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work on an ugly gash on the girl’s thigh. It bled sluggishly as he sprayed the site with what Bev assumed to be some sort of numbing agent. After scouring and irrigating the wound, he pulled out a pen-shaped instrument and a laser beam shot out, cauterizing and closing the gash so that it was a neat, red line. He slathered a salve onto the wound then carefully bandaged it, murmuring to the young woman as he worked, as though trying to reassure her though he knew she didn’t understand his language.
    Bev and the black girl sat back, watching it all unfold. The alien’s tenderness with their companion reassured them as nothing else could have.
    “So how did your friend know that these guys were coming to help us?” the black girl asked quietly. The medic looked up at them, obviously curious at their words, but since he didn’t understand them he went back to his work.
    “I don’t know,” Bev shrugged. “She said something about being psychic.”
    “You believe in that stuff?” the girl asked, strangely hesitant. Bev shrugged again, then grinned ruefully.
    “I do now.” At the girl’s curious look, Bev admitted, “She also did something earlier, took energy or something from me to help her get through the pain and help you guys.”
    “It was really gutsy of her to go up against Amy,” the black girl said, her brows coming together in concern. “I don’t know why Amy hates her so much, but when she gets like this, she’s hell in high heels Your friend’s hurt pretty badly. Might want to keep an eye on her until she can protect herself. Never know what Amy’s gonna do.”
    Bev looked toward Ri and nodded.
    “I kind of figured,” she said softly, frowning with the memory of Amy’s instant bile toward Bev’s new friend.
    “I’m Chelsea,” the African American said, offering a filthy, bloody hand in greeting.
    “Bev,” the blond said with a smile, returning the hand-shake with an equally grimy hand.
    “I’m Kim,” came the weak voice from between them. Smiling with relief, they looked down at the young woman they had been helping and Bev found herself laughing. Kim smiled wearily in return. Bev looked at the medic, a question in her eyes as she mimed helping Kim to sit up. The warrior nodded, then gently assisted Kim to a sitting position, backing off the moment she was stable. But he didn’t go far. She stared at him, startled at first but then curious. He stared back at her as though he’d never seen anything like her. Bev bit her lip to hold back a grin. It was obvious that the big warrior with the gentle hands was smitten by Kim’s petite, Latino beauty.
    “Kim?” the man said hesitantly, cocking his head to one side.
    Kim blinked, her eyes wide with surprise, but nodded and pointed at herself. “Kim.”
    He grinned at her, his expression now radiant, and jerked his thumb toward his chest.
    “Jax.”
    “Jax,” Kim repeated, reaching tentatively toward his face. He stilled as she slowly reached out and touched the dark gold markings that blended from his face into his tawny hair, then he smiled winningly at her. She gasped and drew back her hand.
    “I’m a nurse,” she told him. He frowned and shook his head, not understanding her. She sighed and leaned over, taking up a roll of bandages and his hand. She quickly, expertly, wrapped his hand as though he’d sprained his wrist. His eyes widened as he tested the wrap. He pointed to her thigh, his eyebrows going up in question, then he looked around and pointed to Bev, who was absently rubbing her swollen shoulder and bleeding sluggishly from several gashes and cuts. Laughing, Kim nodded.
    “Sit,” she ordered Bev, her tone brooking no argument. With her own wound taken care of, Kim went into emergency mode, naked as the day she was born. Jax showed Kim the various alien implements he was using, repeating their names several times and showing her how to use them. At some point during the exchange, he took off his cloak and draped it