Intimacy and Self-Loathing
Chapter Three
They gave her a room that was relatively close to the paladin's but off the beaten path. It was no different than the other's rooms, but it was luxurious compared to what she had been kept in recently. She wandered around and poked random buttons on the walls. That revealed the closet, which housed a couple generic bodysuits, and the washroom. With that found, she settled down on the bed. It felt like she was laying on a cloud. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
Down she sank. The blood was sucking her in, trapping her arms and legs, and rising, ever rising to cover her mouth and nose.
She jerked awake in a panic. Her room remained the same. It took almost a dobash of long, deep breathes to settle her hammering heart. She laid back down and tried to relax.
It happened again.
And again.
And again.
She smashed her fist against the metal paneling in frustration. She was so tired, but her exhaustion had only gotten worse as the sleep cycle wore on. Sleep was taunting her. The floor started to look very inviting. She grabbed her blanket and gave in.
Down the hall, Shiro was sharing Evelyn's difficulty at finding sleep. Her story had brought back a lot of memories that he had shoved into the dark recesses of his mind. He was desperately trying to let them back in.
Unbeknownst to Evelyn, Pidge had set up disguised surveillance equipment so that Allura and Shiro could keep a close eye on the newcomer. He checked the feed on several occasions that night. A few times, he watched her thrash around in blind panic before she realized her surroundings. He knew what she was going through. The same thing happened to him when they first took up residence in the Castle. Sleeping on a mattress was disconcerting after months of metal floors and operating tables.
'Morning' came early after everyone's late night. Even Shiro was a little loath to roll out of bed. Nevertheless, when it was time for food goo breakfast, Team Voltron made their way to the dining room in various states of awareness.
"So, are we going to wake up Evelyn, or…?" Hunk said.
"Let her sleep, the girl probably hasn't done so in weeks." Coran looked pointedly at Allura.
"I had wanted her here while we went over the plan for the day." She grumbled. "However, it affects nothing. Pidge, I want you to work with Coran on getting a diagnosis and cure for Evelyn's episodes. I don't want you to drop your other responsibilities, so get it set up where Hunk can work while someone else assists with the monitoring."
She paused to take a bite.
"Hunk, you'll be taking over for Pidge for a day or two. Lance, Keith, you two will trade off as his assistants. When Coran and Pidge are done with Evelyn for the day, Shiro, I want you to take her to the training room and see what we have to work with. Whoever is not helping Hunk at the moment can go with you. Is everyone clear on their duties?"
A chorus of distorted 'yes'es came from around the table as everyone but Allura had their mouth full of food goo.
"Good. Get started as soon as you are finished eating."
Both Lance and Keith's eyes were glazed over in incomprehension. The amount of information and technical jargon that Pidge went over was massive. Hunk watched them from his station in the room that he and Pidge turned into tech central. Their situation made him smile. When Pidge got off on tangents, she forgot that most people didn't understand all the things that she did. There were times even he didn't know what she was going on about. Keith and Lance never stood a chance.
"Hey Pidge?"
"What" She turned to look back at Hunk.
"They have no idea what you're talking about."
"Right." She looked sheepishly at the red and blue paladins. "Sorry. The only stuff you really need to remember is yellow is cargo transport, orange is troop movements, red is attack plans, and black is anything to do with Voltron. If it's red…"
"…Alert Allura immediately." Keith interrupted.
"And black goes to Allura's queue," Lance said.
"See? You guys got this." Pidge jogged out the door as she alerted Coran to her impending arrival via gauntlet com. The guys watched her go.
"Who's going to take first shift?" Keith asked.
"Best two out of three?" Lance held up his hands in the universal signal for 'rock, paper, scissors'.
Pidge was grudgingly glad that human anatomy/physiology had been a required course. The knowledge was useful now. It turned out that while human and Altean anatomy was similar, there were differences. Coran was intrigued to learn about the human endocrine system. Specifically that several important hormone glands were located in the human brain. Altean's had an organ in their chest cavity that produced most hormones.
She and Coran spent more than a varga hypothesizing potential causes for Evelyn's psychosis. Some were ridiculously complicated, and others were plain flat ridiculous. They didn't know enough yet to throw any of them out. Each one required a test to prove or disprove it. Despite the castle's medical equipment being adaptive, Pidge still had to modify some of it. Most of the tech was designed to find wounds and not other maladies.
Shiro came in while Pidge was tinkering with some medical nanobots. Coran needlessly shushed him from over her shoulder. He quietly took a seat on the far side of the work bench and watched her work on the machines he could barely see. Allura had shooed him off the bridge for 'brooding too intently'. He was preoccupied with keeping his mind busy and on track. When it wasn't, unbidden images of Evelyn laying in that cell or thrashing in her sleep snuck in. He knew the tiny, but growing, feeling of guilt was unjustified. He'd had little choice in his action, but regardless, other people had gotten hurt.
Pidge interrupted his musings with an exclamation of completion.
"Good work, Number 5. I think we're about ready to start with Evelyn now." Coran patted her shoulder.
"Okay, I'll send…Dammit, I forgot to ask who was on first shift."
Shiro raised a tired eyebrow at Pidge and her language. She ignored him and spoke into her comm.
"Hey Hunk?"
"What's up?"
"Who is helping you right now?"
"Uh, Keith. Why?"
"I just need a runner. Lance will do."
"He's hanging out here. I'll send him over."
"And tell him to bring some food, would you? Thanks, man."
"If you needed someone, why didn't you ask me? I don't have anything pressing to do until you are done." Shiro asked Pidge.
"Evelyn didn't seem too happy to see you when she came out of the pod. If she's still sleeping, I don't want yours to be the first face she sees after waking up. Again." She turned her focus back on the nanobots.
It took Lance less than a dobash to arrive in the medical wing. He carried a portable container full of that morning's green goo breakfast.
"What did you need me and this—" he brandished the food container,"—for?"
Pidge cleared a spot on the workbench for the food.
"The food is for Evelyn. I need you to go wake her up and bring her here."
"So go fetch sleeping beauty. Anything else?"
"Nope."
Lance turned to go out the door.
"And Lance?" Shiro spoke up.
"Yes?" Lance turned back around to face him.
"I know you're a self-proclaimed ladies' man, but could you tone it down a little—at least for Evelyn?"
Lance's expression turned uncharacteristically serious.
"Yeah, I understand. Flirting is probably not the best way to get her to trust us."
Shiro smiled.
"You're a good kid, you know that?"
"Hey, I'm not a kid anymore!" Lance was indignant.
"Whatever, just go get Evelyn."
Author's Note: Sorry that so little happens in this blurb. This was the best place to stop so I didn't push the wordcount to 3000+. I'm still working on the rest of Chapter 3(Who knew writing so little would take so long?)
