A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry, you were supposed to get that chapter sooner, but then life happened (you have no idea how annoyed I am lately with my university, that doesn't help with writing at all!)

Anyway, the chapter is quite short, my apologize for that, but I hope the ending would be fine with all of you.

And also, THANK YOU for all the reviews I was getting lately! I read everything you write to me (if I don't respond it means I'm tired and busy with life), but I do appreciate it greatly that you're there and still reading my little, silly story.

Okay, enough about me, now have fun!

Ch. 26

A short, quiet beep broke the sweet silence. The darkness surrounding her, making her feel safe from the cruel world, started to fade slowly. She frowned, confused and moved her hand absentmindedly, trying to grasp at the mist drawing back steadily. The second her fingers twitched, she realized it was a mistake.

Pain exploded in her hand and rushed up her arm, burning the nerves on its way. She gasped and her throat clenched when another wave erupted near her ribs drawing a growl from her lips. Instinctively she tried to grasp at her side with her other hand, but the arm refused to move even an inch.

And then it all came back to her.

She forced herself to stay motionless as the thoughts, the memories rushed through her mind. She remembered the shots, the explosions, her little chat with the Cerberus troop. Her mind carefully analyzed the whole situation, making notes about the possible injuries. The loud crack her arm had made when it'd been forced into close contact with a hard wall sounded in her ears again. Her mind recreated the feeling of her fingers being crushed under a heavy boot. Now it all made sense. Apart from one single detail.

No matter how hard her mind struggles, it couldn't explain why the ground felt so soft under her back.

Her eyelids twitched when she slowly tried to open her eyes and investigate the situation. She blinked quickly a couple of times trying to get used to the dim light. The world looked hazy at first, but it didn't take long before it cleared up. She blinked again and her frown deepened as she stared straight ahead, confused. There was a ceiling above her, a suspiciously familiar one. A ceiling that she'd been looking at every morning for over two months already. She blinked once again and took a deep breath, only now realizing there was a mask on the lower part of her face providing clear, refreshing air. Way too refreshing for Omega, if she was being honest.

"Welcome back to the world of living, Miss Lawson," a soft, warm voice greeted her. A very, very familiar voice.

Miranda turned her head slightly and her eyes found an equally familiar face. Doctor Karin Chakwas was smiling at her warmly and she couldn't help but return the smile; it vanished immediately when a smaller wave of pain shot through her jaw.

She didn't move when the woman leaned over her and carefully took off the mask from her face. Ordered not to speak yet, she waited and watched the doctor as she took a container and dipped her fingers in the gel inside, sitting on the edge of the bed. Miranda sighed in contentment when the woman carefully applied the cool medigel to her sore jaw.

As she waited, she couldn't help but slowly tried to carefully move slightly each part of her body, checking the state it was in. She found out her whole back was sore, but didn't hurt much, unlike her right thigh. She remembered the bullet that had tore through the muscles there and another one that had made a hole in her shoulder. Her chest felt heavy, but as long as she kept taking shallow breaths she could easily stand the slight pain coming from the ribs, though her nose stung slightly when she breathed. It all wasn't that bad in the end, what really worried her was the state her arms were in. She was mostly right-handed and the broken fingers could be a great inconvenience and to have her other arm broken as well wasn't going to help.

"Your jaw should be better now," Chakwas' voice interrupted her thoughts.

Miranda nodded, cleared her throat and immediately grimaced at the feeling of a sandpaper scratching her throat. She hadn't even realized how thirsty she was.

The gray-haired woman chuckled quietly. "Here, we kept you hydrated with a water drip, but I believe you would like a sip or two, wouldn't you?" the woman said reaching for a glass waiting on the nightstand.

Miranda watched the doctor patiently as she sat close to her and slipping the arm under the pillow she lifted Miranda's head a little and brought the glass to her lips. The brunette drank greedily until she was reprimanded by Chakwas and had to slow down at least a little. It felt so good, though, the cool water sliding down her poor throat.

"How do you feel?" Chakwas asked when the glass was finally empty and put aside. The corner of Miranda's lips twitched and she barely opened her mouth before the doctor stopped the snarky remark. "Apart from the obvious, Miss Lawson, I'm quite aware you've been ambushed," she chided and Miranda couldn't help the tiny smirk.

"I've been worse," she said instead, before growing serious. "How exactly did I end up here?" she asked with a small frown.

"Well," Chakwas sighed, all the amusement gone from her face. "From what I know, you were found by some of the Blood Pack mercs. They dealt with the attackers and brought you back here. If I'm being honest, you were quite lucky, my lady, that professor Solus and I just happened to arrive that day because honestly, this imbecile Aria has here would kill you with his incompetence," the doctor huffed.

