Gerry and Sylvia Anderson are the creators of those wonderful boys, the Tracy's and the Thunderbirds

Chapter 14

"Scott, what is it?" Jenna asked, concern spreading across her face. His face tightened and he gritted his teeth against another searing pain cutting through his head. Scott groaned, closing his eyes to concentrate on breathing his way through the agony. "It's really bad, isn't it?" she said sympathetically.

He managed to rasp out, "Yeah," not even able to open and close his eyes to blink.

"I'll get you something, something strong. It should help you fairly quickly, at least let you be able to get some sleep," Jenna offered as she hurried to the medicine cabinet. Sitting on his bed she upended a small bottle, pushed in the needle and withdrew the required amount of pain relief. As she ejected a tiny amount to make sure there was no air in the syringe Jenna told him she was giving him a morphine-based shot because of the severity of the pain.

Scott opened pain filled eyes. "Nooo. Pleeease," he groaned.

She took his pleas to mean that; 'No' he couldn't stand the pain anymore and 'Please' do something about it. She did. She injected him, as he groaned again, "Noo."

He tried to tell her, he really tried but she mustn't have understood. He knew she wouldn't hurt him or cause him any unnecessary pain. There must be some reason she did what she did. She couldn't have known or she wouldn't have given it to him. How couldn't she have known, surely someone must have told her. Told her that he had a bad reaction to morphine-based shots. He avoided them like the plague; they made him violently ill when the effect wore off. He would rather have suffered the pain, breathed his way through it, anything, rather than feel the way he was going to whenever he woke up. They couldn't have told her, now he was going to have to pay the price.

"Noooo…..don't …..under ..stand," Scott sighed as he felt himself slipping; slipping into that strange world where he felt himself floating. His eyes glazed over and rolled in the back of his head. Her face swam before him, she was talking to him, smiling but he couldn't make her out.

She was laughing, calling to him and beaconing him to come to her, as she seemed to float in a sky of bright colours. He found himself moving towards her, laughing as she caught him in an embrace. She held him, soothed him and caressed him before they were flying together in an unusually blue sky. The more they flew, the more he felt himself become one with her until she was like a part of his very soul. Gradually, the sky grew darker and he felt himself falling; falling out of her reach until he fell into a black nothingness.

Jenna watched him as he slipped into that hazy, floating world, watched as a smile creased his lips, wondering where he was in his mind. She soothed him, massaged his temples and talked to him, assuring him she was there until he fell into sleep.

After lowering him into a more comfortable position she grabbed a couple of hours sleep for herself.

Waking around 6am, Jenna, after seeing that Scott was still sleeping and doing her usual checks, headed for the shower, taking the portable monitor with her. On coming back into the room she fixed herself a coffee and gazed out over the island as the early morning sun rose in the sky.

Almost finished, she became aware of low moaning coming from the direction of Scott's bed. Setting her cup on the desk she went to him, a worried frown crossing her face. Jenna was shocked at how she found him; he was pale, deathly pale, his breathing rapid and shallow. She placed the back of her hand to his forehead; he was cold, clammy and shaking. She checked his temperature. He hadn't been like this, she thought to herself before she went to the shower. As she raised the head of the bed slightly Scott opened his eyes. He didn't look well; in fact, he looked like he was about to throw up

"I'll be right back," Jenna said as she hurriedly went to the Prep Room to bring back a basin, dish, towels and cold compresses. On returning she raised him into an upright position. Sitting on the bed and placing the basin in front of him she supported his head as he threw himself forward.

It was that awful, inevitable feeling that came over him as he awoke. He hoped and prayed that it would go away but he knew there was only one way it would. He felt her raise the bed and wanted to tell her to hurry but he was afraid even to try to speak. Now that he felt that nauseating wave ride over him he just wanted it to be over with, begging that it wouldn't last long. He was about to pay for someone's mistake.

As he heaved violently all Jenna could do was support him, rubbing his back like you do for a child to assure them it will be over soon. Continuing to wretch long after there was nothing left she eventually laid him back against the pillows, exhausted. She desperately searched her mind trying to think what could have made him react like this; it was like a bad reaction to something. A sickening thought took hold as she placed the cold compress on his forehead. After tenderly cleaning him she helped Scott to sit forward, giving him a drink of water to rinse his mouth. Laying him back against the pillows Jenna felt a wave of guilt that she had been the cause of him suffering like this. Another emotion took hold though, that of a slow, simmering anger. Someone should have told her, it should have been in his notes.

"It was the morphine shot, wasn't it? She asked, knowing full well that it was but hoping it wasn't.

With his throat aching worse than before he blinked once. It wasn't just his throat or his head; his whole body ached now.

"I can get you something for your throat," she offered sympathetically, "but I can't give you anything more than you're already getting." She returned with the hypo-spray and after fixing a fresh cartridge, pressed it to his neck. It just didn't seem fair, she thought. He had been so bright and alert last night, all things considering. Jenna smiled weakly at the memory of their conversation and now this. Her simmering anger grew.

Then she realised, her heart aching, "You did try to tell me, didn't you?" He managed to blink his eyes once.

