Couples Therapy, Seriously!?

Posted on Sat Feb 28th, 2026 @ 5:49pm by Captain William Abernathy & Lieutenant Commander Sabastian Walker & Lieutenant Lanna Alexander

2,116 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Forgotten Wounds
Location: Counsellor’s Office

Of all the therapy sessions to have lined up, Lanna hadn’t been expecting this one but she wasn’t one to shy away from a challenge either. She had to admit having a reprimand put on her file wasn’t the happiest moment of her career, but she wouldn’t let that get her down. Her office was ready, some chilled water sat waiting along with empty glasses now all she needed was Abernathy and Sabastian.

Sabastian sighed as he stared at the door. T'Prel had been clear. She wanted Alexander to lead the sessions and T'Prel would take care of his personal sessions. Locked in a room with Abernathy. He wondered what the Captain said to get the Admiral to do something this drastic. Sighing he rang the chime.

Lanna was sensing Sabastian’s familiar presence outside the door, walking over she opened it greeting him with a smile. “Hello Commander, please come on in and make yourself at home.”

"That is not possible. I got a notice about couples counseling and seeing that Zai is dead it was a bit of a shock to get it."

“Ohh. of course…” Lanna nodded. “I’m sorry about that, it’s a badly worded directive from Starfleet I never thought to change it. Anyway they want you and the Captain to work out your differences.”

"I see that Starfleet has not given up on expecting impossible tasks."

Lanna smiled a wry smile. “I can but try. I suggest you both try and make this work.”

"Perhaps Divorce is the only option here."

“Funny Commander” Lanna replied dryly. “I have a formal note on my file that I have to make up for, so I’m going to work my backside off until this is sorted.”

He sighed. "I did not request that in a malicious sense Counselor."

“I didn’t say you did Sabastian, I understand it and I’m not complaining.” Lanna responded honestly. “You did what you had to do.”

He gave a nod. "Perha.." He seemed to have lost the word and then redirected. "Maybe the Captain will fail to show up."

“I doubt it” Lanna smiled not mentioning that she had been told of his medical condition. “If he doesn’t then it could cost him dearly. This is ordered by Starfleet’s after all.”

He gave a nod. "Okay."

Bill Abernathy had tested the limits of Admiralty in the past. Sometimes he won, Sometimes he lost. This time, the coin ended up on its side standing upright. Working things out with Sabastian Walker was always his plan. How to go about it, however, was not couple's counseling. As Captain, he he waited for nothing, no chime, no pleasantries. This was his appointment. He walked on through.

"Commander, doubt me again and it will be the last time I make dinner for you" Bill said with a smirk. "Well then. Shall we get couples therapy underway? We have no choice. This works out because I am not signing divorce papers. You can request to transfer, but I am going to deny every request. You can make your request to the Admiral and explain to him why you've given up on us."

T’Lanna was surprised by the straight in and straight on approach but while the conversation was started she wasn’t going to stop it, instead she waited for Sab’s response.

Sabstian said nothing. He barley resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was not going to make things easy.

“Commander, do you have anything you’d like to say?” Lanna asked looking towards Sabastian.

"If I do will anybody listen to my thoughts or has the decision already been made behind my back? The Captain is used to making decisions before even meeting people and talking to them so perhaps this is all fixed I just haven't been told."

T’Lanna sighed and opened her mouth to say exactly what was on her mind, before she stopped herself from doing so. “Nothing is fixed Commander, this time it’s purely between the two of you. I can always walk out of here and leave security with instructions not to let either of you out for a few hours if necessary. You don’t need to keep rubbing in what’s already past.”

"Oh I do. Apologies and admitting it was handled poorly go a long way but I will never hear either so I do not know how this therapy session will work."

Lanna could already feel a headache coming on, Sabastian wasn’t making anything easy, in an unusual display of frayed temper she responded curtly. “In that case, I’m sorry for trying to prevent you from losing your career Commander. I promise it won’t happen again, from now on you can fall flat on your face with no one to blame but yourself!” She stopped talking and took a deep breath. “If you’ll both excuse me for a moment.” With that she headed through the connecting door that went into the neighbouring Counsellor’s office to recompose herself.

"For a counselor she doesn't know how to apologize. I made the right choice in requesting another one. It's akin to saying I'm sorry you got upset but it's not my fault."

"If there's one thing we can agree on, Sabastian," prefaced Abernathy "It is that I am not sure Counselor Alexander is best suited to mediate this. Nevertheless, the three of us have issues that need worked out. It does this crew absolutely no good to having the Commanding Officer, First Officer, and Ship's Counselor in a pissing match."

Sabastian snorted.

Bill looked at Sabastian. "I'm sorry we did not have the conversation with you before taking your First Officer duties away from you temporarily. Where I need you to be is at the move on state. We can work on repairing our professional relationships, but that is going to take more time than one couples therapy session. I do not want you off the Arcadia. Quite the opposite, I want you prepared to take over this starship when the time comes, but this?"

