Steve nods, eyes on her neck, but at least he's satisfied there. And as for the concept, he does understand it, but it's still never easy to fight something with a familiar face. Even if all you're doing is wrestling them into a cell.

And if Tess is dead, and the only thing that will bring her back is killing her body... they can deal with that later. He can deal with that later, because who the hell ever knows what the Admiral considers an exception and what he doesn't.

"Probably a good thing," he agrees, reaching down for her hand to take her pulse, because pressing fingers to her neck is kind of out of the question. "The ship's not exactly large, and it doesn't take a lot of time to run into people if that's your plan." Such as it is. "I think the quiet is a good thing, but I'll keep an ear out."

And in the meantime, "You think you could drink something?" he asks, because if she's lost all that blood, then she's going to need to replace it. And it's not like he's got the equipment sitting around here to do that intravenously. Nor does he think that anyone in the infirmary would give it to him. "Pretty sure orange juice is the norm, but I'll get you anything you want."