Morning workout

Posted on Fri Sep 9th, 2022 @ 3:52pm by Lieutenant Hope Ross, MD & Lieutenant JG Rafe Hunnicutt

Mission: The devil wears tripolymer
Location: Gym

Hope had gotten up extra early to enjoy a cup of coffee and a healthy breakfast. She had egg whites and strawberries and banana slices. She had pulled up long blonde hair back into a pony-tail and slipped on a pair of leggins with shorts over them and a Starfleet Academy t-shirt on. She was a physician after all and felt she should lead by example.

It didn't take Hope long to jog down to the turbo-lift and then make it to the gym. There were a lot less people using the facilities then the "Doc" as she always got called thought there would be. Maybe people were just busy or maybe they worked out after shift. It really wasn't her business so she just started a brisk walk around the track waiting for the handsome Rafe.

Hunnicutt showed up a few minutes later, wearing the standard Starfleet workout trousers, but paired with a rather bright tee shirt in pink with tropical leaves and flowers on it. He grinned as he saw her, giving a little bow. "Sorry for being late," he said lightly. "Needed to find the most hideous tee shirt I got in my locker."

"I think you might have at least found the brightest tee shirt ever" Hope said squinting and smiling acting like his shirt hurt her eyes or impaired her vision somehow.

"Well, this way, if I find myself falling into a pit of exhaustion along the way, you can easily find me," he said, chuckling as he walked up to her. "I've been known to have two left feet half the time."

"Oh please don't fall and break yourself" Hope said that accent coming on strong.

"We'll find out," he said, starting to warm up. He smiled at her accent, a counterpoint to his purposefully watered out one. "You know, I don't know much about Earth countries, but your voice is something special."

"The south part of what used to be The United States of America" Hope shrugged and smiled "but that's sweet of you to say" there was a little rose color in her cheeks.

"Ah, yes...the old U S of A. Covered that at school, in history," he said and rolled his shoulders. "Although it was more a blip at my school, really. They were more about old European history." He stopped, realising he sounded boring now. "So, we should have a run. How many laps?"

"I don't know" she started in a jog around the track "I usually just run until I don't feel like running anymore" Hope looked over at him and shrugged.

"My kind of running then," Rafe said as he fell in step with her, on her left side. "Or when I fall flat on my face, that has happened once or twice. If it does, feel free to laugh as much as you can. Would serve me right!"

"Oh you can bet on it" Hope giggled, their running pace increasing slightly as they found their stride. "You have a tendency to try and kill yourself?" she asked looking over at him with an arched eyebrow.

"It's a theory," Rafe admitted, smiling warmly as he glanced over at her. "But really, I'm not. I suppose I just aren't that coordinated, as a human being. I'm just here to...do what I love. Which happens to be warp cores, engines and that sort. Trust me, if it wasn't for all the automatic benefits of Starfleet, you'd find me on any civilian ship."

"Starfleet has it's perks" Hope smiled. "Well I'm glad I can be your work out buddy" she paused and took a deep breath as they continued their run. "You know to keep you from dying while exercising" she was trying to make a joke, but in the end realized it probably wasn't that funny.

"It's my master plan," he laughed, looking at her with shining eyes. "Basically, you keep me alive, and I'll try to remind you that there's more in the universe than a sickbay. If you need it. I don't know if you are one of those officers who just live to work or not...?"

"I have a life" her voice got a little sad as she finished her statement. Then she started asking herself "Am I one of those officers?" as she thought about it, Hope realized doctors probably were those people.

He looked at her, frowning as he heard the change in her voice. He reached out, his hand touching her wrist as they ran. "Yeah, you do. You're a doctor, it's a big deal. You help people. Just...remember you're a person too. You have to look out for yourself, or else you can't help your patients."

"Good point" she smiled and then asked her self "is he flirting... do I flirt... am I reading this all wrong..." but Hope didn't say anything else just started running a little faster, slightly embarrassed and nervous.

He kept in stride, smiling as he looked ahead. "So, except for running, and doctoring, what else do you like doing?" he asked, curious about her.

"I love all kinds of music" Hope said with a smile on her face "and I love to cook, what about you?" she asked with the smile still on her face.

"I love to eat," he said, smiling back to her before he looked ahead. "I love...building things. You know, tinkering. And books, I like reading. And...and I can knit. My Mums taught me."

