(Nerdel, when she wakes up herself at dawn, will creep in and put his weighted blanket over him.) 

Finnar stays up all night reading much the same material that Khemeth was, in more depth, and then about which therapies have the greatest evidence base that they actually work, and inevitably getting deeply rabbitholed on a minor side aspect (in this case, everything known about how neurological development happens in the embryo and fetus up through childhood) until he falls asleep in front of the projector screen. 

Merrin wakes up at like four in the morning still on the massage table, gets up and chugs almost a liter of water, drags herself to her actual bed, and falls asleep again until well past dawn. 

Kalorm, meanwhile, still has a few more obstacles to surmount – namely, not having any additional complications overnight or over the course of the morning. 

He doesn't have a GI bleed. He doesn't end up septic from displaced gut bacteria. No bowel perforation. 

(All of these outcomes are much less likely once they haven't happened for the first 12 hours. His gut is not in great shape and he is going to have an un-fun few days, but his stomach is producing protective mucus again. He still isn't passing gas, but there are a few flickers of peristalsis beginning.) 

No brain vasospasm. 

No bleed. 

No brain swelling. 

His liver function is picking up, despite all the signs of cell damage. They don't really need the Complicated Liver Replacement Module anymore. His kidney function is poor right now, but the worst danger period is past and he's still peeing at all, which is a good sign on this being a degree of damage that will heal, if not fully back to baseline. (He'll need to be more careful about salt and potassium intake, and be at higher risk of blood pressure issues later, but there are experimental drug treatments that may help actually repair some of that damage.) 

He's hemodynamically stable enough now that he could probably tolerate intermittent once-a-day dialysis, and they haven't even rewarmed him all the way yet. 

It looks like a go-ahead, if Khemeth still thinks that's the right call? The prediction markets are at least putting <2% on this being a medically disastrous idea. 

Personnel will go, somewhat nervously, ask Merrin what she thinks about working again today, albeit not starting for a few more hours. 

Merrin is totally awake! She slept for like twelve hours. 

She has something of a post-intense-shift hangover, which is mostly manifesting in that she cannot manage to focus for very long on anything. Her apartment, even after being relocated to the hospital housemodule section, doesn't have the setup for her to mirror any of the patient's sensors. She is considering messaging Personnel or literally just going over to the command center in person, but social anxiety is back online and what if people think that's weird??? She doesn't even know most of the people involved in this case, she hasn't spend much time training out of Default Hospital in the last year. What if there are more STEALTH KEEPERS. What if she said really embarrassing things yesterday while she was too exhausted to have impulse control. What if Finnar is there, he's scary. 

She answers her door in about three seconds. "What is it?" 

"- I do want to preface that you are allowed to say no, even though everybody confidently predicts that having been asked you won't say no, so yes we have already considered whether this is a reasonable idea, but - do you think you're rested enough to be up for an afternoon-evening shift?" 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah if things were okay they wouldn't be asking her that!!!???

"What's wrong?" 

....That was probably a predictable reaction and Personnel sort of feels like he dropped the ball on not thinking to reassure Merrin first. He quickly lifts his hands. "Nothing! Really, medically speaking he's doing very well, except for definitely not coming off dialysis today or possibly this week. But he's stable otherwise, and Khemeth rather confidently predicts that he would prefer not to be kept under any longer than necessary. So we would like to start weaning the sedation basically as soon as we rewarm him. The issue is that this will be at 5 pm*, roughly, so it would be a late shift for you. Khemeth asked for eight hours, but we're aware it could be a full overnight if he takes a long time to clear the sedation from his system." 

*Assume translation convention on times of day. 

Merrin blinks at him. 

"I mean, I'm fine to work another shift, just...uhhhh...why? I feel like there have got to be strictly better options than me at this point." 

Merrin. Personnel does not roll his eyes, because that would be a failure of professional dignity AND Merrin would probably think he was making a joke at her expense or something. 

"You'll have to ask Khemeth for the full context, it was his request." Thereby passing it off to someone who is supposedly extremely socially competent. "However, you're a known quantity to him and the family, at this point, and your endurance is relevant as well, it should be less disorienting to Kalorm if there's a consistent person around for more than fours hours. He's going to have more communication challenges than usual until we can extubate him, because of the text-processing issue, so that will benefit from having someone who can get used to his cues, and according to your file you're generally good at picking up on patient nonverbals." 

Merrin nods, still looking faintly dubious. 

"- To clarify, it won't be just you without backup. But if my guess - and Khemeth's - is right, you're probably interesting in staying involved in the case?" 

