Last time: Sasha and Oppie reconnected after Myrkr. it was needed.

Now: Kelce talks to the family about Sasha's recovery.


Chapter 10- More Than Just Physical Wounds

The next morning Kelce headed for the canteen before heading to the medical wing. He was planning to discharge Sasha this morning. However, he needed to speak with Oppie and Cien before he would see his patient. He realized what it would take to help Sasha recover as he looked over her charts, but also caught wind of what she was experiencing emotionally and mentally during her recovery on the Valor. And he knew that her family deserved to know before she was released. He entered the canteen and looked around for the rest of the Xiv clan. Kelce found them all sitting at a table nearby with Scamp and Nova, chatting and eating. He approached the table.

"Good morning everyone," He greeted as he came to a stop near the table.

"Morning, Kelce," Nova greeted with a smile.

"What's up Doc?" Kyr asked, "join us for a little breakfast?" He said, gesturing to a free spot. Kitsu and Illara started shifting over a bit to make room for him.

"Thanks. I'll join In a bit. I was actually on my way to the medical wing," Kelce explained. "But I was wondering if I could talk to Oppie and Cien for a moment. Privately."

Everyone looked at each before Cien responded for the two of them. "Sure." She and Oppie pushed their chairs back and got up to follow Kelce away.

Kelce led them away from the table to an emptier part of the room. He turned to face them, his arms folded across his chest.

"Everything okay?" Oppie asked a little worriedly. Cien looked between him and Kelce, also with a slight hint of worry.

"Yes, everything is fine," Kelce assured them. "I came with some good news, but also a request. Specifically for the two of you."

"What is it?" Cien asked.

"I'm planning to release Sasha today from the medical wing, but what I need you two to do is help with her recovery." Kelce explained. "To be more specific, her physical and mental recovery. Based on what I have heard from you guys and seen myself is that Sasha is not in a good place mentally or emotionally after all of this. I predict that she may need extra motivation and support in order to get better."

Oppie and Cien looked at each other. "I think we were both planning to be there for her." Oppie said, "Was there something in particular you needed us to do?"

"I assumed that would be the case, and yes," Kelce answered before looking directly at Oppie. "Op, I need you to help her with physical therapy. I get the feeling that she may try to get out of it and avoid it. I say that because I have seen soldiers who have come back from similar situations that refused physical therapy and remained in a hover chair for weeks longer than they were supposed to. Their mental condition was so bad that it affected the rest of their health and recovery. So I need you to be hard on her about her therapy so that doesn't happen to her. Cien, you can definitely help with this. But because Op, you were her master for so long, she will listen to you if you treat her like an apprentice who is learning. Can you handle that?" He asked, cautiously.

Oppie swallowed and paused for a moment. They hadn't really had that kind of relationship since that argument they had after he returned from the World Between Worlds, and he looked away, remembering it. "Yeah, I can make sure she does her physical therapy."

"Good, thank you," Kelce said, then looked at Cien. "And what I need you to do is to help her with her mental recovery. I know you both have that ability that you used to save Kyr. I figured you can use that to help her recover and get over this situation. Would you be able to do that?"

Cien blinked at that. The stray thought went through her head of how she had first used the mindspace with Sasha, when they had first met. And the irony of that someone was now asking her to use that same power to help Sasha made her look at Op, though he didn't seem to notice. "Yes I can, if she is okay with that. I will be there to help her otherwise though, as well."

"Thank you," Kelce said with a breath of relief. "I know I'm asking a lot of you two to do this, but as her Doctor I am concerned for her and I want her to get better. She is going to need you guys and Kyr and Viran to get through all of this."

"What are you going to ask Kyr to do for her?" Cien asked with a slightly bemused tone.

"Because Kyr has recently been through something similar, I need him to just be there to talk to her. Get her to open up about it," Kelce said. "Not saying she won't open up to you guys, but I have seen what happens when two people who share a similar trauma talk. It will help both of them, even though it appears that Kyr is doing better."

Cien nodded, and swallowed. She knew how deeply affected he was by his own experience, even if he seemed to be doing better. He had only put his armor on again for the first time three weeks ago at the start of this current crisis to go rescue Sasha and Op. Without that need to don the armor again and protect his family, she was sure he would have still stayed out of his plates. "I'm sure it will." She agreed after a moment.

"And I plan to ask Viran to help her emotionally," Kelce added on. "Since he is her husband, he is the best source for emotional support. However, I'm not going to ask him to help with PT as the last thing their relationship needs is Sasha to argue with him and cause tension or problems. Trust me on that. Again, I have seen it for myself." He then paused. "But my point is, I need all of you to do your part to help her. We all know who Sasha is, you all better than the rest of us. If we want her to be back to normal or at least a new form of it, you all need to work together on this."

