Eureka Fanfic
Hurt/Comfort Rated K
I do not own Eureka or any of it's characters.
Enjoy!(:
A crisp shiver went from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet as a warm spot of sun coming through the window sat upon his head that chilly morning. Fargo smiled as he slowly opened his eyes. He raised his hand up to block the suns glare. He looked at the sparkling ray on his fingers as he played with it feeling the warmth and admiring this pacific northwest rarity.
Fargo put his feet on the ground as he ran a hand through his hair and took a content sigh. He excitedly awaited the day as it was sure to be a fun one. He was the test pilot for a new defense drone he'd created with Zane over the last month. He and Zane fought over the task for a while until Fargo gave up his G.D. parking spot. General Mansfield and several representatives of financial donors were coming to observe causing a bit of a more than normal nervous Fargo. But the excitement overruled the nervousness and he was confident in his piloting abilities.
Fargo locked his door as he left the house making his way towards the testing site. The drive was short as the landing was just behind Global Dynamics. Fargo parked next to the other cars as he shut the car door. He walked over to the site where Zane, Allison and Henry were with some other personnel.
"Hey Zane, ready to start setting up?", said Fargo as he walked up with his tablet and briefcase.
"I'm pretty much done actually. I was stressed about the demonstration and couldn't sleep so I got here pretty early.", said Zane with a small chuckle.
"Zane relax, it's gonna go great. We've practiced this a thousand times and went over the schematics far more than needed. It'll be fine.", said Fargo.
Zane nodded. "You're right, lets start inputting the flight plan into the navigational system.".
After an hour of last minute preparation people began to arrive.
"Good morning sheriff, Jo.", said Fargo politely as they approached him and Zane.
"Morning. Big turnout, looks like a lot of people are interested to see this thing work.", said Jack.
"Well we're not gonna disappoint. It should be a pretty good show.", said Zane with a smile.
"Well good luck, oh and watch for birds.", Jo said jokingly.
Fargo climbed in the tight black seat of the thin aircraft. It was shaped aerodynamicaly in a thin sleek form.
As Allison began the introduction to the people, Zane handed Fargo the helmet.
"This is it, make us look good up there.", said Zane with a slight grin.
"Will do.", said Fargo as he slipped on the helmet and began powering up the drone.
The overhead shield slid over his head and closed with a hiss. Slowly Fargo lifted off and began gliding through the air. He began the demostration with standard military manuvers and showing the defense abilty with small planted targets in the form of much smaller target drones.
"Wow this is going great! Nice work Zane. General Mansfield and the others look impressed.", said Henry.
"Yeah, I expected you to be the pilot though. Did you lose a bet or something?", said Jack with a chuckle.
"No but I got something better, a parking spot.", replied Zane with a smirk. "And it looks like Fargos doing pretty--", the rest of Zanes thought was interrupted as he looked at his laptop confused.
The others looked at each other curious.
"What?", said Jo.
"Something's off with these propulsion readouts. The fuel we're using is a mixture of pure RP-1 and liquid oxygen. But the ratio is slowly changing and theres to much petroleum intake being fed to the engines.", said Zane as he was beginning to panic.
"Uh Zane I think we have a problem here.", said Fargo through his radio.
"What?", said Zane worried.
"My fuel level is down to 2.13 gallons and I'm still above the lake.", replied Fargo.
"It looks like theres a leak in the fuel tank. You're venting liquid oxygen. If theres pure petroleum in that tank it could explode. You need to find a place to land like now.", said Zane as the others overheard with anxiousness.
"I'm going as fast as she'll let me but theres barely any fuel left.", Fargo replied as he zoomed through the air headed for the shore.
"I'm almost there but I'm at 0.21 gallons!", said a panicked Fargo as he removed his helmet.
"FARGO EJECT! DO YOU HERE ME EJECT!", shouted Zane through the radio.
"THERES NO TIME! I'M NOT GONNA MA--", Fargo started to say as he felt an incredible heat engulf him and the darkness quickly close in.
Everyone watched in slow motion as the drone fell towards the water surrounded by a ball of fire and shrapnel. It hit the surface with a large impact as the heavy craft began to sink.
