A Colonel's Escape

Posted on Fri Mar 1st, 2019 @ 10:41am by Colonel Jason "Jack" Frost

1,439 words; about a 7 minute read

Jack stirred as he lay on the bed, he was sore but no real pain. He felt the gentle hug of a restraint, a brace of some sort. He felt groggy but surprisingly it was the best sleep he had managed to get for some time. He heard the bleeps of medical gear, the talking of people but the lights in the room made him squint a little until he had adjusted.

Acacia was curled in the chair next to his bed. Her knee was pulled to her chest and her cheek was resting on her knee and she was quietly sleeping beside him. The chrono above his bed read out the stardate was 2 days after the battle.

The best Jack could do was to throw a plastic fork at her belly, his throat was dry and course like he'd been gargling sand. He hoped that would be enough to wake her up, hoping that she felt better than the aches that plagued him. "Hey." A very rough sounding Jack spoke.

Startling awake she yelped, her foot sliding off the chair. She unbalanced and grabbed the bed to not fall over. Settling her racing heart she looked into his blue eyes and breathed for the first time in days. "Hi."

"Water." Jack was just able to make out, wincing as the word stung his throat to speak.

She gently tipped the bed up so he wouldn't choke and she gently caressed his lips with a chip of ice.

Jack felt the ice, almost went to take it, chew and swallow but doubted Acacia even though she'd just woken up was slow enough to stop it. It did feel better and his lips felt more normal as a result.

Acacia smirked at him and slid the chip between his lips to moisten inside his mouth. "Suck on it, don't chew it."

Jack frowned, he wanted to chew on it just to get something down his throat to ease the sandy feel. However knowing that this was a medical thing and she knew far more than he did in that field he did, reluctantly, as he was told.

She watched as his throat worked and when he didn't cough she smiled softly at him. She offered him another couple so that he could ease his throat.

"You going to spoon feed me next?" Jack replied a little frustrated. "Come on, I'm a marine, water." Jack spoke roughly

Her eyes narrowed a bit and "You will not bully me out of procedure Jack Frost, after I spent 6 hours putting you back together."

Jack mimicked her narrowed eyes back at her. "Only 6?" He grinned sucking on the ice he'd been given.

"I am a trauma surgeon, one of the best don't you know.." She shot back his smile reassuring her.

"Well I was out for it so, I'll have to take your word." He shifted a little to be more comfortable. "So, do you dress like this for all your patients?" He asked. "Or just the special ones?"

"Hmm...how many patients do i sleep by their bedside for days, waiting for them to wake...." she tapped her lips, the green jewels on the neckline of her shirt glittering. "Just you."

Jack smiled. "How long was I out for?" He asked finding it easier to talk but only a little.

2 and a half days if you count surgery."she answered glancing at his readouts. Sitting the bed up Acacia released the restraint on his right hand and pressed a small vial of water into his gloved hand.

"Two days!" That was a bit of a shock for him. "2 days for 6 hours?" He had trouble working that one out but then he was a marine, he destroyed stuff for a living not put it back together. At last however he was glad to get some water.

"I kept you out for 24 hours to make sure your stubbornness didnt allow my arterial grafts to tear out."

"Got me all figured out do you?" Jack smiled feeling the soothing coolness of the water do its work on his throat.

"No, but i do know that you push yourself too hard."

"I'm a marine, it's what we do." He spoke. He looked at the brace on his arm and shoulder. "So how long am I in this for?"

"A week, maybe less depending on how fast you heal. Then youll probably need some physical therapy"

"You know, there is a marine gala on Earth soon at the SFMC Headquarters." He had not mentioned anything until now but he was wondering. "I was thinking maybe we could go?"

"I would like that. I suppose i will need to find a formal dress for this gala?" Her smile was joyous at the idea of going with him.

"Yup, and I will have to tailor my No.1 uniform, polish medals and straighten ribbons." Not something he was looking forward to, no doubt having put on a little weight.

"Ive never seen you in a formal uniform." She whispered, her eyes lighting up at the idea of that. He truly had no idea how attractive she found his uniform.
Yes she likes the uniform but its more him in it that it is by itself.)

"Well you will see it in all its bells and whistles. Its one of those functions where you hear more jingles of medals than you do bells at Christmas." He spoke smiling.

A giggle escaped her "And i get to wear a dress and not Starfleet dress. How exciting is that?"

"And I can't wait to see what kind of dress I can squeeze you into and show you off. With a vibrant hair style I bet you will turn more heads than the Generals do." Jack did enjoy her more wild of hair styles, it was what first attracted him to her.

A snort escaped her "I accept both the challenge and the spirit in which it was meant."

"You say that now. Just be glad I don't put you in a corset, I'd pull those string tight." Jack winked, grinned and in his mind saw Acacia holding onto the door frame with Jacks foot in her back and his hands clutched at the strings to it.

"Ill wear one for you someday" she whispered leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Any colors you want me to avoid."

"Yeah, black." Jack replied. "In fact, wear something to match your hair, something....wild, head turning." Jack spoke as he flicked through his mind all the kinds of colours that could be based just on what hes seen her hair to be.

"Black hair by itself is boring" she chuckled at him "don't worry ill find something fabulous that will draw attention."

Jack smiled. "Good." There was a brief paused as he looked around. "So when can we go home, rather be relaxing there than here?"

"Xavier will have to clear you. I can't because its a conflict of interest. I shouldn't have operated on you at all."

"But you couldn't trust anyone else with my treatment?" He could understand the conflict of interest and perhaps were the situation reversed, he'd have done the same.

"It was an emergency." She whispered her voice quavered softly "you needed the specialist, and that is me."

"So uh, when is the man himself going to be here to discharge me?" Jack had to wonder what trouble she would be in later when it would be revealed what she did.

"Hes already been alerted you're awake so we should see him here very soon." She said softly, stroking her fingertips over his bare arm which is in the sling.

Xavier had been alerted the moment the Colonel started to wake. He was not overly happy about Acacia working on him, conflict of interest there, but whats done was done. Armed with medical file and the latest results he walked to the Colonel's bed. "Ah, Colonel. I see you are coming around finally." Placing the file on the small table beside the bed he ran a scan himself. "Healing nicely, but Im sure Acacia already told you that."

Xavier compared his scans with the results he was reading. "You are going to be off duty for a while, I don't think I need to tell you what to avoid, I'm sure Acacia will beat you if you try to do something you are not supposed to. I'm going to release you into her care, try to do as you are told and behave. No duties, at home rest and plenty of it."

He looked down at the Colonel in the bed. "Understood?"

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