The General would be descending on the medical bay in an hour's time and Aneep intended to have Kylo patched up and ready to leave as soon as Hux graced them with his presence. It was a bitter sweet sensation as she relished the idea of seeing him free of the tank but she did not want him gone. Quite the opposite in fact. She wanted though to avoid the General seeing Kylo in a weakened and exposed state. She had guessed correctly that this was also something that Kylo had wanted to avoid, which was why he had purposefully killed the light in the tank when the General had entered the office earlier.

The tank was dark now too and had been since their intimate encounter almost an hour ago. He was meditating, drawing strength for what was to come she supposed. Either that or he was embarrassed about what had happened between them and did not want to look at her again. She hoped it was the former rather than the latter, though he gave her no kind of reassurances in her mind. She now missed his encouraging voice in her head, all she was left with was her own self-doubt at what he might be thinking. She could not regret it though. She would not regret her actions or thoughts. A less scrupulous woman might have removed him from the tank earlier in the hope of real physical contact but she had not. She had considered her patient's wellbeing above her own happiness and desire and had concluded that his best chance for recovery was to continue with the treatment. She was still a doctor first above all other things and that made her feel proud despite the heavy weight of the biting disappointment she felt in her stomach. No matter what happened she would always know that she had stayed true to herself. She could not feel shame even if others might question the ethics of fantasising about a patient. She would not feel embarrassed about her actions towards him either. They had been honest and instinctual and she refused to be sorry about them even if he seemed to now regret it. She would not regret it. Not now, not ever.

She finished typing the medical instructions for his facial surgeries and transferred the data over to The Supremacy's medical computer. It would be droids fixing him up after he had left her she supposed, but she had left meticulous instructions and programming to be sure that he would still receive the best possible treatments without her.

…without her.

She sighed and stood. Soon he would be gone forever but for now he was still hers for a little while longer.

She crossed to stand by the tank. As she was unsure which way he was facing she hovered by the side of the equipment and thought to address him. The words stilled in her throat though as she thought about how to begin. Considered what had happened between them 'Sir' seemed a little too formal. She dared not use 'Commander' given the context in which she had last said it, especially if he had begun to regret their commune together. Both 'Kylo' or even 'Ren' seemed a little too friendly under the circumstances. Their informalities were over now, perhaps for good and so she reverted back to her training and the address became business as usual.

"Sir?"

The light flickered back on almost immediately and he had turned to face her once again.

"Perhaps he had been meditating after all." That was a comfort.

"I am going to begin the draining sequence."

He nodded in acknowledgement.

"As the tank empties from the bottom you will find the glass lowering in slow increments. Please do not attempt to exit the tank until it is fully drained. You have been suspended weightless for almost a day and a half, you will probably find that your legs will feel weak and may not support your weight right away. This sensation is perfectly normal and will quickly pass. Feel free to sit as the glass descends if you wish to allow yourself time to adjust to gravity again."

He smiled beneath the breathing mask at her business-like tone. She recited the instructions as though she were reading them directly from the manual. It seemed so strange to hear her like that given how he had heard her only hours before. Then the noises she had made had not been rehearsed, they had been instinctive and primal with no hint of formality whatsoever.

Aneep walked over to the control panel and entered the necessary instructions. The machine began to whine as it's end cycle began and the bacta cells slowly began to drain away.

Rather than stand and watch him being revealed to her she busied herself with preparing a station for him once he was free of the tank. She brought across a stretcher as well as the healing strips in their protective casings and cleaning solution to prepare his facial wounds for the next round of treatments. She fetched towels for him and a medical robe too setting them carefully on the bed. He would need a new uniform to wear, she realised, as the old one had been cut off him when he was first admitted. But she could perhaps instruct a trooper to bring him one when he was in the decontamination shower.

The bacta was by his ankles now and the tank had lowered to around his midriff. He'd tried to stay stood but looked unsteady on his feet as his legs acclimatised to supporting his weight once again. She crossed to the platform and stepped up onto the small raised lip that surrounded the tank. He was extremely tall and her eyes only came up to around his mouth when he was stood upright, but he was hunched as the artificial gravity worked its magic and she found that she could reach up and remove the breathing apparatus quite easily. She handed him a towel and he rubbed his face as the last of the strange liquid drained away.

