Lilly and Taylor - The Little Things

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of this as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

"Well you're right about my job. The ironic thing about hating sickbays so much is that I always seem to end up in one. However this time I came in standing tall." said Taylor with a smile as he propped himself up against a nearby biobed. "And I do know my Betazoids. I once knew a Betazoid in the marine force on Chin'Toka. Whenever he got nervous we opened up the ration hard-candies and shared them between ourselves. You're a pretty easy bunch to calm down...most of the time."

Taylor's smile was still present even though he was in probably his least favorite place in the world. At least the company was better than the jail cells. "You know...I remember the first man I ever killed. Orion type, was when I was a young sixteen year old private doing anti-pirate boardings. I never felt anything but the jolt of the rifle. At first anyway...part of me felt guilty. It's not natural to kill another person...not with our developed minds. It gets easier but...that's not a good thing."

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

"Well you're right about my job. The ironic thing about hating sickbays so much is that I always seem to end up in one. However this time I came in standing tall." said Taylor with a smile as he propped himself up against a nearby biobed. "And I do know my Betazoids. I once knew a Betazoid in the marine force on Chin'Toka. Whenever he got nervous we opened up the ration hard-candies and shared them between ourselves. You're a pretty easy bunch to calm down...most of the time."

Taylor's smile was still present even though he was in probably his least favorite place in the world. At least the company was better than the jail cells. "You know...I remember the first man I ever killed. Orion type, was when I was a young sixteen year old private doing anti-pirate boardings. I never felt anything but the jolt of the rifle. At first anyway...part of me felt guilty. It's not natural to kill another person...not with our developed minds. It gets easier but...that's not a good thing."

Lillian laughed and nodded. "We do like our comfort food and our sex, but we can be surprising."

She smiled at him genuinely for the first time it felt that day and then she looked at the sundae and decided to take a couple of bites of it, trying to calm her nerves. Taylor was showing this side of him that she didn't really understand and it was making her stomach churn pleasantly and she didn't know quite what to do except to maybe eat. His words set in with her though, and she knew that the churning was partially from guilt, but it was also from things in her past that she knew she couldn't get away from...things that had been done by someone close to her and were inadvertently her fault and she felt like she was becoming him...

"This isn't the first time I've killed someone," Lillian admitted gently, chewing on her bottom lip. "It's just the first time I've killed someone since I took my oath as a Starfleet doctor. I killed plenty during the Dominion War on Betazed--I was actually 16 too. That never got easier, but I became a Starfleet personnel. I went to the Academy and I got great marks and I became a doctor and I got stationed and I felt like I was becoming a better person and then he just...I felt like we were all in danger and yet I took an oath. I took an oath and I poisoned a man just because why? He wanted to have his way with me? I could have just placated to him and then saved you. Instead I killed him."

She could feel the tears coming to her eyes and she didn't like that so she forced a smile and held out the sundae. "Want a bite?"

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

"Well you're right about my job. The ironic thing about hating sickbays so much is that I always seem to end up in one. However this time I came in standing tall." said Taylor with a smile as he propped himself up against a nearby biobed. "And I do know my Betazoids. I once knew a Betazoid in the marine force on Chin'Toka. Whenever he got nervous we opened up the ration hard-candies and shared them between ourselves. You're a pretty easy bunch to calm down...most of the time."

Taylor's smile was still present even though he was in probably his least favorite place in the world. At least the company was better than the jail cells. "You know...I remember the first man I ever killed. Orion type, was when I was a young sixteen year old private doing anti-pirate boardings. I never felt anything but the jolt of the rifle. At first anyway...part of me felt guilty. It's not natural to kill another person...not with our developed minds. It gets easier but...that's not a good thing."

Lillian laughed and nodded. "We do like our comfort food and our sex, but we can be surprising."

She smiled at him genuinely for the first time it felt that day and then she looked at the sundae and decided to take a couple of bites of it, trying to calm her nerves. Taylor was showing this side of him that she didn't really understand and it was making her stomach churn pleasantly and she didn't know quite what to do except to maybe eat. His words set in with her though, and she knew that the churning was partially from guilt, but it was also from things in her past that she knew she couldn't get away from...things that had been done by someone close to her and were inadvertently her fault and she felt like she was becoming him...

"This isn't the first time I've killed someone," Lillian admitted gently, chewing on her bottom lip. "It's just the first time I've killed someone since I took my oath as a Starfleet doctor. I killed plenty during the Dominion War on Betazed--I was actually 16 too. That never got easier, but I became a Starfleet personnel. I went to the Academy and I got great marks and I became a doctor and I got stationed and I felt like I was becoming a better person and then he just...I felt like we were all in danger and yet I took an oath. I took an oath and I poisoned a man just because why? He wanted to have his way with me? I could have just placated to him and then saved you. Instead I killed him."

She could feel the tears coming to her eyes and she didn't like that so she forced a smile and held out the sundae. "Want a bite?"

Taylor didn't want to talk about Betazed. Not the planet during the war at least. The people there had treated him and his fellow marines on their garrison duties as if they were the locals. Betazoid hospitality had made Taylor feel more at home than he ever felt on Earth. Coming back after the war for the relief effort was one of the hardest things he had ever undergone. Some of his most treasured spots had become rubble and barely recognisable. To steer away from that topic he nodded and took a bite from her spoon as he looked up at her.

After swallowing the ice-cream he shook his head, almost violently. "I disagree. He got what was coming to him. You're a doctor and a Starfleet officer and not some commodity or piece of arm candy for despots to have their wicked way with. You stood up to him and you got us out of there. You didn't do that to save your dignity. You did it to save our lives. I can trust you with my life any day of the week with that piece of information tucked away in my head."

