A/N: Ok, here it is.. I know this was supposed to be in the promised chapter last time… but here's our REALLY, REALLY long chappy…….. 17 pages on written paper!!! So enjoy!!!!! R&R por favor!!!!!
Chapter Nineteen
He looked at eh spot where most of the blood appeared to be located and found a small tear in her robe surrounding it. He quickly looked around for a med kit and finally found one on the other side of the bay. "Be right back. Stay there," he told her unconscious form.
He bolted across the room and grabbed the med kit, darting back to her. "Good girl," he mumbled while opening up the med kit. Once opened, he found that almost all of the contents had been removed, except for some gauze and a topical burn ointment. He took the gauze and realized the tear in her robe was too small. He set down the gauze and decided to open the robe a little more to reveal the wound.
He tore back enough to see it clearly. As soon as he was finished, he wished he hadn't. There was a deep, bloody gouge along the right side of her body, extending all the way from her armpit to her thigh. He realized that the gauze would not cover the whole wound, but wrapped what he had around her anyway. Once finished, it covered from her armpit to the top of her ribcage, leaving half of the wound uncovered.
He reached over to grab the hypospray that he'd set on the floor and wiped it off on his jumpsuit. He nearly injected her with it, but remembered a rhyme from his basic first aid class.
*Never neglect a passed out one
By giving them an injection*
'Damn. Never thought I'd remember that stupid rhyme,' he thought. Setting the hypospray, he contemplated what to do. He could inject her with the hypospray, but since he had no idea as to its contents, he could wind up causing her body to go into shock--or worse. He could choose not to wake her with the hypospray and instead use the old fashioned way. Or, of course, he could always carry her to sickbay… but with those Vulcans around the ship, he was bound to run into one of them on the way. Besides, her injuries were too severe. He would probably end up causing her further injury.
After contemplating what to do and glancing back and forth between the door, the hypospray, and T'Pol, he finally opted to do things the old fashioned way. He leaned in near her face and grabbed her shoulders gently. "Wake up!" he yelled, as loudly as he could manage while shaking her by the shoulders.
It was a welcome sight as T'Pol's eyes fluttered with the promise of oncoming consciousness.
"Come on T'Pol, wake up," he said more quietly. She didn't seem to respond to this and again nearly slipped back into unconsciousness. He shook her again, a bit more violently. "Wake up, Sub-commander!" He shouted sternly.
Her eyes again fluttered, opening slowly at long last.
Once she was slightly aware of her surroundings, she blinked, realizing that all she could see was two big blue eyes staring into hers. Startled, she let out a tiny squeak.
"Oh… sorry." he said, backing up slightly but keeping his hands on her shoulders to keep her from sitting on her own.
"Commander?" She asked, only half-conscious.
"Yeah," he told her, assuming that she was fully conscious. "What the hell were you thinking… going into that storage locker?" He decided that he could help her sit up now and assisted her by putting one hand behind her back and the other on her left arm.
She looked confused and she could barely hold her own head up as she sat. "What?" she asked.
He moved his left hand from her back to her head and wrapped his right around her more to hold her up. "Why were you in there?" he asked her, turning her head toward the storage locker, suddenly realizing that he had been wrong, and that she was not thinking clearly.
She stared at it for a moment before answering. "Hiding…" she said slowly. He waited for more. When she remained silent, he turned her head back around gently so that she was facing him again.
"From what?"
She gave him that confused look again. "What were you hiding from?" He asked again.
Once again, it took her a moment to answer. "Vul… cans," she managed at last. She was talking very slowly and softly. That made him nervous.
"Why were you hiding from the Vulcans?" He asked her.
"Vulcans… don't… snoop," she mumbled.
"What?!" he exclaimed.
"I… was… wrong," she said, breaking up her words. It was a clear sign of her nearly unconscious state. She seemed to fade more and more with each word, and her head seemed heavier with each passing second.
He shook her again. "T'Pol!" he yelled. He didn't know about Vulcans, but he'd heard of humans in similar situations who'd slipped into comas if they fell unconscious, and he wasn't going to let that happen to her.
