Chapter Eleven: Recovery

In Which: David seeks out help, Alex is back on the ship, and things begin to change.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Alex's personality and the plot.

WARNING: Language

I bet you thought that you would get a good chapter today...well, APRIL FOOLS!*

It took two days before Alex was allowed out of the hospital.
The location of the bullet wound had required a small surgery to fully close the wound. That, in addition to her broken wrist, meant that she wouldn't have the ability to use her left arm any time soon.

David was just happy that she was going to be okay.

He had led Alex back to the ship, half carrying her towards from the hospital. She had been given pain medication that kept her drowsy and listless, but her half-awake state also meant that she insisted upon walking. After she had crawled onto her bed and curled up-mindful of her arm even through her medication-David carefully put a blanket on her and slipped back into medbay where Rita was waiting for him.

Rita had been worried ever since she saw David in the hospital. It had been right after Alex was shot and so he had been splattered with blood. The sight and story had made Rita grow only slightly pale before demanding that she be allowed to observe in the surgery room under the claim that she was Shepard's doctor.

"How is she?" She inquired in a whisper, as if Alex could hear them through the thick doors.

David gave a soft smile.
"She's fine. Sleeping now." He explained, pulling out the medication that she had been prescribed and handing the small bottle over. "Here's what she was given."

RIta only glanced at the label.
"It'll dull the pain but she'll be nauseous a lot. Also causes drowsiness and dreamless sleep, so no nightmares for a few days. I'll make sure she gets it."

"Thanks. I'll be back in a little bit. I've got some errands I need to run quickly." He explained as he headed for the door.

Rita gave him a frown but remained silent as he walked out.

He knew that she disapproved of him leaving after Alex had just gotten back but he needed to do one quick task.
Besides, Alex would be asleep for a few hours…or that's what he told himself at least. In truth, he didn't know how long she would be out and simply hoped that she didn't wake up while he was out.

David had already told Marcus of what he had to do; Marcus had responded with a simple 'You have an hour. Then we leave.'

He didn't intend for this to take more than ten minutes.

David slowly made his way to Purgatory, surprised by the already pulsing music and large crowd even though it was only noon. He guessed that since Chora's Den had been closed for repairs those patrons had moved to here.

He made his way along the edge of the group, going up to the bar and taking a spot next to the man he had come here to find.

"Massani." Anderson greeted the mercenary with no hint of friendship between them. Massani looked up from his glass, glanced over his new companion, and then refocused on the scotch.

"How's the girl?" Zaeed finally asked, his voice barely heard over the music. David waived the advancing bartender away.

"She's fine. Recovering, but alive."

"Good. She's got helluva fight in her." He commented. "But I doubt you wanted to talk with me about your goddamn daughter."

David sat up straighter, ignoring the vulgarity.

"I need you to keep an eye out for that Batarian and send any information on him my way."

Zaeed finished his drink in a hearty swig, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I don't take work unless I have something in it for me."

Anderson gritted his teeth. He expected Massani to do this, but it still annoyed him.

"The Batarian—Mahrik—he's working with the Blue Suns. Isn't that enough for you?"

Zaeed shook his head.
"No. Why don't you ask me just to take out this slaver for you? Hell of a lot less complicated."

"Because the Alliance wouldn't want—"

"Don't give me that bullshit Anderson." Zaeed interrupted with a smug grin. "You just want to kill the bastard yourself. It's got nothing to do with the fucking Alliance."

David didn't reply to that. Instead he bit his tongue and carefully constructed his reply.

"Look, it's something simple. I don't have a lot of money, but I can send you something for the information—"

"No can do." Zaeed insisted. "I've got several jobs already."

David gave an annoyed sigh, but gave in.

"Fine. Thanks for your help anyway." He waived the bartender over and gave her a handful of credits. "His next few drinks are on me."

Zaeed didn't say anything as he left and David was thankful for that.

Marcus was waiting for him when he arrived back.

"It didn't go well." The captain's greeting wasn't a question and caused David to slightly smirk.

"It went well, just not the way I wanted it to go."

"Massani's not going to help?"

"No sir. Said there wasn't anything in it for him."

"Well, we'll just have to find this slaver ourselves."

Marcus's tone was absolute, firm in the belief that they would hunt down Mahrik. They both knew it wouldn't be that simple, though: they had council and Alliance missions to do first. And they didn't even know where to start looking for the Batarian.

But they would find him eventually.

"What now sir?" David finally asked. Marcus shrugged.

"Now we have missions to do. I sent all the information on the slaver-Mahrik-to the brass at Arcturus, but there isn't much in hope for finding him. They just said that we should continue as scheduled. Go to your post—once we're cleared to the Relay you can go check on Alex. Last I heard she was still fast asleep with"

"Aye aye." David responded as he headed towards the bridge.

David overseeing Lieutenant Jameson was purely for show. She was more than qualified to get them out of the Citadel on her own, but he had to be there in case of something going wrong.

He stood behind her per usual and half-heartedly watched as she gained clearance to leave. Jameson ignored him for the most part, instead conversing with the control tower about which path she needed to leave on and which docks were also having ships deport. Within half an hour they had vacated the Citadel and were a half-hour away from the Relay.

"We cleared to go through?"

"Yes sir." Jameson replied. "We're heading to the Exodus Cluster now."

"Good. Let the captain know."

"Already done sir."

"Thanks."

