“They Dry Themselves, Eventually” - An N7 Day contribution

Squeaking in at the tale-end here but BOO-YAH bitches, I got this shit done.  My N7 contribution: a little (lot) Anderson/Shepard angst post-Akuze. 

They Dry Themselves, Eventually

"She screams when the nurses try to raise the shutters. She screams at many things they tell him." - Shepard and Anderson after Akuze. Survival was never a sure, solid thing.

Can be read here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12224692/1/They-Dry-Themselves-Eventually

And here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8504068

* * *

          “Hey kiddo.”

           Mackenzie Shepard is lying on her stomach in a hospital bed, fingers curled tight in the sheets, eyes boring into the far wall, when she hears him.

           Anderson enters Shepard’s room like a shadow, lingering at the edge of her vision. The door is too far left and she can’t shift her position without searing pain.  She tenses in reaction.

           Shepard has never been comfortable with anything on her peripheral.  Line of sight.  Steady focus.  Aim where you can see.

           The most dangerous place to be is in the corner of her eye.

           Anderson recognizes her reaction, because he has been there when it used to be a full-on flinch and a sharp-pitched scream – because he knows how she treats fear and it is never anything less than bloody.

           And maybe also because he has learned to pay attention to the things he loves.