Fortunately, she woke up slightly and lifted her head a little to look at him. He went back to holding her as he had been before, fully aware that he blood was getting all over him and that if she were fully awake, she would tell him not to hold her that way. But he could tell that she was very close to unconscious. He could also tell that he needed to get Doctor Phlox there as quickly as possible. He almost got up when he realized that leaving her here would most likely result in her return to unconsciousness, and he didn't want that to happen. So he needed to figure out how to get her to the comm panel by the door.
He opted to carry her considering that she wasn't that heavy and couldn't even hold her own head up for very long, let alone her whole body. She was still staring at him when he decided to fill her in on his plan. "T'Pol," he said gently, making sure she could hear him and understand. "I'm gonna carry ya over there." He pointed her head toward the door and her eyes lazily focused in that direction. When he was satisfied that she understood, he put his right arm under her knees and his left arm under her back. As soon as he began to lift her off the ground, her head flopped back, now seemingly about as stiff as wet pasta. Her arms also fell limp.
He knew that wasn't a good sign. He set her back on the ground again. Then he lifted her head up with one hand and lifted her back with his other. "T'Pol!" he yelled. "I need ya t' stay with me, T'Pol. Wake up. I need ya to stay awake." Her eyes, which had all but completely closed, fluttered back open. "T'Pol, do you hear me? I need ya t' stay awake 'til the Doc gets here." When she seemed to acknowledge, he continued. "Now, I need ya t' put your arms around my neck, and I'll carry you. Okay?"
"That… would… be… inappropriate…" she said after a pause.
"T'Pol, just do what I say for once, would ya." He was too frustrated by her current condition to even bother asking what she considered inappropriate. Considering her seemingly delusional state, it would be a wonder if she even knew what she was saying. Fortunately, she complied this time, albeit a bit slowly. He picked her up again, and she seemed heavier than she had been only a minute earlier.
Even with that added weight, however, she was still very light and he easily moved her without further incident. He set her down gently against the wall.
Once he was confident that she wouldn't fall over onto her side while he was calling the Doctor, he stood and pushed the intercom button on the panel next to the door. "Tucker to Doctor Phlox." As he waited a moment, he glanced down at T'Pol.
"Phlox here, Commander."
"I'm in hydroponics, and you'd better get down here with a medkit, Doc." He looked back down at T'Pol again, relieved to see that her eyes were still open and she hadn't slumped over yet.
"May I ask what the emergency is?" Phlox's voice came through the speaker.
He didn't know quite what to tell the Doctor. He didn't know exactly what had happened. He figured that saying only what he knew for sure was probably best. "It's T'Pol, Doc. She's got a giant gash in 'er side an' she keeps fadin' in an' out of consciousness. I'd take 'er t' sickbay, but I don't wanna move 'er in case it isn't safe."
"You're right, Commander. I'll be there as soon as possible. Phlox out."
With that, his focus went back to T'Pol. She was beginning to fade again. He grabbed her head by putting one hand under her chin and turned her toward him again. "T'Pol!" he yelled. She opened her eyes slightly. Knowing he'd at least gotten her attention, he began speaking at a more gentle volume. "Stay awake." He had to keep her occupied somehow. "You have to answer a few questions for me." This seemed to work, as it resulted in more of her attention towards him. He had to think of something for her to answer… and fast. "Okay, T'Pol. Tell me…. What's… two plus two?"
She gave him that 'what kind of a question is that' look. Or at least, as close as she could come to it while being half-unconscious. But even with the look, he wasn't too sure that she could answer it correctly, considering the way she'd answered him just five minutes earlier. To his surprise, she mumbled after a long silence, "Four."
"Good!" He was genuinely proud that she could answer it correctly considering. "Now, let's try something harder… how 'bout… five times five."
"Twenty-five," she answered, almost inaudibly.
"What was that?" he asked, coaxing her to speak more loudly. He could hear her, of course, but he knew that she had to be more alert in order to speak louder, and he needed her more alert.
"What?" she asked, not any louder.
"What did you say? I couldn't hear you," he lied, hoping she would understand.
"Twenty… five," she answered him again. She had been louder, but also slower.
"Alright," he said quickly, not wanting to lose her attention. "Try this… what's the square root of…" he paused to think of a slightly harder number. "…of one hundred and twenty one?"
He expected her to answer him fairly quickly, as she had for the last two questions, but instead he just got a blank stare… to his immense disappointment.