Zane started running towards the water as his ears still rang from the explosion. Without a thought he lept into the freezing lake. After swimming hard for three minutes he wasn't very far from where it landed he thought as he looked through the dark water. He came up for another breath of air as he went back down continuing to look for the craft.
Suddenly he saw a glisten of metal floating down towards the bottomless depths. With another fresh breath of air Zane went strainght for it. He tried hard to ignore his fear as he reached the drone. He looked through the glass of the shield to see Fargo submerged in the now crimson colored water that had evidently made its way into the craft. His helmet was gone and his flight suit was torn up. Zane took out his swiss army knife as he shattered the glass. He quickly reached in and cut the seat straps and grabbed Fargo by the shirt pulling him out of the drone. He pulled Fargo towards the far away surface that was scattered with flaming bits of shrapnel. A trail of blood followed them as Fargo seemed to be getting heavier and heavier and Zanes lungs began to burn.
As Zane broke through the surface he pushed Fargo up with him. He saw the others that waited panicked on the shore and hoped the ambulance was close. He swam hard as he tried not to look at his friend who wasn't breathing. Finally he reached the shore as he pulled Fargo onto dry land. The others were running towards them though they were on the other side of the lake.
Zane quickly checked Fargos pulse and began CPR. Fargo was paler than the white overcast sky above them. The water made it hard to pinpoint where all the blood was coming from and his navy blue flight suit was now a ripped up bergundy. Zane continued chest compressions as Fargo was yet to move or breathe.
"COME ON!!! COME ON FARGO!", yelled Zane with panic as he did two breaths.
It wasn't working. Fargo was fading and Zane didn't know what to do. He couldn't get over how cold he was. So cold, and white as a sheet with a slight tint of blue. He layed there lifelessly, his wet hair sat scross his forehead, his whole body bloodied and burned.
Zane continued CPR as the others approached in a run.
Jack, Allison, Jo, and Henry stood by speechless as they watched Zane pushing on Fargos chest. His hands shook from the cold and the shock. The ambulances sirens grew louder as it pulled up to the group. Zane stopped compressions as he sat back letting the paramedics in. He ran a shaky hand through his wet hair.
"Hes not breathing. No pulse. Second and third degree burns. He's in respiratory arrest.", said one of the paramedics as the others placed a breathing tube in Fargos mouth.
"There's to much water in his endotracheal tube. Compensate.", one of them ordered.
Everyone held their breaths waiting for Fargo to inhale. Suddenly his chest rose barely.
"Ok he's breathing! Secure a peripheral venous line. His body temperature is dangerously low and is showing signs of hypothermia. He has a severe laceration on his femer and his left arm is fractured pretty bad. It looks like he has some broken ribs on his left side. We need to get to the infirmary immediately to avoid a pneumothorax!", continued the paramedic.
Zane watched everyone move in a haze as the shock of everything disoriented him. Suddenly a hand appeared in front of his face. Jack stretched out his arm to give a somewhat out of it Zane a hand.
It was cold. Not just a chilly Oregon day cold but the kind of cold that reaches inside of you and makes your organs shiver.
Any recollection of what was going on escaped him, though he didn't care much about that at the moment. He was more concerned with the boa constrictor wrapper around his lungs. He felt restrained, yet weightless. Like he was tied down as he was floating.
As Fargo felt a deep sleep beckoning he felt freed from whatever restrained him and was being pulled upward. He felt someones presence as he could feel himself fading.
The first thing he noticed was the pain. Mostly on the left side and his chest felt like it had been strangled and burned. He tried using his senses to determine where he was as he slowly crawled back into conciousness. Underneath his fingers he felt smooth sheets. Cracking open his eyes he saw a familiar room and some blurred figures. He heard them trying to say something but he couldn't make it out. It was just a hazy picture of people moving around in a gray-ish room.
"Mr. Fargo can you hear me?", said one of the less familiar voices.
A bright light in front of his eye appeared as Fargo pulled away out of reflex.
"Mr. Fargo?", the person said a little louder this time.
Fargo blinked several times shaking his head a bit as everything began to become clearer.
"Ah. Good to see you awake Mr. Fargo. I'm Doctor Lawson.
"Nice to meet you Doctor.", Fargo replied hoursely and politely.
