Title: If I…what would you do?
Disclaimer :I owe no Stargate etc but Laura's mine!!!!!! Aha!
Notes: I have seriously weird dreams cause this is another one! I'm beginning to notice the violence trend in my fics… Hmmm. Should I be worried? I think not. Well maybe… Possibly listening too much to Evanescence as well.
Tapping her fingers on the steering wheel Laura sang along quietly to her Train album. It had been nearly eight months since she'd found out she was pregnant and those months had been some of the happiest in her life. The only pain had been the fact that she'd been forced to stop work or, to be more accurate, active duty due to the fact that they didn't know what wormhole travel would do to a foetus, but she still went in to do lab and paper work and was still stubborn enough to insist on driving. Laura had spent her free time getting to know Teal'c better and she felt they had grown close. She took a sideways glance at the man sitting beside her and smiled. It had been a good weekend away and she didn't want to go back to reality but duty called for both of them. Hearing police sirens she looked up at the rear-view mirror in time to see blue flashing lights cross the bridge behind her.
"Wonder where they're going?" Laura remarked.
Teal'c glanced in the mirror on his right but didn't answer, having got used to Laura's rhetorical questions. Laura pulled out away from the incoming slip road on her right to let cars onto the highway, almost at their destination. Frowning she checked her mirrors,
"I could have sworn those sirens were getting closer."
Teal'c glanced in the right side mirror again,
"I agree. The noise does appear to be getting nearer."
Suddenly there was a squeal of brakes and a crunch of metal hitting metal from behind them. Laura looked up in time to see the sedan before it ploughed into the back of her Jeep, spinning it round to face the wrong way in the traffic, engine cutting out. The airbags had done their job and exploded on contact and she fought her way free of hers to be greeted by the sight of a lorry skidding towards her. The driver had slammed on the brakes in an attempt to stop and yanked his steering wheel over to miss the crash but the lorry was travelling to fast to stop in time. Laura had time to swing her head towards Teal'c before it hit. The cab of the lorry smashed into the driver's side of the Jeep whilst the trailer sung round into the passenger's side.
Laura instinctively shut her eyes and kept them shut until the noise had stopped.
"Teal'c?"
She opened her eyes and watched him pull out of his airbag, cradling his right arm to his chest before she asked,
"Your arm?"
"I believe it is broken," Teal'c answered.
"That it?" she asked, willing it to be so.
"I do not feel pain anywhere else," Teal'c informed her.
Laura nodded, trying not to be sick with the wave of pain that swept over her.
"Are you injured?" Teal'c inquired.
"Been better. Baby's good," Laura muttered, before smiling at him, trying to get him not to worry.
Teal'c tried his door.
"What you doing?" Laura asked, hearing the creaking as the door strained against the bent frame.
"We should get out of this car," Teal'c told her, forcing the door open. He slid out of his seat and through the narrow opening. Laura watched him go and listened to him turn around, waiting for her to get out. A minute later Teal'c's head appeared in the door.
"Are you getting out?"
"Wish I could," Laura answered.
Teal'c immediately climbed back in but this time he leant over Laura to assess her injuries. The cab of the lorry had buckled the frame of the car in and down towards Laura, pinning her to her seat. The dashboard was buried in her left shin and the steering wheel pressed against her thighs, but not cutting. Teal'c frowned trying to discern where all the blood was coming from. His eyes followed the route of the blood up Laura's body until they found the problem. A piece of ragged metal had pierced the car door and slid straight into the left side of Laura's chest, just below her breast. Blood bubbled over its surface every time she took a pained breath. Unable to think of anything to say Laura held out her hand and Teal'c instantly took it in his. Laura wanted to wipe the hurt from his eyes and she knew he needed to do something. He may deign it but he would need a friend if her injuries were as bad as she thought they were.
"Go. Make sure ambulance coming," she talked in short breaths.
Teal'c nodded, kissed the side of her head and climbed back out of the car. As soon he was out of site Laura dug her phone out of pocket and speed dialled a number.
Laura was putting her phone away when a fireman's head appeared in the door.
"How you doing ma'am?"
"Need pain relief," Laura answered truthfully.
"The doctor's on his way," the fireman told her. "We're working on getting you out now."
"That'd be nice," Laura half smiled.
The fireman smiled in return and pulled back to be replaced by the doctor, who climbed into the passenger seat.
"Hello my name's Dr Steve Allen."
"Want my stats?" Laura asked.
"You've done this before," he stated.
"Yeah, sort of. I Major Laura Keighley, 27, 8 months pregnant," a hand went to her belly.