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

"Well you're right about my job. The ironic thing about hating sickbays so much is that I always seem to end up in one. However this time I came in standing tall." said Taylor with a smile as he propped himself up against a nearby biobed. "And I do know my Betazoids. I once knew a Betazoid in the marine force on Chin'Toka. Whenever he got nervous we opened up the ration hard-candies and shared them between ourselves. You're a pretty easy bunch to calm down...most of the time."

Taylor's smile was still present even though he was in probably his least favorite place in the world. At least the company was better than the jail cells. "You know...I remember the first man I ever killed. Orion type, was when I was a young sixteen year old private doing anti-pirate boardings. I never felt anything but the jolt of the rifle. At first anyway...part of me felt guilty. It's not natural to kill another person...not with our developed minds. It gets easier but...that's not a good thing."

Lillian laughed and nodded. "We do like our comfort food and our sex, but we can be surprising."

She smiled at him genuinely for the first time it felt that day and then she looked at the sundae and decided to take a couple of bites of it, trying to calm her nerves. Taylor was showing this side of him that she didn't really understand and it was making her stomach churn pleasantly and she didn't know quite what to do except to maybe eat. His words set in with her though, and she knew that the churning was partially from guilt, but it was also from things in her past that she knew she couldn't get away from...things that had been done by someone close to her and were inadvertently her fault and she felt like she was becoming him...

"This isn't the first time I've killed someone," Lillian admitted gently, chewing on her bottom lip. "It's just the first time I've killed someone since I took my oath as a Starfleet doctor. I killed plenty during the Dominion War on Betazed--I was actually 16 too. That never got easier, but I became a Starfleet personnel. I went to the Academy and I got great marks and I became a doctor and I got stationed and I felt like I was becoming a better person and then he just...I felt like we were all in danger and yet I took an oath. I took an oath and I poisoned a man just because why? He wanted to have his way with me? I could have just placated to him and then saved you. Instead I killed him."

She could feel the tears coming to her eyes and she didn't like that so she forced a smile and held out the sundae. "Want a bite?"

Taylor didn't want to talk about Betazed. Not the planet during the war at least. The people there had treated him and his fellow marines on their garrison duties as if they were the locals. Betazoid hospitality had made Taylor feel more at home than he ever felt on Earth. Coming back after the war for the relief effort was one of the hardest things he had ever undergone. Some of his most treasured spots had become rubble and barely recognizable. To steer away from that topic he nodded and took a bite from her spoon as he looked up at her.

After swallowing the ice-cream he shook his head, almost violently. "I disagree. He got what was coming to him. You're a doctor and a Starfleet officer and not some commodity or piece of arm candy for despots to have their wicked way with. You stood up to him and you got us out of there. You didn't do that to save your dignity. You did it to save our lives. I can trust you with my life any day of the week with that piece of information tucked away in my head."

"I keep telling myself that he had what was coming to him, but sometimes I wonder if that's my shot to call," Lillian said with a shrug, taking a deep breath and eating another bite of ice cream. "You know, whether you like it or not, I'm a doctor...if you need my help then I will help you. You are so layered I find myself not really knowing what to expect from you at all."

She looked at him and smiled, trying to figure out why he hadn't made an excuse to leave yet because he clearly didn't want to be here, but he was braving it to thank her? Why? He had made it clear that he hated sickbays and doctors and even after trying to be his friend he had gotten so worked up about it all and she just didn't get why he was here unless he was actually trying to be her friend. Was it because of the briefing? Was it purely because of what she'd done in the Milos System? She just wanted to know.

"I still want to be your friend," Lillian admitted, even though she knew she wanted to be more. "I'm more than the teal shirt I put on in the mornings--in fact I don't normally wear this uniform when I'm off duty. Being a doctor is my profession, but it's not who I am and even if I wasn't a doctor, I would go out of my way to make sure you were safe. I just want you to know that."

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

"Well you're right about my job. The ironic thing about hating sickbays so much is that I always seem to end up in one. However this time I came in standing tall." said Taylor with a smile as he propped himself up against a nearby biobed. "And I do know my Betazoids. I once knew a Betazoid in the marine force on Chin'Toka. Whenever he got nervous we opened up the ration hard-candies and shared them between ourselves. You're a pretty easy bunch to calm down...most of the time."

Taylor's smile was still present even though he was in probably his least favorite place in the world. At least the company was better than the jail cells. "You know...I remember the first man I ever killed. Orion type, was when I was a young sixteen year old private doing anti-pirate boardings. I never felt anything but the jolt of the rifle. At first anyway...part of me felt guilty. It's not natural to kill another person...not with our developed minds. It gets easier but...that's not a good thing."

Lillian laughed and nodded. "We do like our comfort food and our sex, but we can be surprising."

She smiled at him genuinely for the first time it felt that day and then she looked at the sundae and decided to take a couple of bites of it, trying to calm her nerves. Taylor was showing this side of him that she didn't really understand and it was making her stomach churn pleasantly and she didn't know quite what to do except to maybe eat. His words set in with her though, and she knew that the churning was partially from guilt, but it was also from things in her past that she knew she couldn't get away from...things that had been done by someone close to her and were inadvertently her fault and she felt like she was becoming him...

"This isn't the first time I've killed someone," Lillian admitted gently, chewing on her bottom lip. "It's just the first time I've killed someone since I took my oath as a Starfleet doctor. I killed plenty during the Dominion War on Betazed--I was actually 16 too. That never got easier, but I became a Starfleet personnel. I went to the Academy and I got great marks and I became a doctor and I got stationed and I felt like I was becoming a better person and then he just...I felt like we were all in danger and yet I took an oath. I took an oath and I poisoned a man just because why? He wanted to have his way with me? I could have just placated to him and then saved you. Instead I killed him."

She could feel the tears coming to her eyes and she didn't like that so she forced a smile and held out the sundae. "Want a bite?"

