When the girl had been much younger, she'd fainted while biking with her father. She still remembers the odd sensation of reality just popping into existence around her when she woke again and the vague sensation that something "other" had been in its place just moments before.

She watches Kai Leng leap over the side of the stairwell, less than a yard away, and is certain that she is in that same "other" place now. Lucidity is playing with her, showing her everything going on but keeping her distant from it.

The gunshots as Shepard rushes after Kei Lang are clear, but Thane doubled over and coughing is even clearer. The girl rallies and grabs the med-kit, holding it close to her chest as she slowly stands.

"Thane!" Shepard calls.

"I have time," Thane rasps back as loudly as he apparently can, "Catch him."

He is on his knees now, slumping to his backside.

She doesn't remember him coughing like this.

She tries very hard not to be afraid. She isn't sure what will happen if she becomes afraid. It will be alright. She has the medi-gel. She knows how to apply it. Shepard will call for the paramedics, he will be fine.

She has his hand in hers. How strange? When had she done that? His skin is cool, smooth in a way that human skin is not.

"You know…Shepard?"

Just focus. She bats aside his coat, ignoring the words he speaks, and takes a sloppy handful of the gel.

He isn't impaled through the chest. Instead, fabric is slashed to the side. Past the ribs, almost missed, but cut through muscle and skin of his side.

That isn't as bad as impaled, is it? No, it can't be. It has to be better. But, it means more blood loss. She inhales sharply and begins to apply medi-gel fervently. Her hand is shaking, she doesn't realize she is leaned in so far until her head brushes up against his shoulder, blocking her own light but steadying her.

Oh, it's a nice shoulder, too.

"… you are wounded…"

He keeps talking. He should stop that. She reaches blindly for the remaining medi-gel before realizing that she really should probably … she should probably… straighten up now.

His coat smells like leather and dust. Arid. She doesn't want to move. She thinks that maybe… just maybe… she'd earned not moving.

She feels like a wet blanket. Maybe she is one.

"I doubt that's the case…" Thane's voice is very quiet, controlled.

She smiles. Reality is draining away beneath her, or maybe it is clawing her back, she can't tell. Either way, she thinks back to her parents, to her husband, to her home. Then she thinks about the concern she believes she can hear in Thane's voice. It's sweet, but not as sweet as the strength in it. The lack of coughing, the lack of masked pain.

He shifts, reaching for something. She remains limp against him. "Tell me your name?"

She tells him then, giving him the name that she'd chosen for herself so long ago in that institution. She laughs a breath as she does so.

"Mary Sue…"

She closes her eyes and finally, finally, lets go.

End