The doctor eyed her sharply when she mentioned the pregnancy bit but he didn't say anything on the subject, since he'd already seen the bump. "Where do you feel the pain?"
Laura glanced at the doctor, smiling slightly.
"Alright," he said. "Where does it hurt the most?"
"Chest mainly. Lower left leg," she told him.
He nodded and fished out an oxygen mask out of his bag and placed it on her face. He drew out a fluids bag, set that up and gave her some morphine to combat the pain as well as putting at collar on her neck in case of spinal damage.
"I gather you know the drill about staying calm and awake," Steve presumed.
Laura nodded before pulling her mask down enough so she could talk,
"How's my… guy? Teal'c?"
The doctor frowned,
"The big black man outside with his arm broken?"
"Yeah," Laura answered.
"The paramedics are treating him, I believe, but he's not co-operating," Dr Allen recalled.
"Stubborn. That's him," Laura said before the doctor put her mask back on.
The doctor climbed out and was replaced by a paramedic to keep watch on her stats.
"How long before we can get her out of there?" Dr Allen asked the chief fire-fighter.
"Awhile. Luckily there was nothing dangerous in cargo of any of the vehicles, but the truck has a lot of loose stuff to shift before we can move it. We can cut away the roof of the Jeep to give you better access but that's it for now," he answered.
"Try and speed it up. She's in a bad way and it just got a whole lot more complicated," Steve glanced at the wreck behind him.
"How come?" the other asked.
"She's pregnant," the doctor stated.
"Let me see her," Teal'c demanded, trying to stand up again.
"Please sir I need to finish strapping your arm up. You should really be going to hospital to get this seen to properly," the paramedic put a hand on his shoulder.
"I am not leaving her," Teal'c said flatly.
"I gathered that much so at least let me finish doing this then I'll find out about you going to see her. OK?" the paramedic pushed at Teal'c again.
Teal'c begrudgingly sat down and let him finish strapping on his arm but as soon the last bandage was in place he stood and climbed out the back of the ambulance. He walked quickly towards the wreck.
"Sir," someone called.
Teal'c ignored it and kept walking.
"Sir!"
There it was again, more insistent this time.
"Teal'c!" another man's voice called.
That got his attention and he stopped, turning towards the voice. Jack was standing by a police officer, glaring at the man who refused to let him through. Teal'c changed direction and strode towards Jack.
"O'Neill what are you doing here?" Teal'c asked as he came to a halt in front of them.
"Laura called and said there'd been an accident. Came to see how things are going since I was just up the road," Jack answered before turning on the unsuspecting policeman. "See I told you I knew him. Now you gonna let me through or what?"
The guy glanced at Teal'c, back to Jack and did his best not to shrink,
"Well I don't know…"
"I have the clearance," Jack reminded him.
"It's not an army affair!" the man protested.
"Airforce," Jack corrected.
"Ha! That's got even less of an input since you guys fly around up there not down on the ground with the rest of us mere mortals," the policeman snapped
"I'm not trying to tread on anyone's toes. I just came to see my friends, but I am being reasonable about this," Jack made the last bit sound like a threat.
"Fine! I can't stop you," the guy looked suddenly tired.
"How bad is it?" Jack asked.
The man looked at the wreck. Five more cars had piled into the lorry and in the mangle it was hard to distinguish which vehicle was which.
"Bad. Two dead, three on their way to hospital and one still trapped," the officer sighed, eyes haunted.
"Trapped?" Jack questioned.
"Laura," Teal'c answered eyes going to the Jeep, roof now removed and lying to one side.
"We're going to have to cut her out. There's no way to shift that lorry in time," the chief fire-fighter pulled the doctor to one side.
"She's stable for now, but she'll either bleed out now or when we pull her free. Her blood pressure it being kept steady by the weight of that lot on top of her," the doctor answered.
"What do you want us to do?" he wiped at a smear on his face.
"When you cut her out, make it fast and keep that piece of metal still and in her chest. It'll help her not to bleed to death," Dr Allen replied and the chief hurried away to issue orders.
Jack and Teal'c spotted the doctor and moved to intercept him.
"Doc how's she doing?" Jack asked.
"Who are you?" the doctor narrowed his eyes.
"A colleague and friend," Jack told him before pointing to Teal'c. "Her main man."
"Well I shouldn't…"
"C'mon doc."
"OK," he held up his hands. "She's conscious but breathing on one lung, decreasing the oxygen in her system."
"I feel you have not told us everything," Teal'c stated.
The doctor stared at him for a moment before sighing,
"She's only still conscious because of two things. The weight of the crash is piled on top of her keeping her from bleeding out but when we cut her out she'll fade fast if we don't move quick enough and the baby is absorbing all the carbon dioxide in her system and it's beginning to show signs of distress. I'm sorry."
