When Millburn falls, his new friend -hammerpede, he'd murmured- coils up tense like a snake, hissing at Vickers and Shaw as they approach. Fifield waves them away, moving forward in a low crouch, eyes on her flared hood. He ducks his head, stretches his hand out towards her, the fingers of his other hand bracing him on the floor, brushing Millburn's hair.
She gives another hiss but relaxes, winds her way up his arm, rubs the top of her head against the back of his as she settles about his shoulders. David comes, then, easily scooping the unconscious man into his arms and carrying him to the med bay. For a moment he seems to consider locking Fifield out but even he isn't immune to the hammerpede's furious sounds and lets them through.
Bradycardia, David says, and filters the sound of his heart through the room. It's so slow, beating like it's going to collapse in on itself, and it thuds Fifield's heart into a panic. David looks at him, sees the frantic jump of his pulse, compares his one hundred thirty beats per minute to Millburn's forty one. The cruelty might be accidental or maybe David is a sadistic fuck but it is cruel and Millburn might fucking die and he is not going to stand for that shit.
The hammerpede closes the distance between them and David easily, three feet of her around Fifield's arm, the other twelve tense and vibrating where she holds herself in the air. She is prepared to strike, hood starting to flare, and David holds out his hands in surrender.
In a matter of minutes the room is as prepared as it's ever going to be and David's hands are a blur, cracking apart useless tools to scavenge metal and wire and a battery he digs out from somewhere. His hands are steady and confident as he builds the pacemaker from scratch but Fifield's eyes are on Millburn, head throbbing with the sound of his faltering heartbeat.
Then he has a laser scalpel in hand and he's leaning over Millburn and Fifield strokes the hammerpede's head to keep her calm as the incision is made. David twists the wires down into his heart, plugs them into the ports of the disk and pushes it into the pocket of skin. It takes mere seconds for the wound to be sealed and the faint traces of blood wiped away.
They wait, one with his breath held and one with no breath at all, watch the monitors. Fifield goes limp when Millburn's heart starts to pump faster, arms shaking. David lays the newly cleaned scalpel on a tray, checks his pulse. Gives Fifield and the hammerpede a look before leaving with a faint nod.
The med bay is quiet and cool and Fifield drags the bench closer to the table, settles beside it, drags his fingertips through Millburn's hair once before carefully pulling the hammerpede from around his neck and shoulders, lets her coil in his lap.
He listens to the sound of Millburn's heart growing stronger, lets it pull the tension from his body. The weak press of a hand to his knee makes him turn, warms his ribcage.
"Hey there Biology. Nice seeing you." he says, touching his thumb to the man's jaw. Millburn gives a grin, a spot of mud on his front teeth.
"Right back at ya, Geology. Did David really let you bring Snow White into med bay?" he reaches out, strokes the top of her head, coos as she gives a sound not unlike a purr.
Fifield is still going to punch Millburn for not telling anyone about his arrythmia, but he's happy enough at the moment that he's going to let it wait until he's healed.