Tegan Chronicles

Origins of Truth 6

When Tegan opened her eyes again it was morning.

"Sorry," Janet apologized. "I didn't want to wake you up just to make you move so we could pull the bed out."

"It's ok." She was stiff, but moving wasn't a stroll in the park by any means. "I think the Flexeril threw me for a loop."

"It will do that." Janet nodded; already certain she wouldn't be giving her it again any time soon.

"What time is it?"

"Just after nine." Janet looked at her watch. "What do you want to eat?"

Tegan looked over at the end table that was now void of the plate of crackers and what would've been watered down Coke. "What do you have?"

"Just about anything you want."

"A bowl of Cheerios?"

"I think I can handle that. I'm making chicken noodle soup for lunch since you said your stomach didn't feel good last night."

"I think it was just from the pain."

"Well I'm not going to give you Flexeril again, but I did get you Lorcet. I think you should try that with breakfast."

"I'm not hurting too bad right now."

"When you get up to go to the bathroom, and when I help you get washed up you will be, so let's get it into you before you start hurting."

"Of course." Tegan shook her head a sly grin pulling at her lips. "I went to medical school you know."

"I even heard a rumor you graduated." Janet winked before heading to the kitchen.

After Tegan finished her cereal Janet brought two basins of hot water into the living room.

"I'd rather take a shower." Tegan tried to move to the edge of the couch. "On second thought, this will so just fine."

"I pulled out one of the over sized oxfords, I think you'll do better with something that buttons."

Tegan tried several times to get her t-shirt off before realizing it wasn't one of her favorites. "Can you just get a pair of succors and cut it off?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Janet took over doing the majority of Tegan's bath, which had been her initial plan.

"You know this could be a lot of fun," Tegan groaned.

"Yeah if you weren't in so much pain." She cringed every time Tegan would wince from pain.

"I take it you're not in to S&M?"

Janet's mouth fell open in slight horror at the thought.

"It's ok," Tegan reassured. "Neither am I."

After Janet helped her into clean clothes Tegan grabbed her hand. "Janet, are we ever going to talk about us?"

"Later," she promised.

"Tegan?" Janet's voice was soft.

He looked at the awkward position her neck was in as she napped in the wheelchair. "You don't need to wake her up."

Tegan opened her eyes and yawned. "Colonel."

"Hey Kiser, how are you feeling?"

"Like a large pine tree beat the crap out of me." She gave him a tired smile. "That and sleepy, Janet keeps drugging me."

"It keeps you out of trouble." He looked at Janet and winked. "I went to Peterson and pulled your things out of the locker."

"Thanks." Tegan watched him sit her BDUs and cell phone on the coffee table.

"Have you been watching the news at all?"

"No."

"They're calling you a hero."

"The media always blows things out of proportion." Tegan shook her head in disagreement.

"I don't know... if you had ejected when Tower One told you to, you would have landed on a residential street probably no worse for the wear."

"And the plane would've ended up on someone's house."

"Actually they calculated the trajectory and they're almost certain it would have hit an elementary school full of kids."

Tegan closed her eyes.

"You're a hero Kiser," Jack reiterated with a satisfied grin. "Colonel Rush is already filing paperwork recommending you receive the Airmen's Medal."

"Shut up."

"You'd better be glad you're on leave."

She opened her eyes. "You know I meant it with the up most respect, sir."

Janet interrupted them. "Have you eaten Colonel?"

"No, I was just heading back to base."

"I've got homemade chicken noodle soup and I'm sure Tegan wouldn't mind the company."

"If I can stay awake long enough." She shrugged to Jack with her eyebrows.

"I never turned down good food." He smiled at both ladies.

"Have a seat." Janet pointed to the recliner.

After he finished lunch and helped get Tegan back to bed, Janet walked him to the porch.

"How is she really?"

"I hate to jinx it, but she's been a pretty decent patient so far."

"Better than she normally is?"

"One hundred percent better."

"Are we sure she didn't hit her head?" Jack grinned.

"Regardless everything checks out, and her memory seems intact."

Jack nodded. "If you need anything don't hesitate to give me a call."

"Thank you Colonel." Janet closed the door and walked into the living room to find Tegan had taken the Lorcet she'd sat by her drink and she was already dozing off again.

Scully found Janet in the kitchen working on dinner when she got home. Janet looked up from the salad she was working on. "How'd it go?"

