It was quiet. So quiet that the only sounds she could hear were her own breathing and heartbeat. Usually silence was comforting and reassuring, but it wasn't this time. No, she figured that it wouldn't be comforting while she remained trapped in the bed she was lying in. And she was literally trapped. She couldn't get up, she couldn't move her arms or legs, and she could barely move her head a few inches on either side. Deep down Lauren knew that she should just be grateful that she was even alive – she had almost been close enough to touch death. She knew that the doctor, Chakwas, had done all that she could with what resources she had available. The universe was in the middle of a war after all. Lauren opened her eyes and was instantly grateful for the dimmed lights. That was another reason why she hated hospitals – the blinding white lights and sterile white walls. White on white. Needless to say the color choice bothered her to no end. Aria didn't seem to have a problem with it.
Aria. Lauren couldn't see her anywhere and remembered vaguely that she'd said something before, back when she was awake the first time. When everything hurt, as compared to now, where everything was sore. Obviously if she didn't have painkillers in her system she would be in some serious pain. But she was beaten and stabbed.
Why the hell am I thinking about this? Oh right, Lauren thought as she shifted her head to look at her left arm. Because I have nothing else to do.
"Damn arm." She muttered out loud.
"Problems?" A voice, somewhat snarky and sarcastic grazed her ears.
Lauren groaned. "Deacon?"
"Do I really sound like him? I spend too much time around him," A guy, wearing a hat, sidled within her field of view.
"Who-" Lauren coughed violently, her chest aching. "-the fuck are you?"
"There's that attitude I've heard so much about." The man walked past her bedside and disappeared. "My name's Joker – Chakwas said I could pop in and fix my finger."
Lauren's brain was still drugged and hazy, but she remembered that name. Deacon had said it once upon a time…
He must have noticed the look on her face. "I'm the pilot of the Normandy." He shuffled back in her view and sat down on the bed next to hers with some things in his lap.
Lauren remembered him. "The smartass one?" She coughed again.
"You sound wonderful," Joker said sarcastically. "Did the Commander call me that?"
Lauren nodded her head. Joker snorted and went about wrapping his finger. Lauren watched as he pressed a splint to it and wrapped it, his other hand making quick work of it. Without really having to pay attention, Lauren could tell that he had done that before.
"Broken?" She asked.
"Yep," Joker nodded. "I would have come down earlier to fix it, but I had to get the Normandy in orbit around Sanctum so the Commanders could go down."
"Commanders?"
Joker looked at her like she was kidding. "Commander Shepard and Commander Deacon – when they go somewhere together, they're the Commanders. When they're apart it's the Spectre and the Commander."
Lauren snorted.
"What? Do you have a better idea for nicknames for the two of them?" Joker asked. Lauren wasn't really able to have conversations, but she was more interesting to talk to then the rest of the crew or EDI.
Lauren frowned. She didn't really have nicknames for them; they were usually just Shepard and Deacon or Josiah and Aeron in certain company. They weren't 'Commanders'. "It's weird." She said finally.
"What is?" Joker asked.
"Forgot they were Commanders," Lauren coughed again. This time it actually hurt. "Ouch."
"Yeah, the coughing will hurt. You'll get over it after a while, when the ribs heal up." Joker stepped forward and looked at the many IV's that were in Lauren's right arm. "It looks like she's got you on a shit load of meds. That means the ribs are going to heal up first so you'll be able to sit up in a few days."
"Thought you were the pilot?" Lauren coughed again.
"You should stop talking," Joker pointed out. "If you can't say more than a few words, don't. The coughing means your lungs are healing yeah, but the talking agitates the tissue. But yeah, I'm the pilot. I know all the medical stuff because I've spent a fair portion of my life in hospitals."
Lauren coughed again. Her ribs were killing her. And she was starting to get tired again. She blinked.
"Have a nice nap," Joker looked at his finger and examined his work before heading for the door.
"Wait," Lauren couldn't see him anymore. "Question."
Joker walked over. "Yes?"
"Cover?" Lauren moved her toes on her left foot, which was cold.
