Familiarity breeds contempt? Part 2

Posted on Sat Nov 28, 2015 @ 8:29am by Lieutenant JG Noelle Bennett M.D. & Lieutenant Liam Reynolds

2,380 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Pangaea (Wrap up)
Location: Dr. Noelle Bennett's Office, Counseling Department, Deep Space 5
Timeline: MD7 13:00

"How's your job going so far?" She wondered if something job related prompted him to experience his previously mentioned memories, but she wasn't going to push too hard. For now, he seemed intent on not going anywhere too personal yet.

"Do you remember when you were a kid and everyone wanted to play with the same toy?" Liam asked. "Essentially that's what it feels like right now, except the toy is a planet. And "everyone" is a whole bunch of different races all intent on one upping each other and getting that toy."

Noelle smiled. "That sounds about right. What's your plan? How do you keep your cool?"

Liam leaned forward slightly, a cheeky smile gracing his features.

"Give 'em the old razzle dazzle
Razzle Dazzle 'em
Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it
And the reaction will be passionate
Give 'em the old hocus pocus
Bead and feather 'em
How can they see with sequins in their eyes?

What if your hinges all are rusting?
What if, in fact, you're just disgusting?

Razzle dazzle 'em
And they'll never catch wise!"

He held his hands out and waggled them at her. He wasn't sure if she was familiar with the old Earth musical Chicago or not but he did detect some amusement from her at his actions.

Then he turned serious once me. "Truthfully. There's no plan. Got to make it up as we go along. There's too many unknown complex personalities and variables involved. We can't make a proper plan," he said honestly. "All we have so far is "get each party to the summit by whatever means possible that's not illegal or looks bad on Starfleet." I think it annoys Mortimer but hey ho. See what each day brings ehh?"

If Liam was trying to deflect attention from his true psychological state in the most spectacular and unusual way possible, Noelle decided he'd succeeded. All that aside, however, she had to admit she had no idea whether he was psychologically well or just doing a really good job of deflecting. She decided to say as much. "You're either coping well or really good at deflecting," Noelle replied honestly.
"I'm concerned if it's the latter, being a former counselor will prevent you from seeking help. I understand you may not be ready to discuss your past with me, but I'm wondering, have you been able to be completely honest with yourself about how well you're coping?"

"I'm sorry," Liam said genuinely confused now. "You asked me how work was and what was my plan. Regardless to me singing a show tune to you which by the way is just me. Ask Amia, the CMO she has known me for years! Its just my personality. Well part of it I am glad to see returning actually. We already established that music is my creative outlet, my switch off and how I cope. How I get my "me"and thinking time. Did I not just answer the question and tell you how work was and about the "Plan?" Liam asked.

"You now know more about the "plan" than anyone else other than me and Mortimer who works with me. And your concerned I am really good at deflecting?" he stated in pure amazement. "Do all your clients spill their guts about everything on the first visit? Whether I have been completely honest to myself or not is yet to be seen. And if I haven't I promise you its a subconscious thing. I still knew enough to come to you. Am I not sat in front of you seeking help right this minute? You talked about establishing rapport. Then you ask me a question quite clearly designed to make me feel more at ease which I have just answered honestly and accuse me of deflecting. You know what Doctor. I feel as a former counselor, that you are over analysing the wrong bits and your rapport building requires work."

"Something tells me as a former counselor, you would take issue with how anyone responding to you did the job," Noelle replied patiently. "That said, I can see your point, and I'm sorry for confusing you. The truth is, you confuse *me.* On the one hand, you point out you're here seeking help voluntarily and yet, you seem to ignore any reference I make to the struggles you face. Some of that can be chalked up to apprehension over first meetings, sure, but when you say you're going to take each day as it comes after launching into a charming piano piece complete with singing, I'm not sure if you're covering more than I know. You are here voluntarily, yes, but it's still my job to make sure you're emotionally fit for duty, and that has led more than one person to reconsider how honest they should be with their struggles."

"I'm emotionally fit for duty," Liam told her. "Up until the last couple of weeks when the dreams and jumping at shadows started I had no issues believe me. I had, had some time to recover back home. I probably would have stayed on Betazed if my mother hadn't of had the ridiculous idea to marry me off and "Secure the line for the 15th House." And maybe your right or maybe doctor you could be deflecting from your own insecurities in your abilities there by projecting it onto me having the issue."

It was counselor vs ex counselor and Liam was sure they could battle it out plenty but he decided especially right now he couldn't be bothered.

"You win. I am going to talk now. I don't care any more about being "apprehensive" of this first meeting. You're stubborn and not likely to let me out of here until I tell you everything anyway. You're far too by the book you know. You might want to relax and look at that at some point but" .... he held his hands up. "That's the last I'll say on it. And as senior staff we have to work with each other and I don't want any issues between us. I have enough ambassadors to cause me grief without needing Starfleet at me too. And I have enough women mad and at odds with me. I really don't think I have the energy for another one. So you win! Dr Bennett."

He settled back into the couch. "On my last assignment we had an incident where an identical copy of our Captain appeared. There was something called the purification society that was pursuing them in their reality. I don't understand the physics but a subspace weapon was fired and he came through a rift from another universe in a Thorlian ship. Incidentally he was locked in a log buoy. I could sense him in it when they beamed it on board. A pattern was hidden inside. Again I don't understand the science of all that but our chief engineer, Haku was able to get him out. Consequently the Vulcan XO touched the device during this and I was very close and emotionally linked. We both developed identical brain tumours which were removed but for a while there was a very weird link between us.

