House Calls

Posted on Wed Sep 30th, 2026 @ 9:49am by Lieutenant Kally Kellerman & Commander Alexander Espersen

1,279 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Die Hard: Chimera Edition (side posts)
Location: Hotel room, Orgrann
Timeline: Two days after "Getting to the Bottom of Things"

Commander Alexander Espersen lay with his eyes closed on the bed of his hotel room on Orgrann, the same one he'd enjoyed before the crisis started. As with everyone who'd been injured in the violence a day earlier, once he was safe to leave sickbay he was transferred off-ship to recuperate planetside so the ship could still undergo its baryon sweep. He didn't need a hospital anymore, so he was given some simple monitoring equipment and was told not to exert himself.

The hotel had been ideal for that. The mattress remained conforming, the offered silk robe soft (though on the wall hook), and the walls perfectly sound-dampening. He found he had trouble holding up a PADD, a book, or his artbook for very long, so he'd read for a few minutes and then take a break, watching whatever was on the entertainment system.

A shuttle race was on when he heard a knock on the door.

Please not them again, he thought to himself. "Enter."

The doors opened, revealing Kally in a short, blue sundress, a medkit in her hand. "Sorry to disturb you," she said, quietly. "I'm here for a follow-up exam and some physical therapy." She walked over to his bed and sat down on it next to him, putting her medkit on the nightstand next to it and opening it up. She grabbed her tricorder and flipped it open, activating it and turning to scan his shoulder. "How has it been feeling?" she said, keeping her eyes on her tricorder.

“Sore,” answered, a bit taken aback by her… professionalism? He knew that was wrong; she was very competent doctor. But it was surprising to him that she hadn’t even the snidest of comments. Had Katie told her about their chat? “It hurts to anything with that arm for more than a couple of minutes.”

She let out a small sigh. "Well, that's not going to do," she said, half to herself. She took out a hand-held cellular regenerator and slowly moved it over the shoulder, gently stimulating the muscles and repairing small tears. When she was done, she put it away and pulled out a hypospray, programming it for a mild pain reliever and pressing it to his neck. She did it all silently and carefully before closing the medkit and sitting back up, putting her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it gently to test how it felt. "How's that?" she said, still not meeting his eyes.

“Better, thanks,” he answered, working his shoulder in a circle. When he looked at her, he saw her eyes were looking away. “Is everything alright? You don’t seem your usual self.”

"What do you mean?" she deflected, packing away her medkit tools.

“I figured you would’ve cracked a joke about me not being able use my arm for anything,” he said with a chuckle.

"Fortunately for you, it wasn't your dominant hand," she said, quietly. She sat back down and wiped a tear that had escaped. "Thank you," she said, finally. "For saving her. I can't...I don't have words to describe what it means to me."

“Hey,” he said, the joking tone from his voice gone. “Look at me.”

Kally screwed up her courage and turned her blue eyes towards him, trying not to let her resolve break completely.

He smiled warmly. “You’re welcome. But no need for thanks. It’s my job to keep the crew safe. Normally I prefer to do that through good management, but sometimes it means pushing people out of the way of a disruptor and then getting hit myself.” He shifted sideways in the bed so she could sit if she wanted. “I know what she means to you.”

"You really don't," Kally sighed, slipping off her shoes and moving onto the bed with him. "Believe me, whatever you think it is, it runs so much deeper when it's between twins." She took a deep breath. "So..." she said. "She told me that she told you."

“Told me what?” he asked. “That you went back to your quarters, what word did she use, ‘gushing’ over a handsome professor?” He couldn’t stop from grinning. “Would not stop talking about me for days, is that right? I mean, admittedly you have good taste, I can’t argue that.”

Kally rolled her eyes, drumming her fingers on the bed. She'd figured this was coming, but that didn't annoy her any less. "Uh huh. Called out your name during sex, lost a temporary boyfriend over you. All of that, yeah." She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I know I upset you and I know everything between us was my fault. I just...wasn't using my head."

“Just wanted to use mine?” he joked, but then he held his hands up as she cast him a look. “I’m sorry, that was too much.” He took one of her hands. “I’m sorry too. I really am. I overreacted. I was too harsh.” He took a deep breath. “You didn’t deserve any of that.”

"Eh, I deserved some of it," she said. "I propositioned a professor. I get it. It's the stuff that came after that hurt." She blinked away a couple of tears and shrugged.

“I was…” Alex paused to consider his next words.

A dick Kally thought.

“I was angrier than I probably should’ve been. You may have been out of line, but my reaction wasn’t proportional. I hope you can forgive me that error in judgment.”

She nodded. "I appreciate it, but it was a long time ago. I'll admit...I was nervous about serving with you, and I did enjoy giving you a hard time--and not just on the beach," she gave him a smirk, to which he rolled his eyes, "but I realized fairly quickly you weren't the same man you were then, and that we'd make this work."

“And we have been, so far,” he said. “If I had a problem with a bit of sass from those reporting to me, I’d have given up on the Department of Misfit Toys months ago. You’ve never let me down in a professional capacity, Kally. You’ve just…raised my blood pressure a few more times than necessary.” He laid his head back into his pillow. “Whether from the verbal sparring, the beach, or that picture.”

Now she looked him right in the eye. "Yeah...well...congrats on the good guess," she said, adjusting his pillow for him. "Of course, you had a fifty-fifty shot at it, so, lucky guess." She stood up, turning to face him, and reached behind her, undoing the tie at the top of her dress, letting it fall to the floor.

“Not a guess,” he said, grinning with his eyes closed. “Knew it for a f-” he stopped mid-word when he opened his eyes and laid them on her. “What’s this?”

"Well, as promised, you win the prize," she said, her voice now softer. "And not to put too fine a point on it, but you owe me this." She pulled the covers back and grinned, pleased to see he was already ready for bed. She slipped into his bed and crawled over him, brushing her lips against his. "Plus nine years of interest," she said. "And you are going to pay me back every bit of it, or die trying."

“Not a bad way to go, considering,” he whispered. “But if it happens, I have a good doctor to revive me.” His arms wrapped around her waist, hands exploring her soft contours and holding her to him.

 

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