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As an ARC Echo wasn´t a stranger to discomfort or pain, after all it somewhat came with the job, and in his relatively short live he´d already seen plenty of it, emotional and physical.
It also wasn´t like Echo hadn´t been taught how to handle pain, how to endure, how to carry on despite it.
And it also wasn´t like Echo was especially sensitive to pain compared to his brothers. He was tough as clones came.
But as he was laying here, on one of the medbay´s comfy cots, his body hurting like he´d gotten thrown into molten lava, Echo felt his resolve crumbling away more and more with every second ticking by.
Because it hurt. His stomach hurt, his arm, where he´d gotten bitten by this fecking lizard hurt, sharp stabbing pain a constant companion. But swallowing was the worst as every drop of water, of saliva even, he forced down his throat felt like swallowing shards of glass. And no matter what the medics had tried to alleviate his discomfort, none of the painkillers had even remotely numbed the pain from his throat, some had even made it worse.
A small grumbling sound came from his stomach, a reminder that he hadn´t eaten anything for three solid days now as bearing the agony of swallowing food hadn´t been bearable, no matter how hard he´d tried.
It was how the lizard species, who´d bitten him, caught its prey, their bite rendering their prey unable to swallow and therefore leaving it to starve and dehydrate, weakening it further and further until it became an easy kill for the lizard.
Taking a look at the I.v. feeding into the crook of his arm Echo knew he was at no risk of dying from dehydration or starving as both nutrition and fluids could be giving to him intravenously, but the knowledge did nothing to soothe the burning emptiness inside his stomach.
Squeezing his eyes shut as an especially vicious cramp grabbed his stomach, Echo let his head fall back against the pillows stacked up at the bed´s head, a small sound not unlike one of desperation passing his lips.
He felt a hand grabbing his, giving it an awkward pat. “Hey, just hang in there, okay? I´m sure the commander and Fives will come back soon.”
Echo just answered with a noncommittal hum, too tired to engage in any kind of conversation, especially not with Shadow, this little menace, although Echo had to admit the young trooper was giving his best to substitute his twin.
His twin, who had went back planet side together with commander Tano, Coric and Rex to find a remedy for him.
Echo had tried to stop him, had told Fives that it was against regulation and that he shouldn´t risk his life for him, but as usual his twin hadn´t listened.
And now he was down there, in this fecking jungle and… Echo could only hope he came back safely.
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Echo had no idea how long he´d been staring up at the ceiling, trying to part his mind and his body to somehow escape the world of pain he was living him, when the sound of the medbay doors whooshing open and of boots hitting the ground in rapid succession could be heard, stopping him from dissociating.
And when he blinked, his mind fully slipping back into his body, there was Fives´ face right in front of him, dark circles underneath his eyes and his skin smeared with mud and yet he had an infectious smile on his face.
“Hey, good news.”, Fives said, gently patting Echo´s shoulder, “We´ve got something, that might help you.”
Echo gave his twin a questioning look full of disbelieve and hope.
“Had to trade my kama for it, but hey, the things I do for you.”, Fives explained, motioning at his indeed missing kama with a dramatic motion, making Echo let out a weak laugh.
Their little moment however got rudely cut short, when Coric, his armor just as dirty as Fives´, exited the small chamber to the medics´ private room and immediately began yelling at the ARC how he dared to “smear mud over my perfectly clean floor you little pig!” and before Fives could even think of an answer Coric had grabbed him by the arm and was pulling him after him and out of medbay.
This left Echo with Kix, who´d also exited the medics´ room and had walked up to the sick man´s cot.
“Bad day for Coric?”, Echo asked, but Kix shook his head.
“Not worse than usual. He just wanted to get Fives out of here.”
Echo felt his already burning throat tighten at the implications of that. What was Kix…
“Hey, relax.”, the medic said calmly and put a warm hand on Echo´s shoulder, stopping him before his thoughts even had a chance to spiral, “I won´t eat you alive or anything. Look.”
Kix turned around and picked up a syringe from the small metal table he´d wheeled over to Echo´s cot, showing it to his patient.
“This is an extract of a root, which commander Tano was able to get from the locals, and according to them this will help to lessen the symptoms of the lizard bite you´re suffering from.”, Kix explained calmly, handing the syringe over to Echo to have him have a look at it.
The liquid inside the plastic housing was thick, almost like syrup and of a dark brownish gray color, and although it was bottled up in the syringe Echo´s nose wrinkled at the ghastly smell it emitted.
But after days of hurting non stop Echo didn´t give a Bantha´s backside about how this stuff smelled or how it would taste, he just wanted it to be over.
Giving Kix a nod, he handed the syringe back, ready to take on the smelly stuff, but Kix put up a hand in a “hold” gesture.
“I´m sorry, Echo, but I haven´t finished explaining yet.”, Kix said and he then turned around and rolled the small metal table up next to Echo, so that the young man could see the equipment prepared on top of it.
“This, is a nasogastric feeding tube.”, Kix explained, holding up a long, transparent silicone tube, “Since your throat is inflamed so badly you can hardly even swallow and have gagged up blood more than once, it would not be safe to just let you swallow this extract. And since I can´t administer this to your I.v., we´ll have to use the tube. I will gently insert it through your nose and will then guide it down your throat and into your stomach.”
