Dancing with Vega Chapter 10: Solitary Confinement
For three days he'd hardly slept. For three days he'd paced the lobby of Huerta Memorial. For three days his dark, brooding face had made every other visitor (and most of the nurses) steer well clear of him. For three days he'd haunted the space outside her room, staring through the glass door until he was forced to leave. For three days he'd begged to be let in to see her. For three days he'd been denied, turned away, and brushed off. On the fourth day, Admiral Hackett arrived and ordered him to vacate the premises, promising he would get a call when the situation changed. On the fourth day, he begrudgingly left the hospital and returned to his room on the Citadel. On the fourth day, he collapsed on his bed and slept for two. On the seventh day, he awoke from a nightmare, watching her blown back by the Reaper's powerful beam…and not get up again.
Nine days ago they had found Shepard's body, barely breathing, barely alive. Nine days ago, her body was sitting on the floor in the Catalyst's control room next to a no longer breathing David Anderson. Nine days ago they had brought her unconscious body to the hospital, where they did everything they could to make sure she would keep living. Seven days ago he had heard the news and dropped everything to see her, only to find her comatose and locked away. On this seventh day, he lay in his bed covered in a cold sweat, his stomach twisted in knots.
He immediately checked his messages for news, and his blood ran cold when he realized he'd been asleep for two days straight. Panicked, he dove into his messages, fearing he'd slept through something important, maybe even missed his chance to say goodbye…or hello. With a sigh of relief he collapsed back onto the bed. Nothing had changed. No, not relief, not really, because that meant she was still in a coma. After four days of too strenuous exercise, and dulling the physical and emotional pain with alcohol, he received a message from an unlikely source. It was even flagged as a priority Spectre missive. It said simply –
Lieutenant,
I know you and I haven't always gotten along, and that's probably putting it lightly. But I know how much you care for her, so I pulled some strings. Get your ass to Huerta Memorial and ask for Doctor Michel; she'll let you in.
Alenko
James's eyes went wide. Surely this was a mistake, a drunken illusion. He read it again, made some coffee, read it again, drank the coffee, and read it yet again. The words remained the same. He looked down at himself, and realized he was in no condition to be rushing off anywhere. A quick shower, a few more cups of coffee, and he hopped a shuttle to the hospital, with the heel of an agitated leg thumping the floor. He didn't know what he would find once he arrived. Was she fading? Had the Major called him in to say goodbye? Had they decided she was never going to wake up again? He didn't allow himself to hope that he might be greeted with a smile.
So when he was, when that glorious, if somewhat lopsided, smile turned toward him as he entered her room, peeking out from the mound of bandages, cuts, and bruises, his legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the floor. He heard a distressed sound, and the attending nurse hurried over to him and helped him up. With the aid of the nurse, he stumbled to the bed, and finally got a good look at her. Tubes were jammed into her arms, one leg was in a full cast, and her body was wrapped in so many bandages he could barely see an inch of her skin. For the first, and likely only, time in his life, he thanked Cerberus for what they'd done to her, realizing that without their "upgrades," she'd likely be dead now. The nurse brought a chair over for him, which he immediately plopped into.
"Damn, Lola," he mumbled, trying to work up a smile. "I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life." A strange sounding laugh, throaty and muffled, escaped Shepard, and James realized her jaw was wired shut. Thoughts began whirling in his mind; he could say anything, and she couldn't interrupt him. And he had a lot to say, if he could just piece his thoughts together. He reached out and carefully took hold of her hand, smiling as her fingers, those not taped up and splinted together, twitched and curled around his as best as she could manage. "Now that you can't argue me down," he began quietly, "I'm gonna tell you, I ain't staying behind again. Not ever again. Not ever again…." She grunted, and he looked up to see an angry glint in her good eye, but it vanished when he raised up her hand and kissed the bare fingers. "I don't care, you know? I know you were trying to protect me, but who was there to protect you? No one. And I almost lost you. For two days I didn't even know if you were alive, then they wouldn't let me see you, or tell me anything. I didn't know if you were going to live or die. I didn't…." He paused as his voice choked with emotion, and he noted a wetness in her eyes. "It's not your fault, but…I don't want that to happen again. I'll be with you next time. If there's a next time. I fucking hope there's not a next time." Feeling sick at that thought, James took a slow, deep breath to settle himself. "I'm not…I belong at your side. Not far behind you. Don't…don't leave me behind again."
James felt his own eyes begin to burn with tears, but he quickly turned away so Shepard wouldn't see, and rubbed them away with his free hand. "Lola, I…." Heaving a heavy sigh, he turned back to her attentive gaze. She was listening, but he hoped she was really hearing him, too. "I've got…one more thing to say. I should have said it before. Before you ran off into…whatever was waiting at the end of that road." Carefully he brought her hand up to his lips, kissed the bare fingers, and then the bandaged palm. "Te quiero," he whispered against her fingers as he kissed them again. "Para siempre y siempre…te quiero. I love you." Fingers tried to curl around his own, and a frustrated sound came from behind Shepard's teeth. Instead, with a pained groan of effort, her hand slowly rose and awkwardly touched his face. Under all the bandages, it was difficult to read her face, but a tear finally squeezed out of a bruised eye, which he barely saw before it was absorbed by the gauze around it. Smiling, he placed his hand over hers and gently held it to his cheek. "Does that mean you feel the same?" Shepard closed her eyes, and took several shaky breaths before returning her gaze to him.
"Ung…yes…." It was a dry, croaky sound, and barely audible, but he heard it, and his face immediately lit up with a huge smile.
[The End?]