Chapter 7
Stan thought he must have fallen asleep because suddenly, he was hearing a lot of noise. It took him some time to figure out whether it was coming from outside or from the screen.
...and then, it dawned on him that it was both. There were words inside and roaring noises outside.
"Stan! Wake up! Can you hear it?"
"Stan! Please, Stan!"
Stan tried to think clearly. It was really hard.
"Abby?" There was no mistaking her voice.
"Stan! Please?"
"Stan, the helicopter should be right outside. Can you hear it?"
Stan suddenly realized that, if he'd been asleep, Tim could be dead. He had told Tim he'd have his back and he had fallen asleep! He turn around and knelt beside Tim. He was still. His skin was pale. His eyes were closed. Stan had a moment of total panic. He had let someone else die! He touched Tim's shoulder.
Tim's eyes fluttered open. He looked at Stan and smiled a little. His breathing was irregular and shallow and he moved very little, but he was still alive. Finally, the sounds outside the bridge penetrated his consciousness. An engine! Rotors!
"It looks like they're here, Tim. I told you that you'd make it."
Tim raised an eyebrow, managing to convey skepticism, even in his current state.
"I did! You know I did," he said, smiling. "I'll go wave them up."
Stan got to his feet and started to walk over, but then, Tim had yet another seizure. This one, as had been the trend, was longer than the last...and Tim, again, was not breathing after it ended. Stan forgot about the sounds outside the bridge. He started mouth-to-mouth again. They were too close to rescue. Tim couldn't die now!
Footsteps, running up the metal steps, registered vaguely, but until someone grabbed him and pulled him aside, gently but firmly, he really didn't notice them.
Then there were people in quarantine suits bending over Tim and working on him.
"Who are you?" Stan asked.
One of them turned around and she stuck out a gloved hand.
"I'm Surgeon Lieutenant Seton from the HMS Illustrious. This is my assistant Petty Officer Davies. You must be Agent Burley and the other is Agent McGee."
Stan nodded, breathless and dizzy.
"Good. Let me attend to your friend here and then we'll deal with you."
Another nod.
"Can he make it back to the Illustrious, ma'am?" Davies asked.
Lt. Seton's expression was grave. Stan could see it even through the mask.
"We'll do our best. Keep him on oxygen. We'll put him on diazepam right now and..."
Tim interrupted them with another seizure. Stan started moving to help. It was an automatic reaction by now, but Lt. Seton held him back.
"Let us do our job, Agent Burley. We'll take care of him."
Stan didn't want to sit and wait. He wanted to help. He had promised Tim he would, but he tried to do what he'd been told...although a part of him wondered if this was all an illusion, that he'd suddenly wake up and realize that it had all been a dream...and Tim was dying because he wasn't doing anything. It was hard to keep his mind straight. He'd given the last of the water to Tim hours ago, maybe even days for all he knew, and it felt like he was in the middle of a desert, as parched as his throat was.
They got Tim stabilized and Lt. Seton gave him diazepam. They put him on oxygen and strapped him to a stretcher.
"Mr. Davies, please go and get one of the crew to help you carry Agent McGee back to the helicopter whilst I tend to Agent Burley."
"Yes, ma'am."
Lt. Seton smiled as he turned to Stan.
"Now, Agent Burley, let's take a look at you."
"I just have a fever. That's all," Stan said.
"Must be a doozy with how you look."
"That bad?" Stan asked with a weak smile.
"Worse," Lt. Seton said, grinning. "Don't you worry. We'll get you both taken care of. We're to take you to the Illustrious and arrange transport to one of your hospitals."
"Are we that close? I don't know where I am."
"You're in the North Atlantic. Away from normal passages but we were conducting some special drills which took us off the beaten path, so to speak."
All the while Lt. Seton was talking, she was also checking Stan's vital signs.
"When was the last time you ate?"
"Don't know. I don't even know how long I've been here."
"All right. A long time. How long since you had anything to drink?"
"At least a day, probably more. There wasn't much here."
"Of course. Well, I don't like the look of you, Agent Burley, but I think it'll improve quite a bit with some food and water...and rest."
Stan smiled a little.
"Sounds good to me. I don't have to be in charge?"
"Not at all. In fact, you can't be. You're out of your jurisdiction."
Stan laughed and let Lt. Seton support him out to the helicopter. It was strange, leaning on a woman who looked like she was in a Teletubby costume, but he was so grateful for the relief that he didn't complain. He did pause as they were leaving.
"Boss?" he said toward the screen.
"Don't worry, Stan. We know where you're going and who you're with. We'll see you both as soon as we can."
Stan nodded and left the bridge.
He had never felt so happy to leave a ship in his life.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"They're off," Ducky said with relief.
"But what about whatever is wrong with them?" Abby asked. "We still have no idea what it is or who did it!"
"But now we have the chance to find out," Ducky said firmly. "We can help them as we could not before. They'll be here within twenty-four hours so long as they are able to stabilize Timothy enough for the trip."
