JL Cin Sha'mer & Indi Hawk | "Tower of Love" (pt 1)

Posted on 241709.04 @ 6:48am by Rear Admiral Indi Hawk

When Indi woke up, it was dark. She'd been drifting in and out of sleep for quite a while. How many periods of darkness had passed since she'd been taken to the hospital? She had no idea. Could be one, could be a hundred. It didn't matter. And yet, it did. Pushing herself up to her elbows, she found that the headache was bearable for the first time since she'd woken up again. This was a definite improvement. That also meant she was ready to do something that had been on her mind for a while, but had been impossible while she couldn't get to her feet.

Carefully, she slipped her feet out of bed, reached around for some non-hospital-gown clothes and tried to stay steady. She managed after a few attempts, and let out a long breath. This was going to be a long walk, but one she really wanted to make. The hospital wasn't a prison, so it wasn't hard for her to reach the cool night air. What time was it? She really had no idea. A short walk, a transport, and another short walk later, she entered her quarters in the guest housing.

Sha'mer was unaware that Indi had left. Maybe, at some point, one of the doctors would contact her and inform her of the fact. If so, there was not much Sha'mer could do about it, at any rate. For various reasons, both physical and mental. For the time being (for how long?) it would be better to stay out of Indi's way.

She had been in the bland room since before the hospital administrator woke her up. After the talk with the Betazoid had ended, time had skipped again. She seemed to switch off, though she didn't actually go back to sleep again. She was just in shut down mode. Lost in the holes in her mind.

Empty. Her quarters were empty. It was to be expected, Indi reckoned. What had she hoped to find by coming here? With a sigh, and from sheer exhaustion, she sagged down in the chair by the window. She noted absentmindedly that somebody had come in to repair the window. Good person. Nice person. She didn't know how long she had stayed in the chair like this, catching a breathe. Eventually though, she realised she couldn't just stay here. Where was her wife? She had to find her wife. Somehow. She had always been good at hiding though, so if she didn't want to be found, chances were slim that she would.

After some time, the comm channel beeped again. Another message from the hospital. Sha'mer frowned and turned over with a groan. Moving still hurt. It was another text message, informing her that Admiral Hawk had left the hospital without an official discharge, and did she know where she was?

She sent a curt message back: No, she had no idea. Did they want to be notified if and when she encountered her?

She was getting hungry. Needs of the body and stuff. There was still no replicator in the room. Getting up was too much of a bother, so she just ignored it and returned to shutdown mode. She was in limbo. No idea where to go from here. Starfleet? As soon as the details of this incident came out, nobody in their sane mind would touch her with a ten-foot pole. Best not to think about it.

Best not to think at all.

How much time had passed? Minutes? Hours? Indi had dozed off in her chair. Light was slowly rising on the other side of the bay. There was a peace and quiet in the air. The kind you could only find at the moment just before dawn.
Now though she'd woken up and was worried and upset. She had to find Cin. She just had to. Something inside her was driving her to a search. She fired up her console and entered her security clearance. As she'd expected, the hospital had sent Sha'mer a message to let her know her wife had disappeared. And, not as expected, the message had been received and answered. Bringing herself to her feet, she made a mental note of the location and set off. A strange location. Then again, in the most likely current state of mind of Cin, not so much.

There had been another of those time skips. When she became aware of the flow of time again, Sha'mer found herself on another bench, outside, looking out over the bay. The sprawling Starfleet Command complex was behind her, and even though she had closed the link, she still felt a tug towards it. Maybe Indi hadn't returned to her own quarters, but she was certainly in or around that complex again.

It was early morning. In the west the sky was still dark, though even there the stars were fading. In the east, only Venus – still called the morning star by most groundsiders – was still visible, bright and clear. Sha'mer no longer felt hungry, so somewhere during those last hours she must've eaten. She couldn't remember where and when, it didn't even occur to her to wonder.

She noted, or part of her did, that the person on the other end of the link was moving. Coming closer. Soon, the analytical part of her mind informed her, Indi would be near. Dillemma: part of her wanted to run towards her, another part wanted to run away. Since neither was physically possible, Sha'mer elected to stay where she was. Maybe Indi would notice her. Maybe not. If she noticed, maybe she would move on. Maybe she would not.

No use to worry about her. Sha'mer only hoped this meeting – if it would occur – would not be a repeat of the last one.

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To be continued..

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by Cin Sha'mer & Indi Hawk