@siriseen said: “ are you alright ? ”
Somehow, the question snagged at him when her previous words had washed across the surface of his mind, blurring together indistinctly on her screen. Perhaps most embarrassing of all, Jim could not tell how long his absentmindedness had extended. Had he missed but a sentence? A paragraph? What would have amounted to an entire conversation? He visibly pulled himself together, shifting his weight, straightening his back and shoulders.
❛ Yeah, ❜ he answered as he pinched the bridge of his nose, then ran a hand through his hair. ❛ I’m fine. Would you mind starting over? ❜
It mattered, he reminded himself. He valued her insight, and at the moment he’d take any available options for improving Kalen’s status. He might lead a crew of misfits, castoffs from Starfleet, those with backgrounds a little too murky to serve on a starship, but that did not make them expendable, replaceable. No, his drifting mind had no foundation in lack of interest in her words, but rather in the two nights he had spent without sleep. Jim had no interest of voicing that particular tidbit of information when anywhere within earshot of a member of their medical staff. He would handle it.
But for now, he would listen.