Awkward Turtle [closed]

[craaazyisland]

Just as he suspected. There really wasn't much to do, even on a giant crazy spaceship like this one. There was a media library, but you could only watch movies for so long before you remembered that you were on a giant crazy spaceship and it was stupid to be watching movies.

That's what made Steve go check out the sensoriums, if only so he could work off a little steam on some kind of training course. That seemed like a popular option. Thinking on it too much had made him ask if it could create the images of people, too, and since then he'd been trying to decide how creepy it would be to go see virtual versions of his parents. Whether it would be more therapeutic than necessitating therapy afterwards was still up in the air.

He wandered the halls glumly, trying to get his mind off of it and forlornly thinking how nice it would be if somebody he knew was somehow aboard too.

He did not expect to get his wish thirty seconds later, when somebody walked by and he immediately recognized her.

"Wait... Claire?"

Comments

[letmelive]

Claire likely would have noticed him first if she hadn't been preoccupied by thoughts of her own. She was still adjusting to this whole idea of being a mother, and she constantly had to remind herself of the story and how she was sticking to it.

She paused when she heard her name, and hesitated for a moment, thinking she recognized that voice but not being totally sure. When she turned back to look in the direction she heard her name being called, she froze, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping slightly open, before she was able to find her voice.

"...Steve?"

[craaazyisland]

Steve's breath hitched in his throat and he felt the brief, bizarre sensation of his heart racing. It seemed to fade after a second or two, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

After all, it was Claire.

"Claire! It's really you!" he said again, an ecstatic smile crossing his face. He cut across the hallway and ran up to her, suddenly seizing up with the very awkward realization he had no idea what he should do or say to her. Should he give her a hug? Cry? Put on a happy face and play it cool?

When he couldn't decide, he ended up staring at her with a mix between surprise and utter joy. "Um... hi!" Very smooth.

[letmelive]

For the second time in a week she found herself facing someone she hadn't seen in seven years, at the exact same age they had been when she'd last seen them. Of course this was almost even more jarring than finding Sherry, because Steve had died. She found herself staring a moment longer before shaking it off and closing the distance Steve hadn't breached, pulling him into a hug. Despite Wesker's creepy threats, she'd never thought she'd see him again.

"Oh my God, Steve you're alive." Probably not the most tactful thing to say in this situation but she was a Redfield.

[craaazyisland]

Steve was actually quite pleased Claire had made the first move as far as hugging went, evident in the way his arms immediately closed around her. She might have noticed him shaking a little bit.

"I never thought I'd see you again," he said under his breath. She was... taller, he noticed, or if not taller then she seemed different somehow he couldn't really specify. But she seemed surprised he was alive, which all but confirmed the last, fuzzy memories he had before waking up on this creepy ship. Oh well.

"I'm so glad you're here! This place sucks."

[letmelive]

Claire pulled away from him before he could get any ideas from the hug, smiling at his comment.

"No kidding," she replied, keeping a hand on his shoulder and tilting her head slightly. "Did you just wake up?" It was surprising at first when she thought she hadn't spotted him on the Obs deck, but then again, she'd been rightfully distracted by Sherry.

[governmentninja]

Leon wasn't that hard to find, actually. Despite being Chief of Security now, he still had a good chunk of downtime during his days. Right now he was just in his quarters, relaxing, and idly flipping through notes on his omnicomm.

[letmelive]

Claire decided rather than walking right into Leon's room she'd do the polite thing and knock first. She'd been trying to figure out how exactly she was going to phrase all of this to keep Leon from marching down to the conference room she'd left Steve in and emptying his gun into the teenager's head, but she knew she was just going to have to talk fast. And possibly make it impossible for Leon to shoot anyone without having to shoot her too.

"Leon? It's Claire. You busy?"

[governmentninja]

"Not at all," and even if he had been, its not like he wouldn't drop everything for her.

"Come on in."

He had been lounging on one of the couches, but stood up to greet her.

"What's up?"