"Think, T'Pol," he encouraged.
She continued to stare further. He looked directly into her eyes, hoping to see if he even had her attention anymore. It was obvious that he didn't. She was staring at a console on the other side of the room. "Vulcans… don't… snoop…"
"What are you talking about, T'Pol?"
"Vulcans… don't…" she began again.
"T'Pol? T'Pol?" It seemed he'd lost her attention completely this time. He needed to get it back. The Doctor was still several minutes away, and she was quickly fading. Her skin was very pale, she couldn't even hold her own head up anymore, and she didn't seem to understand what was going on around her. He was no doctor, but he knew that all three of those things were bad signs.
He had to think quickly. He needed to figure out how to get back the sub-commander's attention before it was too late and she slipped into a coma. And before she dies. 'No! Can't think about that,' he scolded himself. He figured doing what he'd been doing was probably best. He grabbed her shoulder with one hand, while still keeping his other hand under her chin--holding her head up.
He shook her shoulder. Her eyes, which were only slits, began to flutter slightly, but stopped moments later. HE kept shaking her. "T'Pol!" He yelled. Once again, her eyes only fluttered. "T'Pol! T'Pol, listen to me. Open your eyes, T'Pol!" Still only slight fluttering resulted. 'Well, I guess that particular old fashioned way isn't going to work,' he thought to himself. 'An' she wouldn't like it if I tried the other old fashioned way.' He laughed a little at this last thought, almost surprising himself. Then, he was usually the one who tried to stay optimistic even in the worst possible scenarios. Still, he was surprised that he had allowed himself to ignore her for a moment to make a humorous retort, albeit to himself.
He focused again on her. He glanced down at the gauze covering her wound. It was completely soaked with blood, as was the surrounding area. It was immediately clear why she was in such bad shape. She was losing blood fast. As he was looking at her wound, he realized something. He could no longer hear her breathing! He leaned his ear next to her face, but still nothing. She wasn't breathing. After checking for a pulse, he realized that her heart wasn't beating either. "Damn!" he yelled to no one in particular.
He couldn't believe he'd let this happen. T'Pol was clinically dead.
YAY!!!! i finally finished THIS CHAPPY... (story still has WAY more than half to go) AND i left you guys hanging..... double-wammy
Chapter Nineteen
He looked at eh spot where most of the blood appeared to be located and found a small tear in her robe surrounding it. He quickly looked around for a med kit and finally found one on the other side of the bay. "Be right back. Stay there," he told her unconscious form.
He bolted across the room and grabbed the med kit, darting back to her. "Good girl," he mumbled while opening up the med kit. Once opened, he found that almost all of the contents had been removed, except for some gauze and a topical burn ointment. He took the gauze and realized the tear in her robe was too small. He set down the gauze and decided to open the robe a little more to reveal the wound.
He tore back enough to see it clearly. As soon as he was finished, he wished he hadn't. There was a deep, bloody gouge along the right side of her body, extending all the way from her armpit to her thigh. He realized that the gauze would not cover the whole wound, but wrapped what he had around her anyway. Once finished, it covered from her armpit to the top of her ribcage, leaving half of the wound uncovered.
He reached over to grab the hypospray that he'd set on the floor and wiped it off on his jumpsuit. He nearly injected her with it, but remembered a rhyme from his basic first aid class.
*Never neglect a passed out one
By giving them an injection*
'Damn. Never thought I'd remember that stupid rhyme,' he thought. Setting the hypospray, he contemplated what to do. He could inject her with the hypospray, but since he had no idea as to its contents, he could wind up causing her body to go into shock--or worse. He could choose not to wake her with the hypospray and instead use the old fashioned way. Or, of course, he could always carry her to sickbay… but with those Vulcans around the ship, he was bound to run into one of them on the way. Besides, her injuries were too severe. He would probably end up causing her further injury.
After contemplating what to do and glancing back and forth between the door, the hypospray, and T'Pol, he finally opted to do things the old fashioned way. He leaned in near her face and grabbed her shoulders gently. "Wake up!" he yelled, as loudly as he could manage while shaking her by the shoulders.
It was a welcome sight as T'Pol's eyes fluttered with the promise of oncoming consciousness.
