Last time: Oppie was released from the medical center after a few days.

Now: Sasha wakes up.

Chapter 6- Awake

The distant sound of beeping filled Sasha's ears as she felt the darkness slowly fade away. As she focused on the beeping, Sasha slowly could tell that feeling in her limbs were returning to her body. The first thing she noticed was that she was no longer lying on the hard, dirt ground. Whatever she was lying on was soft and comfortable. The next thing she noticed was that her body still hurt and felt incredibly heavy, but compared to the pain she remembered when she was lying on the floor of that temple, this was more bearable. Her left leg felt stiff like she couldn't move it even if she tried. Her right arm felt bound to her chest. And her midsection felt tight. She then felt something else that was on her face that she couldn't quite figure out what it was. And then she felt a hand, a warm one, holding her left one. Then she opened her eyes.

She immediately squinted as she found herself staring up at a bright white light. It took a long time before her eyes adjusted and she was able to see where she was a little bit clearer. She wasn't quite sure where she was, but it looked kind of like a medbay. A medbay she didn't recognize. A sense of panic filled her as she tried to figure out where she was. The last thing Sasha remembered was that Oppie was fighting Von Signa and had killed him. Then she recalled that she was in immense pain and thought she had heard something that sounded like a ship before she passed out. Were they captured by the client or another hunter? Where was Oppie? The panic grew more as she tried to move on the bed. That was a bad idea as she felt her midsection pull slightly, protesting her sudden movements.

"Oppie…" She called out in a hoarse and panicked whisper.

"Shh, it's okay, Sasha," a familiar voice filled her ears. "Don't move. You're still healing." He said.

Sasha looked around as if trying to find the origin of the voice, but her vision was still just blurry enough that she couldn't see everything clearly. But she looked to her left and noticed a figure was next to her. As her eyes adjusted, she noticed two things. The first was that she did recognize the man sitting next to her. It was Viran. She wasn't sure if she was imagining it or if it was for real, but seeing his face again made her heart soar with relief.

The second thing she noticed was that the Force was back. She could actually sense the world around her. However, after being disconnected from it for so long and whatever drugs were going through her system as she was sure there were some to help numb the pain, she almost couldn't use it correctly at the moment. Like she could sense Viran, Oppie, Cien, and thousands of others around her all at once, but where they were exactly, she wasn't quite sure. It was kind of overwhelming. It reminded her of when she first realized how strong her connection was to the Force and when she didn't have the control she is supposed to have now. But either way it was great to have the Force back. It was like a warm hug from a friend she hadn't seen in a long time. She laid there, staring at him for a few moments, as she was trying to get her thoughts in order.

"Viran?" She said in that same hoarse whisper when her mind felt clearer.

"Hi babe, yeah it's me," Viran answered as a relieved smile appeared on his face.

"Where am I?" Sasha asked, looking around again.

"In the medical bay of the Valor," Viran explained.

"How… did I get here?" She asked, confused as she looked back at him.

Viran leaned forward and gripped her hand a little tighter. She tried to do the same in return, but she felt too weak to return it. She noticed the smile on his face falter. "We had been looking for you two for about a week. When we arrived to Myrkr, we searched the planet for two days before we found you. There was an explosion that alerted us to where you guys were. Myself, Kyr, Cien, Kitsu, Illara, Scamp, Nova and Kelce showed up to rescue you and Oppie. You were in bad shape. So Kelce took care of you, and has still been taking care of you," he corrected himself before continuing, "and we left to get you both medical aid. We met up with the Valor a week ago and got you both medical treatment."

"A week?" Sasha asked, stunned. "I've been out a week?"

Viran frowned. "Yeah, you've been in the ICU since you got out of surgery a week ago. We were all unsure of when you would wake up, but Kelce guessed at least a few days. But he also said that when you wake, that means that you're getting better."

"Oh," She said a little bleary. "So… what's on my face?"

He chuckled at that at first. "It's a respirator mask. You had a punctured lung." He then frowned. "You had a hard time breathing. Kelce said that once the lung heals then you will be free to breath without it."

"Ah," Sasha said with a dazed nod. "Where's Oppie?"

"He's aboard the ship too. He was released from the medbay couple of days ago. He's okay," Viran assured her.

"Thank the Force," Sasha breathed out in solace before wincing slightly at that. She took a moment to let the pain subside as all of that set in. "So we're safe? No more hunters?"

Viran smiled again. "Yes. You are safe and the hunters are gone. You can relax."

Tears filled her eyes as he said that. It felt almost unreal hearing that she won't have to run anymore, that the hunters were gone, and that she was no longer stuck on that hell hole without the Force. She broke down in happy tears as she cried. Viran moved from his seat and carefully gathered her into his arms. Feeling his warmth and body against her again filled her with relief and she cried harder. He carefully rocked her back and forth, being weary of her injuries.

