AN: Sorry everyone for the late update. I was planning on publishing this much sooner, but finals just got so crazy. Anyway, here is the chapter. Hope you like it and please review!
"Miss Castillo, can you hear me?" a female voice asks with a gentle hand on my shoulder.
Taking a minute to answer, I answer, "Yeah. Everything just feels so…weird." I try to move and sit up, but nothing seems to be responding properly. I have absolutely no energy either.
With her hand still on my shoulder, she laughs and says, "That's to be expected. You just underwent major surgery. How is your head?"
"Fine. Is that weird? I know you just operated on my brain, and I thought it would hurt, but it feels actually pretty good. I feel kind of floaty."
"Well, you are on some major painkillers," Dr. St James responds as she walks away. From my left, I hear her pick something up and walk back to me. "As promised the first thing you will see is yourself. Just let me set up this…mirror," she continues as she sets the glass over my head. "And here are your glasses."
The doctor sets the glasses down gently over my eyes, and starts the booting process. I wait for what seems like hours before I can finally see. The first thing that overwhelms me is the light. My eyes start to water at the mere intensity of it and thousands of little needles seems to pick at the back of my head. After my eyes adjust, all I see is color. Anderson's information tells me what they all are: blue, white, red, black, tan, and brown. It takes me another second to realize that these colors are what make up… me.
I have dark brown wavy hair with tan skin set against it. Many freckles cover my high cheeks and bridge of my nose. My eyes are large and are a white bluish color, which makes sense since I'm "blind" and have no pupils. My lips are somewhat full and are of a pinkish hue. It's so weird seeing my face. I reach up to touch it when I finally realize that I can look at the rest of my body too. I slowly try to sit up when the doctor comes back to push me gently back down.
"Ms. Castillo, you are still recovering from your surgery. I would be best if you were to lay down."
"Alright," I say as I look at my doctor's face for the first time. "But you can call me Cassie." Dr. St James laughs and makes some sort of weird, pretty face at me. God, of all the things Anderson could have done, he doesn't include information on how to read people's faces. She sounds happy, but still…
"Okay, Cassie. And you may call me Rachel." The doctor, Rachel, reaches across to my side and slowly lifts the front of my bed so that I am sitting up in it as though it were a chair. "Here, now you can see the rest of yourself without getting hurt."
I then take a moment to see the rest of my body. I am pretty short in comparison to the doctor over there, who is probably three inches taller than me. But other than that I seem pretty normal… you know with my vast knowledge of how women should look like.
Looking back at the doctor, I say, "How long have I been out?"
Glancing at her watch, "Not too long. Just about five hours."
As Rachel proceeds to take off my heart monitor and IV, I finally get my chance to thank her. "Um… Rachel… I just wanted to say thanks for everything you have done. I can't believe that I can finally see and experience the world, just like everyone else. And it's all thanks to you."
At my compliment, the doctor looks me directly in the eyes and tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear. "Thanks," she says, keeping her hand on my face. "A besides, it was my pleasure. I never thought I would give a beautiful woman her sight." Lingering a bit longer, the doctor makes that same weird face at me, with the corners of her mouth turned up and small crinkles by her eyes. And for some reason, her expression seems to be contagious. I make the same expression, and finally realize that she and I are smiling.
"And your not quite like everyone else," the blond tells me as she drops her hand back to her side. "Your other senses are far better than that of an average person, especially your sense of hearing and now eyesight. We have improved your eyesight with the glasses to be that of 20/10." She emphasizes the thought with a tap to my glasses.
Continuing on, "The drugs should wear off in about five minutes. You should regain your ability to move then." Pointing at a nearby table with a piece of paper, two electronic devices, and a bundle of clothes, she says, "Anderson wanted me to give this to you. After you get dressed, you are to report to the same location you came from. Anderson would have taken you himself, but something came up. He promises to meet you there."
"It's not going to take me weeks to recover?" I ask as she walks towards the other side of the room.
After a quick glance at some medical equipment, Rachel answers my question. "No. Apparently, you don't have the luxury of time. Anderson wanted you fit for duty as soon as possible. You got the best care with the kind of money he spent on you." Giving me another, but different look, she tells me, "It seems he expects a lot out of you. If I were you, I wouldn't want to disappoint him."
Sighing, "I know. I'll try not too. It's definitely not on my to-do list." Feeling my arms begin to tingle, I stretch my arms above my head and move them in circles, as if it will wake them up.
Laughing at me, the doctor smiles and says, "Feeling better already, are we? Well, I guess my work is done." Extending her hand out at me, Rachel continues, "It was a pleasure meeting you Cassie. I hope we meet again soon."
After a couple awkward seconds of the doctor's hand floating there, I realize the doctor wants me to shake her hand. Grabbing her hand as quickly as I could, I shake it and hurriedly explain. "Sorry, about that. Usually, people tell me when they want to shake hands. They never just extend their hand at me."
Now, it's Rachel's turn to feel embarrassed. Her face turns a cute shade of pink as she exclaims, "Of course! I can't believe I forgot that everything is new to you. Can you forgive me?"