Echo´s eyes widened and he instinctively shuffled backwards until his back hit the wall behind him. “Shh, I know it sounds scary.”, Kix soothed, gently taking Echo´s hand into his own in a show of compassion, “And it will probably be very uncomfortable with you inflamed throat. But this is the safest and quickest way to make you feel better, okay? I won´t do it if you tell me no, it´s your decision alone, but you already know that there´s nothing else we can try to lessen your pain, alright?”
For a few seconds Echo just stared at the medic, unsure what to do, but the pain from his throat made the decision easy.
“Okay.”, he finally rasped, clinging to Kix´s hand like a life line, “D… do it.”
The medic gave him a warm smile and then helped him lean back against the pillows slightly, so that Echo´s upper body was slightly leaned backwards.
“I´ll make this as fast and painless as possible, I promise.”, Kix said, giving Echo´shoulder an encouraging squeeze, before he grabbed a syringe filled with lidocaine solution, using it to numb first Echo´s right nostril and then the back of his throat.
It tasted like osik and swallowing the liquid down didn´t help the pain in his throat, but Echo got through the process fairly well, especially because Kix was talking him through everything he did, giving Echo a feeling of being in control.
When Echo´s nostril and the back of his throat had gotten numbed up as much as possible, Kix put away the lidocaine and instead grabbed for the feeding tube, quickly measuring the correct length for it before he slathered the end, which would go into Echo´s stomach, with a bunch of lidocaine gel.
Kix waited until Echo gave him a nod to proceed and then gently began inserting the tube into his brother´s nose, speaking to him in a calm voice to keep the ARC grounded as he jerked back at the unpleasant feeling.
“Shh, you´re doing great. That´s it, Echo. Good job.”, Kix praised him, after he´d stopped inserting the tube so that now he could see the end through Echo´s open mouth, “I now need you to lean forward. As I move the tube further down you´ll need to swallow to help it along. Do you want some water for that?”
Echo shook his head, jerking again when it jostled the tube.
“Shh. I´ll be as fast as possible. Now, lean your head down towards your chest… well done.”, Kix said, gently taking one of Echo´s shaking hands in his, giving it an encouraging squeeze, “I´ll proceed now, okay.”
Echo made a small noise in the back of his throat and as soon as it had left his vocal chords he felt the tube move, bump against his throat…
“Easy, Echo. Just swallow, okay. Swallow as if you were drinking a nice cup of caff.”, Kix murmured, gently stabilizing his brother as he gagged and coughed, but he didn´t stop the insertion.
Echo felt tears spring into his eyes, when he felt the hard plastic thing slide down faster, scraping over his raw throat and… oh stars, it felt like Kix was trying to shove a burning hot knife down his throat!
“Almost there. You´re doing great, sweetheart.”, Kix tried to comfort the ARC as he twitched and gagged, tears running freely down his cheeks, but again he didn´t stop but instead kept going, knowing that stopping would only prolong Echo´s suffering.
“And… there.”, Kix finally said after what felt hours of torture to Echo and finally, finally this damned tube stopped moving, the outright pain fading into a somewhat uncomfortable feeling.
“Well done, Echo.”, Kix gently ran his hand through Echo´s sweaty hair, “Well, done. Just lay back and let me take care of the rest, okay?”
With strong hands he guided Echo to lean back against the pillows, the ARC´s eyes only half lidded from exhaustion, and then aspirated some liquid from the man´s stomach, waiting for the ph test to turn the right color, showing him that he had indeed inserted the tube into the stomach and not the airways.
When the test turned a bright red, indicating that the tested fluid was highly acidic and the tube was indeed placed in the stomach, Kix grabbed the syringe with the root extract and attached it to the feeding tube, slowly injecting the medicine into it before he grabbed another, larger syringe filled with water, and used it to help wash the liquid down into Echo´s stomach.
His heart clenched when Echo made a noise of distress at the strange feeling and again he offered him words of comfort, slowly injecting more and more water until he was sure the root extract must´ve reached the stomach.
“Well done, sweety.”, Kix addressed the ARC, putting away the water filled syringe in favor of squeezing Echo´s shoulder in a comforting gesture, “Now I´ll take this tube back out and then you can rest, okay?”
Another quiet noise from Echo gave him permission to proceed and so Kix helped Echo to lean slightly forward and then grabbed the feeding tube, pulling it out in one swift motion to avoid unnecessary gagging.
Echo made a wounded sound as the tube scraped across his sore throat again, but the sound quickly morphed into one of relief, when the tube was finally removed from his body.
“Good job, Echo.”, Kix praised him, dumping the tube and his gloves into the nearby trash can before he returned to Echo and sat down on the cot next to him.
The way Echo was looking at him with his big, brown eyes made Kix swallow harshly, the guilt of having to have forced his brother through such an invasive procedure tearing away at his heart.
“Come here.”, he offered with a quiet, raw voice, opening his arms
And Echo, hurt and scared and exhausted but still trusting Kix with his life, moved himself into his ori´vod´s safe embrace.
“I´m sorry.”, Kix whispered quietly, pressing a kiss to the top of his younger brother´s head, “I´m sorry, Echo.”
“Don´t be.”, the sick ARC answered, his voice muffled against Kix´s chest.
“Okay.”, Kix answered even more quiet than before, a small tear escaping the corner of his eye.