Acclimation (working title)

A/N: Wow, you guys are just...amazing. I love you all~! Really, it has been a treat to get your reviews for this story. :) So, as a little treat, here is the unbeta'd version of chapter four. I'll replace it later with the beta'd version, but I'll still start working on chapter five.

Enjoy~!

edit: this has been beta'd. I didn't have much wrong. Yay~!


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After that first day, everything became routine between the two, though they spoke little after that first conversation. At first, Berry felt guilty about the whole thing, but once they really got down to working, she figured that it was only just. Karek not only worked efficiently, but expected the same from her! He was a harsh taskmaster, often ripping a data PADD from her hands and doing the work himself if she hadn't completed it by the time he would have. Still, there were some procedures at which she was faster than him, which earned her nods of approval on occasion. Overall, though, they worked well together despite there being only two of them in the lab.

Only about three weeks since her arrival at the colony, Berry was finally scheduled for her first appointment with Dr. Vaughn. Though she had already seen the medical doctor about the effects of the higher gravity on her internal organs, which were adapting admirably, she'd had yet to have her mental evaluation regarding her working relationship with her Vulcan counterpart.

Taking a pause from pouring over the data Karek had thoughtfully collected from his experiments, she stretched her arms high over head, twisting her neck to get the cricks out. After a moment of stretching, she pushed her chair away from the desk, checking the time on the screen of the comm bracelet. It was time to head over to the human complex to Dr. Vaughn's suite of offices.

“Hey, I'll leave the rest to you for today, Karek,” she said, packing most of the data PADDs littering her desk away. “I've got an appointment with Dr. Vaughn in a bit, so I need to go ahead and start heading back to the complex.”

From his station, Karek looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Did you not already have a physical with Dr. Adams?”

“Err, yea,” Berry murmured sheepishly. “Dr. Vaughn is, well, a psychiatrist. The ones running the human side of the project deemed it necessary that all human workers see him at least once, to determine our mental acclimation to the environment.”

Nodding once, he returned to his work, leaving Berry with the decided feeling that he was amused that an 'illogical woman' like her needed to visit a psychiatrist. Unsettled by the perceived insult, she added, “Of course, it's mostly to make sure one of us don't go medieval on anyone's ass.”

He looked back at her. It was obvious then that he did not know that particular phrase. Then again, most people wouldn't, seeing as how Berry had picked it up from some antique romance novels from the twenty first century.

Laughing, she explained, “The phrase means to basically take medieval weaponry, or even bare fists, and attack someone with them.”

“Then say that instead of using such useless phrasing,” he scoffed.

"It's more fun to use phrases from a different century,” she grinned at him. “Especially since I get some really great looks from those who've never read the books I have.”

"That would be a high percentage, then, Dr. Slater,” he observed.

She stuck her tongue out at him childishly. “Whatever,” she said flippantly. “In any case, I haveta go, so I'll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Farewell for now, doctor.”

With an amused grin on her face, she left the lab, only just remembering to hang her labcoat on the coat rack thoughtfully placed at the entrance. The comm on her wrist beeped with an incoming communication, which was only just Mrs. Vaughn calling to remind Berry of her appointment. With a laugh, Berry told the kind woman that she was already on her way. After thanking her for being so prompt, Mrs. Vaughn disconnected, leaving Berry to trot through the dry heat back to the human complex. She made the journey each morning, noon, and evening, and while her body was beginning to compensate for the higher temperature, she still didn't like it anymore than when she had on her first day. She wasn't the only human that disliked having to walk in the heat, but she wasn't so annoyed with it that she would actually complain about it to anyone that could hear her, like some of the other human workers.

Huffing lightly by the time she reached the doors of the complex, she stepped into the blessedly much cooler air, shivering when the light sweat coating her skin began to cool. A few of the human workers in the lobby called a greeting to her, knowing her by sight, if not by rumor. Though she was hardly the only civilian to be hired by the Federation to work on the project, she was still one of very few that didn't work with at least one other human. She called a greeting back to them, smiling politely as she crossed the lobby to the stairwell. Of course there were elevators, but she really didn't ever bother with the contraptions. So, it took her a couple of minutes to reach the floor Dr. Vaughn's office was on, and by that time she was shivering harder from the exhersion of climbing the several flights of stairs.

"Dr. Slater!"

With a flinch at the voice, Berry turned her head just as she stepped out of the stairwell onto Dr. Vaughn's floor. Though she had finally been able to get rid of the nightmares he had invoked with his 'attentions,' Ron had still been in her mind whenever she wasn't careful. It wasn't the first time in her life that she was frightened by a man, and intellectually she knew that her fears were irrational, given that she had been able to defend herself admirably in each situation, but the fears still lingered. There was a gap between what her mind knew and how she felt. And sometimes, that gap made it difficult to stick with what was right, instead of what felt right.

“H-hello, Ron,” she greeted, mentally cursing herself for her slight stutter. “What are you doing here?”

