Only You Get to See Me
Posted on Mon Jun 9th, 2025 @ 10:00am by Delaney O'Callaghan & Leiddem Kea (*)
Mission:
Shackles
Location: Planetside/Ship
2739 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure
"Excuse me, sir, security check. We've had reports of an excessively dashing man stealing hearts in the vicinity. I'm going to need you to answer a few questions."
The slender arms that wrapped around Leiddem from behind settled about his waist with unabashed familiarity despite the silent curiosity from distant stares. Several pairs of eyes had followed his assailant's arrival across the campsite, averting suddenly when the display of affection challenged their manners. A chin found its position against his shoulder and, stretching on tiptoe to manage the height difference, Delaney did her best to peer over his shoulder to greet the man lost in thought with a grin.
"Boo."
Leiddem smiled at the woman who wrapped herself around him, and he felt her familiarity like a balm around him, both physically and mentally. She was a sight for sore eyes as he realised how much he had missed her since they had said goodbye at breakfast. He took a moment to savour the feeling before he turned to look at her. "What do I need to do for these security checks?" He wondered.
It was far easier to accommodate the embrace with their positions adjusted and, though she normally respected his personal space when he was on duty, Delaney knew well enough what deep introspection usually meant. He was inside his own head again about something. "Just stand there and look pretty," she teased, allowing the banter to secure the outward charade whilst her eyes met his with a typical frankness that sought only to reassure him that she'd noticed, not that she expected an explanation yet.
Leiddem raised an eyebrow and found himself grinning. "So what I normally do then?" He asked back. He used to be very self-centred and self-assured but Delaney had certainly softened that side of him, thankfully. Well softened it until moments like this, where he found himself wanting to banter with her even as several survivors looked on confused.
An over-indulgence in expressive thoughtfulness skewed Delaney's expression for a moment. "I mean, there's always room for improvement..." She jerked to the side, a reflex response to the finger digging into it, and broke into laughter. "How about I just keep you under surveillance for a while?"
It was then that Delaney glanced over his shoulder to acknowledge the stares that immediately diverted the moment she glanced their way. Despite being the bearer of fresh supplies, she hadn't had much interaction with the locals yet, save for the pervasive persistence of ongoing scrutiny. "Though it looks like that might already be covered," she murmured, lowering her volume. "Guess they don't have much reason to trust anyone yet."
The man raised an eyebrow still at the comment that he needed to improve. He was sure that he did not but he was not going to declare that when he could just tickle her but she escaped. How was she so quick? “Observe all you want, baby, only you get to see me at my best and oh so worse.” He cooed before he nodded as her observation of the situation. “Cannot blame them to be honest, the last sky people they met tried to enslave them.”
"I'll be honest," Delaney said, as if there was ever a time where she wasn't, "I didn't expect anything quite this...functional?" It wasn't quite the word but it would do. Unabashed by the blatant aversion of interest now that those responsible had noticed her attempting to reciprocate, Delaney watched the pair in the distance and then dropped her arms to release Leiddem so she could turn around and take in the whole area. "It actually looks like a small community here. A bit rustic," she conceded, "but still..."
"Yeah. They have hunters and security." He admitted having been observing them for the last couple of hours. "They only stumbled on the supplies from the horde we were sent to get because they were hunting some type of game, according to Mina. She's the woman who looks like she belongs under the ocean." He added for clarity, not sure if they had met yet.
"How have they been communicating?" For some, it might have been an unusual concern to have so front and centre but Delaney, who had learned to temper her natural accent for the benefit of others, relied heavily on the ability to interact. The compulsion to reach out, to express compassion and offer support, was so intrinsic to her nature that she had been actively holding herself back on the presumption she wouldn't be able to make herself understood. There was too much structure though, too many systems in place, for there to be no form of effective communication in place.
“There is a translation unit working far enough outside that they seem to be able to do it. Surprised that it is working in all honesty but …” he shrugged. A lot of it did not make sense to him, he just did not know how they managed to keep it all together. “It’s odd but amazing that it is all working but it does.” He said quietly brushing the back of his hand against hers.
"That's..."