"Piece of cake; and Julie is wonderful to work with."

"Yeah, she's definitely one of my best." Janet smiled.

"How'd it go with Tegan today?"

"I actually got two doses of Lorcet in her, without a fight."

"So that's why she's out for the count." Scully threw her thumb over her shoulder pointing to the living room. "I see you got the bed pulled out."

"Yeah, I managed to get her into the wheelchair after helping her get washed up. Colonel O'Neill stopped by around lunch time and helped me get her back in bed."

"Well, I can help you this weekend."

Janet nodded. "It's mainly a matter of how much pain she's in when she does move."

"I know." Scully agreed. "Do you need any help?"

"No, we're having baked potatoes and salad. I've got chili, cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, butter, whatever you want on your potato."

"Sounds good." Scully went into the living room and settled in the chair.

Tegan moved her right leg and caused Shadow who'd been sleeping with his head to jump up. He hopped to the head of the bed to give her kisses. "Easy boy."

"You are still in there," Scully joked.

"Huh?" Tegan looked over at her.

"You've just been sleeping a lot."

"It's all the drugs you and Janet are pushing down my throat."

"How are you feeling?"

"Besides drugged? I don't know, as long as I don't move or breathe I'm great."

"Hey." Janet walked into the living room when she heard Dana and Tegan talking. "We're having baked potatoes and salad for dinner, are you hungry?"

Tegan closed her eyes for a second before looking at Janet. "Yeah, I am."

"Janet?" Tegan spoke into the dark over the low playing music.

"What?" Her response was clipped.

"Would you come lay up here?" She patted the bed beside her.

"Do you know how easy it would be for me to roll over and hit your ribs in the middle of the night?"

"It's already the middle of the night," Tegan rebutted. "Besides I don't care. They're my ribs and I'm lonely."

"I'm less than five feet away." She sighed, "Why are you lonely?"

"It's not the same." She took a deep breath causing her chest to hurt. "I wish I could go home."

"You just said you were lonely."

"I am lonely, you don't want me here. I'm just here because you somehow feel it's your responsibility to take care of me."

"It is." Janet regretted saying it the very second it was out of her mouth. She hadn't thought before speaking. The room was quite aside from the barely audible music.

A minute later Janet heard rustling in the bed. "What are you doing?"

The only answer was a dull thud followed by, "Oh Shit!"

Janet jumped off the air mattress quicker than she thought possible and found the lamp switch. Light flooded the room blinding her. For several seconds all she could make out was the sheer white light burning her eyes. She blinked several times before she saw Tegan sitting on the edge of the bed with both legs over the side. She was currently biting the second knuckle of her left index finger to try and keep the tears and pain at bay.

Janet was relieved it was only the cast she'd heard hit the floor and not Tegan. Before repeating the question she let out a sigh of relief, at least she wouldn't have to wake Dana up to help her get Tegan back in bed. "What are you doing?"

Tegan removed her finger from between her teeth. "Shit, Shit, Shit."

Janet watched her put her finger back between her teeth and bite down. She shook her head and went to find her medical bag, when she came back to the living room she had a morphine injector in her hand.

"Come on; let's get you back to bed." Janet stepped forward.

Tegan shook her head no.

"Yes. If you can't answer my question because you are in so much pain all you can say is 'shit' you're getting morphine, and I'm not going to have you sitting on the edge of the bed until it kicks in so you can fall the rest of the way off."

Tegan continued to hold her finger between her teeth. It gave her something to focus on besides the pain, and was something she hadn't indulged in since childhood. Since she still couldn't put words together to make a sentence, and shit still seemed to be at the top of her list, arguing with Janet was out of the question.

"Argh!" She inhaled and then held her breath when she fell back on the bed with her entire chest on fire. She couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks.

Janet moved Tegan's underwear to the side and injected the morphine. She then gently sat on the side of the bed until Tegan had fallen asleep.

"Good morning." Janet opened the curtains, flooding the living room with sunlight. When she turned back around, Tegan was trying to sit up. "Let me help."

"Leave me alone." Tegan clenched her jaw.

"All this because I gave you morphine last night?"

Tegan grunted as Janet adjusted the bar under the mattress to elevate the head of the sofa bed so Tegan could lean back.

"What do you want to eat?"

Tegan crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to stabilize her ribs and the muscles that were painfully spasming around them. The action gave her the appearance of sulking.

