“I do. And I will. End of discussion.” Nia carried the limb to Kilian’s bed, shoulders squared as she offered him a smile. “It’s perfect, Kilian,” she said, easing the worry etching his face. “Kessy, I’ll have your help for this.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, leaving the new shipment of tools she’d been unpacking to join her.
Nia’s eyes lingered on the CORE packaging there too. Then, she shook herself. They sterilized their hands, and Nia unwrapped the prosthetic. Accessing the control panel on the back of the knee, she waited for the limb to beep before settling it in line with his thigh.
After Kessy injected a mild painkiller and numbing agent into Kilian’s leg, Nia removed the regeneration gauze from his wounds. Using her fine detail regenerator, she stimulated each of the nerve endings and ligaments which would grow into the limb itself.
Kilian hissed.
“Are you uncomfortable?” Nia asked him, pausing in the work.
He nodded. “A little.”
“Kessy, another, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once administered, Nia continued, and this time Kilian remained comfortable. The ligaments primed, they fitted the prosthetic over the stump. One touch of a button on the back of the knee, and the four plates and the top hissed and shrank to fit the diameter of Kilian’s thigh.
“This is the hardest part,” Nia said, wanting to squeeze his hand, but stopped herself, frowning. She’d never wanted to squeeze the hand of her patient before. It wouldn’t be proper. Touching was only tolerated in a medical capacity.
Kilian’s brow wrinkled, sweat beading his upper lip.
“Kessy, one more dose please,” Nia said.
“Yes, sir.”
Nia shook her head at the medic’s insistent formality, then returned her focus to the prosthetic when the limb beeped once more.
“There,” she said to Kilian. “Now all you have to do is stay put for a day while your body does the work. By tomorrow, you’ll be standing on your own.”
“Really?” Kilian’s eyes rounded, drops of moisture gathering in the corners.
She blinked away a sudden stinging in her eyes, her fingers twitching to call a suppressant. She shouldn’t be having these feelings while tending a patient. “Yes, ah.” She swallowed around the lump in her throat. “The tissues in your body need to integrate with the limb. It takes time.” She motioned to the top part of the limb above his own knee joint. “This will always stay on. You can remove the bottom part, but you won’t need to replace the limb as long as it’s working properly. It will adjust as you grow to accommodate height and weight.”
Focusing on the specifications of the limb helped her ignore the adoration coming from the boy and the uncomfortable sensations in her chest. She needed to step away before she became truly emotional.
Turning, she froze on a gasp when Sorley touched her hand.
A sharp word in another language cut through the room from the doorway. Everyone’s head whipped around to see Mace standing there, blocking the whole door with his bulk. Sorley dropped his hand and met Nia’s eyes.
“I was going to say thank you for doing this,” he paused, “all of it. You didn’t have to after the way I acted. I’m sorry for how I treated you in the beginning. There was no excuse for it.”
“That’s…” Her throat tight, her eyes strayed to Mace. “You’re welcome.”
He looked like he had yesterday, positively murderous. With all the other potent emotions swirling around inside her and no way to block them, his added presence only made her panic. She didn’t want a repeat of what had happened yesterday, but not knowing how to stop another disastrous encounter, she remained stuck in her spot.
The tension in the bay grew, everyone else as frozen as she was. But when Kilian squirmed uncomfortably in his bed, his face a mix of fear and worry, protectiveness washed over her. She shot Mace an accusing look.I will not allow him to agitate this child.
Nia moved to the end of the med bed, blocking Kilian’s view of the door, then crossed her arms over her chest. “Why are you here?” She’d only completed half her shift.
His eyebrows jumped into his hairline, and he glanced about the room. He looked…embarrassed? That couldn’t be it.
Shaking her head, Nia walked closer but kept her arms crossed. “What is it?” she asked, stopping close in front of him. Did he have a medical issue? She glanced at his knuckles. No bruises or cuts today.
“Um,” he started, then stopped, running a hand through his hair.
She cocked her head to the side, totally baffled by this new hesitancy.