Whatever Delaney thought of the situation was lost amidst the sudden disruption of shouting in the near distance. Without thinking, her hand closed around Leiddem's, an instinct left over from their trips through mutual timelines, but her disposition was otherwise one of intrigue and concern. Craning her head, she watched as the pair who had previously watched her rose and hurried off, and then lifted her gaze to meet her boyfriend's. "Should we got check?" Almost instantly, she read his expression and nodded. "We should go check."
Leiddem did not hesitate in rushing forward to try and see what was going on, but what greeted them surprised him. The source of the yelling seemed to centre around a very thin woman bent over in pain with a large bump. "We do not know what is wrong with her." A man, possibly the yeller, commented as he saw the sky people coming over.
"Are they serious?"
It was an honest reaction to her astonishment, but as usual, Delaney's inability to keep comments meant to be under her breath at a volume that didn't negate the effort saw her scramble for a diplomatic recovery.
"I just mean, given her condition..." Delaney trailed off, aware that she had no standing amongst these people, but also frankly shocked by the possibility that they had no idea the woman was pregnant. Changing tact, Delaney crouched in an attempt to get a better look at the woman's face and gently asked, "Are you having contractions?"
"She doesn't speak."
Delaney glanced up at the crowd, who seemed intent on standing around waiting for something, before returning her attention to the woman. The pain contorting her features did a decent job of communicating but they'd need something more to know if this was a natural progression or a sign of something wrong.
"Is the baby coming?," she tried again, looking for any indication that she'd been understood.
"She was with child when taken. We don't know how long normal gestation is for her, she is the only one of her people here and hasn't spoken a word since we arrived. Mina is coming."
This seemed to be the final authority, and partially explained why everyone was just milling around, but not enough to keep Delaney from frowning. Turning back to the expectant mother, she reached out to at least guide the woman into a more comfortable position, settling a hand on her shoulder as she checked the ground around them for a viable spot. The pain was instant, like a literal punch to the stomach that somehow also ricocheted around her head, and for a split second, Delaney didn't know what hit her. She blinked, realised she'd fallen on her backside, and hesitated as the pain dissipated as quickly as it had started.
"She doesn't like to be touched." A gentler voice from the crowd demonstrated compassion that had seemed lacking but now had better context. "It is better to wait for Mina."
Leiddem winced as he saw his girlfriend fall on her butt and frowned as he looked at the woman. His senses were for once were fully active as he almost felt someone reaching out desperately to him. He glanced at the woman as she gripped his hand hard as another wave went through her. He blinked several times as he felt what she did and then promptly blocked it out like he was a teenager trying to get through the telepathic undertones of Betazoid puberty. "I understand." He said aloud as Mina appeared. "She's telepathic." The man said to Delaney.
"That would explain the not speaking." Unlike the puzzled faces of those close enough to overhear, Delaney's expression was one of instant acceptance and realisation. What she'd sensed wasn't anything like what it had been like on Betazed, and nothing like what her connection to Leiddem felt like; that was much gentler, far less focused and certainly something that had taken a while for her to even realise existed. This had been far more intense. There were similarities, however, and even if there weren't, she trusted Leiddem to know what he was talking about. "Are you able to understand her at all?"
The man looked at Delaney and nodded. He understood enough to try to get through this; he had medical training, but there was no way he could do it here safely. "We need to get her back to the ship, though. She cannot give birth here, " he said quietly, as the woman clutched at his hand more.
Delaney glanced up as a woman arrived beside her, crouched but keeping the distance that experience had told her was warranted. "Mina, right? We think her baby might be coming." She hesitated then, for once managing to catch a thought before her mouth ran off with her. If none of them had figured out how to speak with the woman, then chances were none of them had an understanding of telepathy. Perhaps it was best to try and avoid that conversation until it was necessary. "If we can get her to our shuttle, we have medical facilities and doctors on board our ship who can help."
Mina looked at the pair of sky people and the way the silent one clutched the man's hand and nodded. She did not doubt that the pair had somehow gotten some type of communication from her as she looked at the man, and the man looked back like he vaguely understood. "I am going to pick you up," Leiddem said firmly and showed her mentally what he was going to do as he picked her up. He hated how he felt the pain spark down the link, but he had dealt with sisters and that time of the month.
"Are you okay?"