"I'm going to ask you a few questions just to make sure you're alright okay. Can you feel this?", asked the doctor as he thumped Fargos foot.
Fargo nodded in response.
"Good! Now on a scale from one to ten how well can you here my voice?", asked Doctor Lawson.
"3 or 4.", responded Fargo as he shifted nervously.
"Okay that's normal because of your close proximity to the explosion. Your hearing will return over this week. Now im going to check some of your injuries to make sure there are no complications or permanent damage. While I do that I want you to try and tell me what you remember.", said the doctor a little louder as he examined the bandaged laceration on Fargos left leg.
"I-I remember the demonstration...there was an explosion right? The drone...", Fargo began as he struggled to recall the details.
"Well yes. The drone you were flying seemed to have some malfunctions and the fuel tank combusted. You then landed in freezing water and nearly drowned. For now I'll give you a simplified version of your injuries and the events and fill you in on the details later once you've had a bit more rest. The explosion gave you second and third degree burns up and down your face and chest. The temperature of the water lowered your body temperature to an extreme low resulting in severe hypothermia. Being submerged in the water as long as you were gave your lungs quite the beating. You stopped breathing which caused you to go into respiratory arrest which then led to a pneumothorax. Now we've warmed you up to a safe temperature, your lungs were operated on and are healing, the burns have to heal as well and we do not believe there will be any permanent scarring. The rest of your less life threatening injuries like your broken ribs, fractured left arm, leg laceration and such have all been mended and will just need a lot of time and rest. It's been quite a day so I want you to get some rest okay?", said the doctor slowly.
Fargo nodded showing he understood. He felt a little overwhelmed but mostly exhausted.
"There are some people who would like to see you, do you think your up to it?", asked the doctor.
Fargo thought about it for a minute. He wanted to see his friends but he didn't know if he could keep his eyes open. But he decided he would try his best.
"Um...yeah that's fine. Thank you Doctor Lawson.", replied Fargo tiredly.
"Okay I'll send them in. Try to keep it short though, you've got a lot of healing to do. If you need anything just ask a nurse or press this button okay?", said the doctor as Fargo nodded and the doctor went to get the people waiting.
While doctor lawson had been talking Fargo looked at himself. It was an umcomfortable feeling seeing all the tubes, wires, bandages and monitors. He was a little afraid how his friends would react to it. Though he figured they'd seen him when he wasn't bandaged up or breathing so this was probably less shocking.
Fargo felt warmth as Zane, Jack, Allison, Jo and Henry arrived at the foot of his bed.
"Hi guys!", said Fargo scratchy with a kind smile as they all looked at him.
Jack starting saying something that Fargo couldn't make out very well.
"What? I can't hear that well.", said Fargo gesturing to his ear.
"Oh sorry. How are you feeling?", said Jack a little louder than he needed to be.
Fargo chuckled a little at that. "I'm feeling better thanks.".
"Well that's good to hear. We were worried about you.", said Allison with a bit of a crack in het voice.
"We thought we lost you for a minute there. A long minute.", said Jo with a shudder as she thought back to the image of his lifeless body on the shore.
"Well you didn't, I'm fine. Really.", Fargo said as he put his hand on Jo's to reassure her. She smiled and subtly wiped a tear.
"So Zane what went wrong with the fuel ratio?", asked Fargo.
"Well it looks like the- uh...well to much petroleum was being fed to the propulsion system opposed to liquid oxygen. Then it was being vented and...kaboom.", said Zane who was looking a little pale all the sudden.
"Oh. Well I guess any malfunction could have caused that. We can look into it further in the lab, run some simulations.", said Fargo quite hoursely as his eyelids were cleary growing heavy.
"Yeah. Good idea.", said Zane quietly.
"Get some rest Fargo. We're glad you're okay.", said Henry as patted his leg and the concerned group of friends left.
One person stayed though. Fargo didn't see who it was before his eyes completely closed pulling him back into the sleep he desperately needed.
Zane pulled up a chair as he sat forward with his hands folded. He sighed as he looked at Fargo. Fargo and him hadn't exactly started out as best friends. In fact they kind of hated each other. But after a while they began to work more together. They had more in common then they'd realized and started to become strangely good friends. And though he might not admit it, he pretty much considered Fargo his best friend. The thought of that made him chuckle. Their friendship was not one he would have predicted. But he was definately grateful for it. Zane looked at Fargo with worry now.