Taylor didn't want to talk about Betazed. Not the planet during the war at least. The people there had treated him and his fellow marines on their garrison duties as if they were the locals. Betazoid hospitality had made Taylor feel more at home than he ever felt on Earth. Coming back after the war for the relief effort was one of the hardest things he had ever undergone. Some of his most treasured spots had become rubble and barely recognizable. To steer away from that topic he nodded and took a bite from her spoon as he looked up at her.

After swallowing the ice-cream he shook his head, almost violently. "I disagree. He got what was coming to him. You're a doctor and a Starfleet officer and not some commodity or piece of arm candy for despots to have their wicked way with. You stood up to him and you got us out of there. You didn't do that to save your dignity. You did it to save our lives. I can trust you with my life any day of the week with that piece of information tucked away in my head."

"I keep telling myself that he had what was coming to him, but sometimes I wonder if that's my shot to call," Lillian said with a shrug, taking a deep breath and eating another bite of ice cream. "You know, whether you like it or not, I'm a doctor...if you need my help then I will help you. You are so layered I find myself not really knowing what to expect from you at all."

She looked at him and smiled, trying to figure out why he hadn't made an excuse to leave yet because he clearly didn't want to be here, but he was braving it to thank her? Why? He had made it clear that he hated sickbays and doctors and even after trying to be his friend he had gotten so worked up about it all and she just didn't get why he was here unless he was actually trying to be her friend. Was it because of the briefing? Was it purely because of what she'd done in the Milos System? She just wanted to know.

"I still want to be your friend," Lillian admitted, even though she knew she wanted to be more. "I'm more than the teal shirt I put on in the mornings--in fact I don't normally wear this uniform when I'm off duty. Being a doctor is my profession, but it's not who I am and even if I wasn't a doctor, I would go out of my way to make sure you were safe. I just want you to know that."

"I suppose there's no real harm in us being friends?" suggested Taylor with a shrug. "I know you're not just a doctor and I know it's unfair to tar you all with the same brush. And as for your little comment I find it being an advantage to keep people on their toes when they talk to me. I enjoy mind games and well...people like Ritter...I'd rather they didn't know me in and out."

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

"Well you're right about my job. The ironic thing about hating sickbays so much is that I always seem to end up in one. However this time I came in standing tall." said Taylor with a smile as he propped himself up against a nearby biobed. "And I do know my Betazoids. I once knew a Betazoid in the marine force on Chin'Toka. Whenever he got nervous we opened up the ration hard-candies and shared them between ourselves. You're a pretty easy bunch to calm down...most of the time."

Taylor's smile was still present even though he was in probably his least favorite place in the world. At least the company was better than the jail cells. "You know...I remember the first man I ever killed. Orion type, was when I was a young sixteen year old private doing anti-pirate boardings. I never felt anything but the jolt of the rifle. At first anyway...part of me felt guilty. It's not natural to kill another person...not with our developed minds. It gets easier but...that's not a good thing."

Lillian laughed and nodded. "We do like our comfort food and our sex, but we can be surprising."

She smiled at him genuinely for the first time it felt that day and then she looked at the sundae and decided to take a couple of bites of it, trying to calm her nerves. Taylor was showing this side of him that she didn't really understand and it was making her stomach churn pleasantly and she didn't know quite what to do except to maybe eat. His words set in with her though, and she knew that the churning was partially from guilt, but it was also from things in her past that she knew she couldn't get away from...things that had been done by someone close to her and were inadvertently her fault and she felt like she was becoming him...

"This isn't the first time I've killed someone," Lillian admitted gently, chewing on her bottom lip. "It's just the first time I've killed someone since I took my oath as a Starfleet doctor. I killed plenty during the Dominion War on Betazed--I was actually 16 too. That never got easier, but I became a Starfleet personnel. I went to the Academy and I got great marks and I became a doctor and I got stationed and I felt like I was becoming a better person and then he just...I felt like we were all in danger and yet I took an oath. I took an oath and I poisoned a man just because why? He wanted to have his way with me? I could have just placated to him and then saved you. Instead I killed him."

She could feel the tears coming to her eyes and she didn't like that so she forced a smile and held out the sundae. "Want a bite?"

Taylor didn't want to talk about Betazed. Not the planet during the war at least. The people there had treated him and his fellow marines on their garrison duties as if they were the locals. Betazoid hospitality had made Taylor feel more at home than he ever felt on Earth. Coming back after the war for the relief effort was one of the hardest things he had ever undergone. Some of his most treasured spots had become rubble and barely recognizable. To steer away from that topic he nodded and took a bite from her spoon as he looked up at her.

After swallowing the ice-cream he shook his head, almost violently. "I disagree. He got what was coming to him. You're a doctor and a Starfleet officer and not some commodity or piece of arm candy for despots to have their wicked way with. You stood up to him and you got us out of there. You didn't do that to save your dignity. You did it to save our lives. I can trust you with my life any day of the week with that piece of information tucked away in my head."

"I keep telling myself that he had what was coming to him, but sometimes I wonder if that's my shot to call," Lillian said with a shrug, taking a deep breath and eating another bite of ice cream. "You know, whether you like it or not, I'm a doctor...if you need my help then I will help you. You are so layered I find myself not really knowing what to expect from you at all."

She looked at him and smiled, trying to figure out why he hadn't made an excuse to leave yet because he clearly didn't want to be here, but he was braving it to thank her? Why? He had made it clear that he hated sickbays and doctors and even after trying to be his friend he had gotten so worked up about it all and she just didn't get why he was here unless he was actually trying to be her friend. Was it because of the briefing? Was it purely because of what she'd done in the Milos System? She just wanted to know.

"I still want to be your friend," Lillian admitted, even though she knew she wanted to be more. "I'm more than the teal shirt I put on in the mornings--in fact I don't normally wear this uniform when I'm off duty. Being a doctor is my profession, but it's not who I am and even if I wasn't a doctor, I would go out of my way to make sure you were safe. I just want you to know that."

