Suicide Watch

Posted on 08 Jan 2019 @ 5:30am by Commander Jayla Kij & Senior Chief Petty Officer Alexander Rylan

2,788 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: History
Location: USS Impala - Sick Bay
Timeline: 18 1/2 years ago

This was so stupid.

It’s not like she was going to try it again. She’d been angry and spiteful and tried it in the spur of the moment. She hated not having her mind to herself and in that moment, death had seemed so easy, but she was in a much better place now and she wouldn’t do it again. Even so, Saraja had opted to keep her here in Sick Bay where she couldn’t get ahold of any more sharp objects.

Suicide watch! It was all unnecessary and Jayla didn’t see what the big deal was. She had already promised to talk to somebody the next time she was feeling like ending it all. Wasn’t that enough? Apparently not for some people. She sighed and went back to her book.

"Jayla?" Lieutenant Calatea Maesin said. "Are you feeling up to visitors?"

Calatea had a mother's affection for the troubled Trill, but also a mother's instinct to protect her son. Calatea knew that her son Alex was positively smitten with the girl. She knew Jayla was not in a place to return his affections and she was firm with him that he wasn't to be pushy, but Calatea wasn't fool enough to believe that she could control puppy love in a teenage boy.

"My son Alex was really worried about you," she said. "He still is. I know you think he's dumb and that he's too simple a person for you. But he's a nice guy as far as I can tell. Can he come in and see how you're doing?"

If nothing else, you can enjoy stomping on his heart while cackling like a maniac, you little, brooding, bitch...

Calatea silently kicked herself. Jayla was just a teenage girl trying to deal with something beyond what any teenager should have to deal with, and as sweet as he was, Calatea knew Alex was a Hell of a lot tougher than she gave him credit for most days.

Jayla sighed. She really wanted to say no, but she knew it wouldn’t do any good. Alex has been following her around like a little lost puppy since she arrived on the Impala. He was likely to just sneak in anyway. “All right,” she agreed grudgingly. “For a little bit.”

"Great!" Calatea said. "I'll go and get him."

Thanks ever so much, Jayla, for inconveniencing yourself by deigning to have my son come in here and dote on you! Oh, well. We women can be difficult. If he doesn't win you over, at least you'll be good practice for him. Hell, by the time he goes off to college, he'll be an expert in dealing with difficult women!

Of course, Calatea, being an attractive, powerful, intelligent woman with opinions to spare, could be quite difficult herself. What she was ignoring at the moment was that a lot of what Alex had learned about dealing with powerful, intelligent, opinionated, women who were often impatient with people not as smart as them, he'd learned from watching his father navigate his marriage to her.

A moment later, Alex came into the room with cut flowers native to Trill in a vase. He came in and set them down on Jayla night stand.

"Um...hi," he said. "You know, for a really smart person, you did a really dumb thing. I really glad you're okay."

"Gee, thanks," replied Jayla with a roll of her eyes. "That's exactly what a girl wants to hear."

Alex frowned and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Which part was exactly what a girl wants to hear?" he said, a little bit of an edge in his voice. "Just for future reference. Which part? The part where I told you trying to kill yourself was dumb? Or the part where I said I'm glad you're okay? If the second means nothing to you, at least pay attention to the first, because no truer statement has ever been made in the history of the universe!"

Alex glared at Jayla a moment more, then relented.

"You're a dumbass," he said. "And I suppose so am I for caring about someone who thinks I'm an even bigger dumbass, but I do, so there it is."

"Okay, okay," relented Jayla. "It was stupid. Stop rubbing it in."

The idea of rubbing anything into Jayla made Alex feel dizzy. He forced his not infrequent fantasy about the two of them stranded alone on a tropical beach planet, naked, with nothing but cold, fruity, alcoholic drinks and a bottle of sunblock, out of his mind and took a seat in the chair next to her bed.

"There, see?" he said. "We agreed on something and the universe didn't implode. So...wanna play a game?"

"What sort of game?" she asked, grateful that he wasn't sounding like Saraja anymore. She really didn't need another lecture.

Alex picked up the backpack he'd set down a moment ago.

"Let's see," he said. "I've got a chessboard in here, that can be used for chess or checkers, I've got a Pente mat and stones, I've got a backgammon board...and a few decks of playing cards. Ever play head to head solitaire?"

