"Tested Hearts", chapter 9
GW HOSPITAL X-RAY CENTER
Dr. Masters followed the gurney that held Mattie's unconscious form down the long hallway that led to the hospital's X-ray suite, studying his PMC as it continued to receive vitals and other telemetry from Mattie's monitors. Her BP had started to rise back to near normal levels after suddenly dipping earlier in the ER, and her breathing was evening out, even with the continued fluid buildup in her lungs. The fever was still very much in evidence, however, and he knew that it was becoming more and more crucial to find out what was causing the infection so that she could be properly treated. Her overall vitals, except for her temp, seemed to be inching back to normal levels, and he suspected that the brief time spent around her family upstairs was a contributing factor. Dr. Masters strongly believed in the participation of a patient's family in recuperating; even unconscious patients like Mattie could sense and draw strength from loved ones around them. He was glad that Dr. Gentry had held Mattie's gurney for a couple of minutes in order to let her foster father and friends be with her...he was sure that it had helped them as much as it had seemed to help Mattie.
As they wheeled her into the lab area and began prepping her for chest X- rays, he hoped that it would be enough to get this obviously much-loved teenage girl past this illness.
GW HOSPITAL ER LOUNGE
'I hate hospitals,' Harm thought to himself as he sat with Mac on the couch in the lounge, waiting for Mattie's X-rays to be finished. This was too much of a reminder of when he and Mac had sat outside the sickbay on the Seahawk, waiting to hear news on Lt. Bud Roberts, after he suffered the landmine accident that eventually would take part of his leg. Then, as now, Mac sat next to him with her head on his shoulder. He'd tried to get her to stretch out on the couch, but she wouldn't budge. Normally he would chalk it up to her Marine pig-headedness...but he knew that Mac was in full 'mother' mode, and would not rest until she could be with Mattie again. Harm couldn't close his eyes, either—his worry over Mattie, and the fact that she still hadn't regained consciousness, filled him with dread. Still, there was no reason why anyone else should have to wait around. Harm knew that the Admiral could use Jen's help in the office, especially with his two top lawyers here at the hospital. He looked around the room, glancing at Jen as she held a cup of coffee in her hands, sitting at one of the round tables in the lounge. The Admiral had taken up a position by one of the windows in the room, looking out at the surrounding grounds of the hospital. Harm cleared his throat, and everyone turned to look at him. Mac raised her head from his shoulder, a questioning look in her eyes.
"Sir, Jen ... if you want to go into the office, that's OK by me. There's no need for all of us to be here right now. Mac and I can call when we hear anything." The Admiral studied Harm's face as Jen glared at Harm, obviously not wanting to leave. She stood as the Admiral moved away from the window to walk over to the couch where Harm and Mac sat, his grey/brown eyes never leaving Harm's face.
"I would prefer to stay, Harm ... and Commander Turner is an able replacement in my stead, but there is a lot going on at the office..."
"It's fine, sir," Mac answered him with a smile. "We can keep you informed of any changes. Maybe you can also run Jen by her place first to change and get ready for work---"
"I can't leave, sirs...ma'am." Jen blurted out.
The Admiral turned at her outburst, fixing her with his stare. Jen faltered under the intensity of his look, and added, "I mean...I don't think I'd be any good at the office, Admiral, and I feel like I need to be here when Mattie wakes. I would like to stay, with your permission, sir." She straightened as she finished speaking, coming to semi-attention in front of her CO.
"Petty Officer," the Admiral answered after a moment, studying her face, "you're obviously exhausted from everything that's happened, and I agree that your focus would not be on work today; as it would be hard for anyone to concentrate on work right now. I do think, however, that you should go home and try to get some rest while I go into the office. You can come back here later and spell Harm or Mac, in case nothing changes anytime soon. I don't want you collapsing from exhaustion on us, and, anyway---don't you have a class tonight?"
"The Admiral's right, Jen. Why don't you go on home, take a nap and eat something. You can come back by before class, and bring your books here to study beforehand. Harm and I can trade shifts until we hear from Mattie's doctors, or until everyone else gets here after work," Mac added with a smile at the young woman. Jen looked at the senior officers, and sighed, sensing she wasn't going to be allowed to stay no matter what she said. And she had completely forgotten about her class, an important one in her psych degree course. School would be a mess if she missed it. She pursed her lips, and haltingly answered Mac.
"I do need to try to make that class...but what if she wakes up and I'm not here?" Jen asked in a plaintive voice, looking down at the floor. Harm got up from the couch and went to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close in a big hug. Jen's eyes closed and she sighed, unconsciously snuggling against Harm as she looped her arms around his back. After a minute, Harm started talking softly to her.
"I know you don't want to leave Mattie, Jen, but we don't know how long we'll be here with her. One of us, at least, should be rested for her sake."
"I promised her I would be here when she woke up, Harm." Jen murmured, her face turned into his shoulder.
"You ARE here, Jen—in here." He lifted her hand and placed it on his chest. "That's where you are for Mattie, too. Go and get some rest, and come back later. Anyway...how many days off do you get from the office?" She chuckled at his attempt at a joke and shook her head, lifting her head from his shoulder and fondly looking up at him, not trusting her voice to speak. She was amazed that Harm had come to know her so well, seeing the love and care in his eyes as he met her gaze.