"I suppose there's no real harm in us being friends?" suggested Taylor with a shrug. "I know you're not just a doctor and I know it's unfair to tar you all with the same brush. And as for your little comment I find it being an advantage to keep people on their toes when they talk to me. I enjoy mind games and well...people like Ritter...I'd rather they didn't know me in and out."

"You boys," Lillian said teasingly, but she smiled and nodded. "Good, I like the idea of you and I being friends--besides, if I get more sundaes for doing a good day's work, I just might want to keep you around outside of it. Maybe we'll even become good enough friends that I can start reading your mind like I do with Marlo instead of not know what you do next...except that maybe the surprises are better."

She grinned at that and then she set the sundae down on the bio bed, moving forward to slip her arms through his around his waist and hug him, whether it was a big move or not. He had only just told her that they could be friends and yet she wanted to make sure that he understood that this meant a lot to her and that she was glad that he was trying to be in her life. They two of them were turning over a new leaf and regardless of her other feelings for him, she really could use him on her side while she was trying to convince herself that she wasn't like Marhsall Frost at all--she would never be like him.

Fuck...he smells fantastic. She thought to herself. "Thank you, Taylor..."

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

"Well you're right about my job. The ironic thing about hating sickbays so much is that I always seem to end up in one. However this time I came in standing tall." said Taylor with a smile as he propped himself up against a nearby biobed. "And I do know my Betazoids. I once knew a Betazoid in the marine force on Chin'Toka. Whenever he got nervous we opened up the ration hard-candies and shared them between ourselves. You're a pretty easy bunch to calm down...most of the time."

Taylor's smile was still present even though he was in probably his least favorite place in the world. At least the company was better than the jail cells. "You know...I remember the first man I ever killed. Orion type, was when I was a young sixteen year old private doing anti-pirate boardings. I never felt anything but the jolt of the rifle. At first anyway...part of me felt guilty. It's not natural to kill another person...not with our developed minds. It gets easier but...that's not a good thing."

Lillian laughed and nodded. "We do like our comfort food and our sex, but we can be surprising."

She smiled at him genuinely for the first time it felt that day and then she looked at the sundae and decided to take a couple of bites of it, trying to calm her nerves. Taylor was showing this side of him that she didn't really understand and it was making her stomach churn pleasantly and she didn't know quite what to do except to maybe eat. His words set in with her though, and she knew that the churning was partially from guilt, but it was also from things in her past that she knew she couldn't get away from...things that had been done by someone close to her and were inadvertently her fault and she felt like she was becoming him...

"This isn't the first time I've killed someone," Lillian admitted gently, chewing on her bottom lip. "It's just the first time I've killed someone since I took my oath as a Starfleet doctor. I killed plenty during the Dominion War on Betazed--I was actually 16 too. That never got easier, but I became a Starfleet personnel. I went to the Academy and I got great marks and I became a doctor and I got stationed and I felt like I was becoming a better person and then he just...I felt like we were all in danger and yet I took an oath. I took an oath and I poisoned a man just because why? He wanted to have his way with me? I could have just placated to him and then saved you. Instead I killed him."

She could feel the tears coming to her eyes and she didn't like that so she forced a smile and held out the sundae. "Want a bite?"

Taylor didn't want to talk about Betazed. Not the planet during the war at least. The people there had treated him and his fellow marines on their garrison duties as if they were the locals. Betazoid hospitality had made Taylor feel more at home than he ever felt on Earth. Coming back after the war for the relief effort was one of the hardest things he had ever undergone. Some of his most treasured spots had become rubble and barely recognizable. To steer away from that topic he nodded and took a bite from her spoon as he looked up at her.

After swallowing the ice-cream he shook his head, almost violently. "I disagree. He got what was coming to him. You're a doctor and a Starfleet officer and not some commodity or piece of arm candy for despots to have their wicked way with. You stood up to him and you got us out of there. You didn't do that to save your dignity. You did it to save our lives. I can trust you with my life any day of the week with that piece of information tucked away in my head."

"I keep telling myself that he had what was coming to him, but sometimes I wonder if that's my shot to call," Lillian said with a shrug, taking a deep breath and eating another bite of ice cream. "You know, whether you like it or not, I'm a doctor...if you need my help then I will help you. You are so layered I find myself not really knowing what to expect from you at all."

She looked at him and smiled, trying to figure out why he hadn't made an excuse to leave yet because he clearly didn't want to be here, but he was braving it to thank her? Why? He had made it clear that he hated sickbays and doctors and even after trying to be his friend he had gotten so worked up about it all and she just didn't get why he was here unless he was actually trying to be her friend. Was it because of the briefing? Was it purely because of what she'd done in the Milos System? She just wanted to know.

"I still want to be your friend," Lillian admitted, even though she knew she wanted to be more. "I'm more than the teal shirt I put on in the mornings--in fact I don't normally wear this uniform when I'm off duty. Being a doctor is my profession, but it's not who I am and even if I wasn't a doctor, I would go out of my way to make sure you were safe. I just want you to know that."

"I suppose there's no real harm in us being friends?" suggested Taylor with a shrug. "I know you're not just a doctor and I know it's unfair to tar you all with the same brush. And as for your little comment I find it being an advantage to keep people on their toes when they talk to me. I enjoy mind games and well...people like Ritter...I'd rather they didn't know me in and out."

"You boys," Lillian said teasingly, but she smiled and nodded. "Good, I like the idea of you and I being friends--besides, if I get more sundaes for doing a good day's work, I just might want to keep you around outside of it. Maybe we'll even become good enough friends that I can start reading your mind like I do with Marlo instead of not know what you do next...except that maybe the surprises are better."

She grinned at that and then she set the sundae down on the bio bed, moving forward to slip her arms through his around his waist and hug him, whether it was a big move or not. He had only just told her that they could be friends and yet she wanted to make sure that he understood that this meant a lot to her and that she was glad that he was trying to be in her life. They two of them were turning over a new leaf and regardless of her other feelings for him, she really could use him on her side while she was trying to convince herself that she wasn't like Marhsall Frost at all--she would never be like him.

