Dr. Cherrin sat in his office sipping a cup of tea and watching the medical staff outside his office scurry around in their tasks. Several times he'd seen his only resident medical student pass by on her way to or from the triage area to a treatment area or conferring with another staff member. He sent her some Case Studies and hadn't received the answers yet or been able to discuss them with her. He sighed and went back to reading the material sent to him by Starfleet Medical, on the newest treatment of plasma burns, and deep space sickness syndromes.
"Computer time." Scott asked rubbing his eyes.
<1600 hrs. > The computer said in a tireless voice.
Jayme had been on shift since 0400, and was scheduled for a twelve-hour shift. Dr. Cherrin thought about just letting the case studies wait but hoped that she'd done them and maybe gotten the point from them as they both related to her own medical history. "Dr. Cherrin to Capt. Alcon."
"Captain Alcon here, sir." She had just seen and treated her 34th patient for the day and was finishing her charting when paged.
He frowned and then said, "My office your convenience." He made sure his desk was tidy and that two cups of fresh tea were on the surface, her medical file was on his screen but minimized to prevent notice, and her knock was a minute after all of his preparations were finished. "Come in Jayme."
Jayme stepped in and took the seat across from him and noticed the tea as the door slid shut behind her. She pulled her personal PADD out of her lab jacket pocket and accessed the two case studies. She handed the PADD to him and he did a quick read on both as she sipped the tea and became comfortable.
He nodded and then paged to the second one and frowned and shook his head. "You caught me. I did create both of these case studied out of your own medical files." Dr. Cherrin handed the PADD back to her and settled back in his chair with his own tea for a minute, then said, "You caught all of the relevant points and treatments for both cases. You even mentioned the psych-social factors." He thought about the case study involving the Migraine headaches . . . and noted aloud, "You are seeing the station Counselor and this seems to be setting off most of the headaches . . . are they improving any?"
"I am still getting those headaches after seeing her, but I also get them from being stressed or tired. Before taking this assignment, I'd only had two in three years. I have since had seven in six months."
Dr. Cherrin was aware of how many she'd had as they were all in her medical record, even the ones treated by Dr. Fletcher in his off hours. "You've trained a platoon in Combat medicine. You have been on an away mission for several months, been promoted two levels, and been exposed to 'dust'. You've been injured in a training mission, are seeing the ships' counselor for PTSD, have started a new medivac program on top of all of your Marine Corps duties. Your physical fitness scores are high, and you have advanced a grade in your medical schooling. And, I just learned that you've been having to learn to fly those crafts that are going to be used for the medivac ships."
Jayme shrugged and said nothing. She started to get anxious listening to him itemizes her duties. Then she smiled and threw in, "You forgot seducing your surgeon-Dr. Fletcher." She saw him crack a smile but he tapped his finger on the desk top and said, "No wonder you aren't maintaining your weight and you look like you never get any sleep...because you don't. If I could locate your commanding officer, Colonel Tarik, I'd talk to him about your schedule. Some of the schedule is my fault.... And I know the Corps is spread thin."
"I would still find some way to bust my ass. If I wasn't doing this then I'd be working out or pulling some other shift. This isn't new and If you look back to the start of my career with the corps you'll see that this has been an issue since I enlisted." Jayme saw Nathan enter sickbay through the thick glass walls wearing his pressed jacket and Starfleet blue and black. She felt a smile cross her face. He was out of view by the time Cherrin looked. "Sorry, temporary distraction."
Scott smiled and shook his head. "I want you to cut back on your shift here to three --twelve hour shifts a week, and I am going to talk to the Colonel about your duties under him. So unless you hear differently from me or Colonel Tarik you are to slack off some."
"Yes sir." Jayme stood and picked up her PADD, and left the room, to go find Nathan. He was headed for a treatment room but paused to let her catch up, "Nate."
He leaned against the wall and smiled, "What was that all about?" He asked.
Jayme shrugged, then said, "Case studies, and my work schedule--of course." He leaned in kissed her, and said, "I agree with the good doctor about your schedule. Where are you off to now?"
"Eight hours of being Officer of the Watch." She moved in and kissed him back and walked off with a smile, and he headed into the treatment area.