"Come on, Petty Officer...I'll drop you off, and you can get a cab back later. I'm not letting you drive home by yourself," the Admiral spoke up in his command voice.
"Aye, sir." She stood there for a moment, glancing away from Harm, then back up to his face. She started to speak again, but he interrupted her.
"I'll tell her, Jen...if she wakes up before you get back. I'll tell her." Jen looked at him in surprise, and asked, "How did you--?"
"What--I don't know my own girls?" She laughed again, slowly pulling away from him, and moved over to the table to retrieve her purse. Picking it up and adjusting the strap on her shoulder, she walked to the door where the Admiral was waiting. He watched her approach, waiting for her to join him, then turned to look back at Harm and Mac.
"Take care, you two, and call if you need anything or if anything changes—that's an order!"
"Aye, sir—thank you, sir.", they chorused.
He nodded, then pushed open the door and strode out of the lounge, Jen following behind. She gave them a last look before the door closed behind her.
Harm sighed, and then rejoined Mac on the couch. "I keep forgetting how close Jen and Mattie have become. They're sisters in every important sense. I didn't think she'd go so easily." He paused, taking a deep breath as Mac answered. "Yeah, I was surprised, too. But you saw her, Harm – she's exhausted from lack of sleep and worry. Best she try to get some rest now, and thank you for watching out for her. You know, I think of Jen and see either a younger sister or daughter, depending on how crazy she's driven me at that particular moment." Harm laughed, and moved away from Mac to stand and head over towards the coffee urns on the counter. "Want some more coffee, Marine?", he asked her.
"No, thanks, squid. I could use your shoulder again for a while, if you don't mind?" He glanced over his shoulder at her, looking uncertain and worried on the couch, and nodded. "Be right back, Mac. Just gotta stoke up on some java before I turn into Rip Van Winkle." He finished making his cup, and came back to the couch, sitting next to Mac, who nestled herself against him again, leaning her head on his shoulder, and sighed in relief. She was careful not to jostle him as he slowly sipped his coffee, the fragrance of the beans and the warmth of his body absorbing some of the overriding worry that filled her over Mattie.
Harm settled closer to her, reaching a long arm around her shoulders and pulling her against him. The two worried parents then sat back to wait for any news.
GW HOSPITAL X-RAY SUITE
Mattie eyes slowly opened, no more than a narrow crack between her lids, her weary body somehow diverting enough strength for this one effort. She found after a moment that she wasn't in the cemetery by her mother's grave anymore. She lay on her back, enjoying the coolness underneath her as a welcome escape from the heat at the gravesite. She felt as if she were inside some cocoon, shapes and sensations melding into each other around her. The space above her was a bland color, with a diffused light spread evenly in all directions. She felt relaxed and exhausted at the same time, a strange combination of feelings and sensations that she thought about only briefly before drifting back into unconsciousness.
The X-ray machine hummed as Dr. Masters watched Mattie's form on the examination table. The nylon padded restraints on her head, arms, and legs were there as a precaution against her waking suddenly and moving while the X-rays were being taken. While the machine wasn't as sensitive to movement as a CAT scanner, any extra movement tended to blur images. In the control booth with him were two techs, monitoring both Mattie and the machine as it took pictures of her chest area. While this process continued, Dr. Masters continued to monitor Mattie's vitals through his PMC, as well as on the large flat monitor mounted on the wall in the control booth. 'Modern medicine,' he thought to himself. 'More computers than medical tools.' Still, unlike some of his peers at this modern hospital, the marriage of medicine and computer technology didn't faze him in the least. Having grown up around PCs all his life, Dr. Masters was completely comfortable around them, and was one of the first doctors to volunteer being outfitted with the new PMC units.
Once the pictures were taken, the techs left the booth to enter the patient area and start removing Mattie from the X-ray machine, placing her gently back on the gurney and rearranging the mobile sensors attached to her body as they got ready to take her to her room upstairs. After ordering a rush on the images from the techs, Dr. Masters followed the nurse pushing Mattie's gurney back to the patient elevator that would take them to the ward upstairs.
GW HOSPITAL Room 411
The private room on the fourth floor of the patient wing at GW that Mattie was settled in was painted a light green, and had windows that looked out across the Beltway towards Virginia. Like every room at the hospital, it was equipped with standard monitoring equipment, a mechanical bed, and a couple of storage units for "crash" materials and special medkits that allowed doctors and nurses to perform all but the most serious surgical procedures if necessary, or when time was a factor in treating symptoms. After Mattie had been brought in and moved from her gurney to the bed, the monitors and screens around her springing to life with displays and readouts, Dr. Masters paced back and forth around Mattie's sleeping form, rechecking her vitals and reviewing everything that had occurred since she'd been brought into the ER. He'd started to narrow the list of suspects when the nurse brought Mattie's chest X-rays into the room, putting them on the light box for his review. At the same time, his PMC beeped, alerting him to the new entry of the completion of additional blood tests done. He read the readout with a gloomy look on his face, and then studied the x-rays on the box. The nurse, alternating between checking on Mattie and watching his face, could tell that he didn't like what he saw. His jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed as he closely examined the chest x- rays. After some time had passed, he grunted and shook his head, muttering softly to himself.
