Tegan Chronicles
Relationships and Minefields 1
"I can't believe we've gone two and a half months without any injuries," Daniel commented as they made their way back to the gate wrapping up their latest mission.
"Bite your tongue," Jack and Tegan spoke in unison.
"No kidding." Sam agreed as Teal'c looked over.
"So does anyone have any plans for the Fourth?" Jack changed the subject.
"Um…" Sam glanced at Tegan.
"I was thinking about a cookout."
"In that case," Sam smiled, "No. I'm free on the fourth."
"We did not want to go fishing with you O'Neill."
"Yeah, I figured that one out Teal'c."
"I'm in." Daniel nodded.
"Kiser?"
"I'll bring dessert." She wiped the sweat from her brow.
"That's my girl." He grinned. "I'll invite Janet and Cassie too."
Tegan rolled over and looked at the faint red projection of time on her ceiling. The sunlight creeping through the closed blinds had washed it out to the point it was barely readable. She let out a sigh and threw back the covers. It was 0700 hours, time to get on with her day.
She grabbed a quick shower and threw on a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a dark blue t-shirt before finding her way to the kitchen. She made a lemon meringue pie and threw together a batch of brownies for the cookout that evening at Jack's. It was the Fourth and for once all the SG teams were on earth, and uninjured. The base was running on minimal support staff, and with more than nine hours to kill before the festivities were to begin, Tegan decided to take advantage of a quiet complex to get some research done.
Once she passed the security checkpoints the rest of the building was quiet. If she didn't known better she would have thought it was deserted. It was an eerie contrast to the normal hustle and bustle within the walls.
She stepped off on level 28 and went into the embarkation room. It was empty except for the large ramp and looming Stargate. She stared at the empty center for several seconds before she turned and looked up into the control room and spotted Sgt Larsen behind the reinforced safety glass watching her with interest. "Sergeant."
"Major." He returned over the intercom. "I thought you were off today."
"I am." She nodded knowing everyone thought she was crazy coming in on her days off, and staying after hours to work. "Just taking advantage of the lab without any interruptions."
"Well, have fun."
Tegan waved a silent goodbye and headed up to level 21 to find the quiet solitude of her lab.
Six hours into her shift Julie looked at the clock. She was getting paid time and a half to be on base and take care of any minor emergencies that arose. Time was creeping by, she felt as if she'd been there for over twelve hours already, and it was only 1300 hrs. That explained her growling stomach. As she headed to her locker to grab her bagged lunch she heard the klaxons come to life. "Medical team report to level 21, corridor C. Medical team to level 21, corridor C."
She frowned lightly. A call for a medical team constituted something more than a minor injury. She grabbed a medical kit as she headed out the main doors. She was the medical team today.
As she rounded the corner onto corridor C she saw a uniformed person on the floor. The shock of red hair immediately identified the officer as Major Kiser. Standing between her and Tegan was security.
"What happened?" Julie rushed to Tegan's side.
"I was making rounds, and found her." He shrugged lightly.
"Major Kiser?" Julie knelt beside her, and started feeling for her carotid pulse. She was surprised to find it strong and steady. Again she tried to verbally arouse her. "Major Kiser?"
A slight shake of her shoulder and she still didn't respond.
"Airman," Julie turned to the SF, "I need you to have switchboard contact Dr. Fraiser and request she return to base ASAP. And then I'm going to need a gurney and some assistance to transfer Major Kiser to the infirmary."
Janet turned to Shadow again. "What is your problem?"
He'd been sitting at the front door whining for the last ten minutes and she was beginning to wish Cassie hadn't talked Tegan into letting him stay the previous night. "Cassie, Shadow needs to go potty."
"He just came in." Cassie complained as the phone rang, frustrated at his behavior over the last half hour.
"Hello?" A flustered Janet picked up the phone.
"Dr. Fraiser?"
"This is she."
"This is Sergeant Rhodes at the SGC switchboard. Staff Sergeant Copley is requesting that you return to base immediately."
"Cassie, grab Shadow you're going to Sam's." She hung up the phone and hoped the blonde would be home working on her Indian. "I've got to go into work for a little bit."
"But it's the Fourth of July." Cassie complained as they headed out to the car.
"And if I'm not home, Sam can take you to Jack's for the cookout."
"What's up?" Sam stepped out of the garage as Janet pulled up in the driveway. Her face was streaked with grease and sweat.
"I've been called in. Can you watch Cassie and Shadow?"
"Sure." Sam smiled at the young teen as she clamored out of the back seat. "What's the emergency?"
"I don't know." Janet glanced over her shoulder.
"Come on!" Cassie tugged harder on Shadow's leash.
"Looks like he wants to go to work with your mom." Sam's eyes met Janet's and without speaking one word passed between them, Tegan.
"She said she wasn't going in today." Janet turned back to Cassie. "It's alright, it's not like he hasn't gone to work with me before. If I'm not back in time for the barbeque tell Tegan he's with me."
"Okay." Cassie tossed her end of the leash back in the car before slamming the door. She turned to Sam and wrinkled her nose. "You need a shower."
"You think?" Sam wrapped one arm around her and waved to Janet who was already pulling on to the street.
Tegan was sitting on the edge of one of the infirmary beds when Shadow came bounding in. "Halt."
He stopped mid stride and stood perfectly still.
