Infirmary 4  – 1600

Longfellow finished his reports and sipped on the black tea he’d steeped.  The day had gone well enough.  A few paperwork mistakes had to be tracked down and corrected but he’d quickly figured out where he had gone wrong.  Most of the patients had been responsive.  Some had given him a challenge or two while one had outright needed to go cool off with security.  He sat at the desk, wondering what the next day would bring.  He tapped at the inlaid LCARS and opened a channel to his wife, Thea.  They’d figured out this was the best time for them to talk.  The channel beeped and the face of his beloved filled the screen.  He smiled wide, “Hey lovely.”

Thea gave him an impish grin, “Hey grumpy.  How’d your first day go?”  Behind her, the spartan quarters echoed his own. 

He shrugged, “It’s a big station.  Bigger than anywhere I’ve worked before.”  He leaned forward, “I’m just a physician here.  It’s an odd feeling being in charge of so little…but it’s a relief, to be honest.  Just gotta worry about little old me.  You?”

His wife sighed, “Well, I’m assistant chief over here.  It’s a small medical ship supporting a larger medical fleet.  We’ve got a lot of places to go and little time to get it done in.  Feels like a true trauma floor – we don’t stop moving the entire shift.  I’m going to get my cardio in, that’s for sure.”

They talked about their fellow crew. Thea had met more of hers being a smaller ship.  She was proud of him for making friends with a resident and wondered if he might try and spend time with her again.  “I dunno, lovely.  Being in such a big place…I might just fade into the background and get my work done.”

She frowned at that, “You regret doing this?”  She leaned in.

Henry shook his head, “Regret isn’t the feeling…we gave up a pretty great life to fling ourselves out here, Thea.  It’s more of questioning if we did the right thing.  You’d love it here.”

Thea laughed, “I think you’d probably be happier here, too Henry.  A smaller ship, smaller crew, and not much room to roam or get lost in.  I guess we both got placed in places that are going to force us to grow a little.”  Her smile faded as she finished speaking.

He grumbled, “We’ve still got each other, lovely.  We agreed to give this thing six months.  I’m not counting down…but it’d be nice to have you here, instead.”

Thea paused and pursed her lips.  She missed him too and wished the assignments could have been closer.  “Six months was the agreement.  I looked at pictures of Bravo.  She’s a beautiful station.”  A shrug, “Let’s see what this feels like a month in.  Who knows…you might want to come this way.”

Henry sighed, “I’d be happy to just be where you are, lovely.  I miss you.”

She grew quiet and whispered, “I miss you too.”  Silence ruled the open communication channel until she smiled thinly, “I’ve got reports to do…we’ll talk tomorrow?”  He gave a nod and she kissed her palm and blew him a kiss.  He did the same and they stared at each other longingly until she closed the channel.  Longfellow sat in the office for ten minutes more thinking on his future before checking out for the day and returning to his quarters.