"Tegan?"

"I'm not hungry."

"What is your problem?"

"We talked about it last night. You don't want me here. You said so yourself."

"I did not," Janet defended.

"No. Not in so many words."

"That's not what I meant."

"It may not have been what you meant to say, but actions speak louder than words."

"If you're not going to eat, then I'm going to let Shadow back in and go get a shower."

"Whatever."

Janet shook her head and trudged up the stairs. She didn't know what to think of Tegan's sudden change in mood from yesterday to today. If she were honest with herself, she really had a lot to do with it. She had been distant at best and cold at worst.

In the bathroom she pulled her night shirt off and ran thin fingers through her hair. She looked at her tired face in the mirror and let out a sigh before turning around and adjusting the water temperature in the shower. She slid in behind the shower curtain and felt the hot water pelting her back. She wondered if she still loved Tegan, it wasn't a question that she needed to answer as tears ran down her face.

Her eyes were still rimmed in red when she got out and dried off. After towel drying her hair she threw cold water on her face which did little to relieve the redness. Giving up she went in the bedroom and pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a pink cotton button down. She lay on the bed for a few minutes and stared at the ceiling before deciding she would make tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and Tegan could eat it or not.

When she stepped into the living room the first thing she noticed was the bed was empty. "Tegan?"

She heard a small bark from the other side of the couch and walked around to find Tegan lying on the floor on her side. Shadow was lying in front of her with his head on his paws so he could see her face.

"What the…" Janet shook her head in frustration. She currently didn't care to ask if Tegan was ok or how she got there. She was breathing and her eyes were open, and Janet knew she couldn't get her off the floor on her own. "I'm going to call Colonel O'Neill."

She walked into the kitchen without waiting for Tegan to respond. After calling Jack and explaining the situation she returned to the living room and sat down in the chair. "Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c are going to come and get you off the floor."

Tegan didn't respond.

"So? You want to tell me what happened?"

"I –" Tegan knew telling her she fell out of bed would be the easiest answer. She also knew it was only a tenth of the truth. "You don't want me here."

"So you were going home?" Janet didn't deny the accusation. She tried not to laugh but it was either laugh or cry. "You're car's still at Peterson."

"I can call a cab." Tegan groaned.

"You can take something for pain and just deal with the fact that you're stuck here." She stood up and waved her hand over Tegan. "If you keep this up you're going to displace one of your rib fractures and puncture a lung."

"Like you give a crap." Tegan mumbled.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Lorcet or Morphine? I think I've got one injector left."

"Neither."

"If you want to punish yourself go right ahead."

"Kiser." Jack stepped into her view. "You've got to stop giving Doc a hard time"

"I want to go home."

"You can't even get up off the floor when you fall out of bed." He tried to make a joke out of the situation.

"She doesn't want me here."

"Sure she does." Jack glanced over at Janet whose expression he couldn't read. "I spoke with Dr. Scully before we left and she said you might need this."

Tegan watched Jack pull a morphine injector out of his pocket. "I can't."

"You're going to be in a hell of a lot of pain if you don't." Jack held it up and twirled it between his fingers.

Janet remembered that multiple doses of morphine tend to make Tegan sick. "I've got Phenergan if you need it later."

"Compazine?" Tegan didn't want to be drugged up twenty-four/seven.

"I can call in a script and get Dana to pick it up on her way home."

Tegan nodded.

Janet took the injector from Jack and pressed the injector into Tegan's hip. "We'll wait a few minutes for it to kick in."

Janet was too kind not to wait, although she thought not waiting might be vindication for Tegan trying to get out of bed on her on again.

After twenty minutes Jack knelt down beside Tegan with Teal'c on the other side. "Alright hero on the count of three."

"I'm not a – OW!" Her protestation was cut short as they lifted her. "Where the hell did you learn to count?"

"She's grumpy." Jack looked at Teal'c as they lay her on the bed.

"You're telling me." Janet turned to Teal'c. "Thank you both for coming by to do this."

"If she keeps this up you might want to consider moving her back to the infirmary."

"Trust me sir, I'm already contemplating it." Janet looked over at Tegan who just stared at her.

"Call if you need anything else."

Author's note: (wikipedia) The Airman's Medal is a military decoration of the United States Air Force and is awarded to those service members who distinguish themselves by heroic actions, usually at the voluntary risk of life, but not involving actual combat.