The Aftermath

Posted on Thursday 27 August 2020 @ 20:01 by Lieutenant Commander Hayley Godding & Captain Melody Jones & Civilian Sansa Draxx-Jones

Mission: A Whale of a problem (We're going to need a bigger boat)
Location: The arboretum
Timeline: MD3 2100
1029 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

After making sure Sav’ena was ok, she had slipped out of sickbay and made her way here. She was now sat under a tree crying silently.

What had she done? If Sav had been hurt or worse.... Hayley? How could she have been so careless?

Would Hayley still want to be with her? Various worse case scenarios were playing over and over in her mind. The thought of Hayley hating her and leaving her was fuelling a deep dark bottomless pit in her very core.

She rested her head forward into her hands.

It had, surprisingly, taken Hayley several minutes to notice that Sansa wasn't in sickbay anymore. Having been interrogated by the new Chief Medical Officer over the circumstances of what had happened to Sav'ena, what she'd been doing whilst under the influence of the song, as well as any and all treatment or scans that Hayley had done. Once all that was done, Hayley excused herself and tried to figure out where Sansa had gone. Given how pale and distraught she'd looked, Hayley was chiding herself for not taking better care of her.

"Computer, location of Sansa Draxx-Jones." She instructed.

"Sansa Draxx-Jones is in the arboretum." Came the cold feminine voice of the computer.

Hayley made her way down to the arboretum, which was a sprawling large space almost like a colony bio-dome. It was seldom occupied however and a brief walk around the exterior walkway enabled Hayley to hear some faint crying. She noticed a large cherry tree with a demunative figure huddled under it, sobbing quietly into her hands. Hayley crossed over the soft grass towards the young woman and sat down on the grass next to her. "I wondered where you'd run off too." She said, softly. "Sav is going to be fine. I mean, Commander Miller is going to have a field-day with her emotional state, but nothing medically wrong with her."

Sansa heard her, but it didn’t make her feel any better. She still couldn’t bring herself to look at her, afraid of what she would see in her eyes. “I.... was stupid and reckless and I could have got you hurt.... or worse.” she said quietly, tears still pouring down her face.

Hayley reached out and gently stroked the top of Sansa's head. Of course she could placate the teenager with false words, but that wasn't what Sansa wanted right now. She was feeling the weight of what had happend, as well as Hayley's own censure of her actions. This had been a hard lesson for Sansa to learn and it was important that she did.

"Yes, you were and yes, people could have been hurt. You, me or Sav, we had no idea what would happen. You were impatient as you were excited about the whale song. Sav tried to warn you." She leaned over and lifted Sansa's head out of her hands to make her look into her eyes. "But the important thing here is that no one was hurt and that you learned a very important lesson. Making impulsive decisions isn't limited to young people you know, but knowing the consequences of such acts is a valuable education, and its best to learn it when no one suffered for it."

Sansa slowly looked at Hayley and then threw her arms around her. "I know, I know.... I'm so sorry. I wanted to see if i could make a breakthrough and help with the mission. I got so caught up in searching for answers, I didn't think about what could happen. I messed up..."

"Yes you did." A voice came from close by. Melody was standing nearby there with a mixture of concern and relief. She had changed out of her uniform into some casual civvies. She held up a hand to Godding. "It's ok Hayley, right now I'm here as a concerned mother."

"Yes Captain." Hayley said, halting her attempt to stand so instead allowed Sansa to continue embracing her, holding her back.

"I've just been to sickbay. Sav is ok. You took a big risk there and you learned a hard lesson but the important thing is that you have learned that lesson." Melody sighed "Look, I'm just glad you're ok but next time you might want to think about the consequences before you try something like that and listen to what Sav was saying and come and talk to me first?"

Hayley held Sansa close. "I accept some of the responsibility here." She said. "I could see she was very enthusiastic and I didn't think to step in and curb it sooner. I just got so caught up in Sansa's sheer passion for the whales, before I realised it, she'd activated the music. Please don't be too hard on her, Captain. She was only trying to help."

Melody nodded "I see, thank you for telling me Hayley. Well, no harm was done this time and I know Sansa has learned a valuable lesson and hopefully some wisdom. " She held her arms open.

Sansa slipped away from Hayley and embraced her mother. "I have mom, I love you... is it ok if I stay with Hayley again tonight?"

"I don't see why not. Just don't forget bout us ok? Both me and your father want to spend some time with you too." she gave her one last hug as Sansa came back over to Hayley and took hold of her hand. Melody gave a small wave. "I'll see you later. Good night Sweetie." She then added to Godding. "Good night Hayley."

"Good night Captain." Hayley replied, gripping Sansa's hand in her own, then looked over at her. "You just assumed I didn't have plans with another incredibly cute and lovable red-head and invited yourself over?" She teased. "You know what, I've got a very good idea. Why don't we watch Free Willy tonight, since you're so fond of whales. I think you're going to love it."

"It's called Free what?" Sansa said before erupting into a fit of giggles. She made herself laugh until her eyes watered. The giggles finally subsided, Sansa said "Sure, as long as I'm with you."

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