Trudy killed the engine of the Samson and unstrapped herself, leaping out of the aircraft. She reached up and pulled Jake's wheelchair out then helped him into it.
"Is she still...?" Norm asked as he lifted Grace from the back seats.
"Just." Ivory slid out of the Samson and stood waiting for Norm.
Norm eased himself out, Grace cradled in his arms. "Where to?"
"The medical bay."
Trudy punched the password into the keypad and yanked the door open. She moved out of the way, letting Ivory and Norm into the airlock first.
Tigger appeared in the hallway, his ginger fur dishevelled. He wound himself around Ivory's ankles insistently, miaowing indignantly when she didn't immediately scoop him up and give him the attention he wanted. The cat followed her down the corridor and into the medical bay, jumping onto the table.
"Put Grace on there." Ivory gestured to the examination table then crouched down, rifling through the cupboards.
Norm did as he was told. "What now?"
"Go into Grace's room and look for a green file with a drawing of a bandaid on the front, it's got the crew medical records in. I need her blood type." She got up and washed her hands.
"On it." Norm darted out of the room.
Trudy walked in, flanked by Jake.
"Can we do anythin'?" Trudy asked.
Ivory shook her head. "You can stay in here if you want but stay out of the way." She paused, trying to remember all of her medical training. "Get the bullet out, close the wound, get her blood back in." The woman mumbled to herself. She dumped the supplies that she had collected on the table beside Grace then pushed the bottom of her T-shirt up again, cringing when she saw just how much blood had seeped through the bandages. Ivory reached out and hastily unknotted the bandages, tossing them onto the floor. She tore a packet of alcohol wipes open and cleaned Grace's stomach as best as she could, the white wipes rapidly turning red. "Okay."
"How bad is it?" Jake asked.
"I can reach the bullet but it's how much blood she's lost that's the real problem." Ivory picked up a pair of straight forceps, trying to stop her hands from shaking. If she messed this up it would kill Grace. "Okay, okay." She repeated. She pushed them into the wound on the redhead's stomach and clamped them around the bullet, pulling it out.
Norm burst in. "I got the file, I-" he froze, his eyes locked on the blood covering Ivory's hands and the wound in Grace's abdomen.
"Norm don't you dare faint." Trudy pulled the binder out of his hands and flipped through it.
"What's her type?" Ivory asked, not looking up from Grace's stomach.
"Type AB negative."
"Of fucking course it is." The dark haired woman bit her lip, checking for bullet fragments. "Norm- actually, on second thoughts Jake open that little fridge over there and get me a blood bag marked AB negative."
"On it." He wheeled himself over to the fridge as Ivory did her best to sew the bullet hole shut.
Grace stirred slightly.
"Grace? You need to stay still." Ivory pressed two fingers against the woman's clammy neck, struggling to find her pulse. She could barely feel it against her fingers. She waited hopefully but Grace didn't move again. Ivory slid a needle into the back of Grace's hand.
"Here." Jake put the blood bag in Ivory's hand and she quickly slipped the tube attached onto the needle.
"Shouldn't you have one of those stand things?"
"I should but I've got to make do with what we've got here." The woman looked around, her fingertips momentarily brushing her dog tags. She climbed onto the table, blood bag in hand. She stood up, holding the bag as high in the air as she could.
"So what do we do now?" Norm asked, pointedly looking looking anywhere but the blood.
"There's nothing more we can do, we've just got to wait."
Ivory was slumped in a chair beside Grace's bed. She'd barely moved since Norm had carried Grace in there except to get up and walk around the room to keep herself awake. Norm, Jake and Trudy had said they'd stay awake with her but Ivory had long since sent them off to bed, telling them that if she needed their help with Grace again it would be better if they weren't all stupid with sleep.
Grace rolled over and groaned. "God I feel sick."
"What?" Ivory jerked to attention.
"Have you got hearing damage or something?" Grace asked hoarsely.
"Grace? Gracie?" Ivory asked, genuinely wondering if she was starting to hallucinate with lack of sleep.
Grace opened her eyes slowly as though that single action took all of her energy. "Oh god, I'm going to be sick."
"Here." The younger woman snatched up one of the cardboard bowls from the medical bag and held it for Grace, pushing her red curls out of her face. "How are you feeling? And don't just say you're fine, I can't help you if you don't tell me exactly how you feel." She asked when the redhead had finally stopped throwing up.
"Like my stomach is on fire. And my head is killing me. I somehow still feel better than I did earlier though."
"That's better than I was expecting."
"How the hell am I still alive?"
"I don't know." Ivory said honestly. "I didn't think you would've made it this long." She pushed her hair out of her eyes with one hand. "Are you going to be okay if I leave you here for a few minutes?"
"I'm not a baby."
"I'll assume that's a yes." Ivory went over to the bedroom door then turned back, eyeing her cat who had settled himself at Grace's feet. "Don't let her get up Tigger." She pushed out of the room and strode down the corridor, slipping into the kitchen.
She opened the small fridge and pulled out a can of Coke, dumping it on the work top. She sifted through the food that they had, hoping to find some type of red meat. "Burrito it is." She sighed, pulling out a dehydrated packet. Ivory closed the door of the fridge with her foot then put the burrito on one of the plates from the small stack in the corner of the worktop, shoving it in the microwave. She took a mug from the cupboard and put it under the coffee maker, pressing the button hard. Ivory picked up the mug as soon as it was full and gulped the black liquid, barely noticing how hot it was in her desperation for a caffeine hit. She left the mug on the worktop and took the burrito out of the microwave. She went to slip the can of Coke into the pocket of her combat trousers then realised how dirty they were, trying to brush some of the crusted blood off. The stains didn't move. "Whatever." She muttered to no one in particular, tucking the can under her arm instead. She left the kitchen and went back down the hall, doing her best not to wake Jake, Norm or Trudy.
