me?"
"I believe that if you don't want to have a child, you shouldn't but you need to prepare for yourself, if she decides she does." He said with a sigh. "If you can talk her out of it, then go for it but make fucking sure that's what you want because once that child is gone, that's it. You're reacting on fear and a whole lot of stuff you never considered, well it's here and for once you need to think clearly on what you want to do, not because it will fuck things up with Bethany but for yourself."
In truth, it wasn’t Bethany he was thinking about, although it should be. In his mind he had never comprehended what killing a child meant. Maxy simply didn't think that way. Couldn’t. "I've never wanted a kid, come on. You know that. I don't want marriage, I don't want kids. I don't want anything's that going to..." Mason took a deep breath and sighed, leaning back in the seat. He didn't know what the hell he wanted these days. "I think I'm thinking very clearly. What else is there to consider? I don't want Justine to have some kid that happened to be the bi-product of our one-night coat room romp."
"Fair enough," Stark nodded, guessing that was as clear as Mason could make it. "Talk to her, get her over here and I'll do the procedure. With any luck, she can be home before breakfast."
He nodded and sat, staring down at his helmet before rising and leaving it behind on the chair. "I'll be back soon." Mason gave one last glance of good-bye before he left, "I hope." A soft wave and he exited Stark's office as if leaving for a death sentence. This would either go great or not at all. There was no in-between.
"Good luck," Stark wished him as he left, unable to decide which outcome would have suited him best. Either way, he'd stay sober enough for the procedure because after, he was going to get drunker than hell itself.
End