"I missed you so much," she sobbed. "I thought I'd never see you or Lana or the rest of our family again. I was so scared."

"Shh it's alright. You don't have to be scared anymore. I'm here," He said soothingly. "And I missed you too." He paused for a moment. "When you and Oppie disappeared from the Force we feared the worst initially. But Cien and I were able to find you with a bit of difficulty in the mindspace. When I saw that you were alive, I felt so relieved, but I was afraid of what happened to you and I was ready to do whatever it would take to get you back." He paused again. "I'm just happy you're okay and that you're back." She heard him sob as he started to cry into her hair.

They silently sat there for a long time, crying in each other's arms, not wanting to let go of the other. But after a while, their crying stopped and they just held each other.

"When can I see the others?" Sasha asked, tiredly as she felt her eyelids grow heavy. She was having a hard time staying awake now.

"Soon," Viran answered quietly. "For now, just rest."

"Okay…" Sasha mumbled. "I love you…"

"I love you too," He said as he planted a kiss on her forehead.

Then her eyes drifted close and she was sound asleep.

As soon as she was asleep, Viran carefully laid her back down onto the bed. As he resumed his seat, he grabbed her left hand again, brushing his thumb across her bruised knuckles that were healing slowly. He wondered how soon it would be now until she could get bacta treatment now that she had finally woken up. And maybe that meant that Kelce can start helping her further the healing process too. Either way, the thought of her getting better soon made him so happy. He couldn't wait to hold her again, kiss her again, and spend time with her and Lana again. And he knew Lana was going to be over the moon the second she would see Sasha. All the things they could do together again raced through his mind as he sat there with her.

After a moment of staring at his wife, Viran gently reached up and brushed her bangs out of her face as he looked at her with a loving smile. He had been sitting in this room for days, waiting for her to wake. He read through a couple of stories that Cien had brought on her datapads, he watched a couple of podraces on his own datapad, and he just did whatever he could think of that was quiet enough to pass the time as he waited for Sasha to wake up. The only time he wasn't in there was when Kelce needed to check on Sasha and needed privacy, or when Kyr, Op or Cien would come relieve him so he could go sleep. And by "relieving him", it was actually that they forced him to go rest so he didn't end up in the medical wing alongside Oppie and Sasha. However, Viran was just grateful that he was there when she finally did wake up. He really wanted to be the first face she saw when she would come too. That and he wanted to hear her voice again and see her smile again.

He sat there for another few minutes before he heard the door to the ICU open. A set of boot steps were heard before Kelce appeared from behind the curtain that blocked the view of Sasha's bed from the rest of the room. He was reading a datapad when he appeared, only glancing up to acknowledge Viran.

"Morning, Viran," Kelce greeted him. "How is she doing today?"

"You missed it. She woke up," Viran told him, happily.

Kelce did a double take from Viran to his datapad and back. "Wait, what? Why didn't you call for me?" He asked. Kelce set the datapad down at the foot of the bed and came over to the other side of Sasha. He grabbed the scanner from the side table and ran it over her body while simultaneously running a couple of tests with the machines that constantly monitored things like her heart rate and pulse.

"I'm sorry," Viran apologized, his smile fading. "I was just so happy to see her awake and to talk with her again. I got swept up into the moment."

Kelce looked at him before looking back at the scanners. The medic tried to hide a smile, but he failed and it broke through. "You don't need to apologize. I know how worried you have been. And it's probably for the best that I didn't come in here and ruin a private reunion moment for the two of you," he said. Viran chuckled lightly. "But it would have been nice if I did have the chance to examine her while she was awake. At least to just get an idea of how she is doing."

"She seemed okay, but she didn't move much. Though there were a couple of times where it did seem like she was in slight pain," Viran observed.

After a few moments, Kelce lowered the scanner. "That's probably from her surgery, but she is showing wonderful signs of improvement," he said as he beamed. "This is great news. However, we'll continue to keep an eye on her for the next twenty four hours to make sure her progress doesn't change. Because sometimes waking up doesn't always mean that the patient is getting better." Viran made a worried expression. Kelce noticed it and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I have no doubt in my mind that she will make a speedy recovery. She is still a Jedi afterall, and you three have proven to me that you can heal pretty fast. But if she wakes up again in that twenty four hour time frame, that's even better. That means she'll be back on her feet in no time which is what we want to see."

"Okay, that makes me feel better," Viran said as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Why don't you go rest for a while and inform the others. I'm going to perform a couple of tests now that she has shown signs of improvement. This will take a while," Kelce said as he started to roll up his sleeves.

"Alright," Viran said as he stood from the chair. He slowly let go of her hand and leaned forward, placing a kiss on her forehead again. "I'll be back in a while."

"I know," Kelce said, smirking at him as he prepped for the tests.

Viran chuckled at that and moved away from the bed. He then left the ICU with a renewed energy as he wanted to run and tell the others.

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