"Scott, I'm so sorry," she said apologetically as he watched her with pain filled eyes, begging to know why she had given him the shot. "I had no idea it would affect you like this or I never would have given it to you," she continued. "It wasn't in your file. Please forgive me?" Jenna begged, stroking her fingers along his forehead. A little colour had come back into his face.

He could see how upset she was; he knew she wouldn't have caused him to suffer like this on purpose. How could he not forgive her? His eyes slowly blinked once.

Jenna returned to his bed with a tube of muscle rub ready to massage it into the aching muscles of his abdomen. It had an anaesthetic quality that would help to numb muscular pain. "This will help to bring you some relief," she assured him, smiling weakly and still feeling pangs of guilt.

He watched her through sleepy eyes as she spread the rub over her hands and sucked in a breath at the touch of her warm hands on his body. As she massaged and caressed his aching muscles a heat spread through him, enveloping him in its warmth; whether it was from the rub or her soothing caress, he didn't know. All he knew was, that time had seemed to slow down until it had stopped altogether. Finally, sleep overtook him. He wasn't the only one who had felt a heat. Of course, it could have been from the rub on her hands, she didn't know but she couldn't deny that to caress him this way was a pleasurable experience.

Now that he seemed to have some semblance of peaceable sleep her thoughts turned to other matters, namely, who was responsible for this oversight? To say that Jenna was livid was a slight understatement. Dear help the next person who came through that door!

(Author's Note: And we all know who that will be? Maybe I should tell Jeff to stay away for a while. Like a couple of years!)

It cut no ice with Jenna that Jeff Tracy was the head of a multi-corporate organisation or that he was a millionaire philanthropist. Of course, she didn't know he was also the Commander-In-Chief of International Rescue but I dare say that that wouldn't have cut any ice either. All she knew was, he was Jeff Tracy the father, who should have made sure his son's file was bang up-to-date. Jenna always tried to find that fine balance between the care of her patient and helping their family but the needs and care of her patient always came first.

Jeff entered the infirmary that morning hoping that, perhaps, his son might be a little more awake and Jenna always had a welcoming smile. So it was with a mixture of perplexity and more than a little worry that he noticed she wasn't her usual self. In fact, he might even have suggested she was angry.

He crossed to Scott's bedside and was quite concerned to see that his eldest son looked pale and ill. "What's wrong with him, Jenna? Jeff asked firmly.

Unwilling to carry out this heated conversation in front of her sleeping patient; she motioned Jeff to the farthest corner of the room. By rights, she should have taken him outside the infirmary but Jenna didn't want to leave the room in case Scott might wake and need her; such was the mixture of concern and guilt she felt.

"What's wrong with him?" she started, trying to keep her voice calm. "What's wrong is, that your son, Mr Tracy," she continued, her voice rising in anger "was violently ill this morning because I," and she emphasised the word "I gave him a morphine-based shot last night for a really bad headache."

Now that Jeff could see the reason for his son's pale and ill appearance, his face clouded over in a frown, "But Scott has a bad reaction to morphine-based shots," he replied, wondering, though, why Jenna should be angry since she was the one who gave it to him. If anything, he thought he should be the one angry with her.

"Perhaps, if I had known that, it would have helped," she answered him sarcastically. On seeing Jeff's puzzled look she continued, "It wasn't in his file."

The file she had been given was a shortened version of his true medical history, for Scott's original file was much larger, containing all the injuries and treatments he had received due to his career in International Rescue. This file, along with all the other boys, was kept in a safe and a shorter version had been compiled for her use.

"It wasn't?" Jeff asked; beginning to realise there had been a serious negligence in making sure Scott's medical file was up-to-date and that it had caused him to be violently ill. All the family knew of his reaction to these shots. He would withstand pain first before he would take them.

"No it wasn't," she replied, firmly but a little coldly and as if to prove her point Jenna went to her desk, retrieved Scott's file and promptly thrust it into Jeff's hand. He scanned through the notes, unable to find the vital bit of information and could only sincerely apologise for the gross error.

Jeff was a man of deep conviction and honour and his later career in NASA led him to know where the buck stopped and, right now, he knew the buck stopped firmly with him.

On seeing how deeply upset and annoyed he was with himself Jenna put her hand on his arm and said gently, "If it's any consolation, Jeff, I feel bad for having given it to him but we'll just make sure it doesn't happen again." "Now, is there anything else I should know?" she asked more calmly. Jeff shook his head.

Jenna took the file back to the desk and promptly wrote across the top of the chart: DO NOT GIVE MORPHINE-BASED SHOTS.

"I'll sit with him for a while," Jeff told her, suddenly looking aged with guilt and worry. "Why don't you go up to the kitchen for breakfast this morning, Jenna," he offered, "You could do with a break."

She was unwilling to go but could see that Jeff wanted to be alone with his son for a while; he hadn't been able to do that since she got here. Jenna felt she couldn't deny him. "Please, don't try to wake him," she pleaded. "He didn't get much sleep last night and then with this morning ….and if you need me…."

Jeff nodded. As Jenna left the infirmary she heard Jeff say softly, "I'm sorry son."