For the next couple of weeks Toronto had very little action that required our attention and to be honest the whole of the SRU was thankful due to the virus spreading through the building like wildfire, I had tried everything possible to keep it at bay with the increased ventilation, cleaning procedures and everyone doing their parts in making sure procedures were followed for cross contamination. It got to the point that after a whole team went down in a single weekend I was going to declare the SRU a disaster area and to avoid at all costs! The stress was getting to everyone there, Halloran was calling in back up from other military units we relied on sometimes and we were down to four out of seven teams to cover the city; basically if shit hit the fan we were going to be swimming!
Due to the winter virus outbreak I had basically never got home, I was living in the SRU covering shifts, providing medical back up on other teams and ensuring that the HVAC was being properly decontaminated by the company who installed it. I was running around like crazy giving information out to the relief teams in regards to medical matters and protocols while also speaking to hospitals and medical boards regarding the spread of the virus through the city's population. Since the day that Ed had collapsed in the building there had been a trend of over 250'000 people being diagnosed with the virus and having to be monitored at home or in serious cases through the hospitals who were struggling to cope with the demand for bed space; the local areas and other cities all pulled together to help and finally the numbers started to drop as the virus was overcome by the change in weather. Most of the sick staff were feeling stronger as their immune systems recovered and the daily alerts to their welfare was encouraging and funny as we all kept each other's spirits up during the busy days. I just sent mass messages to them via social network and told them to sleep, eat and start gentle exercise routines to get their systems back into shape – they all text me back and nodded with big smiley faces!
Day 35 of the emergency and members of the team started to come back for re-qualification exams and their medicals, it was good to see them and most mornings from 5am were in my lab or room doing tests and passing people fit or moderated duty while they recovered. Most of team six and seven were back to fighting fitness and team two were on moderated duty due to not being 100% fit on gym exercises – I told them not to worry and it would be a couple of days to fully recover and then they can come back to work; they all nodded and headed back home, personally thinking they were glad!
It was around 3pm when I was in the briefing room completing my paperwork for all the medicals I had done over the last couple of days, it was a pet peeve of mine, I hated late paperwork and I always managed to catch up on time by being prepared. I got everything printed off and yawned loudly as I stretched my back; I had been sleeping on the makeshift bed during the twenty day stint I was here and was looking forward to the big comfy bed at home with Spike – him I sent home every day with the rest of the team – it was my job to cover medicals and emergencies like this and deal with any issues that could come up.
"Hello sunshine, busy morning?" a voice called gently.
I looked up and nodded, my head was too heavy to move off the surface of the table and I didn't want to get up at all; it had been a really busy few weeks and I just wanted some downtime to relax in a bath and sleep for a few days!
Parker walked over to me and sat down, I had managed to peel myself of the table and waken myself up with a bottle of water and chewing on my banana, he chuckled as he looked at me and I glared at him.
"Yeah I know, I look a mess and need to take some time off once the major players are back onto the field!" I replied.
He continued to look at me and then Sam walked into the room, he looked me up and down and shook his head at the mass of paperwork in front of me; he chucked me his packed lunch and ordered me to eat the mass of food inside.
"What – I have slept, I'm eating and if everything goes to plan today, then I am going home after shift to sleep!" I replied yawning.
"You look like crap; last time I saw you looking this bad it was the unit's reunion breakfast!"
"Your due a full physical Samuel Braddock – and I mean FULL!" I hissed back.
"Kids, go get ready for work!" Parker said breaking us up laughing.
We both left the room and I sent my banana skin flying into the back of his head, he chucked it back and it landed on Halloran who wasn't amused; we both looked at each other and then ran for our changing rooms and hid for a while. By the time we came back out of the changing rooms Halloran had gone back home and the rest of team one and team three were on full shift and geared up to go on patrol; I waved hello to them all and headed back into the briefing room for our chores today since we would be in the SRU building most of the day unless there were issues.
"Alright guys, last day of this month and we are going to be taking some mandatory time off, might only be four days, but some of us need to sleep! My thinking is a bumper surprise from the bakery down the road, coffee and then possibly the shoot house if you all behave!"
That perked everyone up including me, I had gone for a long shower and woken myself up as much as possible since I had a maximum of four hours sleep every day, and even then it wasn't solid sleep due to call outs and dealing with sick team members. Sam and I paired off to the gun locker to grab some supplies, I needed a refresher course in repelling and he had offered since Jules wasn't back to full fitness yet. We grabbed our gear and headed to the roof and got latched up on the pins and harnessed in, I loved repelling and it was Sam who taught me how to repel upside down and how to walk the walls. An hour or so later, after scaring the crap out of Spike who had arrived with the bakery stuff, I flipped around and landed on my feet and detached the ropes from the harness; Sam pulled them back up and I helped Spike into the building with the box of goodies.
"Grab your favourite stuff before anyone else arrives," I joked to the team.
Everyone grabbed stuff they wanted and I refused anything to eat, the smell of the bakery was making me nauseous and I decided to go grab my fruit salad Wordy had brought for me. Everyone was trying to tempt me with a big donut, I was laughing at their attempts to make it dance on the table towards me since they knew I liked a sugar rush at lunchtime since I discovered what the hell a Krispy Kreme was; I took a half of one and the minute I bit into it my stomach revolted and I fought against the vomit trying to crawl up my throat. I took a big drink of tea and silently pushed away the donut.
