Disclaimer: I don't own Warehouse 13 or it's characters. They are the property of JAck Kenney and the Syfy Network/NBC Universal. No money has exchanged hands during the writing or publishing of this work of fiction.
It had been a month since Claudia arrived home. Her exhaustion had not improved in the slightest, which frustrated her greatly. Some days she didn't even have the energy to get out of bed. On one such day, Joshua came into her room and sat down in the bed next to her, putting a hand on her bony shoulder.
"Hey," the woman said weakly. Her voice and breathing were raspy.
"Hey. How're you feeling?"
"Like crap."
"I'm sorry."
"Is this how it's always going to be?"
"No. It'll get better."
"How do you know? I'm not in remission yet, and it's been almost 3 months since my transfusion. My body might not stand up to any chemo or radiation at this point. I'm just drifting… I'm so sick of not doing anything, and just waiting to live or die. I'm sick of being too exhausted to get out of bed and pee, and I'm sick of eating through a fracking tube!" She emphasized the last word by flicking her hand toward the tube that exited at the bottom of her shirt and made its way to a bag on an IV pole. She had begun rapidly losing weight when she left the hospital, so Doctor Smith told her to start using the feeding tube again.
"I know," the man said, pulling his little sister closer to himself.
"It's so weird, because no matter how much pain and crap I go through, I still want to live. I just want so badly to live."
"You are living, Claude. You're surviving."
"No, this isn't living," the girl mumbled, coughing and shifting under the blankets to clutch at her chest.
"Are you in pain?"
Claudia choked out a bitter laugh. "I'm always in pain."
"I mean, do you think it's the usual or do we need to bring you in?"
"I'm fine. It's just my lungs being their crappy selves. The pneumonitis has been pretty nasty this week." She shifted uncomfortably. "Josh, can you get me some pain meds?"
"Sure." He placed a kiss on top of the woman's short red pixie cut and left the comfortable bed. A few minutes later, he returned with painkillers, and Claudia pulled one from the jar, swallowing it dry.
The next day, when Myka walked in to check on Claudia, she found the woman slightly blue-lipped and coughing. She was practically hidden under a mountain of blankets.
"Open," Myka prompted, and Claudia grabbed the thermometer and stuck it under her tongue. She started to clear her throat, which sent her off on a coughing attack.
"Not feeling so good, huh?"
The woman just groaned.
"You've got a fever of 103. I'm going to take you back to Rapid City."
The young woman, who could finally be described as a redhead again, made no move to get up.
"Come on, Claude."
She shut her eyes and continued to lay there.
"I'm getting Josh to carry you down."
Soon the brunette agent had called Joshua upstairs, and the man was carefully lifting her out of bed along with one of her blankets. The movement triggered a long, angry string of coughs. Her brother carried her down the stairs and set her carefully in the back seat of Myka's car.
"Do you want me to come with you?"
The redhead shook her head. "Call Jane. Tell her what's going on," she said between coughs, and Myka pulled away.
As she drove, Claudia closed her eyes, rousing every few minutes to wheeze through a coughing fit.
After one particularly vicious one, Myka turned and asked, "You doing okay, Claude?"
The blue-lipped woman didn't respond for a while, then said hoarsely, "I think this is the end."
Myka stepped harder on the accelerator, picked up her phone and dialed Dr. Smith.
"Hey, I'm bringing Claudia in. She's got a cough and a fever, and she's not getting enough oxygen. We need an emergency team ready for when we get there."
By the time they got to the hospital, Claudia was laying still in the back, slightly purple in the skin. They were met at the emergency room roundabout by a team with a gurney and oxygen mask. The medical staff pulled Claudia from the back seat and whisked her away quickly while Myka parked the car.
It took a half-hour for the agent to track down Claudia, but she finally ended up at the ICU. A nurse intercepted her.
"Who are you here for?"
"Claudia Donovan?"
"She's in room 504, but they're performing a procedure at the moment, so you can't go in there."
"Is she okay? Does the doctor know what's wrong with her? What procedure?"
"I'm sorry ma'am, I don't know. You're going to have to wait for the doctor to come tell you."
After an agonizing half-hour, a doctor came out and greeted Myka.