It was a quiet question, offered at haste whilst Delaney cut them the fastest path back to the shuttle she'd landed only half an hour earlier. As much as she didn't question Leiddem's stoicism, nor his ability to protect himself if necessary, there was palpable panic radiating from the writhing woman that even Delaney could swear she nearly felt as her own. The terror was understandable; as much as the pregnant alien didn't have a lot of choice, there wasn't a lot of positive prior experience to her being carted off and flung into spaceships by strange people she didn't know. Delaney couldn't tell if the hoarse cries were from the pain or fear at being taken hostage again, but a glance back saw the redhead flinch and faltered, for just a few steps, as she stared at the blotted trail they were leaving behind.
"She's bleeding, we need to hurry."
"I am hurrying," The man assured quickly as he set the woman down on the back of the shuttle and grabbed the first aid kit. "Just get us back to the ship, love." He said, quickly grabbing up a plastic sheet. "You are going to be okay. The man on the ship is just like us." Leiddem said aloud as well as telepathically.
As she moved quickly to slip into the pilot's seat, Delaney glanced over her shoulder and then diverted her attention to the preflight checks. "Does she know we're not a threat?" There wasn't a lot of time to get weighed down by compassion but the woman's wails were gut-wrenching. To be so alone, unable to communicate, unable to comprehend, and to have the life of your child thrown into the mix... Recent experiences had left Laney thinking a lot about subjects at least adjacent to what this woman was going through, it was hard not to wince with sheer empathy.
“She knows” Leiddem glanced at his girlfriend and smiled proudly at her. Even at this moment his woman was being a girls' girl. It made him love her even more if it was possible. “She understands for the most part that I can help her and Jaxx is better at this than me. I am rusty from moving to security when I got bad vibes over previous doctors.” He said pulling out a tricorder to get a proper look at her even though the telepathic waves were telling him all he needed to.
As a response, Delaney simply nodded and switched her attention to sending Rosie through the medical alert. In the midst of it, a glance out the viewport revealed a small crowd gathered and she hesitated, not because they were close enough to be a concern but because, once again, it was hard to fathom what any of this felt like to people who had no knowledge of life beyond their own solar system until recently. "Strap in," she called back, diverted from her distraction by the beep of an incoming clearance. "Medical will meet us."
The shuttle's engines had barely powered down when the open hatchway permitted entrance to a furrow-browed Lonn. The message had been too brief for context but it had been very specific in requesting his attendance, which usually suggested a surgical issue. For several disorienting seconds, the doctor balked, stunned by the unexpected intrusion of unfettered psionic panic, and very swiftly re-evaluated his assumptions. "Leiddem," Jaxx started, setting down his medkit to crouch beside the wild-eyed patient. "What do we know." In the same breath, his tricorder was out, immediately made partially redundant by the woman's blood-soaked clothing. "Actually, tell me on the way, we need to get her to sickbay now."
"She doesn't speak. She's telepathic only and she's very pregnant and very..." The man said the rest telepathically to Lonn as he easily pulled the woman up into his arms to get her out of the shuttle. He quickly set her in the wheel chair and stepped back to let Lonn near but she grabbed his hand even as pain ripped through her. "Okay I'll stay if he says it is okay."
Amidst the need for haste, Jaxx frowned. Though he wasn't as reluctant to exist telepathically as Leiddem, he was generally a reserved man and kept his own mind neat and tidy. Whilst there was very little coherence to be gleaned from the woman's panic, with no means for direct communication given the understandable language barrier, there was less ambiguity in terms of her emotional state. Bracing himself, the doctor adjusted his mental defenses to compensate for the expected onslaught and winced as his patient's distress manifested as shock that yet another of these strange people from the sky was able to reciprocate.
It took only until the hangar doors opened for the tentative connection to spark deeper concern. It was faint, tangled up in the extremities of the mother's fear, but as someone who had been blessed enough to sense his son's development well before birth, Jaxx knew with sinking heart that some sensations were universal.
"The baby's in distress." As they entered the lift, Lonn drew a hypospray from his kit and motioned for Leiddem to immobilise the woman, regretting the need to override her autonomy but having no time to attempt to make her understand. With a slight struggle, he administered the dose of sedative, drew out his tricorder again and then raised Sickbay. "Lonn here. Suspected placental abruption, prep for emergency caesarean."
