Fake Mistletoe | Plance

15 (Pidge)

I winced as Elizabeth clumsily plucked a set of bandages and various other medical dressing items from a trolley. She wandered over and pushed her tortoiseshell glasses up her nose with an air of knowledge, not unlike I had done while posing as 'Pidge Gunderson', simply to create a facade that I wasn't as weak as meets the eye. To my dismay, it eventually became habitual, something I couldn't help doing, whether the glasses needed to be pushed up or not.

It came as a shock that Elizabeth (or 'Ellie' as the other medic, who I'd come to know as Izzy, had called her) was fairly careful, and certainly more light-fingered than I'd anticipated.

"Sorry if I'm hurting you," she spoke.

"I think it's kind of a given," I nearly hissed like an angered cat as gauze was pressed to the wound. "Considering it's a large open wound, freshly disinfected,"

"I don't need you, Paladin of Voltron you may be, to tell me that," She chuckled. If it hadn't been for the lighthearted tone she'd used, I would have felt almost as though she was scolding me.

"Fair enough," As she was, I tried to keep my tone colloquial and breathe through the pain.

"Izzy," She finally called out. "Where's the tape? It's not on the trolley and I need to secure the bandaging,"

"Hang on," Izzy's voice cracked slightly when it trailed from the med bay's office. "Got it!" She emerged with a roll of pinkish medical tape and passed it to Ellie, who remained crouched awkwardly in front of me. "I think it would be... wise... if you stayed the night here," Izzy proposed. "To ensure that there's no further risk of infection. Just to be safe, more than anything,"

"I agree," Ellie said, nodding, and standing back to admire her work. The wrapping and dressing was snug; if not a little haphazard. It would be fine, I decided, and nodded at the pair of them, hoping more than anything for them to leave me in peace.

It seemed that they read my mind, as they turned to their office in light conversation. I stood, flinching slightly at the pain that pulsated through my leg, but nonetheless, pulled off as much of my armour as possible. By the time I was done, I was only in my dark undersuit, unable to remove it for fear of my dignity. I placed myself onto the bed beside Lance's and sat, catching my breath for a moment, turning over the day's events in my head.

Breakfast (And the sheer lack of people that attended it), Lance and Kinkade leaving, James and Keith training and me just so perfectly conveniently following Lance and Ryan to the hangars to work on amendments for Green. To think, if I hadn't been there, we might not have reached them soon enough. A heavy, heavy case of 'right place at the right time'.

A slight rustle from Lance dragged me from my reverie and I snapped my head up to check on him. He emitted a mild groan but continued sleeping. I was unsure of whether I'd be able to handle watching him suffer as he did; the sheer pain he'd gone through. I lay down on the bed, atop the covers, hoping to sleep. The gods were apparently not shining down on me as the door to the med bay slid open with a soft whoosh.

"Pidge?" The unmistakable voice of my older brother pierced the otherwise uncomfortable silence. "Oh, you're awake,"

"Yeah," I sighed as I propped myself up on the pillows. "I can't sleep, and quite frankly, I don't really want to,"

"Shiro told me about what happened. Said you seemed kinda shaken."

"I was. Still am, a bit. I was- we all were really scared for him, Matt," I said, my gaze drifting to Lance, whose face expressed mild discomfort as he slept. "I still kind of am, but that's probably just the shock talking, in all honesty,"

"I understand," Matt nodded. "But, God forbid, I drift to a lighter subject, what's going on between you?" He inquired, curiosity sparkling in his eyes.