For irlnewt and the prompt 48: 'Hey! Hey, wake up! How many of these did you take, huh? No, no, don't go back to sleep, you need to stay awake for me.' With John. I slightly adapted this so it isn't dark. And it's Scott whump with a side of John and Virgil, coz you can't have medic issues without involving the big man.
It was with a groan that Scott woke up. He seemed to be doing that a lot, the groaning and the waking up, and it was beginning to get frustrating. He ground his teeth as he swung his legs off the couch. Damn, he'd fallen asleep during a rescue. Again.
It had been several weeks since the rescue had torn open his leg and given him the worst concussion he'd ever had. Even now he was still getting dizzy spells and sudden, blinding headaches that would have ruled him out of flying even if his leg had been operational.
Waking up during a rescue he'd been conscious for the beginning of was bad enough. Waking up with a headache that was affecting his vision was worse. But Scott wasn't a quitter, and he knew that if he wanted to get back out there he needed to get back on his feet. Headache be damned, he hauled himself up to begin his customary pacing of the lounge. Scott just had to get his leg working.
John, noticing Scott had moved on the monitor he had trained on the eldest since there is currently no one home to watch out for him, sighed. Scott's gone from fast asleep to pacing the floor in a matter of minutes. If anything, he had only been slightly slower than if his leg was completely healed.
John watched Scott out the corner of his eye for several minutes, his main focus on the rescue at hand. It was a particularly long one, a huge earthquake that had taken all three remaining brothers and Kayo and Brains; and with Grandma at Penny's it meant that no one was there to temper Scott. He might think he needed to push himself to get better quicker, but Virgil and Grandma had been adamant that he needed to give his leg time rather than push too quickly as was Scott's default setting.
'Scott, you need to sit down. You're supposed to be resting the leg, not wearing it out.' Scott huffed a sigh. 'I need to get it back to normal John, it needs working to loosen up.' John rolled his eyes. Scott never did listen when it suited him. 'Virgil said you needed to rest it. The physio sessions are enough…' He cut himself off, watching Scott almost topple over as he executed a tight turn. Scott's head must be playing up too.
'If you don't stop now I will come down mid-rescue and force you.' It was the only threat John knew would stop Scott, and indeed his brother stopped, scowling at him. Scott would not endanger a rescue like that, even if both of them knew their family could handle it. The scowl turned into a grimace, and John's face softened. 'Go take your painkillers, Scott. You obviously need them.' John then turned back to the rescue, he needed to concentrate for the moment, and he didn't notice Scott leave.
He hated being so dependent on the tablets, but Scott stumbled to the elevator and went down to the infirmary for his meds. Opening the locker where the prescribed medications were all stored, he fished around, finding the one marked S. Tracy and Tramadol. He popped two capsules out and swallowed them with water, making sure he replaced everything before leaving. It was only the second day he'd been entrusted with handling his own medication since the headaches had been quite debilitating and disorientating.
Reappearing in the lounge, he was pleased to hear and see that John had not severed the link to Five, even if Scott was supposed to be relaxing. He stretched out on the couch again, and it didn't take long for him to drop off again listening to John's calming voice giving directions.
He woke up suddenly, gasping for breath. The feeling of being trapped under the rubble took a little while to dissipate, but a few deep breaths and he began to relax. Looking up, he saw John's eyes watching him closely. Scott frowned. The headache was still there and so was the pain in his leg, which was really unusual. Did he take his tablets?
'Scott?' John was a little worried. Seeing Scott sit up so suddenly had concerned him, and his brother had only been asleep for about 30 minutes. Watching his brother closely, it seemed that he still had the headache, Scott actually looked a little confused. 'Scott, are you alright?' he repeated.
He looked up at his brother. John seemed a little blurry, but that was probably the headache. 'Yeah, I'm alright John. Just trying to recall if I've taken my meds. They usually kick in straight away.' John nodded thoughtfully. He hadn't seen Scott take them, but he'd been concentrating on the rescue. 'Why don't you count them, that will tell you if you've taken them or not.' Scott shot his brother a smile. Logic. He couldn't even think logically with this head.
John watched Scott get up and cross over to the infirmary. Virgil had left his tablets out, but in the infirmary, in the vain hope that that would seem like enough exercise for Scott. Once in the infirmary John continued watching as Scott collected the tablets off the side and tipped them into a tray and counted them. They were all there. He looked up at John and smiled. 'They're all there, I must have dreamt I took them. No wonder my headache hasn't improved.'
He took two with water and washed his glass up, putting everything away neatly. Scott made his way upstairs and John reappeared. Checking the stats and reports coming in, he filled Scott in on the progress of the rescue. Barring any more severe aftershocks they were doing well. Scott propped himself up on the couch and waited for the meds to kick in. It didn't take long for him to start drifting off again.
John was relieved when he saw Scott had fallen asleep again. Sleep was what the man needed right now, even if he was loathed to admit it. John smiled to himself. It was the longest he had seen Scott sleep in a long, long time, and it made him feel good. Keeping the monitor on so he could see his big brother, he set about continuing to direct the rescue.
They were rapping things up when EOS suddenly flagged both John and Virgil. They simultaneously responded. 'EOS? What's wrong?' Her lights flashed red, and instantly they were alert. 'Scott's breathing has become very shallow, and his pulse is weak and thready.' John and Virgil looked at each other. Even if Virgil left now, he wouldn't get back for quite some time. This was something John needed to do, and he wasted no time getting into the space elevator, yelling at EOS to override the safety protocols that she could.