Merrin bobs her head, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Oh, I mean, definitely! I just. Uh. Want to make sure Khemeth is aware that there are people who are better at things than me." 

NOT rolling his eyes even though this is taking SELF-CONTROL. "I am sure Khemeth - and his father - are fully aware of the resources at their disposal." He quickly lifts a hand again. "Don't worry, Finnar won't be there for most of it and if he does visit he will behave himself." 

Oh no! Mortifying! Does he think she cried about being interrogated by Finnar???? That was super not even it!!! She cried because Nerdel gave her a HUG, which is in some sense a way stupider reason actually maybe Merrin is not going to say anything. 

"Um. It's okay. I - can talk to him if I'm not managing five different machines at once." She will be TERRIFIED because her emotional brain is stupid and updates way too hard on one (1) data point from when Finnar was having a very bad day, but it's fine, she can just be terrified and also polite. 

"Nonetheless. - Anyway, if you're willing to do it, Khemeth seems to be the one person with a model of how Kalorm will react to waking up here, and he wants to spend some time strategizing with you. If you can be ready to meet with him in an hour to talk that over, that should give you at least four hours to nap, if you need to, and us time to set up the room. I think Khemeth is going. to want different decor." 

Khemeth is an important Very Serious Person and thus ALSO kind of scary but Merrin is not going to turn down a direct request, even if she sort of suspects he's making it for weird sentimental reasons or something. She'll be ready in an hour. 

Khemeth has slept for like fourteen hours out of the last 24 and still feels awful, which seems really unfair. Not even emotionally, so much - he's back to at least being able to run a simulated Khemeth who has normal emotions instead of only bad ones - but physically. He...maybe wants Merrin to come to the Family Room, actually, he will hopefully feel more up for leaving it once he's woken up properly and eaten but he really does not feel like walking anywhere right now. 

He is not very much succeeding at eating a late breakfast, because he's tense and apparently his body is currently responding to adrenaline by giving him an upset stomach. It's especially frustrating how most of the rest of the family (well, save Kalorm) seems to be handling this better or at least bouncing back from yesterday faster. The twins are cheerful after the most recent Kalorm update, which they seem to consider sufficiently good news to be happy about, and are now working on a programming project. They are as usual finishing each other's sentences and not really succeeding at regulating conversation volume. 

Fanthim had a solid night's sleep and is starting to feel like she vaguely has a handle on this family dynamic. Finnar in particular, once you actually update fully on the fact that he's a weird neurodivergent alien, is not actually a very complicated person, and is even kind of likable when he is not currently in the middle of upsetting the lead opper in the middle of a crisis. Nerdel is honestly lovely. The kids are...all very themselves, in their unique ways, and yet so very clearly siblings. 

Khemeth feels the most slippery to her. She still doesn't know what triggered his breakdown last night, if it was something other than sheer utter exhaustion, and she sort of feels like it was something more than that. Anyway, even if it was mostly just fatigue and frustration, he is now pushing them to start reducing Kalorm's sedation late enough in the day that he'll plausibly be up all night for that, and she has some concerns about that. 

She approaches, making enough noise that he'll hear her coming and not be startled. "Hey. Do you have a few minutes to talk?" 

Khemeth looks searchingly at her face, and then shakes his head and massages his temples, and then his controlled face is back. "Yes, of course." 

She has also managed to pick up that he is apparently mostly unwilling to let down his emotional guard even around his family. In front of strangers is one thing, but in front of his mother is a whole other thing. She gestures over at his bedroom door. 

Oh. Is this a private sort of conversation. Khemeth is somehow failing to read her intentions very well right now. He nods, though, and follows her. 

Fanthim shuts the door and flicks on the white noise generator.

She's thought a lot about how to approach this. 

"So. My role here is to support your family during what's likely to be a pretty stressful and confusing few weeks, which means I am trying to figure out your family dynamics and needs. I imagine that's the sort of thing you spend a lot of time thinking about, and you may be able to advise me more directly. Not necessarily right now, unless you think I'm still missing something that could end up being messy. ...Also. You are in no way obliged to talk to me if you would prefer not, about anything but especially not about how you're doing. If you tell me that you're fine, I will take that at face value, and if you tell me that you would rather not have the type of working relationship that includes discussing that topic, I will not read anything into that and will treat it as though I hadn't asked. But. My job does include making sure you have the resources you need to take care of yourself, and I am honestly not sure what those resources are, and - I admit that I'm worried you're taking on a lot here, and not necessarily looking for ways we could make that easier. I am also specifically worried that you haven't had enough recovery time after yesterday, and are planning to likely be up for a solid portion of the night. Is there anything I can do to help?"