Miranda frowned momentarily, but quickly her face lightened with understanding. "I assume you mean the young Scott Adams. He's just an assistant and I actually wanted to talk with you about teaching him a thing or two. He can't afford a medical education and well, being stuck here with mister Korhonen, the actual medic who's drunk more often than not, won't really teach him much. Also the fact that Korhonen is half deaf doesn't help at all," Miranda grimaced.

The old man was quite a good doctor, but he was also tired with life and wasn't patient enough to educate a young man to be his successor. Being taught by someone like doctor Chakwas would be an amazing opportunity for him.

She frowned again when she realized the woman was looking at her thoughtfully with a small smile dancing on her lips. She tilted her head questioningly.

"Oh, it's nothing," Chakwas waved her hand, "It just always impresses me how you care about the future of the youths." Miranda cleared her throat and felt her cheeks start to burn when the woman's genuine smile only grew. "I will talk with this gentleman if you think he is smart enough to trust him with people's lifes."

Miranda only nodded thankfully, suddenly feeling too embarrassed to say more. It was one thing to be willing to help young people and make sure they have a decent life if only she could help it, but quite another to put herself on display like that. Doctor Chakwas was quite an authority when it came to the medicine, but it was the way she'd treated her patients and the Normandy's crew as if they were all her children who she cared about very much that sometimes had managed to bring out the shyness in Miranda, one she wasn't even aware existed. She'd never had a mother figure in her short life before the Normandy and she didn't want to admit it even to herself, but she'd always craved to have such person in her life.

"May I ask you something?" the gray-haired woman suddenly asked. Miranda shook her head slightly and focused her attention on the doctor, frowning at the anxiety in her face. She nodded slowly watching carefully the woman. "What happened in that alley?" Chakwas asked carefully, her voice quiet, as if she was dreading the answer. "I would have assumed they would want to kidnap you and bring to the Illusive Man. You were, after all, too important for the organization to just get rid of you like that."

The brunette sighed. She felt tired as the small bit of the strength she'd managed to gather just left in one breath. She closed her eyes momentarily and turned her head, avoiding the doctor's gaze. It was all the answer the older woman needed, but she forced herself to find the words.

"They did want to take me alive," she breathed and heard the doctor exhale heavily as if it was the exact answer she'd expected to hear.

"So of course you had to try and make them kill you, didn't you?" Chakwas said sadly and Miranda felt her cheeks flush again with deep embarrassment. There wasn't even a hint of judgment in the woman's voice, only a deep concern and resignation. It made the brunette feel even worse and crave for the ground to swallow her whole. "Miss Lawson, you, Commander Shepard and Aria are all worth each other," the doctor sighed and gently patted her better shoulder.

Miranda just couldn't force herself to even glance at the woman when she got up from the bed. She closed her eyes only listening as Chakwas checked again the machines and took more tests with her omni-tool.

The awkward silence was suddenly interrupted by another familiar voice coming from the other side of the door.

"Oh for fuck's sake, stop doing that! I swear I'm going to kick you if you keep walking between my legs, you little, furry idiot!"

Miranda frowned in utter confusion that got even deeper when she heard Chakwas snort in amusement. Just a moment later, before she even got to ask anything, the door opened with a short hiss and Aria T'Loak entered the room. Or more like almost fell into the room as she clearly stumbled over something when trying to step inside. It was followed by another of her colorful curses and a sound that Miranda absolutely did not expect to hear and did absolutely nothing to ease her confusion.

A meow.

Doctor Chakwas did nothing to stop another snort and instantly received an angry glare. Not that it bothered her in any way, she simply shook her head and finished with her tests, not even sparing a glance at Aria's direction.

"Do you think she'd mind if I skinned that little fucker? She wouldn't miss it, right?" the asari asked, not glaring somewhere at the floor.

"I don't know, you have to ask her," the elderly woman responded, the amusement nearly dripping from her voice.

Aria frowned with annoyance. "Well, how the fuck am I supposed to ask her if she's-" the words trailed away the second the Pirate Queen turned to look at Miranda. To say she was surprised to see the light blue eyes opened and narrowed with a brow raised would be an understatement. "Oh."

This time Chakwas let out a short, rich laugh. She gathered her belongings and shut down the machines, before turning towards the door.

"Don't let me bother you two," she said on her way out, amused sparkles dancing in her eyes. "Miss Lawson, I'll check on you in an hour and we'll see if your stomach is ready to get some food in," she added, glancing at the brunette over her shoulder and then she was gone.

The hiss of the closing door sounded like a thunder in a quiet room.

It took another few seconds for the asari to shake off the shock that froze her body in a spot. She shook her head and cleared her throat.

"So... You're awake," Aria drawled slowly and scratched her arm in an unusual awkwardness.

Miranda frowned, tilting her head slightly. Before she got to comment on that, though, another loud and very impatient meow sounded, as if the little kitten tried to point out how stupid that statement was.