The nurse was rechecking the oxygen tube Mattie was breathing with when she heard the doctor speak in a quiet voice.
"Nurse, please go down to the ER lounge and bring Mr. Rabb and the folks with him up here." There was a stillness in his voice that made the nurse swallow before answering. She knew this doctor well, and thought that one of his strengths as a doctor was the intense way he got involved in his patients' lives. Already knowing that he'd bonded in his way with this poor young girl, she realized that he had some bad news for her parent and friends. She nodded, and answered, "Yes, Doctor," before turning to leave.
GW HOSPITAL ER LOUNGE
Mac had, despite the worry encircling her heart over Mattie, drifted off to a light sleep as she sat next to Harm on the couch in the quiet hospital lounge. Few people had come in since they'd settled in the room at Dr. Gentry's urging, giving them the chance to collect their troubled thoughts while waiting to hear about Mattie's condition. Harm held Mac's warm hand in his as they sat and waited, his fingers slowly massaging hers. For the past hour, Harm stared at a point on the wall in front of him, wondering when he should call his mom to let her and Frank know what had happened to Mattie. He wasn't looking forward to that phone call at all, but he also knew that if he waited much longer, his Mom would skin him alive for delaying so long before calling. Since she and Mattie had met a few months ago, Mattie had immediately taken up a large space in his mother's heart, and was the 'grandchild' she'd been waiting for from him. Mattie soaked up the affection his mom had lavished on her and returned it in kind, and they spoke either by phone or email several times a week. He knew, because he had the phone bills to prove it; the thought making him grin.
"What's so funny, squid?" a quiet voice from the area beneath his chin asked. Mac was awake, and had apparently been watching him for a while.
"I was just thinking about my mom and Mattie, Mac. I have to call her soon, and I'm not looking forward to it at all. She's gonna freak when she hears about this." Mac nodded, having witnessed the power of the force of nature that was Harm's mother, and the boundless love she had for her son and new 'granddaughter'. After a second, she spoke the thoughts she'd been going over about that very subject. "Harm, why don't we make that call together. Maybe I can help keep you out of trouble with her." She smiled at him.
"That's OK, Mac," Harm replied. "As soon as she hears the words 'Mattie' and 'hospital', all bets are off. She'll be here tomorrow – Frank, too, if he can get off work."
"You think so?" Harm just gave her a look.
"Right...dumb question. She'll be on the way to the airport before she hangs up with us."
"Now we're talking about the same Mrs. Rabb." Harm quipped. Mac gave him a wry look and smiled. She was about to reply when the door to the lounge opened, and the nurse who'd been with Dr. Masters and Mattie when she went for X-rays entered. When Harm and Mac saw her, and the look on her face, they stood quickly, turning to face her hand in hand. The nurse stepped inside the swinging door, letting it close behind her, and looked at the two officers.
"Mr. Rabb—Miss MacKenzie? Dr. Masters would like you to come up to Mattie's room. He'd like to talk to you."
"Nurse, what's happened?" Harm was in 'prosecutor' mode.
"Sir, I don't know anything other than we have Mattie settled upstairs, and that the x-rays and tests have been completed. The doctor will have more to tell you. Please follow me." Harm studied her face for another moment, then nodded as he and Mac headed for the door to follow the nurse upstairs.
GW HOSPITAL Room 411
Harm and Mac followed the nurse into Mattie's room, and immediately flew to her side as Dr. Masters looked on from his post by the window. He watched as both Harm and Mac leaned over Mattie's still form, brushing her hair away from her face and softly kissing her, whispering to her. Mac took her hand and squeezed it, leaning next to Harm as she whispered, "Hi, honey, we're here. I told you we'd be back, hmm? Jen went home for a while, sweetie, but she'll be back later. She didn't want to go, so we had to order her to go get some rest." Mac's eyes filled with tears, and she began crying as she spoke to Mattie, the anguish in her voice painful for the doctor and nurse to listen to. Harm kept an arm around Mac's shoulders, supporting her as they leaned over Mattie. He looked up at the nurse, who stood at the end of the bed. "She hasn't regained consciousness? She's still so hot..." his voice trailing off as he ran a hand gently over Mattie's forehead and cheek. He and Mac hadn't noticed the doctor standing by the window.
"No, sir...I'm sorry," she quietly answered.
"She's still trying to fight off the pneumonia and bacteremia." Dr. Masters spoke up from his place by the window, causing Harm and Mac to stand and look over at him. He didn't think these two people were caught unawares often, which would help explain the surprised looks on their faces.
"Sorry, doctor ... we didn't see you standing there." Harm said.
"It's OK, Mr. Rabb. I didn't want to disturb you when you first came in. I know you've been waiting patiently to see Mattie."
"You said ... pneumonia and ... bacteremia?" Mac spoke up, meeting his eyes.
"Yes. Her tests and X-rays have all come back, along with the blood cultures we've taken. She's definitely got an advanced case of pneumonia, and it's unfortunately developed into a bacteria infection in her blood that's called bacteremia, which is keeping her fever high and causing other systemic problems, including her unconsciousness state. Her lungs still have fluid building up in them, and she's having problems absorbing enough oxygen to breath properly. She's also extremely dehydrated. Mattie's a very sick young lady."