'John, you need to keep him awake until I can find out what's wrong with him. Has there been any indication of anything?' Strapping himself in, John racked his brains. 'He fell asleep a couple of times, the second time he was complaining that his headache wasn't any better.' He paused as a terrible thought occurred to him. Virgil caught the look. 'What is it, John?' he demanded.
'His tablets. He couldn't recall if he had taken his tablets. I watched him count them out, though, and they were all there so he took two. How could he overdose if he had the right amount?' Virgil sighed. He had no idea until he got there, but if Scott had overdosed on his meds he would need hospital treatment ASAP. He needed to get home. Thank goodness they were wrapping up, but that still took time.
'Ok, this is what we are going to do,' Virgil said, Senior Operative and Team Medic coming to the fore. 'Al, get packed up. EOS, can you contact the hospital and have them get ready some Naloxone ready, just in case it is an overdose, and Alan, as soon as you're ready you go and collect it. Hopefully by the time you've collected it we'll be arriving home too. John, you need to keep Scott awake, and we'll be home as soon as possible. If he does slip unconscious you know what to do.' He was greeted with a chorus of 'FAB's' and they all got down to business.
John crashed out of the elevator and tore through the villa, virtually skidding to a halt in front of Scott, who was still out of it on the couch. Yeah, he could hear the shallow breathing, and he gently shook Scott's shoulder, hoping that his brother would wake up. To his great relief Scott grumbled at him but didn't open his eyes.
'Hey, wake up!' John said softly. 'No, no, don't go back to sleep, you need to stay awake for me, Scott.' Scott cracked an eye and stared at his brother. 'Don't wanna,' was the petulant reply coupled with that eye closing. 'No, Scott. You gotta stay awake for Virgil.' That got Scott moving, just as John had hoped it would. He helped his brother sit up a little, and all tired Scott could manage was a 'Virg?' John pulled Scott a little more upright. 'Yeah, that's right. You got to stay awake for Virgil.'
He didn't care that it could be considered a dirty move to make Scott think that something was wrong with Virgil, he just knew he needed to keep him awake, but it was becoming clear that that would not be easy. Scott's breathing was so shallow, and he was struggling so much, John was surprised he was conscious at all. But Scott was a stubborn man when it came to a brother in trouble, and John was relying on that.
Virgil kept in constant contact with EOS and Alan as they worked to get Two ready to leave. Once in the cockpit he watched John's efforts to keep Scott awake with growing concern, and he was not surprised when Scott lost his battle with consciousness only five minutes before One entered Tracy airspace. Two was still 15 minutes out. John placed Scott in the recovery position, ready to either provide CPR – please, let that not be needed – or the antidote. Despite not knowing for sure, the symptoms Scott was showing were of classic opioid overdose, and the Naloxone spray the hospital had given Alan should provide immediate relief of the symptoms.
Alan knew what he needed to do. He'd been given two devices, and it was a simple spray up one nostril, wait for two-three minutes and if Scott had not started to breath by then, or if he stopped breathing before reaching the hospital, he was to repeat it with the second device in the other nostril.
Skidding into the lounge, he was horrified to find John giving Scott rescue breaths, but no CPR, so at least Scott's heart was still going. Alan pushed John out of the way once he'd paused and administered the spray as he had been directed. Immediately Scott began to breathe again, although he didn't regain consciousness, and John rolled him back into the recovery position while Alan grabbed a stretcher as they heard Two landing.
It was a straight in, straight out for Virgil. Dropping Kayo off and collecting John and Alan with Scott, they shot off to New Zealand where the hospital staff were ready. It was only a short skip really, but it seemed a really long journey, Virgil communicating everything that had happened to the staff. And it was a practiced and seamless handover, with the family heading to the private waiting room they always used.
Virgil had been assured that the procedure, if an overdose was what was wrong with Scott, wouldn't take too long, the Naloxone injection was really fast acting and as Scott hadn't needed CPR his stay would be much shorter than most. What they really needed was confirmation that it was an overdose, and they would be running tests to be on the safe side.
Fifteen minutes after Scott had been rushed to ED Kayo called with the missing piece of the puzzle. Going back over the video logs, Scott had actually gone down to the infirmary and taken some tablets from the locker. Virgil puzzled over this as he had left his brother's meds out on the side. Then Kayo showed Virgil the container. S. Tracy. Virgil blanched. Scott had taken their Grandmother's meds. They were both on Tramadol, but Sally Tracy was on the maximum time-released dose of 400mg whereas Scott was on the fast-acting 50mg tablets. If Scott had taken two of the maximum dose ones and then half an hour later taken his own, then yeah, he'd definitely overdosed.
He thanked Kayo and passed the information on. In return he was told that Scott had responded well to the treatment, and they would monitor him overnight to ensure there were no other issues. He thanked them and returned to the others, thankful that he could give them good news.
A simple medication mistake, one that in hindsight could easily have been foreseen and one that was thankfully easy to rectify. John was just thankful that EOS was so on the ball when it came to all of them, and that Brains had agreed that John needed a quick but safe way to return to Earth in an emergency.
When Scott awoke the following day he was very confused. He was certain he had fallen asleep at home on the couch, and his last recollection was of John telling him something was up. He didn't take kindly to the not knowing what the hell was going on, and he was astonished when Virgil filled him in on what had happened, apologising for not realising that it could ever had been a problem. There was reassurance all round – no one was to blame and everything was alright.