The Minute I Met You
Joker hated waiting. While, yes, he would much rather be on the ship and not walking around strange planets getting shot at all the time, he never liked the part where he just sat there and waited.
Well at least this time he had something to do. He grabbed his crutches and started to make his way to the medical bay, giving his relief pilot a nod to take over. Dr. Chakwas wanted to give him yet another check-up. He appreciated her concern but seriously, was once a week really necessary?
Despite his best efforts to maintain his "I really could care less" attitude during these weekly appointments, Joker found he was starting to like the doctor. There were times she vaguely reminded him of his own mother. She'd scold him, remind him to take his medicine, and encourage him to eat with the rest of the crew rather than take his meals back to his cockpit. Joker smirked at that last one. Yes, eating with the crew turned out to be good advice. He had gotten to know a few more of the personnel better as well as Shepard and her comrades too. It turns out Garrus knew about as many good jokes as he did, and even a few new ones he hadn't heard as well.
"Joker, you came to your appointment on time for once! I didn't even have to nag you over the intercom this time." Chakwas greeted him. He made his way over to the examination table and sat down on it.
"Yeah yeah, I know. I figured get it over with sooner rather than later," he replied.
"How's the Commander's team doing? Heard anything?"
"No they've been down there for a few hours now though. It shouldn't be too much longer."
As if on cue, the Shepard's voice came through on his ear piece. "Joker, this is the ground team requesting pick-up."
"On our way Commander."
"Liara is injured. Nothing too serious, but let Chakwas know we'll be heading her way once we're on board." Shepard sounded very out of breath. It must have been a tough mission he thought.
Joker sent a message to the relief pilot, giving him the go ahead to retrieve the team.
"The Commander said Liara was injured and that they're bringing her here right away Doc," he informed her.
"Understood, you're free to go Joker. Looks like your left foot's bones are a little more strained so don't lean on it too much in the next week or so, otherwise you're good!"
"Good looking you mean Doc!" Joker retorted with a wink and joking smile.
Chakwas started to laugh but stopped almost immediately when Shepard and came in with Garrus holding Liara.
"There was an explosion and Liara got a large piece of shrapnel in her thigh," Shepard updated the doctor. "I don't think it's too serious, but we didn't want to remove it on the battlefield." Joker still thought she still sounded out of breath but it was probably the adrenaline was still pumping through her veins. It happened when Shepard went into "soldier mode."
"That was a good decision Commander. You did the right thing," Chakwas praised as Garrus set her down on the table Joker had just left open. Liara was squirming quite a bit. Joker could tell she knew enough not to itch or touch her wound at all, but the pain must have been hard to handle. The doctor instantly gave her two shots, one pain reliever, one sedative, and as soon as Liara was out, went to work.
Shepard came to stand next to Joker on the side of the room to watch the procedure which didn't take very long surprisingly. Once Liara was still, Chakwas simply put on some goggles to help her see and grabbed a tool that looked like a tweezers. After a few minutes, she managed to pull out the shrapnel slowly but carefully.
While Chakwas was sealing the wound, Shepard turned to Joker and took off her helmet. "Well thank goodness that's taken care of. I thought I had shielded her from most of the blast but apparently not."
"It could've been worse Shepard," Joker comforted her. "I'm sure she'll be back on her feet in just a few days, right Doc?"
"Mmhmm…" Chakwas was stilled distracted and examining the medi-gel's progress on the wound.
"From the minute I met you Doc I knew you'd be able to handle anything we threw at you!" Shepard also supplied.
"As long as they're not dead, I can fix just about any injury from the field," she said, finally standing up straight and pulling off her goggles. "I even reattached someone's thumb once!"
"Wow Doc, I didn't know that!" Joker exclaimed. "That must have rocked! You should put that shit in your resume, 'Can also reattach various appendages.'"
Chakwas laughed and Joker turned to see if Shepard had laughed too. Instantly, he knew something was wrong.
"Commander?" Joker prompted. She looked at him but with unfocused eyes.
"Shepard!" he said a bit louder this time, giving her shoulders a little shake. Still her eyes couldn't recognize him.
"JANE!" he practically shouted. Her eyes finally snapped onto his.
"Joker I-" and without another word, she collapsed at his feet.
A/N: Ah the dreaded cliffhanger! Anyone have a guess what happened to Shepard? Anyone? Well I do, but it'll be a day or two before the next chapter is posted. I'm in the process of moving so I technically have to be packing... yeah that's not going too well.
On a side note, when I first started writing this I was going to alternate between Joker's and Jane's point of view pretty evenly, but I'm starting to think I might lean a little more towards Joker. There'll still be plenty more Jane POV but I don't know, I just like Joker so much and he's fun to write! Let me know what y'all think while I go get me some grub. If I could share and pass you guys food through the internet I would, but I can't so you know... it's the thought that counts and all that crap. Tootles!
