Earth Angel

Chapter Two

Ella wiped the sweat off her brow and took the young man's hand in hers. He had a 5 tattooed to his right temple, and the same haircut that many of his brothers had chosen. Or kept. She wasn't sure.

"Shh, you're gonna be okay, honey," she whispered, ghosting her fingers over his brow.

He moaned softly and shut his eyes, muttering a curse. "How much longer!"

She grimaced. "Kix should be through taking care of Rogue very soon. I think it was shrapnel, like yours, just in a more life-threatening area."

He hissed and cursed again in some language she didn't understand. She winced in sympathy and petted his sweaty hair. This seemed to calm him a little.

"You're doing good. Just hold on a little longer and he'll be here to get you and get that thing out of you. Why were you so close to the detonator anyway?"

He shook his head, "I dunno. It just kinda happened."

She sighed and continued to let him squeeze her hand and pet his head, talking to him through the pains that came and went and soothing him.

Finally Kix walked over and sighed. "Ok. We're ready for him now. Rogue almost... never mind. I'll tell you later."

He took a hypo and quickly injected it in the side of his brother's neck. The other man grimaced and hissed through his teeth.

"Cool it, vod'ika," Kix said almost beratingly.

The man glared at him, raising his hand to send him a very crude message. But even as he did this, his eyes were slowly drooping under the weight of medication and fatigue, and he slipped into a deep sleep.

Kix hooked him up to oxygen and inserted an IV, then pushed him back into the OR. "We can handle his surgery, Ella. Can you go watch over Rogue?"

Ella nodded and turned to do just that. As soon as they were behind the curtain, she took a deep breath to steady herself.

There were a lot of wounded today.

Walking to Rogue's bed, she sat down, studying his face. There was a scar running diagonally from his right temple, across his nose, until it brushed by the left corner of his lips and tucked under his chin. Ella shuddered. What had done that to him?

She turned on her data pad and opened his scans. She grimaced. There was some nerve damage, but she was fairly sure that with a daily reapplication of bacta, that would heal fairly soon.

His eyes blinked open slowly. They traversed the ceiling and surrounding walls sightlessly until they fixed on her.

She smiled and took his hand. "Hello, Rogue. I'm Ella. I work here with Kix. Do you remember what happened?"

He nodded, and tried to speak, but couldn't. He made a sign for thirsty.

Ella nodded and grabbed him a cup of water, helping him to swallow down a little. He nodded when he was through and she set the styrofoam cup on his bedside table.

"... eh-ehem! There was a battle," he managed, his voice strained and rough. "I was caught in an explosion."

He glanced down at his right leg, thickly padded with bandages.

"That's right," she said sweetly. "You've just come out of surgery. How are you feeling?"

He swallowed. "I... I can't feel anything. I'm numb." His voice was breathy and frightened. A veil of tears was weaving across his dark chocolate eyes.

She stroked the side of his face. He leant into her touch unconsciously. "You're going to be okay. Do you want to see your charts?"

He nodded shakily.