Title: A Lethal Injection
Author: Becca T (Beksmfa2@aol.com)
Disclaimer: The characters Mark Sloan, Steve Sloan, Jesse Travis and Amanda Bentley do not belong to me, they belong to CBS and Viacom. I am not making a profit from writing this fanfiction. All other characters belong to me.
A Lethal Injection
Chapter 1
"Dr. Travis," a paramedic called to him as he wheeled a patient into the hospital. The young doctor looked up, then ran over and was ready and listening to the information about the patient given to him by the paramedic.
"Fainted twenty minutes ago. A dog-walker found her slumped on a park bench, and called an ambulance before she passed out. Before that, she complained of feeling nauseous, and a bit dizzy. Someone also said that she seemed sensitive to light."
Just like the others, the doctor thought to himself.
"What's her name?" he asked.
"Donna Bradley." Jesse Travis guided the gurney into one of the ER rooms and took a closer look at the patient.
"Donna? Can you hear me?"
Donna opened her eyes a bit, but slammed them shut again. "The light," she muttered.
"Someone page Dr. Sloan," Jesse called to anyone without a job. Less than a minute later, Dr. Sloan appeared.
"What is it, Jesse?" Mark asked him when he arrived.
"Mark, this is the fourth person this week with these symptoms," Jesse said. "Dizziness and fainting, nausea, and sensitivity to light."
"I can't figure out what this is," Mark replied.
"I've never seen anything like this," Jesse mumbled. "It is so weird!"
Mark nodded, having a look at the patient. He walked Jesse out of the room whilst the nurses tended to the woman.
"Mark, something bothers me about this."
"Something is bothering me too, Jesse. I am beginning to think that we are dealing with a genetically altered form of some kind of illness. There are different symptoms for diseases, but I have never seen them all at the same time."
Jesse was only half listening to what Mark had to say. He was remembering the time that he got genetically altered smallpox, and inwardly shuddered at the memories. He changed the subject. "How are the other three patients?"
"Darren Thompson and Christina Morris are all stable, but Richard Donovan's fever is still very high," Mark said. "He is still in intensive care."
"After three days, is it still that bad?" Jesse asked in surprise as the fourth case was taken out of ER and to a room.
"Yes, and it has hardly moved any lower since he was first admitted." Mark then remembered something on a less medical note. "I forgot! You and Steve are going fishing this weekend!"
Jesse's eyes lit up as he remembered. "I have been packed and ready to go since Steve first suggested it."
Mark laughed, admiring Jesse's enthusiasm for going on camping trips with Steve. Somehow or other, they tended to end up in trouble while on the trip, but this never wavered Jesse's eagerness.
"Before I go," Jesse said, getting back to the subject of the baffling illness, "I am going to get a blood sample from Donna Bradley. It might give us an idea about her condition."
Mark nodded. "And then, you can take a long weekend of rest. You deserve a bit of time away from work, taking into account the number of double shifts you have been doing lately."
"And when was the last time you had a holiday?" Jesse retorted with a grin on his face, as he walked down the hall with his good friend.
"Okay, Mrs Bradley," Jesse said, talking to the half-conscious patient lying on the bed in the room. "We are just going to take a bit of blood from you so we can make some tests on your condition. Now, hold still." Jesse punctured a tiny hole in the woman's arm and drew enough blood to make the tests.
He gave the sample to a nurse, who placed it in a cylinder.
As Jesse said, "Thanks," to the nurse, she jumped, and dropped the glass container. The glass shattered on the floor.
"Dr Travis, I'm so sorry," the nurse said, crouching down to pick up the pieces. "I've been burgled three times in the past month and I am so jumpy."
"It's okay, Jane," Jesse said, picking up the pieces. He winced as one of them cut his finger. He turned to a concerned-looking Jane, and said, "it's my blood, don't worry. Can you fetch me a Band-Aid, please?" He was given one, and he disposed of the shards of glass in the trashcan.
After he took the second sample and gave it to a less agitated nurse, he turned to his patient. She was stirring a bit more. "Now, that arm is going to feel a bit numb for a while," he told her. "If you need anything, just push that button and a nurse will appear before your very eyes," he chuckled, and began to walk out of the room.
