First Glance

Posted on Monday December 23rd, 2019 @ 1:30am by Ensign Vogil Dersk & Lieutenant Junior Grade Jordan Emerson MD

Mission: Oh Where, Oh Where, Has My Everything Gone?
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: TBD

ON:

It was almost the end of the shift and Jordan was sitting at his desk. He was getting older he acknowledged to himself. The shift had only been eight hours, but the stress of almost losing a patient had made it seem much longer. He pinched the bridge of his nose before taking a couple of aspirin.

He took off the blood-splattered, phlegm encrusted scrubs he'd been wearing and exited his office. He took a quick shower. He dried off inside, then exited a towel around his waist.

Ensign Vogil Dersk had just arrived on the station. He was a little dismayed to be on a station yet again, but at least the station was on the edge of Union space. He was definitely the furthest away from Union Central that he had ever been. He was here to serve his internship or at least part of it, under the training of Dr. Jordan Emerson.

Vogil had done some research into Dr. Emerson, looking over both his personnel file and his incident records. He had to admit that if in the doctor's position he might have behaved the same way. The Medical bay had been mostly dark when the ensign arrived, having come to the end of the third shift and getting ready to start the first again. He thought that perhaps the doctor would be just coming in for his shift. He never expected that this would not be the case.

Vogil had let himself into the main medical office and was busying himself looking around. He wondered briefly why there was a medical uniform laid out on the desk, but he didn't think much of it, so when Dr. Emerson rounded the corner into the office from another room, with nothing but a towel around his waist, Vogil dropped his data tablet on the floor and stared at the doctor in surprise, his mouth open. The tablet hit the floor with a loud "thwack" that suggested it had probably cracked on impact.

Jordan's right hand tightened around the towel that he'd been about to let go of, while his left hand ran through his hair bringing it out of his face. He stared back equally surprised. He'd heard that he would be getting an apprentice but Union communications being what they were, he'd only gotten the report the day before and he hadn't had a chance to review any details.

In any event, he wasn't expecting him to show up quite so quickly, or that or that there would be anyone else in sickbay at that time. "My eyes are up here," he said after a short pause while he tried to keep his own gaze on the rather attractive man's face. He couldn't think of a better thing to say at the moment.

Vogil dragged his eyes up the doctor to his face, his mouth still open slightly. He fishmouthed for a moment, his mouth opening and closing while he obviously searched for his voice. "I... I... I thank... you, Sir. I'm Ensign Vogil Dersk... repo... reporting for duty, Sir. Thank you, Sir... sorry, Sir..." He bent down and quickly picked up his data tablet. "My orders... uh..." The tablet was cracked, broken and the screen was black. "Well... I mean. It was... I... I'll get another one." His gaze traveled up and down the doctor again before he blushed.

"It's okay," Jordan said. "You can relax. I'll take your word for the orders. The data tablet can be replaced, it's not a big deal. When you get a chance though, you should probably make sure there aren't any pieces of it laying around."

"I guess I should welcome you aboard, Ensign," he said, checking to make sure the towel was firmly tied, he held out his hand. "I don't usually greet my new interns like this. Even if they are cute."

The cute comment caused Vogil to blush more and drop his gaze from Jordan's face to the floor. Then he realized that the doctor had offered his hand for shaking and his gaze came up again, quickly, embarrassed. He took the doctor's hand and shook it, his own sweaty and shaking. "Do... do you want me to start now?" He didn't know what else to ask and the question came out before he had even really thought about it.

"Just check it out," the doctor said. "I don't think it will take long. And it will give me a chance to change. And I should probably apologize about the cute comment. Not that you're not good looking, but I'm your superior officer and it's not appropriate."

Vogil was still sort of staring at him, his face red to his ears. "Sure... I mean... yes, Sir. I will... go look around." He turned away and then turned back and then turned away again and headed for the door. "It's alright, Sir..." he said, right before exiting the office so Jordan could change clothing. "I don't mind. It... it was flattering."

It was Jordan's turn to turn red, though not to the extent the junior officer had. He followed him into the main part of the infirmary "Ensign, Vogil, I, uh only meant for you to clean up the tablet. Nothing else. We have a custodial staff to do the routine stuff."

"Look, let me get dressed and I'll take you out to eat. If you're hungry, that is."