Harm and Mac looked at him, eyes wide with fright, and it took several moments before either of them could speak. Harm closed his eyes, willing the panic he hadn't felt since he landed the C-130 on the carrier to stay beneath the surface so that he could be in control for Mattie. Mac was having a rougher time; she gasped, and grabbed onto the metal guards of Mattie's bed for support. Harm wrapped an arm around her waist, still looking at the doctor, while the nurse moved one of the room's chairs over for Mac to sit in.
"How much worse can this get, Dr. Masters?" Good question, the doctor thought to himself. Harmon Rabb was obviously examining options and calculating percentages—the mark of a military mind. "This could possibly turn into meningitis, unless we can find the right combination of antibiotics and fluids to flush the bacteria from her system. We're going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen, Mr. Rabb, I promise."
"Will ... will she wake up anytime soon?" Mac asked in a quiet voice from her chair.
"I'm not sure at this point, Miss MacKenzie. We're starting her on a different set of antibiotics to combat both the infection and reduce the fever. This used to be treated with penicillin, but our tests indicate that Mattie may have a resistance to it that would lessen the effects of the penicillin. Many people these days are developing resistance to it, so we've had to develop new types of antibiotics to treat things like this. Has she ever had infections before that required time in a hospital?"
"Not to my knowledge, doctor...you know that she's not my biological daughter," at this the doctor nodded, "but we're in contact with him. He's presently in alcohol counseling, and I haven't had a chance to call him yet about what's happened. He's never mentioned anything about that to me, but then again we've never really sat down to talk about Mattie's medical history."
"Look, at this point it's not going to affect our treatment, but when you do talk to him, please ask him about it. Any information about her early medical history might help. Meanwhile, the newer drugs we'll start her on are powerful, and we'll know within 12 hours how she responds. That will be the crucial period, folks. Her body's exhausted from the fight she's put up so far, and we just have to hope that she doesn't worsen until her treatments start taking effect."
"12 hours?" Mac hesitatingly asked, looking down at Mattie.
"Yes, ma'am. Hopefully both the infection and the fever will start to go down by then, and she'll wake up. We're going to keep her on IV fluids to keep her from dehydrating any further, and we'll be monitoring her around the clock. So I don't want you to be concerned about the number of IV's she going to receive, OK? This will be her regimen until the new drugs have had time to take effect."
"Can we stay with her?" Harm asked. Dr. Masters nodded.
"Of course, sir. I'm sure the nurse would rather she wake up to see your faces before her own," and Dr. Masters looked over to wink at the nurse, who smiled at them. "Dr. Masters always knows just what to say to us nurses," she quipped, bringing smiles to Harm and Mac's faces. She stepped forward and laid a hand on Harm's arm. "Mattie seems like a fighter, sir, and I'm sure she'll be waking up soon. She's got good folks watching over her." Her hand dropped to her side as Harm smiled at her. "I'm going to go see if I can find some more chairs for this room. Be right back." She nodded at Harm, Mac, and the doctor, and quietly slipped from the room.
Harm put his hand on Mac's shoulder, and turned back to Dr. Masters. "Doctor, downstairs you mentioned another procedure that might be performed ..."
"Um, yes...the fluid in Mattie's lungs may need to be drained so that we can examine the infection more closely and test for any other bacteria in her system. It's an invasive procedure called thoracentesis, involving a needle inserted into her lungs to extract the fluid. I would rather wait until she's better before performing it..."
"Is this surgery?" Mac suddenly asked.
"Not technically, Ms. MacKenzie. We can do it here in her room, actually. It doesn't usually take longer than 10 to 15 minutes. I just wanted to let you know about it, and to get your permission in place."
"I see," Harm answered. "Would this be done during the next twelve hours, or after?"
"Hopefully, afterward—if we decide we even need to perform it. Ideally, she'll respond to the new drugs and improve well enough so that it isn't necessary. I just wanted to prepare you, just in case. You should also know that Dr. Gentry would assist in the procedure. Hospital protocol requires two physicians for all invasive procedures unless otherwise called for."
"Okay. We'll be thinking about it. I'll bring it up with her biological father when we speak, too. Thank you for letting us know."
"That's a good idea, sir. And you're welcome. If you need me to explain anything to her biological father, please have the nurse page me. For now, I'll give you some time alone with Mattie. We'll be back in about 10 minutes to begin the new treatments. You can buzz the nurse with this button if you need anything till then." He pointed to a cord with a button on the end near Mattie's bed.
Harm nodded. "Thank you again, doctor." Dr. Masters looked down at Mattie's sleeping face, and quietly said, "She's very lovely, sir...and like the nurse said, we can tell she's a fighter. She'll fight this thing off." He smiled at Harm, turned, and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
Mac started crying in her chair, letting all that she'd heard the past few minutes flow through her in her anguish. Harm kneeled next to her and gathered her up in his long arms, kissing her hair and cheek.
"She's gonna be OK, Mac, I promise." Mac turned her wet face to his, still wrapped in his arms.
"You always keep your promises, Harm. Mattie and I have always known that. Just...keep this one, Harm. Keep this one...."
The room became quiet, except for the beeping of the monitors and two adults crying over their child.
