Unfit for a Normal Life (A Wes Janson Story) Part 4
***
He opened his eyes, the blur of a dimly-lighted room taking a moment to clear. He was lying in a military sickbay room, and the pain was almost gone.
Turning his head, Wes saw a woman dozing in the chair beside the bed, her head propped up on her fist. Her orange X-wing jumpsuit clashed terribly with the green of the chair. Her hair, plaited into a messy braid, was greasy and there were dark circles under her eyes.
She was possibly the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. It took him a moment to gather enough moisture into his mouth to speak. “Inyri.”
Her eyes opened and she leaned over his bed. “Wes. You’re awake.”
His forehead creased in confusion. “What are-“ he coughed.
“Here,” she said, pouring him a glass of water and putting a straw in it. “Just sip it.”
He did as she said, and she put the cup back down on the nightstand. “You’re here,” he marveled.
“I’ve been here since yesterday,” she said softly. “I’m still listed as your emergency contact.”
“What happened?” he asked as she perched on the edge of the bed.
“You took a shot in the stomach,” she said. “Commander Loran and Captain Nelprin pulled you out and brought you to the Mon Remonda. That’s where we are now.”
He only had one question left now, one to which he still feared the answer. “Why are you here?”
She looked down, clasping his hand connected to the lines keeping him hydrated. “Because I couldn’t stay there.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but she leaned closer, touching her forehead to his. “I threw out the divorce papers,” she said quietly.
Wes lifted his hand to touch her face, and with her protective presence over him, drifted back into a peaceful sleep.
***
Outside the room, Shalla Nelprin watched through the darkened window as Inyri gently brushed Wes’ hair away from his face. Other than Inyri’s harried demands to Wes’ whereabouts when she’d arrived after a day and a half in an X-wing to get there and then her quiet, earnest thank you, Shalla hadn’t spoken to the woman she knew only as Wes’ wife.
She kept watch for a few moments more, staring past her own reflection in the window until her comlinks beeped, wanting her attention. “Nelprin.”
“Briefing, ten minutes,” Face said.
Her pause in answering caused the comlinks to crackle back to life. “Shalla, you coming?”
“Yeah,” she said absently. “Yeah, I’m coming.”
Flipping her comlink off, Shalla took one last look at Wes and Inyri before turning her back on them and walking down the empty hall.
***