✅ Project SETI Trilogy

Chapter Three - Part VI: Examination

          When Julia opened the door to the room Nova was in, his visitors immediately jolted and turned. Nova remained still and peacefully asleep, and the monitor near him silently displayed his oxygen level, heart rate and temperature, all of which were in normal range. She quietly asked the two of them to leave the room for just a few minutes and promised they could come back as soon as she was done. They reluctantly took their leave, but remained nearby.

          Julia closed the door behind them and made her way over to Nova. She'd already gone through it in her head what she was going to do, but she felt an almost overwhelming need to just let him sleep. She could see the bags under his eyes, and she knew from Sam's quick briefing earlier that he'd likely been aboard the Daxut mothership for the entire duration of his absence. In Earth time, he'd been gone for just under a week.

          "Nova?" Julia gently touched his arm through the blanket and ran her hand up and down the length of it when he didn't fully wake up. "Nova..."

          He inhaled deeply and his eyes flew open in surprise. He looked relieved, for a split second—but then he realized that he'd dreamed Gabriel's voice in Julia's place, and it was her hand trying to rouse him, not his.

          "Hey..." he said drowsily.

          "Ms. Lancaster has asked me to examine you to make sure you're okay," she explained softly. "It won't take long, and if it's all good, you can go home tonight... pending the Director's orders, I suppose."

          Nova didn't say anything for a few beats. He just stared at her with a tired, serious expression.

          "I saw you with Gabe when he was taken away... a nurse said he survived long enough to have surgery. Did he...?" his words died in his throat. He couldn't bring himself to finish the question, and he snapped his jaw closed to stop his lip from trembling.

          "Yes, by some miracle, he lived through the surgery," Julia assured him as she pulled down the blanket and opened the gown he'd changed into. She quietly winced at the marks on his chest—Sam had told her it was from CPR, and she had also informed her of his use as a surrogate and the forced delivery he'd been through just before making landfall on Earth. She continued to explain when Nova looked up at her expectantly. "The blood clot in his brain was treatable, but... he coded on the table before we got to it. A hole was made in his skull, and once it was drained, he was revived successfully, thank god. He was also given a blood transfusion, and now he's sleeping in recovery... he still can't breathe on his own, but... he's alive."

          Nova sighed. He'd braced himself for the worst, and while he was very relieved to hear the news, he couldn't help but feel responsible for his condition in some way. He knew, deep down, that it wasn't his fault—but this was now the second time Gabriel had almost lost his life trying to protect him from the ill-intentioned Daxut and the malevolent forces they had under their command. "I want to see him."

          "Let me get through my exam first, okay?" Julia took the electronic stethoscope from her neck and put it in her ears, and she briefly warmed the diaphragm on her hand. "I'm going to listen to your heart and your belly, and then I'm going to do an ultrasound and briefly inspect your opening. It'll be over with before you know it."

          As soon as Julia placed the stethoscope on his chest, his pulse increased. He could feel himself becoming aroused from the attention suddenly being paid to his heart, even despite everything that had happened. He secretly wished Gabriel could be conducting this examination—he knew he would make it sexy, like nearly everything else that had happened in this building. He nervously wondered if he'd ever be able to do anything like that—or literally anything, really—again, and found himself growing more anxious to see him with every passing moment.