Chapter 13: Wait... What?
Disclaimer: This can be found in chapter one.
Author Note: Without further ado, I give you then newly rewritten chapter thirteen. I hope that you enjoy it.
Leigh McAllister woke to pain. The beeping in the background, and the feeling of an IV in her arm told her she was in an hospital, or infirmary. The scent didn't hurt either. She hated the sterile, chemical smell of hospitals. It reminded her of death. Not that anyone she'd ever known had been in the hospital when they died. No, she'd buried people without the help of incompetent doctors and their depressing hospitals. So what was she doing in a hospital now?
She was in pain, that much was clear, and when she tried to open her eyes to get a look at her surroundings, it proved difficult. Whatever had happened her face was swollen. With effort, she managed to open her eyes to small slits, and saw a call button within reach. She pushed it. Something about this place, the weight of the air around her, seemed vaguely familiar. A half remembered dream tugged at her mind, but thinking hurt so she pushed her thoughts away. There would be time for thinking later, when it didn't feel as if she'd been hit by a semi and could do it clearly. In her current condition she wasn't going anywhere anyway. A head injury, broken ribs, from the pain in her chest, a familiar itch told her that she'd gotten stitches somewhere along the way. There was no telling what other injuries the pain from those were hiding from her, escape now wouldn't be possible even if she could think. Rest would be her friend, so she laid back and waited.
She didn't have to wait long for the sound of shuffling feet and flipping papers. The sounds were comforting and yet disturbing at the same time. There were people who would happily experiment on her, but then again, it could just be a doctor. From the way she was feeling, as wary as she was of them, she could use one. She opened her eyes to get a look at the person who'd come to her call. She was small, dark haired, and far from threatening. Leigh relaxed, just a little.
"You're awake already," The doctor said with a bright, if tired smile. She turned her eyes to the monitors that Leigh was attached to. "How are you feeling?"
"I hurt," Leigh responded, surprised by the weak, hoarse nature of her voice. "My head's fuzzy. Do I know you?" She tacked the question on as an after thought. This wasn't Dr. Chesterfield who'd been her physician for as long as she could remember. She couldn't begin to count the number of times she'd had him flown in when she'd been injured away from home, so where was he now? She trusted him. "Where am I? What happened?"
"My name is Janet Frasier, I'm a doctor, and you're in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, in the infirmary. As for what happened, a decent chunk of a mountain fell on you. I'm not surprised that you don't remember it, you took quite a beating." Dr. Frasier pulled a small flashlight from her pocket, and shined it into her eyes making Leigh wince as the pain in her head got worse. "Can you tell me what today's date is?"
Leigh opened her mouth to answer, then shut it as she realized that she wasn't sure. "No, I can't, I should be able to, but-" She closed her eyes against the sudden spike of pain in her head. "I can't remember this place, or the date or anything. It hurts to think, and everything's all fuzzy. I'm sorry."
"Don't be," The doctor's tone was reassuring. "It's something of a miracle that you're alive at all, much less awake. It'll all come back to you in time. I'm going to go get you something for the pain. If you're up to it after that, there's someone who's refused to leave my infirmary until they see you for themselves."
"Okay," Leigh whispered, trying to smile. After all there was only one person she could think of that would behave that way. Keeping Deirdra out wasn't usually a good idea. It's not Deirdra, The thought popped into her head, nagging at her. She dismissed it. If not Deirdra, then who?
"I have half a mind to throw you out of my infirmary," Janet's cool, but good humored voice woke Daniel from his doze. The chair had been a less than comfortable place to sleep, and he ached in several places. He was getting old. "But you were right, she woke up, and she's healing remarkably well. That's where the good news stops. She seems to have developed a form of amnesia. I don't think that it will be permanent. Just don't be surprised if she doesn't recognize you."
"How extensive are we talking here?" Daniel asked with a frown.
"I'm not sure exactly. I think it may take someone who knew her well to tell for sure. I know she showed no sign of recognition when I told her where she was. She's aware that she's missing memories, which is means it's still in there somewhere, just fuzzy. That's her word not mine. I think a face that should be familiar might help a bit."
"I can see her then?" He asked, wanting to see for himself that she was well. She never would have been with them if he'd just let her turn around. Let her say that she couldn't do it. Beyond that, he was the one that she'd had the most interaction with, if anyone available could jog her memory it would be him, and he knew it. Not that he had any illusions about his impact on her, but he had been the bane of her existence. Or so she'd told him often enough.
"Ten minutes," Janet told him, smiling. Like as not, she'd planned for just that. "Then the both of you need to be getting to sleep. That's an order." As per his usual, Daniel ignored that last bit. If Leigh looked too tired, he'd leave on his own, and Janet would kick him out when his time was up.
