Thicker Skin

Posted on Wed Jun 17th, 2015 @ 5:05pm by Lieutenant Nicolette De La Croix

Mission: Prelude to War
Location: Sickbay, USS Manoora

The steady stream of physicals had begun rolling in about 0700 the next morning, filling every bed with people to be scanned, checked over and updated in the system. It churned like clockwork, most patients taking no more than twenty minutes with one of the many nurses and doctors attending to them. Nicolette oversaw it all, watching how her new staffed worked with the patients and evaluated time, skill, judgement, mannerism silently in her head. For the most part she was pleased with what she saw. Perhaps Johannes needed a little more work on his bedside manner and Freida didn't seem quite as confident in how she handled the equipment, but both could be easily remedied with time and a bit more practice. Hopefully they'd have time for it. She was just signing off on an authorization for dispensing regular allergy medication for a woman in sciences teals when one of the younger members of her staff nervously took up orbit alongside the doctor.

"Excuse me, Doctor D.." Jaela said in a low voice that sounded just a bit worried. "I'm having trouble with a patient. Could you intervene, please?"

"Intervene?" Nica asked, an eyebrow raised fat the choice of words. She glanced over to bed 10 where the girl had been working and took in the patient sitting expectantly on the edge of the bed. Nothing about the way he sat with his elbows resting on his knees immediately set off any warning bells in her mind: no cocky head tilt, no narrowed eyes, no agitated 'How long will this take' or 'Good God not a booster'. She nodded her head anyhow and headed over, a polite smile on her lips.

"Good morning," she said as she neared. "I'm Doctor De La Croix. I'll be observing your physical."

The patient's smile grew a little wider and he sat back, being none too obvious about looking her over as he did so. "Two pretty ladies working on me now. This just gets better and better."

"Oh it does?" Nica all but purred, reaching over to tap the ensign's rank pip on his collar. "Because I'll remind you that you're talking to a senior officer right now. Straighten up and show some respect or I'll haul your butt right out of my sickbay." She smiled- all sweetness and light- as she drew her hand back and glanced over at Jaela who still seemed to be sheepish. "Come on now, Jaela. He won't give you any more trouble. If he does, I can show you a few wrist locks on the way to department head's office."

The ensign's cheeks flushed as he sputtered indignantly "I'm just being social.."

"Social is appropriate for the lounge or the mess hall or any of the number of common areas scattered around ship. This is sickbay. It's not a place to come and flirt with the nurse- don't give me that look. Do you think this is the first star ship I've been on? Oh no-" Before he could even open his mouth in protest, the doctor had had run over his response and kept on going. "-I know the routine. Sickbays are skirt zones. Good places to pick up pretty nurses. Well not here. In my sickbay, we're here to work. If you interfere with that work, we'll take you out. Am I clear on that, honey?" She patted his cheek, which had colored now, and stepped to the side so Jaela could continue with her scans.

Jaela did, though haltingly, and finished with his physical without any further incidents. When she was done the doctor took her by the arm and steered her back to her office. "What was that?" Nica asked once she was out of earshot. "Why were you letting him get under your skin?"

"He was harassing me!" the younger woman sputtered. "I thought that was pretty apparent!"

"Darlin', you're in a fish bowl now. We're an enclosed little bubble full of people dealing with nerves and tempers and loss and excitement 24 hour hours a day. You'll have to see some of these same people day in, day out. One day you'll have lunch next to him, the next you'll be patching up a hole in his gut. You'll be screamed at, hit on, called names, spit on, fought, begged, thrown up on sometimes all in the same shift. You're going to have to get some thicker skin, girl, or it'll break you down fast." Nica let go of the girl's arm and sat on the edge of her desk, her long legs kicking back and forth slightly as she spoke. "Don't get me wrong, he was a jerk. You're going to have to deal with jerks. There'll be days when you wish all you had was jerks instead of people dying left, right and center. You need to toughen up, take no shit and soldier on. Can you do this? We're headed into some pretty rough stuff, Jaela. If you can't do it, you need to say so now."

Jaela was quiet for a moment as she absorbed all that was said and nodded numbly. "I can do it."

"Good," Nicolette said with an encouraging smile. "You'll get used to it. Why don't you pair up with Adrian today and watch how he deals with the flip side of the coin. He's calm, he's courteous, he's smooth, but he doesn't give an inch. He spars a bit verbally to make the physical go faster and then sends them on their way."

Thinking back about what she'd seen of Doctor D, Jaela wrinkled her nose. She'd seen the doc give plenty of physicals- most of which she bantered her way through- but twice now, the CMO had gone curt and cold on patients who'd tried to give her lip. "But you don't do that.."

"You're right, I don't. There's a difference between what you need to do and what I need to do on the floor. Think of me as the check. As much as I can, I'll take the heat. I'll take the tough patients. I'll take the dire straits. All of you are the balance keeping the rest of sickbay smooth and calm so I can do that when I need to. What I portray has to be tough as much for me as for the patients. I can't afford to be soft: soft doesn't get the job done. I need to be listened to the first time. I need to be trusted. I need to be thorough. If that means I have to bruise a few egos to get that done, I'm okay with that." Nica tilted her head to the side slightly as she searched the girl's face for understanding. "Does that make more sense?"

"I guess.." Jaela sighed. "I think I just need more practice."

"I'll make sure that you get it then. Head on out to Adrian like I said." As the young woman left, Nica frowned to herself. She was worried about how many of her staff were practically new. They hadn't had the time to adjust to life on a ship much less one that was headed into a war. Tough was threading rolling veins or patients complaining endlessly over how cold it was in their bed, not necrotic infections or seeping gut wounds. She worried that she'd lose some of them when the pressure got too high, and reminded herself again to start picking her teams, to go back to assessing. With a sigh she pushed off her desk and stood, stretched, and picked up a PADD for taking notes. She needed names for action teams ready at a moment's notice and there were still a lot of faces that she didn't quite know yet.

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Lt. Nicolette De La Croix
CMO, USS Manoora