Slowly Sadara came too, slightly disoriented at first. The chirps and beeps of medical equipment sounded distant at first, but told her she was in sickbay and in the background she could hear the low chatter and scuffling of people moving about the area. Judging by the number of other monitors and devices she heard in the background it seemed as if sickbay was now the most popular place on the ship. She strained for a moment, trying to detect the unique cries or coos of a baby. Sikara was the only baby on the ship so if Sadara could hear her, she'd know her daughter was well.

Her eyes fluttered open and she took a deep breath as she turned her head from side to side trying to see what was going on. Her sudden movement caught Pike's attention and he glanced up at her with relief and happy surprise written all over his handsome face.

"Sadara, thank heavens," he breathed. He wanted to get up and be closer to her, but he'd just gotten Sikara back to sleep after all the chaos and was honestly afraid to move for fear he'd wake her. Having been away from them for a month, he didn't have the experience his wife had to know how much latitude he had before their daughter would wake from any commotion. Babies in general, he knew, typically had low tolerance for sudden events.

Sadara relaxed, seeing that her baby and husband were safe and well, but she didn't know what had happened to that young woman she'd tried to help in the corridor and she scanned the room looking for any sight of her.

"Surgery," Pike said, picking up on her unvoiced thoughts through their bond and answering her. "She was lucky you found her when you did. If someone had been even a few minutes later, she might not have made it."

Sadara winced. "I was frustrated and a little flustered," she chastised herself, staring at the ceiling. "Over the years of listening to my father talk about life aboard a starship, I learned a few things about how they operate, but I don't know everything obviously. Thinking it through further I know why there weren't a lot of crew in the corridors during the red alert, but at the time I heard her call for help, I remember being surprised by that. And I'm still under a number of physical restrictions since my c-section so I wasn't really supposed to move her myself without risk of harm to myself. I'm sure there was something I should have done differently."

"Think you're being a little too hard on yourself?" Pike asked sincerely. He knew that Starfleet officers tended to be task masters as parents so the former starship captain thought he understood why young Sadara constantly tore things apart, trying to find room for improvement for next time. Pike knew he was guilty of the same himself and never more often than as captain of a starship. Still…

"Sweetheart, you're not a Starfleet officer though. "You did all that was required of you as a civilian; headed for sickbay and called for help for someone who needed it while obeying doctor's orders."

Sadara tried to digest that. "Then why does it still feel so inadequate."

"Well, I'm no counselor like you are," he teased. "But for Starfleet officers who are laid up under doctor's orders it's because you can't do everything you're used to doing. It's hard not to feel like you're not pulling your own wait when you're under medical restrictions. For you though, having grown up with a father who had high expectations, it seems to me that it's natural for you to never be satisfied with your performance of anything."

A sigh. "I suppose that's probably it." She glanced over at the little sleeping bundle in Pike's arms. "She's going to be super hungry when she wakes up and steaming mad when she realizes it. Something about that bossy "my way or the highway" cry she has."

"You think so?" Pike asked. He peered at his peacefully sleeping daughter as if unable to believe she'd demand her supper in such an unladylike way.

Sadara nodded with a mischievous grin. Re-educating her husband about the evolution of their baby daughter's schedule and personality was going to be amusing. "Her schedule is a little off given what happened earlier so if she just went to sleep as you said, she'll be overdue for a feeding when she wakes up. But don't worry; I think I can bail us out."

They glanced up as one of the nurses approached and then hovered over Sadara for a few minutes to check her vitals and ask her a few questions about status. The nurse made some notations in Sadara's chart on her datapadd and then shuffled off to check on the next patient.

"I'm still not sure how I came to wake up here?" Sadara asked. "The last thing I remember was trying to make it back to that officer from the comm. panel on the wall after I'd called sickbay."

"The nurses and doctors weren't sure either," Pike nodded. "But I remembered a brief disturbance in the bond around that time so I suggested perhaps you'd forgotten to raise your telepathic shields before you caught the girl. We figured you might have been overwhelmed by the vicarious experience of what happened to you. It seemed to make the most sense to us."

Sadara seemed to digest that and she frowned in concentration as she ran through the sequence of events in her mind. "That seems right. There was a moment when I could see what happened to her as if it were through her eyes."

"It's either that or you're just squeamish," Pike teased.

Sadara reached out and swatted him gently on the head.