This story takes place right after my fic "Comprehension" which takes place during The Fall of Reach. The book, not the game Halo: Reach. :D :D You could probably understand this one without reading the first fic, but it makes a lot more sense if you do. Feedback is like candy to my muse's sweet tooth.

Despite everything she had seen throughout the war, she hated seeing him, especially him, like this.

Bloodied.

Bruised.

Battered.

It seemed surreal that all of his injuries were suffered at the hands of his fellow soldiers. But not Spartans, she quickly amended. No, they would never do anything so cruel, so barbaric, to another. They had been trained better than that.

That could not be said about Ackerson.

Pushing aside her thoughts of the general and his revolting attempt to publicly humiliate her and her Spartan, Doctor Halsey turned her full attention back to John.

"You will be fine when we're done," the doctor said, studying data coming from the medical readout. "Your ankle and sides will be sore for a few hours, but it's nothing you shouldn't be able to handle."

To her surprise, a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "Cortana told me."

Briefly, she wondered why, exactly, that seemed to amuse him before dismissing her curiosity. She had more pressing issues, like getting John back to fighting form, to tend to. She held the laser scalpel in her hand, hovering it over him. "This is going to a painful procedure, even for you, John. We could give you something to take away the pain."

His refusal was not unexpected.

"No thank you, ma'am."

For several minutes, as she tended to his injuries, the room was relatively quiet. The monitors were humming softly, her surgical tools were buzzing faintly, John's breathing, despite his pain, was slow and even.

As she was knitting his torn Achilles' Heel, she noticed him scanning the room discretely. Only a handful of people would be able to identify what he was doing; to anyone else, he was laying patiently, staring blankly into space.

But she knew better. He was looking for something.

Or, Halsey mentally corrected, someone.

Her eyebrow rose imperceptivity. John's interest in Cortana's location intrigued her. Why was he looking for her?

"I'm having Cortana reboot your armor's main systems," she said off-handedly, not wanting to call attention to the fact she noticed his surveillance.

As she expected, he stopped his stealthy examination of the room. "She said that it would be repaired by tomorrow…that the mission wouldn't be delayed."

"She is right," Halsey answered, unsurprised by his desire to make sure nothing was stalled due to his injuries. "The mission won't be postponed."

When she finished mending the tendon, Halsey took a step back, looking at him. "What did you think of her, John?" she asked.

He answered quickly, a sign he had already been expecting this question. "She will be a valuable asset to the success of this mission."

He could have been just as easily talking about a new scope for his assault rifle, Halsey noted with a tinge of amusement.

"John," she said disapprovingly, as a warning. His answer might have been satisfactory to those at the ONI, but not her. "What did you think of her?" she repeated.

She was rewarded with the rare chance to watch John, his face uncovered for once, as he considered the answer to her question.

"She's…unorthodox," he finally answered.

An interesting word choice, the doctor thought, knowing that word had been used to describe him-and the rest of his Spartans-in times past. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, ma'am," he quickly answered. She watched him consider his next words carefully, as if he was unsure if he should continue speaking. He looked her in the eyes. "I trust her."

Halsey was unable to mask her surprise at his declaration. She knew of no one outside the Spartans, and perhaps herself, that John trusted.

"You'd better. I did save you from an early death."

Cortana's image flickered from the holoprojecter next to John's biobed.

Halsey should have been expecting that Cortana would be listening in on their conversation. But her curiosity of John's opinion, caused her to forget, momentarily, that Cortana missed nothing. Especially when it came to people discussing her.

Cortana glanced at the screen, appearing to read the data from it. Halsey knew it was all for show; she had no doubt that Cortana had been paying close attention to John's vitals since he was wheeled away from her. "I told you that you would be fine," she said.

"How's my armor?" he asked.

"Shouldn't you be more concerned with your recovery?" she shot back.

He looked at her, before repeating, "My armor?"

She rolled her eyes before shooting an exasperated glance at Halsey. "You didn't mention his stubbornness before," she complained lightly.

Halsey stayed silent, watching the exchange between the two of them. It was intriguing. Their two personalities were opposite of each other, and yet…there was a connection between them that she would have been foolish to ignore. This went beyond any connection Cortana may have felt because of her origins.

No, the doctor noted, this was something different.

"And?" he prompted.

"It will be fine. Just like I told you," she answered, slightly annoyed. The AI took a step towards him, crossing her arms. "And there is nothing wrong with being unorthodox."

"I never said there was."

Halsey watched as the AI grinned briefly. "Good. Glad we got that cleared up." Seemingly pleased with John, she turned back to Halsey. "All systems have been rebooted, once the armor itself is repaired, we'll be ready to go."

Halsey nodded. "All right, go ahead and transfer aboard the Autumn, tell Keyes the mission is still green."

For a moment, the doctor thought she might argue, insisting she stay with her Spartan counterpart, but Cortana just nodded. The AI turned back to John. "Don't miss me too much." With that, she was gone.

"Unorthodox?" Halsey asked with a touch of amusement in her voice.

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

One of her techs stuck his head in the room. "Doctor, we are ready to begin repairs on the MJOLNIR armor."

"All right, Anthony, I'll be right there."

The tech nodded and left as Halsey and John faced each other awkwardly. This would likely be the last time she would see him, she knew. He needed to get aboard the Autumn, to prepare his Spartans for the mission ahead. His armor would be transported as soon as she and her team fixed the damage. There would be no time to goodbyes after she left to finish the repairs.

She wanted to say so much. Apologize to him for all the pain he had to suffer throughout the years. Thank him for all he had done. Praise him for all he had achieved. Tell him that she believed that he could succeed in this mission. In the end, though, she found herself oddly speechless.

It was, in fact, John who broke the silence. "Thank you."

For creating the Spartan program.

For Cortana.

For giving him the ability to win this war.

The words were unspoken, but Halsey heard them nevertheless.

"You're welcome, John."