END OF CHAPTER 9
GW HOSPITAL X-RAY CENTER
Dr. Masters followed the gurney that held Mattie's unconscious form down the long hallway that led to the hospital's X-ray suite, studying his PMC as it continued to receive vitals and other telemetry from Mattie's monitors. Her BP had started to rise back to near normal levels after suddenly dipping earlier in the ER, and her breathing was evening out, even with the continued fluid buildup in her lungs. The fever was still very much in evidence, however, and he knew that it was becoming more and more crucial to find out what was causing the infection so that she could be properly treated. Her overall vitals, except for her temp, seemed to be inching back to normal levels, and he suspected that the brief time spent around her family upstairs was a contributing factor. Dr. Masters strongly believed in the participation of a patient's family in recuperating; even unconscious patients like Mattie could sense and draw strength from loved ones around them. He was glad that Dr. Gentry had held Mattie's gurney for a couple of minutes in order to let her foster father and friends be with her...he was sure that it had helped them as much as it had seemed to help Mattie.
As they wheeled her into the lab area and began prepping her for chest X- rays, he hoped that it would be enough to get this obviously much-loved teenage girl past this illness.
GW HOSPITAL ER LOUNGE
'I hate hospitals,' Harm thought to himself as he sat with Mac on the couch in the lounge, waiting for Mattie's X-rays to be finished. This was too much of a reminder of when he and Mac had sat outside the sickbay on the Seahawk, waiting to hear news on Lt. Bud Roberts, after he suffered the landmine accident that eventually would take part of his leg. Then, as now, Mac sat next to him with her head on his shoulder. He'd tried to get her to stretch out on the couch, but she wouldn't budge. Normally he would chalk it up to her Marine pig-headedness...but he knew that Mac was in full 'mother' mode, and would not rest until she could be with Mattie again. Harm couldn't close his eyes, either—his worry over Mattie, and the fact that she still hadn't regained consciousness, filled him with dread. Still, there was no reason why anyone else should have to wait around. Harm knew that the Admiral could use Jen's help in the office, especially with his two top lawyers here at the hospital. He looked around the room, glancing at Jen as she held a cup of coffee in her hands, sitting at one of the round tables in the lounge. The Admiral had taken up a position by one of the windows in the room, looking out at the surrounding grounds of the hospital. Harm cleared his throat, and everyone turned to look at him. Mac raised her head from his shoulder, a questioning look in her eyes.
"Sir, Jen ... if you want to go into the office, that's OK by me. There's no need for all of us to be here right now. Mac and I can call when we hear anything." The Admiral studied Harm's face as Jen glared at Harm, obviously not wanting to leave. She stood as the Admiral moved away from the window to walk over to the couch where Harm and Mac sat, his grey/brown eyes never leaving Harm's face.
"I would prefer to stay, Harm ... and Commander Turner is an able replacement in my stead, but there is a lot going on at the office..."
"It's fine, sir," Mac answered him with a smile. "We can keep you informed of any changes. Maybe you can also run Jen by her place first to change and get ready for work---"
"I can't leave, sirs...ma'am." Jen blurted out.
The Admiral turned at her outburst, fixing her with his stare. Jen faltered under the intensity of his look, and added, "I mean...I don't think I'd be any good at the office, Admiral, and I feel like I need to be here when Mattie wakes. I would like to stay, with your permission, sir." She straightened as she finished speaking, coming to semi-attention in front of her CO.
"Petty Officer," the Admiral answered after a moment, studying her face, "you're obviously exhausted from everything that's happened, and I agree that your focus would not be on work today; as it would be hard for anyone to concentrate on work right now. I do think, however, that you should go home and try to get some rest while I go into the office. You can come back here later and spell Harm or Mac, in case nothing changes anytime soon. I don't want you collapsing from exhaustion on us, and, anyway---don't you have a class tonight?"
"The Admiral's right, Jen. Why don't you go on home, take a nap and eat something. You can come back by before class, and bring your books here to study beforehand. Harm and I can trade shifts until we hear from Mattie's doctors, or until everyone else gets here after work," Mac added with a smile at the young woman. Jen looked at the senior officers, and sighed, sensing she wasn't going to be allowed to stay no matter what she said. And she had completely forgotten about her class, an important one in her psych degree course. School would be a mess if she missed it. She pursed her lips, and haltingly answered Mac.
"I do need to try to make that class...but what if she wakes up and I'm not here?" Jen asked in a plaintive voice, looking down at the floor. Harm got up from the couch and went to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close in a big hug. Jen's eyes closed and she sighed, unconsciously snuggling against Harm as she looped her arms around his back. After a minute, Harm started talking softly to her.
"I know you don't want to leave Mattie, Jen, but we don't know how long we'll be here with her. One of us, at least, should be rested for her sake."
"I promised her I would be here when she woke up, Harm." Jen murmured, her face turned into his shoulder.
"You ARE here, Jen—in here." He lifted her hand and placed it on his chest. "That's where you are for Mattie, too. Go and get some rest, and come back later. Anyway...how many days off do you get from the office?" She chuckled at his attempt at a joke and shook her head, lifting her head from his shoulder and fondly looking up at him, not trusting her voice to speak. She was amazed that Harm had come to know her so well, seeing the love and care in his eyes as he met her gaze.