With that David took his leave, heading for the stairs. He made quick time as he jogged down them and came out near medbay, darting inside and relieved to see Alex awake and alert.

She was sitting on a cot while Rita stood by the terminal. When David entered, Alex immediately smiled and set down a mug she had been holding. Rita, however, moved towards the door.

"I've checked her out-she's healthy. Her stitches are closing nicely and she looks to make a perfect recovery." The doctor explained. "I'll let you two have some time to talk."

David nodded his thanks as she left before going and taking a seat across from Alex.

"Hey."

It was a lame greeting but it was the only thing he could think to say as he stared at the child.

Her left arm was in a sling which had a strap that held it to her torso, limiting her movement. He could see the white comb-like casing of a cast on her hand peeking out from the large sling. Alex's face was still bruised, although the swelling had gone down some, and her eyes were bloodshot and heavy-lidded.

Overall, she looked as if she had been through hell.

Yet, as their eyes met, she still managed a small smile and raised her hand in greeting.

"How are you feeling?"

She shrugged, winced, and then retried the gesture without her injured shoulder. Then she gestured to him.

"How am I feeling?" David translated. Alex nodded.

"I'm fine."

Alex looked skeptical.

"Really." He said as he noticed the mug on the end table. "What are you drinking?"

She paused before slowly signing with her free hand.

Hot water with lemon and honey. Rita gave it to me for my throat.

"That sounds gross." David commented. "Is your throat doing alright though?"

He hadn't noticed any bruising on her throat and the doctors hadn't mentioned any major issues with it.

Yeah. Just a little raw from talking the other day.

"So you're talking again?" David tried to keep his tone nonchalant as he watched for Alex's reaction. Her eyes slightly widened before looking down as she shook her head.

No.

"Hey, hey look at me." He whispered, nudging her chin up to where she was looking at him.
"It's fine. You don't have to rush into speaking."

What are we doing now?

David frowned and got up. "One second kid." He said, heading into her room. He found her second notepad and pen and brought them over, setting them by her drink.

"Now you don't have to worry about spelling everything out." He explained. She smirked and nodded in thanks. "As for your question: we have a few missions to complete right now and are probably going to continue with our original path."

Alex frowned, quickly scribbling down something on the notepad.

What about Mahrik?

The Commander hesitated. "We sent the information to the Brass at Arcturus. They'll spread it around to the other ships, but we can't do anything like going after him."
He didn't miss the flash of worry that passed over her face as she bit her lip.

"Alex, we'll find him. I promise."

She didn't look reassured, instead scribbling a note and handing it over before grabbing her drink.

Why did he come for me? She asked. David shrugged.

"I'm not sure." He leaned forward. "But he won't get you. I promise. We'll find him."

Alex nodded halfheartedly and David gave her a small smile.

"Why don't you get some rest? You're probably pretty tired."

She shrugged with her good shoulder.

"I'll come by later to check on you, okay?"

Nod.

"And if you need anything you know where to find me, right?"

Another nod.

"Good. I'll see you later."

After he left, Alex also got up and walked out the door. She had been sleeping for two days straight—the last thing she wanted to do was sleep some more. Instead, she headed down to the Cargo Hold in hopes of hanging around Joe.

Walking through the door and into the hold, she was met with the familiarity of the handful of crewmen making their way from place to place as they checked the machines and made sure everything was working properly.
There was one thing missing though: Joe was not in either one of his usual spots by the vehicles that he called his babies. In fact, Joe was nowhere to be seen.

Alex grabbed a hold of one of the crewmen-an engineer named Crane-as he passed her, making him turn.

"Oh, Shepard." He seemed surprised to see her and awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he glanced around.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting?"

She pointed to where Joe usually sat.

"Dawson? Oh, he's back on the Citadel."

Alex's brows furrowed in confusion, so Crane quickly explained.

"His knee got pretty messed up during…well, back on the Citadel. He has to go through some physical therapy. Don't worry though, we'll pick him up in a few months."

Alex nodded, although she was still in slight shock. With a frown she headed up to the main floor as fast as she could, ignoring when she passed by Rita and the doctor called out for her.

Instead she continued on her journey, heading straight for David. He looked concerned to see her, immediately walking over and glancing at her arm.

"Alex are-"

Joe, she signed quickly with her free hand. Why didn't you tell me?

He sighed, relieved that she wasn't hurt.
"Alex," He began by meeting her hard stare, "it slipped my mind. I was going to tell you when I visited later."

Alex still gave him a hard stare and frowned.

Will he be okay?

"Yes. He'll be fine. We'll pick him up again in six months."

Promise?

"Promise."

Alex looked down with a familiar guilty look on her face and David gently grabbed her uninjured shoulder to grab her attention.

"It's not your fault Alex." He said. "You need to know that."

Alex looked up at him and gave a small nod although she wasn't sure she believed him.

"Alright, why don't you go get some rest." He said. "I'll come see you later."

Alex nodded, trudging back down stairs to her room.

Notes:

*I apologize for that lame joke and for being an unfunny person who cannot write and rarely post chapters.

Well, this chapter is out of the way. This was not a great chapter to write and, subsequently, is one of the worst chapters in the story. However, it was needed to show the start of the recovery process.
As for the next few chapters you guys can expect (hopefully) better writing, appearances by canon characters, and the action will slow down a little-but it won't stop.

As always, thank you for reading!

-Andi