"Beep…Beep… Beep" Kaycee shifted slightly but couldn't seem to open her eyes; instead her mind's eyes took hold of her realm of consciences. Darkness filled around her in an empty room with a small orb of light in floating in front of her view.
'I'm for sure dead this time,' she thought as she tried to childishly catch the orb of light.
"Shepard, don't go…" a sweet melody voice echoed in. Kaycee looked around her and then clenched her shirt over her heart. A fire of pain burned with every beat and caused her to fall to her knees, but before she could reach the bottom something had caught her. She turned her eyes upward to see Liara staring back at her with eyes of sorrow but full of love as her lips parted once more and spoke, "stay with me Shepard. I'm not losing you again." Kaycee looked at her with utter confusion till Liara brought her head forward and touched her forehead to hers.
Hot, ignited pain flashed through Kaycee's body as her eyes opened to reality.
"Hold her down!" an older womanly voiced shouted as bodies clothed in what seemed to be white blurs surrounded her. "Beep Beep Beep," that irritable sound from before now was louder than ever. Chaos swam around her as she tried to struggle against her would be captors. Till a sudden touch silenced the storm within her, a familiar touch that only belonged to, "Li-" Shepard coughed and fresh blood flowed forth from her mouth.
"Shepard I'm here" Liara placed her hands on either side of Shepard's cheeks, her human blood coating the wrist of her left hand. Shepard turned and let their eyes meet. A small smile formed upon Shepard's face and before she could even utter another word Liara silenced her with a gently press of a fingertip, shaking her head and pressing her lips together to hold back from crying.
"Liara I need you to stay here during this operation, I need you to keep her calm. Are you going to be okay with that?" the older woman asked.
"Of course Doctor Chakwas, I can do this. I need to be here." Liara just momentarily looked away to answer the older woman before resting her forehead against Shepard's once more, their eyes never moving from each other.
'Kaycee I need you to calm this may-'
'Hurt?' Kaycee interrupted. Liara smiled as Kaycee smiled warmly back. 'I still forget how this all works,' she uttered through their bonded link, otherwise known through mind.
Chakwas held a scalpel within her hand but through years of training and professionalism at being a doctor, the emergency before her didn't seem to bother her at all. But inside she was trembling, terrified at the repercussions of failure. She would not lose what would possibly be her first, but her friend, her colleague, the woman she followed for 4 years, chasing after Saren, the Collectors the Reapers. Shaking her head to clear out such thoughts and focus on the task at before her. The sharp blade began to work through the blood soaked cloth the commander wore before she could examine the largest of the wounds. Chakwas paused a moment which caused a momentary silence in the makeshift hospital room. She looked around at the awaiting faces of her nurses and doctors, "Where is that anesthesia!" she ordered with authority. The room once again animated frantically. The gash in her lower left abdomen was nothing the doctor didn't already expect. Whatever had shot her, punctured well through the skin and damaged a lot of tissue but thankfully her armor, when it was there, had slowed it enough to where it hadn't damaged any major organs to a severity to where it couldn't heal. And the excessive amount of blood from the mouth was caused by movement irritation to the wound which had stressed her lungs enough to cause minor internal bleeding also the fact that whatever had hit Shepard had blasted her bluntly against an object hard enough to cause a large bruise to her back, which most likely had indirectly affected her lungs.
Liara could feel sweat bead upon Shepard's brow as she tightened beneath her, trying to endure the pain from the open operation. The sight and feeling made her stomach churn and the thought of being unable to have done anything for her was worse. She drew her hand down and clenched Shepard's as she kept their minds tightly connected trying to draw Shepard's attention away from the pain. Kaycee felt the slender gentle fingers slide into her palm and she held them welcomingly, trying to resist the urge to grip them under the pain even though that was her lover's intention for them being there.
'I've… I've been through worse.' She managed to say through their bond. Liara couldn't reply for fear of answering would cause her to burst into tears. 'How are the others?' Liara squeezed her hand gently before swallowing down the tears.
'They are okay but really Kaycee you should ease your mind, you can ask after your all better.' She whispered.
Kaycee nodded and let their minds brush against each other in a warm embrace. Chakwas briefly glanced at the two, their eyes closed, and seeming at peace finally now that they've found each other once again. She had just started finishing up the stitches. 'Nothings better than old fashion traditional medical stitching to get the job done,' she thought. Medical supplies had been tight and the equipment she needed were located at another "safe base" so she had to improvise. But aside from the Great Doctor Mordin Solus, there was nothing Doctor Karen Chakwas could not improvise with. She stood back and heaved a relieved sigh as she looked around the grey concrete boxed room with florescent lighting above her. "Doctor Chakwas the anesthesia arrived," one of the medical subordinates called as a team entered in with a steel box. Chakwas pulled the gloves from her hands and smiled, holding up her hand to stop them. "Just get me some morphine incase, but I'll think the commander will be just fine now. All she needs is rest," she turned and looked at the scene behind her once more. To her even if the war wasn't technically over this was definitely a victory. "She'll be fine."