[Finn]

Finn leaned over to Chewie after Kaydel left. "Can you help me up the ramp? I can't lift my left leg right, or correctly, I mean." Some of the bites and gouges were deep into muscle and tendon. The elation of making it back alive was fading fast. "I need to get off my feet before I fall over."

Chewie made agreeable noises and put an arm around him, half-lifting and mostly steadying him. Rose followed as he limped up the ramp. He got into the rear compartment and waved Chewie off. "Thanks. I think we'll take it from here," Finn said as he saw Rose. Chewbacca harrumphed a few times and backed out of the small compartment. It wasn't made for one of his dimensions anyway.

Rose slipped in after he was gone. She let out a deep breath and leaned against the wall opposite him. Both of them were ragged and bloody, their disguise uniforms in tatters. Finn wasn't sure where the helmet had gone. He'd taken it off as soon as they'd arrived. Likewise, he couldn't recall where he'd dropped the blaster pistol. He just noted his holster was empty.

"We made it," Rose said.

"Ha." Finn gestured at the wall next to the bunk, too tired and hurting to move more than that. He felt faint. "Medpack?"

"Got it." Rose pushed herself away from the wall and pulled down the case. She set it next to him on the bunk and opened it, looking through the implements inside. It was fairly standardized stuff. On some of the specialized medical tech not subject to the New Republic's now-defunct disarmament laws, the First Order bought from the same sources as the rest of the galaxy. She said, "I'm going to wash my hands before I do anything more. And you need to undress."

"Can't you just cut my clothes off me? They're ruined anyway." He didn't know if he was joking or serious. Mainly, the task just felt beyond him.

"They're the only clothes you have," she pointed out. She paused to cup his face and press a gentle, grateful kiss to his forehead. "You saved me."

He looked up at her with a small smile. "I saved what I loved," he said quietly.

She bent to kiss him on the lips, chastely. "I love you," she said just as quietly. It was the first time they'd said those words to one another.

"I love you, too," he said back, even though he'd already said it a different way. He wanted to say it all the ways. But he hurt. He winced as he looked up at her, spots in his back stinging and spots appearing in his vision. Her face was beautiful no matter what. He adored how she looked at him.

"I'll be right back," she promised before going to the refresher. She locked the door to the rear compartment as she passed it so that no one would intrude on them. Finn slumped in her absence. He heard the toilet run. He heard the sink run. He knew he was supposed to be undressing or digging through the medpack. He just couldn't. Over and over, he thought about that simple declaration: 'I love you.' It mattered more than how much his body stung and ached. Someone loved him. She loved him.

It wasn't just Rose. Poe had faced poised blasters for him. It also wasn't just the Resistance. The FN squad that had come for them had basically carried him the rest of the way back, switching between them as needed. There was no discussion of leaving him behind. He mattered – and as more than just a grunt.

Rose came back out, her jacket off and sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She kissed him again and started with his shirt, not complaining about his lack of progress. It only had one arm now, but she opened it normally and he moved enough to shrug it off. He joked, "Okay, okay. I'll get undressed. I didn't know you wanted me naked right away." She giggled. He stood and had to grab the top bunk for balance. "I don't feel so good."

"Finn, they ate part of you. They were trying to eat all of you."

"Did they …" He trailed off, looking down at the ruin of his left thigh where she'd delicately peeled off his pants. He swallowed roughly. Because yes, it didn't just hurt – he was literally missing flesh, excised right off his body, leaving a gouge deep into the muscle. "Well. Now I know why it was so hard to lift my left leg."

"Step up," Rose prompted.

"No," he said. "I literally can't. Not on the left."

"Then I'll lift it for you. Hold on." He held to the top bunk as she removed his boot, sock, and pant leg. They repeated for the other leg, but he was able to raise his right leg by himself. She took down his underwear as well. "There's a place on your … buttock … that's just as bad. And some on your back. Your shin here."

He could see the one on his shin – not deep, but it went to the bone. He'd bled so much that his socks were red and brown, the inside of his boots and the bottoms of his feet were disgustingly moist. He was leaving red footprints on the floor. "Oh no," he breathed out heavily. He was still holding onto the top bunk, with both hands now. "I kept them off my front and my arm. That's mostly where they kept going."

The bandage around his left forearm had been shredded. The flesh wasn't much better, with several bites along it despite his efforts to keep them off.

"They were all over you," Rose said. "You did the right thing, protecting your center." She was going through the medpack now.

"It was also the easiest place to knock them off from. On the good side," Finn said, "officer's transports like this shuttle usually have good medical supplies. Troop transports never do." If they had them at all.

"Yeah. That's the First Order for you," she said glumly. There was a chime at the door as someone trying to enter found it locked.

"We should let people in so they can use the refresher," Finn said.

"You're naked," Rose said like that mattered. She slid shut the door to the bunk area instead. "You can come in now," she called out. She went back to the medpack. "Here, this will help." She held up an instrument that would decontaminate the wounds and prevent infection. She ran it over each one, then came back through with an unguent that should accelerate healing. The final step was a spray-on sealant.

"That stuff's working," Finn said. "I can feel it already. They don't sting."

"You should lie down and get some rest. None of this works if you keep exerting yourself and reopen the wounds."

"You don't have to tell me twice," he mumbled, starting to lie down as she moved the medpack to the floor. Then he caught himself. "Wait, what about you?"

"I'll be alright."

"No, you won't! I mean, you will be, but you're hurt."

"Not as bad as you." But she was taking off her shirt, so he stopped objecting. He retrieved the same instrument she'd used earlier and did a quick check of the settings on it as she undressed. All her cuts were shallower than his, but she still had a dozen bites and slices where they'd definitely been starting on her, prevented from going further only by him grabbing them and yanking them off her. He went through the same medications for her injuries, because like his most of them were on her back and lower legs where it was harder or impossible for her to reach.

There was a knock at their door. "Yeah?"

"It's me," Kaydel's voice came through the partition. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes," Rose answered.

"They've been cooking some of the crab," Kaydel said. "Do you want some?"

The two of them looked at each other, mutually reaching the same decision. Rose answered. "No. We're just going to get some sleep."

"We need to go out," Finn said reluctantly. "We don't get to sleep in here."

"Why not?" Rose asked.

"Rey and Kylo …?"

Rose shook her head, her brows drawn together. "No way. They're fine. We're hurt. You are hurt. No one else is injured. That means we get the beds. That's how it works."

He half expected General Hux or that first sergeant to come in and kick them out at some point, but they never did. Maybe that was how it worked.