Repairs Of The Heart

Posted on Sep 14, 2014 @ 7:46pm by Captain Siobhan Reardon & Thomas Varn
Edited on on Sep 14, 2014 @ 7:47pm

Mission: Absolute Power

“Repairs of the Heart”

(Continued from “Cindy's Crash Course Into Feminism 101”)

=/\=

“Without heart, a man is meaningless”:
-Data/Graves to Picard, ST:TNG: “The Schizoid Man”

=/\=

Location: EARTH
Scene:Villa Bonviva, Garden
SD: [2.14]0901.1420

The redhead had gathered the scattered art supplies, looking at some of Thomas’ drawings. He had captured several images of Ben and Dahlia playing in the sunlight. His use of shading to create dimension showed incredible artistic talent. But the man himself was still largely an unknown to the older woman. And he had looked human to her, that was before he had made his wings visible. So, his lineage was another question.

Siobhan wandered out of the garden to where Xana sat and the kids played nearby. She had a confused look on her face. “He got scared and... *flew* away,” she finally said, crestfallen, setting Thomas’ items down on the empty chaise she had once been sitting on.

“I saw,” the woman with the azure complexion replied. She had been hopeful that the former Counsellor would have been able to make a breakthrough with the troubled man, but then again, it had taken him time to flee the scene. “Hopefully he won’t go too far. He seems to consider the villa more or less a safe haven.”

“What exactly happened to Thomas Varn?” Sio asked. The look on his face before his hasty departure was one of a truly tortured soul.

Xana got up. It would have been too difficult to explain. “You can access Starfleet records from my home office with your clearance level,” she offered. “Let me show you the way.”


=/\=

Scene: Xana’s office
Time Index: About 30 minutes later

Sio downed the shot of espresso, trying to absorb the details from Lieutenant Commander Varn’s bio and service history. The genetic changes were explained, but more importantly details from the last mission of the USS ARMSTRONG were laid out in detail, although it wasn’t explained how he ended up there.

Apparently he had been captured and drugged, then forced to watch the extreme torture and eventual death of one Captain Rose Harcourt. His unique physiology had made the transition back to a ‘normal’ existence rough at best. The medical staff that had attended to him before his discharge had mentioned the hallucinogenic compounds were not dissipating the same as they might in someone unengineered. That and the abject horror of what he experienced, it was no wonder he was still filled with pain.

“Computer, please pull up anyone associated with this mission named ‘Sylvia’, either first or last name, but I am assuming first name.”

After a few compulsory beeps, the file containing information on Lieutenant Sylvia Warren was brought up.

Sio felt a sense of relief as she recognized that Sylvia was alive, uninjured, and awaiting her next assignment. But it didn’t explain completely Thomas’ concerns regarding her.

Xana stuck her head in at that moment. “Everything okay?”

Siobhan nodded. “You mind having Drey stay for dinner? I need to go see a woman about a man.”

=/\=

Location: San Francisco
Scene: Sylvia Warren’s Apartment
Time Index: About 45 minutes later

Sio had taken the time to stop and change into her uniform, trying to treat this as a formally as possible. Even though she had fallen into aiding Thomas by accident, she truly wanted to help him recover. But somehow, she knew she wouldn’t be able to do that without Sylvia’s assistance.

She was surprised at the older man that answered the door to the apartment, but continued with her speech anyway. “Hello, I’m Captain Siobhan Reardon. Is there a Lieutenant Sylvia Warren here?”

“Oh, you want our daughter,” Gerald said proudly. “Sylvia!”

A brown-haired young woman came to the door, not understanding the reason for the unexpected visit. “Captain…” she said looking at the pips on Sio’s uniform, “ do I know you?”

“No, but is there somewhere we can talk privately? It’s about Thomas Varn.”

“You know where he is?!” Sylvia said a little more loudly than she meant to, grasping at the older woman’s arm. “After he checked out of the hospital, he disappeared.”

“Are you okay, honey?” came the voice of Sylvia’s mother from across the living room. The Engineering Officer turned her head. “Yeah, Ma, but I need to meet with the Captain here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Without waiting for an answer, Ms. Warren stepped outside and let the door close behind her. The women walked towards the apartment complex entrance.

“Can you take me to him… please?” she said. “It would mean the world to me.” Her eyes were misty with unfallen tears, with dark circles that make it look as if she hadn’t been sleeping well.

“Of course… but can I ask you some questions first?”