He walked over to her side, taking a quick step back when she took a quick step away when he got too close. With a charming, disarming smile, he apologized, “I feel really bad about what happened on the transport, Dr. Slater.”

“Yea, well...” She trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

“So, uh, I feel really guilty about it,” he continued, rubbing the back of his head. He laughed rather pathetically. “And I know that I really don't deserve it, but, uh, the only thing I can think of to do is beg your forgiveness... So, really, I apologize for trying to...you know.”

The silence that followed was awkward and suffocating.

With a sigh, Berry muttered, “Look, I have to get to my appointment with Dr. Vaughn. So, I guess I'll be seeing you around.”

Ron looked at her, perking up a little hopefully. “That means you'll forgive me?”

Sighing yet again, she nodded. “For now.”

He grinned down at her, obviously thrilled by her words. “We should eat dinner sometime,” he said, moving to the bank of elevators a little down the hall, waving goodbye.

“Maybe,” Berry muttered under her breath as she waved back, quickly turning around and hurrying in a totally I'm-not-running-away kind of fast-walk. By the time she had located Dr. Vaughn's office, she had managed to calm her mind from the encounter, by sheer will or force of habit she couldn't decide. Either way, she decided it was much better to enter the reception area in a calm manner, rather than in a panicked walk.

"Hello, Dr. Slater,” Mrs. Vaughn said from behind the desk, a warm smile lighting her face. “You can just go right in. Kevin's expecting you.”

“Yes, thank you,” Berry managed in a normal tone of voice, passing by the desk and to the door that led into Dr. Vaughn's office. She strode to the door, which swished open quietly, and entered.

“Dr. Slater, welcome,” Dr. Vaughn greeted, a warm smile also lighting his face. He and his wife obviously had much in common, if they could smile the exact same smile with the same amount of warmth. He motioned to the plush chair sitting across the coffee table from his own plush chair. “Shall we begin?”

“Hello, Dr. Vaughn,” Berry greeted in turn, quickly taking a seat. “And, yes, let's.”

After her appointment with Dr. Vaughn, Berry had been deemed unnecessary of therapy, for which she was only half-grateful. Though it would make things easier on her workload to not have to attend a therapy session however many times a week, it was still not a good thing because, that night, her nightmares returned.

After tossing and turning, and waking up at regular intervals throughout the night, Berry finally pulled herself out of bed. She was tired, exhausted, and covered in sweat. Forgiving Ron had been a mistake...or, it could have been meeting him again that had reawakened the nightmares of her encounter with him outside her quarters on the transport. Either way, she honestly did not want to go back to sleep, even if it was way earlier than the time she usually woke. Instead, she slid to the floor and crossed her legs, calming her breath as she attempted to meditate to calm her mind. However, it was no use. The nightmares and fear were still too fresh. All she could do was endure through it all, just like she was used to doing.

Groaning, she rose from the floor and headed to the attached bathroom of her quarters. She took a quick sonic shower, afterward feeling much better without all the sweat from her nightmares. Dressing in her uniform, she headed downstairs, deciding to skip breakfast. It was barely 0630 by the time she reached the lab, and she felt even better after the walk. Though it would only be a temporary reprieve from the nightmares until she could calm her fears with rationality, she was still thankful. She entered the lab, slipping on her labcoat on a second thought, and moved to her station. The lights were on, so obviously Karek was there as well, but she didn't see him. Shrugging to herself, she picked up the PADDs that had been left on her desk, perusing the data that he'd collected for her after she'd left for the night.

However, when Karek walked in and paused at the door, staring at her, she felt a tad bit unsure about having come in early. Hiding behind a mask of smiles, she held her hand up in greeting. "Good morning, Karek."

"...and the same to you, doctor," he said after a moment, continuing his way to his own station. Before he sat down, though, he paused again and turned to her. "It is not even 0700 yet."

"I know," she said, grinning. "I just decided to come in early today."

"I see."

They both turned to their own work, and the minutes trailed by. An hour past her normal breakfast time, her stomach began to grumble about the lack of food. She ignored it for the most part, telling herself that she'd rather be hungry than waiting in her room, all alone, where her thoughts could wander to dangerous territories. It grumbled a few more times, and she still ignored it, hoping distantly that Karek couldn't hear it but knowing he probably could. She was concentrating so hard on ignoring her hunger that she didn't notice Karek get up and leave. However, she noticed when he returned, because he unceremoniously placed a bowl of greens and a fork at her elbow.

Blinking, she looked up at him, a question in her green eyes.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You had best eat," he said. "We do not need a hungry human on the job." With that said, Karek turned and went back to his station, leaving Berry to stare after him in confused awe. Then, she just started laughing. He didn't bother looking back at her, though, but Berry decided that he was probably pleased with himself for returning the barb she'd launched at him on her first day. Shaking her head, she just picked up the fork and started eating, laughing occasionally.

'Yea,' she decided to herself. 'We're gonna get along swimmingly.'