Chapter 25
Osprey sat at her desk in the infirmary, staring at the paperwork in front of her. Since her husband had been nice enough to put her in charge of the new flying medical center and partially in charge of the main center, though Doc would remain the primary physician on the ground, she realized they were woefully inadequate to handle a few medical issues, for instance, a pregnancy among the female members of the team, the myriad of unique diseases these people were exposed to because of the sheer nature of their covert operations in parts of the world barely explored, not to mention the constant flow of orthopedic issues that existed because of a PT instructor who believed in making every single obstacle course so difficult there was at least one or two broken bones a week. They needed more specialists. Hell, just because of the women on the team, they needed a gynecologist, then an infectious disease specialist and an orthopedist for the bone injuries. She sighed when she also realized they could probably use a neurologist and hell, even a cardiologist. Everything they did was hard on not only the musculoskeletal system, but the heart and lungs. Putting her head in her hands she just shook her head as Doc walked in, two steaming cups of coffee filling his hands. She looked up at him.
"Thought you could use this, ma'am." Doc said.
"You are a life saver, Doc." She smiled up at the man and Doc could understand exactly what his commander saw in this beautiful woman.
"I don't know about that. But, thank you." Doc laughed.
"Carl, you have family, I mean a wife and kids?"
"Not yet. But, hopefully one day." Doc sighed. "Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering." She smiled. "You know while you're here, I think we need to discuss a few things. Take a seat." She could see concern fill his face. "It's nothing bad. I was just looking at what we have here, medically, and realized we're very shorthanded. There's no way the two of us can handle everything that comes our way. So, I've been making a list of the personnel I think we need as well as equipment."
"I've been thinking the same thing." He said sipping the strong pungent brew.
"Well, with Cover Girl pregnant, clearly an OB/GYN is in order. Then there's an infectious disease specialist with all the crazy things you are all exposed to, an orthopedist, a neurologist, anything else you can think of?"
"Well, when Gung Ho makes his gumbo, we probably need a gastroenterologist." Doc laughed.
"Probably, if it's anything like the gumbo I've had in Louisiana." She laughed slightly before taking a sip of her coffee. "Ah perfect, just the way I like it."
"Alright, well, I'm thinking we may want an anesthesiologist. I'm a surgeon, so we don't need that and you're an emergency physician, so that's covered."
"A radiologist would probably be a good idea." She noted his suggestions.
"Do you think Hawk will go for any of these?"
"If I have anything to say about it, yes." She smiled.
"I would bet you have very interesting powers of persuasion."
Doc laughed.
"Oh yes, I can make him eat Gung Ho's gumbo." She laughed. "Oh well, let's go cut Beachhead, Scarlett and Lady Jaye loose from this medical prison."
"Yes, please let's do so, Beachhead is driving me nuts." Doc followed his fellow physician out of the room. "I wonder how long until we get Flint and Duke out of here?"
"A couple of days. Those two took in quite a bit of the listeria. Cover Girl is stuck for at least another week, until we can get an OB/GYN in here to look at her." Osprey said simply. "And there's still a very big chance she could lose the baby because of this. I'm hoping not. Apparently, she and the ornery Sergeant Major are looking forward to the child."
"Of all the men she went for, it had to be him." Doc laughed. "The man doesn't even use deodorant, granted, apparently he's highly allergic to an ingredient in it, but still."
They walked into the isolation room to find that Beachhead had pulled his bed right up to next to Cover Girl's, Jaye was holding Flint's hand and Scarlett was holding Duke's. All in all, it was a touching scene for the doctors.
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, as much I would love to leave you all alone, it's time to kick three of you out. We need the beds. Beachhead, Scarlett and Lady Jaye, you are free to go, remember to keep taking these antibiotics for the next seven days and come back in a week for re-checks."
"Doc, why is Flint and Duke staying here? I mean, we all understand about Cover Girl, but, Flint and Duke?"
"They're pretty sick from it. We just barely managed to prevent both of them developing septicemia, which, unfortunately can lead to some serious problems." Osprey answered. "But, I believe we caught it in time and we're watching the two of them. I think they will be fine, we just need to keep pumping them through with fluids and antibiotics. Cover Girl's the one we're really worried about." Beachhead's head shot up to look both the medical officers in the eye. Doc saw something he'd never seen in the cantankerous Sergeant Major, fear. He realized just how much the man was hiding from the team and silently wondered how long this had been going on and no one noticed. Clearly, he was in love with the model. "Beachhead, I need to speak with you privately." She tried not to sound worried, sound detached, like the doctor she was, but, it was hard when she saw his face. That was one of things she hated about medicine, talking to the families about what has happened, what will happen and what could happen.
"Yes, ma'am." Tiredly, Beach stood up to follow the general's wife into her office.
"Have a seat. Sergeant Major, Wayne, I'm not good a beating around the bush, so, I'm just going to lay it all out on the line. Courtney herself, will be fine. It's the baby I'm worried about. Listeriosis has a high mortality rate for developing fetus's. She's still in her first trimester, granted, she's at about 7 weeks and this is one of the most dangerous times for a pregnancy. I need to prepare you for the possibility she could lose the child due to miscarriage. Now, it's not a guarantee, but, a possibility." Sitting on the edge of her desk, she tried to be as gentle as possible, but she could see how crestfallen the man was and was struck by how in love with the model this handsome man, yes, he was definitely a sight without that darn balaclava.
"What does that mean, exactly? I mean, could I lose her too? Do we have to consider other things."
"I don't think so and right now, we're in wait and see mode. I'm going to request a couple of specialists to come in and take a look. This is a bit above my pay grade, so to speak. Neither Doc nor I have enough knowledge about this disease to be able to tell you what you need to know. I wish we did, but, we don't. For right now, I think she's going to be fine and if anything else happens, it will happen naturally. We're not going to consider the alternative. And the reason for that is, if the fetus is severely affected by the disease, then it will take care of itself. If not, then it won't. But, I'm not going to blow sunshine up your butt and tell you that even if we get over this hump everything will be great. Because we always have to watch a developing fetus throughout the entire pregnancy. Despite what people like to think, pregnancy is not the safest thing for either the mother or child. Granted, we've come a long way in making it safer, but, there are too many variables we can't control right up to delivery and even after." She smiled. "We will do everything possible to keep both of them healthy. I want you to know that."
"I know, ma'am. Thank you. I'm just scared. I could handle losing her in a battle because I know it's part of the job, I mean, I wouldn't like it. But, I could handle it. This, this I can't handle."
"Would you like to talk to someone? Not necessarily a psychologist, but, maybe a chaplain. And no, I don't mean Doc." She smiled.
"Thank you, but, no, not yet." He got up to leave.
"Wayne, we will do everything we can."
"I know ma'am." With that, he left the room to find both Lady Jaye and Scarlett waiting for him. Worry was etched into their faces. They somehow knew what was going through his head. He and Courtney had managed to keep their relationship secret, but, after the condom broke a couple of weeks ago, they'd been waiting to find out the outcome. Now, they knew and now, he could lose the baby he definitely wanted. Of course, until this, he didn't know he wanted it. But, he definitely wanted it and her. The two women just put their hands on his arms reassuringly and walked with him, silently. Until they got outside and he collapsed in tears, sliding along the wall to the ground. Both women just stayed with him.