The concerned woman relented. “Only if I can ask you some,” she countered, a little more sternly than she intended. “Is he alright?”

Sio shook her head. “I’m not sure. He’s still having lingering effects from his experience. I think he had a flashback right in front of me, and then flew off. Being a former Counsellor-”

Sylvia interjected. “He doesn’t know you were a Counsellor, right? He distrusts most medical professionals.”

“I was on… sabbatical when we met. I don’t even think he knows I’m in Starfleet.”

“That’s probably to your benefit. He may not have spoken to you at all otherwise.”

“He was hiding in a tree, drawing. I startled him. Then he started talking. Listen, I have to ask,” Siobhan said awkwardly, interrupting herself, “what is the nature of your relationship with Thomas Varn?”

Sylvia Warren took a breath. “I love him.”

“And does he feel the same way?”

The hard-working farm girl turned Engineer looked lost in her thoughts. “I th-think so,” she stammered. “But he’s refused to see me since the abduction. He was terrorized, and coerced into believing it was me they were slowly torturing to death when in fact it was Captain Harcourt.”

“I think I understand,” Sio said gently, placing a hand on Sylvia’s shoulder. Thomas absolutely loved Sylvia, in her opinion. He was trying to protect her by pushing her away. But she was probably what he needed the most right now. “Let’s get back to Xana’s villa and wait for his return.”

“He’s where??”

“In Italy. Hopefully he didn’t fly too far.”

=/\=

Location: Bonna Villa

=/\=

Thomas groaned loudly as he looked around trying to get his eyes to focus from the recent “episode” that he had. Suddenly the sense nausea overcame Thomas’ sense as his eyes began to focus and he realized his up was not so up anymore. Moving his legs and arms he could feel the restraint of something holding him down and there it was, the sudden feeling of water flowing down his back to his neck; but, when he touched it this water wasn’t clear but red.

“What,” Thomas stated stretching his muscles trying to flex his wings feeling the pain, “oh.”

Moments passed as Thomas tried for the next few moments to free himself only realizing that not only were his legs tangled in the tree but his wings were tangled and more than likely more damaged now than they were a few moments prior. Looking around he did his best to keep his composure trying to locate a tool or someone that could possibly help him; but, no one was around. From the Villa itself and waterways if anyone were looking they would see a torrent of leaves and movement from the garden as the tree now caging Thomas furiously shook.

He could feel his energy waning, but every few minutes he tried to cause someone, anyone to take notice of his situation. The flow of blood did not appear to be significant, in fact it was slacking off somewhat. His mind wandered as he became more disoriented.

After a quick explanation to Xana, Sio and Sylvia went into the garden. The light was softer now, the sky still bright but touched with sepia and periwinkle. Unlike before, there was a distinct rustling coming from the back of the area. Siobhan craned her neck to see as far up as she could for her average height. She wouldn’t allow herself to be caught off guard again. And she knew Thomas would never betray his position willingly.

Sylvia walked as softly as she could, each leaf and twig under her feet snapping with unwanted noise. They were maybe thirty feet away from the largest tree in the miniature forest, when she saw a flash of white. “Look-” she said sotto voce. They continued on, quickly but cautiously.

After what felt like an eternity, two pairs of legs came into Thomas’ skewed upside-down view. “Little help,” he said in a raspy voice. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he was.

“Thomas, are you okay?” Siobhan began, apprehensive although already thinking he certainly couldn’t escape in the predicament he was in.

“Just great,” Lt. Commander Varn replied. He wasn’t above sarcasm at this point. That was a good sign. “I’d gladly thank you for rescuing me if I knew who I was talking to.”

“It’s Sio. You hit me with a charcoal pencil earlier.”

Thomas smiled in spite of his predicament. “Sorry ‘bout that. But I’ve got bigger problems right now. Do you have any tools? A rope?”

The redhead glanced at Sylvia Warren. She hadn’t moved at all upon hearing the sound of Thomas’ voice. Unable to control her emotions any longer, she was crying in earnest now. Sio touched her arm as if to comfort her, then shucked herself out of her uniform jacket, preparing to attempt to climb the tree.

Thomas moved his head as much as he could, watching the command red and black jacket hit the ground unceremoniously. He could make out the gleam of four pips in the dusky light. “Captain? You’re a Captain?” he croaked.

“Sometimes,” the redhead responded, trying to find a hand hold or foothold in the crumbling tree bark. “Try not to hold it against me.” She motioned for Sylvia to give her a boost, and after some unladylike grunting, Sio found herself on a cross limb, almost able to look Varn in the face. She started to clear some of the branches which were blocking her ability to assess how tangled he was.

