Just talk and hold hands
There were several minor incidents where Dani was caught spacing out again. The first couple of times Dr. Chakwas was called to the scene but once she determined the fits were not cases of catalepsy and Dani was in no danger, just very far away, she stated Dani was best to be left alone. They were generally short lived and she snapped out of it eventually. With exception of the mess hall incident of course. In the end, people got used to it and pretty much ignored the fits. Dani didn't seem to care about them so why should they?
Most of the crew seemed to accept the fits as part of who Dani was. People started approaching her, thanking her for one thing or another, complimenting on her work and Dani didn't seem so desperate to swiftly end any conversation.
Life finally seemed to fall in place for her and except for their mission, chasing Saren and preventing him from bringing back the Reapers, life on the Normandy was pretty uneventful. One incident proved to change the dynamics for good.
Dani was present in Engineering, in front of the weapons collection, staring at Garrus' HMWSR X. She'd been standing there for a while, probably spacing out again. Garrus didn't realy mind, as long as she left his pride and joy alone. As he'd gotten used to her spacing out, along with everyone else aboard the Normandy, he wasn't really paying attention. In fact, he simply forgot she was there. Ashley was keeping her vicious tongue in check for once, too busy attending the guns.
Garrus had his hands full attending the Mako. Wrex was the only one with the luxury to just hang around, being his obnoxious self while at it. Ah, the big lizard was most likely just bored out of his krogan skull and pissed he wasn't able to shoot at things. Or persons.
"The human has been standing there a long time now. Isn't it about time she snaps out of it or something? Not that I care. Just throwing it out there," Wrex grunted out of the blue.
Ashley turned around to sneak a peek but apparently couldn't feign the slightest interest for any condition Dani was in. She just turned her attention back to her guns.
Garrus however shifted his eyebrow plates in concern. Wrex had a point. How did he miss that?
He slowly got up from his crouched position and fixed his gaze on Dani's still form. Taking a few tentative steps, he cautiously approached the young woman, trying to determine the gravity of the situation. But, as she was facing the guns, all he could see was her back and that was not much to go on.
When he was finally right behind her, he felt unsure how to continue. Did he just turn her around so he could have a look at her?
He quickly decided against that. She was wary enough of him as it was. He didn't want to jeopardize her more relaxed attitude towards him by scaring her into a different kind of fit. If he handled her the wrong way, that was exactly what might happen. So, he just positioned himself next to her and leaned around carefully to asses her current state. One look was enough for him to rear back in shock and call for Dr. Chakwas' assistance.
"Spirits! She's bleeding! Call for Dr. Chakwas. Don't just stand there man!" He yelled at the Requisitions Officer. "Tell her it's serious and alert the Commander as well!"
Garrus never claimed to have a deep understanding of human biology, but he was pretty sure that bleeding from pretty much all orifices was a bad sign in any species.
She was white as a sheet, her skin looked clammy and tiny beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. Her pupils were so dilated that hardly any color of her irises was left. The small line of blue still visible was so vibrant and intense, it was scary in its own right. Blood was slowly trickling from her ears,
her nose. . . even her eyes!
Both Karin and Commander Shepard arrived on the spot. Karin didn't miss a beat and injected Dani with a muscle relaxant. Garrus stood ready and caught her when she slumped over.
"To the med bay please, Garrus," Karin requested, her mouth tightened in a grim line.
The ride in the elevator never seemed longer and Garrus found himself oddly concerned for the lithe figure hanging limp in his arms. Maybe it was because this was the first time he had ever seen a human so vulnerable, fragile. He'd often seen persons wounded or sick. Came with the job. Plus, he'd seen one or two things whenever he checked up on Dr. Michel in the Med Clinic on the Citadel. This . . . was a different kind of vulnerability, one that tugged at his heartstrings for some odd reason.
In the med bay Karin took over the care for Dani. There was little to do at the moment so Shepard and Garrus decided to make themselves scarce as to not get in the doctor's way.
"Joker, patch me through to Dr. Toque!" Shepard said grimly. "I need some answers! Right now!"