"That's right" she giggled "we sort of talked about that last night" Hope looked ahead and then glanced back toward Rafe "So I should cook for you sometime."

"You shouldn't do anything, but if you want to..." he laughed, taking a deeper breath as he ran. "I'd love that. Can't remember the last time I ate something that wasn't replicated, so...I'd appreciate it."

"Sure" she didn't always have ingredients to cook, but he was lucky she was able to pick some up on a recent stop. It wasn't much but it would make a nice meal for the two of them and he looked like he ate pretty healthy. "So how are you liking life on the Wolf?" Hope asked as they ran "oh and we don't have to talk if you would rather not" she didn't want to be the one that talked to much.

"I like it," he admitted as he looked ahead. "It's going good at work, I am now getting to know people. And that is why I like it here, because of people. Between you and me, I don't really have a sense of home, so it's all about the people I get to know. You know?"

Hope only gave a slight nod and smile as she stared into Rafes eyes, the next thing Hope knew she was face planting into the floor with an immense pain in her ankle.

Hunnicutt saw it as the following: one moment they were running and Hope was looking at him, the next gravity had decided not to work properly and Hope sort of flew forward, face first. He stopped, his feet skidding on the floor, before he quickly went to his knees. He reached to touch her back, his touch gentle. "Hope? Hope, you okay?" he asked her.

Hope shook her head a few times and looked up slightly dazed "hey there handsome" her southern accent thick she placed her hand on his face and smiled before shaking her head a few times.

Rafe wasn't laughing though, as he helped her to sit. "Did you hit your head?" he asked, a genuine question as he gently touched her cheek with one hand, the other going to feel over her scalp for any injuries. There was a medkit close by, but he was trying to decide if they needed to get sickbay.

"Ouch" she said and leaned forward away from his hand. Then the pain in her ankle hit again and Hope reached down "Rafe, I think I may have broke" the pain started getting worse and Hope looked down at her ankle which was bruised and swelling. She panicked, she was used to taking care of hurt people not the other way around.

Hope looked up at Rafe with a tear in her eye "this shit hurts" she said taking deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth, when she could remember to do it properly.

"Easy," he said, giving her a reassuring smile. "I'll get the medkit, see what I can patch up. Breathe evenly...stay conscious. You got this, doc. I am just getting the medkit and I'll be right here beside you." He stood, getting the emergency kit and kneeling by her again. He took the medical tricorder, running it over her.

"I've never been the patient" Hope admitted the words coming between her breaths. She was trying to stay focused on the fact she thought he was handsome and she didn't wanna be a wimp and pass out in front of him.

He smiled gently, watching the results. A mild concussion, and a fractured ankle. "Looks like you're going to sickbay," he said, finding the hypo with pain relief. "Let's get this in you, and then I'll get you to sickbay...it's fine, a little ankle fracture and a mild concussion, nothing to get a medal over, trust me. But I know it hurts, Hope."

"Uh huh" she frowned "the hypo" she paused and continued the breathing "it helps" she admitted and laughed a little looking over at him. "I'm so damn clumsy sometimes" Hope glanced away and then back at Rafe and started laughing.

He looked at her, holding her eyes for a moment. Oh boy. The standard hypo should have been fine, but he could tell she sensitive to it. "I'm just going to stabilise your leg, then we're going to sickbay." He took out the splint, making sure he kept her ankle in the correct position before putting it on. He just didn't want to move it more than it had to. When satisfied with what he had done, he shifted to pick her up. "Okay, hold on, Hope..." he grinned, nodding as he stood, with her in his arms. "You can rest your head against me."

She did as she was told and rested her face against his chest. She put a little weight on the broken ankle and quickly changed her mind. "Nice" she said rubbing her cheek on his chest and tossing her arm around his neck.

"Okay, okay..." he lifted her legs up, so he carried her almost like he had seen people in ancient holostories carry a bride. "Just like this, stay still, don't make me drop you," he smiled as he walked, shaking his head. "I am just impressed, Hope, usually it's me falling all over the place. Don't worry, next time, we'll make sure it is me instead."

"Well where will we find a big strong Klingon woman to carry you to sickbay?" she asked her voice sounded different then normal in her head. She was playing his ear lobe as they made their way toward the door.

He let out a shaky breath, shivering at the touch before he smiled. He got them into the turbolift, saying which deck they needed, even as he chuckled. "Hey, worst case we can find a strong anybody to carry me. As someone who has broken bones before, you'll be fine soon. I promise. You know it, as a doctor."