He stopped for a moment in the doorway to look at her. Her eyes were closed, her face bruised and swollen. Every part of her that he could see was sporting at least one bruise. Even still she looked a lot better than she had when they'd brought her back through the gate. Not being covered in blood helped, the blanket and bandages that covered a good portion of her hid the worst of her injuries.
"Janet told me that you were awake," He said softly as he made his way to the head of her bed. Experience had taught him not to sneak up on her. "I'd ask how you were feeling, but from the looks of things that would be a little superfluous. You look like Hell." He settled himself into a chair by her bed.
"You don't look so great yourself," Leigh murmured as she slitted her eyes open. "Who are you? I should know you," She continued with a frown. "I feel trust for you, why?"
"My name is Daniel, and we met about two weeks ago,"He smiled slightly. "I can't begin to imagine why you trust me, it's the first that I've heard of it. You were usually telling me that you hated me." No matter what he said, it had been gratifying to hear her say that she trusted him. It hadn't come easily, and a little well placed trust could very well be exactly what she needed.
Leigh's head was shaking before he even finished talking. "You're not Daniel, that's not right, and I don't hate you," She closed her eyes as her face scrunched up in pain. "It hurts sometimes, when I try to think," She explained. "What happened to me?"
"I assure you that Daniel is my name, though I will admit that you had a tendency to refer to me by honorific. As for what happened," Daniel drew in a deep breath, taking a moment to compose his thoughts before continuing. "We were on the edge of a very sheer cliff, admiring the view. There was a big earthquake. You tackled us away from the edge, but the whole area was unstable. We ended up taking a long fall."
"During which I was unlucky enough to catch every piece of debris on the way down," Leigh quipped, and he took the slight up-turnings at the corners of her mouth to be an attempt at a smile. "Just my luck I guess. What was I doing looking at a view with you anyway?"
"Honestly?" She nodded slightly, "You were admiring the beauty of the world that lay before you. Contemplating life I would imagine." He ducked his head. "I was admiring a side of you that you'd never let me see before. You'd have stayed right there on the edge of that cliff forever if you could have. I have no doubt of it."
"Deirdra never would have let me. Where is she? Where's my sister? She's never been one to be away. Following orders, most especially from a doctor isn't her strong suit."
"She doesn't know that you've been hurt. You requested that your family not be informed."
"Good," Leigh said, shifting deeper into her pillows. "Let's keep it that way okay? They have a tendency to be unhappy when I get hurt. Heads roll, sometimes literally."
"Whatever you say," He promised, moving to stand. "I should let you get your rest."
"Stay, please!" Leigh's hand shot out towards him, and there was desperation in her voice. "The air is too heavy, it's worse when I'm alone. Please stay?"
"I can't stay," He said apologetically, catching her hand and squeezing it before he put it back on the bed. Emerald eyes looked up at him full of pleading, and Daniel sighed. "You need to rest." Leigh started to pout. Somehow, he kept the exasperated sound inside. "Fine, if it means that much to you, I'll stay until you fall asleep. You have to actually try to sleep though."
"Okay," She whispered, head lolling to the side as her medications caught up with her. "Will you tell me a story?" She requested, eyes already starting to close. "Something happy?"
A rueful grin tugged at his lips as he sat back down. Why couldn't she have been this cooperative a week ago? "I can try, but I don't make any promises," She gave him a sleepy smile, and he cleared his throat, then mind made up began to speak. The ending was already floating around in her head after all, what harm was there in telling her the happy parts too? "There was once a planet called Abydos. The people lived in fear, enslaved by a race called the Goa'uld. One day, a group of men came through a large ring called the stargate..."
When next Leigh woke she felt a good deal better then she had the last time. She still hurt, badly, and in many locations. Every breath felt like multiple stab wounds, but her face didn't feel as tight anymore. Her eyes opened easily when she decided to open them, and she smiled slightly when she saw Daniel slumped against the wall in a chair. Dr. Jackson, Her memory piped up. He'd stayed, whatever their relationship, she knew why she trusted him now. He genuinely gave a damn.
"Dr. Jackson, it's time to wake up," She announced, reassured that her voice was a good deal stronger today. "Sleepy time is over," She tried again in sing-song, and much louder. That got his attention, and he woke with a start. "Good morning Dr. Jackson."
"Your memory is returning I see," He grumbled as he rubbed at his eyes. He didn't sound overly happy about that supposed fact. He blinked a few times, then started some subtle stretching.
"Just that so far, and that this is a United States military compound. I also get the feeling that I didn't entirely come here of my own accord. What did I get into this time?" Leigh couldn't help but smile as she asked that question. Not that she'd ended up in military custody before, but some of the things her sister had gotten her into had come very close.
"You tried to trade technology for a power source. It didn't go as planned, and you ended up breaking into one of the United States' most secure facilities."