Janet stepped past him. "How come he won't do that for me?"
Tegan shrugged and then patted the mattress beside her. "Come, sit."
Shadow jumped up in the proffered spot earning him a healthy ear scratching.
"Where's the emergency?" Janet's eyes wandered over the quiet infirmary as Julie walked in with lab results in her hand.
"You're looking at her." Julie gestured toward Tegan who held her hand out for the report.
"She looks fine to me." Janet comment cautiously.
"I told her to call you back and tell you it was a false alarm."
"Major…" Julie started.
"Doctor," Tegan interrupted.
"Doctor," she tried not to growl. "You were unresponsive for no less than fifteen minutes."
Tegan shrugged her shoulders.
"Fifteen minutes?" Janet turned to Julie.
"Minimum, that's from the time I arrived on scene until she came around."
Janet looked back at Tegan. "Major?"
"Doctor." She grinned sheepishly. "My lab results are within normal limits."
Janet plucked the paper from between Tegan's fingers, as Shadow snuck into lick her cheek. "He was worried about you."
"Really?"
"He was carrying on at the front door for half an hour, and refused to get out of the car with Cassie at Sam's."
"What is it with you?" Tegan asked her four-legged friend while massaging both ears.
"I thought you weren't coming in today?"
"Hadn't really planned on it." Tegan pointed to the bed, and Shadow laid down. "I just decided to take advantage of a quite complex to get some research done. I was actually on my way out when this happened."
"What exactly did happen?" Janet pressed while pulling Julie's stethoscope from around her neck.
"Don't know." Tegan looked to Julie as if the answer would be written on her forehead. "I remember locking the lab up and the next thing I'm aware of, is being in the infirmary with nurse ratchet breathing down my neck. She refused to let me leave until you got here."
"Good call." Janet turned her attention to Julie briefly before pressing the bell of the stethoscope against Tegan's chest. "Deep breath."
"Well?" Tegan watched Janet hand Julie's stethoscope back and request a pen light. She knew the other doctor felt naked out of uniform.
"Any pain anywhere?" Janet checked the pen light's brightness against her palm.
"No, I feel fine."
Janet pointed to a light switch on the far wall. "Fine?"
"I don't feel sick or anything out of the ordinary." Tegan focused on the light switch as Janet shone the light in her left eye. "OW!"
Janet moved the light away as Tegan clinched her eyes shut and pressed her palm into her left eye. Shadow whined briefly until Tegan muttered, "It's ok."
"Headache?"
"No." She continued to hold her hand against her eye. "Felt like somebody shoved a nine inch ice pick through my eye."
"Nine inches huh?" Janet looked to Julie.
"I didn't get that kind of reaction when I checked her pupils earlier."
"Still hurting?" Janet's eyes narrowed on Tegan.
"No." Tegan let her hand drop back to her lap and looked at the petite brunette standing in front of her.
"What time did you leave your lab?"
Tegan looked at her watch not wanting to answer, considering she already knew how long she'd been out within a minute or two.
"Tegan?"
"Twelve-fifteen, twelve-twenty." She didn't look up.
"Julie when did you arrive on scene?" Janet didn't take her eyes off Tegan who continued to stare aimlessly at her watch.
"Thirteen-o-five."
"So you were out for a minimum of forty-five minutes and probably closer to fifty?"
"Yeah." Tegan lifted her head refusing to make eye contact.
"And I suppose if I ask how you feel, you're going to tell me you're fine?" Janet continued with her scrutinizing gaze.
"Yes." She reached over and stroked her hand down Shadow's back.
Janet shook her head while looking over Tegan's labs again. "You drew these?"
"Ran them myself." Julie watched the tension between the two women.
"What's wrong with them?" Tegan's brow wrinkled.
"They're too perfect. Everything is exactly in the middle of normal, and your potassium level isn't ever normal."
"Well, it is today." Tegan grinned lightly.
"When was the machine calibrated last?" Janet ignored her.
"I calibrated it at ten hundred hours. Do you want me to run it again?"
"No." Janet sighed. "What was her pulse when you found her?"
"Sixty-six, strong and regular." She continued before Janet could request more information. "Her blood pressure was one eighteen over seventy-two, temp was ninety eight point two, and her O2 saturation was ninety-eight percent."
"And you didn't have any symptoms?"
Tegan thought for a minute, "No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yup." She looked at Janet as Shadow whined. "What?"
"He doesn't believe you either."
"Look, I didn't notice anything different. I would tell you if I had."
"Uh-huh."
"Hey," Tegan defended herself. "I didn't have to tell you what time I left the lab. I could've said I didn't look."
Despite already knowing the answer, she asked anyway. "How are you feeling now?"
"I feel…" Tegan paused not wanting to set off any triggers by her choice of words. "Like I've got a cookout to go to."
"That's not an answer."
"I'm…" She searched for another word.
"Fine?" Janet said it for her.
"Yes." Tegan sighed.
Janet glanced over her labs one more time, they were almost too perfect. "Alright, but you're not driving and you're staying the night with me tonight."
Tegan nodded, which only caused Janet to second guess her decision. "Are you sure you feel ok?"
"To be honest…" Tegan pondered for a second. "I can't remember when I've felt this good."
"Ok?" Janet turned to Julie and thanked her for calling her in and not Warner before they left.