"Hi, I'm Myka. I'm Claudia's… sister," she lied, hoping that the doctor would give her all the details.
"Hi, I'm Doctor Ching," the woman introduced herself quickly. "I ran some tests, and she has pneumonia, which triggered something known as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. We've intubated her and put her on ventilation because she wasn't getting enough oxygen. Right now she's in critical but stable condition. We're watching closely for organ failure because of her low oxygen levels."
"Aren't they getting better with the ventilation?"
"They should be, but her lungs may be too damaged to allow her to oxygenate properly."
"You know about her pneumonitis, right?"
"Yes, I've taken a good look at her chart. It's going to be difficult for her to fight this because her immune system is so weak, but it's good you got her in here right away. That will hopefully help. I've started her on antibiotics to deal with the pneumonia, and as long as her oxygen levels start improving, she will hopefully pull through. I have to be honest, this is a serious. She's fighting for her life."
"But I checked on her yesterday, and she was fine!"
"This kind of thing happens with cancer patients. I would suggest calling her other family members to come see her. She's sedated right now, and at her current oxygen level, she wouldn't be awake anyway, but she may be able to hear you."
"Okay. Can I see her now?"
"Yes you can. Her room is right over there. Get a mask from the nurse's station before you go in. I'll be checking in on her often, so you'll see me around."
She nodded pathetically and walked toward the nurse's station, feeling slightly numb. Maybe sister wasn't such a far-off term when it came to their relationship. Myka had taken Claudia under her wing when the girl was in her awkward transition years. As she became a woman, the older agent hadn't ceased to look out for her. Even when Claudia became Caretaker-Myka's boss, technically-their relationship had remained like sisters.
Myka finally entered the room and found Claudia unconscious on the hospital bed. A tube was sticking through the woman's parted lips, held in place by tape. It made its way to thicker tubes, then to a machine, which Myka knew was a ventilator. She had a bag of meds dripping into her central line, and there were electrodes and monitors measuring her vitals.
"Hi Claude," she managed, a few tears slipping down her cheeks. The Caretaker couldn't die now, right? Her hair was growing back. She was hopefully going to be declared in remission soon. She couldn't die now… could she? Myka sat down in the chair next to Claudia's bed and watched the steady rise and fall of her chest and listened to the sounds of the ventilator and IV drip machine.
20 minutes passed, and then Jane entered. Behind her came a petite young woman with long, wavy brown hair.
"How is she?"
"She's hanging in there.."
Jane moved to the sick woman and picked up her hand. "Amy, this is Claudia."
The teenager nodded, looking nervous.
"You understand the job, right?" Jane asked her.
"Yes."
"And the risks?"
"Yes."
"What's going on?" Myka asked.
"Amy is the future Caretaker," Jane replied.
"But- no. Claudia's not going to-"
"We have to be ready, in case anything does happen. We're going to stay with Claudia until this is resolved."
Artie, Leena, Steve, Pete, and Joshua arrived at the hospital a half-hour later. It was a small hospital room, so Steve and Joshua went in, while the rest stayed in the waiting room.
Josh looked like he was going to throw up, but Steve quickly approached the unconscious woman and picked up her hand, squeezing it.
"Hi Claude. We're all here. You've gotta pull through for us, okay?"
The woman was still too sedated to open her heavy eyelids, but Steve felt a slight pressure on his hand.
"You can hear me, can't you?"
Again, she squeezed his hand slightly.
"Claudia," Jane spoke up from the corner of the room. "I have Amy here. Do you think we're going to need her today?"
She squeezed his hand and Steve nodded toward Jane, his eyebrows knit together in concern. Though it was supposed to be top-secret, Claudia had explained Amy to him, and how she would take over the position of Caretaker whenever Claudia died.
"Okay. Don't worry. We'll be here in case anything happens," Jane assured the barely-conscious patient.
Tears dripped out from behind Claudia's closed eyelids, and Steve rubbed her arm soothingly.
"It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay."
The regent, future Caretaker, and agent stayed quiet, and Claudia relaxed slightly. After a few minutes, however, one of her monitors started beeping warningly, then another started flashing.
"Claude? Claudia! Help. Someone help!" Joshua ran out the door to get help, and Jane pulled a green ribbon from her purse.
"Amy, this might be the time…"