Chapter 3
Deciding to stay for now, Kate watches on, as Swain and Bomber prepare themselves, snapping on pairs of latex gloves. Her gaze turns to Mike.
He seems so peaceful even though he is unconscious, all the worry-lines are gone from his beautiful face, making him seem younger. While Swain starts to clean all the wounds thoroughly with an iodine solution, Bomber straps a blood pressure cuff on the boss' left upper arm, checking his blood pressure immediately and writing down the numbers. Then she readies an IV, knowing that the CO will be in need of lots of antibiotics to fight the infection and the raging fever.
Getting the okay from Swain, Bomber takes out a cannula from it's safety packaging and pushes it into the back of the boss' right hand. Then she connects the IV-line to it and sets the drip, after hanging the IV bag to its stand. Having finished this, she then helps Swain with dressing the burns, using special bandages for these kinds of wounds. They are made of a special fabric that doesn't stick to the open skin, making it easier to remove and change them.
Finished with their treatment, Swain and Bomber pull off their gloves and throw them in the bin.
Bomber exits the wardroom, telling them she has to prepare breakfast for the crew. Swain and Kate thank her before she leaves. Then Swain turns to Kate, "We have done all we can for him here. It's now a waiting game. We don't know how far the infection has already spread through his system. If it has reached his blood circulation then we're looking at blood poisoning, which can be life threatening. I don't have the right medicine nor the right equipment to treat him then. He would need to be medevaced out of here, but for now, we monitor him, see how he responds to the antibiotics we are giving him. In a few hours we'll know if the medication works or not. You can stay with him, if you'd like to X."
Looking from Mike to Swain and back, Kate says "Thank you Swain. And thanks for letting me know how he is doing. You can go and take some rest now." Nodding Swain checks his patients vitals one last time before he too leaves the wardroom, closing the door behind him. Kate pulls a chair up to the rack and sits down. She takes Mike's hand in her own, careful of the IV-line and strokes it, squeezing it from time to time, hoping that he will return the gesture. Trying to ease his suffering she grabs the wet cloth and puts it to his forehead, face and neck, wiping away the sweat.
About one hour later Bomber enters with two steaming mugs of coffee. She hands one to the X and sits down in another chair, sipping from her own mug. Then she asks "How is he doing, ma'am?" Not really taking her eyes of Mike, Kate replies softly "His temperature has gone down. So I guess the antibiotic given to him are working. But he still hasn't woken up." Taking this information in Bomber then suggests "Why don't you go and rest X? I'll stay here with him and if anything changes, I'll let you know."
Thinking about this Kate looks again to Mike, who still hasn't even stirred then back to Bomber. "Thank you for offering but I need to be here with him. I can't leave him", pausing there, she sniffs, trying to hold back her tears, but she is unable to. The tears are running down her cheeks and she gets out between hiccups "I don't want him to die. – He can't leave me. He just can't. I love him!"
Not realizing what she just blurted out, Kate continues to cry heavily. Bomber just overlooks her slip of the tongue and tries to console her. "He is a fighter X. The boss won't leave you. It will take more than just some burns and a damn fever to get rid of Mighty Mike Flynn, ey?" Looking up into Bomber's eager face, Kate only nods, not able to get a word out. Just then a low moan can be heard, coming from the direction of the rack that Mike is lying on.
Bomber and Kate turn their heads to him surprised. As another louder moan is heard, Kate stands up and grabs his hand in hers, squeezing it, while using her other hand to stroke his cheek, which is now adorned with a slight stubble. Leaning down to him, she whispers "Mike? Can you hear me? Please squeeze my hand if you can." Waiting a moment she feels a slight pressure on her hand holding his larger one. Satisfied to know that he can hear her, Kate continues "You had a bit of an accident. You are currently lying in the wardroom, recuperating. You had us all worried there for a while, Sir."
Hovering now right above him, she murmurs in his ear "Please open those dazzling blues of yours Mike. I need to see them – now." Getting back into an upright position Kate waits for some kind of reaction from the man she loves so dearly. Bomber just watches on, sipping her coffee, fascinated by the way her two commanding officers interact, even if one of them is currently out of it. But still their deep connection is visible.