"Come on, Petty Officer...I'll drop you off, and you can get a cab back later. I'm not letting you drive home by yourself," the Admiral spoke up in his command voice.
"Aye, sir." She stood there for a moment, glancing away from Harm, then back up to his face. She started to speak again, but he interrupted her.
"I'll tell her, Jen...if she wakes up before you get back. I'll tell her." Jen looked at him in surprise, and asked, "How did you--?"
"What--I don't know my own girls?" She laughed again, slowly pulling away from him, and moved over to the table to retrieve her purse. Picking it up and adjusting the strap on her shoulder, she walked to the door where the Admiral was waiting. He watched her approach, waiting for her to join him, then turned to look back at Harm and Mac.
"Take care, you two, and call if you need anything or if anything changes—that's an order!"
"Aye, sir—thank you, sir.", they chorused.
He nodded, then pushed open the door and strode out of the lounge, Jen following behind. She gave them a last look before the door closed behind her.
Harm sighed, and then rejoined Mac on the couch. "I keep forgetting how close Jen and Mattie have become. They're sisters in every important sense. I didn't think she'd go so easily." He paused, taking a deep breath as Mac answered. "Yeah, I was surprised, too. But you saw her, Harm – she's exhausted from lack of sleep and worry. Best she try to get some rest now, and thank you for watching out for her. You know, I think of Jen and see either a younger sister or daughter, depending on how crazy she's driven me at that particular moment." Harm laughed, and moved away from Mac to stand and head over towards the coffee urns on the counter. "Want some more coffee, Marine?", he asked her.
"No, thanks, squid. I could use your shoulder again for a while, if you don't mind?" He glanced over his shoulder at her, looking uncertain and worried on the couch, and nodded. "Be right back, Mac. Just gotta stoke up on some java before I turn into Rip Van Winkle." He finished making his cup, and came back to the couch, sitting next to Mac, who nestled herself against him again, leaning her head on his shoulder, and sighed in relief. She was careful not to jostle him as he slowly sipped his coffee, the fragrance of the beans and the warmth of his body absorbing some of the overriding worry that filled her over Mattie.
Harm settled closer to her, reaching a long arm around her shoulders and pulling her against him. The two worried parents then sat back to wait for any news.
GW HOSPITAL X-RAY SUITE
Mattie eyes slowly opened, no more than a narrow crack between her lids, her weary body somehow diverting enough strength for this one effort. She found after a moment that she wasn't in the cemetery by her mother's grave anymore. She lay on her back, enjoying the coolness underneath her as a welcome escape from the heat at the gravesite. She felt as if she were inside some cocoon, shapes and sensations melding into each other around her. The space above her was a bland color, with a diffused light spread evenly in all directions. She felt relaxed and exhausted at the same time, a strange combination of feelings and sensations that she thought about only briefly before drifting back into unconsciousness.
The X-ray machine hummed as Dr. Masters watched Mattie's form on the examination table. The nylon padded restraints on her head, arms, and legs were there as a precaution against her waking suddenly and moving while the X-rays were being taken. While the machine wasn't as sensitive to movement as a CAT scanner, any extra movement tended to blur images. In the control booth with him were two techs, monitoring both Mattie and the machine as it took pictures of her chest area. While this process continued, Dr. Masters continued to monitor Mattie's vitals through his PMC, as well as on the large flat monitor mounted on the wall in the control booth. 'Modern medicine,' he thought to himself. 'More computers than medical tools.' Still, unlike some of his peers at this modern hospital, the marriage of medicine and computer technology didn't faze him in the least. Having grown up around PCs all his life, Dr. Masters was completely comfortable around them, and was one of the first doctors to volunteer being outfitted with the new PMC units.
Once the pictures were taken, the techs left the booth to enter the patient area and start removing Mattie from the X-ray machine, placing her gently back on the gurney and rearranging the mobile sensors attached to her body as they got ready to take her to her room upstairs. After ordering a rush on the images from the techs, Dr. Masters followed the nurse pushing Mattie's gurney back to the patient elevator that would take them to the ward upstairs.
GW HOSPITAL Room 411
The private room on the fourth floor of the patient wing at GW that Mattie was settled in was painted a light green, and had windows that looked out across the Beltway towards Virginia. Like every room at the hospital, it was equipped with standard monitoring equipment, a mechanical bed, and a couple of storage units for "crash" materials and special medkits that allowed doctors and nurses to perform all but the most serious surgical procedures if necessary, or when time was a factor in treating symptoms. After Mattie had been brought in and moved from her gurney to the bed, the monitors and screens around her springing to life with displays and readouts, Dr. Masters paced back and forth around Mattie's sleeping form, rechecking her vitals and reviewing everything that had occurred since she'd been brought into the ER. He'd started to narrow the list of suspects when the nurse brought Mattie's chest X-rays into the room, putting them on the light box for his review. At the same time, his PMC beeped, alerting him to the new entry of the completion of additional blood tests done. He read the readout with a gloomy look on his face, and then studied the x-rays on the box. The nurse, alternating between checking on Mattie and watching his face, could tell that he didn't like what he saw. His jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed as he closely examined the chest x- rays. After some time had passed, he grunted and shook his head, muttering softly to himself.
