Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Light. Darkness. Back and forth they flashed. Stella couldn’t tell what was happening. She vaguely heard voices in the distance, someone calling—no, screaming—her name. Then, everything ceased.

A soft beeping was the first thing she heard as her consciousness slowly returned to her. It seemed to generate somewhere to her right. White light blinded her vision as she struggled to open her eyes. Instead she focused on what she could feel.

Her right leg was sore and stiff. Her whole body felt heavier than lead, like a full-grown elephant seal had collapsed on top of her. Her lungs ached with every breath, as if she had been drowning and air was being forced down her windpipe.

The light faded away and she could finally look around. Cabinets, beds, and tables filled the pale blue room. She sat in silence, processing where she was. The only sounds in the room were the steady beeping of the heart monitor to her right, the soft swishing of water outside, and soft snoring somewhere in front of her.

It dawned on her.

She was in the Sick Bay on the Octopod!

I must have been injured somehow on a recent mission, she deduced. She turned toward the closest reflective surface and examined herself in it. Bandages were wrapped around her torso and shoulders. Her right leg was bound up in a cast. Her tired face was covered in bandaged-up cuts. Her fur was an absolute mess, sticking out sporadically in some places.

Good heavens, she thought, I look terrible. She tried to lift her paw to brush some hair from her face, but something held it tight. She turned to investigate, but what greeted her was the least of her expectations.

Barnacles sleeping by her hips with his head on the mattress, holding her comparatively tiny paw in his. His hair and white fur was just as much of a mess as hers. He was still clad in his uniform, but his hat had fallen onto the sheets. If she had been awake when he was, she would have told her dear lover to sleep in his own bed instead of hurting his back. But that begged the question; what happened that put her in the Med Bay?

She paused to think. With a start it all came flooding back.

~Commander Stella, Captain Barnacles, and Peso had just freed a young Shark who had become trapped under some rocks, dislodged in a sudden earthquake. They watched the shark swim back to its friends, bandages wrapped around its midsection. Her Co-Captain and Peso spoke to each other, discussing plans to search for more creatures in need.

Stella heard the scraping of rocks before the other two did. She looked up as a boulder that had been previously stable on the cliff above them teetering over the edge.

“Look out!” she yelled, shoving Barnacles out of the way. Pain screeched through her nerves as she found herself pinned on the seafloor. The crunching of metal and cracking of glass echoed in her ears as water rushed into her helmet. Her consciousness flickered in and out.

The world went black as Barnacles screamed her name.~

The gentle swaying of the ship reawakened her. They were in motion. Dashi had probably taken her place for the time being. She steadied her breathing; she knew her crew were well, and she knew they were all there.

Hunger was the worst feeling at that moment. The pain from a broken leg and some cracked ribs she could handle, but her hankering for the Vegimals’ kelp cakes was unignorable. But, she couldn’t really go anywhere without waking her Snow Bear.

Awkwardly, she cleared her throat. She knew he wasn’t the lightest sleeper, but her voice usually roused him. His ear twitched, but he still didn’t stir.

“Bear? Wake up,” she said softly, running her thumb over his knuckles. He stirred, lightly grumbling at the disturbance rather like he did the alarm clock in the mornings. Bleary ice-blue eyes met hers, confused then surprised.

“Stella!” he exclaimed. “You’re alright!” He wrapped her up in a hug, almost forgetting her bandaged ribs.

“Yes, I’m alright,” she told him, running her fingers through his hair. “Peso clearly patched me up well. Are you okay?”

“Me? You gave everyone quite a scare, Love! Peso’s been checking up on you every fifteen minutes; I had to pick him up and carry him to his room just to get him to go to sleep. Everyone else has been freaking out!”

“Then explain why you fell asleep here.”

He sighed sheepishly, knowing he’d been caught. “I wanted to be here when you woke up… And I promised Peso I’d keep watch. I guess I drifted off.” He shifted his paw in hers. “I um… I should go tell the crew you’re awake. Anything I can get you?”

“Some kelp cakes and a glass of water would be lovely; thank you, Dear.”

He nodded, planted a kiss on her lips, and hurried from the room. She settled back on the pillows, turning her gaze out the window. The rest of the crew were certainly going to be fretting over their Commander for the next couple weeks while she recovered. Barnacles was already protective of her and had a hard time remembering that she is a capable leopardess. A part of her shuddered to think how protective of her he’d become now.

Chapter Text

The lines between his thoughts blurred. One moment everything was as it should be, the next nothing was in its proper place. Glass shards pierced his paw-pads as he held his love against his chest, kneeling on the floor of the GUP-A . His shoulders shook and paws trembled as he laid her down on the floor, Peso beginning CPR procedures. 

Commander Stella, Captain Barnacles, and Peso had just freed a young Shark who had become trapped under some rocks, dislodged in a sudden earthquake. They watched the shark swim back to its friends, bandages wrapped around its midsection. He and Peso spoke to each other, discussing plans to search for more creatures in need. 

“Look out!” Stella had cried, shoving him out of the way of a boulder tumbling through the water column. He fell into the sand as her helmet shattered and air-tanks were crushed. 

“STELLA!” 

She was taken into the Sick Bay by Peso, Tweak, and Shellington as soon as they arrived at the Octopod . He sat at the consoles in the HQ, willing himself to not worry so much; his love was in safe flippers. Yet, that didn’t stop Barnacles from falling back into his worrywart tendencies. 

He lost count of how many hours it had been since the crew returned after the third. Dashi and Kwazii knew it was a mix of shock, anxiety, and exhaustion keeping their Captain at his post well into the night. The jump of his shoulders when Kwazii tapped the back of his chair told them everything they needed to know about their Captain’s state of mind. 

It wasn’t exactly every day Barnacles’ beloved leopardess lept into danger. She had her reckless moments but she wasn’t Kwazii-levels of reckless by any means. 

“She’s stable… She’s not awake yet, but she’s breathing and her heart’s beating,” Dashi told him as she took her seat at the console. “We’ll shut everything down for the night… you go check in with Peso.” 

He didn’t need to be told twice. 

As soon as he entered the Sick Bay he hooked a hard right into the corner of the room. Peso was doing final patch-ups, securing IV lines and ensuring the monitors stayed stuck in their places. 

“Is she really going to be okay?” Barnacles asked when Peso turned toward him. 

Peso nodded serenely. “She had a lot of broken bones but luckily no organ damage. I don’t think she was ever deprived of oxygen. She’ll wake up eventually.” A yawn split Peso’s beak as he added, “I’ll stay up for her—” 

“No, I’ll stay up. You just spent who knows how long patching her up; you need to rest, Peso.” 

Peso wasn’t going to argue with a quick power-nap, until it was fifteen minutes later and he couldn’t sleep without checking Stella one more time. And again fifteen minutes later. 

The third time he walked into the Sick Bay, Barnacles had had enough. It was one thing for him to be worried, another for Peso to be worried. He put down his book—something he picked up to keep his mind busy—and carried Peso back up to his room. 

“I promise Peso, I will keep watch. If something happens you’ll be the first to wake up.” 

At least… until Barnacles fell asleep at Stella’s feet.