"Come on T'Pol, wake up," he said more quietly. She didn't seem to respond to this and again nearly slipped back into unconsciousness. He shook her again, a bit more violently. "Wake up, Sub-commander!" He shouted sternly.
Her eyes again fluttered, opening slowly at long last.
Once she was slightly aware of her surroundings, she blinked, realizing that all she could see was two big blue eyes staring into hers. Startled, she let out a tiny squeak.
"Oh… sorry." he said, backing up slightly but keeping his hands on her shoulders to keep her from sitting on her own.
"Commander?" She asked, only half-conscious.
"Yeah," he told her, assuming that she was fully conscious. "What the hell were you thinking… going into that storage locker?" He decided that he could help her sit up now and assisted her by putting one hand behind her back and the other on her left arm.
She looked confused and she could barely hold her own head up as she sat. "What?" she asked.
He moved his left hand from her back to her head and wrapped his right around her more to hold her up. "Why were you in there?" he asked her, turning her head toward the storage locker, suddenly realizing that he had been wrong, and that she was not thinking clearly.
She stared at it for a moment before answering. "Hiding…" she said slowly. He waited for more. When she remained silent, he turned her head back around gently so that she was facing him again.
"From what?"
She gave him that confused look again. "What were you hiding from?" He asked again.
Once again, it took her a moment to answer. "Vul… cans," she managed at last. She was talking very slowly and softly. That made him nervous.
"Why were you hiding from the Vulcans?" He asked her.
"Vulcans… don't… snoop," she mumbled.
"What?!" he exclaimed.
"I… was… wrong," she said, breaking up her words. It was a clear sign of her nearly unconscious state. She seemed to fade more and more with each word, and her head seemed heavier with each passing second.
He shook her again. "T'Pol!" he yelled. He didn't know about Vulcans, but he'd heard of humans in similar situations who'd slipped into comas if they fell unconscious, and he wasn't going to let that happen to her.
Fortunately, she woke up slightly and lifted her head a little to look at him. He went back to holding her as he had been before, fully aware that he blood was getting all over him and that if she were fully awake, she would tell him not to hold her that way. But he could tell that she was very close to unconscious. He could also tell that he needed to get Doctor Phlox there as quickly as possible. He almost got up when he realized that leaving her here would most likely result in her return to unconsciousness, and he didn't want that to happen. So he needed to figure out how to get her to the comm panel by the door.
He opted to carry her considering that she wasn't that heavy and couldn't even hold her own head up for very long, let alone her whole body. She was still staring at him when he decided to fill her in on his plan. "T'Pol," he said gently, making sure she could hear him and understand. "I'm gonna carry ya over there." He pointed her head toward the door and her eyes lazily focused in that direction. When he was satisfied that she understood, he put his right arm under her knees and his left arm under her back. As soon as he began to lift her off the ground, her head flopped back, now seemingly about as stiff as wet pasta. Her arms also fell limp.
He knew that wasn't a good sign. He set her back on the ground again. Then he lifted her head up with one hand and lifted her back with his other. "T'Pol!" he yelled. "I need ya t' stay with me, T'Pol. Wake up. I need ya to stay awake." Her eyes, which had all but completely closed, fluttered back open. "T'Pol, do you hear me? I need ya t' stay awake 'til the Doc gets here." When she seemed to acknowledge, he continued. "Now, I need ya t' put your arms around my neck, and I'll carry you. Okay?"
"That… would… be… inappropriate…" she said after a pause.
"T'Pol, just do what I say for once, would ya." He was too frustrated by her current condition to even bother asking what she considered inappropriate. Considering her seemingly delusional state, it would be a wonder if she even knew what she was saying. Fortunately, she complied this time, albeit a bit slowly. He picked her up again, and she seemed heavier than she had been only a minute earlier.
Even with that added weight, however, she was still very light and he easily moved her without further incident. He set her down gently against the wall.
Once he was confident that she wouldn't fall over onto her side while he was calling the Doctor, he stood and pushed the intercom button on the panel next to the door. "Tucker to Doctor Phlox." As he waited a moment, he glanced down at T'Pol.
"Phlox here, Commander."
"I'm in hydroponics, and you'd better get down here with a medkit, Doc." He looked back down at T'Pol again, relieved to see that her eyes were still open and she hadn't slumped over yet.