"Wait," the woman spoke. Jesse turned round and was instantly at her side.
"What do you need?"
"Can I have something for my mouth please?" Jesse had an odd look on his face, so she continued. "Before I came to the hospital, I had a tooth removed, and it just started bleeding again." Jesse nodded, and came back with something to impede the bleeding.
"Thanks," she said. "I had another tooth taken out last week, but I don't think that anaesthetic was very good on this one. It was so painful when he took this one out."
Jesse nodded, knowing many friends whom hated the dentist, his friend Amanda Bentley included.
"If you need anything else, the button is always there." Jesse turned around and saw that the young woman was already asleep again. Jesse shook his head and left her to rest.
As soon as he shut the door, he turned around and walked straight into Steve.
"Hi, Jesse," Steve greeted him. "Dad said I'd find you here. Are you ready yet?"
"I'll just get changed, and I'll meet you in the lobby," Jesse replied.
Steve headed off in that direction, and Jesse went to change out of his uniform and get his bag for the weekend. While he was in the locker room, he felt suddenly dizzy, and had to grab his locker door to stop him from falling to the ground. Jesse shook his head, and decided that he definitely needed the weekend away. He slammed the locker door shut, grabbed his bag, and strolled out of the locker room toward the lobby. There, Mark would be waiting to say goodbye to them both. Amanda had bid them farewell earlier, and had left the hospital early to take CJ and Dion out for the afternoon.
"All ready?" Mark asked, frowning slightly at Jesse's pale face.
"Yeah," Jesse panted, having just run up the stairs to the lobby.
"Now, I want you both to relax this weekend," Mark began, and stopped as he saw the two friends laughing.
"Dad, you always tell us this, and we always seem to end up in trouble. We know to relax, and not to get up each other's backs. You just have to catch every criminal in LA before we could stay out of trouble."
Mark thought about this for a moment, and nodded with a smile on his face. "But whatever you do, have a good time!" As Mark saw them out of the hospital, it occurred to him that Jesse was looking more and more tired by the minute. He made a mental note to phone them in a few hours to see if he was all right. If Jesse was ill in the wilderness with just Steve to take care of him, Mark dared not think what would happen.
"Looking forward to the fishing?" Steve asked, trying to make conversation with the unusually quiet Jesse.
"Yeah," Jesse replied, and yawned.
"Dad's right," Steve observed, "You have been doing too many double shifts at the hospital."
Jesse tried his best to wake up a bit. "I'll be okay in a minute," he said.
Something suddenly occurred to Steve. "When did you last have something to eat?"
Jesse sat and thought about the question for a moment. "Well, I did fourteen hours at the hospital today. I had something before that, at about midnight. I had some coffee and a snack bar at lunchtime. I think. It was really busy today, and that's all I had time for."
Steve shook his head. "No wonder you are so tired. You haven't eaten properly for hours! Next time we see a roadside diner, we are going to stop and have something to eat before you fade away. Got that?"
Jesse nodded, but he wasn't sure if he was in the mood for food. He was beginning to feel slightly sick.
As the truck pulled up outside an off-road diner, the smell of the greasy food passed Jesse's nose, and he felt his stomach heave. In an instant, he was out of the truck, into the Men's room of the diner, and vomiting in one of the stalls.
Steve, who had seen that Jesse had looked a bit pale before he rushed off, headed into the diner. After seeing that Jesse was not in the dining area, he walked into the Men's room, and realised that the boot poking out from underneath the stall door belonged to Jesse.
"Hey, Jesse?" Steve called, knocking on the stall door. "Jess?"
"Steve," Jesse groaned. "Don't feel so good."
Steve did not want his friend to be ill on the vacation, so he saw no other option but to say, "I'm taking you back to the hospital. You've probably eaten something in that hospital cafeteria, haven't you?"
Jesse let out another groan, and Steve decided to can the jokes. "Okay, okay," Steve said. Jesse staggered up, and Steve led him to his car.
Steve handed Jesse a paper bag before they set off. Once they were on their way, Steve dialled the hospital, and got in touch with Mark.
