Chapter Text
Una doesn’t remember the first time it happens.
All she knows, is that she regains consciousness to find Chris hovering over her, looking concerned, as she lies flat on her back on the ground. It’s raining heavily and there’s a strong wind blowing around them, making it hard to see very far beyond wherever they are, on whichever planet they're apparently on. Not that she would see much from this position anyway.
Chris seems to relax slightly when he sees that her eyes are open, but he still speaks hurriedly into his communicator, saying, “Pike to Dormer. Please respond.” There is only static.
Una blinks, and tries to think of the last thing she remembers, but her mind is still fuzzy. Her head is pounding, and she feels like she had a fight with something large and she lost. She attempts to push herself into a sitting position, but Chris has his hand resting on her arm and he stills her, with a murmured, “Careful, you probably shouldn’t move just yet. You took quite a hit before you went down.”
She frowns as she looks up at him, bringing her hand up to rub at her head and shield some of the rain from her face, but not otherwise getting up. “What happened?”
He glances around briefly before answering her, his hand still lightly rubbing her arm. She can tell, even with her muddled head, that he’s trying to downplay his state of anxiety, trying to keep her calm by not visibly panicking. “We were scouting the planet along with the rest of the landing party. You and I headed off together, and then there was a really sudden storm that came on, pretty much out of nowhere.”
He shakes some water out of his eyes, as he carries on, “The rain must have dislodged some of the rocks on higher ground, and there were a cluster that came down right at us.” He pauses and swallows, “You pushed me out of the way and got the brunt of the impact. You lost consciousness and, um, weren’t breathing, so I had to use some old-fashioned resuscitation techniques. Lucky I could remember them. Now I’m trying to contact the others so we can get you back to the ship, but the atmospheric interference from the storm seems to be blocking comms.”
He forces a smile, “Don’t worry though, I’ll get you out of here.” She says nothing, just watches him as he looks around them again.
Just then, there’s a crackle from the communicator, and they hear a voice saying, “… Pike… hear me?”
Chris immediately raises his hand to speak into the device. “Pike here. You’re coming through faintly, Dormer. Lieutenant Chin-Riley needs medical attention, are you able to get through to the ship?”
Una doesn’t really hear the response as she closes her eyes for a moment, and then it’s just black.
***
The next thing she knows, she’s waking up in sickbay. She turns her head slightly to see Chris next to her bio-bed, absorbed in reading something on a PADD, though his head raises to look at her when her notices her movement. He gives her a soft smile, “Hey there, good to see you awake.”
The doctor comes over and explains that Una had a pretty bad concussion and minor skull fractures which have been healed, but that they’d like to keep her in for a while just to make sure she’s not experiencing any after-effects.
Una opens her mouth to object, claim that she’s fine. However, Chris gets in first. “Hey doctor, what about if the patient had someone to keep an eye on her? Would you consider releasing her back to quarters instead?” He gives his most winning smile, and deploys the dimples, and apparently even the doctor is not immune. Either that, or she recognises that it’ll be a lot easier on her to just get them both out of her way.
Whatever the reason, Una’s allowed to leave, on the strict condition that she’s not left alone, will contact them immediately if she feels unwell, and is going to relax and not do any work when she goes.
On their way to her quarters, she glances at Chris. “Thanks for what you did down on the planet. And also for getting me released.”
He shrugs dismissively. “Of course. And I know you’re not the biggest fan of sickbay. Figured this would be preferable.”
And while he obviously doesn’t know the real reason that she keeps away from sickbay (or any medical care in general), Una appreciates the thought. She raises an eyebrow though, saying, “How long was I there? Don’t you need to get some rest?”
Chris shakes his head. “I napped for a while already in sickbay. I can stay as long as you need. Don’t feel like you have to entertain me if you want to get some more sleep though, I can always keep myself occupied.” He waves his PADD, adding, “Sit and read.”
They reach her door, and she enters, as he follows behind her. She sighs, “I’d rather not go back to sleep, I’m not feeling particularly tired at the moment.”
He nods and looks around. “Ok, well, how would you prefer to relax then?”
Una considers the question. “Normally I might read some old reports.” Off his look, she carries on, “But, since I’m not allowed to work, I suppose I could do a manicure." She examines her hands. "My nails didn’t come off too well on that mission.”
“Ok, do you want me to help? Or can I do anything else?”
She tilts her head, curious. “Know much about nail care, do you?”
He shrugs. “Happy to learn, if it means I can be of use.”
“Well... it involves a lot of sitting very still, and attention to fine detail." She can't help a small smirk, "So, not exactly your strongest qualities.”
He looks like he’s considering disputing her point, but then thinks better of it. “I’ll give you that one. In that case, I’ll stay out of your way.” He grins and goes to sit down and read from his PADD, leaving her to assemble what she needs.
They sit in companionable silence for a pleasant while, each focused on their respective tasks, before eventually Una hears Chris let out a noise of obvious frustration.
She glances over at him but otherwise doesn’t stop what she’s doing. “Problem?”
