[ SB Unity - Infirmary ]
Sally moved so quickly that Mercedes had to trot ahead to follow her. "Would he have time?" she asked, hurrying along. "He's not seeing anyone, is he?" Mercedes realised too late how that must have sounded and Sally was already off on a tangent.
At Mercedes questions, Sally had looked back over her shoulder, narrowly missing a couple of nurses and a med technician walking towards her. She slowed her pace so that Mercedes could walk beside her, telling herself that she 'knew' she was right and that secretly Mercedes had come to ask about Scott Fisher and all the enquiries about Rangi had just been a cover.
"Well not seeing anyone particularly." she began, giving Mercedes an understanding smile. "After you left he seemed very glum and not at all like himself. It was very sad really because he's always the one to cheer everyone else up with a joke or two but all that stopped and I said to Hazel, 'Hazel' I said 'Don't you think its sad about Dr Fisher?' and she agreed with me and we thought he must be pining for you but after a while he seemed to cheer up again I expect he was just being stoic." Sally paused for breath which wasn't long enough for
Mercedes to say anything.
"He hasn't been seeing anyone seriously though he did take Clara Lloyd out a couple of times but I must say that I don't see why men find her so attractive. You must have heard the saying 'no means maybe and maybe means yes and yes means you work in the Quartermaster's section of the promenade' but that's not true about all the girls there." She gave Mercedes a sideways glance that said everything else there was to say on the subject.
"I actually mean in his office..." Mercedes added slowly, but the afterthought was lost on Sally. She'd already divulged so much information; Mercedes didn't see the harm in getting a bit of clarity. "Clara Lloyd, you say? Do you think it's serious?"
"Hey!... look out!" a startled voice cried as its owner leapt out of the hover trolleys pathway.
"Ooops… sorry." Sally apologised to the startled crewman whose frown of annoyance soon gave way to her disarming smile. She watched him walk away then as they continued their journey said: "Oh no, nothing serious, That was just in his first flash of getting over a broken heart and trying to bury his misery with a facade of playing the field but it didn't fool us one
little bit. I said to Hazel… 'Hazel' I said 'you don't think he's falling for her 'charms' do you?" but it ended before it began because she met a trainee pilot Mick, Rick or Nick somebody or other who was much more her type." Sally gave Mercedes another glance that spoke volumes then gave a long exaggerated sigh.
"No… after that we would see him now and then in one bar or another all on his own nursing a glass drowning his sorrow and..."
And what exactly, Mercedes was not to know for they arrived at the AMO office and Sally said brightly: "Here we are then" and beamed at her companion.
Mercedes was beginning to feel a very slight pang of guilt after Sally's monologue tirade. She was, after all, the reason for Scott drowning his sorrows in a bar since the decision to leave had been hers, but it wasn't exactly easy on her either.
A yeoman came around the corner and approached the empty reception desk in front of Scott's office. She stopped when she saw Mercedes and Sally, looked at the plant, back at
Sally. "Hi Sally, is that plant for us?" and then asked Mercedes, "Are you looking for Doctor Fisher?"
"Yes, is he available?" Mercedes asked.
"I'm afraid you've just missed him," the yeoman said.
Sally could barely conceal her disappointment for she was sure that things would be warming up nicely if only these two could be alone together, even if it was in AMO's office.
"Is he likely to be back soon?" she enquired in an innocent tone.
"He should be back in about twenty minutes," the yeoman said with a smile.
"I can wait," Mercedes replied quickly. She really needed to see Scott and thought that waiting twenty minutes wouldn't be too bad.
Sally nodded agreement. "We can wait." she echoed. It was, she told herself, just as she had known all along for now it was obvious that Mercedes was desperate to renew her romance with the young AMO. "I'll just take this into his office then shall?" she asked and not waiting for a reply, steered the hover trolley around the desk and into the room, determined that she would be there at the moment of reunion for these star crossed lovers. "Want to give me a hand?" she said, glancing back at Mercedes with an encouraging look, for it wouldn't do now for Mercedes to change her mind and wander off somewhere.
"Why not," Mercedes smiled, although she wasn't particularly in the mood for moving plants. But she might as well make herself useful while they waited for Scott to come back.
With a happy expression, Sally manoeuvred the plant on its trolley into Scott's domain and looked around for a suitable spot.
[NPC by Bren]
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3rd Petty Officer Sally Schumann
Medical Technician
Starbase Unity (SB 234)
[NPC by Rangi]