"How long will that take, Ducky?" Tony asked. "I can't believe how bad they looked. Both of them!"
"I couldn't even venture to say, but if Timothy's symptoms truly are as similar to tetanus as they seem, they will be able to take steps...although some may be drastic at this point."
"How drastic?" Ziva asked.
"With Timothy's difficulty in breathing, I would not be surprised if they performed a tracheotomy and hooked him to an artificial respirator."
"Tracheotomy? You mean like...cutting a hole in his throat?" Tony asked. "Why?"
"Because his seizures cause his entire face to tense up, and because it will bypass muscles in the throat that could possibly become paralyzed during his seizures. If they do go that route, Timothy will be sedated. He would be given sedation in any case, but there would be another reason for it...and the sedation could be of long duration."
"And he could still be okay after all that?" Abby asked.
"Yes. He could. So long as we can figure out what is causing his reaction and can also find the way to cure it."
"That's a tall order."
"But we will do it. These people have shown that they deserve no mercy," Ziva said, her eyes hardening. "I, for one, will not hesitate to agree with what they have shown."
"For now, we're going to focus on getting Tim and Stan back here," Gibbs said.
"And then, you'll all follow the law while you track down the people who have done this," Vance interjected sternly. "I've already arranged for the MCRT from the Northeast office to start the investigation of the ship. The skipper of the Illustrious has agreed to keep his eye on the ship to make sure it doesn't disappear before we can get to it. The Nimitz was on its way to port in Norfolk but they got permission to go up to the ship and stand guard."
"They've been out for a long time," Tony said. "Didn't they want to get to port?"
"They've lost two of their own and another has been attacked. They have no intention of letting them get away with it."
There were a few rebellious looks, but in general, they knew that this was how it had to be. As much as they'd like to get revenge, they couldn't. Instead, they settled in to watch and wait. All they wanted at the moment was to get Tim and Stan back to DC so that they could watch over them.
...even if they didn't know if they could do anything to help.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"I want you to lie down here, Agent Burley," Lt. Seton said. "Just try to relax. Mr. Davies, get him on an IV."
Looking at her two patients, Lt. Seton found that she was extremely concerned for both. Stan would recover given time, but his anxiety had developed to an extreme degree after days of watching over someone he couldn't help...in a fevered state, not thinking clearly. Tim was in a bad state. A very bad state. She wasn't sure of the best approach. She knew the treatments for tetanus, but from what she had been told, this wasn't tetanus, for all that there were similarities. At this point, she was confined to treating the symptoms, and Tim definitely needed relief from the symptoms. The sooner, the better. She decided to put in a call to Bethesda to consult with the doctors who would be treating Tim for a longer period. She got Tim on an IV to combat the dehydration and the likely near-starvation from the energy sapped by the incessant seizures.
Tim had three seizures, of lesser intensity than the one Lt. Seton had witnessed on the ship, but they were very close together. The fact that he'd survived so long was a relief, but it was likely agonizing for him since he was usually conscious for them. They had him on oxygen, diazepam, and now an IV, and still, he was suffering. His breathing was bad and his heart was taking quite a beating. Some people with tetanus had actually died from cardiac arrest.
After a consultation with Bethesda, she decided to take the step of ensuring Tim's oxygen supply by performing a tracheotomy. Tim was only semi-conscious at the moment, but Lt. Seton wanted to explain what was happening. She bent over her patient.
"Agent McGee, we're going to stabilize your breathing a bit, but it's going to be through a tracheotomy. I'll be making an incision and putting a tube directly into your trachea and you'll be hooked up to a ventilator. This means that you won't be able to talk but in successive seizures, you'll be able to continue breathing. I'm going to give you general anesthesia. You won't feel a thing and when you wake up, you'll have the ventilator breathing for you. It might be a bit uncomfortable, but it's better than the alternative."
Tim made no verbal response, but as Lt. Seton turned away, she noticed a faint movement. She turned back. Tim's eyes were open slightly.
"It's...necessary?" he whispered.
Lt. Seton nodded. "Yes. At this point, this is the only option we have."
Tim nodded and his eyes closed. "Okay...okay..."
Lt. Seton walked over to where Davies was just finishing up getting Stan settled. Stan was lying back, but he was not relaxed at all. He was too worried. His temperature was 102.5 which was pretty high for a sustained fever. One day of it wouldn't have been bad, but this kind of reaction could have been dangerous if it had continued for many more days, especially with the lack of hydration and nourishment.
"You need to relax, Agent Burley."
Stan sat up and looked over toward Tim's bed. "Is Tim all right?"
"He will be. We are taking good care of him. Trust us, Agent Burley. You need to let yourself relax and rest. You will get better much more quickly that way."
"I said that I had his back."
"You've done that, Agent Burley. Your friend is not alone. He is being cared for and now, you need to care for yourself."