He gives a slight shake of his head, “Just going through the logs around the mission. Trying to figure out what went wrong, why I didn’t anticipate the storm. But I can’t find anything indicative.”
At this, she does pause to frown, as she looks at him properly. “What makes you think there was anything that could have predicted it?”
“I was the commanding officer. There must have been something I missed that would have shown it could happen before we went down there.”
Una snorts. “Well that’s bad reasoning.” He gives her a look, and she gives him one right back. She continues, “We had access to the exact same data before we left, and neither of us noticed anything, nor did anyone else. Are you saying that I overlooked something? Because I’m telling you, I trust that I didn’t.”
Chris looks uncertain, but doesn’t argue with her. He just shakes his head. “Then we shouldn’t have gone off alone. It was clearly unsafe. My decision for us to scout-”
She cuts him off, “It was a reasonable course of action under the circumstances. You know that if your orders had been against standard procedure, I would have said something.”
He pauses, and she sees the side of his mouth quirk upwards at that, as he looks her in the eye, conceding the point. “That’s true. You wouldn’t have held back on my account if you thought I was wrong.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Look, we both know, you can’t foresee all possible problems before they happen, it’s just not feasible. The important thing is that you reacted to what happened at the time, and then you got the party out.”
He hums noncommittally.
She presses on, “Chris, this isn’t news to you. We always know there’s a chance that anything could happen when we visit an unknown planet. This is far from the first time we’ve been caught unawares.” She watches him more closely, as he still avoids her gaze. “What’s this really about?”
He doesn’t answer immediately, but eventually he speaks slowly, quietly, staring at a spot on the floor. “I, um, I froze." He looks up at her. "When it happened. When you first went down, and you weren’t breathing, for a moment I just froze. I couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything. The fear, it just, took over completely. I was paralyzed.”
He swallows and carries on, “I was thinking, what if I couldn’t save you? And it absolutely terrified me. Because-” he cuts off and glances away, apparently thinking over something in his mind. She doesn’t speak, waiting for him to continue.
But then he gives a shake of the head and just says, “I’ve never had that before.” He rubs at his eyes, “You’d risked yourself to protect me, and if anything had happened to you… It would have been completely my fault.”
Una shrugs. “I disagree. It was my decision in the moment." She leans forward. "Besides, you did save me. Like I trust that you would. And I’m fine.”
“And next time?”
“Do you want me to say I wouldn’t put myself in danger to help you? Or anyone? You know as well as I do, you would have done the exact same thing in my position.”
Chris lets out a breath, pursing his lips in thought. He gives a small nod to acknowledge the truth in her words. Then he sighs, and says, “It just seems that I tend to end up in these situations more often than I’d like. Along with anyone who’s with me.”
She shrugs again. “You’re deliberately put in those sorts of riskier situations because you can handle them. And I’m usually sent along with you, because I can as well. And, because someone needs to watch your back, and I’d rather that it was me.”
“The mission today wasn’t supposed to be risky, it was a simple planetary survey.”
“Any mission to an uncharted planet always carries some element of risk. And, maybe we were unlucky this time, it happens.” He still looks troubled, so she waits until he looks back at her again before saying, “I accept the risk, Chris, as we all do. It’s part of the job.”
He watches her for a long moment, before saying quietly, “I just saw today what might happen when... I maybe care too much.”
Her breath catches at the look on his face, and she doesn't respond immediately. Her heart is beating a little fast. Then, she looks back down at her hands, and says deliberately lightly, “You have to care, it’s what makes you a good officer. And I’d rather have someone who cares too much, than not enough.” Then she adds as she looks back up at him, “In command that is.”
Chris says nothing for a moment, just keeps watching her, then replies, “Una, I-" but cuts off whatever he was about to say, seeming to think better of it. She focuses back down on her hands, trying to calm her racing heartbeat.
He finally just says softly, "I’m really glad you’re OK.”
Then he shifts in his seat and clears his throat, adding in a stronger voice, “Though, how’s your head? Any problems?”
She looks back up, and raises an eyebrow at that. “Wouldn’t I have said if there were?” The moment, whatever it was, seems to have broken.
He grins at her, “Nope, you definitely wouldn’t have said. But I know you also wouldn’t tell an outright lie to a superior officer, so...?”
Una considers how she’s feeling. “No, there have been no issues that I’ve noticed.” Then she concedes reluctantly, “I probably could do with getting some more sleep though, I am starting to feel tired now.”
Chris gets up. “In that case, I’ll leave you to it, and report your status back to sickbay.”
“Ok thanks.”
At the door, he turns to her before he leaves. "Oh, how did your nails turn out?"
She raises her hands to show him, and he glances down to see, before looking back at her face with a soft smile, keeping eye contact as he says, "As always. Amazing." Then he straightens up. “Right then, sleep well, Lieutenant.”
She gives him a small nod. “Aye, sir.”
He pauses for a moment, as though he might say something more, but instead he just nods back, and then he’s gone.