Taking care of Kate Macer after she gets hurt

Every now and then, when Kate comes home, she shows up with all types of wounds.

Sometimes they're blue and purple bruises all over her back, arms, or abdomen. Other times they are small cuts all over her exposed skin, which, even with her insistence of it being nothing, you still take the time to take care of.

But there are some instances where she comes back from a mission with more serious injuries, such as today.

You had seen the news of the explosion all over the news and were growing more impatient for her to come back, especially with her not answering her phone. But that all went out of the window once you opened the door and saw her standing across from you.

The first thing you noticed was the fried blood on her temple. She looked as if she had made no effort on cleaning herself up. Her face was still covered in dirt and there were smaller cuts all over her face. You're not even sure how she managed to get home all by herself in this state but you shove that thought to the side.

Kate stumbled in the house wordlessly and you feel her lean all of her weight against you as you place your hand on her hip to help her into the bathroom. You sit her on the toilet seat and begin to strip her of her clothes, watching her squirm in pain and her face twisting uncomfortably as she stretched her arms up so you could take her torn shirt off.

"Kate, why didn't they send you to a hospital?"

"I don't think it was necessary," She says quietly, going back to her own world as she lets you take her cargo pants off. Her eyes glaze over with that familiar distant look as she burns holes into the wall in front of her.

It was rare for her to completely succumb like this, but she had no fight left in her today as she let you sit her in the tub and turn on the water.

She winced in pain and jumped away from the stream but the warm hand on her back guides her back into it and you softly make work of the blood slowly gushing out from the side of her head.

Kate moves away with a strangled sob and after a while but leans in to let you continue. You cup your palm to catch the water and you rinse her whole body, making sure to be as mindful as possible because you know it hurts her.

After a while she also starts moving and helping and, little by little the gash hidden beneath her brown hair stops bleeding.

"I was worried about you."

"They won't kill me off that easily."

You lean and deposit a small kiss on her shoulder and Kate leans into the touch, suddenly feeling a little more rejuvenated.

"Let's deal with this and get you dressed."

Dressing her is the easiest part of the evening as she quietly sits at the foot of your shared bed, quietly and patiently waiting on you. Whenever she returned from tough missions it seems her mind switched on autopilot, guiding her through the hours until she could regain back control over herself.

You always make sure to make her favorite meal, and after one sided bickering about how she isn't really hungry, you convince her to eat at least a few spoonfuls but she always ends up eating it all. You also make sure to wrap her in the warmest blanket you two have and let her lay on you on the couch as you watch a silly movie to keep her busy with good things.

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