Abernathy gestured between them. "This is not prepared. This is not benefiting either of us or the crew. So, when the Counselor steps back in, lets drop the hostilities. Let's actually communicate instead of throwing insults around."

"I am not throwing insults I am stating as fact." He paused still feeling a bit hung over from post party drink fest. He'd been grateful that Poe had helped him out of that little issue. Sabastian sighed. "I appreciate the apology now let me ask a question. Do you understand why I a made a bit deal out of this. Aside from personal reasons. Even those would not have prompted me to go to the Admiral. Do you truly understand what it looks like when a CO comes on ship and within hours pulls the XO out of commission without even so much as meeting him? Forget my pride forget my personal reasons all together but professionally what message does it send to the crew about the XO and about the CO?" He chose to ignore the taking over the ship comment.

"Also, I agree she is perhaps not the best to be doing this but we are now stuck. And you are right it will take time because trust, once broken takes as much time to be earned on both ends."

Bill settled in his seat, positioning himself to lean ever so slightly closer to Sabastian. "It would have not said anything at all to the crew, Commander. Neither I nor Counselor Alexander said anything about you being relieved of your First Officer duties to any of the crew. In fact, nothing official was on record. Simply a Captain putting his First Officer's attention and time in Engineering for several days."

Abernathy shook his head. "Anything regarding how the crew took matters or perceived any of this was not because Lanna or I said anything to a single soul aboard. It was on you, your emotions, your behavior, and if you vented to anyone publicly or privately about being relieved as First Officer, that was not our doing, Commander. I would never air your business in front of the crew."

He raised an eyebrow. "I did not vent to the crew but I did vent to the Admiral's office. I can assure rumor mill on this ship could dig up the biggest secrets and as far as the crew they now know that you have temporary first officer so it's obvious anyway." He sighed. "It doesn't matter. It's done and now we move on. You have a ship to run I have an engineering to put together and a mess that I didn't know to exist to fix, one started by my husband, one I should have known about so we all have tasks to focus on."

"Yes, the crew will gossip. There are always going to be murmurs. If you spend too much time with one person, scuttlebutt will be you are romantically involved" replied Bill. "We can't prevent that, but we can fix whatever your husband did, and we can repair what's gone on between us. Not an immediate fix but a start" added Bill, extending his hand to Sabastian. "Together."

"Very well. Not an immediate fix but a start," he echoed Bill's words.

"Good, now as for our Counselor. This involves mostly us, but I do believe it best that she also understands where we stand on this, and that we will continue to work on everything. I do not mind, and in fact support you seeking your own Counselor or therapist for yourself. I just need to know you and Lanna can work together as Ship's Counselor and First Officer."

"We can. Counselor T'Prel has been with me since I entered the Academy. Until Alexander and I work out our differences I shall communicate with T'Prel but with respect to ship duties I will work with her. I have already entrusted her to brief you on the Engineering issues. I have asked her to work with my staff to help them and to help them understand that I am not so fragile that they would need to protect me from the truth."

In the other office Lanna had calmed down and was cursing herself for shooting her mouth off, she seriously needed to get a handle on her emotions. Taking a deep breath she stepped back out into her own office. “Captain, Commander, I apologise for my outburst I shouldn’t have lost my temper and it won’t be happening again.” She turned to Sabastian. “Sabastian, I’m sorry for considering your position behind your back, I promise you that will never happen again. Now, let’s get this proverbial show on the road.”

"Well, I didn't fix everything, but we had a little chat, Counselor. Sabastian and I have come to a bit of agreement, but there's more work ahead." Bill smiled slightly. "I didn't get this command for just fighting wars. Diplomacy is a huge factor" he added. "The show is yours, Counselor. What can the three of us do to calm tensions and rectify things?"

Lanna took a seat. “I suggest we all keep an open mind from here on out. If any of us has something we’re concerned about then we talk to each other about it. It doesn’t do any good to bottle things up.”

"Agreed," replied Abernathy. "My career has been paved by my recognizing potential problems before they arise, tackling conflict before they escalate, and intervening at times. I think that came into my decision making with you, Sabastian. I acted on good intentions, but you are not problem. You're a person."

He sighed. "Yes, I am." He looked from one to the other. "Is that all for today or are we done for the day?" It was his hangover talking. He still owed Poe an entire Science Lab overhaul for helping him though last night. Three bottles of Engine Hooch could have seriously killed him.

“I think we’ve all had enough for now” Lanna smiled. “We’ve made a start, I want our next session to be more productive where possible though. “Thank you both for turning up, and again my apologies for my earlier outburst, I won’t be doing that again.”

Sabastian stood. "Great. Counselor, Captain. I'll be in Engineering."

"And I'll be... somewhere," commented Captain Abernathy. "Thank you, Counselor. Sabastian and I will see ourselves out." The two men headed out, and spilt off going their separate ways.

 

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