Death By Glitter

Posted on Sat Oct 19th, 2024 @ 7:59pm by Lieutenant Adrianna Baciami & Lieutenant Fang Lee

1,555 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Stars Around the Well
Location: Somewhere out in space
Timeline: ----Past---

ON:

Adrianna couldn't sleep. So far two of her usual leads had come back empty handed on the search for Vance. She hadn't been sleeping well, and her diet now mainly consisted of caffeine and bowls of comfort food in the form of pasta. Rereading Vance's journals had started the help though. She learned a lot about him from the journals when she first started reading then-- his family, his upbringing, the origins for his little quirks and nuances. Most of it she had found out on their second smuggling mission though.

It had been the first time on his ship. She'd managed to secure a tracker on it, so that Starfleet could keep tabs. Since Adrianna was the newest to the crew, instead of being wary of the woman, the crew decided to haze her. She took it like a trooper for the most part. A shower set to ice cold, salt in her coffee, hell even being the brunt of jokes when they found out that her language skills first thing in a morning were powered by coffee only.

Back in her designated bunk, just on their way back to a station for supplies, it all went south. They'd had to use a lot of medical supplies due to a run in with some raiders on the way to their destination, leaving the medical supplies running on empty. Thankfully, they were limping 'home' without too much fuss.

A loud bang rang through the ship, followed by a scream and lots of cussing in Italian. Someone had set a small explosive that was supposed to fill her room with glitter, instead it had exploded, a shard of the explosive was now lodged in her abdomen. She staggered backwards into the hall, her hand hovering on the shard, unsure as to whether she should pull it, or leave it there since it was stopping the bleeding. Her back hit the wall opposite her door and she slid down it, falling to the floor. She was covered in glitter, but evidently distracted by the protruding metal.

Vance had heard the sound. He was just giving a speech to the crew about leaving Adri alone when her scream filled his ears. He glared at the crew and rushed out only to find her on the floor blood oozing from a shard in her abdomen. He cursed loud and foul enough to make the Klingons blush and run home to mama.

"Medical!" He had two good doctors on board, both Vulcan. Within seconds they were at her side taking her to sickbay. The procedure for something that seemed small lasted a good hour until they were satisfied. When she was walked back to Vance's quarters where she would recover several of the crew passed her with bloody noses and black eyes.

When she arrived Vance had set up a large bed for her and there were medical monitors already there. He watched from the side as the doctors settled her in.

Since they had run out of supplies for painkillers and such, Adrianna had to forcibly knocked out so that they could do their jobs. The woman had been strong but even with something to bite down onto, she still squirmed, so knocking her out had been the only way.

As she awoke, her head was pounding and she slowly became away of the pain in her abdomen. Her eyes looked around as she tried to get her bearings. When they landed on Vance she went to sit up, but whimpered and thought better of it. Her eyes watered as the pain started to fall through into her consciousness, but she tried to still herself and be the 'tough guy' that she was known for.

"The wound is painful enough, the Vulcan nerve pinch...that hurts worse." He walked over and filled a glass with water. "Slow, Sweet Pea." He helped her sit up arranging the pillows so that there was no strain. "Drink."

Adrianna grumbled something in Italian. She allowed the assist, although normally would have been stubbornly independent. "Grazie," she finally managed, "every time I see a Vulcan do that, it always looks so peaceful. I didn't think it would hurt like a puttana." The woman gently, although quite shakily took the drink from him and took a few sips, "how long until I can get the good merde? Pain killers wise." She winced but soon found a comfortable spot.

"We're running fast. There is a Vulcan hospital not far. A few days until we reach it. Until then, think of me as your private nurse. And avenger. Don't worry those responsible are worse off then you."

She chuckled in amusement at his role change, "I would pay to see you in a nurses uniform and do not worry-- it was an accident. I'm sure whoever did it didn't mean to put that much juice in it." Adrianna's chuckle soon turned to a whimper, her hand pulling up her top to look at the wound, "fancy being a tattoo artist too. I think this counts." She gestured to her hip on the other side showing four tally marks. She'd not shown him before.

"What are those?" He asked as he adjusted the pillows again.

"Family tradition," she smiled, a glimpse into her true self, but something she felt was safe to know about her, "get a new tally mark at every near death experience. This will make five. So I need a nice long one to go through the existing four. That puts me one up on my brother."

He snorted. "Later. Now rest." He reached over. "Hungry? I have some soup."

"If I get to nine," she smirked, "I will outlive a cat." She then shook her head, before her hand went to her neck where the nerve pinch had been. Gawd it was sore, she groaned, "I think I'll starve until I get pain relief, Amore mio." It may have been the blood loss, but her guard was coming down quicker than she could think. He was being anything but the man she'd read about-- he was being kind, sweet, caring. Who was this Vance?

He sighed. "You have to eat but let's wash your face first." he got up and came back with a wash cloth and basin. He dipped the cloth and wrung it out gently cleaning her face. "You'll feel better in no time."

Adrianna was a little taken back by his care. Her eyes flicked between the glitter flooded cloth and him. "I didn't think you'd be so caring," she admitted, "are you like this with all your crew?"

"You can ask them when you're better and their wounds have healed." He sighed as he wrung the cloth again removing the glitter from her arms and hands. "Okay as for the neck pain I do have some pain relief. Smells awful but works fast."

Adrianna watched him cautiously. She was not in the right frame of mind to be talking with him. She was undercover to investigate him for gawdsake. She nodded, "how about you just bring me alcohol?" Adrianna winced and groaned, sliding down the pillows to be laid down as her abdomen throbbed. The longer she was awake, the more aware she was becoming of the pain. She gasped and continued cussing and spewing off phrases in her native tongue.

"Nope. Drink water and tea and that's all. Vulcan Plomeek soup is good for pain." He took her hand. "We're pushing the ship as fast as we can. I promise I'll burn the engines getting you to a hospital."

Her eyes watered a little at the pain, but she fought back the tears, not wanting to show how vulnerable she really was. Adrianna nodded, "fine, infermiere."

He helped her sit up again. "Here, Plomeek. I've removed the veggie now drink the broth it's warm and not hot. Try to take little sips." He gently held the cup to her lips.

Adrianna did as told, her caution fading with each sip. What was wrong with her? "You should be careful, Amore mio-- your secret good guy is showing." She took a breath and lay back down as she finished the broth.

He smiled as he wiped her lips. "bah, you're delirious from pain." He stood. "Why don't you try get some sleep. I'll be back soon."

She chuckled, but groaned at the pain, "don't make me laugh, cucciolo." Her eyes were heavy and she could feel the broth lulling her into slumber. In an actual state of delirium, she said, "I'd accept your proposal from our first meet if you were more like this. I mean, I've looked after myself for so long. It's nice to be cared for and not have to put in a facade of being a bitch."

"With me you never have to put on any mask. Just be your amazing self. Now then I shall wait until you've had pain killers to propose again."

She chuckled softly, being pulled into a deep slumber. The man had inadvertently started a chain of events. She was softening to him and letting her guard down when she should have been completely focused on the mission. As she was finding out-- he wasn't such a bad guy and, perhaps, in another life he may have been her person.

 

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