[letmelive]

"Hey." She smiled a little weakly as she walked into the room, clasping her hands behind her in an attempt to look casual, although she stayed relatively close to the door.

"I brought home a stray." She was going to attempt to avoid saying 'I think he might be infected' as long as she possibly could.

[governmentninja]

He knew the difference between Claire when she was relaxed, and Claire when she was trying to look relaxed. He raised an eyebrow at her, but waved her further into the room.

"...and I'm guessing its not another kid."

[craaazyisland]

Steve wisely decided silence was better than trying to pursue conversation with Leon. The three of them continued on to the medical bay with no shortage of awkwardness.

It was no less awkward describing to the people operating the medical bay at the time what, precisely, was going on with Steve. He looked uneasily over his shoulder as the medics escorted him back.

"I'll be okay," he said. "Um... be back soon." And he tried to keep Claire's promise in mind, that she would do whatever she could for him and that she wouldn't let anybody hurt him, or vice versa. Now was the time to be brave. Everything would take care of itself if he could just have a little courage.

When he saw the tables, though-- fleshy, meaty tables with straps that looked like insect legs-- Steve was quite a bit less confident.

[governmentninja]

Leon Stood tall, then finally relaxed and let out a breath once Steve was out of sight.

He sat down in an empty seat in the waiting room and ran a hand through his hair. Dealing with all of this was easier when he was actively dealing with it, when it was simply do this then do that. This waiting thing wasn't good for that.

So since the Steve problem was, for the time being, in the hands of the docs, he decided to deal with a different problem. Namely, the redheaded best friend who was probably still annoyed with him.

"So..." Yeah... "That went smoothly, at least."

[letmelive]

"Mm-hm," Claire answered a little distractedly, although there was still obvious sarcasm in her tone. She wasn't sitting, and she wasn't looking at Leon, her eyes fixed on the door Steve had disappeared to. Leon could probably tell she was listening for any screaming, whether Steve's or someone else's. She was also half-waiting for him to tell her she was stupid again so she could distract herself from worrying about what might happen for five seconds.

Feel free to continue on, guys, I'm probably handwaving most of this

[craaazyisland]

It'll be fine. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. It'll be fine.

The restraints closed over Steve and he immediately froze up, eyes widening anxiously. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to try and relax but, well, that was hard to do when the table he was laying on was soft and felt like it was moving, and the legs were touching him. He felt the sharp pain of a needle in his arm and panic began to set in.

Claire said it would be fine. Claire said it would be fine.

[governmentninja]

"Sit down." From his tone, it was hard to tell if that was a command or a suggestion. It was likely the latter, since Claire never listened to him anyway.

"He'll be fine. There's only one member of the medical staff I'm sketchy about, and he's not with Steve." Which was a good thing, because Leon did not trust Brainy-Dox 5 with that virus. He'd probably do something stupid like try to improve it and get it to 'work right', rather than destroy it. "All the rest have a good sense of ethics."

He was tempted to remind her that, yes, she had been stupid for not bringing him straight here. But rather than dive head-on into that subject, he went at it from a different angle.

"Why didn't you bring him here to begin with?" His tone was genuinely curious, not accusatory. He really couldn't see any sane reason not to. And, yeah, Redfields aren't known for being sane (quite the opposite, in fact), but Claire usually had some kind of method to her madness. Leon just wasn't seeing it this time.

[scarlett-flames.livejournal.com]

"I told you the results wouldn't take long," Jean tells the young man named Steve before she quickly scans over the results of the blood tests she'd done on him.

She glances over at him with a reassuring smile. With a quick glance at one of the rolly chairs she prefers to have in the medbay, it comes sailing across the floor and stops right in front of Steve.

"Why don't you sit down and we'll talk?" She motions for him to take a seat on the rolly chair.

[craaazyisland]

Steve had been waiting more than a little bit impatiently, though it was more dreading what he was going to be told than anything else. He looked up at Jean with obvious upset in his eyes, still looking very uncomfortable.

