A droid approached Jyn just outside of medbay, on the same spot in the corridor where she had been sitting for the last hours with a glass of an unidentifiable and untouched drink someone had placed in her hand.
To her aching and recovering body's slight relief, on the first day of Cassian's stay at the medical wing, a compassionate female doctor had taken pity on Jyn's uncomfortable position on the floor and offered her a plasteel chair which must have remained unused at some corner. But the functional piece of furniture could only do so much for her battered self, and a whole week had passed in that state of things.
She too had received treatment for her injuries, but as soon as she was cleared, Jyn had stubbornly stayed by the medbay's entrance door. The med wing lacked a waiting room, but that hadn't deterred Jyn.
"I've been sent to inform you that the surgery performed on Captain Cassian Andor has finished and the patient is being transferred to ICU. The percentage of success is estimated around 87%, though the patient's evolution throughout the next weeks will confirm or deny that estimation," the med droid announced in a monotone voice to Jyn's infinite relief and joy at Cassian's survival. She was on the verge of tears.
The droid painfully reminded Jyn of Kay, but not because of his shape or the timbre or tone of his voice, but because of his mention of percentages, of which Cassian's peculiar droid had been so fond.
Kay had ended up becoming a true friend to her and Jyn missed him terribly. The thought of not feeling his reassuring presence or hearing his snarky remarks ever again hurt like a festering wound.
Almost all their friends were lost. Kay, Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze, Melshi and so many others who had given their lives so Cassian and Jyn could send the Death Star plans.
It was a miracle that both of them had barely escaped the total destruction of Scarif, thanks to a few members of their Rogue One's team who had stolen Krennic's ship and desperately searched the beach for more survivors.
Upon their hasty arrival on Yavin's base, Cassian had been immediately taken to medbay and submerged in bacta for a whole week. After that, he'd been submitted to surgery. Mon Mothma had given Jyn clearance and allowed her access to the information on Cassian's condition. That had prevented Jyn from going mad with worry, but she had barely slept or eaten since their return, and she had spent almost all of her time next to that damn door or pacing the corridor when she couldn't bear any more being seated and idle.
The doctors themselves or the med droids kept her regularly updated and that gave Jyn hope to endure the wait. Cassian had improved considerably after his bacta treatment, to the point that it was reasonably safe to perform surgery on him without the imminent risk of a multiorganic failure.
Of course, both Mothma and a wary (and visibly simmering under the surface) Draven had taken her statement on her involvement in the post-hoc sanctioned Scarif mission, and it was evident to Jyn that solely thanks to Mothma's higher rank and firm intervention, Jyn herself hadn't been arrested and court-martialed. If it had depended on Draven, he'd have thrown her into a cell by now.
In addition, and according to Mothma, it seemed that most of the Council members who had panicked at the news of the Death Star, had felt properly chastised and inspired by Rogue One's courage, and therefore they had finally reacted and stood up for the survivors' pardon. What was more, Jyn and Cassian would keep their current ranks.
For the first days after Scarif, the icing on the cake of Jyn's anguished mental state had been the depressing news on the loss of the Death Star plans. All their sacrifice for nothing. Jyn had run to a deserted hallway and cried and screamed until her throat got hoarse.
But then, they received word that Princess Leia Organa had escaped with the plans thanks to a small bunch of bizarre rescuers, and she was on her way to base.
After that, everything had been a blur. Jyn could only remember clearly the moment the Death Star had been destroyed and the whole base celebrating. Someone had come running and hugged her and put a glass of beverage in her hand. But she hadn't partaken in the joy around her. She could only focus on the closed door in front of her. One moment or another, a doctor or a droid would step out to tell her how the lengthy surgery had turned out. And shortly after, thank the Force, the droid appeared to deliver the craved good news.
Right behind the droid, Doctor Kalonia herself, the same one who had offered Jyn the chair more than a week ago and had reported regularly Cassian's progress, crossed the door. Her guarded expression didn't convey anything, and that trait of Kalonia's, always professional to a fault, was something Jyn respected as much as felt exasperated about.
The doctor at last must have taken notice of Jyn's pitiful appearance after so many days virtually dwelling in the hallway. Or perhaps it was the fact that Cassian was finally out of immediate danger. Either way, the doctor's stare softened considerably. "Such as 2-1B has told you, the surgery is over and we have solid reasons to be optimistic about its success. From now on, the recovery should be steady. Nonetheless, the captain will surely suffer certain lifelong aftereffects, like a slight limp or recurrent aches which will hinder his movements a bit. I'm afraid he'll never be able to carry out field work on the same level as before, so he'll have to take it easy and consider devoting more time to desk duty. I know it's difficult to change one's mindset so much, but there's hardly other way about it."
Well, in the short but life-altering period of time during which Jyn had come to know Cassian, if there was something she was absolutely certain about, was that desk duty wasn't the captain's dream job. But Jyn didn't feel ashamed in the least about the fact that Cassian was alive and, if everything went well (everything had to go well, she thought determinedly) he would be alright. Luckily, his body would heal almost completely eventually and she hoped that his soul would heal as well. He was a strong person, the strongest she had ever met.
For now, exhausted by the frenzied and emotionally draining last weeks, Cassian's wellbeing was the only thing she could allow herself to focus on. Anything else, the numerous losses they had suffered, was too overwhelming for her to process for the time being.
"Thank you so much, doctor, for saving his life," Jyn said sincerely, with a broken voice. A second later, sudden sobs and shudders were wracking her body, and the doctor held her shoulders reassuringly and let her cry herself out in order to vent all the accumulated stress.
Jyn felt terribly embarrassed for her public breakdown. "Sorry, doctor. I'm not usually this mess," she apologized between sobs and gasps.
Kalonia dismissed her shame with a casual hand gesture. "Don't worry, dear. It's perfectly normal. You've been through too much. You aren't the first to have a meltdown in front of me, nor will you be the last. Now go take care of yourself. Cassian will wake up from the anaesthesia in a few hours, so you'd better eat a decent meal, sleep properly and make yourself presentable. You don't want him to see you with the appearance of a ghost, do you?"
Jyn chuckled, wiping her tears. "Certainly not."
The doctor nodded. "Good. Because we've kept him heavily sedated and in an induced sleep state since he was brought here much more dead than alive. When he regains consciousness, he'll feel dazed, so when we let you in and he lays eyes on you, don't make him get worried and worked up, okay?"
"Duly noted, doctor. Again, thanks for everything." Both women shared a knowing smile and then Jyn turned around and walked straight to the mess hall, positively famished after a week living basically on ration bars and little more. She didn't even care about the time of day.
It turned out that she had been deemed as a base's heroine, so in spite of the late hour the personnel in the mess hall hurried to stockpile her tray with food enough to nourish a small regiment, and afterwards she stumbled towards her private quarters and dropped on the bed straight away, falling asleep instantly.