CONSTELLATIONS | Poe Dameron

CHAPTER XI

I woke up to the sound of knocking, and was tempted to yell at whoever was making the obnoxious sound. I stretched out my legs and heard the shuffling of papers. Opening my eyes, I realized I was at the foot of my bed surrounded by binders and notes. I lifted myself out of the bed with a groan and made my way to the door where Poe was standing at the frame with a lovely smile.

"Good morning! Ready for breakfast?"

"Yeah, just give me a sec. I must've overslept. Come on in." I walked over to my makeshift wardrobe and picked out my clothing for the day. Poe was staring at the bed with a puzzled expression. "Quit judging- I fell asleep looking some things over, hence the giant mess in here right now."

He held his hands up in surrender motion. "No judging here. I just find it funny that you're so methodical by trade, yet fan out your papers all over a room to look over them."

"Turn around so I can change." I said with a bratty look as I was pulling my sleep shirt over my head. He complied and I quickly threw on my clothes while he looked through some of my books. I went over to the mirror and made a long braid that I pulled into a bun at the top of my head. "Alright pilot, let's jet." I grabbed my med bag and laughed at my own joke, turning towards the man who was rolling his eyes.

"Super original, doc," but he gave me a small smile as he opened my door.

We went our separate ways after breakfast, and I headed back to the med wing. It was more lively than it was late last night. Nurses were hustling about, everyone with masks over their faces. I grabbed one myself and headed towards Dr. Sanu's office. She already had her door open, and I could hear the voice of a child floating down the hall.

"Please, please, please?" The child was begging.

"I said no, Keesahn! It's way too dangerous for you to be in the wing at a time like this. I don't even like that you are in my office right now. Your mother would kill me if you caught this sickness." I entered the office just as she finished her speech to the young boy. "You need to go home, now. Once everything is cleared up you'll be able to come back to the wing, but no earlier. Ah, Dr. Dreis, good morning." The doctor gave me a tight-lipped smile.

"Good morning, Dr. Sanu. And who is this?" I asked crouching down in front of the child.

"My name is Dr. Keesahn. I'm a doctor I swear, even though I don't have a white coat like you two do." He held his chin up high with a proud look, causing me to laugh. the boy couldn't have been older than eight.

"Well, lovely to meet you Dr. Keesahn! I'm so glad we have an extra set of hands on deck. However, I must agree with Dr. Sanu; this probably isn't the best place for you at the moment." My heart sank as tears welled up in the young one's eyes, so I quickly came up with something to tell the poor kid. "We need you to stay healthy so that you can help the patients who have other illnesses! We are so busy at the moment, so it'd be so helpful if you could cover the others. You won't be able to do that if you get sick as well." Thankfully, this seemed to resonate with the child, and he nodded enthusiastically.

"You're right! I'll wait outside of the doors just in case someone else comes in sick. I'll see you later Auntie Sanu!" Keesahn waved as he ran out of the office towards the exit. I turned and gave the doctor a questioning look.

"Sorry about that. That's my nephew. He likes to come in and help us around the clinic with simple tasks and treatments. He wants to be a doctor when he gets older and he really lifts the spirits around here. We could definitely use him at the moment if I wasn't so worried about him getting sick."

"He's adorable. Hopefully we can figure this out soon so he can get back in here to help." I reached in my bag and pulled out a container of purple salve. "I made this up last night with some plants that I brought with me. It's a salve that should ease some of the coughing and clear the airways a little bit, just to try and bring the infected some comfort."