We'll Figure It Out

Posted on Mon Sep 28th, 2026 @ 7:06pm by Lieutenant Jennifer Richardson M.D. & Commander Erris Sudis

1,710 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Preamble
Location: USS Venture: Sudis' Quarters
Timeline: After senior briefing but before the ship leaves

Jennifer tightened her arms around the material she had clutched in her hands, causing creases where she had taken pains to return it to it's original state. It seemed like a good excuse to have a reason to see Sudis off shift but at the sametime; she still felt out of her depth.

The shirt had helped to ground her in recent days; a reminder of the uncomplicated. She time she had pressed it against her body, picked up the subtle scents of Sudis' from the material, Jennifer was reminded of the time they had spent together and how safe and content she had felt for the first time in a long time. The memories of just being held; in those moments remembering how to feel like a woman instead of a grieving widow.

The complicated came when she had to sit across desks from the officer, pretend like nothing had happened while delivering reports. Pretend that there was nothing but the executive officer and chief counsellor between them both. While it had been easy to loose herself in work. To focus on the mission at hand and the choas that always came with the onboard of a new ship and it's crew.

In all of that, Jennifer had still been working hard to find her place back serving onboard a ship; not only that but find her balance in the area of counselling, when it had been medicine the time before that she had just been used to. It had been easy to push the thoughts of Sudis aside and focus on the tasks at hand.

In all of that though, intermingled with the socializing with staff and crew, the work in getting her department in order; she had still to return to her quarters each night. To a empty room bare of what she was used to. She had made an effort to unpack and place her personal items through the space but still...it was her first time truly alone in years.

Previously David had always been there and when he wasn't; her father had moved to take that place. The last time she had been left alone was after David had died. Even then though; she had barely slept, barely spent time in her own quarters preferring instead to bury herself in work.

It would have been easy to reach out to Sudis. He had left things between them very clear, he wanted this...wanted her. There was no uncertainty in her mind as to what he wanted...it was her mind that was the trouble. Between things happening as they had, finding out that not only would they serve together but he was to be her executive officer; Jennifer felt unbalanced and uncertain had to proceed.

Her hands tightened as a button of the shirt pressed into the palm of her hand; the sharp pressure regrounding her again as Jennifer realised that she still stood staring at Sudis' door; trying the looks of people as they passed. It would have been easy to turn on her heel and hide back in her quarters but at the same time; she realized that avoidance wasn't going to solve anything.

Before she could change her mind again, the Doctor reached out and pressed the door chime.

---

Sudis Erris had been sitting up on the bench seat in front of a large window in the living area of his quarters. There was a hardcover book on his lap. His eyes were elsewhere while he had the perfect view of the Celestial Temple to see ships disembarking and embarking through the gates to and from the Gamma Quadrant. At first the computer chirp indicating that he had a visitor had not interrupted his train of thought and reflection.

Another chirp. He looked at the door and nodded. He closed the book and set it aside methodically. He looked to the door, "Enter."

As the doors slid open, Jennifer stepped through before she could second guess herself again. Seeing Sudis once again outside of shift, the counsellor felt her breath catch as feelings from before came to the front.

It has been easier to ignore it all when duty had required focus, an ignoring of anything beyond them being Executive Office and Chief Counsellor. In the intimacy of his quarters, the same place they'd spent the night together; it all flooded back.

"Im sorry...I hope that I'm not interrupting. I kept meaning to return this shirt, or leave it off at some point but I got so busy with the civilians and onboarding new crew. I don't mean that it wasn't important that I returned it; it's your shirt and I'm sure holds importance to you; I just mean that the time was hard to come by." Jennifer finally drew breath as she realised that she'd rambled again, her cheeks flushing as she momentarily glanced away from Sudis. "I'm sorry...I still haven't figured out how to work this part. The part where a uniform and report doesn't stand between us."

Sudis rose from his seat when he saw Jennifer walk into his quarters, "It is only clothe, I never feel attached to such material things. You're more welcome to keep or use it."

He approached her and looked her in the eye, "We will need to work on your compartmentalization skills."

"Says the executive officer to the counsellor." Jennifer felt her body relax a little as she allowed herself to laugh at her comment.

Even as the attempt of humour vibrated amongst them, the counsellor's laugh faded to something softer as she allowed herself to just look at Sudis. In the days since they'd say been together privately, there had always been a separation of PADDs, desks, roles and ranks.

It hadn't been easy to resist want to reach to touch him. Jennifer had been so focused on the establishing of relationship between counsellor and executive officer that it seemed easier to ignore anything else rather than cope with both.

As the button between her fingers pulled her back to reality, Jennifer looked down at the piece of material as the memory of the company it kept her during nights apart was still fresh in her memory. "Is it silly that I can attach to such materialistic things? Your shirt kept me company while I tried to figure out..."

Glancing up as she hesitated, her own brown eyes attacked to the depths of Sudis' as she tried to read what might be going on behind them. "...while I tried to figure out you and me."

"Us," Sudis replied.

Beat.

"I don't find you silly for having an attachment to my shirt, you looked great in it. More so than me."

Us seemed so small a word but in that moment Jennifer felt her breath catch as her cheeks reddened slightly. It was easy to create two separate problems and a separation when you and me was used; us indicated that they were in this together.

Her grip on the button softened as she appreciated this moment; Sudis' ability to frame and simplify the matter which her own brain tumbled over obsessively.

"Us..." Jennifer hesitated slightly as she repeated the word back to herself as much as at loud to Sudis, "is it crazy to say I don't know how to accept this without fighting the instinct that it will just be taken away?"

"You're not crazy, no." Sudis continued, "you have suffered a significant and tremendous loss. Perhaps us is too soon." He held out his hand for the button.

Looking down at the shirt, Jennifer realised that all of her pulling had caused it to unravel away from the material. As the flush spread across her cheeks, she placed the item into Sudis' hand, hesitating for a moment as her fingers brushed against his before she pulled back.

She just watched the man, almost waiting to see what he would say or do next. His thought that maybe us was too soon struck a cord that still she was unsure she wanted to look too closely at.

He looked down at the button from his shirt now in the palm of his hand, "For example, this button for instance. We have two options. First is we mend the shirt with string and a needle to sew it back on?"

His rhetorically line of questioning continued, "Or do we disregard the button and throw it away?"

He shook his head, "We are corporeal beings, Jennifer. It takes effort, a long effort to mend ourselves to move forward. Humans and Bajorans are a lot alike. We live our life through our emotions. I understand if you're not ready for us. I am not going anywhere. I will be right here."

He placed his hand over his heart, "Do we mend the shirt and sew the button back on?"

Jennifer had gone still in that moment; a button and Sudis' analogy sticking deeper than perhaps it had any right to. But still...in that moment she also felt a loosening in her own chest.

"I'm not sure I would trust my needle skills...there's a reason I've gone the psychology route rather than the surgical route. Your patients don't have a tendency to care how badly you sow them back up on chaotic fronts..." Stopping herself in that moment, the woman realised that her words were running away on her again.

Biting her tongue to stop her lips running away anymore, Jennifer slowly reached for the hand Sudis had placed over his heart; covering it with her own. As she allowed herself this moment, feeling the steady beat of his heart and rhythm of his breathing. "Do you think you can be patient with me if I was to learn how to get this...us right?"

Sudis smirked at her comment and shook his head in disagreement, "You don't need to worry about your needlework and besides that form of medical treatment is barbaric by medical standards today." With his hand with the button he placed it into hers and wrapped her hand into both of his. "As I said last night, six months ago and today. I am not going anywhere."

 

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