Fuck...he smells fantastic. She thought to herself. "Thank you, Taylor..."

The sudden closeness was rather...surprising. Taylor found himself standing ramrod straight in a defensive posture for some odd reason. "You're welcome doc..." he said as he slowly started to wrap his arms around her shoulders to return the embrace though he was still somewhat cautious. It wasn't anything against Lillian but rather just the whole idea of suddenly being close to someone who wasn't a one night stand.

"Also the idea of reading my mind might take away my natural aura of mystery. I like to think it makes me attractive?" joked Taylor as he slightly pulled her closer. She was a comfort, a shoulder to carry him in the midst of all this medical...stuff. That made her somewhat important right now.

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

"Well you're right about my job. The ironic thing about hating sickbays so much is that I always seem to end up in one. However this time I came in standing tall." said Taylor with a smile as he propped himself up against a nearby biobed. "And I do know my Betazoids. I once knew a Betazoid in the marine force on Chin'Toka. Whenever he got nervous we opened up the ration hard-candies and shared them between ourselves. You're a pretty easy bunch to calm down...most of the time."

Taylor's smile was still present even though he was in probably his least favorite place in the world. At least the company was better than the jail cells. "You know...I remember the first man I ever killed. Orion type, was when I was a young sixteen year old private doing anti-pirate boardings. I never felt anything but the jolt of the rifle. At first anyway...part of me felt guilty. It's not natural to kill another person...not with our developed minds. It gets easier but...that's not a good thing."

Lillian laughed and nodded. "We do like our comfort food and our sex, but we can be surprising."

She smiled at him genuinely for the first time it felt that day and then she looked at the sundae and decided to take a couple of bites of it, trying to calm her nerves. Taylor was showing this side of him that she didn't really understand and it was making her stomach churn pleasantly and she didn't know quite what to do except to maybe eat. His words set in with her though, and she knew that the churning was partially from guilt, but it was also from things in her past that she knew she couldn't get away from...things that had been done by someone close to her and were inadvertently her fault and she felt like she was becoming him...

"This isn't the first time I've killed someone," Lillian admitted gently, chewing on her bottom lip. "It's just the first time I've killed someone since I took my oath as a Starfleet doctor. I killed plenty during the Dominion War on Betazed--I was actually 16 too. That never got easier, but I became a Starfleet personnel. I went to the Academy and I got great marks and I became a doctor and I got stationed and I felt like I was becoming a better person and then he just...I felt like we were all in danger and yet I took an oath. I took an oath and I poisoned a man just because why? He wanted to have his way with me? I could have just placated to him and then saved you. Instead I killed him."

She could feel the tears coming to her eyes and she didn't like that so she forced a smile and held out the sundae. "Want a bite?"

Taylor didn't want to talk about Betazed. Not the planet during the war at least. The people there had treated him and his fellow marines on their garrison duties as if they were the locals. Betazoid hospitality had made Taylor feel more at home than he ever felt on Earth. Coming back after the war for the relief effort was one of the hardest things he had ever undergone. Some of his most treasured spots had become rubble and barely recognizable. To steer away from that topic he nodded and took a bite from her spoon as he looked up at her.

After swallowing the ice-cream he shook his head, almost violently. "I disagree. He got what was coming to him. You're a doctor and a Starfleet officer and not some commodity or piece of arm candy for despots to have their wicked way with. You stood up to him and you got us out of there. You didn't do that to save your dignity. You did it to save our lives. I can trust you with my life any day of the week with that piece of information tucked away in my head."

"I keep telling myself that he had what was coming to him, but sometimes I wonder if that's my shot to call," Lillian said with a shrug, taking a deep breath and eating another bite of ice cream. "You know, whether you like it or not, I'm a doctor...if you need my help then I will help you. You are so layered I find myself not really knowing what to expect from you at all."

She looked at him and smiled, trying to figure out why he hadn't made an excuse to leave yet because he clearly didn't want to be here, but he was braving it to thank her? Why? He had made it clear that he hated sickbays and doctors and even after trying to be his friend he had gotten so worked up about it all and she just didn't get why he was here unless he was actually trying to be her friend. Was it because of the briefing? Was it purely because of what she'd done in the Milos System? She just wanted to know.

"I still want to be your friend," Lillian admitted, even though she knew she wanted to be more. "I'm more than the teal shirt I put on in the mornings--in fact I don't normally wear this uniform when I'm off duty. Being a doctor is my profession, but it's not who I am and even if I wasn't a doctor, I would go out of my way to make sure you were safe. I just want you to know that."

"I suppose there's no real harm in us being friends?" suggested Taylor with a shrug. "I know you're not just a doctor and I know it's unfair to tar you all with the same brush. And as for your little comment I find it being an advantage to keep people on their toes when they talk to me. I enjoy mind games and well...people like Ritter...I'd rather they didn't know me in and out."

"You boys," Lillian said teasingly, but she smiled and nodded. "Good, I like the idea of you and I being friends--besides, if I get more sundaes for doing a good day's work, I just might want to keep you around outside of it. Maybe we'll even become good enough friends that I can start reading your mind like I do with Marlo instead of not know what you do next...except that maybe the surprises are better."

She grinned at that and then she set the sundae down on the bio bed, moving forward to slip her arms through his around his waist and hug him, whether it was a big move or not. He had only just told her that they could be friends and yet she wanted to make sure that he understood that this meant a lot to her and that she was glad that he was trying to be in her life. They two of them were turning over a new leaf and regardless of her other feelings for him, she really could use him on her side while she was trying to convince herself that she wasn't like Marhsall Frost at all--she would never be like him.

Fuck...he smells fantastic. She thought to herself. "Thank you, Taylor..."

