Last time: Cien stopped by and teased Oppie.

Now: Kelce comes to let Oppie go.

Chapter 5- Released

The next morning Kelce entered the medbay with a fresh cup of caf in one hand and his datapad in the other. He immediately went to check on Sasha first to check on her progress. When he got to the ICU, he walked over to her bed and pulled back the curtain. He smirked at the sight. Viran was curled up, sound asleep in the chair next to her. Being as quiet as possible, Kelce checked over her vitals and her charts. She was getting better and the infection was going down. All positive progress which is what he wanted. He wrapped up his check in and quietly left before Viran could wake. Exiting the ICU, Kelce walked over to the recovery room to check on Oppie, and hopefully allow him to leave the medical bay if he was ready. When he entered the recovery room, he walked over to Oppie's bed. He stopped short when he caught sight of Oppie… meditating? He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he looked like he was somewhere between a deep trance and sound asleep. Kelce cautiously approached, not sure what to do.

Rounding the bed, being just as quiet as he was when he checked on Sasha, Kelce set his caf down on the side table and started looking over Oppie's charts on his datapad.

"Hi." Oppie said, suddenly, awakening from his healing trance.

Kelce nearly leapt out of his own skin at that. He looked up at Oppie from his datapad as he placed a hand to his chest to steady his rapidly beating heart. "Jeeze, man. You know how to give a guy a heart attack."

"Sorry." Oppie said, "I was in a healing trance and felt you come in." He explained.

"It's fine," Kelce replied with a chuckle. "I noticed. I wasn't sure at first what you were doing, but that makes sense. I just didn't expect you to go from comatose to awake in a second. Normally, my patients wake up, you know… naturally." He chuckled again, his heart calming down. "Anyway, how are you feeling today?"

"Pretty much normal." Oppie said, "I only had a couple of cuts and bruises to be honest." He said with a slight shrug.

"That's good to hear," Kelce said as he eyed Oppie before glancing at his datapad. "And you had more than just a couple cuts and bruises. If I'm being honest. You were in pretty rough shape. It may have not seemed like much to you as you were so concerned about Sasha, but I'm honestly surprised you didn't collapse the second we arrived to save you."

Oppie looked at him curiously for a second, "I did end up taking the night watch more often, but other than that I just had the cuts on my arm and the bruises." He said, "unless I had a sprained ankle or something I missed." He said with a slight smirk.

"You definitely had a sprained ankle, which might be a little sore when you do try to walk on it. But aside from that, the cuts on your arm, and the bruises you could see, that's just the start," Kelce explained. He then lowered the data pad to the side table, setting it down. "You had several bruised bones including your ribs and jaw. Which if you had taken another hard hit to your jaw, you might have dislocated it. You had several nearly pulled and many overexerted muscles. Plus add on the lack of sleep and proper nutrition, if the infection that started in your arm didn't get you sick, those definitely would have. And you also lost a considerable amount of weight after everything you've been through. However, compared to Sasha, you are in a lot better shape. But if we were even a day later to find you, that wouldn't be the case."

Oppie was silent for a while, "I didn't know I actually sprained my ankle." He admitted.

"It was a light sprain. Nothing to worry yourself over," Kelce said with an apologetic tone. "And I'm sorry for not laying it all out to you sooner. I didn't feel the need to as you were healing so quickly and a lot of those injuries were taken care of before they got worse. Plus the bacta treatment and you being a Jedi and all definitely helped quicken the healing process. It was just easier to warn you about the things that will actually continue to be sore after you are discharged from here."

"Thank you for getting all of that treated." Oppie said, "and for taking care of Sasha."

"Of course, it's my job," Kelce said, smiling at him. "I'm just glad you two are okay. Speaking of my job, there is a reason I came in here aside from checking on your progress."

"Oh?" Oppie said hopefully.

"Yep, I am here to deliver the good news that you are being discharged from the medical wing today," Kelce said, beaming at him.

"Great." Oppie said with a smile, then looked slightly confused. "I'm getting an odd case of deja vu here."

Kelce laughed at that. "Tell me about it," he said. "I felt the same thing when I came in here. Of course, it would truly feel like that if we were back aboard the Defiant." Reaching over, he grabbed his datapad again and looked back down at his notes on it that he had for Op. "Alright, so while I am letting you go, there are several things I need you to keep in mind. One, you may be well enough to leave the medbay, but you are still in no condition to do anything exterinuous. In fact, I am ordering you as your doctor to take it easy. No dueling. No flying ships. No overexerting yourself in any way." He explained with a stern tone, fitting for a doctor. "You can walk around the ship and relax in the quarters that Captain Garret has provided for you. But that's it. However, I do want you to start building back up your strength and weight again. So stick to eating at a slow pace before building back up to your old routine. And I'm going to have you do some physical therapy with one of the medics here to help you get your strength back. If you can do all these things and check back in with me daily, then you will be back to your old self before you return home. Got it?"

"Got it." Oppie said with a nod as he swung his legs gingerly off the side of his bed and his feet touched the floor. He inhaled sharply as his ankle complained at the sudden movement. "Oh, yeah now I feel the sprain." He said.

"Told you," Kelce said. The doctor then opened a nearby cabinet and pulled out Oppie's clothes. "Here these are yours. We gave you a new shirt as your old one was ripped to shreds on the bottom, and everything has been washed and cleaned for you." He placed the bundle next to Oppie on the bed. "Would you like a hand getting changed or would you like a private moment to do so?" He asked as stayed nearby in case Op needed a hand.