"Dad," Steve began as he switched the hands-free setting on.
"Steve, what's up?" Mark asked, knowing that something was not right.
"I'm on my way to the hospital. It looks like Jesse has eaten something that has not agreed with him. He's been sick, and he is really out of it."
"Okay," Mark said. "Talk to him, and keep him awake, okay? We'll be ready when you bring him in."
"Thanks Dad," Steve replied.
After the call to his father, Steve immediately turned his attention to Jesse. "Jess," he began, not really sure of what to say to him. After a moment of silence, Steve repeated again, "Jess?"
"Huh?" Jesse looked up.
"How do you feel?" Steve asked, trying to make conversation.
"Like I'm gonna throw up," Jesse moaned.
"What else?" Steve persisted.
"My neck and shoulders really ache, for a start," Jesse continued. "I feel really dizzy, my head is burning and the light really hurts."
"Okay," Steve said, making a mental note of these symptoms for his father. "Just sit tight, and you'll be at the hospital soon."
"Why are you taking me to work when it's obvious that I'm ill?" Jesse slowly asked his friend.
Steve chuckled, but was not entirely sure whether Jesse was joking or whether he was delirious.
"Jesse, I need you to think about two questions for me," Steve started, hoping that this would keep Jesse's mind focused. "Do you know what you might have?"
"A problem?" Jesse replied.
"Apart from a sarcastic sense of humour," Steve said.
"I don't know," Jesse began, more seriously this time. "It's a mixture of different things. The fever could be from a lot of things, same with being dizzy. What's the second question?"
"Do you know how you got it?"
Jesse took a moment to think. Then he remembered. "My hand!" No one was sure whether it was the shock of remembering, or the fever, or both that did it, but at that moment, Jesse's head dropped forward and hit the top of the dashboard of Steve's truck.
"Jesse!" Steve exclaimed. He shook Jesse's shoulder, but got no response.
"Hold on, Jess," Steve muttered, "just a few more minutes and we'll be at the hospital. Just do me a favour, please don't throw up."
Author: Becca T (Beksmfa2@aol.com)
Disclaimer: The characters Mark Sloan, Steve Sloan, Jesse Travis and Amanda Bentley do not belong to me, they belong to CBS and Viacom. I am not making a profit from writing this fanfiction. All other characters belong to me.
A Lethal Injection
Chapter 1
"Dr. Travis," a paramedic called to him as he wheeled a patient into the hospital. The young doctor looked up, then ran over and was ready and listening to the information about the patient given to him by the paramedic.
"Fainted twenty minutes ago. A dog-walker found her slumped on a park bench, and called an ambulance before she passed out. Before that, she complained of feeling nauseous, and a bit dizzy. Someone also said that she seemed sensitive to light."
Just like the others, the doctor thought to himself.
"What's her name?" he asked.
"Donna Bradley." Jesse Travis guided the gurney into one of the ER rooms and took a closer look at the patient.
"Donna? Can you hear me?"
Donna opened her eyes a bit, but slammed them shut again. "The light," she muttered.
"Someone page Dr. Sloan," Jesse called to anyone without a job. Less than a minute later, Dr. Sloan appeared.
"What is it, Jesse?" Mark asked him when he arrived.
"Mark, this is the fourth person this week with these symptoms," Jesse said. "Dizziness and fainting, nausea, and sensitivity to light."
"I can't figure out what this is," Mark replied.
"I've never seen anything like this," Jesse mumbled. "It is so weird!"
Mark nodded, having a look at the patient. He walked Jesse out of the room whilst the nurses tended to the woman.
"Mark, something bothers me about this."
"Something is bothering me too, Jesse. I am beginning to think that we are dealing with a genetically altered form of some kind of illness. There are different symptoms for diseases, but I have never seen them all at the same time."
Jesse was only half listening to what Mark had to say. He was remembering the time that he got genetically altered smallpox, and inwardly shuddered at the memories. He changed the subject. "How are the other three patients?"
"Darren Thompson and Christina Morris are all stable, but Richard Donovan's fever is still very high," Mark said. "He is still in intensive care."