It didn't appear that Stan was going to be able to rest on his own. Taking matters into her own hands, Lt. Seton gestured to Davies and got a sedative. She added it to the IV line and then watched and waited.
It didn't take long. Stan, for all his resistance, conscious or otherwise, finally gave in to his body's exhaustion...with a little persuasion.
Once he was out, Lt. Seton got Davies to assist her in setting up the temporary OR that would allow her to perform the tracheotomy.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Stan opened his eyes and looked around. How had they got back into the medical department of the ship? He didn't remember even wanting to go back there. Great. He'd clearly become delirious. He leaned back and closed his eyes again.
"Agent Burley? Are you awake?"
That wasn't Tim speaking. He still felt hot and uncomfortable, but there was a lot less... blurriness than he remembered.
"Agent Burley?"
Stan opened eyes again...and saw a Teletubby. No...wait...
"You're the...the doctor, right?" he asked.
"Very good. Do you remember my name?"
"Not...no. Sorry."
"Surgeon Lieutenant Seton. How are you feeling?"
Stan thought about it. "Good enough to know how bad I felt before, but I still feel awful."
"That's an important improvement. You were pretty far gone. Not in danger of dying, but on your way to that if you'd gone much longer without food or water."
"Tim? Is he okay? Has he–?"
Lt. Seton's expressive was serious, but not so much so that Tim had died and she was trying to break the news.
"He's alive. We gave him a tracheostomy and now we're focused on keeping him stable enough for transport. We're already getting ready to move you both to Bethesda."
"Am I in that bad a condition?"
"It'll wear you out, the vibrations and such, but no, you'll recover...if we can only figure out what's going on inside you. You still have the fever and that can be dangerous if it doesn't go away. Your fever is high but not dangerously high if it were temporary."
"But it's not?"
"Not so far. Uncontrolled, it could kill you, albeit more slowly than Agent McGee's symptoms would kill him, uncontrolled."
"Can I see him?"
Lt. Seton smiled tolerantly. "If you agree to listen to me when I tell you the visit is over."
"Visit? He's just over there!" Stan said, pointing toward the other side of the room. Then, he noticed that his hand was shaking.
"Yes, and I'd wager that you'd have a hard time making it over there by yourself. I think you could if it was necessary, but I doubt that's the case here."
Stan smiled. "You're insulting my manhood."
"If your manhood depends on being able to walk across a room when you were recently on the verge of collapse, you need to examine your definition of manhood. It's severely lacking."
"Point taken."
"Good. Now, are you prepared?"
"Sure."
Lt. Seton smiled. "If you promise to do what you're told, I'll help you over."
Stan allowed Lt. Seton to help him up. He was taller than she was, but he was impressed at how easily she supported his weight.
"Am I really that light or are you just tough?"
"I'm a female medical officer in the Royal Navy," Lt. Seton said. "What do you think, Agent Burley?"
"I think that I'm not going to answer that question...because I'm already tired."
Lt. Seton laughed and settled him on a chair beside Tim's bed.
"Is he asleep?"
"Mostly. He won't be alert even if he responds to you. It's better that way. With the diazepam, his seizures, when they come, are much milder. We can't give him enough at this point to eliminate them completely."
"Oh."
She let him sit there and gave him some time alone...or relatively alone. She was still in her quarantine gear and sitting at her computer, but she gave him the illusion of solitude.
Stan looked at Tim and was...bothered by seeing him with a hole in his throat. Now, granted, there was a tube coming off that hole running to a ventilator, but he was still bothered by it. Tim had a hole in his throat...helping him breathe...because he couldn't breathe otherwise.
He swallowed his feeling and smiled.
"Hey, Tim. You in there?"
Tim's eyes fluttered open. His expression was confused. He started to talk.
"You can't talk right now, Tim. You have a tracheotomy."
Tim brought his hand up to his throat and felt the tube.
"Yeah. That's it."
Then, Tim tensed up. It wasn't nearly so violent as it had been before but he clearly still felt it...and it still hurt.
"We're getting ready to go back to DC. We'll get this figured out."
Promise? Tim mouthed.
"I promised we'd get off the ship. I promise this, too."
Tim had another seizure and his eyes filled with fear.
"I promise. I'm not going to give up until we figure this out."
Tim swallowed his fear and nodded. He was clearly trying to buck up, but it was hard to do. Stan couldn't blame him. The seizures were still there, even on anti-convulsant medication.
"You're going to make it, Tim. You will...even if I have to beat the cure out of whoever did this."
Tim raised his hand again and made the sign for Thank you.
"Abby taught you, too, huh?" Stan asked.
Tim smiled and nodded.
"Good. We can still talk while we're stuck in quarantine."
Tim smiled again...and had another seizure.
Stan couldn't help but hope that he wasn't lying.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Three hours later, Lt. Seton put Tim under full sedation, and then, they loaded Tim and Stan onto the medevac and started the journey to Bethesda.