The dark haired woman shoved the bedroom door open with her shoulder. "Here." She passed Grace the plate and opened the can for her. "You need to eat and drink all of this."
"Who died and made you boss?" Grace asked.
"You almost did."
"Thanks." Grace drank the coke, a small amount of colour returning to her pale cheeks.
"Any better?"
"Mmm. A bit." Grace picked up her burrito, taking a cautious bite. "So what happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"After I got shot... I don't remember anything."
She dropped the burrito back onto her plate.
"Eat and I'll tell you."
"This is revenge for that time I took your data pad isn't it?"
"Yes."
Grace took a large bite of her food. "Go on then, talk."
"Do you remember anything before you passed out?"
Grace's cheeks suddenly flooded with colour. "I remember everything before I passed out." She confirmed.
"Trudy flew us here, to Site Twenty Six. Norm helped me get you to the Medical Bay then Jake, Trudy and Norm helped me get the bullet out of you. You wouldn't have made it through without them. Your blood type is so goddamn rare that I didn't think we'd have any but Jake found some in the supply. It was hard getting that into you without the proper equipment. I don't think the noise of Norm throwing his guts up when he caught sight of all the blood really helped my focus either." Ivory chuckled softly.
"We all waited in here with you until about midnight when I made Trudy, Jake and Norm go to bed so they'd be rested if you got worse and I needed their help."
"Thank you. I-"
"You can thank us by finishing your food and going to sleep. Things could still go either way."
"I'll go to sleep-"
"Good."
"On the condition that you do." Grace finished.
"Grace if I'm asleep and something happens to you I won't be able to help, I'll-"
"It won't. And if I don't feel good then I'll wake you up. Come on, if you go much longer without sleep you won't be able to help me awake or not."
"God, fine."
"Now go shower, I don't want blood on my sheets."
"Excuse me Grace, this is almost all yours." Ivory shed her combat trousers and stained tank top, balling them up and tossing them into the corner of the room.
The older woman's eyes skimmed Ivory's body. "That is all mine."
"Are you seriously thinking about sex now?"
"Yes."
"Shame on you." Ivory said archly. She flicked on the overhead light and opened the small cupboard, looking for her old T-shirt and shorts. "Have you seen my pyjamas?"
Grace winced as she caught sight of the constellation of bruises that ran across Ivory's
face and arms. "No. Just take one of my shirts."
"Thanks."
"What happened to you?"
"Well there was the time I punched Quaritch in the face and he returned the favour, the time
I broke Cheevers' big toe and he made me regret it and the multiple times that we got handcuffed by troopers."
"You don't do things by halves do you?"
"No, never have, never will."
"You should put some ice on them."
"It's a bit late for that now. I'm going to shower, try not to get shot again whilst I'm gone okay?"
Grace snorted. "I'll do my best."
Ivory slid into bed beside Grace, neatly avoiding her stomach. She lay stiffly, shivering slightly as a cold breeze rattled the ramshackle windows of Site Twenty Six.
"You don't have to hang off the edge of the bed, I don't think you'll be able to do much more damage than the bullet." Grace pointed out.
"I don't want you to get hurt even worse than you already are."
"Don't be an idiot." Grace reached out and pulled the woman to her, resting her chin on Ivory's shoulder. She pressed a hand against Ivory's ribcage, feeling the gentle rise and fall as she breathed. She felt ridiculous for keeping her hand there but she was painfully aware of how close she had come to never seeing the other woman again. She was determined to take every little bit of Ivory in, committing her breathing pattern to memory. Grace knew that having the little things memorised wasn't going to prevent one of them from getting hurt again but it made keeping her mind off of the pain in her gut a damn sight easier.
"Ivy?" Grace spoke tentatively into the darkness.
"What?"
"I meant what I said in the Samson. I love you."
Ivory blinked in surprise. "I love you too."
"And I mean this too: I want to be with you."
"Grace there's no way that I can sleep with you in good conscience when you've got a bullet wound in your abdomen."
"I don't mean be with you like that, even I draw the line at post shooting sex."
"Then what?"
"I mean... oh god, are you really going to make me say this?"
"Well you're going to have to because I've got no bloody idea what you're talking about." Ivory pulled the duvet further up her body, pressing her face into her pillow. "I'm too tired for you to be cryptic."
"I mean-" Grace groaned. "I mean as my partner."
"Is this you trying to ask me out?"
"Yes." The redhead said sheepishly.
"Oh."
"Don't sound so surprised." Grace bit her thumbnail. "I've wanted to ask you even before we started sleeping together but I didn't want to risk losing you or putting you in any danger." She placed a hand against her stomach gingerly. "Which evidently didn't work out. But after the shitshow that went down when we managed to get out of Hell's Gate I've realised that one of us is going to end up getting hurt wether we're in a relationship or not."
"Well if one of us is going to end up getting hurt anyway I'd much rather get hurt with you as my girlfriend than you as my friend with benefits."
"So is that a yes?"
"It's a yes. There's no one else on this moon that I'd want to be in a relationship with."
Grace couldn't keep the smile off of her face.