Joker readjusted the blanket to cover her foot. "Yeah that'll happen. Anything else?"
Lauren shook her head.
"Good. You're lucky that I have experience with sick people." He walked out, leaving Lauren alone again.
Lauren yawned and closed her eyes, drifting back off to sleep.
Deacon jogged into the shuttle with Liara right behind him. Cortez glanced at him as he sidled into the cockpit of the small shuttlecraft. The Operative smiled wearily at the pilot before touching his earpiece.
"Come on Shepard, we've searched the whole place. Everybody who was here is dead now."
He heard Shepard sigh. "I told you I saw something on a computer panel and I went back for it. Calm down," the Spectre walked onto the shuttle and took a seat next to Liara.
"Let's go Cortez."
Cortez nodded and gently tapped the controls for the shuttle. Deacon left the cockpit and walked back out to take a seat on the other side of Liara. Shepard looked incredibly pissed or was deep in thought (he couldn't really tell the difference anymore), so he wasn't going to take a seat next to her. Liara looked calm and stoic, like she always did.
"What's wrong Shepard?" Liara asked.
"Can I ask you a question Liara? It's been bugging me for a while."
"What is it?"
Shepard crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What exactly is a bondmate?"
Liara looked at Shepard in a sort of shock. "Excuse me? Where did that come from?"
Deacon chuckled. "This is about Lauren isn't it?"
"Yes," Shepard said gruffly. "It's bugged me since the first time I heard that word back when we were chasing Saren, but now with Lauren…I just want to make sure I understand the concept."
"I seem to be missing something." Liara looked confused.
"Aria put herself down on Lauren's paperwork as her bondmate." Deacon explained. "Shepard wants to know more about it so she knows that she understands it."
Liara was taken back. "They're bondmates? Hmm…well stranger things have happened. They must have bonded just recently before the war started because I haven't heard a thing."
"You can't know everything Shadow Broker."
"That's not it," Liara shook her head. "An asari matriarch, one as powerful as Aria, bonding with a human would be considered very unusual among my species. News like that tends to spread fast."
"Okay, before I start getting any more confused, explain the term 'bondmate'." Shepard thumped her head against the wall of the shuttle behind her head.
"A bondmate is someone that an asari has not only chosen to spend her life with, but has also joined consciousness with."
"I'm guessing that's a really intimate?" Deacon asked.
"Extremely," Liara leaned back up against the wall of the shuttle. "The practice is reserved only for an asari's closest friends and bondmates. Aria and Lauren must be very close."
"Wait, I'm confused."
Liara and Deacon groaned. Explaining a new concept to her was like attempting to teach a krogan how to use a door.
"Joined consciousness?" Shepard asked. "What the hell does that mean?"
Liara looked offended and her cheeks were somewhat bluer. "It means they've shared thoughts, memories, and even feelings. They, at some point, were considered one whole nervous system."
Shepard stared blankly at Liara before she realized what she was saying. But she still thumped her head against the wall of the shuttle again, obviously still frustrated. "Alright, it's intimate. I get that. But what does that make them? Married?"
"Technically, yes. Lauren's new name, if Aria kept her own, should be Lauren T'Loak. But I have known humans to keep their own names and refuse their bondmate's. If she's followed human practices then Lauren's full name should be Lauren Hackett T'Loak. You'd have to ask her."
Deacon made a strangled noise. "Damn, Lauren's married and we can't even get dates."
"I blame you." Shepard said dryly. "You scared away Kaidan."
"Excuse me?" Deacon leaned forward to glare at Shepard. "Who scared away Mercer during our training days?"
"He was a jerk!"
"He was into me!"
"He was a bastard!"
Liara groaned. "Goddess, there they go again." She got up and moved to the seat on the other side of Shepard, leaving the two humans alone to argue.
"HE WAS NOT!"
"HE WAS TOO!"
"DO NOT MAKE ME COME BACK THERE!" Cortez yelled from the cockpit.
Both Commanders turned around at once. "SHUT UP STEVE!" They yelled.
"MAKE ME!"
There really was a lack of professionalism on the Normandy, Liara noted as she buried her face in her hands and groaned.