"I think I can manage. Thanks." He said with a grimace as all of the aches and pains Kelce had listed off started asserting themselves as he started moving.

"Alright, I'll be right back," Kelce said, stepping away from the bed and drawing out a curtain from the wall. "Call if you need anything." He then pulled the curtain around the bed, providing Oppie privacy to change.

Oppie gingerly changed into his clothes, pulling on the new shirt, and then looked over his jacket. It had gotten cut deeply in several locations when he had used it to bundle up the various blades the hunters had used against him. The scars were still there in the tough leather, but someone had been kind enough to patch them closed, almost imperceptibly at arm's length. And the remains were there as further weathering on the jacket that had seen him through so much. He put it on, inhaling a little sharply from the aches and pains as he slowly put on one sleeve, then the other.

He picked up his sabers, grateful to see them again. He had figured that they had been taken and he might never see them again when he had been in the jungle, already sold off to some collector, or taken someplace where they would never be found. He had been too caught up in the events at the temple to appreciate finding them, along with Sasha's, but now he felt a sense of relief that they hadn't been lost. Clipping them to his belt, he turned and pulled the curtain aside.

"Where would everyone be?" Oppie asked as he walked up to Kelce, past the other empty beds in the ward.

Kelce looked up from where he was sorting through one of the nearby cabinets. "They might be down in the canteen having breakfast. The layout of this ship is very different though, so I can get you an escort to show you there. And Viran is still by Sasha's side, probably still asleep," he said then looked at Oppie up and down. "And I was going to get you a crutch or cane if you needed it, but you seem to be fine on your own."

"Yeah I think I can manage." He said, wanting to not have to rely on either of those.

"Alright, well let me get someone to show you where to go," Kelce said as he straightened up. He then paused for a moment. "Unless you want to check on Sasha." He offered, uncertainly.

"I was going to ask but I thought maybe you'd want to limit visitors. I'd like to check on her if I could, though." Oppie said.

"I do want to limit visitors, but after everything you two have gone through, I can make an exception," Kelce said quietly.

"Thanks." Oppie said, gesturing for him to lead the way.

Kelce started to walk away when he suddenly remembered his probably now cool cup of caf. He hustled back over to grab it. "Can't forget this." He commented before leading Oppie out. Kelce then led him across the hall and over to the ICU. The doors slid open as they approached. Inside, there were two curtained off beds. One in the far back and one closer to the door. Kelce led Oppie over to the closest one. He stopped before the curtain, just like he had done with Viran when he had shown him in here. Kelce turned to Oppie as he placed a finger to his lips. "Viran might still be asleep. And…" he said in a whisper then hesitated for a second. "Get ready." Kelce pulled back the curtain.

Sasha was lying on the bed, unconscious. Her skin was so pale and sunken in, and there were bruises on her bare skin that were much more prominent than his own. Her right arm was heavily bandaged around her shoulder and her arm was slung across her chest. Her left leg was wrapped up in a cast that was keeping the leg as straight as possible. She was wearing a respirator mask that was helping her breath and was hooked up to an IV along with a few other machines. And beside her in a chair sound asleep, was Viran, quietly snoring.

He deflated slightly, seeing her that way. But he remembered how close she had seemed to passing, and how powerless he felt unable to help her as she lay in the temple after he had dealt with Von. A part of him was actually grateful to see her surrounded by all the accoutrements of her treatment, even if it only emphasized how badly injured she had been left by the experience. Oppie looked between her and Viran, glad to see them together again. After a moment he turned to Kelce and nodded.

Kelce pulled the curtain closed. "Here, I'll show you out," he whispered. Oppie followed after him, subdued as he followed the larger man out. Once out in the main corridor of the medical wing and the door sliding shut behind them, Kelce turned to face Oppie. "You okay?" He asked, quietly.

"Yeah." Oppie replied. "Just hard to see her like that. Were you able to treat the claw marks on her shoulder?" Oppie asked.

"I understand," Kelce said, frowning. "And yes. We have done what we can for those. In fact, before I came to see you, I stopped by to check on her. The infection has gone down considerably. As for the marks themselves, they should heal faster once we can give her a bacta treatment."

"I felt so horrible cauterizing those." Oppie said, "It was all we could do with what we had, and she still got an infection anyway. Will you be able to keep it from scarring?" He asked.

"You did what you thought was right. And Sasha has been learning so much from my medical journals I gave her. I noticed on Nivon Five. She made the right call," Kelce said then hesitated. "As for the scarring… we will do what we can for that, but they were really deep and because we weren't able to get them bacta treatment in time," he swallowed before looking away, "they will most likely scar."

Oppie frowned and said nothing as he looked away. "I was hoping that wouldn't be the case."

"I understand. And I'm sorry that we can't do much more," Kelce apologized. "But I promise that I will try to do what I can for them." He paused for a second as he laid a hand on his chest. "I know better than anyone the haunting memories scars can leave behind."

Oppie nodded. "Thank you for everything Kelce."

"Of course," Kelce said with a simple nod. "Here," he flagged down one of the younger medics to come over. The young medic came over to them, curious as to why he was summoned. "Can you please show Oppie here to the canteen?"

"Uh, yes sir, Doctor Kelscov," the young medic said before looking at Oppie. "Follow me." The medic turned and headed for the exit that would lead out into the rest of the ship.

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