"Who's a doc" the intoxicated doctor started laughing "you are" she said with a giggle to her tone. "You're the doctor, the doctor with a cute butt" she tossed her head back and laughed.

He laughed, stepping out of the turbolift and walking towards sickbay. "I think you mean my mother, she's the doc in the family, I just know the stuff she taught me..." he entered, looking around. "Need a hand here, I got a broken ankle and a slight concussion...and a bit of a reaction towards the Starfleet Standard Pain relief Hypo..."

"Yeah this guy tripped me" Hope laughed and looked at a nurse coming toward them "call security."

"Okay..." Nurse Cullen smiled gently, motioning to the biobed. Her red hair was pinned up, and she touched Hope's arm in a reassuring manner. "Let's get you down here, Doctor Ross..."

"We were jogging. And then it appears the deck said its piece," Hunnicutt said as he eased hope onto the biobed.

"Who is she?" Hope asked looking desperately at Rafe "don't leave me with her handsome prince."

Rose sighed softly, smiling gently as she went to get a hypo. "Next time, get an actual medical professional..." she told Rafe, clearly a bit of a telling off. She pressed the hypo against Hope's neck, knowing it would sober her up. "Doctor Ross? You're in sickbay. I'll be taking care of you now."

"What" Hope looked around, confused, blinking. She recognized the faces but couldn't put two and two together on the rest of it. "Shit my head is killing me" she started frowning and she looked over at Rafe "look what you let me do."

"I didn't know that I gave you what seemed to be the best high on the ship," Hunnicutt said in his own defence, but he had started to laugh. "I'm sorry. I...I can't stop..." he covered his mouth, watching her with laughter.

Rose rolled her eyes, before she hit his arm, hard. "Behave," she said firmly, shaking her head. "Children. Even the grown men are children here..." she tutted before she smiled gently to Hope. "Let me take care of the concussion first, clear that headache a bit." She got what she needed, easing Hope down before she went to heal the concussion, even as she brought up her vitals and a scan to make sure that there was nothing else going on.

"Okay" was all Hope said while glaring at Rafe.

Rose nodded, taking her time to heal the concussion before she moved to her leg. She looked at the splinter and then and Rafe, eyes narrowed. "Savage, this isn't the ancient times," she muttered before she removed the splinter. She scanned the ankle, which was swelling up nicely. "Doctor Ross, this won't take long to heal. We will need a little time to reduce the swelling, and you will be sore for a few days. We also need to look at your react to the pain relief. Have you ever had it before?"

"Not until today" Hope said with a sigh. "I take it I didn't do so well" the doctor asked the nurse she had been working with.

Rose shook her head, giving her a small smile. "Afraid you had a bit of a reaction to it. Made you see rainbows and unicorns, Doctor," she said, starting to heal the fracture. "We'll add that to your medical file. It means when you go on away teams, you need to remember you have a different dosage or type."

Hope gave Rose a nod "well that's just great, so much for running for a while."

"Only a little bit, Doctor," Rose said, shaking her head before she looked over where Rafe was watching, clearly having stopped laughing. "He didn't do this to you, did he?"

"No" Hope said shaking her head and laughing. "I'm pretty sure I tripped over my own feet" she guess the saying was true you could trip over your own feet.

"But there was a good chance it could have been me," Rafe said quickly, watching them with an innocent smile. "I am the clumsy one."

"Long legs like that, I am not surprised," Rose said, shaking her head before she looked at Hope. "At least you were on the ship. But next time, Doctor...get someone down to help. Don't trust an amateur with a hypo."

"I am offended. I could have been a surgeon, you know," Rafe said with a straight face, before he grinned, because he was pretty sure that was some thing he could never, ever do. "The foot bone is connected to the...leg bone, right?"

"Make him leave" Hope looked up at Rose and laughed before her meds finally kicked in and Hope passed for surgery.

"Oh, no problem..." Rose said and looked at Rafe, before pointing at the door. "Visit her tomorrow, Hunnicutt. She'll be fine."

Rafe nodded, giving a weak smile, before turning and heading to the door. He stopped for a moment, turning his head to look at Hope before he left. Maybe it was one of the worst workout he had ever been a part of, but he was pretty sure they'd still end up working out together again in the future.

Lt. Hope Ross, MD
Chief Medical Officer

and

Lieutenant JG Rafe Hunnicutt
Engineer