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There was a burning smell in the air, the kind of smoke you could taste in the back of your throat, and a staleness clung heavily over the patients even hours after the battle. A low mumbling rippled around the room, accompanied by beeps from various medical equipment.
Una felt a presence slip by her bedside, she groaned and felt the pull of consciousness bring her back into the blinding lights of sickbay. The first officer expected to see Nurse Chapel tinkering with her 'archaic' handiwork or if not the chaotic blonde; then it would surely be Doctor Mbenga checking her blood work. She guessed wrong.
"Hey chief, still in one piece?" La'an had changed out of her bloody uniform and freshened up, but exhaustion clung to her like smoke.
Una breathed in deeply as she awoke properly, she held back a wince as she shifted to prop herself up a little more.
"You know me I've got 9 lives." Una managed a brief smile before the stench of blood dragged her back to reality. "How's the crew holding up?"
It was odd really, asking somebody else about the duties of a first officer. With anyone else, Una would have fought to get back on duty faster, but she trusted La'an almost as much as she trusted Pike.
"Fine, and repairs are well underway." She replied in a brusque manner.
Una smiled. She'd always been known as somebody who got right to the point of things, La'an took that to a whole other level.
La'an looked around the medbay suspiciously, and when satisfied that the coast was clear she produced a bowl of red coloured fruit.
Number One's eyes lit up with joy, she plucked one of the ripe berries out and placed it on her tongue. The first officer savoured the taste as the flavour burst into her mouth.
"Mmm strawberries. You're a saint La'an."
The security officer smiled and plopped the bowl between them partly out of view from wandering eyes. She too plucked one from the bowl. "Got to make sure we keep up your strength, can't have you down here too long."
Una licked the strawberry juice off her fingers and threw her friend a knowing look. "Is it that bad being acting first officer?"
La'an's smile fell and she looked suddenly so unsure of herself, Una wished she could take her question back.
"I hear you've done a great job if it's any consolation." Una prompted, trying to catch the security officer's eye. "Enterprise would have never made it without you."
La'an grunted, neither a confirmation nor a denial. Then she did something that Una hadn't witnessed in a long time. La'an began to cry.
Una was in a state of shock, she had not seen this coming and yet she really should have done. It was her job to assess the crew and support them. As a friend of La'an's - somebody intimate with her horrific history, was it any wonder that the gorn had shaken her friend to the core?
Number One gathered the shaking security officer up in her arms and held her close, ignoring the pain across her abdomen. Her stitches would hold, La'an needed her more.
She rubbed her back soothingly, just as she had done all those years ago. The tears fell freely as La'an worked through her grief. Una didn't say a word, that wasn't what La'an needed. She just needed to feel safe so she could process this latest shit show.
Nurse Chapel suddenly appeared in front of them. The nurse took one look at the huddled woman, threw Number One a sympathetic look and turned on the privacy screen - enclosing the two officers in a dome of their own. Una loved that woman.
It took some time but eventually, La'an's sobs began to slow and her small frame stopped shaking so much. She gingerly disentangled herself from Una, clocking the privacy screen with a frown.
"Chapel." Una supplied.
La'an nodded, grateful that somebody else had fixed her error of breaking down in a public place. She licked her lips and sniffled a little. "I wasn't intending on slobbering all over you in public."
Una gave a little shrug like it was no big deal. "Hey, it's fine. Whatever you need."
La'an sniffed again and wiped the remains of her tears away furiously. "Thanks." She mumbled.
That was when Number One clocked the pin on her chest, she hadn't even noticed it before. Una smiled sadly and indicated to the pin. "Your family would be so proud of you."
La'an glanced up sharply, raw emotion etched into her face. Her eyes glazed over and she suddenly looked distant, like she was seeing something that wasn't there.
"Can we talk about something else, anything else? Please." La'an's quiet plea bowled into Una, the first officer couldn't not feel the power in that plea.
La'an wasn't in any state to deal with her painful memories, maybe she never would be. Una plastered on a smile and offered her friend a strawberry. "Sure."
"Did you see the latest research on harvesting zero-point energy?"
La'an shook her head so Number One proceeded to distract her friend with pointless information and strawberries. Lots and lots of strawberries.