A/N: Huh? You're still here? Wow. You must be a glutton for punishment! Thank you for giving my story a chance and continuing to read on after the first disaster chapter. Anyways. I don't own Bioware or anything related to it. I just own Rachel. Alright, onto the story!

Scars.

This time, waking up was a more pleasant experience.

Nothing was hurting. Well, I felt a distinct ache, but it felt like eighty percent of the pain was gone. I certainly wasn't going to complain about that.

'Thank you, god, for helping us invent painkillers.' I shifted underneath soft, warm covers, releasing a soft sigh of content. My god, this felt wonderful. Damn near ecstasy.

A soft, feminine voice called to me and a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I frowned slightly, wishing that whoever it was would leave me alone for a little while longer. But it got my attention, since I couldn't understand anything it said. Something was tickling at the back of my mind, trying to remind me of something. But what, I couldn't recall.

With a groan of protest I opened my eyes, blinking blearily at the sight in front of me.

…A female salarian was standing there, smiling widely and prattling in her language, checking the machines I was attached to.

'…I was hoping the turian that helped me was a hallucination. Now there is a salarian here. Fuck. Does this mean this is real then?' I stayed quiet as she continued to chat at me, not understanding a single word she said. 'I don't think I've ever seen a female salarian before. You never see them in game.'

"Uh… Ma'am?" I interrupted her, and thankfully she stopped and shot a questioning and concerned look at me. "I, uh… Can't understand a single word you're saying." Her eyes light up in understanding, slapping her palm against her massive forehead.

She continued to jabber at me even as she walked away. I struggled to sit up to watch her, but even with the pain meds in my body it hurt to move too much. So I stayed put until she came back over, but she was holding two things in the palm of her hand.

They almost looked like ear cuffs, and it made me wonder what the hell she planned to do with those. I nearly flinched when she reached out to my ears, but she continued to smile and talk super fast. She attached one of the cuffs to my ear.

"-it was odd you didn't have a translator, but we all guessed that they must have gotten blown off when you go electrocuted! Poor dear, you were such a mess-!" I was quickly wishing for a mute button for her. I think I almost preferred it when I didn't understand her! She quickly attached the last one and continued to talk. "Burns, super sensitive nerves, scars! You were so lucky the turian got you here so soon, none of us have any idea how you endured the pain! Extremely stubborn aren't you?"

I laid there, dizzy from her quick talking ways. I began to call her a living run on sentence in my head. The information she threw my way finally processed through my brain.

"Burns? Scars?" I shot her a horrified look, and she in turn looked at me in pity.

"Yes, you have burns on much of your body, and you're most likely going to scar. Don't worry, we have advance treatments to help minimize the scarring, pain, everything you need-"

I began to tune her out at that point and forced myself to sit up. She quickly began objecting, but I pulled down the blankets and waved her off. I needed to see them.

…Well, all I found was that my parts of my limbs were wrapped in bandages. They had an odd smell to them, and they felt damp. 'They must have been soaked in some sort of ointment or something. Perhaps even medi-gel? That's what they used in the game, right?' I felt a tad dizzy and sick. I noticed a lot of vein like scaring going down my arms and legs as well through the gaps of the bandages.

"Why are these scars so weird?" I let her push me back onto the bed and cover me up; slightly dazed from everything that is happening.

"We think you received them from being electrocuted. They cover most of your body, except your face. You are very lucky to have survived, so you need to take care of yourself! No straining yourself, plenty of bed rest-"

"Yes Ma'am." I politely interrupted her as best as I could, suddenly feeling so, so tired. My head was beginning to ache as well, whether it was from the lighting in the room, lack of glasses, or her voice causing it I couldn't be sure.

"Tired?"

I nodded slightly; sleep sounding incredibly good to me at the moment. It was just too much. Everything that has happened to me kept churning around in my brain. I felt so overwhelmed. And lonely. I felt all alone in the world, I didn't know anyone.

No Grandma was hovering nearby and scolding me, no friends joking at what a shocking experience it must have been, no younger cousin making me a get well card and smiling innocent at me. No family. All at once I just wanted to cry.

"Get some rest then, little miss. Your turian friend will probably end up visiting again tomorrow." I opened my eyes and blinked at her in confusion. She smiled and very gently patted my hand. "He's been visiting every day since you've been here. Would you like me to wake you up when he comes?"

I slowly started to smile. I don't even know the turian's name, but he cared enough to actually visit me? I thought maybe he just brought me here and left me, doing his good deed of the day and forget about me. "I would like that, ma'am. Wait… days?"

She nodded again, dimming the lights for me and made sure I was tucked in. "You've been unconscious for two days, miss. You need more rest though. Get some sleep. Tomorrow we need to ask you some questions, and of course you want to be well rested to thank your friend, don't you?"

"I guess so." I smiled, though a bit ill at ease at what the questions might be. "Thank you for helping me. Good night."

Again she patted my hand and smiled before she headed towards the door.

"If you need anything hit the buzzer to your right and someone will come help you. Sleep well little miss!" As soon as she left there was finally, finally blissful quiet. My aching head started to feel better as soon as the endless chatting went away and the lights were dimmed.