I went and spoke with the duplicate man and he shared some information about a duplicate version of me. His me, he was cruel - he jettisoned the other universes XO's children into space to make that man "concentrate" more ...... he mentally and physically abused his partner over there - also Haku in that reality .... and he had abilities up here," he tapped his head. "That ..... well lets just say physically a half betazoid shouldn't have any chance of those skills and its power I never want to be mixed up in. To this day the idea that there could be a version of me willfully killing and extracting horror on other people in another universe haunts me. That's the beginning," he told her.

Noelle listened quietly and waited for a break in his words. She found it interesting he had chosen to characterize their interaction in terms of winning and losing, especially in light of his expressed desire to get help for his anxiety, but she was more than comfortable with it. If he needed to criticize her and label her a victor before getting things out, that was fine with her. She could see he had more to impart, and she wasn't disappointed a few moments later.

"I had also discovered prior to this that my father, who had at that point passed away a couple of years prior had, when we lived on Earth had an affair. The affair had produced a secret half brother called Declan. Declan unfortunately wasn't mentally sound. Too many years of being aware of my family and not being included in it - my mother demanded we move from Earth to Betazed to give their marriage another chance - minus the child. My siblings and I had no idea until it all unravelled during a visit to my grandparents and a local feat on shore leave. There was a giant marrow competition, actually that's not important other than Declan knocked me out with one and now I have a really weird issue with big vegetables.

We of course welcomed Declan into the family. He embraced Jon my twin but had issues with me. This was a deliberate thing to drive a wedge between us. He wanted us to suffer or more particularly me as he felt he had over the years been abandoned etc. He tried to seduce Haku, he used some drugs so neither Jon and I could read him properly. Masked his emotions. Created situations that made me look stupid in my family. Eventually he kidnapped Haku. That was the beginning of the end of us. Anyway I had no idea how far gone he was until that point. Haku and I broke up - I don't think she could cope with my families sudden craziness on top of her own family's issues. Jon wasn't making things easy on her either with his disapproval of her. They couldn't get on. I was stuck in the middle of it all and honestly she was younger. She had other dreams to pursue and I was just holding her back. Anyway although we were broken up it wasn't really over as we kept hooking up. I think you could say we had gone through too much to let each other properly go yet and I was far more in love with her. I was hook, line and sinker. In honestly I was hoping it would work out again one day. I decided to take some time off work - a Hiatus to get my younger half brother into a treatment facility and try support him. It was a few months into this that I came face to face with the captain from the other reality again. Who decided to drag me through a dam rift into his reality."

"That must've been terribly frightening," Noelle offered. She got the sense he didn't need much encouragement to keep talking, but she offered it anyway. He seemed to be on a roll.

"What was frightening was when "me" his henchman came out of nowhere and knocked me out. I woke up in a surgical bay on an alien ship, restraints all over, monitors flaring and having test upon test, inflicted on me. I drifted in and out of consciousness and have no clue of how long I was actually there," Liam told her. "He, the other me, was dying. They were trying to ...... I don't know either save him somehow with my DNA or make me like him."

"The idea of the latter does scare me very much," Liam said softly. The last sentence did make him feel very vulnerable admitting that.

"DNA doesn't determine all of who we are or what we will do," Noelle pointed out gently. "How did you escape and what did the doctors say?"

"Nature vs Nurture," Liam stated. "It always seems to come back to that question doesn't it? Which side were you on out of curiosity or did you go with the both were equal stance?" It was the first thing you learnt about in any social sciences. Memories of the academy started flooding back to Liam for a second.

"I think both contribute equally," Noelle offered patiently with a small smile. "You're stalling again."

"Ahhh yes sidetracked again. I was genuinely just curious. Perhaps we could debate another time? Sorry. How was I rescued. A lot of its blurry. Haku charged in like some magnificent Valkyrie. I had missed a meet up with her and Jon my twin had got concerned I had gone missing having also visited Declan, who was all a panic that one minute I had been there and the next gone. We were managing to build a better relationship. They laid a trap. Contacted her. I think down the line they wanted something to hold against me. They even made an attempt on my mother too but she was far too powerful a telepath for them to manage to hurt her and got away. I was resisting everything I could. Anyway. You don't underestimate Haku. And I don't understand the science either. I suspect some of the memories I have hidden are in connection with the escape."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Noelle offered with a nod. "In any case, we'll start slow and initially focus on sharpening your coping skills to deal with every day anxiety and distress. Once you've mastered those skills for every day challenges, you'll be better equipped to start to confront your traumatic memories. Sound like a plan?" She wanted to offer more warm and gentle reassurances, but she didn't want to embarrass him or contribute to him feeling more vulnerable than he already did.

"Okay Doc, sounds like a plan," Liam agreed.

Noelle smiled. What had started as a bit of a rocky start had turned out for the best. Liam was certainly going to be interesting to work with. "Alright then. I'll have my yeoman contact you for our next appointment."

Lieutenant JG Liam Reynolds
CDO

Lieutenant (JG) Noelle Bennett, M.D.
Chief Counselor

 

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