trans_9 | I've got you under my skin [openish to relevant med bay personnel/parents]

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I've got you under my skin [openish to relevant med bay personnel/parents]

Luis was a biologist and not a medical doctor, but without a general science laboratory he'd taken to spending most of his time hanging out in the medbay. He didn't do anything stupid like take patients or mess around with equipment that was currently hooked up to patients-- just minded his own business in the back as something of a very enthusiastic lab assistant, studying and taking notes of whatever he could apply himself to.

There was also much less Brainy here than the other lab.

Even though he wasn't a medical doctor, Luis was one of the world's foremost experts on parasitic organisms and strange things that grew inside of human bodies that didn't belong there. And this particular case was a personal favor for a friend-- the case of a 12-year-old girl with something reportedly living in her torso.

"Mucho gusto, Sherry. I'm Dr. Sera," he told her, offering a handshake. "Have a seat up on the table and let's see what we can find, okay?"

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"Well, just to make it even, you can give me one too, if you want," Luis replied matter-of-factly. Honestly, he had been floored when Leon told him that this little girl was his. He hadn't pegged Leon for being father material ~~or being with a woman in more than a puppy love sense material~~.

It looked like... well, like a small, fleshy, underdeveloped thing. Squinting, you could see tiny insect-like limbs and a mouth. Seriously nasty business. But it was Luis' kind of business.

"It looks like an embryo, like they said. But your blood and other tests are coming up normal so I'm guessing whatever it is, it's dormant," he informed her. How long it would remain dormant was another question entirely.

"I'll think about it, then," Sherry mumbled. A free nickname was a free nickname, after all. It required a certain amount of planning. However, since Sherry didn't particularly feel like angering the person who might have an answer for her little guest, she deigned to figure one out when she was well and far away from anything that could scan, poke, prod or otherwise cause her discomfort. She twitched her toes and wrinkled her nose while Luis described it.

"Well, I guess I'm glad it's just... sitting there," Sherry replied. "But that's gross."

"I'll say," Luis agreed with her, cracking a bit of a smile. Behind it, though, he was deep in thought and staring at the little thing on the monitor like it had done him personal insult. The insult was in existing without Luis knowing what it was. Where it came from. What it was planning on doing in there, with its beady little undeveloped eyes.

"But the good news is, if it's just sitting there we can probably take it out," he told her. "It's not doing any harm, but it's not doing any good either."

Those were words she wasn't sure if she were pleased or horrified to hear. The little girl laid there uncomfortably, and looked out to the waiting room where her parents were.

"And," she paused, annoyed that her voice had wavered. "And how are we going to get it out? What's going to happen to it when it comes out?" If it was dangerous, it should be destroyed. She didn't want it to worry her parents anymore.

He had to think about that one. "I'm not sure," he said. "I'm sure they have some kind of laser in here we could use to take it out from the inside, but I'd like to get a little piece of it to look at. We could take it out in surgery very easily. Just like," he snapped his fingers, "that."

"Oh god!" Sherry moaned and threw her face over her hands. She kind of wanted to shriek, and call for her mother. "I would like to make a motion to not have it removed at all," she said, though her answer was muffled through her hands.

She didn't want to be cut open and poked around in, the idea of that struck her as the worst idea. Ever. Ever. Sherry whimpered.

Luis folded his arms, raising an eyebrow at her. "Listen, sweetheart, you don't want to leave it there. It's better to be safe than sorry. It would only take, literally, maybe five minutes to take it out and then stitch you up good as new, especially with all the gadgets and equipment around here. And it would be totally painless, too."

She looked at him through her fingers, and doubt was written all over the parts of her face he could see. "Mmmhmm."

Sherry swallowed hard, "If you haven't noticed, Doctor Sera, I dislike the idea of being cut open like a salmon. But... okay." She flinched at the thought of it. Especially since it would be done with alien instruments.

He looked at her a little incredulously. "Hey hey hey. Who said anything about a salmon? What kind of operation do you think I'm running here, amiga?"

