Into The Ocean, End it all – Part Three
Written by my good friend Tori, thank you so much!
Carson gasped for air as he broke though the icy waves. He did it alone; John wasn't breathing. Carson shifted his position and gave John a sternum rub.
"Come on lad, breathe." He rubbed harder. John wasn't responding, and there wasn't much more Carson could do in the ocean; CPR was out of the question. And forcing air into lungs possibly filled with water wasn't such a good idea either.
He hadn't requested a puddle jumper, but he knew Rodney must have. Hopefully they would think to bring something to get them out of the water with; there was no way the jumper could get close enough to them in waves like this.
There were being thrown up and down; white caps crashed on their heads. And it was cold. Very cold. Carson knew John was hypothermic, but that was a good thing. People downing in warm waters have a higher chance of brain damage then those in cold water. Cold water drowning was the way to go, not that drowning was ever a good idea.
'Just keep your head above the water, someone will be here soon.' Carson kept thinking to himself.
James Nickerson had never expected to find himself in another galaxy. He was the only Coastie to have found his ay to the lost city of Atlantis; ironic seeing as how it floated in the middle of an ocean. He had been on the Icebreaker Polar Star. They'd gone ashore in McMurdo once; he had touched something he shouldn't have. And it glowed. It turned out he had the gen, stronger then Carson's, but not as strong as Sheppard's. He was soon assigned to Atlantis.
At the moment, he found himself sprinting down the east pier of the Lost City. He has seen Carson sprint down the pier, catching snippets of the conversation he held with someone else. As soon as he figured out what was going on, Carson was in the ocean. He contacted the control room; Rodney answered "Kinda busy right now!"
"Put me on with whoever is in charge of the rescue."
"Why?" Rodney could never be easy.
"I'm the most experience member of the expedition when it comes to cold water rescues." He ground out, know every second counted.
"Are you that Coast Guard guy?" Rodney could be so slow at times.
"YES!"
"Right, patching you through." Rodney's voice cut out.
"Major Smith here. You have information?"
"Tie the lift basket we have to the jumper. It will take to long to rig up the winch. Just secure it and do a straight life from the water to the pier."
"Okay, ETA about five minutes."
"Okay, I'm going in to assist. Have a medical team on the east pier." He tore off his headset and jacket, kicked off his boots, then dove into the water. He swam strong and hard for Carson; the current had caused them to drift quite a distance.
"Dr. Beckett sir, Nickerson here to help." He smiled. Carson knew who he was; Rodney often tired to con both of them into making things glow. Neither of them particularly enjoyed the ramifications having a strong gene.
"Gr-reat-t, 'elp me hold-t 'im up-p-p." James swam into position and help support the unconscious man.
"The jumper should be here soon. In about-t four minutes-s." Shivering was setting in.
They stayed there like that, threading water. Neither spoke until the jumper got there, not wasting precious heating energy speaking.
When the heard the hum of the engines, but both let out a sigh, and said "About time" in unison.
"See the bask-ket-t? They're g-going-g to l-l-lower the j-jumper-r down b-by the w-water-r and I'll get-t Shep-p-pard into it then they'll t-t-t-take him to the dock-k." James explained.
"G-g-good-d" Carson chattered out.
"T-then-n you." Carson was about to argue. "N-n-no, I've got-t-ten in these on-n my own-n-n before, you haven't-t." Carson nodded, or as least gave a shiver that looked like a nod.
When the basket hit the water James manhandled the Colonel into it before giving the signal to lift it up, he arm straight in the air. The jumper didn't move. 'Not Coasties.' He remembered before shouting "G-g-g-go DAMNIT-T-T!"
The basket slowly lifted from the water before it sailed towards the dock. The pilot set the basket down without landing the ship. The two in the water could barely see the tops of heads moving about as John was lifted from the basket and placed on a gurney and rushed off to the infirmary; someone straddled him performing chest compressions.
A few minutes later the jumper was back, basket in the water. James helped Carson in, shouted again and off he went. James stayed there; treading water on his own for what felt like hours, though he knew in reality is was only minutes.
Once he managed to climb into the returned basket, he closed his eyes and held on for dear life. He hated the things. He welcomed the bang of hitting the dock; soon hands were all over him. He shook them off, trying to climb out on his own.
He stumbled out and over to where Carson was trying to talk to one of the other doctors, tell her that he was fine. "Where's-s-s the Colonel-l-l-l?" James questioned.
"Infirmary, where you should both be. Now, get on the gurney." The doctor's voice left no room for argument and the both sat on the wait gurneys.
The infirmary was alive with the bustle of people running to and from the Colonel. "I've got a heartbeat!" rang out above the rest of the noise.
Carson tried to crawl out of bed but was held in place, "Don't you dare. You're hypothermic," the nurses placed several warm blanket of each of them, "and don't you dare argue otherwise, just look at your hands." They had a blueish tinge to them and were shaking violently as he shivered.
"F-fine" he said, welcoming the warm water bottles another nurse just showed up with. He tried to protest about the IV, but that just earned him glares and a reminder that he had no room to argue right now, he was the patient not the doctor.
"He's in VFib!" Came a sharp voice along with the whine of paddles being charges.
TBC
A.N I'm a proud USCG brat. The USCG is the ONLY branch that hasn't been on Stargate. I'm convinced they should at least have a few in Atlantis. Even if they don't have a patrol boat in Atlantis (why would they need one?) there are pilots and medical Coasties. And they have just as good a chance of having the gene as the flyboys! So, I had to throw one in;)