"Who are you?"
The man stepped forward—Kaidan was pretty sure it was a man, at any rate, though his knowledge of drell physiology was forever shoddy. He tried to sit up to face the newcomer, felt the birthing of a million hotspots around his implant, and sank back down with a groan. Robots. Next time he saw a robot he'd—damn. At this rate he'd probably just fall down at it.
"Tannor Nuara. I'm a regular patient here. One of the nurses suggested I keep you company."
It took Kaidan a moment to process; Tannor's voice came in oddly through the translator, gargled somehow. "Ah. Well. I guess that's one way of staving off cabin fever."
"It is no trouble." The drell sat in the chair Kaidan hoped would very soon occupy Shepard; he flicked his eyes to the door, coloring slightly when the drell traced his glance.
"Um. So. What brings you here?"
The drell rested his elbows on his knees and steepled his hands. "I have a terminal disease. I am in the final stages and require daily treatment to reduce the discomfort."
Kaidan closed his eyes. Maybe one day he'd get a hold of his rampant awkwardness—or, if the Reapers had their way, daily social interactions would be reduced to the battlefield. He'd be a goddamn prince-charming, then. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"It is something I have come to a relative peace with."
Kaidan squeezed his eyes tighter, longing to release the pressure building up behind them. "You've had it for some time then."
"Yes. I'm sorry—do you need to rest?"
Probably, but if he rested he would miss Shepard. He opened his eyes, turning to face the drell. Had he ever seen a drell in person before? "No, I'm okay. Just healing, you know?"
"I see. You were on Earth?"
"Yes." That brought on a whole new wave of pain. He'd yet to let himself touch the events of the past—God, what was it now, a week? Longer? "I got injured on Mars, though. Had a run-in with Cerberus."
This elicited a small smile from Tannor. "Cerberus. Yes, they can be quite troublesome."
"That's one way of putting it. You've encountered them before?"
The smile grew rather wistful. "Let's just say that I am rather close with their greatest enemy."
"Huh." The door whisked open and Kaidan shot into a sitting position, contemplated the new plane of existence he found himself on, and fell back down, begging his stomach to hold its contents.
"Major Alenko, please!" The nurse was at his head now, palpitating all the most painful spots. "I told you that we would alert you of the Normandy's presence as soon as it docks. You need to stop getting so agitated."
"I'm—not. Agitated." His peripheral lit up with the orange of the nurse's omni-tool. He glanced over to the drell, who was sitting in a strangely rigid manner. "You okay, Tannor?"
Tannor stared at the nurse, rising slowly. "Did you mention the Normandy?"
"Yes. Major Alenko flew in on the Normandy and has been waiting ever since for them to return. He keeps undoing hours of hard work by—"
"Jeeze, I said I was sorry." Kaidan closed his eyes against the omni-tool. "I just—I was asleep the last time she came. I can't let that happen again."
" 'Asleep' is a very kind way of phrasing 'unconscious due to rising pressure in the skull.' Mr. Nuara, please don't go far. I'll be administering your treatments in room three in ten minutes."
"I'll only be a moment. I must send a message."
Kaidan heard the door open and close and felt something cool move through his blood stream.
"Here," the nurse said. "This will help with the pain. Now please get some sleep, will you? I'll make sure you're awake when Commander Shepard arrives."
"It's just—I want her to know I'm okay. She worries about her soldiers."
He could feel the nurse smirking even though he kept his eyes shut; she was definitely a smirker, this one. "I cast no judgments, Major, though I did hear a rumor that she was in a relationship with a famous, unknown assassin. Though how you can be both famous and unknown is a mystery to me."
That got his eyes open. "What?"
The nurse was indeed smirking, though in a surprisingly benevolent way. "It was all over the gossip sites. You know, back when she worked with Cerberus? Apparently one of the Cerberus members stationed on her ship was an assassin and romance ensued." The smirk dropped the longer she looked at Kaidan's face. "It's just a rumor, Major."
His eyes dropped back closed. She wouldn't. Not after everything they'd survived. "Of course. I think I'll sleep now."
"Good. Buzz if you need anything."
He opened his eyes as soon as she left the room. There was a terminal just out of reach on a table behind him; unfortunately his omni-tool was on the table beside it. He tried to reach out with his biotics and immediately regretted it, actually wondering whether he should call the nurse in to save him from his skull splitting open. The pain began to pass as he lay there, panicking.
Shepard loved him. He knew it. She'd told him as much on Mars, more or less. Right?
He pushed himself up slowly, the pain in his head bliss in comparison to what his biotics had brought on. He didn't think he could stand—the staff would have a field day if they found him face-down on the floor—so he slid back along the bed until he could reach the terminal. He yanked it off the table, wobbled, and scooted back down, resting the terminal on his stomach. Mission accomplished.
He gave himself a moment to regroup before logging in and shooting off a message to Shepard. He was tired of waiting; there was no shame in directly asking that she come. She loved him-he knew it. It was the one goddamn thing he could be sure about her.
His eyes began to drift closed. He let them, not caring about what the nurse would do when she discovered the terminal resting atop him. Maybe he'd get lucky and they'd kick him out for being difficult.