Survivor

Chapter 19

Shepard
I inhaled deeply as I worked to open my eyes, though I felt my eyelashes brush against something over them.
Slowly, I became aware of two soft patches on my face, one over each eye. My eyes hurt a bit, but it was tolerable.
The next thing I was aware of was the presence at my right. My hand was occupied by another hand. One I would recognize anywhere.
I used my freed left hand to peel off first one patch, my eyes closed as I did so, then the other patch.
I inhaled deeply and slowly opened my eyes, my heart pounding as I hoped for the best even as I expected the worst.
The light was blinding in itself, though I knew they were dimmed. My eyes took a few moments to adjust, then blurry shapes took form. I could see the shape of the foot of my hospital bed.
I turned to look at Garrus, who's head was rested on the edge of the bed by my hand as he slept.
I let out a quiet sob of relief and joy as I squeezed his hand with the hand he held.
I saw his head lift as he startled out of his sleep and blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he shifted them to look at me.
Concern etched on his face immediately when he saw the tears and he stood to brush them away with his free hand. "Samantha? Is everything okay?"
I nodded quickly and pressed my cheek into the palm of his hand.
"I see you."
I could see the shock a bit more clearly on his face now, but it turned into a smile.
"That's the best news I've had all day."
He leaned down to press his forehead to mine before he brushed his lips across mine.
I tilted my face up to meet his lips and he chuckled softly into the kiss.
"I've got to go get Chakwas. She wanted me to get her as soon as you woke. And you're going to be in trouble..."
I grinned at him. "When am I not in trouble?"
Garrus chuckled. "Good point. I'll be back."
I watched him leave with a smile pasted on my face.
My vision may not be perfect right now, but it's better than it was and that was good enough to start with.
  Moments later, Garrus came in followed by Chakwas, who frowned as soon as she laid eyes on me.
  "I should have known you wouldn't leave those bandages on. They were meant to protect your eyes so we can ease them into adjustment."
  I shrugged nonchalantly. "I wasn't told that."
  Chakwas shook her head but she couldn't help the smile that touched her lips. "You were asleep. No one could tell you."
  She approached my right side and guided my face toward her gently. "Follow the light with your eyes," she ordered softly as she shined her flashlight in my eyes.
  I did as ordered and followed the light as she moved it left to right, up to down, then in circles.
  "Function seems fine. I'm going to give you a visor to test your vision. It's going to gauge how well your eyes are working so far. You may need contact implants while your eyes heal, though."
  As promised, she helped me don a visor and adjusted it so it was snug against my face and close enough to feel it with my lashes.
  "Try to blink as little as possible. I'll warn you that there's high speed flashing lights at times."
  I nodded and with the press of a button, a very soft blue light came on.
"Do I need to do anything besides stare?"
  "No. Just relax and try to not blink much."
  "Okay."
  I could hear feet shuffling by the door and knew instantly it was Garrus.
  Sure enough, his voice came from the direction the shuffling came from.
  "So is she okay? She seems like nothing even happened in there. I wasn't expecting... This."
  Chakwas sighed. "She gave us quite the scare, but she's fine, it seems. All her vitals are stable, and her memory seems to be in tact. It's all that we hoped for."
  I frowned. "Who gave you a scare?"
  Silence followed my question, only the beeping of the monitors and Garrus' shuffling feet as he shifted his weight let me know I hadn't gone abruptly deaf.
  The blue light shined bright in my eyes suddenly and I fought the impulse to squint against it. It dimmed quickly, then brightened and repeated the process five more times before it began the high speed flashing I was warned about. After that ceased, the light dimmed down again and turned green.
  Chakwas leaned over and grabbed the visor off of me gently, then plugged the chip from it into her datapad.
  I watched her silently, still waiting for the answer about the scare.
  "Karen."
  Chakwas looked up at me, her face slightly pale and grim.
  "It was you, Shepard. You're the one that gave us the scare. Three quarters of the way through the operation, your blood pressure jumped through the roof as well as your heart rate. That was before you went into cardiac arrest. Put simply, your heart failed. It took a bit to bring you back to us, Shepard."
  I laid back into my pillows and Garrus took quick strides so he was by my side in an instant.
  He took my hand and I could see the worry etched into his features.
  "Sam? Are you okay?"
  I nodded and shut my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. It was a lot to take in. I had died again for who knows how long.
  "Sam?"
  "I'm okay," I whispered. "I just need a moment."