The doctor glanced at their silent faces and turned back to the car, just as someone called his name.
The paramedic adjusted Laura's mask, checked her stats and changed the fluids bag hanging above her head.
"Talk," Laura said suddenly.
"About what?" the guy asked.
"You. Wife, job, kids," Laura winced.
"You ok?" the paramedic noticed the grimace.
"Twinges," she answered.
"Tell me if it gets any worse. Me? Right… well I've been doing this job for ten odd years. The pay's not great but I love it anyway. I'm married to Melissa and we've got two children, little boy and girl, Nathan and Sarah."
He stopped when the firemen began to move the cutters into place.
"Don't stop," Laura knew what was coming.
He glanced at her and continued talking about his family.
"That's nice," Laura said breathily.
"Laura?" Stay with me," the paramedic touched her shoulder.
"Mmm," she mumbled, eyes closed.
"Doctor Allen!" the paramedic shouted.
The man appeared as if by magic.
"She's losing consciousness, GCS 5 and falling, pulse thready and weak," the paramedic shifted to the back seat to make room for the doctor who slid into the front seat.
"Laura! Come on wake up. You've got to stay with us. Think of your baby."
She mumbled something incoherently.
"Chief!" the doctor yelled.
Said fireman appeared.
"Get her out now."
The man nodded,
"Guys she comes out now!"
With two firemen per circular saw the two saws moved into place. One was used to cut her from the lorry, the other to cut her from the dashboard. As the whirling blade touched the piece of metal that was still embedded in her chest Laura came awake with a scream of pain. The firemen paused, Jack had to physically restrain Teal'c but Dr Allen shouted at them,
"No! Don't stop!"
He gave her 2mils of morphine as they took up the cutting again, this time ignoring the moans from the trapped woman. The men working on freeing her from the lorry finished first but the other team had to cut through a thicker and tougher collection of plastics and metal and so they weren't finished yet. Laura's hands were curled into fists, her nails digging into her palms because despite the heavy dose of painkillers, she was still in pain but at least it was keeping her awake. The minutes ticked by as the harsh whirring continued, punctuated only by Laura's moans and the occasional screech as the blade hit something different. Eventually they stopped and, with a team per rope, the firemen winched the freed section of the dash off Laura. The release of pressure of her sent a spurt of blood out of her chest, catching the paramedic standing by with the spinal board. The firemen pulled her free of her chair as her legs were now free, the doctor now skipping the protocol about spine injuries just to keep her alive and get her to the board and ambulance. Doctor Allen moved with her, applying pressure to her chest wound and giving out orders to the paramedics scurrying around them. They loaded her into the ambulance and Teal'c fought to be by her side, pushing through the fireman until he climbed into the vehicle.
"I'm sorry you can't be in here. There isn't enough room," Doctor Allen argued, without taking his eyes off Laura.
"I need to be with her. She's carrying my child. Please," Teal'c refused to budge.
"We don't have time for this," Steve cried exasperated.
"Precisely," Teal'c said before shutting the doors.
The paramedic in the front seat heard the slams and took it as his signal to drive. Teal'c moved to Laura's head and took her hand, whispering and praying that she'd be alright. Laura blinked, tears running down her face. She knew she could lose everything.
Hold on to me love
You know I can't stay long
All I wanted to say was I love you
And I'm not afraid
Can you hear me?
Can you feel me in your arms?
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you?
Sweet raptured life
It ends here tonight
"Three minutes to the hospital," the paramedic shouted back.
Doctor Allen nodded, applying more pressure to Laura's wound, trying not to impair her breathing and checking on her fluids. Teal'c watched him work before glancing down Laura's body to the baby then back to her face. He stroke her cheek, wiping at the tears before kissing her forehead gently as he couldn't reach her lips due to the face mask. She was summing up the courage to say what needed to be said.
I know you hear me
I can taste it in your tears
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you?
Sweet raptured life
It ends here tonight
"Please look after our baby. She'll be beautiful, the best," Laura whispered.
"You will be there, watching her grow," Teal'c told her.
"Teal'c I love you and our baby," Laura carried on.
"I love you but you are not leaving me," Teal'c tightened his grip.
Laura smiled slightly, tired and scared, before her eyes closed. Teal'c watched her fade away, calling her name before he bowed his head.
Closing your eyes to disappear
You pray your dreams will leave you here
But still you wake
And know the truth
No-one's there
Say goodnight
Don't be afraid
Calling me
Calling me as you
Fade to black
Say goodnight
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you?
Sweet raptured life
It ends here tonight
