Who: Erwin Smith and Commander Shepard What: Visiting in the hospital When: Backdated to after the zoo battle Rating: PG Status: Ongoing, incomplete
To say that Shepard had been having a rough go of things was an understatement. Atlantis had practically been paradise compared to her life. There weren’t any Reapers. There weren’t any Collectors. The Illusive Man wasn’t trying to manipulate her want to do good. Most of the missions were whimsical - even the dangerous ones. With the exception of the Arena, even when there had been danger it wasn’t anything extreme. She had been able to handle all of that as if it wasn’t anything worse than training. It hadn’t been. People hadn’t died. At least people hadn’t actually died.
Being a Commander had its perks. It meant she got constant updates on all the battles. It meant she knew who got hurt and who didn’t. Shepard had known better, she knew better than to try and check on Erwin when his name had popped up. She could handle the uncomfortable feeling it gave her that she had no idea how bad, but she had a job to do. She had a job to do that she’d done a hundred times over. Alliance Commander. First Human Spectre. Biotically Revived Undead Commander. You know, she earned the Commander title maybe a few too many times and she had people to look after. They were still patrolling. They had jobs. But… everyone needed a break.
And Shepard knew where she’d be taking her’s. She walked into the base, or well, what they’d turned into medical for the people they could get back on their feet quick enough or didn’t need emergency transport to Mako. She knew Erwin wouldn’t have wanted to be counted out, but he’d been pretty damn close to it. Wandering into the room she found herself halfway between his bed and the door, “Well Commander,” She said - partially a joke at least. He didn’t hold the title here technically, but she never would have held that against him. “When I told you you could tag along and get a little involved, I didn’t foresee you running off to get yourself all beaten up.” Saoirse had never been the sort of woman to handle things simple or cutely, so sarcasm and the joke of a soldier who had walked into one too many hospital rooms sort of shone through for the moment.
The battle had been unlike the ones he was familiar with, but he guessed that when he signed up for it. Erwin had done what he could to protect those who he could, and wound up getting hurt. He supposed for a one armed soldier, that wasn't a big surprise. At least his mobility gear was still in tact, though he was willing to bet that someone here could fix it if need be. Still.
His head was pounding, his good arm was bruised. He had possibly a broken rib. Erwin knew enough about medical things to guess that much even without someone looking him over. As Shepard came into view, though, Erwin sat up a little, rolling his eyes. "I'm used to hearing a joke about shit right around now, usually," Erwin teased, a smirk on his lips. Honestly, it had felt good to be out in the middle of it again.
"At least the animals are safe. I probably owe my life to horses, so, it was the least I could do. At least Titans never thought of horses as food." He chuckled, dryly, wincing a little as he moved the wrong way.
There was no surprise from the Commander. He was a solider, he could take a jab from another soldier. It was something she liked about Erwin - not that it wasn’t weird to think about liking someone. It wasn’t usually how Shepard rolled. Then again, Atlantis threw a wrench in everything. It threw a wrench in the whole saving the universe thing. It upended the first time Saoirse had had a stable amount of friends… basically since the massacre when she was a kid. Assholes murdering colonists. It always went the same way and it came with some scars. Like, you know, only semi-casually and not-obsessively checking up on one of the people you’d really bonded with in Atlantis. One she’d potentially put in danger herself by letting them come on patrols when he wasn’t assigned.
Shepard had been bad at rules her whole life, but letting Erwin tag along had been pretty ballsy even for her. Atlantis was a war zone at that point. And here she found herself, slowly striding towards his bed - trying to push back any little ideas floating around in the back of her mind about how this reminded her of Ashley’s death in the most adjacent but still too close way. “I’ll give you that it was a noble pursuit.” She said, continuing her pattern of defusing over anything else. It was a very genuine statement, mixed with amusement and caring nonetheless - but genuine and well meaning it was. Finally making it over to his bedside, she looked down - her hands moving to shoeve themselves in the pocket of her jeans. “Managed to get yourself pretty roughed up out there didn’t you?” Shepard went about as serious as she genuinely got, tbu there was always going to be that little twag of an accent.
“I’ll just have to come up with better jokes then.” She said, huffing softly as she leaned a leg against his hospital bed as she stood there.