I Can't Even

Posted on Sun May 28th, 2023 @ 3:52pm by Lieutenant JG Ryland Dedeker & Warrant Officer Laena ben-Avram

1,306 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Season 1 Interlude II (E5.5)
Location: Villa 17 | Temtibi Lagoon, Risa
Timeline: MD 6 - Dawn

Raging benders did not end well. Perhaps that was the reason for Ryland's latest performance. He knew he deserved the punishment of a hangover. For the last day of drinking himself numb, the throbbing migraine and body soreness was the least he should be feeling but it would have to do. He stumbled off his bed and went to the pisser, not bothering to dress his sweaty, naked body. The trickle of morning relief awakened a dying thirst within him. Water. He needed it. Lots of it.

There was a replicator in the common area of the hut. Ryland wrapped the monkish robe around himself that he barely remembered getting the day before and walked out into what he expected to be a crowded breakfast area. But, after a few steps, it was clear there was no one else there.

"Hello?"

Not a soul. Mrazak was nowhere to be seen. Reggie was gone, and Ryland wished he didn't know where. Sophie had never turned back up, it seems. Hopefully she was all right. Weird dreams with her on a winged horse named after him... Ryland shook his head. He needed water more than he thought. Well, if he was going to be alone, this was the morning for it. As he shuffled his feet toward the replicator and summoned water, there came sounds of strained whimpering and groaning outside the door he had left open when he had rushed in the day before.

"Aw, shit..." Ryland let out a groan of his own. "Soph? Is that you?"

When he stepped outside the hut, though, he came upon the unlikeliest of souls.

"It's you..."

Laena looked up from from the ground as she nursed her sprained ankle and saw Ryland standing over her. The strained groaning took on a whole new pitch. "Not now, Ryland..." she said in a whimper.

There was history between them, it was true. Back when Ryland first came back to Starfleet without his wings or his commission, he was a bitter senior noncom running the shuttle bay on the USS Vindex where much of the current Memory Theta staff had been stationed at the time. His aggressive flirtation with anyone who'd wear a skirt was legendary, with Laena being no exception. As he recalled, he and Akiva had actually come to blows over whiskey and cards when Ryland dropped an improper remark about Laena.

Now she was at his doorstep, injured and telling him off. If his guilty conscience wasn't already burning, this would have set it on fire for sure.

"Come on, doll thing," Ryland said. "You ain't going nowhere as you are. I can help." He extended a hand. "Let me."

"This better not be one of your games," Laena said. "I'm in no mood."

"You can sit here and cry all day or you can let me get you off your feet and on the mend," Ryland said with a shrug. "Your call."

Laena deliberated for a moment and even tried to get back up on one foot, but her balance was too precarious to get far. She nearly fell down again, save for Ryland catching her. "Fine," she relented. "But you're not carrying me."

"Too late." Ryland swept her small frame up into his arms. "Let's get you back to your room."

"No!" Laena nearly screamed, then repeated more calmly. "No... I... I want to be somewhere else. Anywhere else."

Ryland chewed his cheek. This could get incriminating very quickly. "Cool. So, my hut is empty right now. Let me get you set up on a sofa and then I'll see what we got by way of first aid. Deal?"

"Deal..." As Laena spoke, she chided herself for being so short-tempered with Ryland. Human pig though he was, there were times when the human side showed through and this maybe, possibly might be one of them. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Starlight Princess." It was the nickname Ryland had given her way back when. Despite the situation, they shared a wry chuckle.

Once inside the hut, Ryland set Laena on the nearest cushion and went to rummage the kitchen area for a med kit. "Gotta' be something around here."

Laena reclined on the sofa and elevated her foot. As an experienced runner, she already knew to do that. "Any kind of wrap would be better than nothing," she offered. At least the throb began to subside.

"Dingalingo!" Ryland held up a first aid kit. "Let's see... emergency iodine tablets, antibiotics, matches?" He clicked his tongue. "This is real primitive shit here." But he produce a roll of medical tape. "Bet I could wrap you up real good with this though."

The sidelong stare revealed Laena's discomfort with that turn of phrase.

"I meant your foot, darlin'." Ryland shook his head and laughed. "I know I offered to go down on you when we first met, but a broken foot ain't the sexiest thing on a woman, now is it?"

Laena rolled her eyes. "You're a pig, Ryland. A big, disgusting pig." But she couldn't hide the half smirk at the corner of her mouth. "And you smell like one even more than usual today."

"Oink," Ryland said sarcastically. "Now quitcherbitchin' and let me see your foot."

With great reluctance at being touched by this man, Laena extended her leg toward Ryland's waiting hands and did her best not to cringe.

"What's wrong?" Ryland asked. "Ticklish?"

"No," Laena lied. Sure, she was ticklish, but wasn't everyone? That didn't mean she couldn't also wish to be untouched just for the fact of not wanting to be touched.

Ryland's face turned mischievous. "Sure about that?"

"Ryland Dedeker!" Laena glared at him and shouted through gritted teeth. "Don't-you-dare--" But it was too late. She was already writing and giggling from his light brushing fingers against the back of her knee. "Stahp!"

"I thought you weren't ticklish," Ryland teased, though he quit as she'd said.

"That was me trying not to vomit." Laena glared at him but failed to sell it. "Are you going wrap my ankle like you said or are you just going to stand there looking creepy?"

"Darlin'..." Ryland pulled a strip off medical tape off the roll and tore it with his teeth. "Believe me when I say I can do both."

Laena tried to keep up her angry act but the self-deprecation melted it away. When she started to laugh again, it wasn't an angry, reluctant giggle, but a hearty stream of melodic chuckling. "Idiot." Out of all the people to be stuck in a room with, it had to be him. Maybe once her ankle was better, she should just go back to Akiva and face the music. She wanted more than anything to tell him what was going on with her. The timing couldn't have been worse, but they'd committed to be honest with each other. She needed to do her part.

"Yeah, who rolled their ankle though?" Ryland said as he tried to wrap the tape strip. Primitive material that it was, it got twisted up into a bunch. "Hey, this ought to look familiar, yeah?"

"I'm not dignifying that with a--" Laena knew the vulgar joke Ryland was trying to make, but she didn't even get the chance to finish her dismissal before a jolt of pain shot up her leg. "OW!"

"Sorry!" Ryland said. "Hold still while I try again."

Laena just sighed. "Now I see why you're a pilot. Can't even do basic first aid."

"I'll have you know that I am hungover as fuck right now," Ryland said. "You're welcome though."

Though she'd mostly been teasing, Laena couldn't help but feel guilty for her attitude. "Thank you," she said quietly. "Again. But you're still an idiot."

"Yeah, and you're still a whiny bitch," Ryland quipped. "Now hold still. Third time's a charm."

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