"May I ask what the emergency is?" Phlox's voice came through the speaker.
He didn't know quite what to tell the Doctor. He didn't know exactly what had happened. He figured that saying only what he knew for sure was probably best. "It's T'Pol, Doc. She's got a giant gash in 'er side an' she keeps fadin' in an' out of consciousness. I'd take 'er t' sickbay, but I don't wanna move 'er in case it isn't safe."
"You're right, Commander. I'll be there as soon as possible. Phlox out."
With that, his focus went back to T'Pol. She was beginning to fade again. He grabbed her head by putting one hand under her chin and turned her toward him again. "T'Pol!" he yelled. She opened her eyes slightly. Knowing he'd at least gotten her attention, he began speaking at a more gentle volume. "Stay awake." He had to keep her occupied somehow. "You have to answer a few questions for me." This seemed to work, as it resulted in more of her attention towards him. He had to think of something for her to answer… and fast. "Okay, T'Pol. Tell me…. What's… two plus two?"
She gave him that 'what kind of a question is that' look. Or at least, as close as she could come to it while being half-unconscious. But even with the look, he wasn't too sure that she could answer it correctly, considering the way she'd answered him just five minutes earlier. To his surprise, she mumbled after a long silence, "Four."
"Good!" He was genuinely proud that she could answer it correctly considering. "Now, let's try something harder… how 'bout… five times five."
"Twenty-five," she answered, almost inaudibly.
"What was that?" he asked, coaxing her to speak more loudly. He could hear her, of course, but he knew that she had to be more alert in order to speak louder, and he needed her more alert.
"What?" she asked, not any louder.
"What did you say? I couldn't hear you," he lied, hoping she would understand.
"Twenty… five," she answered him again. She had been louder, but also slower.
"Alright," he said quickly, not wanting to lose her attention. "Try this… what's the square root of…" he paused to think of a slightly harder number. "…of one hundred and twenty one?"
He expected her to answer him fairly quickly, as she had for the last two questions, but instead he just got a blank stare… to his immense disappointment.
"Think, T'Pol," he encouraged.
She continued to stare further. He looked directly into her eyes, hoping to see if he even had her attention anymore. It was obvious that he didn't. She was staring at a console on the other side of the room. "Vulcans… don't… snoop…"
"What are you talking about, T'Pol?"
"Vulcans… don't…" she began again.
"T'Pol? T'Pol?" It seemed he'd lost her attention completely this time. He needed to get it back. The Doctor was still several minutes away, and she was quickly fading. Her skin was very pale, she couldn't even hold her own head up anymore, and she didn't seem to understand what was going on around her. He was no doctor, but he knew that all three of those things were bad signs.
He had to think quickly. He needed to figure out how to get back the sub-commander's attention before it was too late and she slipped into a coma. And before she dies. 'No! Can't think about that,' he scolded himself. He figured doing what he'd been doing was probably best. He grabbed her shoulder with one hand, while still keeping his other hand under her chin--holding her head up.
He shook her shoulder. Her eyes, which were only slits, began to flutter slightly, but stopped moments later. HE kept shaking her. "T'Pol!" He yelled. Once again, her eyes only fluttered. "T'Pol! T'Pol, listen to me. Open your eyes, T'Pol!" Still only slight fluttering resulted. 'Well, I guess that particular old fashioned way isn't going to work,' he thought to himself. 'An' she wouldn't like it if I tried the other old fashioned way.' He laughed a little at this last thought, almost surprising himself. Then, he was usually the one who tried to stay optimistic even in the worst possible scenarios. Still, he was surprised that he had allowed himself to ignore her for a moment to make a humorous retort, albeit to himself.
He focused again on her. He glanced down at the gauze covering her wound. It was completely soaked with blood, as was the surrounding area. It was immediately clear why she was in such bad shape. She was losing blood fast. As he was looking at her wound, he realized something. He could no longer hear her breathing! He leaned his ear next to her face, but still nothing. She wasn't breathing. After checking for a pulse, he realized that her heart wasn't beating either. "Damn!" he yelled to no one in particular.
He couldn't believe he'd let this happen. T'Pol was clinically dead.
YAY!!!! i finally finished THIS CHAPPY... (story still has WAY more than half to go) AND i left you guys hanging..... double-wammy