Clearly it was all that was needed for Aria to get her shit together.

She huffed and glared at the floor again, all the awkwardness gone the second her arms crossed over her chest in her usual powerful stance.

"Will you finally shut up, you little cretin?" she barked in annoyance. By the rustle of the sheets that came from the other end of the bed Miranda suspected the kitten tried to get onto the bed and failed miserably. She couldn't stop the small smile as she watched Aria theatrically roll her eyes at another loud and demanding meow. "Keep dreaming, my pants already know how well you can climb with no help needed."

Miranda couldn't help but chuckle. She might not understand what was going on with that whole kitten situation, but seeing Aria argue with a little animal was rather hilarious.

"Come now, Aria, don't be an asshole, it's just a little, vulnerable creature, is it not?" she couldn't help but chided the asari.

If looks could kill, Miranda would be already on her way to the other world after the glare she received. Even though she tried very hard not to laugh out loud, she couldn't stop the corner of her mouth from raising just a little bit.

"Vulnerable my ass," Aria grunted. "That cretin is worse than a varren."

She then sighed heavily and leaned down reaching towards the floor. When she straightened up, her extended hand was clenched tightly around the black fur on the back of a little kitten's neck. There was a loud meow indicating that it might not have been exactly what the cat had had in mind when it'd wanted some help. It was cut short, though, when Aria bluntly dropped it onto the bed and crossed her arms again.

"Happy now?"

Miranda could only laugh when the kitten gave Aria a look and let out another loud meow before turning to climb onto her calf and start its journey up her leg. Soon, though, she discovered that maybe laughing too much wasn't the best of ideas as her ribs started to pulse with pain. It was bearable, but quite annoying as she couldn't even move her arms to grab at her side.

She noticed, though, how Aria's face fell and uncertainty slowly appeared in her eyes. She forced herself to give her a reassuring smile, but it didn't seem do too much good. At least the great Pirate Queen didn't seem as lost and awkward as before.

Miranda's eyes switched quickly from Aria to the little cat that stopped on her hip and seemed to consider something for a while before making a decision and curling into a little fur ball right where it was standing. A loud purr emanated from the kitten as it prepared to fall asleep.

She looked back to the asari when she felt the side of the mattress dip down slightly. Aria's eyes were fixed on the lying cat.

"I'm afraid you have to get used to that, it's been sleeping right there on your hip all the time whenever I let it come in here," Aria muttered and Miranda couldn't help a short chuckle.

She hissed slightly when the pain attacked her ribs again and immediately the asari's eyes were on her, cautious, worried.

Aria's voice was surprisingly soft when she whispered, "How are you feeling?"

Miranda sighed softy, sensing the atmosphere tense again just slightly. Now that the light mood was gone, she felt exhausted as her body screamed for more rest. Her eyes found the little cat and she was hit by a sudden realization that if it wasn't because of this little, innocent creature, she might not have ended up half dead. She couldn't blame it, though, it wasn't the kitten's fault that it'd been stuck there under the box and Miranda just always had a soft spot for the furry animals.

"To be honest, I'm tired," she admitted quietly. In the corner of her eye she noticed Aria nod and move to get up. "No, wait," she said quickly and the asari stopped frozen in the half way up. "I didn't say it to get rid of you, I would rather appreciate it if you stayed," Miranda muttered slowly, cautiously and just a little bit ashamed of the sudden need to have someone with her, someone who could provide the feeling of being safe.

It only made perfect sense, since she couldn't defend herself in any way now if anything happened. But she couldn't help but feel oddly exposed when Aria's piercing eyes found hers, trying to look into her mind, her soul. She blinked and averted her eyes; she'd always hated to show any kind of weakness.

To her utter surprise Aria simply nodded. Miranda kept shooting her small glances as she got up and took off her jacket. She placed it on a nearby chair, grabbed a datapad from the nightstand and sat down back on the bed with her back against the headboard.

"Try to get some more sleep," Aria said simply before turning on the datapad and focusing all her attention on the device.

A small smile tugged at the corner of Miranda's lips. She sighed appreciatively, a feeling of content expanding in her very soul. Her eyes fell closed on their own and in a heartbeat she was asleep again. Deep in her slumber she didn't notice when Aria's eyes switched from the device to her face, watching it carefully for a while before tracing the line of Miranda's jaw with just the tips of her fingers. Neither did she notice her get back to reading while her hand stayed to play with Miranda's hair. She was still sleeping when Chakwas came in to check on her an hour later, but quickly left after receiving a warning glare from Aria.

She didn't wake up even when Aria leaned over her and very carefully brushed her forehead with her lips, quickly jumping off the bed afterwards and rushing out of the room, missing completely an involuntary smile that blossomed on Miranda's face.

R&R, maybe? I'd love to hear your thoughts!