"I got shot!"

"I'm working on it, Gil."

Fact of the matter is, he hadn't really expected (nor wanted) this day to end with them carrying Gil onto the Tempest with the man's shoulder bleeding.

Kadara was still a pirate haven – still an exile haven – and was by no means truly safe for any person. They'd been trading for additional parts to repair an old Angaran frigate when the seller got jumpy for no apparent reason, pulled a gun and aimed at the group. Cora had also drawn a weapon, Scott having told Gil to start backing away – Gil, along with Suvi and Kallo, had the least amount of ground combat experience and was not exactly equipped for those types of scenarios. Long story short, the gun fired, Gil got hit, Cora's biotics flaired, and that was all the seller would write for the next few weeks as he recovered from two broken arms and a not-so-great kneecap.

Kadara's medical centre might have been closer, but Scott had no intention of sticking around any longer then they'd had to. Lexi would just have to meet them there, the asari having also left the ship. She hadn't yet returned but was on her way.

And given that the Pathfinder somehow had more first aid experience then people like Liam Kosta their crisis specialist, he was the one currently tweezers deep pulling a bullet out of one Gil Brodie.

"Cora," He glanced at his 'nurse'. Getting the bullet out was a no-brainer, but patching the engineer up after that? He could put as much pressure on Gil's wound as he liked, but they were fresh out of medigel, the supply shipment to them having been stolen. Otherwise they'd have never made the stop to Kadara to begin with. "Find out how far away Lexi is, please."

She nodded. "I'll be back before you know it. Hang in there, Gil."

"I can't tell if I'm dying!" Gil exclaimed, attention now drawn back to Scott. "Can people tell if they're dying? Is that a thing?"

"How would I know?"

"You died twice!"

Right.

"I try to forget about being dead," Scott finally said. "But you're not going to die. It's just a shoulder wound – it missed anything important."

"Am I supposed to feel woozy then?"

"It's just the drugs, Gil. It's better then feeling cold hard strips of metal pulling out a bigger piece of metal."

"Ugh." He faked a gagging sound. "Why'd you tell me that – I feel ill just thinking about it."

Scott had to hide his chuckle. "Sam, I need an overlay."

With his omnitool highlighting the innards of the shoulder in question and Gil braced against the bed, Scott finally managed to clasp the bullet stuck in the engineer's shoulder between the two prongs of the tweezers, carefully dragging it back through it's entrance wound much to the distaste of his make-do patient.

"Done." He dropped the bullet and tweezers down into the tray, now grabbing the soaking towel to start pressure onto the gaping hole, causing the engineer to emit a low groan. "Tell me about Dian. How's he doing?"

"Doing great." Gil managed to say through grit teeth. "Jill's decided to stay on Eos instead of heading to Meridian."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Something to do with building his immunity up to . . . I don't know. The dirt on Eos, maybe – I honestly don't remember right now." He glanced down at Scott's hand holding the towel – of which was now starting to stain red. "Ugh – regretting that decision."

"Let me know if you're going to be sick."

"Don't say that – I will be sick if you say that."

Scott couldn't help but smile a little at Gil's 'bullet innocence' as Peebee had called it upon witnessing Scott and Cora helping him onto the Tempest.

"How are you settling in as 'dad'?"

Gil almost laughed, instead going for a small scoff in light of the hole in his shoulder. "It's great. I mean, there were a few times there where I thought I'd fall over in exhaustion. I didn't think a baby would be so much of a handful, but it's been pretty great. Jill's going to be pissed about this though. Getting a hit in the shoulder will not do wonders for my baby-holding skills, no sir."

"Blame me. Pathfinder's fault for thinking Kadara was a good place to get EPS conduit during your first week back."

"I've been curious, actually." Gil said, changing the subject again. "Are you and Cora . . .?"

"Are Cora and I . . . what? You already know we're together. Everyone knows we're together." He frowned.

The engineer rolled his eyes. "I mean procreating. Have you thought about it? Being Pathfinder and all, it's probably not on your mind as much, but after all this? If there is an 'after', after all this, of course."

Scott grinned, looking away for a few seconds. "We're . . . passively trying, I guess you could say."

"Ah. Employing the 'fun' version. I get it."

"More like it'll be in the cards when it's in the cards."

"Aren't you worried you'll be ill prepared?"

"If we're not prepared, we're not prepared." Scott shrugged. "That's something we'll have to work through when we have to work through it. We want to start a family, but we're happy with being here on Tempest as well. If baby happens, I plan on grounding the Tempest for long service leave."

Gil frowned. "Long service leave? You really think Tann will buy that?"

"There are three other pathfinders itching to do what I do with their own ships. The only reason they're not out here was because Tann thought it wise to 'limit resources that can be potentially stolen by exiles'. Hayjer's already told me he's ready and willing to fill in." He said. "I think my main problem will be you guys. Not sure how Liam or Drack would respond to the ship being grounded. I think they've grown attached."

"Psh. Liam would be too busy with Sid."

"Beg your pardon?"

"Nothing. Nevermind- Lexi! You're looking mighty blue today!"

The asari crossed her arms, looking down at Gill and peeling the Pathfinder's hand. "I can take it from here, Ryder."

With another strange glance back at a now incredibly innocent Gil, Scott got up, taking off the gloves he'd been using and binning them, giving Lexi another thanks and an update as to what had happened.

Finally, he turned to Cora in the doorway. "Let's not do that again."