A tube to help his lungs stuck out of his chest. There bandages everywhere. Nasogastric tubes in his nose made him look like he was dying and there were so many wires and IV's you couldn't tell what went where. The days earlier events raced around Zanes mind. The explosion. Jumping into the lake. Breaking the glass. Pulling Fargo to the surface. No pulse. Not breathing. Fargos pale face, blue lips, blood mixed with water.
Zane didn't realize his heart was racing as he was brought back to reality. He took a deep breath as he tried to put it out of his mind. He relaxed in the uncomfortable chair as he let his eyelids fall. With a yawn Zane took one last look up at his friend. He knew Fargo was okay now. And so was he.
Zane opened his eyes to find a dim infirmary with only a couple nurses. He looked at his watch which read 2:13 am. He wiped his eyes as he scanned the room. He was surprised to see Doctor Lawson sitting at the desk in the middle of the infirmary. The doctor checked his watch as he stood up and walked towards the bed.
"Doctor?", said Zane in whisper.
"Mr. Donovan. I'm just checking on our patient here. It looks like his blood pressure is rather high. It's most likely because of the pain, I can increase his medication. You know you can use that bed right there if you want.", said the doctor.
Zane nodded. "Thanks, I think I'll stay here though.".
"You're a good friend. Don't worry, he's gonna be just fine.", said Doctor Lawson.
"I hope so. He went so long without breathing.", said Zane.
"Well if weren't for you jumping in the lake when you did and continuing cpr as long as you did he probably wouldn't have made it.", replied the doctor.
Zane nodded and half shrugged.
"It's true. You saved his life. I know how hard it can be to see something like that happen. Especially when you know the person. Yes he stopped breathing. But he's breathing now. And recovering well. Try to get some rest.", said the doctor still whispering.
Zane nodded in response. "You're right. Thanks. You know you've been up since Fargo was brought in, shouldn't you be getting some sleep to Doctor Lawson?", said Zane with a smile.
The man chuckled. "You're right. I'm actually headed home right now. Nurse Predeep will be here to monitor his vitals and call in case anything happens.".
"Oh ok, well have a good night doctor.", replied Zane with a smile.
The man left with a wave and Zane once again shut his eyes.
Fargo woke to someone shaking him lightly and saying his name.
"Oh hi Doctor Lawson.", said Fargo wanting desperately to go back to sleep.
"Good morning Mr. Fargo. I'm sorry I had to wake you but I wanted to check on you before my next appointment. How are you feeling?", asked the doctor.
"Oh I feel alright I guess. My ribs are killing me though and my throat hurts when I talk. But I think my hearing is slowly getting better.", replied Fargo.
"You're ribs will hurt for quite awhile and unfortunately I'm already giving you the maximum amount of pain medication that's safe. Though rest will help a lot. For your throat I would suggest less talking, ice chips and tea.", replied the man.
Fargo nodded with understanding as the doctor went on to inform him about a couple of things.
Later that day Zane walked into the infirmary passing the doctor who was on his way out. He went towards Fargo who was surprisingly awake but obviously not for long.
"Hey.", said Zane as he approached.
"Hey, how's it goin?", said Fargo in a still raspy voice.
"It's going okay I guess. How about you?", asked Zane trying not to sound worried.
"Better. Thanks. ...You know I didn't really get a chance to say thanks. I mean you saved my life! I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you.", said Fargo with a grateful smile.
"Just keep being a good friend and we'll call it even. Oh and if you think that just because the flight didn't go as planned that you get to keep your parking spot you are dead wrong.", said Zane with a chuckle.
"Are you kidding? I almost died!", said Fargo laughing.
"Yeah and like you said I saved your life so I think I'm keeping the spot.", replied Zane as the two of them continued to chuckle.
Zane stayed all day talking to Fargo and never missed a day visiting him until he got out of the infirmary two weeks later.
Because of that day their friendship would now be one that both Fargo and Zane would be very grateful for. And Zane knew if it were the other way around, Fargo would have saved his life in a heartbeat.
Unlikely friendships are sometimes the strongest ones.