I wanted to stay awake for a little longer to ponder my current predicament, but I really was exhausted. 'Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll think about all this. Hopefully I'll wake up early enough so I can have some time to think of what to say…'

I yawned widely and carefully turned on to my side, trying to get comfortable. I buried my face into my pillow and let myself drift off to sleep. Maybe when I wake up, everything will be back to normal?

I groaned in protest when I felt a familiar, gentle touch on my shoulder. "Little miss? Your friend is here to see you. Time to wake up and have some breakfast with him, I got some stuff called 'oatmeal' for you."

Breakfast? It only felt like I just went to sleep. Wait, oatmeal? Ew, really? Fuck. I hate oatmeal.

…Did she say that the turian was here?

I groaned softly as I forced my eyes open, wincing at the bright light that was turned on. 'Well, there goes the hope of waking up and I'd be in a human hospital.' I rolled onto my back, flinching at the sudden movement. I blinked hazily at the nurse from last night, and then finally noticed the turian from before standing behind her.

As he approached he came into focus, finally able to see his face better. His skin was dark grey, his eyes were blue and his face was painted white. I remembered reading somewhere that the paint on their faces meant they were from a clan or something, but I couldn't be sure. I just knew that unpainted face equals lots of distrust. …he sort of looked like Nihlus.

I suddenly noticed purplish flowers in his hand, making me smile widely.

"Uh. Hey." I damn near laughed out loud when he spoke to me. He sounded out of place and unsure, shifting in what I could only guess was a nervous matter. His voice was soft, softer then Nihlus, Garrus, and Saren's voice. "Uhm. Mom told me human girls like flowers. Is that right?"

"Well, I don't know about other girls. But I like them. Thank you." I took the offered flowers and brought them to my nose. They smelled like a mixture of lavender and roses, a very nice scent. I blinked when the flowers were suddenly taken from me and a tray put in my lap. The salarian nurse smiled and put them in the vase by my bed.

"You need to eat to recover your strength. You can enjoy your flowers later. Now hurry and eat, and I'll go get the doctor to check you over. Your friend can wait with you if he wants!" I wondered how salarians could talk so fast. Is it something they naturally do or they chose to do it? I know they lived short lives, but geez!

I quickly shoveled a few bites of oatmeal into my mouth to please her, making her smile and quickly leave. Leaving me alone with the turian. Now I felt like the awkward one. I swallowed the oatmeal and grimaced. I never liked oatmeal, the texture always threw me off.

"Thank you for helping me and everything." I smiled nervously at him before glancing down at the bowl of oatmeal. I cringed, but brought another mouthful to my mouth. I didn't want to upset the nurse by seeing an untouched bowl of oatmeal.

He nodded before he sat down in the chair pulled up close to the bed. After a few minutes of silence and half a bowl of oatmeal I finally spoke up again.

"I really mean it. Thank you. A few women I encountered didn't." I shrugged slightly, wincing as the movement caused my shoulders to hurt. Damn it. No shrugging. Really?

"What? They just left you like that?" I jerked in surprise when he suddenly stood, his mandibles flaring and his eyes narrowed. Oh damn, he looks pissed. I gestured for him to calm down, my eyes wide with alarm.

"Easy there! I admit that wasn't very cool of them to do, but… Hey, at least you helped me!"

He huffed before roughly sitting back down, his shoulders hunched and his mandibles twitching. I wonder if that means he's irritated. Damn. I can't read turian's expression worth shit. I nervously shifted.

"…How bad was I? I mean, I sure I looked like a wreck, but I didn't exactly have a mirror or anything."

He made a growling noise, but remained silent for several long moments before he spoke up. "You were pretty bad. Your clothes were in shambles. You were burnt, your… uhm… hair? Burnt as well, sticking up everywhere. You were shaking, stumbling, and crying. Why anyone would ignore you when you were in obvious need of help I have no clue."

He was staring at the wall and looked like he might have been glowering at it. Damn, he was obviously upset about that. Shit, shouldn't have said anything. I reached out to lightly pat his arm, offering him a gentle smile when he looked at me.

"Hey. It's ok. I'm fine now. Thank you." His mandibles flared slightly, making me wonder if he was smiling or not. I assumed he was. I heard the doors swish open, making me remove my hand from the turian's arm.

This time there was a male salarian doctor along with the nurse.

"Ah, you look like you're recovering quite nicely!" He chirped excitedly as he approached my free side. He reached for my wrist and felt my pulse, checked my eyes and reflexes, all the while mumbling 'Good, good.'

I was a little overwhelmed, but I let him poke and prod as he pleased, knowing he was checking to see if I was recovering.

"Ah, physically you look pretty well and recovering as you should! Perfect, now to ask some questions! What's your name, miss?"

I opened my mouth to answer him, but stopped short. 'Oh god, what am I supposed to do? If I tell them my name, they'll run it through the system to try finding family, and if they don't find anything what will happen? But if I don't they'll get suspicious, won't they?'

The doctor stared, waiting only for a few moments before his expression turned to pity. "You don't remember, do you miss?"

Wait. What?