  Garrus squeezed my hand but said nothing.
  I could feel a migraine stirring in my temples, almost like I had used my biotic powers, though that wasn't possible.
  "Your eyes are a show of health, Commander. It'll take some time for them to finish healing, they're not 100% yet, but they're pretty close. Of course, it would have been better if someone hasn't removed their bandages as soon as they had woken..."
  I opened my eyes to see Chakwas giving me a pointed look and I chuckled.
  "You know me, I can't wait for anything."
  I smiled up at Garrus, and though he smiled back, I could still see the concern in his eyes.
  I reached up to touch his face and he bent down to meet my hand with a kiss to my palm.
  "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked after he bent down to whisper in my ear.
  I nodded. "I'll be fine, Garrus. Don't worry about me."
  He chuckled softly. "That's my job now, Commander."
  I smirked up at him. "I'm technically not a commander. I don't even know if I'm still technically enlisted in the Alliance Navy. I haven't seen Hackett. Wonder if he even knows I'm alive..."
Garrus was silent for a moment before he sighed. "I'm sure if those crooks knew you were alive then Hackett does too."
I stared at him with a smile playing on my lips and though the concern was still in his eyes, curiosity also filled them.
"What?"
"Nothing. I'm just memorizing your face again. Never know when I'll get into trouble next."
Garrus laughed and shook his head. "I'm glad to hear that you intend to stay out of trouble... Never."
I shrug and wince from the motion, which made the pain in my temples worse for a moment. "Well, I've got to make life interesting. After all, since Nihlus came aboard the Normandy and we recruited you after Eden Prime? It's been nothing but an adventure. I don't know what to do with myself without trouble."
Garrus leaned down and kissed the top of my head. "You are trouble..."
I smile up at him mischievously. "You love it."
He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. "I do. Hell if I know why, but I do."
"Careful, those almost sound like vows, Vakarian."
"Vows that you'll be the death of me, maybe."
I pouted and batted my eyelashes at him, which, judging from the smirk on his face, must have looked comical.
"But... Why would I be the death of you?"
"There's not enough time to answer that."
I laughed and swatted at him, but he dodged my hand easily and took it into his own.
Chakwas smiled at us and shook her head. "You two are like lovesick children. It's good to see you like this. The war rarely gave you two enough time together. At least now you can have that time to yourselves. Now, you can go home, Shepard, but take it easy. Garrus is under orders to bring you back if you're overdoing yourself. You may have migraines but you can take the pain medication we gave to Garrus earlier, he has the dosage instructions. I know you won't last long here at the hospital, that's the only reason you're leaving. Don't take advantage of that, Commander."
I laughed and nodded. "Yes, Doctor. Anything else?"
"No, you're clear to leave. I've already filed your release forms so you can just go. Call me if you need anything." A smile played on her lips as she looked between us and chuckled. "And I mean anything. Including allergic reactions."
I broke into laughter as Garrus apparently began choking on the air he was breathing, which only made me laugh harder.
Chakwas left laughing at us, and I grinned at Garrus, who looked a bit flustered.
He gave me a reproving look and I laughed again. "What?! I didn't say anything!"
"Your wise mouth has apparently rubbed off on Chakwas."
I snorted. "Yeah, like she really needed lessons on how to be a smartass."
I eased myself out of bed and Garrus hurried to grab my clean change of clothes.
"Yeah, well I doubt your quick mouth hardly helped matters any."
I rolled my eyes and got undressed, surprised when Garrus was right there next to me offering me my jeans and help into them.
I leaned on him for support and shuffled them up my legs with his help.
"I have so many things I could say right now but I'm refraining," I commented with a grin.
"And you prove my point," Garrus replied, faking exasperation.
I laughed and finished getting dressed before we headed out of the hospital room and down the hall.
"Do you want to go get something to eat before we go back to the apartment?"
The concern was back in Garrus' eyes fully, and I knew why.
"No. I'm ready to go home."
He watched me for a moment to gauge my reaction, but he didn't argue.
It was time to face it. I wouldn't run from the past. Not something as small as this.

((A/N: Hey guys! So I just wanted to wish you all a happy new year! I can't believe it's already 2017!!! It seems like just a few days ago that we were ringing in '16 and now here we are! Thank you guys for reading Survivor and sticking with me this far! It's reached 534 reads and it's SO exciting to check in and see that number going up! I can't even say how much it means to me to know that it's being seen and read!
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