Without waiting for an invitation, Garrus followed Shepard to the comm room.
Inside Shepard activated the console and soon glared at the holo-forms of as well Dr. Torque as his bodyguard, Alex Wright. Both looking extremely worried and perhaps a bit embarrassed.
"I'm betting you know exactly why I'm calling so I don't think I need to explain myself," Shepard said, his voice treacherously calm.
"We . . . can take an educated guess," Dr. Torque replied.
"So, when were you going to inform me about this – condition, exactly? Ish?"
Dr. Torque sighed in dismay. Wright just brought his hand to his neck and looked away.
"We were hoping we didn't have to. She had these episodes on Earth. But they became more frequent and severe over time. The more she retreated from us, the worse it got. We hoped aboard your ship she'd find her place and the problem would resolve itself. Obviously we were wrong in that regard."
"No shit!" Shepard bellowed. "Look, I'm not going to say she's some party animal here but she was not unhappy. She was not retreating. In fact, she was finally starting to open up. Not running the opposite direction if someone wanted to talk. So, saying the fits are caused as a result from little contact with others is bullshit!"
"Wait, what are you saying?" Dr. Torque asked, his confusion evident in his voice.
"Dani is not the social inept tool everyone is making her out to be! In fact, I wanna bet that the social inept tools were the ones treating her like some kind of freak. Is she odd? Yes. Awkward in situations? Hell yes! But she's perfectly able to make conversation. Just, some things are lost to her but she picks up quickly if someone actually bothers to explain!" Shepard sneered.
"Don't you think we know that?" Alex roared back. "Do you really think we all treated her like that on Earth? She was family to us, you big jerk!"
"Alex!" Dr. Torque reprimanded his bodyguard.
"Don't Alex me, Silas! He may be Commander Shepard, but I'm not Alliance, I'm not military and I sure as hell don't answer to him! We cared for her, Shepard! Can you make the same claim?
"We were the only ones she trusted enough to let her guard down. But we're just five people. She just didn't connect with all the rest and the way they reacted around her was getting worse, that was taking a toll, which caused her to withdraw. In the end, even from us!"
Alex was seething and Garrus seriously started to wonder what his real feelings were in regards to Dani"Pryde.
"Fine," Shepard spat out. "That still doesn't explain her fits here when she was obviously developing in an opposite direction.
Any idea what else could trigger the fits? What are they anyway?"
Alex opened his mouth for another tirade but one glare from Dr. Torque shut him up. "What causes them, we can only guess. Maybe she's more susceptible to them when she feels lonely, or sad. I don't know. As to what it is, it's a state of extreme focus and concentration. She's in a completely different mind-set during what you call a fit."
"Well, wouldn't you?"
"No, she's not suffering a fit or seizure of any kind. Like I said, it's a state of extreme focus and concentration. It's difficult to explain.
When Dani goes in that state, her Gamma brain waves are off the charts! It's her process. It's how she thinks, imagines, invents, sees!
"Sometimes she just delves in too deep that she can't find her way back. Lost in her own thought process, stuck like a VI repeating the same line over and over again. The bleeding is because of tiny ruptures in the small blood vessels as her blood pressure climbs."
"Gamma brain waves?" Shepard sounded as confused as Garrus felt.
"Yes. I'm not sure how much you know about the workings of the human brain, but I assume even you know that the brain cells, neurons, communicate by electrical changes."
"I may not be a brain surgeon, but that would be a correct assumption."
"Yes of course, I apologize. We can see and measure these electrical changes in the form of brain waves. There are different types of brain waves, each occurring in specific circumstances.
"Delta waves for example occur during sleep. Theta waves are associated with sleep, deep relaxation and visualization. Alpha waves occur when we are calm, relaxed. Beta waves when we are actively thinking, solving problems and so on. There is SMR activity that links brain and body functions. And then there are Gamma waves."
"Thanks for the biology lesson doc, couldn't you have just cut to the Gamma waves immediately?"
"Excuse me for boring you, Commander. I was just trying to be thorough. Gamma brain waves are the fastest brainwave frequency with the smallest amplitude. They are associated with peak concentration and extremely high levels of cognitive functioning."