Laughing off her apology, I reply, "Yes, of course I will. And don't worry about it; I completely understand. It's still pretty new to me too."
Laughing along with me, Rachel says, "I guess both of us are acting pretty silly then." Moving her head back and forth a couple times, Rachel heads towards the door. Just when she is about to exit, the doctor blinks one, green eye at me. "I really do hope we meet again."
Confused as ever, I just watch her walk away.
After a couple more minutes, I finally regain my ability to move. Getting out of bed, I head over to the pile Anderson left me and examine the note.
Here are your new BDUs, omnitool, and language translator. - Anderson
Wow, I can tell he really cares. The only other information on the note is the address of his house. Turning my attention to the clothes, I study the pile. It some sort of military uniform with a shirt, pants, and combat boots. The clothes themselves seem to be made out of a form fitting material, much like the brand Under Armor back home. The shirt is a dark navy blue with a black strip running across chest and around the shoulders. The pants are more or little the same, navy blue with a black strip. However, there are also about a million pockets and a black belt to go along with it. The best part of the outfit is the boots, with small heals and laces going all the way up. They remind me of my usual pair from home.
After getting ready and equipping my translator, I grab my omnitool and head out the door to the Presidium. Thankfully, Anderson decided that knowing how to use the omnitool was important, unlike reading facial and body language, because I am actually able to use the thing. Importing the address onto the device, I make my way to the Presidium and follow the directions to Anderson's and my new home.
About ten minutes later, I finally reach the Presidium. And I have to say that it's one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen… Out of the whole hour I have been able to.
From what I can tell and from what my brother has previously told me, the Presidium resembles home. There are fresh water lakes with rivers connecting them together. Trees align the river and bridges that are needed to get across. Fields of grass with non-allergenic flowers populate the area. The Presidium even has an artificial sky. Even though I know I am on a space station, it looks and feels so real. There are hundreds of clouds moving across the sky, along with a fake sun. Stretching out my arms, I feel the sun and wind move through my hair and across my skin.
However, the most impressive aspect of all is the other races. I am ashamed to say that I have never believed in aliens until I came here. Until yesterday, I have always thought of them as a myth and the people who claimed to be abducted as crazy. And now, I'm not so sure… especially when I see an Asari and a Turian not twenty feet away from me. They are all so strange and exotic compared to what I have grown up with. I can't help but stare as they all pass by. Asari, Turian, Hanar, Volus, Salarians, Elcor, and even a couple of Keepers. Too bad that there aren't any Drell or Krogan around here. Now that would have been a sight to see.
After ten minutes of just admiring the view, I continue to make my way back to the house.
And let me tell you, my house… I mean our house… is freaken awesome.
The house, or the mansion rather, is a mixture of the traditional with modern. Several columns make up the front porch of the house, making the bottom floor seem much bigger than the top two. A set of stairs leads up to the metal doors, which seem about seven feet taller than me. The windows are huge as well, allowing anyone passing by to see into the house. Thankfully, this area doesn't get much foot traffic.
The inside of the house is even prettier. While the metal walls may seem somewhat cold, it is made up for in the warmth and beauty of the art. The art seems to be from a wide range of cultures, from Human to Asari and Turian. Many of the paintings contain images of families of all shapes and sizes. I would have never imagined Anderson as an art collector or a family man. I wonder if he has a family, or just wants one. Shrugging the thought off, I am just about to make my way to Anderson's room when I run into the man himself.
"Ah, there you are. I have wondering when you were going to get here. I was expecting you here several minutes ago."
Ringing my hands, "Ha, yeah. I sort of lost track of time. Everything just looks so amazing; I kinda lost myself in everything around me."
Anderson smiles at me and moves his head up and down a couple of times, "I understand. So how are you adjusting to everything?"
"Pretty good I think. It's pretty overwhelming sometimes, but I'll get used to it. And thanks for uploading all that information into my brain. Without it, I probably wouldn't know what I am looking at half the time. However, would it have killed you to let me know what a smile is? People make all these faces and movements with their bodies, and I have no clue what they mean."
Anderson just laughs at my misfortune. "Haha, you're right. I'm sorry, but I thought it would be much funnier this way."
"Can't you at least tell me the basics?"
Anderson pretends to think about this for a second. "Hmm, fine. This is a smile. This is a frown. This is a nod, which means yes. This is shaking your head, which means no. And finally, this is a shrug, which means that you don't know or don't care." As he talks, Anderson moves his body according to his descriptions.
"That's it? Cause I'm sure there is a lot more you're not telling."
"As true as that maybe, we have to get moving. We have wasted enough time already," Anderson says as he drags me up the stairs. "Did the doctor tell you why I wasn't to take you back myself?"
Shrugging like Anderson taught me, "Rachel just said something came up."
"Rachel, huh?" Anderson says with a weird smile. "Well as smart as she is, she was wrong about one thing. Something didn't come up, someone did. They arrived a little earlier than expected."
Finally reaching our destination, Anderson pushes open the door to reveal a rather intimating figure. "Cassandra, this is Commander Shepard."
By the way, I drew a picture of Cassie if anyone was wondering what she looked like. I have the same username on deviant art and have posted it as the cover art, if you want to check it out.