"You alright Mac, your sweating and pale." Sam asked.
I sent him a quick nod and calmed my stomach down – ugh!
"Sugar not a good thing when you're tired, just made me feel a bit sickly," I replied.
He looked at me and frowned before standing up and holding out his hand.
"Fancy doing some rounds in the mock up? Sharpen those skills up?"
I looked at him and grinned, he chuckled and got the rest of the team to organise their favourite scenarios as we all headed into the range and got settled for the bets that were now taking place. Sam went first, followed by Wordy and then Parker; Spike was in controls and after I swapped place with him and he went through the scenario, it was my turn. I freely admitted that I was shattered and probably going to blow granny out of the water, but they just patted me on my back and sent me in with the gun and night vision goggles.
"Countdown started, be ready for anything!" a voice called over the comms.
I headed through the maze and took out my targets one by one as they triggered in the programme and mixed between subjects and civilians; the lights went off and I switched to my night vision and blew another target off the hinge. I leaned against the wall and waited on the inevitable smoke bomb that was bound to be triggered by going through the second level maze and took a deep breath as I heard the click of the pipe. Seconds later the whole of the second level was full of heavy smoke and even though I was using sniper breathing to get me through to the finish, I was struggling and starting to cough and gag through the middle of the level; my whole chest was taken over by spasms and I held onto the wall as gasped for air.
"Guys, where did she go?" Parker asked looking at the monitors thirty seconds later.
He typed up the commands to see the split screen cameras and saw no movement.
"She should be out of there by now," Spike said looking through the monitors.
Sam looked through the second level CCTV and it was obscured by smoke too heavy for the night vision to penetrate, he hit the intercom and shouted on me to check in or get to the CCTV point. Seconds later Spike and Parker ran into the maze with masks on and up the stairs as the programme was shut down from control, I heard them calling me and all I could do was cough as the smoke irritated the crap out of my chest and made it impossible for me to get a proper breath in. I pulled myself up and managed to drag myself to the exit door and hit the exit button, I landed on the floor coughing and retching as my chest heaved.
I felt a set of hands across my shoulders and was pulled back, leaning into the boss's chest as I continued to cough and be supported as I got the smoke out of my lungs, Spike knelt down in front of me and checked me out for injury, I waved him off and sat up with support before getting to my feet and leaning against the wall.
"Alright Mac, let's get you to the first aid room, Troy can check you out with Keira!" Spike ordered.
"I'm alright, bit of a tickly throat from that donut and I couldn't stop coughing as the smoke hit me; I'm good – just need some water and fresh air!" I replied.
They pulled me down to the room anyway and sat me down in front of the open window and did a check on my respiration rate and lung capacity, I was good to go after I threw up for the fourth time from all the coughing; twenty minutes later I shuffled into the changing room and got into some clean clothes, I was getting sent home by Halloran after my 35 day rota and he didn't want to see me again for four days; I nodded in agreement and the guys dropped me off at the house on their patrol and I headed for some proper food and a seat on the couch, didn't get to eat my food as the minute I sat down I was out cold.
I woke up suddenly as I heard a piercing cry and a thud on the upstairs floor, I jumped off the couch and ran up the stairs and found Spike leaning against the headboard crying, I paced over to him and crawled onto the bed, taking him in my arms and pulling him to my chest as he let out his emotions. I looked at the clock and saw it was just after 7am, I must have been zoned out last night and he left me to sleep on the couch, I pulled him tighter as he calmed down and I passed him a drink of water from the nightstand.
"Same dream?" I whispered.
"Yeah," he shuddered back.
I quickly snuggled down with him on the bed and stroked his hair out the way, it was getting slightly longer on top and I know could see why his TO had called him Spike; I kissed his forehead and let him rest his head on my chest – seconds later we fell asleep again.
The next four days were great as I managed to get a room decorated and the garden sorted for the new flowers to get planted and my herb garden was started on the west side of the path; I even managed to get the small greenhouse up and running for when I seeded up the chillies I was going to germinate in the barn. After a busy third day we were both lying on the bean bags out the back looking up at the stars as we waited on the steaks cooking on the small BBQ bucket I whisked up; we were both starving and needed to eat the mass of pasta I had created a couple of days ago and was eating like crazy. Spike had bluntly asked me if I thought I could be pregnant due to the food I was shovelling down my throat and the nausea I was having – scared the shit out of him this morning as he walked in on me doing a test – he calmed down, slightly disappointed, as it came back negative.
"Do you want a family, I mean, soon after marriage or…well…."
I looked over to him and smiled, bless him he was going pink and had a goofy grin on his face, I climbed over to him and snuggled down with my face over his heart.
"I want this house, two or more crazy assed kids running about my ankles all day and possibly a couple of dogs too – you were disappointed this morning weren't you?"
"Yeah, but in hindsight it's a life altering decision and Ma would kill us if I got you pregnant before marriage – so it might be a good idea to do that first!" he replied.
I blinked and looked up at him, he grinned and nodded to my unspoken thought and I jumped up onto my knees.
"Was that a proposal Michelangelo?" I demanded in mock outrage.
"Only if you say my name again with that accent – screw the steaks!" he replied grabbing my hands and pulling me into the kitchen.
I laughed as he shut the kitchen door and shoved me against the kitchen table, pulling off my clothes he kissed me hard and we rolled off the surface onto the floor laughing.