“You don’t know when to quit, do you?” Sylvia finally broke her silence, then tried to stifle muffled sobs.

Thomas tried to move around more, but it was no use. “Wait...what? Who, how…”

All the color some how managed to drain from Thomas face even with the blood rushing to his head. That voice, the one voice in all the universe that he would know without having to look or think about who it is. His eyes slowly began to fill with deep hues of purple and blue as his skin became instantly clammy and his nerves felt as if they had begun to twitch on their own.

“Sy..Sylvia, is that you,” he asked swallowing hard his mind for the moment forgetting about Sio’s presence.

The sound of him calling her name seemed to pull the wind and voice right out of Sylvia’s chest. Thomas listened looking around waiting and hoping for a response to come and not to come all at the same time. Inhaling deeply he swallowed slowly again before feeling his body move without trying as the tree was slowly giving way as Sio worked.

Looking up as much as he could Thomas called out, “if you can please take care of….well my...you know first if I fall they’ll be ripped to shreds.”

She looked down at him, having cleared enough away for him to see her apprehensive face. “I’m no doctor, but I’m trying.” She thought if she could free his legs first, that he might be able to rest them against the tree while his wings were attended to.

“You had better make it down here in one piece *Mister* Varn, because after you do I’m going to let you have it. You have some nerve worrying us like that, going off half-cocked from the roof of a hospital. I almost called out Section 31 for you.”

“You’d never have done that… and besides they don’t exist.”

“Men with wings don’t exist either,” Siobhan added for good measure, then went back to trying to rescue the genetically altered Science Officer after a silent pause.

Thomas’ eyes jerked slightly in the direction of Sio before focusing back on the pair of feet that he assumed were Sylvia’s. He had rehearsed this speech in his mind thousands of times trying to find the right words trying to find the right expression before a thought interjected through like an arrow. Turning his focus back to Sio he narrowed his eyes, “how did you find her? and why?”

Sylvia’s feet shuffled slightly at the question knowing that Thomas was neither a naive nor easily distracted individual. In reality, he was quite detailed oriented and meticulous when it came to his particular field of study, which he had to be. He was in the beginning solely a Xenobiologist which meant learning and studying behaviors of alien species, including mild psychology and sociology.

Sio was running out of patience and pretense with both the tree and its accidental occupant. He was going to find out eventually anyway. “You said Sylvia’s name when we first met. I played a hunch that if I could find her, she might be able to help with your drug-induced psychosis.”

Thomas wasted no time catching what she was throwing. “Tell me *Captain*, where did you start in your career?”

“Thomas…” Sylvia tried to protest but it was too late.

“Let’s get you freed first and then you can take me to task all you want.” Sio tried to diffuse the situation even though she knew it was likely in vain.

“*Where*,” he growled.

“Lower your legs,” she responded just as harshly.

Varn did as he was told. He would never admit it, but that eased the pressure on his wings significantly. “You didn’t answer my question.”

**Really?** “You aren’t in a position to make demands, but fine. I was a Counsellor. I sing, too. Show tunes sometimes. Are you happy now?” She continued, roughly grasping at any extraneous branches that were keeping her from freeing his wings. She knew that she had to become more careful the closer she got, but the tree was surprisingly verdant.

She saw the darkness swirl in his now distant eyes. “Damnit,” she huffed. “No good deed goes unpunished.” Her heart sank, but she continued to work on extricating Thomas.

“I told you he doesn’t like medical people,” Sylvia postwarned.

“And I don’t like climbing trees. But here I am.” She glanced down again at her unwilling patient. “It’s your turn for bedside manner, Sylvia. He’s shutting me out.”

There was merely silence from where Sylvia was standing nothing was heard not even movement. Thomas waited listened preparing himself for someone to try and force their way into his mind with psychological techniques. Slowly but surely he began building up the walls that had served him so well thus far and reinforce them to keep anyone out. It was this mental preparation that occupied his focus, that is until the first sound was heard.

Sylvia, who had begun sobbing, stood in the same spot that she had been the entire time. Her sobs had been quiet at first but the sudden flood of emotions were more than she could contain any longer. Thomas' gaze softened and those impenetrable walls that he had built and spent the last few moments reinforcing exploded as if someone had hit them with a mental bomb. The sound, this sound both angered him and destroyed him at once as he tried to focus his anger all he could find was himself.