Leigh felt her jaw drop, flabbergasted. "I actually went through with it? How in all that is holy did Deirdra talk me into that crack pot, idiotic-" She made a small noise of frustration and bit her lip against massive amounts of pain as her blood pressure rose several points. "One of these days I'm going to resign and actually mean it. I don't know how she talks me into these things, I'm smarter than that I know I am. That sort of field work has always been her, insane, passion not mine, and she bloody well knows it!" Leigh stopped herself then, not at all sure what these people had known before, but quite sure that she'd just given them more than ever.
"Good job getting my patient riled up," Dr. Frasier said from the doorway, and Leigh's head snapped in her direction. "Feeling better this morning I see," The frown she'd thrown at Dr. Jackson disappeared into a smile as she looked to Leigh herself.
"A lot. When can I get out of here? I have a neck to wring."
"I'm going to go get some coffee," Daniel put in quickly as he made his escape. Dr. Frasier ignored him.
"Depending on a few things, you may be able to leave the infirmary later today. I wouldn't suggest trying to wring any necks for a couple of weeks though. You have a lot of stitches in you, most internal. I don't want to see you right back in my operating room." The look she gave Leigh made the younger woman wonder how she'd ever thought that she didn't seem at all threatening. "How are your pain levels?"
"High, but not so high as to require medication. When do I get to eat?" Leigh asked as Frasier moved to the side of the bed. "I'm starving."
"I'll send someone to get you breakfast just as soon as I'm done looking you over," The doctor assured as she pulled back the blankets and began to look Leigh over from head to feet. "Well, no sign of infection anywhere, and you're healing very quickly." There was a questioning tone to her voice.
"I've always been a fast healer," Leigh confided. This was true, the fact that her nanites were helping her didn't change the predisposition that she'd already had.
"Here I'd been hoping that it had something to do with the nanites floating around in your blood. That would have been a wonderful medical break through. I can't begin to imagine how many lives could be saved if there was a way to replicate the effect. Well," Dr. Frasier said as she finished up her examination, and pulled the blanket back up for Leigh. "I'm done here for now. Someone should be by with your breakfast shortly, and you should be out of here by lunch. You may want to think about where you want to spend your recovery. There are a few things that you'll need to be briefed on..." She shook her head. "Just think about if there's anyone you'd feel comfortable staying with, okay?" Then the doctor left her to her thoughts, and the weight in the air.
It didn't take long for the room to start closing in around her. With each moment her breath came harder. Focusing on the concrete around her didn't help in the least. The labored breaths that she was taking hurt, and the world around her started to spin. The electronic beeping on the monitors went crazy. She needed to calm down, and she knew it. She just couldn't make herself. She closed her eyes against the pain, and struggled to draw a breath, then the doctor was there.
Within moments, she felt herself begin to relax, slowly, her breathing calmed. Then she drifted slightly, warm and calm. "I'm sorry," She apologized. "I tried to calm down, but the air kept pressing down on me. The room, everything kept closing in."
Dr. Frasier sighed. "I knew that this was a possibility. It's not uncommon for people who have been caught in cave-ins to develop claustrophobia. That's part of why I was hoping to release you sooner as opposed to later."
"Am I interrupting something?" Leigh's eyes moved to the doorway, and Dr. Jackson with a tray in his hands. "I thought that I may as well bring you breakfast since I was already there. There wasn't any Jello," His expression was enough to get a rough chuckle from Leigh. She couldn't begin to imagine why he looked so apologetic.
"Ah yes, Jello," Dr Frasier, smiled slightly, obviously in on the joke. "I'll let you two be, I have paper work to take care of. Keep an eye on him, and make sure that he eats." With that the doctor left the room with a pointed look cast at Dr. Jackson.
"I wasn't sure what you would want to eat, so I brought you a little bit of everything." He set the tray on her bedside stand. "I take it I missed something pretty big?" He asked as she moved the bed into a sitting position.
"I'm apparently claustrophobic now," She admitted. There was no point hiding it after all, she had no doubts that it would come out sooner or later. "Dr. Frasier wants to get me out of here as soon as possible, but I don't really have anywhere to go. It's not like I can just show up on mom and dad's front porch without someone wanting to do something about my condition. She talked about a briefing?"
"It's nothing," He assured her as he sat down in the chair that he'd spent the night in. "I wouldn't worry about it if I was you," He drew in a deep breath. "As for having nowhere to go, you're welcome to stay with me." A slight smile tugged at his lips as he looked at her from under his lashes. "You sort of asked to, when you were out of it, in the cave."
"Why would I... Why would you..." Leigh spluttered to a stop, feeling her cheeks heat as she grimaced at the sudden stab from the vicinity of her ribs. She had never in her life lived with a man that was not her father, of that she was completely certain. Nor could she imagine asking one to allow her to do so. "What sort of relationship did we have?"
End Note: There you have it. I know it didn't end in the best place ever, but I was having trouble finding that cut off place. It was as good as any. Hope you all enjoyed it.