The sudden closeness was rather...surprising. Taylor found himself standing ramrod straight in a defensive posture for some odd reason. "You're welcome doc..." he said as he slowly started to wrap his arms around her shoulders to return the embrace though he was still somewhat cautious. It wasn't anything against Lillian but rather just the whole idea of suddenly being close to someone who wasn't a one night stand.

"Also the idea of reading my mind might take away my natural aura of mystery. I like to think it makes me attractive?" joked Taylor as he slightly pulled her closer. She was a comfort, a shoulder to carry him in the midst of all this medical...stuff. That made her somewhat important right now.

"Yes, because you need to be more attractive," Lillian managed to tease again. "But in all seriousness, I do appreciate the sundae and the fact that you do want to be friends and there's no fist flying at my nose to tell me otherwise."

She smiled at that and took a deep breath, nuzzling his chest with her nose a moment before she pulled back a little and looked up. "This is all going to work out, you know? We're getting more marines, the station is being rebuilt and I think we all have what it takes to do this. Just...I should let you leave my sickbay now so you don't have to to deal with it. I still owe you a drink though, so you should let me cash in on that at some point and hey, let me know when you get your team put together--I wouldn't mind meeting them."

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

"Well you're right about my job. The ironic thing about hating sickbays so much is that I always seem to end up in one. However this time I came in standing tall." said Taylor with a smile as he propped himself up against a nearby biobed. "And I do know my Betazoids. I once knew a Betazoid in the marine force on Chin'Toka. Whenever he got nervous we opened up the ration hard-candies and shared them between ourselves. You're a pretty easy bunch to calm down...most of the time."

Taylor's smile was still present even though he was in probably his least favorite place in the world. At least the company was better than the jail cells. "You know...I remember the first man I ever killed. Orion type, was when I was a young sixteen year old private doing anti-pirate boardings. I never felt anything but the jolt of the rifle. At first anyway...part of me felt guilty. It's not natural to kill another person...not with our developed minds. It gets easier but...that's not a good thing."

Lillian laughed and nodded. "We do like our comfort food and our sex, but we can be surprising."

She smiled at him genuinely for the first time it felt that day and then she looked at the sundae and decided to take a couple of bites of it, trying to calm her nerves. Taylor was showing this side of him that she didn't really understand and it was making her stomach churn pleasantly and she didn't know quite what to do except to maybe eat. His words set in with her though, and she knew that the churning was partially from guilt, but it was also from things in her past that she knew she couldn't get away from...things that had been done by someone close to her and were inadvertently her fault and she felt like she was becoming him...

"This isn't the first time I've killed someone," Lillian admitted gently, chewing on her bottom lip. "It's just the first time I've killed someone since I took my oath as a Starfleet doctor. I killed plenty during the Dominion War on Betazed--I was actually 16 too. That never got easier, but I became a Starfleet personnel. I went to the Academy and I got great marks and I became a doctor and I got stationed and I felt like I was becoming a better person and then he just...I felt like we were all in danger and yet I took an oath. I took an oath and I poisoned a man just because why? He wanted to have his way with me? I could have just placated to him and then saved you. Instead I killed him."

She could feel the tears coming to her eyes and she didn't like that so she forced a smile and held out the sundae. "Want a bite?"

Taylor didn't want to talk about Betazed. Not the planet during the war at least. The people there had treated him and his fellow marines on their garrison duties as if they were the locals. Betazoid hospitality had made Taylor feel more at home than he ever felt on Earth. Coming back after the war for the relief effort was one of the hardest things he had ever undergone. Some of his most treasured spots had become rubble and barely recognizable. To steer away from that topic he nodded and took a bite from her spoon as he looked up at her.

After swallowing the ice-cream he shook his head, almost violently. "I disagree. He got what was coming to him. You're a doctor and a Starfleet officer and not some commodity or piece of arm candy for despots to have their wicked way with. You stood up to him and you got us out of there. You didn't do that to save your dignity. You did it to save our lives. I can trust you with my life any day of the week with that piece of information tucked away in my head."

"I keep telling myself that he had what was coming to him, but sometimes I wonder if that's my shot to call," Lillian said with a shrug, taking a deep breath and eating another bite of ice cream. "You know, whether you like it or not, I'm a doctor...if you need my help then I will help you. You are so layered I find myself not really knowing what to expect from you at all."

She looked at him and smiled, trying to figure out why he hadn't made an excuse to leave yet because he clearly didn't want to be here, but he was braving it to thank her? Why? He had made it clear that he hated sickbays and doctors and even after trying to be his friend he had gotten so worked up about it all and she just didn't get why he was here unless he was actually trying to be her friend. Was it because of the briefing? Was it purely because of what she'd done in the Milos System? She just wanted to know.

"I still want to be your friend," Lillian admitted, even though she knew she wanted to be more. "I'm more than the teal shirt I put on in the mornings--in fact I don't normally wear this uniform when I'm off duty. Being a doctor is my profession, but it's not who I am and even if I wasn't a doctor, I would go out of my way to make sure you were safe. I just want you to know that."

"I suppose there's no real harm in us being friends?" suggested Taylor with a shrug. "I know you're not just a doctor and I know it's unfair to tar you all with the same brush. And as for your little comment I find it being an advantage to keep people on their toes when they talk to me. I enjoy mind games and well...people like Ritter...I'd rather they didn't know me in and out."

"You boys," Lillian said teasingly, but she smiled and nodded. "Good, I like the idea of you and I being friends--besides, if I get more sundaes for doing a good day's work, I just might want to keep you around outside of it. Maybe we'll even become good enough friends that I can start reading your mind like I do with Marlo instead of not know what you do next...except that maybe the surprises are better."

