No More, No Less - Chapter 6

Familial Bonds

sequel to "Healing Hurts"

by Setcheti

Genre: Angst
Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Paramount owns them. They don’t deserve them, but they own them just the same, more’s the pity.

Author’s Note: #6 of No More No Less. Apologies for how long it took to get the good doctor’s part up – holidays and all that, you know. ;) And once again, you MUST read the preceding stories for this one to make sense!

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Chapter 6 – Familial Bonds

After Mayweather left, Phlox took his time putting the supply cabinet back in order and only stopped when it started to become ridiculous. Then he went back to his office and pulled up the scans he’d spent so much time poring over already; impossible as it seemed, there had to be something he’d missed. If only Commander Tucker had told him earlier that he was having problems…

But of course, if he hadn’t been hiding in Sickbay all this time, wallowing in self-indulgent guilt, he might have noticed without being told. Phlox snorted softly. No, he couldn’t blame any of this on the commander, he wasn’t going to compound the mistakes he’d already made – he wasn’t going to make the same mistake he’d made with his other son.

His son. Phlox grimaced. That, at least, he hadn’t been avoiding – he wouldn’t have been avoiding anything if he’d known the child he’d raised from a baby was still alive, that those memories had transferred and remained intact. Denobulan social law was quite exacting as to the establishment of familial relationships, and by the rules of his own people Charles Tucker was to be considered his son. The doctor shuddered. Before this morning he’d been in a quandary over that same set of rules, as under Denobulan law there was no crime more heinous than killing one’s own child.

But he apparently hadn’t done that…unless his negligence had allowed a minor problem to reach fatal proportions. He could only hope it hadn’t, could only hope he wouldn’t see disaster waiting to happen in the weeks-old scans and data .

An hour later, Phlox had narrowed down the possibilities to three areas and felt better but no less irritated with himself as he tapped over the displayed scans with his stylus. It could be a small abscess, pushing on a nerve cluster just there and easily dealt with without needing to resort to surgery, or it could be a slight tissue incompatibility here, which would be a little trickier to correct but still not too serious…or it could be an infection causing tissue rejection there, which would be very serious indeed and would not only see Tucker back in surgery but also back in his bed in Sickbay and off duty for quite some time while the damage was repaired. If it could be repaired at all.

Phlox didn’t want to think about that. He really doubted the last one was the problem, but as a physician he had to consider every possibility whether it upset him or not. Not to mention whether it implicated him in negligent homicide or not. He sighed and twisted the stylus in his fingers. Once this problem was fixed, he was also going to have to do something about the data – he himself would be, at worst, exiled were the details about the mimetic symbiot’s birth and death to become known, but Tucker would be facing a much more brutal fate. The Vulcans supported the cloning ban, and Phlox had no doubt they would insist that Starfleet hand the engineer over to be painfully and publicly executed by its originators even though the man had had no part in the decision to use the cloned tissue. The doctor sighed. He would just have to see to it that the facts never got out, for both of their sakes. The spatial distortions in the Expanse were wreaking regular havoc with the ship, after all, so it was only to be expected that not all the records of their time here would remain intact. Phlox thought he might have a word with Lieutenant Reed about that later, he had a feeling the armory officer would know how to…protect his data. Yes, that should take care of things quite nicely.

Now he just had to take care of that data’s source. There was no more putting it off. Phlox activated the comm unit on his desk and contacted Main Engineering. “Dr. Phlox to Commander Tucker.”

A pause, long enough that he was about to announce himself again before the engineer’s voice answered him. “Tucker here.”

Phlox winced; even over the comm system, he could hear a tremor in the words. They’d have to deal with that face to face, however. “Commander, I need to see you in Sickbay at once.”

This time the pause was not so long, but the tremor was more pronounced. “Oh…okay.” A deep breath. “A-about how long do you think it will take?”

Phlox wished he knew. He also wished he could lie about not knowing. “I am not sure, Commander. Is there something going on which requires your continued attention today?”

“N-no. They can…can do without me for a while. I’ll just brief Rostov to take over for me an’ then I’ll be down, Tucker out.”

The connection clicked off almost before the engineer had stopped speaking, and Phlox winced again and rubbed a weary hand across his face. Oh what a mess he had made of this, what a terrible, terrible mess. He transferred the data he’d been working with out to the main scanner and then stood up to leave the secure haven of his office, feeling old. It seemed only yesterday that this new son of his was a babe in arms, their relationship so simple, so trusting…

But that had been six weeks ago. Things weren’t so simple now, and that trust might not be easy to regain in light of recent events. Recent events that were the fault of the father’s useless guilt, not the son’s understandable fear. Phlox steeled himself against the coming confrontation. He would not make the same mistakes he had in the past. He would not give up on this son, no matter how long it took to reach him.

Although if what Mr. Mayweather had said was true, Phlox had hopes that it might not take very long at all as Tucker had apparently already forgiven him for his avoidance, leaving fear the only barrier between them. And he had no reason not to believe the ensign, even if the young man had come to Sickbay with intent to manipulate him. The doctor smiled to himself, it was good to know that his son had such friends.

His smile just as quickly dropped away into a frown, almost a scowl. He did not think the captain could rightly be placed in that category any more. Phlox would, as Tucker would put it, ‘bet his life’ that Archer had known about the end-of-mission suicide plan. When he’d sent the captain to talk to Tucker several weeks back, hoping being forced into contact outside of duty would mend part of the rift between them, no doubt Archer had become aware of the engineer’s plan then. And he hadn’t said a word, nor to Phlox’ knowledge had he spoken to Tucker again since.

Phlox the chief medical officer made a mental note to study the situation later, it being something that could negatively impact the ship and crew. Phlox the father also pushed the issue aside to be looked at later, but with an eye toward making sure Archer stayed away from his sensitive, vulnerable son. Charles Tucker had family on board to look out for him now, the captain would not be allowed to hurt him again.

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