Intriguing Introductions

Posted on Tue Nov 12, 2024 @ 2:23pm by Lieutenant JG Fallon Morgenstern & Lieutenant Megan DuBois
Edited on on Tue Nov 12, 2024 @ 2:24pm

1,493 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Second Chances
Location: Counselling Offices

After Fallon had eaten a meal, finished her introductions with some of the crew, and found her quarters, she opted to immediately immerse herself in her work. She had not been informed of any counseling emergencies, rather she wished to acquaint herself with some of the personnel she may one day treat.

Additionally, her approach to mental health was not one of only concerning herself with those seeking help or who had been sent to her. Maintenance was an important aspect of mental health and she felt that checking in on others and just having conversation was just as important to illness prevention as treating symptoms. After all, doctors do checkups on patients routinely, why should counselors be any different.

As she was perusing the files, one file struck her as particularly intriguing. Lieutenant Megan Dubois who was serving as the station's Assistant Research Director. On the surface, Lieutenant Dubois looked like an average teenager, she performed her duties capably and maintained a healthy lifestyle. What made her a subject of interest was a temporal event that she was exposed to that had significantly altered her anatomy. At the time of the event, Lieutenant Dubois was a forty-year-old Human female. However, following the event, her anatomical structures were reverted to that of a teenager, save for her memories, which were unaffected by the event.

The aftermath caused significant hurdles for the lieutenant as she had to fight with Starfleet to remain in service. The first year after the event was filled with test after test to determine her suitability and what effect the phenomenon had on her. Eventually, Starfleet relented and allowed her to serve with some restrictions.

Fallon believed that Lieutenant Dubois would be as good a person as any to begin acquainting herself with.

“Lieutenant Dubois, this is Lieutenant Junior Grade Morgenstern. If you are able, could you please come to counseling?” she called over her comm.

Down in Research, Megan looked up from a padd she was reading. “Tabernac, she swore to herself before responding. Could she avoid this? She wasn’t currently really…busy. “Be there shortly,” she replied before leaning back in her chair and sighing.

Megan finally stood up and straightened her uniform and waves of brown hair framing her blue eyes. She didn’t tend to keep it in a standard regulation style. The ponytail would just emphasize her youthfulness, and it was hard enough getting the other scientists in her department to take a teenager seriously. It didn’t take too long before she was walking into the counseling department and asking after Lieutenant Morgenstern with the receptionist.

Fallon stood up from her desk and moved to the reception area upon hearing the receptionist speaking with a young woman. “Ma’am,” Fallon stated as she walked into the room. “Thank you for coming. Before we step into my office, is there anything I can get you? A beverage, a small snack perhaps?”

“Water will be fine,” Megan said, straightening, trying not to look like a sixteen-year-old girl playing adult, and relatively failing. “What is this about?” she asked, following the counselor into the office.

Fallon pressed her lips together at the Lieutenant's forward question; however, part of her expected such a reaction in response to a counselor randomly summoning a crewmember to their office. "Please have a seat on any of the chairs, or the couch over there if you wish, ma'am," she began.

Fallon took a seat in one of the chairs and made eye contact with the Lieutenant. "I must apologize if I interrupted you in the middle of something urgent. I am trying to get myself acquainted with the crew. I am new to this station." Her voice trailed off as she realized how ridiculous she sounded.

“It’s Megan, not ma’am,” the teenager said. “I’m not my mother. I’m young enough to be your daughter,” she said, then paused, looking the counselor over. “Well, I suppose if you got yourself in trouble in high school,” she allowed, given Fallon’s youth. God, the counselor was younger than Megan was!

Megan sat on the couch. “Welcome aboard, then. You plan on calling in the entire crew of a space station to have a little chat?” she asked skeptically.

Fallon instinctively tugged at her collar, slightly unnerved from the Lieutenant's straightforward language. "Um...no. I do not think that will be necessary given that most of the crew have had their annual appointments conducted within the past few months. Additionally, not everyone on the crew is forty years old with the physiology of someone who has just graduated from high school," she retorted, not realizing how pointed her remark may have been.

“Touche,” Megan allowed. “So you think I’m going to go crazy. I have mandatory six month evaluations, by the way, because of this.” She brushed back her hair.

"No," Fallon replied curtly. "I do not place labels on people or make presumptions. Additionally, to place the label of crazy upon you would imply that I felt there was something wrong with you, which I do not. What are your thoughts, how does your experience make you feel?"

“Horny.” Megan chuckled wryly. “Teenage hormones are a bitch. I can’t concentrate.” She sipped her water. “Lonely,” she admitted, looking away. “Rejected. Inadequate. God! Before the accident, what I wouldn’t have given to get rid of the wrinkles around my eyes or the effects of gravity. And now?” She shook her head.

"What you are feeling physiologically is certainly normal. The benefit, however, is not only in the loss of wrinkles, you also have a rare chance to re-experience your youth in a new way. Tell me, why do you feel lonely, rejected, and inadequate? Has something else changed in your mind besides your physical features?"

Megan looked down at her hands. “I got divorced,” she said. She laughed with a touch of bitterness. “For once, I’m hotter than his twenty-something personal assistants, but he feels bad fucking a teenager.” She looked over at Fallon. “I’m younger than my oldest daughter. I can’t date, because they’re either hot teenage boys or perverts. And my subordinates find it hard to take a teenage boss seriously.”

"I can understand why you would feel lonely. With the separation from a partner, the difficulties finding love, it is quite understandable that someone would feel alone. Perhaps, if I can put it to you that maybe this change you have experienced has instead precipitated a change that you may have unconsciously needed before. The old adage, you are only as old as you feel has a unique meaning to you. Physically, yes you have changed, but within yourself, call it your soul, your psychological being, however you phrase it, that did not change. You are still the same woman inside that you were before. Perhaps, and given how you have described his penchant for other women, the connection was merely superficial and now you are ready for something deeper."

Fallon took a sip from her tea as she took a moment to let her words set in.

“Well, the penchant for other women was because I was often off planet,” Megan admitted, “and away for long periods. It was sort of an…unwritten allowance. I certainly had my share of trysts with coworkers on the ships I served,” she allowed. “I could hardly expect Andres to remain celibate when I couldn’t fulfill his needs.”

She sighed and shook her head. “How do you know I haven’t changed psychologically?” she asked. “Psychology is just brain chemistry, and mine has certainly exploded! It’s why they put me through all that psychological crap after the accident.”

Fallon pressed her lips together. "Perhaps I should have spoken with more clarity. Indeed, you would have undergone some psychological change, but I would say it would be arguable that the 'essence' of who you are did not change. The experiences you have had that have molded you into who you are were not erased, in fact there is a method in which we could physically demonstrate this." Fallon placed her finger on her lip as she pondered.

"Tell me, how would you describe your working environment now versus before the accident?" Fallon asked.

Megan considered. “There is more skepticism of my ideas, a lot of patronizing head patting, colleagues talking past me. I don’t get invited out for a drink after shift. At the last holiday gift exchange, I got a bunch of chintzy teenage girl crap. I would rather have had a good bottle of wine – or something stronger. I even had one colleague try and set me up with his teenage son!” Megan paused. “The saddest part was, I considered it, but he wasn’t really my type.” Megan blushed and looked down at her hands.

"Why are you blushing?" Fallon inquired. "Do you feel embarrassed?"


[OFF]

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