She grinned at that and then she set the sundae down on the bio bed, moving forward to slip her arms through his around his waist and hug him, whether it was a big move or not. He had only just told her that they could be friends and yet she wanted to make sure that he understood that this meant a lot to her and that she was glad that he was trying to be in her life. They two of them were turning over a new leaf and regardless of her other feelings for him, she really could use him on her side while she was trying to convince herself that she wasn't like Marhsall Frost at all--she would never be like him.

Fuck...he smells fantastic. She thought to herself. "Thank you, Taylor..."

The sudden closeness was rather...surprising. Taylor found himself standing ramrod straight in a defensive posture for some odd reason. "You're welcome doc..." he said as he slowly started to wrap his arms around her shoulders to return the embrace though he was still somewhat cautious. It wasn't anything against Lillian but rather just the whole idea of suddenly being close to someone who wasn't a one night stand.

"Also the idea of reading my mind might take away my natural aura of mystery. I like to think it makes me attractive?" joked Taylor as he slightly pulled her closer. She was a comfort, a shoulder to carry him in the midst of all this medical...stuff. That made her somewhat important right now.

"Yes, because you need to be more attractive," Lillian managed to tease again. "But in all seriousness, I do appreciate the sundae and the fact that you do want to be friends and there's no fist flying at my nose to tell me otherwise."

She smiled at that and took a deep breath, nuzzling his chest with her nose a moment before she pulled back a little and looked up. "This is all going to work out, you know? We're getting more marines, the station is being rebuilt and I think we all have what it takes to do this. Just...I should let you leave my sickbay now so you don't have to to deal with it. I still owe you a drink though, so you should let me cash in on that at some point and hey, let me know when you get your team put together--I wouldn't mind meeting them."

"In honesty the fist was training...with some emotional backlash." he offered timidly with a smile as he looked at her. His hands fell down to his side so he could stuff them into his pockets. It was true, marines, a station with working systems again. For some reason it was all happening now. Things were moving forward.
"But yeah, I'll let you meet them. If Command allows them to be sent of course. You'll have to forgive their little quirks though. For some reason we seem to connect through our odd habits. But maybe we can have that drink one time eh? Take care."

||Starbase 12
||Sickbay
||August 4, 2387
||1908


Lillian was taking some time out to herself to get some paperwork done after a long day, trying to focus on moving forward and not sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Still, she knew that poisoning someone wasn't just something she could get over in two days and her head was spinning about what was going to be going on around here. They were getting more marines, Taylor was being somewhat cordial in passing and she just didn't know what to think about any of it. She was worried that this was something that was changing her as well, because she couldn't shake the feelings about Taylor off and she couldn't just forget everything that Brantigan had put her through...so her subconscious was mixing all of the feelings together and plaguing her dreams.

"Get it together, Lilly," she whispered to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the PADD in her hand and nodded at some of the notes that she had taken about Ensign Kortel's broken ulma before and chewed on her bottom lip. No matter how far she buried herself in her work, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change what it was that she had done and that stupid face of Taylor's...she was distracted. She was distracted and she set the PADD down on her desk and put her arms down too, burying her face in them and just tried to take really deep breaths as she tried to calm her thoughts. All she wanted to do right now was to make sure that she could focus and so she chewed on her lip and tried to settle her thoughts.

He hated Sickbay. It was a fact he constantly reminded himself of as he walked towards the damned room. Taylor was feeling bad. When it came to him and Lillian for some reason he was aloof and distant. Sure, she was pretty and sweet. Still she was a doctor which didn't do her any favours. Then again she hadn't ever held his marine career against him which most doctors would do. For some reason green shirts seemed to double, if not triple, their work load. With that in mind he had replicated a large ice cream sundae, the top covered with nuts and chocolate sauce. There was even a spoon.

Knocking on the door he walked into the room and sheepishly ambled towards Lillian. The lack of smell hit him instantly. Taylor almost ran out of the room. Instead he fought his instinct and held out the glass to her. "I got you this. You know as a thank you for looking after me. Little treats like this are probably going to keep you sane...after all we're a long way from the Federation and you're probably going to find people you care about on your table a lot so...here?"

Lillian's head shot up when she felt his presence and she was surprised of course--why wouldn't she be? He had ice cream for her, which she desperately wanted to just reach out and grab, but he also wasn't feeling very good about being here and that was coming off of him in waves as she read him. She wanted to make him feel better and he was clearly trying to make her feel better, and so she stood up and gingerly reached up to take the sundae from him, her cheeks tinted pink.

"What are you doing here?" Lillian asked him gently, sticking her finger in the chocolate sauce and licking it off after a moment. "Thank you, I just know that you hate it in here, so I guess I'm just confused. I'm touched though and you obviously know your Betazoids because it's sugar...in fact it's ice cream..."

She smiled a little and looked at the sundae before she looked back at Taylor. "I admit I kind of need this too, right now. Everything that happened on the planet showed me a new side of myself and I guess I'm not ready to face it yet and all of this just seems...after losing the last medical personnel before you showed up, I have had a lot of people on my table that I care about and it is hard. I take things personally that I shouldn't and while you'll be there again give your job, that won't get easier either."

"Well you're right about my job. The ironic thing about hating sickbays so much is that I always seem to end up in one. However this time I came in standing tall." said Taylor with a smile as he propped himself up against a nearby biobed. "And I do know my Betazoids. I once knew a Betazoid in the marine force on Chin'Toka. Whenever he got nervous we opened up the ration hard-candies and shared them between ourselves. You're a pretty easy bunch to calm down...most of the time."

Taylor's smile was still present even though he was in probably his least favorite place in the world. At least the company was better than the jail cells. "You know...I remember the first man I ever killed. Orion type, was when I was a young sixteen year old private doing anti-pirate boardings. I never felt anything but the jolt of the rifle. At first anyway...part of me felt guilty. It's not natural to kill another person...not with our developed minds. It gets easier but...that's not a good thing."

Lillian laughed and nodded. "We do like our comfort food and our sex, but we can be surprising."