The nurse was rechecking the oxygen tube Mattie was breathing with when she heard the doctor speak in a quiet voice.
"Nurse, please go down to the ER lounge and bring Mr. Rabb and the folks with him up here." There was a stillness in his voice that made the nurse swallow before answering. She knew this doctor well, and thought that one of his strengths as a doctor was the intense way he got involved in his patients' lives. Already knowing that he'd bonded in his way with this poor young girl, she realized that he had some bad news for her parent and friends. She nodded, and answered, "Yes, Doctor," before turning to leave.
GW HOSPITAL ER LOUNGE
Mac had, despite the worry encircling her heart over Mattie, drifted off to a light sleep as she sat next to Harm on the couch in the quiet hospital lounge. Few people had come in since they'd settled in the room at Dr. Gentry's urging, giving them the chance to collect their troubled thoughts while waiting to hear about Mattie's condition. Harm held Mac's warm hand in his as they sat and waited, his fingers slowly massaging hers. For the past hour, Harm stared at a point on the wall in front of him, wondering when he should call his mom to let her and Frank know what had happened to Mattie. He wasn't looking forward to that phone call at all, but he also knew that if he waited much longer, his Mom would skin him alive for delaying so long before calling. Since she and Mattie had met a few months ago, Mattie had immediately taken up a large space in his mother's heart, and was the 'grandchild' she'd been waiting for from him. Mattie soaked up the affection his mom had lavished on her and returned it in kind, and they spoke either by phone or email several times a week. He knew, because he had the phone bills to prove it; the thought making him grin.
"What's so funny, squid?" a quiet voice from the area beneath his chin asked. Mac was awake, and had apparently been watching him for a while.
"I was just thinking about my mom and Mattie, Mac. I have to call her soon, and I'm not looking forward to it at all. She's gonna freak when she hears about this." Mac nodded, having witnessed the power of the force of nature that was Harm's mother, and the boundless love she had for her son and new 'granddaughter'. After a second, she spoke the thoughts she'd been going over about that very subject. "Harm, why don't we make that call together. Maybe I can help keep you out of trouble with her." She smiled at him.
"That's OK, Mac," Harm replied. "As soon as she hears the words 'Mattie' and 'hospital', all bets are off. She'll be here tomorrow – Frank, too, if he can get off work."
"You think so?" Harm just gave her a look.
"Right...dumb question. She'll be on the way to the airport before she hangs up with us."
"Now we're talking about the same Mrs. Rabb." Harm quipped. Mac gave him a wry look and smiled. She was about to reply when the door to the lounge opened, and the nurse who'd been with Dr. Masters and Mattie when she went for X-rays entered. When Harm and Mac saw her, and the look on her face, they stood quickly, turning to face her hand in hand. The nurse stepped inside the swinging door, letting it close behind her, and looked at the two officers.
"Mr. Rabb—Miss MacKenzie? Dr. Masters would like you to come up to Mattie's room. He'd like to talk to you."
"Nurse, what's happened?" Harm was in 'prosecutor' mode.
"Sir, I don't know anything other than we have Mattie settled upstairs, and that the x-rays and tests have been completed. The doctor will have more to tell you. Please follow me." Harm studied her face for another moment, then nodded as he and Mac headed for the door to follow the nurse upstairs.
GW HOSPITAL Room 411
Harm and Mac followed the nurse into Mattie's room, and immediately flew to her side as Dr. Masters looked on from his post by the window. He watched as both Harm and Mac leaned over Mattie's still form, brushing her hair away from her face and softly kissing her, whispering to her. Mac took her hand and squeezed it, leaning next to Harm as she whispered, "Hi, honey, we're here. I told you we'd be back, hmm? Jen went home for a while, sweetie, but she'll be back later. She didn't want to go, so we had to order her to go get some rest." Mac's eyes filled with tears, and she began crying as she spoke to Mattie, the anguish in her voice painful for the doctor and nurse to listen to. Harm kept an arm around Mac's shoulders, supporting her as they leaned over Mattie. He looked up at the nurse, who stood at the end of the bed. "She hasn't regained consciousness? She's still so hot..." his voice trailing off as he ran a hand gently over Mattie's forehead and cheek. He and Mac hadn't noticed the doctor standing by the window.
"No, sir...I'm sorry," she quietly answered.
"She's still trying to fight off the pneumonia and bacteremia." Dr. Masters spoke up from his place by the window, causing Harm and Mac to stand and look over at him. He didn't think these two people were caught unawares often, which would help explain the surprised looks on their faces.
"Sorry, doctor ... we didn't see you standing there." Harm said.
"It's OK, Mr. Rabb. I didn't want to disturb you when you first came in. I know you've been waiting patiently to see Mattie."
"You said ... pneumonia and ... bacteremia?" Mac spoke up, meeting his eyes.
"Yes. Her tests and X-rays have all come back, along with the blood cultures we've taken. She's definitely got an advanced case of pneumonia, and it's unfortunately developed into a bacteria infection in her blood that's called bacteremia, which is keeping her fever high and causing other systemic problems, including her unconsciousness state. Her lungs still have fluid building up in them, and she's having problems absorbing enough oxygen to breath properly. She's also extremely dehydrated. Mattie's a very sick young lady."