"We will." Oppie said.

"Of course." Cien said, sharing a glance at Op before looking back at Kelce.

"Thank you," Kelce said before casting a glance at the chrono. "I need to get going." He started to walk away, but he stopped and turned back to them. "And please don't worry. Sasha will be fine. She's strong. We all know that. But she's also stubborn too. All medics are. And she will be back to normal too because of you guys being there for her." With that, he left.

Cien and Oppie looked at each other for a moment before she finally spoke. "I can also help a bit with the physical therapy since I was helping Kyr with his." She offered.

"Thanks," he replied, "I might need a little help with that. I'm sure she will be stubborn about it so I might need you to nudge her along with me sometimes."

"I will, I can be very stubborn as well." Cien said with a smirk as she turned to rejoin the others. "If you need anything, let me know." She said quietly.

Oppie was quiet for a while. "Thank you."


"Good morning, Sasha," Kelce greeted as he approached her bed with a grin.

Sasha looked up from her conversation she was having with Viran a few days after her conversation with Oppie for the first time in a while. Viran, who was sitting on the edge of the bed holding her hand, looked up too when the doctor approached.

"Good morning," Sasha greeted back, her spirits definitely better.

Viran was happy to see her doing better. Over the past few days after her bacta treatments finished, Sasha was still having a rough time getting over everything that happened. However, after her conversation with Oppie a few days ago, Viran guessed that whatever they talked about helped as he noticed Sasha was starting to act like her old self. That didn't mean she was back to normal. It just meant that Viran noticed a few more smiles and laughs, but not enough for anyone to be convinced that she was feeling like herself.

"How are you feeling today?" Kelce asked as he stopped at the foot of the bed.

"Better," Sasha said.

"Great!" Kelce grinned. "Well I come bearing good news. I am letting you go today."

"Wait, seriously?" Sasha asked, surprised.

"Yep," Kelce informed her.

"That's great to hear," Viran beamed.

"Now I'm gonna give you a private moment to get changed then when I return, I'm going to break down what I need you to do for me when you get home. Alright?" Kelce explained.

"Alright," Sasha nodded.

"Your clothes are in that cabinet. We gave you all new clothes as your others were torn and tattered beyond repair," Kelce said as he gestured to the cabinet. "Nova even gave you a new jacket she thought you'd like."

"Oh thank you," Sasha said, bewildered by the kind gesture.

Viran moved off the bed and opened the cabinet Kelce had gestured to as the doctor pulled the curtain closed around them, providing privacy. Viran produced a stack of clothes, her boots, and her lightsaber which sat comfortably on top of the clothes. He moved back over and set them down on the bed next to her.

"Want some help?" He asked.

"Yeah, it'll be difficult with the sling and the cast," Sasha admitted.

Viran nodded and helped her move to the edge of the bed so he could help her change into her clothes. It definitely was a struggle as they carefully maneuvered the clothes around her injuries. After several minutes, Sasha was dressed back in her new clothes which was a light grey shirt with black pants with a blue stripe. The new blue grey jacket lay next to her on the bed as she was just going to wear it over her shoulders since she didn't want to struggle to get her right arm into another sleeve. Viran knelt down before her and helped her slip on her right boot as Sasha clipped her lightsaber back to her belt. It felt heavy against her as her belt sat a little looser than normal, but having it back on her side felt relieving as she missed its weight. By that point, a tap came from the other side of the curtain against the cloth.

"How's it going? You okay?" Kelce's voice rang out from the other side.

"Yeah, all clear," Viran called back as he stood back up.

Kelce pulled open the curtain and came back in. "Alright, you look great. Nova really did a good job. How do you feel?" He asked Sasha who looked thrilled to be back in normal clothes again

"Great," Sasha replied with a smile.

"Now what do we need to know before we go?" Viran asked.

"Thank you for asking. I was just getting to that," Kelce started. "So like I told Op when I let him go. You need to take it easy. Your body is still recovering and it will take a while before you are back to one hundred percent. So what you need to do is follow a regiment that I put on this datapad that will help you recover." He gestured to the datapad he was holding. He handed it to Viran. "You lost a lot of weight and muscle strength. You will need to do physical therapy weekly to get your strength back and get back on a normal diet again. I've already talked with Oppie and Cien, and they agreed to help you with that. So don't be too hard on them. But no missions or sparring or anything strenuous until the med droid at Haven and I can clear you. Okay?" She gave an understanding yet disappointed nod. "And I will give you the option, but you will need to use either crutches or a hover chair until you are strong enough to walk, especially without the cast."