She smiled at him genuinely for the first time it felt that day and then she looked at the sundae and decided to take a couple of bites of it, trying to calm her nerves. Taylor was showing this side of him that she didn't really understand and it was making her stomach churn pleasantly and she didn't know quite what to do except to maybe eat. His words set in with her though, and she knew that the churning was partially from guilt, but it was also from things in her past that she knew she couldn't get away from...things that had been done by someone close to her and were inadvertently her fault and she felt like she was becoming him...

"This isn't the first time I've killed someone," Lillian admitted gently, chewing on her bottom lip. "It's just the first time I've killed someone since I took my oath as a Starfleet doctor. I killed plenty during the Dominion War on Betazed--I was actually 16 too. That never got easier, but I became a Starfleet personnel. I went to the Academy and I got great marks and I became a doctor and I got stationed and I felt like I was becoming a better person and then he just...I felt like we were all in danger and yet I took an oath. I took an oath and I poisoned a man just because why? He wanted to have his way with me? I could have just placated to him and then saved you. Instead I killed him."

She could feel the tears coming to her eyes and she didn't like that so she forced a smile and held out the sundae. "Want a bite?"

Taylor didn't want to talk about Betazed. Not the planet during the war at least. The people there had treated him and his fellow marines on their garrison duties as if they were the locals. Betazoid hospitality had made Taylor feel more at home than he ever felt on Earth. Coming back after the war for the relief effort was one of the hardest things he had ever undergone. Some of his most treasured spots had become rubble and barely recognizable. To steer away from that topic he nodded and took a bite from her spoon as he looked up at her.

After swallowing the ice-cream he shook his head, almost violently. "I disagree. He got what was coming to him. You're a doctor and a Starfleet officer and not some commodity or piece of arm candy for despots to have their wicked way with. You stood up to him and you got us out of there. You didn't do that to save your dignity. You did it to save our lives. I can trust you with my life any day of the week with that piece of information tucked away in my head."

"I keep telling myself that he had what was coming to him, but sometimes I wonder if that's my shot to call," Lillian said with a shrug, taking a deep breath and eating another bite of ice cream. "You know, whether you like it or not, I'm a doctor...if you need my help then I will help you. You are so layered I find myself not really knowing what to expect from you at all."

She looked at him and smiled, trying to figure out why he hadn't made an excuse to leave yet because he clearly didn't want to be here, but he was braving it to thank her? Why? He had made it clear that he hated sickbays and doctors and even after trying to be his friend he had gotten so worked up about it all and she just didn't get why he was here unless he was actually trying to be her friend. Was it because of the briefing? Was it purely because of what she'd done in the Milos System? She just wanted to know.

"I still want to be your friend," Lillian admitted, even though she knew she wanted to be more. "I'm more than the teal shirt I put on in the mornings--in fact I don't normally wear this uniform when I'm off duty. Being a doctor is my profession, but it's not who I am and even if I wasn't a doctor, I would go out of my way to make sure you were safe. I just want you to know that."

"I suppose there's no real harm in us being friends?" suggested Taylor with a shrug. "I know you're not just a doctor and I know it's unfair to tar you all with the same brush. And as for your little comment I find it being an advantage to keep people on their toes when they talk to me. I enjoy mind games and well...people like Ritter...I'd rather they didn't know me in and out."

"You boys," Lillian said teasingly, but she smiled and nodded. "Good, I like the idea of you and I being friends--besides, if I get more sundaes for doing a good day's work, I just might want to keep you around outside of it. Maybe we'll even become good enough friends that I can start reading your mind like I do with Marlo instead of not know what you do next...except that maybe the surprises are better."

She grinned at that and then she set the sundae down on the bio bed, moving forward to slip her arms through his around his waist and hug him, whether it was a big move or not. He had only just told her that they could be friends and yet she wanted to make sure that he understood that this meant a lot to her and that she was glad that he was trying to be in her life. They two of them were turning over a new leaf and regardless of her other feelings for him, she really could use him on her side while she was trying to convince herself that she wasn't like Marhsall Frost at all--she would never be like him.

Fuck...he smells fantastic. She thought to herself. "Thank you, Taylor..."

The sudden closeness was rather...surprising. Taylor found himself standing ramrod straight in a defensive posture for some odd reason. "You're welcome doc..." he said as he slowly started to wrap his arms around her shoulders to return the embrace though he was still somewhat cautious. It wasn't anything against Lillian but rather just the whole idea of suddenly being close to someone who wasn't a one night stand.

"Also the idea of reading my mind might take away my natural aura of mystery. I like to think it makes me attractive?" joked Taylor as he slightly pulled her closer. She was a comfort, a shoulder to carry him in the midst of all this medical...stuff. That made her somewhat important right now.

"Yes, because you need to be more attractive," Lillian managed to tease again. "But in all seriousness, I do appreciate the sundae and the fact that you do want to be friends and there's no fist flying at my nose to tell me otherwise."

She smiled at that and took a deep breath, nuzzling his chest with her nose a moment before she pulled back a little and looked up. "This is all going to work out, you know? We're getting more marines, the station is being rebuilt and I think we all have what it takes to do this. Just...I should let you leave my sickbay now so you don't have to to deal with it. I still owe you a drink though, so you should let me cash in on that at some point and hey, let me know when you get your team put together--I wouldn't mind meeting them."

"In honesty the first was training...with some emotional backlash." he offered timidly with a smile as he looked at her. His hands fell down to his side so he could stuff them into his pockets. It was true, marines, a station with working systems again. For some reason it was all happening now. Things were moving forward.

"But yeah, I'll let you meet them. If Command allows them to be sent of course. You'll have to forgive their little quirks though. For some reason we seem to connect through our odd habits. But maybe we can have that drink one time eh? Take care."

"Yes, the drink," she chorused, stopping him before letting him continue to walk away. "Smile more...you have a great smile--very handsome. I like seeing you happy. Have a good day, Taylor."