His love, the woman on the ground, was fighting a different inner battle. “I’m going to talk to you Thomas, because that’s what Sio has asked me to do. Because I want you to get better. But don’t think for one minute that doesn’t mean I’m not absolutely angry with you.”

“You’re better off without me.” It was a meek voice, but at least he spoke.

Sylvia clenched her fists. “That’s the thing, Thomas Varn. *You* don’t get to decide that for me. I am the only one who can say with any authority how I am, or am not, better off. Just because you can fly away from your problems does not mean you can forget them. And neither can I. You could be on another planet, another quadrant, another universe, but there will always be a connection. And it’s about time you accept that.”

“I was not- am not- able to protect you.” His tone was as if he were scolding a child.

She made a clicking noise with her tongue. “I can take care of myself. Even so, I could still be killed in action. So could you… and you almost were. Tell me, would it hurt any less knowing I had died in my old age, alone, than right here this moment in your arms?”

Thomas didn’t answer.

“Okay… how about this scenario? Would you rather find out I died in active duty at the hands of some nameless enemy faction while you were stationed on another ship thousands of parsecs away, or would you rather be beside me on that ship as we fight and you are there to comfort me as I slip away?”

“No,” he finally said. “Both are unacceptable.”

“That is my *point*!” she yelled, a broad grin on her tearstained face. “It doesn’t hurt any more or any less. So we should be together.”

Sylvia Warren’s voice soothed and yet it drove him mad, it was sobering and yet drunk with passion. The walls of his resolve were crumbling like the cliffs of dover. He remembered something from Blake and began to recite haphazardly. “To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity... in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour...”

“I want your eternity, I don’t care anymore how long or how short it is. I *love* you, Thomas.”

“Shh-” he said, almost childlike. “Someone will hear you.”

“I love you and I don’t care who knows it.”

Part of his mind retreated at the expression of honesty, and the thoughts of his torture played like a slideshow in his head. They were still gruesome and haunting, but he was able to not completely succumb to them this time. He knew where he was, he knew what was happening to him, and he knew the words Sylvia had spoken were genuine.

She continued on, once again with anger renewed because he had not been able to reciprocate. “And if you don’t, well I can accept it. But if you do, and keep preventing yourself from feeling it, then I have no acceptance for that. And I will never forgive you.”

Thomas’ silent reverie was ruffled by the scraping, staccato noise of Siobhan Reardon clumsily lowering herself to the ground, having to take a jump down, and landing crouched like a cat. A sweaty, tired cat. “You’re free,” she said to no one in particular. “But I can’t tell how you might be injured. Take it easy.” His wings seemed to be in one piece, figuratively speaking, but the delicacy of their structure could easily keep secrets from the non-doctor.

As he lowered himself to the ground as gracefully and gently as possible Thomas could not pull any form of thought or response in his mind. Finally resting on the ground his back turned to both Sio and Sylvia and his body now facing the tree that once held him he's at there. His posture was one of a man exhausted not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well, which was something he was no longer able to hide. Placing his head in his hands he just listened trying to grasp at anything that made sense but the only logical and remaining choice was one that he avoided at all cost not because he wanted but out of fear for Sylvia and her future.

"There...there is no future with me," Thomas stated keeping the last remaining wall barely intact holding back all the emotions it contained, " no chance of happiness or a family..."

In what seemed like a split second reaction to hearing those words Sylvia had found some small object and chucked it a Thomas' head, "you don't get to decide that!"

Jerking forward as his body reacted to being hit unexpectedly Thomas shouted as loud as he could; but all that came out was a monotone whisper, "then what do I get to decide?"

The question took Sylvia off guard as she stood there trying to find the words to an answer that would be acceptable, "whether...whether you want a future with me or without me."

Siobhan had spent this time picking up her jacket, then watching the couple with a keen interest. She let out a defeated breath, realizing there wasn’t a happy ending waiting, at least not right now. She turned and began trudging back to the Villa. Maybe Xana had made some of that tiramisu she loved so much.

“Where are you going?” Sylvia Warren practically roared at her.

“To get a shower, some food, and a glass of wine. Not necessarily in that order.” **And to file an assessment to Starfleet Command** she thought to herself. She didn’t want to see someone like Thomas be disciplined for a problem that was a side effect of the duty he had sworn to accept.


=/\=

A Joint Post by

Justin K. Owens
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Varn
Science Officer
Starfleet

Susan Ledbetter
Captain Siobhan Reardon
Currently Unassigned