Sasha listened to everything he listed off, but when he mentioned the crutches and the hover chair she grimaced. Kelce brought the two options over to her and set them before her. She stared at them for a whole minute. The longer she stared the more likely she was to burn a hole through the hover chair as that was the last option she wanted to use. After a long moment, she pointed at the crutches.

"I'll take the crutches please," Sasha said.

Kelce nodded. "It might be a bit difficult to use both of them at first due to your sling, but it sounds like you have already mastered the one arm crutch," he said with a slight joking tone.

Sasha shot Kelce a look at that before nodding, noticing his comment. Kelce held one of them out to her. He informed her yesterday that he needed her to keep the sling on until after she got home and had the medical droid perform one final bacta treatment on her. But the idea of going around with one crutch again made her grimace slightly. Sasha took the crutch and adjusted it under her arm while Kelce and Viran got on either side of her to help to stand. On the count of three, they helped Sasha off the bed, allowing her feet to touch the floor. The sudden weight change caused her knees to start buckling, but both men on either side of her had an iron grip that wouldn't let her fall. They then helped her adjust onto the crutch.

"I got it," Sasha said as she straightened up on the crutch.

"Alright, try walking for me," Kelce advised.

Sasha nodded. Carefully, she moved her right foot forward and took one step. As she moved her left leg to take the next step, Viran and Kelce slowly moved their hands away. She took another step, using the crutch to support her, her legs shaking. But on her fourth step, her knees buckled and she started to fall. Thankfully, Kelce and Viran hadn't moved far so they were easily able to catch her.

"Easy, you'll get it," Viran supported.

"Here sit down and take a minute then we can try again," Kelce suggested.

Sasha shook her head. "I wanna try again now."

Kelce shot a brief glance at Viran before nodding. "Okay."

So like before they helped her straighten up and get her balance with the crutch before letting her try walking again. Three steps later and she started to fall again. And just like before Kelce and Viran caught her.

"Sasha, you should take it easy. If the crutch doesn't work for now it's fine," Viran said, assuredly.

"No, I can get this," Sasha said determined. "Let me try again."

"Alright, one more time," Kelce agreed, unsure. "But that's all I'm allowing for now." His voice stern as he said that.

"Okay," Sasha agreed after a moment.

Third time's the charm. Sasha tried once again to walk with the crutch, determined to not use the hover chair. And just like before, three steps and she fell. If she had the use of her right arm at the moment, then this would be no issue and she could use both crutches. But as she went down, the realization struck that the hover chair was the only option.

"Damn it," Sasha cursed as tears brimmed as Kelce and Viran helped her up after catching her.

"It's okay, Sasha," Kelce said gently. "You'll get it. But right now, you need your right arm back to full strength before you try to use these again. I know you wanted to try and I was willing to let you try, but I'm sorry. You're going to have to use the hover chair for a bit."

Sasha sunk down onto the edge of the bed, deflating at that statement. She didn't respond as Kelce took the crutch away and proceeded to bring the hover chair over. Slowly raising her gaze, she looked at the chair with almost a disgusted look. Kelce then came around the chair and knelt down before her. She turned to look at him.

"It'll be okay. You won't be in the chair long," Kelce informed her. "If you do your physical therapy weekly then you won't need it anymore. I know you can do it. For now, just use the chair until you are stronger. Okay?"

Sasha felt a lump form in her throat. But she nodded after a moment. Kelce exchanged a worried glance with Viran, who was wearing the same expression, as he rose up from his knelt position. Then together the two of them helped her move from the bed and into the chair. As she sat down, she felt herself tense. Never in her life had Sasha felt small or fragile. She was a tall woman who always seemed to tower over people and always exuded such strength. But in this chair, she felt the opposite. She felt small and fragile… and weak. And slowly she disappeared into her own head as she tuned out the rest of the room. Viran wrapped her new jacket around her shoulders as she stared off into the space before her.

"Alright, you're free to go," Kelce said with a small smile.

"Thank you so much, Kelce," Viran said as he extended a hand out to the doctor. "For everything."

"Of course," Kelce said, taking his hand and then pulling him into a hug. "Be there for her emotionally. She will need you more than ever." He added with a whisper into Viran's ear before pulling apart.

Viran gave an understanding nod before turning to Sasha. "Ready to go see the others? And maybe go home?" He asked her.

"Yeah," She said absently.

Viran patted her left shoulder before coming around behind her chair. Gathering her other boot and the datapad, Viran tucked them into the back pouch of the chair. He then started pushing it and her out of the medical wing to go join their family for maybe a late breakfast.


Review!