Guest reviewer Lily asked for Brandon/Stella and patching up a wound

Brandon saw Stella fall out of the corner of his eye and his heart fell along with her.

"Sky-" he gasped out, lungs constricting painfully with every second that Stella lay defenceless on the ground.

"Go," his friend grunted, deflecting a spell with his blade. "I'll cover you."

So leaving Sky to deal with Darcy and trusting him to protect his back, Brandon turned and ran for Stella's prone form, scooping her up into his arms, and hurrying her into the ship.

"'m fine," she mumbled, but groaned quietly when she was jostled in his arms.

"Not fine," he said through gritted teeth, keeping one hand clenched tightly over the bloody gash in her side. "Not fine at all."

The fact that she didn't put up any more protests worried Brandon more than he could explain, and he took her straight into the ship's med bay, lowering her carefully onto the padded bench, before hurrying away to source some bandages and healing potions they kept stocked. Stella was quiet as he worked - another thing that worried Brandon - but her eyes were open and watching him while he dressed the wound and encouraged her to gulp down a potion.

"You're all cute when you're worried," she said, words slurring slightly as the potion took effect. Her fingertips were pale from blood loss but surprisingly steady as she reached up to trace the frown lines etched in his forehead.

The sudden thrum of the ship powering up below them cut off Brandon before he could formulate a response, not that he thought he would be able to with his heart still thudding painfully in his chest. Bloom appeared at the doorway to explain that they'd decided to retreat; she looked furious that the Trix had won this battle, but her concern for her friend overwhelmed that.

"You okay, Stell?"

Stella managed a weak smile, and took her hand away from Brandon's face to give a thumbs up. Once Bloom had left again, Brandon caught ahold of the hand and laced their fingers together before bringing it to his lips so he could kiss the back of her hand softly.

"Don't ever do that to me again, please," he murmured into her skin, unable to look at her quite yet.

"Hey," Stella said, squeezing his hand, voice unusually serious. "Hey, I'm okay. You saved me."

Brandon shut his eyes against the surprising tears, knowing that although he'd been there this time, next time he might not be.