"Head to head soliraire?" she asked dubiously. "Sounds a lot like competitive walking."

"Ha!" Alex said. "Sometimes it's kind of slow, but it can get really fast and intense. See, when you put your aces out, either player can use any ace. That means you can put out an Ace of Spades and plan to put a Two of Spades on it right after, but I might get there first. So now, you've got that Two of Spades that you won't have an opportunity to get rid of unless I put out my Ace of Spades! As you can imagine, the more players in the game, the more intense it gets. My dad and I play a lot, and when my grandfather is around, the three of us get in some pretty fast paced games. Wanna try it?"

Jayla shrugged. She supposed there were worse things she could be doing- being lectured for one. "Okay, why not?" she said. "Any other special rules?"

Alex pulled out two decks of cards and gave one to Jayla to shuffle. He looked around trying to figure out how to set up the food cart tray thingee so they could play head to head.

"Um..." he said. "If you sit up and sit cross-legged in the bed, I can sit that way in front of you, and I could put the tray between us."

Alex tried to sound smooth, but he was basically suggesting that he climb into bed with Jayla and because he was completely head over heels for her, it felt a little awkward.

Jayla rolled her eyes at the awkwardness, but moved back as far towards the head of her biobed as she could, leaving plenty of room for Alex at the end with the table between them. "How's that?" she asked.

"Um...great!" Alex said. He climbed up onto the bed and pulled the table between them and began to shuffle his cards. "Do you know how to set up your cards?"

She gave him a look. "I know how to play solitaire, Alex," she replied.

Alex winced.

"Uh, right, okay, sorry," he said. "Wait. Don't start yet...okay...ready...set...go!"

Alex started playing. He made some good moves and freed up an Ace of Hearts and played that followed quickly by the Two of Hearts. He couldn't free up his Three of Hearts, but if Jayla put out hers, he had a Four of Hearts open, and if later she got her Ace of Hearts out, and her Two of Hearts, Alex might be able to get rid of that currently trapped Three of Hearts if it was free by then.

But, Jayla's three of hearts was currently trapped on the very top of her deck. Her ace of diamonds popped up and she was, at first, hesitant to play it, but wound up putting it down anyway. After all, there was no guarantee it would be back the next time she picked up her deck.

Alex had a Two of Diamonds in his deck but he couldn't get it free. He was able to move another couple of cards and out popped an Ace of Spades! The Two of Spades was currently trapping his Three of Hearts. Moving quickly, Alex laid out his Ace of Spades, followed by the Two of Spades, then the Three of Hearts! Moving as fast as he could Alex reached for his Four of Hearts...

But, Jayla beat him to it, slapping her four of hearts on top of his three. She grinned to herself. She was starting to get the hang of this. She placed a red six on a black seven, which freed up the two of diamonds under the six, which she placed on her ace of diamonds. Yes, she was getting the hang of it.

By pure luck, the next two cards in Alex's hand turned out to be the Three and Four of Diamonds, which he immediately slapped down on Jayla's Two of Diamonds. He continued to move his cards around, searching for the next move he could make.

She didn’t want to admit it, but she was having fun. Currently, she was trying to free up her ace of clubs, but it was trapped under a ten of spades. No matter. She’d get it out sooner or later. For now, she placed a red four on a black five and moved a king to the empty slot left behind.

Unseen by either of them, Dr. Saraja Jelic had come out of her office to see why her young ward’s bio bed was detecting two heartbeats and now stood watching the two teenagers play their card game. A small smile appeared on her face. This was a good sign. Perhaps Jayla would finally be ready to listen. But for now, she would let them play their game.

Meanwhile Alex freed up both the Three of Spades and the Four of Spades and slammed them down before Jayla could free up hers. Then he went back to quickly but calmly sorting through his hand and looking at his piles. He moved a King to an empty space and then got his Ace of Clubs out. He'd thought about not playing it, but hanging on to it didn't really accomplish anything. Besides the game was more fun when everyone put out their Aces as soon as they came up and hoped for the best. Alex was intent on the game, but that didn't stop him from stealing glances at Jayla. He could tell she was relaxing and having fun, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to jinx what was turning out to be a perfect moment in his life.