"After three days, is it still that bad?" Jesse asked in surprise as the fourth case was taken out of ER and to a room.
"Yes, and it has hardly moved any lower since he was first admitted." Mark then remembered something on a less medical note. "I forgot! You and Steve are going fishing this weekend!"
Jesse's eyes lit up as he remembered. "I have been packed and ready to go since Steve first suggested it."
Mark laughed, admiring Jesse's enthusiasm for going on camping trips with Steve. Somehow or other, they tended to end up in trouble while on the trip, but this never wavered Jesse's eagerness.
"Before I go," Jesse said, getting back to the subject of the baffling illness, "I am going to get a blood sample from Donna Bradley. It might give us an idea about her condition."
Mark nodded. "And then, you can take a long weekend of rest. You deserve a bit of time away from work, taking into account the number of double shifts you have been doing lately."
"And when was the last time you had a holiday?" Jesse retorted with a grin on his face, as he walked down the hall with his good friend.
"Okay, Mrs Bradley," Jesse said, talking to the half-conscious patient lying on the bed in the room. "We are just going to take a bit of blood from you so we can make some tests on your condition. Now, hold still." Jesse punctured a tiny hole in the woman's arm and drew enough blood to make the tests.
He gave the sample to a nurse, who placed it in a cylinder.
As Jesse said, "Thanks," to the nurse, she jumped, and dropped the glass container. The glass shattered on the floor.
"Dr Travis, I'm so sorry," the nurse said, crouching down to pick up the pieces. "I've been burgled three times in the past month and I am so jumpy."
"It's okay, Jane," Jesse said, picking up the pieces. He winced as one of them cut his finger. He turned to a concerned-looking Jane, and said, "it's my blood, don't worry. Can you fetch me a Band-Aid, please?" He was given one, and he disposed of the shards of glass in the trashcan.
After he took the second sample and gave it to a less agitated nurse, he turned to his patient. She was stirring a bit more. "Now, that arm is going to feel a bit numb for a while," he told her. "If you need anything, just push that button and a nurse will appear before your very eyes," he chuckled, and began to walk out of the room.
"Wait," the woman spoke. Jesse turned round and was instantly at her side.
"What do you need?"
"Can I have something for my mouth please?" Jesse had an odd look on his face, so she continued. "Before I came to the hospital, I had a tooth removed, and it just started bleeding again." Jesse nodded, and came back with something to impede the bleeding.
"Thanks," she said. "I had another tooth taken out last week, but I don't think that anaesthetic was very good on this one. It was so painful when he took this one out."
Jesse nodded, knowing many friends whom hated the dentist, his friend Amanda Bentley included.
"If you need anything else, the button is always there." Jesse turned around and saw that the young woman was already asleep again. Jesse shook his head and left her to rest.
As soon as he shut the door, he turned around and walked straight into Steve.
"Hi, Jesse," Steve greeted him. "Dad said I'd find you here. Are you ready yet?"
"I'll just get changed, and I'll meet you in the lobby," Jesse replied.
Steve headed off in that direction, and Jesse went to change out of his uniform and get his bag for the weekend. While he was in the locker room, he felt suddenly dizzy, and had to grab his locker door to stop him from falling to the ground. Jesse shook his head, and decided that he definitely needed the weekend away. He slammed the locker door shut, grabbed his bag, and strolled out of the locker room toward the lobby. There, Mark would be waiting to say goodbye to them both. Amanda had bid them farewell earlier, and had left the hospital early to take CJ and Dion out for the afternoon.
"All ready?" Mark asked, frowning slightly at Jesse's pale face.
"Yeah," Jesse panted, having just run up the stairs to the lobby.
"Now, I want you both to relax this weekend," Mark began, and stopped as he saw the two friends laughing.
"Dad, you always tell us this, and we always seem to end up in trouble. We know to relax, and not to get up each other's backs. You just have to catch every criminal in LA before we could stay out of trouble."