Harm and Mac looked at him, eyes wide with fright, and it took several moments before either of them could speak. Harm closed his eyes, willing the panic he hadn't felt since he landed the C-130 on the carrier to stay beneath the surface so that he could be in control for Mattie. Mac was having a rougher time; she gasped, and grabbed onto the metal guards of Mattie's bed for support. Harm wrapped an arm around her waist, still looking at the doctor, while the nurse moved one of the room's chairs over for Mac to sit in.
"How much worse can this get, Dr. Masters?" Good question, the doctor thought to himself. Harmon Rabb was obviously examining options and calculating percentages—the mark of a military mind. "This could possibly turn into meningitis, unless we can find the right combination of antibiotics and fluids to flush the bacteria from her system. We're going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen, Mr. Rabb, I promise."
"Will ... will she wake up anytime soon?" Mac asked in a quiet voice from her chair.
"I'm not sure at this point, Miss MacKenzie. We're starting her on a different set of antibiotics to combat both the infection and reduce the fever. This used to be treated with penicillin, but our tests indicate that Mattie may have a resistance to it that would lessen the effects of the penicillin. Many people these days are developing resistance to it, so we've had to develop new types of antibiotics to treat things like this. Has she ever had infections before that required time in a hospital?"
"Not to my knowledge, doctor...you know that she's not my biological daughter," at this the doctor nodded, "but we're in contact with him. He's presently in alcohol counseling, and I haven't had a chance to call him yet about what's happened. He's never mentioned anything about that to me, but then again we've never really sat down to talk about Mattie's medical history."
"Look, at this point it's not going to affect our treatment, but when you do talk to him, please ask him about it. Any information about her early medical history might help. Meanwhile, the newer drugs we'll start her on are powerful, and we'll know within 12 hours how she responds. That will be the crucial period, folks. Her body's exhausted from the fight she's put up so far, and we just have to hope that she doesn't worsen until her treatments start taking effect."
"12 hours?" Mac hesitatingly asked, looking down at Mattie.
"Yes, ma'am. Hopefully both the infection and the fever will start to go down by then, and she'll wake up. We're going to keep her on IV fluids to keep her from dehydrating any further, and we'll be monitoring her around the clock. So I don't want you to be concerned about the number of IV's she going to receive, OK? This will be her regimen until the new drugs have had time to take effect."
"Can we stay with her?" Harm asked. Dr. Masters nodded.
"Of course, sir. I'm sure the nurse would rather she wake up to see your faces before her own," and Dr. Masters looked over to wink at the nurse, who smiled at them. "Dr. Masters always knows just what to say to us nurses," she quipped, bringing smiles to Harm and Mac's faces. She stepped forward and laid a hand on Harm's arm. "Mattie seems like a fighter, sir, and I'm sure she'll be waking up soon. She's got good folks watching over her." Her hand dropped to her side as Harm smiled at her. "I'm going to go see if I can find some more chairs for this room. Be right back." She nodded at Harm, Mac, and the doctor, and quietly slipped from the room.
Harm put his hand on Mac's shoulder, and turned back to Dr. Masters. "Doctor, downstairs you mentioned another procedure that might be performed ..."
"Um, yes...the fluid in Mattie's lungs may need to be drained so that we can examine the infection more closely and test for any other bacteria in her system. It's an invasive procedure called thoracentesis, involving a needle inserted into her lungs to extract the fluid. I would rather wait until she's better before performing it..."
"Is this surgery?" Mac suddenly asked.
"Not technically, Ms. MacKenzie. We can do it here in her room, actually. It doesn't usually take longer than 10 to 15 minutes. I just wanted to let you know about it, and to get your permission in place."
"I see," Harm answered. "Would this be done during the next twelve hours, or after?"
"Hopefully, afterward—if we decide we even need to perform it. Ideally, she'll respond to the new drugs and improve well enough so that it isn't necessary. I just wanted to prepare you, just in case. You should also know that Dr. Gentry would assist in the procedure. Hospital protocol requires two physicians for all invasive procedures unless otherwise called for."
"Okay. We'll be thinking about it. I'll bring it up with her biological father when we speak, too. Thank you for letting us know."
"That's a good idea, sir. And you're welcome. If you need me to explain anything to her biological father, please have the nurse page me. For now, I'll give you some time alone with Mattie. We'll be back in about 10 minutes to begin the new treatments. You can buzz the nurse with this button if you need anything till then." He pointed to a cord with a button on the end near Mattie's bed.
Harm nodded. "Thank you again, doctor." Dr. Masters looked down at Mattie's sleeping face, and quietly said, "She's very lovely, sir...and like the nurse said, we can tell she's a fighter. She'll fight this thing off." He smiled at Harm, turned, and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
Mac started crying in her chair, letting all that she'd heard the past few minutes flow through her in her anguish. Harm kneeled next to her and gathered her up in his long arms, kissing her hair and cheek.
"She's gonna be OK, Mac, I promise." Mac turned her wet face to his, still wrapped in his arms.
"You always keep your promises, Harm. Mattie and I have always known that. Just...keep this one, Harm. Keep this one...."
The room became quiet, except for the beeping of the monitors and two adults crying over their child.
END OF CHAPTER 9