"And she has a lot of those?"
"To put it mildly. Everyone has Gamma brain wave activity, but the amount of Gamma waves produced varies. Low amounts of Gamma brainwave activity have been linked to learning difficulties, poor memory and impaired mental processing. So, when I say hers are off the charts when she goes in that state . . . "
Though his voice trailed off, even Garrus understood the gist.
"Damn," Shepard muttered. "So, how do we deal with it, with Dani when she's like that? Usually she snaps out of it by herself but this time . . . We 've made her as comfortable as possible and when we left, the bleeding at least had pretty much stopped. It's just, she's just lying there."
"She needs to be grounded again. She needs her anchor." It was Alex who made that statement.
"Dani mentioned something like that, also that it's on Earth."
"He, not it."
"Huh?"
"He is on Earth. I'm her anchor," Alex stated calmly though he put a lot of emphasis on the words he and I'm. Garrus thought that maybe he caught an undertone of something else as well.
"Well, of course you are," Shepard replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "So, you sent Dani into space, knowing she has these fits and sometimes needs an anchor. . . to ground her and you think it's a good idea not to mention this and leave that anchor behind on Earth. How 'm I doing so far?"
"We talked it over with Anderson. We all agreed her best shot was with you. We didn't say anything because . . . if you knew, you might have refused to take her with you," Dr. Torque explained. Or maybe he just wanted to defend his actions.
"Endangering her in the process. Great, this is just bloody fantastic . . . "
"She just needs someone to guide her back, smart ass! If sending Dani off on her own would really put her in some kind of mortal danger, do you really think we would have gone through with this?" Alex was on the fence again.
"Well how am I supposed to know?" Shepard seethed. "I wasn't told shit! I was led on by a sob story like some old sap. All I was told was a name and that she's a polymath who needed a place to fit in. None of you bothered to prepare me for something like this to happen, because you were scared I'd take off without her. Any one on my crew could have told you I hate being kept in the dark and I don't like being played for a fool much more! I'm of good mind to drop her right back in your lap!"
"So you're willing to punish her because you feel insulted?" Dr. Torque asked incredulous.
"Well, she wasn't exactly forthcoming with her infliction either, now was she?"
"Like she's such a people person to come forward with something like that. Has she ever sought you out yet, to run something by you?" Alex sneered.
"No, should she have?"
"If she really trusted you and opened up like you say she did, she would have, yes."
"Commander Shepard, Alex . . . Please!" Dr. Torque interrupted. "I'll concede our dishonesty was below par. I know what you are trying to accomplish and all the things you already have. You're a hero in my book. You didn't deserve to be misled like this. I just hope you can understand why we kept you in the dark. Her current situation can be fixed. Her situation on Earth couldn't."
"So, what do you suggest we do now, Dr. Torque?" Garrus ventured cautiously.
Alex's eyes snapped towards him like he hadn't noticed him standing there before. "Who's the dinosaur?" He asked with clear disdain.
Garrus clicked his mandibles against his mouth plates in anger.
"Garrus Vakarian is a turian and also a friend. You will please remind yourself to address him as such or Dani Pryde is back on Earth faster than you can say xenophobe. Are we in agreement?"
It was the first time he heard Shepard refer to him as a friend. It was unexpected but most welcome as Garrus felt the same way.
It was odd how battle and hardship could forge friendship. When they first met, Shepard made it no secret how much he mistrusted the turian.
"We're in agreement," Alex reluctantly agreed.
"Now, please answer his question. What do we do now?"
"Talk to her," Dr. Torque answered simply. "Hold her hand, talk to her and tell her to come back. If she doesn't respond, let someone else try. She will respond when she hears the voice that can ground her again. That person is her anchor."
"That's it? Just hold hands and talk?"
Garrus felt as skeptical as Shepard sounded. Dr. Torque just nodded. Alex remained silent but his eyes held a death glare.
"Fine, it's worth a chance. Not like we have many other options anyway."
With that he disconnected the link and left the comm room. Garrus hurried along with him.