Moving a queen onto the king revealed one of Jayla's jacks, which went on the queen and allowed Jayla to move the ten of spades onto the jack and freed up the ace of clubs. were all of her aces out? She had no idea. She'd lost track. But, it didn't matter. She was enjoying herself and keeping occupied. Saraja couldn't possibly find fault with this, could she?

The game continued and both teenagers were having a blast...until suddenly, Alex won! He just knew Jayla was going to be pissed off and probably take it out on him, but it would be worth it. He sat, IN BED, with Jayla and played a game and she smiled and didn't say anything obnoxious to him for a whole fifteen minutes! That had to be a record for them for the longest time between obnoxious, often mean, comments from Jayla.

"Ah HA!" he said. "I win!"

"Well, of course you did," replied Jayla with a roll of her eyes. "You've played this before. I've never even heard of it. You have more practice."

Alex smirked.

"Best two out of three?" Alex said. He was betting (and hoping) that if he won best two out of three, Jayla would insist on best three out of five. Alex thought that outcome would be nearly unbelievably AWESOME. The longer he got to spend IN BED with Jayla, even if it was just playing cards, the better.

She eyed him for a moment, but finally said, "you're on!" and started sorting the cards. Luckily, they were different colors, so it would be simple to sort them.

It was that moment that Saraja decided to approach them. "What are you two up to?" she asked with a slightly amused grin on her face.

Jayla rolled her eyes. "We're plotting to take over the universe," she replied sarcastically.

Alex laughed.

"Hi, Doc!" he said as he helped Jayla sort cards. "We're just playing high stakes head to head Solitaire. Winner gets to be Grand High Poobah of the Universe...you know, once we actually take it over."

Alex really hoped Saraja wouldn't make him get up and leave. Besides the fact that he was having the time of his life, a certain physiological reality of being a teenage boy lounging around in bed with the girl he was head over heels for (currently hidden under the table) would make standing up and walking out of the room very awkward and more than a little embarrassing, especially with Saraja standing right there. Besides, if Jayla was presented with actual evidence that he felt that way about her, she'd probably never talk to him again, in which case Alex was certain his life would be over.

Saraja grinned indulgently. "As long as you still let me be a doctor and don't kill anybody," she replied. "How does head to head solitaire work?"

"Oh, don't worry," Alex said. "It's going to be a bloodless coup," Alex said. "Head to head Solitaire is basically two or more players playing regular Solitaire, but your Aces and the cards you build up on them are fair game for every player. So if I put out an Ace of Spades, if I'm not fast enough or if I haven't got the Two of Spades and Jayla does, she can use my Ace of Spades. When both players are out of moves, we count how many points each player has and the one with the most wins."

The cards were sorted so Alex started laying out his.

"Do you know how to play Solitaire, Doc?" Alex said. "I've got another deck in that backpack over there. If, um, if you hand it to me I can get it out and you could join us. The more people playing, the crazier it gets."

"That's okay," replied Saraja. "I'll just watch you two for a bit. I've got work to do. I just wondered what you were up to." Besides, she could tell Jayla was enjoying herself and she didn't want to do anything to change that; the poor girl needed something to take her mind off the other personalities swimming around her mind.

"Okay," Alex said. He kinda wished that if Saraja wasn't going to play, she'd just leave so he could be alone with Jayla. He'd only invited her to play to be polite. He looked at Jayla and smirked. They both had their cards set up. It was time for the game to begin. "Ready, Jayla?"

"Ready," she replied, attempting to ignore her guardian's presence.

They started the game and Jayla quickly became focused on it, determined to beat Alex this time. She flipped cards as quickly as possible, watching for his aces like a hawk.

The two were so engrossed in their game, they didn't notice when Saraja nodded a bit smugly and left them to their game. In fact, they didn't notice much of anything at all.

It took Alex a bit longer to win this time, which had more to do with their cards than anything either of them did, but the competition for the Ace stacks was fierce and there was some laughing as they each beat each other to a stack over and over again.

"I win again," Alex said. "Do you concede that I shall be the Grand Poobah of the Universe if we succeed in our attempt to conquer everything? Or are you going to keep up the fight?"

"Never!" she giggled. "Best three of five?"

Alex grinned. Jayla was smiling and giggling and those were the most beautiful sights and sounds he'd experienced in his entire short life.

"You're on!" he said, helping her sort the cards.

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