It was so late at night that the correct terminology for the time would be early morning. And the only thing that measured the passage of time was the blood drops splattering on the marble floor in front of the medical wing in the Mondstadt church. Kaeya knew that he should come in and get his wound treated but just couldn't bring himself to do it.

Due to the shortage of personnel, he had gone out to clear a Hilichurl camp that was a bit too close for comfort. He had easily cleared the camp but on his way, he was ambushed by another group of Hilichurls.

They are definitely evolving.

Kaeya would have been fine with the ambush and would have managed to fight them off, but one of the hilichurls was especially stubborn. When Kaeya had broken their bow, the creature attacked the captain straight with an arrow clenched in their hands and forced it deep into his shoulder. Kaeya had killed the hilichurls but now he had to go to the Church to get treated as Albedo who often worked through the nights was at Dragonspine.

With a steadying breath, Kaeya finally forced himself and knocked on the door. He didn't have to wait much longer after that as the door opened and he was promptly pulled inside. A minute later he had found himself sitting on the patient's cot and the Deaconess already cutting off the sleeve around the wound.

"Good evening, Barbara," Kaeya greeted the young woman.

"It is already morning," the woman shot back examining the wound. Oh, he caught her in that mood. Kaeya bit his lip. If he didn't antagonize her and let the deaconess work in peace he would soon be on his way to his office where he will be able to sleep for a bit.

But Barbara had other plans.

"Sir Kaeya, how many times a month do I have to see you for your nightly visits?" the young woman called her hydro powers forward and with their help started to wash the area around the wound. The water felt burning cold on the wound.

"Dear Deaconess, I hope you understand that the visit here was unplanned."

"Oh, I understand that, Barbara forced the man to lie down on the cot and grabbed the arrow shaft. Kaeya winced at the slight shift of the arrow in the wound. "At least you didn't break the shaft… this time."

Kaeya remembered the last time he had to come to Barbara with a similar wound. He had to break off the shaft as it was interfering with the arm movements. And he broke it as close to the wound as he could, but then the rest of the arrow shifted in even deeper during the battle. When he finally came for the treatment, the Deaconess had to break out the tweezers to pull the arrow tip. Of course, the extraction was so much more painful than actually being wounded. And Kaeya would bet his eyepatch that Barbara made it as painful as she could so that he would never break off the shaft. The captain had to concur though – it was a method that worked. After he had healed, he started practicing the sword also with his non-dominant hand.

Barbara clutched the shaft with her left hand, her right braced on Kaeya's shoulder. A strange glint in her eyes. Kaeya gulped, preparing himself for what was to come.

"Brace yourself," she ordered the captain and pulled on the arrow.

Kaeya clenched his teeth, silent but a grunt still escaping him. The arrow soon was out and Kaeya breathed out, the pain from the wound already lessening significantly. Barbara disposed of the arrow in the special bucket she had in the corner for hilichurls weaponry.

"Sir Kaeya, what am I going to do with you?" she asked the Cavalry Captain lying on the cot before her. The man tried to smile charmingly.

"Love me, heal me, never leave me?" Kaeya suggested.

"Well, I won't say no to healing you," the Deaconess laughed at the captain and rewashed the wound with the water from her hydro vision. As the cold water contacted the wound Kaeya grunted again in pain.

"Can't you make the water just a little bit warmer?" he grunted.

"No," cheerfully replied Barbara, cutting off the hydro application. She took a bottle of hydroxide peroxide from her instrumental stand. "You know it as well as I do. This treatment is… a deterrent."

Yes. Kaeya knew that. That is why he went for his medical problems (if he felt brave enough and couldn't treat them by himself) to Albedo. Albedo used unorthodox methods, but at least they were less painful, than the methods used by Barbara.

The Deaconess poured the peroxide right on the wound, the liquid pooling in the wound and merrily bubbling, killing all the bacteria. It was also indiscriminately killing the rest of the cells, the burning feeling from it slowly seeping deeper and deeper. Kaeya groaned, eyes closed, slowly riding the pain out. Several moments later the pain lessened as the Deaconess washed out the residual peroxide with her hydro vision.

"Kaeya," Barbara leaned so that her face was right above the man's face. "Look at me."

Kaeya knew that that was an order, but he was too slow to follow it as Barbara forced his face up to look at her.

"It is unacceptable for you to get hurt," Barbara told him, her eyes on his singular barely open eye.

The adrenalin after the fight had finally started to vanish and the painful sensations of the wound cleansing did not help regain the lost energy. Now all that was left was the bandaging. He could easily survive that. Maybe. Kaeya was slowly drifting to sleep. Only the dressing and then he will escape to sleep in his office. But Barbara once again had something else planned.

She took an already cleaned needle already threaded with a thread that was thoroughly soaked in the healing liquid.

"It will sting a bit," was the only warning Kaeya had before the Deaconess started to suture him. As the young woman meticulously sewed the wound shut Kaeya couldn't care enough to keep quiet and soon the room was loud with his groans, pants, and moans. The thread luckily didn't get snagged anywhere and even though it left a burning feeling it was soon transformed into a pleasant warmth taking away the pain. That same worth and the low humming from Barbara had helped to relax him just in time for Barbara to finish the sutures and to do the bandaging.

"That's it," the young woman patted his head as she started to clean the area. The warmth coming from his wound was now gently lulling Kaeya to sleep.

"Sadist," he sleepily murmured. He had to stay long enough only to escape to his office, then everything would be even better. But Barbara just smiled at him, gently petting his hair.

"Sleep," Barbara breathed out to Kaeya who had already lost the battle with the body demands.

Kaeya slept well that night, not waking even once.