Stayin' Alive
You may be tough, but sometimes you still need someone to save you.
A/N: I think I may have given up on the whole Whumptober thing. I'm still gonna use some of the prompts but yeah, there's no way I can catch up and do all of them when they're supposed to be done. This was prompt #6: "I've got a pulse!"
Warnings: Heavy mentions of death and blood. Medical talk.
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"I'm glad you're doing okay over there." Kix said softly. You smiled and even in the blue glow of the hologram, Kix could tell you were blushing. He loved that he could always make you blush with even the smallest sentiment. It was endearing.
"I miss you too."
"Any word on when you're coming back?" He asked, knowing that technically he wasn't supposed to know exactly where you were.
"I think we're about finished here," you replied quietly and glanced over your shoulder. "Someone's coming so I gotta go, but I think we should be back pretty soon - in the next couple of days I'd imagine."
Kix nodded, "Good. I can't wait to see you. I love you. Be safe!"
You chuckled, "I always am. Love you too."
The holocall cut off and Kix was left in the dimly lit medbay supply room. It wasn't actually a room - more like a small closet that was closed off by a curtain. As Chief Medical Officer of the 501st, he had to make due with whatever he could find and fashion into some semblance of a medbay. They'd already been on this force-forsaken planet for a month longer than anticipated and supplies were running low. The 501st and 212th battalions would need some kind of relief soon if this campaign went on any longer. Kix stepped outside to get some air before he began his shift. The grey, cloudy skies had given in to a night sky that was starless and dark. It was raining - as usual - turning the already muddy ground into a thick soupy sludge. Even when it wasn't raining, the air was hot and damp. No matter how many times he tried to air himself out, Kix felt like he'd never be fully dry again.
He walked into the medbay and grabbed a cup of caf.
"Sir!" He was greeted by one of his medics with a salute. The trooper's shiny white plastoid was already streaked and spotted with mud.
"At ease soldier, what's the situation here?"
"Not much going on right now, sir. It's pretty quiet."
Kix winced at that word.
"Well now you've done it." Jax, one of his more senior medics retorted with a roll of his eyes. "You've doomed us all."
Kix chuckled at their banter, but silently hoped to all hells that tonight wouldn't be too crazy. He was excited to see you and he knew that if it was too busy, he wouldn't get the chance.
As if the Force itself was mocking him, the coms suddenly blared to life.
"Rex to base we've got casualties incoming. Sending report now." The datapad chimed.
"Copy that, Captain. Report received."
Kix froze, he felt his chest tighten, suddenly finding it very hard to breathe. You had been with the Captain. You had been at the center of whatever just happened.
Focus Kix. You can't afford to freeze up now - that's a shiny move.
But his hands still shook. Images flashed through his mind. You covered in blood, screaming in pain. You blown to pieces. You never coming back to him.
"Sir, I have the report, sir!" the shiny medic called out, pulling Kix out of his downward spiral.
"What do we have, trooper?"
"Mass casualty, sir. Multiple blasts from unknown ordinances. We've got multiple burn vics incoming, as well as a lot of blunt force trauma. 15 minute ETA."
Kix nodded. Osik. He swallowed, chest still feeling like he'd swallowed a rancor. Please be ok. Please be alive. Please - to whatever gods, Force, Maker, or anything...please let her be okay.
"I want cots ready, surgical droids on standby, crash cart prepped. Now! Go!"
His medical team hurried away to carry out the orders. Kix rushed to the supply room, gathering anything they'd need. He'd be prepared for anything. Another body pushed back the curtain enough to slide into the room behind him.
"You ok, vod?" Jax put a comforting hand on his shoulder. He was one of the few people who knew about your secret relationship with his CMO. "Hey, I'm sure she'll be ok. She's smart. One of our best."
Kix nodded but didn't say anything. They both knew that didn't mean anything. War could claim even the strongest and smartest of them all; no one was immune. He appreciated his vod's encouragement anyway, convincing himself that any moment you were going to run into the medbay beside the men you'd dragged from the firefight and get to work doing what you did best.
Time seemed to freeze in the few moments of heavy silence before he heard the first of the gunships approaching and the casualties began pouring in.
No time to think. Time to do.
Kix didn't know how much time had passed as he ran from trooper to trooper, his hands doing the job they were made to do.
Jax met his eyes from across the room. Still no word.
"Kix!"
The medbay doors abruptly swung open, blowing rain into the room. Tup burst into the room out of breath and covered head to toe in mud. One arm was slung around Jesse's waist, supporting most of his weight. The other was guiding a hover gurney. He hurriedly set Jesse in a chair. Jax and another medic rushed to the gurney. Tup sat down heavily next to Jesse after giving a report to Jax. He looked up at Kix.
