“Are you okay?! I heard a thump, sorry I just stepped out to make a call.” As I pulled myself up to my feet I turned to see a petite Fae woman in scrubs standing in the doorway.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Seems like I just rolled out of bed. Where the hell am I anyway?”
“On base, your dad brought you here after he couldn’t get you to wake up a couple days ago. I think he’d still be here himself but things are a bit of a mess so I said I’d keep an eye on you.”
“A couple days ago? Seriously?! I just passed out for a nap after my sister’s birthday.”
“Yeah after he gave you one of his test batches, I guess you had a bad reaction he wasn’t expecting. He shouldn’t have done that anyway, pretty stupid if you ask me. He’s always been so logical with everything in my experience so I don’t understand why he did that.”
“What was he testing anyway?”
“Oh it’s just supposed to be a strong anti-depressant to help treat some of the longer enlisted Katarat officers. After a few centuries even a good clean doesn’t seem to help them much when the are cycled back into service. Often they have weird dreams about their previous deaths or things they did in their life they may not have agreed with.”
“Well that’s what they get for recycling.”
“Better than a draft though and they take care of their own. If a serviceman isn’t ultimately fit even despite their best efforts, he or she is offered the option to retire and finish out his or her life in comfort.”
“Yeah but how far gone are they before they resort to that?”
“I’m not at liberty to say to be honest, I don’t handle that rehab as I’m merely an experimental naturist and I’m not even technically with the government, I’m outside contractor. I just really cared about this project, oh well. Doesn’t really matter now, because of your dad now I’m out of a job.”
“What why? Is my dad in trouble cause of this?”
“Yeah he’s up for review for ethics and currently on house arrest until further notice.”
“Seriously?! So he could go to prison?”
“I don’t think that’s likely given you’re his progeny. Most likely he’ll be dishonorably discharged and his licenses revoked which for someone like your dad is pretty much the end of his professional life. I’m sorry, it’s really quite a shame, he is really brilliant and could do a lot of good if they’d give him another chance. Anyway, I should notify his superiors that you are conscious again. I’ll need to run some tests to make sure you’re clear to go home but you seem fine so I’d guess you’ll be okay to go to your mother’s house shortly. Don’t worry though, I’m sure everything will work out, okay?”
“Why can’t I just go home? I really would rather not stay with my mother, seriously you don’t know what she’s like. My dad may have made a stupid decision but I’m an adult and I’m pretty sure I can handle myself around him.”
“Very well but you should know that he’s under very strict guard so every time you come and go you’ll be subject to scrutiny. He does seem very lonely though since his wife left him so I’m sure he’d appreciate the company. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be just a few moments. I need to speak with Commander Mitchell and my contacts on Prime. If you need anything in the meantime my name is Dr. Shilo.”
While I waited for the good doctor to get back I thought about everything she had told me. Had Morgan really left my dad because of this? Seems kind of an extreme reaction considering how long they had been together. I never felt sick or in danger but at the same time what if I never woke up? What would have happened then? For some reason I was feeling a tremendous amount of guilt over the whole situation. I didn’t like my dad being alone because of me, even if the reason was really of his own making.
“Why does everything always feel like it’s my fault?”
“I don’t know maybe try not being such a damn nihilist man.”
“Tidus! Shit it’s good to see a familiar face. I’m guessing you’re part of the detail watching my dad?”
“Actually no, I’m too close to the situation being engaged to your sister but I’m gonna take you back home before I head out for a mission I have scheduled. You should know though things are pretty fucked up right now.”
“Yeah I gathered with Morgan leaving and all.”
“It’s not just that, they revoked your dad’s parental rights and the government took Skye and Hawk into protective custody because of her association with me. They’re on their way to Prime now to stay with my parents. Don’t worry, they are a little cracked but good people, they’ll be alright. Your half brother is with your step-mom, she’s being relocated off world somewhere he won’t know and who the fuck knows what’s going on with Del. She keeps disappearing for long hours at a time from your mom’s house and has now been missing four about six hours in this instance. No one really is looking into it though since she’s an adult and should be able to manager herself. On the bright side though your sister Nova seems in a pretty damn pleasant mood, chalking this whole situation up to Maddox getting what he deserved.”
“I can’t really blame her the way he’s been treating her as of late.”
“Ditto man, so you ready to go home? You’ll find the old man in a sour state no doubt. I haven’t seen him since they activated me but I hear he’s being quite difficult. Like not eating or sleeping kind of difficult.”
“What a surprise.”
“Right? Hopefully having you there will soften him up a bit. My comrade in arms heading up the op says he asks about your status several times a day and that he’s claiming he won’t end his hunger strike until he sees you again. I’m starting to feel kind of bad for him, he clearly didn’t mean for this to happen, I think he was just trying to help your depression since you’ve in in the outs since grad.”
“See now my guilt feels justified.”
“Still not your fault though, you can’t always help the way you feel. You’re one of the best people I know Bass and the fact that you feel this way about your dumb ass dad only adds to your credit. That’s just my dinary anyway. C’mon, how about we get out of this shithole? Bet you’re looking forward to checking your phone, my buddy said it’s been going off the hook but they won’t let your dad answer it.”
“Oh shit Angela is probably wondering where I am. Fuck she probably thinks I just blew her off.”
“I’m sure someone relayed back to her what’s up, not like she doesn’t have family here and most of our friends know what’s going on. At least to some degree anyway.”
“Still.. I hope everything is okay.”