Vogil turned the broken tablet over in his hands and looked at it then his gaze shifted to where it had hit the floor. There were little bits of screen and cover scattered all around. "Shit... I... where's the broom?" He turned in a circle, looking for something to clean the scattered pieces up with.

Jordon, who was now fully dressed, if fully dressed was a pair of teal green scrubs stepped out of his office. Seeing the rather nervous intern, he suppressed a smile. "It's in the closet. Let me get it for you. And relax, everything is going to be fine."

"I just don't usually see my boss naked on the first day," he said with a little chuckle. "I admit it has definitely caught me off guard." He ran a hand over his short hair and grinned sheepishly.

"Well technically, you didn't see me naked. I was wearing a towel," the doctor said, a coy grin on his face. "But I have to ask. You said you don't usually see your boss naked on the first day. So, how soon do you usually see your boss naked?"

Vogil blushed. "Well... longer than the first day. Which boss?" He chuckled. "I saw my administrator, at the hospital I worked at, about three days in and the head nurse as well, about three days later. They were both much more naked than you. Hopkins... in Baltimore, if you want to know which hospital."

Jordan's left brow rose, and he gave his intern a skeptical look. "Are you serious? I was just pulling your leg. If you're done with that, come with me. I owe you that dinner I talked about and you owe me a story. Maybe two. First, though I got to ask did they see you naked?"

Vogil grinned. "Not the same day and not both of them on the same day." He nodded firmly. "And dinner? So soon?" he joked.

Jordan laughed. "Just dinner, I promise. No strings, no expectations. Oh, and no seeing each other naked."

Vogil laughed as well. "Thank goodness. I'm glad, Doctor. Not that I mind being naked, but we did just meet and I'm sort of not the one to kiss and tell on the first date," he joked warmly.

"Me either, no kissing or telling on the first date. No kissing for a while and no telling ever."

"Awww... no telling ever?" Vogil asked, coyly. "But really... Dinner now? Or would you like to meet at a later time? I'm not picky. Now that I'm here and you know it, I'm totally at your disposal."

"Well, no telling about details. I'm not that kind of guy," Jordan said. "Let's just leave it at that for now. I'm hungry now, you're free to join me, but we can meet later if you want. I'm not picky either. I heard something of a double entendre in your last comment, but perhaps that's because of where my mind is right now."

Vogil looked innocent. "Double entendre? I have no idea what you could be talking about." He batted his eyelashes and grinned and pretended he had no idea what the doctor was talking about, but his quick sideways glance at Emerson gave him away.

Jordon rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said with a mock frown. He grabbed the Ensign's shirt and pulled him out of the infirmary.

Vogil squeaked in surprise as he was yanked out the door by the front of his shirt by Emerson. Once outside he followed the man down a corridor and back out into the open commercial district. It was amazing to him how big the space was and how many varieties of shops and eateries it offered. "So... how do you decide where to eat?" he asked, his head on a swivel.

"Depends on what you're in the mood for. Do you have any favorite things?"

"I mean..." Vogil was still looking around in amazement. "What I'd like most is breakfast. I don't know why. Just... pancakes and bacon and eggs with cheese sound really awesome. I'm afraid of what might serve as the approximation of those things though. Where do you eat out here?"

"I've not been here that long myself and haven't done much looking around. But Sam's is pretty decent and they serve breakfast all day. We could try there if you want."

Vogil grinned. "That sounds great." He followed along with Emerson, trying to keep pace with him. "I'm excited to be working way out here. Is it exciting?"

Jordan turned and gave the younger man a sideways glance. He didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. That this is where the Union sent those whose futures were uncertain.

Vogil looked at Jordan with concern. "I don't like that face. I mean, this has got to be more exciting than working on Earth. Right?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I get that," the doctor agreed, "and don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't appreciate your being here. I do. It's, well, this not the most prestigious of assignments."

Vogil's face fell a little. "Yeah. I figured. I never get sent anywhere exciting." Then he seemed to perk up again and grinned at Jordan. "Well, I'm here now! So, I've got to make the best of it, right?"

"We all do. I have to admit, a part of me feels sorry for you and is sad to see you here. Another part of me is really glad you're going to be around."

"Awww thanks!" Vogil said, grinning over his shoulder at Jordan. "Let's just pretend it's all about the last part."

:OFF