"Kix I'm so sorry."
Kix's heart stopped. That wasn't you. That couldn't be you. You were supposed to be carrying a gurney, not lying on one. He felt numb.
"What...what happened?" he asked, approaching the two, kneeling down in front of Jesse to get a better look at him. Cuts. Bruises. Dislocated knee. Nothing a bacta tank couldn't heal.
Jesse shook his head. "I'm not sure. One minute we're heading back to camp and the next we're being fired at. I think I got knocked out or something cuz next thing I know, y/n was dragging me to cover."
Kix made a note to run a neurological scan on him due to the supposed head trauma.
"Blood pressure dropping fast!" someone shouted.
"Find that bleeder and tie it off!" Something in his brain snapped. Kix sprang up as if he'd been electrocuted, pulled fully from his head, acting purely on instinct fueled by terror.
"What've we got, sergeant?"
The young medic kneeling on the gurney looked up at him. "[ __ ] year old female. Unconscious. Crush injuries to right leg. Multiple abdominal lacerations. BP 80/50 and dropping."
"Keep putting pressure on those lacs. Give me the scanner. With a BP that low, there's internal bleeding somewhere that we need to find fast." Kix barked out orders quickly and efficiently like he'd done so many times before. You must have been caught in the blast and thrown, he thought. He kept his hands held fast on your wounds trying desperately to keep working so that his thoughts wouldn't have time to spiral. He'd be no use to you if he panicked.
"I'm losing her! Get that crash cart over here now!" Kix yelled. Right now he had to be Kix the Combat Medic, not Kix the worried boyfriend. But it was so hard. "Keep at it, solider. We can't lose her!" I can't lose her.
"I lost her pulse, starting compressions."
Kix knocked aside the shiny medic and jumped up onto the gurney, kneeling beside you.
"One. Two. Three. Four..." Kix pumped at your chest, allowing himself to fall into the all to familiar rhythm of his compressions. You were pale. Too pale. "Come on baby. Come on cyar'ika. Y/n come back to me!" His compressions became erratic, like his breathing. "Come on!" He yelled with anger and grief. You weren't even supposed to be out there tonight. I was.
If I'd never agreed to switch, she'd be alive, she'd be fine.
It's all my fault.
My fault.
My fault.
Kix couldn't breathe. He couldn't see through the tears blurring his vision.
Jax placed a hand on Kix's shoulder. "Vod, take a break. Let me handle this. You go see to Jesse."
"No!" Kix violently shrugged him off. "No, I need to save her. I have to fix this! She needs me!"
"Kix, listen to me!" Tup grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling his hands from your chest as Jax took over. "Breathe, Kix. It's gonna be ok. It's gonna be okay, vod."
"It's not okay! She's dying!"
Kix's legs gave out, allowing Tup to guide him into the chair beside Jesse who put a comforting hand on his knee. "She's strong, vod. You saved her life."
Kix knew Jax was right to take over. He was too close. Seeing you like that - it was too much. He'd froze and if it wasn't for Jax's quick thinking he might have lost you. He almost lost you. He still might.
"I've got a pulse!" Jax yelled. Kix jumped to his feet, running over despite Tup and Jesse's attempts to keep him away. Relief flooded though him, watching your vitals slowly stabilize.
It wasn't until much later, sitting beside your bed, that Kix broke down and cried.
You were going to be okay.
You woke slowly, flitting in and out of consciousness before finally coming to. The first thing you discovered upon taking a deep breath was the pain. Your chest hurt. Badly. IV lines snaked up both of your arms. You felt stiff and sore. It was only then that you noticed a figure sitting beside you. Kix was slumped over, head resting on the side of your bed. His hand rested on yours. You squeezed it. Kix shot up immediately. He looked terrible, as if he'd spent the last week in the medbay picking up extra shifts just to be near you.
"Hey," you whispered. Your throat felt raw.
"Hey yourself." Kix smiled. A tear escaped the corner of his eye.
"You're crying!" You wondered how close to death you'd really come for Kix to look the way he did. Kix didn't cry. You'd never seen him cry. You reached up to brush his tears away.
"I almost lost you, y/n. You....you died!"
"I...died!?" You shivered, thanking the force or whatever else was out there that Kix wouldn't be alone.
Kix nodded, "Don't....don't ever do that again!"
You grinned weakly. "Wasn't planning on it, cyare."
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