"Okay," he said, having a seat in the chair and immediately folding his arms over his chest. Better get this over with... but at least Jean was nice. Steve envisioned horrible robot doctors or something like that.

[scarlett-flames.livejournal.com]

"This virus you have, T-Veronica? Well the good news is that it isn't airborne, so it's relatively safe for you to be around the rest of the crew..." She starts as she took takes a seat on a rolly chair.

"But it is bloodborne, so you'll have to remain cautious to an extent..."

[craaazyisland]

He knew it. Some how, the second the possibility was presented to him, Steve knew that he was still infected. Even without clear memories of the events of his apparent last day of life, Steve had a feeling everything would work out in precisely the worst possible way.

His face sank and he looked away from Jean, staring at the floor just beyond her. He really could get people sick-- only through his blood, as she just said, so it wasn't as contagious as it could be, luckily, but he was still infected. A walking testament to Alexia Ashford's stupid legacy. A biohazard waiting to happen.

"What's gonna happen to me?" he asked. "Do I... do I have to stay by myself in a room, or- am I going to infect other people? What should I do?"

[scarlett-flames.livejournal.com]

"As to what the virus would do to you, I'm not quite sure yet. There's still some tests I'm running. Once I have all those in I'll discuss those results with Dr. McNinja. Perhaps between the two of us we can come up with some sort of treatment plan....."

She gives him a kindly look, feeling the waves of self pity, doubt and fear radiating from him. She reaches over and pats his knee in an almost motherly fashion.

"Don't worry so much. You're not going to be contained to your quarters or anything." At least not yet.

She continues to explain, "Basically you'll want to be careful around people with any sort of wounds. And by that I mean, you'll want to make sure you don't have any cuts or wounds that would expose them to your blood. If you do get a cut or anything - even if it's tiny, I want you to come straight here so we can patch you up."

[governmentninja]

The trip back to the Precinct was just as quiet as the trip to Medical was. To say Leon wasn't thrilled with the situation would be an understatement. At the least, he had stopped mentally flipping through ways he might have to kill the teenager standing only a few feet away from him. His focus had shifted to worrying about what to do with him now. And, frankly, he didn't have any options that he liked.

When they did finally get back to the Precinct, Steve was told to wait in one of the conference rooms while Leon and Claire talked. And by "talk" Leon meant "talk," though he had a feeling that this talk was going to spiral downward quickly.

He was not looking forward to that.

But it wasn't like it was something they could put off.

"So now what?" he asked her when they got his quarters. He willing to listen, at least.

[letmelive]

Claire wasn't really looking forward to this conversation. She wasn't going to back down that she thought Steve should be nearby, but she knew it was going to be a problem. She tried not to give Steve any indication that she and Leon were about to have a big argument on his behalf when they left him, but on the way up to Leon's quarters she steeled herself for the possibility.

It started out civilly, at least. She sighed, shaking her head at his question, crossing her arms.

"If Dr. Grey thinks he's safe for now, I'll trust that," she glanced over at him, pacing a little further into the room. "We need to keep an eye on him, in case symptoms present themselves and he doesn't realize it."

[governmentninja]

He was unstrapping his holsters and removing his weapons, at least. It helped to push him out of Cop Mode and back into acting like a human being.

"Jean is a good doctor," he started, laying his gun down on a side table, "but I'm not sure she understands the full scope of the situation."

[letmelive]

"What do you think we should do?" she asked, turning back to face him. He'd know that was a loaded question, but she was also honestly curious as to what options he was privately considering and not sharing with her.

[governmentninja]

There was a silence from Leon that seemed to last a bit. Which, in a way, was his repose to that question since he had no real answer.

Killing Steve for being infected wasn't a line he was willing to cross. The Chief Medical Officer didn't deem it necessary to quarantine him, so locking him in the brig wasn't a viable option either. But letting Steve walk around freely was just asking for a disaster to happen. And lord only knew what would happen if the rest of the crew found out that Steve was carrying a weaponized strain of a lethal virus in his bloodstream.

"I'll let you know as soon as I think of something."