Mark thought about this for a moment, and nodded with a smile on his face. "But whatever you do, have a good time!" As Mark saw them out of the hospital, it occurred to him that Jesse was looking more and more tired by the minute. He made a mental note to phone them in a few hours to see if he was all right. If Jesse was ill in the wilderness with just Steve to take care of him, Mark dared not think what would happen.
"Looking forward to the fishing?" Steve asked, trying to make conversation with the unusually quiet Jesse.
"Yeah," Jesse replied, and yawned.
"Dad's right," Steve observed, "You have been doing too many double shifts at the hospital."
Jesse tried his best to wake up a bit. "I'll be okay in a minute," he said.
Something suddenly occurred to Steve. "When did you last have something to eat?"
Jesse sat and thought about the question for a moment. "Well, I did fourteen hours at the hospital today. I had something before that, at about midnight. I had some coffee and a snack bar at lunchtime. I think. It was really busy today, and that's all I had time for."
Steve shook his head. "No wonder you are so tired. You haven't eaten properly for hours! Next time we see a roadside diner, we are going to stop and have something to eat before you fade away. Got that?"
Jesse nodded, but he wasn't sure if he was in the mood for food. He was beginning to feel slightly sick.
As the truck pulled up outside an off-road diner, the smell of the greasy food passed Jesse's nose, and he felt his stomach heave. In an instant, he was out of the truck, into the Men's room of the diner, and vomiting in one of the stalls.
Steve, who had seen that Jesse had looked a bit pale before he rushed off, headed into the diner. After seeing that Jesse was not in the dining area, he walked into the Men's room, and realised that the boot poking out from underneath the stall door belonged to Jesse.
"Hey, Jesse?" Steve called, knocking on the stall door. "Jess?"
"Steve," Jesse groaned. "Don't feel so good."
Steve did not want his friend to be ill on the vacation, so he saw no other option but to say, "I'm taking you back to the hospital. You've probably eaten something in that hospital cafeteria, haven't you?"
Jesse let out another groan, and Steve decided to can the jokes. "Okay, okay," Steve said. Jesse staggered up, and Steve led him to his car.
Steve handed Jesse a paper bag before they set off. Once they were on their way, Steve dialled the hospital, and got in touch with Mark.
"Dad," Steve began as he switched the hands-free setting on.
"Steve, what's up?" Mark asked, knowing that something was not right.
"I'm on my way to the hospital. It looks like Jesse has eaten something that has not agreed with him. He's been sick, and he is really out of it."
"Okay," Mark said. "Talk to him, and keep him awake, okay? We'll be ready when you bring him in."
"Thanks Dad," Steve replied.
After the call to his father, Steve immediately turned his attention to Jesse. "Jess," he began, not really sure of what to say to him. After a moment of silence, Steve repeated again, "Jess?"
"Huh?" Jesse looked up.
"How do you feel?" Steve asked, trying to make conversation.
"Like I'm gonna throw up," Jesse moaned.
"What else?" Steve persisted.
"My neck and shoulders really ache, for a start," Jesse continued. "I feel really dizzy, my head is burning and the light really hurts."
"Okay," Steve said, making a mental note of these symptoms for his father. "Just sit tight, and you'll be at the hospital soon."
"Why are you taking me to work when it's obvious that I'm ill?" Jesse slowly asked his friend.
Steve chuckled, but was not entirely sure whether Jesse was joking or whether he was delirious.
"Jesse, I need you to think about two questions for me," Steve started, hoping that this would keep Jesse's mind focused. "Do you know what you might have?"
"A problem?" Jesse replied.
"Apart from a sarcastic sense of humour," Steve said.
"I don't know," Jesse began, more seriously this time. "It's a mixture of different things. The fever could be from a lot of things, same with being dizzy. What's the second question?"
"Do you know how you got it?"
Jesse took a moment to think. Then he remembered. "My hand!" No one was sure whether it was the shock of remembering, or the fever, or both that did it, but at that moment, Jesse's head dropped forward and hit the top of the dashboard of Steve's truck.
"Jesse!" Steve exclaimed. He shook Jesse's shoulder, but got no response.
"Hold on, Jess," Steve muttered, "just a few more minutes and we'll be at the hospital. Just do me a favour, please don't throw up."