Bacta did not leave behind a residue and it evaporated almost instantly without the correct cultured environment around it. It did not leave the patient wet or sticky but it did leave them cold. The towel had been for his warmth and modesty more than anything else. Inside the tank a patient had to be kept at a constant warm temperature in order for the cells to work effectively. The temperature of the office was probably a good fifteen degrees lower than that of the tank and the sudden shift could sometimes effect patients unexpectedly.

Kylo turned to Aneep to thank her but found that his vocal chords stuck together in his throat and his eyes refused to look into hers. Now exposed to the real world again he found his confidence was lost, it was as though it had evaporated away along with the bacta. All he had left was his weakened body and conflicted soul left shaking, raw and exposed to her utterly. He did not care for it. He wanted to say something, anything but he could not and so he stayed silent and cold.

The door rushed open and, much to both Aneep and Kylo's surprise and chagrin, in marched Hux with his usual sense of urgency.

The doctor immediately stood in front of her patient and obscured as much of his exposed body from Hux's prying eyes as she could with her own. Aneep could see that the General was lapping up seeing his loathed rival in such a weakened state that he almost smiled.

"Ah, I see you've already started." He smirked.

Kylo made to move towards him. He wanted to hurt him, to feel his hands wrap around the little twerps pale neck and squeeze. His anger raged and demanded the bastard's head but his body was weak and his control of the Force eluded him. His one shaky step buckled underneath him as the strength in his legs collapsed and he felt himself falling further adding to his total humiliation. It was only the doctor's quiet strength that stopped him crashing to the ground. She'd turned to face him as soon as she'd felt his attempt to move and propped him up before his legs failed him. Her hands were pressed into his rib cage just below his chest and she had moved her body close to his so that her weight pressed upwards acted as a crutch. He did not fall in front of Hux, she had saved him from that last humiliation and he looked down at her and met her cool blue gaze for the first time since the tank had lowered.

"I've got you." She thought. He heard it but did not respond as he did not know the words of gratitude that would properly convey his thanks.

She moved to his side and put her arm around his middle and braced herself under his arm still acting as his crutch. He was heavy, very heavy but she would not let him fall. Slowly and with some effort she eased him down the two steps to the office floor and planted him on the waiting stretcher.

Hux just stood there and watched.

"That smug bastard." She thought bitterly and Kylo caught her eye. "So he can hear me?" She puzzled as her hands busied themselves reaching for the cleaning solution and healing strips. Turning his face with her hands she swept his hair away from the wounds and cleaned each thoroughly. Once the strips were out of their container she knew that she had to work quickly before the batca became too exposed to the air and became useless.

She'd not realised the effort it had taken to help carry him to the stretcher until she felt the reverberations of her heart beat against her chest and saw how her hands trembled as she touched his face with the medical wipe. Clearing away the cleansing solution and cloth she paused for a moment and flexed her hands stretching out the tension in her fingers and tendons. She let her heart slow down and relax as she sucked in deep breaths and steadied herself. Administering the delicate strips quickly into a quarter of an inch wound before they began to decay was fiddly enough without the pressure of an audience added into the bargain.

"Please remain completely still." She instructed to the patient and then glanced up at Hux, "You too please General."

His eyes squinted with irritation but he planted his feet never the less.

She exhaled deeply and with a flick of her fingers the two strips were out of the container and in her hand. Two more seconds passed and she had attached them directly into the gaping wounds that cut Ren from eyebrow to collar bone. She'd managed it in one fluid motion, expertly done as though she handled treatments like this every single day. Pride filled her eyes as she looked down at her handiwork and she tipped his face backwards and forced him to look at her.

"There. Almost as good as new, Commander Ren." She almost purred his name.

His eyes darkened with desire as a small smile played around her lips and General Hux practically shuddered with annoyance.