Just like he was not technically a doctor, Luis was not technically a surgeon, but he had steady hands and hours upon hours of experience on cadavers and the few live patients he'd had to work with on Las Plagas. He still wouldn't take the risk of operating on a child, though-- not by himself. He'd be enlisting Dr. Grey's help and that of the medical staff. Just as long as they let him keep the thing to study.

"Come on, kid. I'm a professional. I do delicate work. You won't even notice a scar. That's how gentle I am."

Sherry gave him a long look and sat up on the bed. "Do you promise it isn't going to hurt? Cutting through that much tissue and muscle isn't normally something I'd put in the 'won't hurt' category. I know I should have compared it to filleting a salmon, but...

"I just don't really like the idea, and it scares me to think of people poking around my insides." Sherry shrugged a little and bit her thumb. "Sorry, Doctor Sera, I apologize if I insulted you."

"People have been doing surgery for almost as long as there's been a need for it, amiga. They've come up with ways so it doesn't hurt," he explained to her. "I understand completely, though. There's no way to take it easy when people talk about things like cutting you open."

He paused, drifting off in thought as he stared at the little object on the monitor. About the size of a fist. Didn't appear to be dug in or rooted to anything. Possibly spreading something through her body, if her blood tests had anything to say about it.

"No offense taken," he went on, still staring at the monitor. "It's not a bad thing to be scared of. But I'm gonna take care of it as a favor to your dad. And I won't charge you at all."

Sherry laughed, and was possibly the only female on the ship yet that was (somewhat) charmed. At least that meant he wasn't a threat. "Well, I guess that means you're a good person." She shifted on the little bed and threw her legs over the side.

"So, let me be clear: You're going to be quick and mostly painless getting it out, and you're not going to take any more of my blood, and you aren't charging Dad because he's your friend? Okay."

He eyed Sherry with that smiling, knowing, raised-eyebrows teasing look he was so fond of. Flattered at being called a good person? Him? Naaah.

"You drive a pretty hard bargain for a kid, you know. But I'm easy. If that all's fine with you then we can call it a deal, sí?"

Sherry half-grinned at him and held out her hand, "Deal, then." If he could somehow make it painless, Sherry decided that he would be an instant star in her sky, so to speak ~~move over, Daddy.~~

"So... when will that, the surgery, I mean, happen?" she asked and swung her legs back and forth.

Luis shook her hand. "Deal." Then he pushed the monitor over to the side, storing the images on it for him to look over later. He figured he owed the poor girl the courtesy of not poring over her internal organs while she was sitting right there.

As he moved the sensors back into their original positions, he had a thoughtful look on his face. "I'm not sure. Probably the sooner the better to be on the safe side, but we'd better talk it over with your parents."

Sherry frowned deeply. "They'll probably say 'immediately', they really didn't want to wait on this." She knew how worried they were, even if they'd ended up having a good time. "That's just how they are."

"Well," Luis said, stepping aside so Sherry could hop down from the table on her own. "Let's just go talk to them and find out. There are a few things I want to do before we get started on your surgery, so it won't be immediately. But I still think the sooner the better. That or you sit around panicking about it."

He motioned for her to follow him back to where Leon and ~~his hot friend~~Claire were waiting.

Sherry hopped off the table and ~~skittered~~ walked after him. She seemed to be stalling, stopping every few seconds to fix her hair, or adjust something on her plantsuit. Well, it was good that the thing was still just chilling out next to... actually, "So where is it sitting? You never said. They just told me it's in my abdomen somewhere."

Maybe she wanted to know, maybe she was stalling for time.

Yeah, he'd left that part out because most children would be disturbed enough with the idea that there was something growing inside of them, much less where it was.

"It's right here," Luis said, pointing a little to the right of where her navel would be. "Tucked in nice and warm near your intestines. But I don't think it's attached to anything, so it'll be very easy to get out."

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I've got you under my skin [openish to relevant med bay personnel/parents]

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