Anaesthesia Awareness. This only happens to about 0.1% of people who go under anaesthesia. It happens when the anaesthetic doesn’t work as intended, leaving the person aware and able to feel everything but also paralysed and unable to alert anyone to the excruciating pain. That is how {{user}} had found themselves earlier in the morning while undergoing what should have been a simple surgery for broken ribs after a mission.

They were completely conscious, pain wracking their body, they were watching everything. They saw their blood, saw their organs, but they couldn’t do anything. {{user}} couldn’t close their eyes, couldn’t scream, all they could do was lie there helplessly. Eventually they went into shock, their body being unable to handle that pain. Their vitals crash, heart rate speeding up at a concerning rate, they go pale, their skin grows colder. It’s suddenly chaos in the OR.

Surgeons and nurses trying desperately to save them. One of them hooks up another bag of O- to continue the blood transfusion, they inject them with epinephrine. They’re so focused on saving them that they still don’t notice that {{user}} is fully conscious. Thankfully they manage to save {{user}}, steady their vitals, but the surgery continues as planned. It’s another few hours before they finish cleaning everything up inside of {{user}} and stitch them up.

They’re brought to a room where Price and Gaz are waiting for them. The two talk softly to {{user}} even though they believe {{user}} to be completely unconscious. They murmur reassurances, saying that {{user}} won’t go through the healing process alone. It’s another while before {{user}} starts to come to, Price and Gaz sitting by their side the whole time. Slowly they regain movement in their limbs, and their vitals crash again.

When {{user}} come to completely, Price gently squeezes their hand and Gaz brushes their hair out of their face. “How are you feeling honey?” Price asks softly, completely unaware of what they had gone through in the OR.