Darel Rich sat outside of the surgical suite, in a small room set aside for observation. It was dark on his side of the glass, but on the other side was LAURA, or what would soon become Laura if all things went well. The body was the home to Alexandria Robinson, before she had fallen into a coma and became unresponsive to treatment.

She was the perfect candidate, little brain tissue damage, and mostly in the areas of frontal and temporal lobe, the areas they would be altering anyway. Rich had talked Faulk into performing this surgery, no, he had ordered it. Faulk seemed a little leery until Rich told him that Captain Callen fully supported the procedure. Some other careful balances of credit accounts passed produced a report with her signature on it, and a programming specialist who had an interest in bio-technology interfaces and was willing to work on this project.

He was in there now, complete in red surgical scrubs just like Faulk, but the instruments he held were monitoring the function of the implants. Alexia's entire forehead was removed, and Darel could easily see the pinkish brain tissue beneath. So fragile, so easily damaged, and so much no one understood about it. Someone else may have been queasy at the sight, but Darel wasn't of that nature.

He could hear their voices over the speaker.

"Heart rate remains steady," the nurse said.

"Good," Faulk replied, "I'm beginning to separate the affected sections in preparation for the implants, beginning with the frontal lobe. Each of the three implants will be connected sequentially before the next area is prepared."

"All three implants are functioning within expected parameters, ready whenever you are," the specialist said.

Rich didn't particularly like the man, there was something rather unscrupulous about him, but he paid him to do this, and his references had checked out.

They had warned him she would need extensive out-care therapy, but that's just what he was good at. Though working with disabled people, or those in extensive recovery, was less common now than in the past, they were still required classroom and practical courses.

He chided himself for thinking of her as a patient, though he would need to help her that way. A small smile came over his face as he thought about their last conversation together, and the kiss. This would work, it had to work.

Alarms started blaring inside the surgical room, and the pace of activity picked up in the flurry of shouted voices. It was all Darel could do to stop himself from pounding on the glass and demanding to know what was going on. If it was one thing they didn't need, it was him demanding answers while they were trying to help.

"Blood pressure coming down, pulse regulating," the nurse reported again. Faulk gave a deep sigh of relief, calmly getting back to work, his own heart's racing slowly returning to normal. "Laser scalpel..."

Rich rubbed his hand over his face nervously, and sat back down in the chair he had been inhabiting a moment before. He tried to reach a place of professional detachment, but there was none of it to be had with regards to this patient. All he could do was wait and see.

~~

"Darel..."

He heard the voice, but didn't quite awaken until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Opening his eyes, he looked up to see Faulk's face looking down at him. Then his breath caught, wanting to ask the question that he also could not ask. "Did it---"

"The procedure is complete," Faulk intoned seriously, but there was a slight bit of encouragement in his expression that Rich took to heart. "She's resting right now. But be aware she probably won't be able to speak for quite some time, and she may not understand what you say. The brain is a very sensitive organ."

"When will she wake up?" He asked, almost reflexively.

"I don't know, the sedatives she had in her system should wear off in a couple of hours, but there's no telling if she will wake up or stay in a coma."

"But-- she'll be alright?" Rich asked, probably realizing better than anyone else there was no guarantees.

Faulk hesitated, "She's as well as we can tell by observing right now. Everything else will be determined after she wakes up. She's been moved to recovery, you can go see her now if you wish."

Rich didn't need a second invitation, he got up and moved out of the room, heading straight for recovery.

~~

There had been a chair already at her bedside, in anticipation for his arrival, he thought. Gently he sat upon it, and looked down upon the shell of a woman, a thousand thoughts running through his mind. What should he say first? Would he try to be witty or just straight-forward? Would she even recognize who he was? It felt like days since he first sat down, in reality it was only a few hours, his mental cacophony so loud it was drowning out any normal sense of the passage of time.

Finally, after what was beginning to seem like months to Rich, she opened her green eyes, looking up at him for the first time. Her expression changed into something of wonder, then consternation, and not understanding. He hadn't even realized he had been holding her hand. She moved her mouth as though trying to speak, but nothing came out.

"Don't try to speak," he said gently. "Joseph said not to rush anything. It's okay if you can't speak right now, that's normal." Mentally he chided himself, this was a completely brand-new case, who could say what was normal and what wasn't? "It's good that you're awake. That's a very good sign. Joseph had one hell of a time for a while there, but being the trooper that you are, you came through okay."

Rich was amazed, as he looked down at her. She didn't seem frightened, so she must have understood at least part of what he said. Even in this day and age, this accomplishment that he had just witnessed was a great enough feat to be chronicled in the most spectacular medical events in history. It would have been an occasion of celebration, had not Darel deliberately ruined his career. He felt her hand move slightly in his, returning his attention to her.

"Are you alright? Would you like some water, or something to eat?"

The frail woman on the biobed shook her head no, slightly. It was the first decision she had made as an organic being. Rich felt amazement sweep over him yet again, even more so when he felt her hand squeeze his gently. At that moment, he knew everything was going to be alright. Now was the time to uphold his sense of honor, the moment of truth.

'Okay, It's go time!'

He leaned over towards her, brushing his lips gently against her cheek. She closed her eyes and a faint smile brushed across her face. When he pulled away he realized she had fallen to sleep. Standing up he pulled his uniform tunic down and thought to himself, 'Now it's time to go pay the piper.' Turning, he left Laura to sleep, and headed off in the one direction he least wanted to, to speak to his new Captain... Captain Callen.

Loaded: 04.21.2004