Judgment Day

A deadly disease is spreading through Trenton, New Jersey and the NIH team is called out to investigate. Meva and Nathen Romance. There is tragedy for the team both collectively and individually. Character death. My first Medical Investigation fic. Please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Medical Investigation. Oh, well, a girl can dream.

Chapter 4: Recovery

Miles sat in the chair next to Eva's bed, watching her angelic features as they twitched slightly in her sleep. The families of the patients had taken having to get rid of their pets surprisingly well. Then again, as a society we tend to value human life over animal life. Miles was deep in thought. At that same moment, Eva stirred and slowly opened her eyes. She yawned, stretching luxuriously. Eva smiled sleepily and it was hard for Miles to be nonplussed.

"Good morning, Eva," Miles said softly.

"Hey," Eva replied.

"How are you feeling today?" Miles inquired.

"Much better, thanks. How about you?" Eva countered.

"Confident," Miles said simply.

Eva smiled again at his optimism. Miles kept his eyes trained on hers as he gently grasped her wrist and felt her pulse. It quickened ever so slightly at his touch. Miles smiled and deduced that it was either due to nerves or attraction. He hoped that it was the latter. Miles was glad that Eva seemed to be doing much better. The antibiotics were helping her fight off the infection and she was progressively getting stronger. After a few more seconds, Miles let go of Eva's wrist.

Eva felt her body respond involuntarily to Miles' touch. She knew that he could feel her pulse racing through her veins. There was no denying her blatant attraction to the man. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief when he finally released her wrist from his probing grasp. Eva took a quick breath to regain her composure while Miles glanced elsewhere momentarily. She was worried about him. There was a small possibility that Miles could still contract tularemia over the next week or so. At least now they knew what it was and it could be treated. Still, it was hard not to worry, especially after witnessing Frank's death. It was obvious to Eva that Miles was worried, too.

At that moment, Miles' pager went off. He quickly checked it and all of the doses on Eva's IVs, and then took down some figures from the monitors before turning his attention back to her. She looked pensive. Miles decided to snap her out of her reverie anyway.

"Eva? I'm going to go and check on a few of the other patients. I just got a page from one of the other rooms. I'll be back to see you later," Miles stated.

"Sure, see you," Eva replied.

Miles gave her one last smile before leaving the room. He looked around at the rest of his coworkers through the plate-glass window before turning to walk down the hall. He stepped through the door into young Virginia Madsen's room. She was still unconscious and had been placed in a private suite so that her family could have their time with her. She hadn't shown any signs of improvement over the past few days, but she wasn't deteriorating either. Miles hoped that it was just taking the antibiotics longer to work on her. He couldn't stand the thought of losing another patient to this disease. He immediately found the nurse adjusting Virginia's IV.

"What's going on? I just got your page," Miles commented.

"I was just increasing the saline drip. You asked me to page you if anything changed. Well, Dr. McCabe, Ms. Madsen is awake. She's groggy, but she's finally come out of it," the nurse explained.

Miles almost did a double take. He smiled and grabbed the chart from the foot of Virginia's bed before coming to stand at her right side. He silently thanked God for having saved this girl. He quickly flipped through the last few days' worth of notes and snapped the clipboard shut. He leaned closer to the girl and smiled warmly at her.

"Hey there, welcome back," Miles said politely.

"What happened?" Virginia inquired.

"Do you remember when you came in at first a few days ago?" Miles asked.

The girl nodded.

"Well, your body was weakened by a disease called tularemia and you fell into a coma. It was just your body's way of letting you fight the infection. We gave you an antibiotic to help you get better and now that you've managed to fight off most of the infection you're awake again," Miles explained.

He used layman's terms so the girl wouldn't be overwhelmed. He didn't want to scare her anymore than she already was. After all, coming into a hospital feeling sick and waking up almost a week later after a brush with death isn't the easiest experience to deal with. Virginia looked pensive for a moment before looking up at Miles again.

"So, when can I get out of here?" Virginia asked.

Miles smiled at her comment. She had only just come out of a coma and she was already anxious to be back on her feet.

"Not for a few more days. Your body needs a while longer to recover. In the meantime you can have some friends come and visit you," Miles suggested.

"What about Jamie? I came in with her, she wasn't feeling well either. How's she doing?" Virginia inquired.

Miles felt his heart stop momentarily. He had forgotten that Virginia no longer had a best friend. The question now was; how was he going to tell her? The girl had only just rejoined the world of the lucid and he already had to make that horrible for her. Miles took a deep breath, pausing to think for a moment, before speaking.

"Jamie's illness was far more advanced than yours. She was having trouble breathing because of the infection that had progressed into her lungs. We put a tube in her throat to help her breathe, but she was too sick. She stopped breathing and her heart stopped. We did everything we could to bring her back, but she was too far gone. I'm sorry, Virginia, Jamie didn't make it," Miles said sympathetically.

He had tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke. He watched as Virginia mulled it over for a moment before becoming hysterical. She began to cry and thrash. Miles put his hands on her shoulders and held her back against the bed. She was in danger of tearing out one of her IV lines. Miles held her like that for a moment until she calmed down. At that point she doubled over and just cried. Miles rubbed her back comfortingly for a few minutes before she sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. Uncontrollable sobs racked her young body and Miles wished that it could have been otherwise. After a few more sobs, Virginia became pale and silent as she fell back into her pillow. Miles grasped her hand and checked her pulse. It was strong and steady. He waited a moment for her to come around. Virginia opened her eyes and looked up at Miles.

"What just happened?" She asked.

"Your brain wasn't getting enough oxygen because of your position which restricted the blood flow through your carotid arteries and you fainted," Miles said simply.

Virginia nodded and reached for a tissue with which to wipe her eyes. She stayed silent for a moment before sighing resignedly and speaking.

"I just can't believe she's gone. We've been best friends since we were three years old. She was like the sister I never had. I don't know what I'm supposed to do without her," Virginia sobbed.

"I know it's hard, I lost a good friend to this same disease. We just have to remember that they love us very much and want us to move on and live life," Miles said softly.

"I know, but it's hard. Can I ask you some questions?" Virginia asked.

"Of course, go ahead," Miles replied.

"Was she in pain?" Virginia queried.

"No, we had her on morphine so she wouldn't feel the joint pain. When her lungs stopped working she was unconscious, she couldn't feel anything," Miles said honestly.

"Was she scared, Dr. McCabe?" Virginia inquired.

"I doubt she even knew what was happening. I can promise you that she died peacefully. When you stop breathing its easy," Miles said truthfully.

"Thank you, Dr. McCabe, for trying to save her and for saving me," Virginia said gratefully.

Miles smiled.

"You're welcome, Virginia," Miles replied.

"Please, call me Ginny," Virginia said lightly.

"Okay, Ginny. I almost forgot why I was here in the first place. Now, I want to examine you quickly to see how you're doing. Just relax," Miles explained.

Virginia smiled and nodded ever so slightly. Miles could see she was still weakened. Finding out that your best friend of fourteen years is dead on top of that is just overkill. Miles watched Virginia carefully as he carried on with his survey. He was pleased to note that the crackling in her lungs was gone when he placed the disk of the stethoscope on her back. She was breathing normally and her oxygen saturation readout proved it. Her fever had broken and her temperature was almost back to normal. Miles finished his exam and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Well Ginny, I'm pleased to say that you're doing much better. You'll be back to normal in a few short days. How's your breathing?" Miles asked.

"Fine," Ginny said crisply.

"Any joint pain?" Miles inquired.

"Nope," Virginia replied.

"Great! Who knows, at this rate I might even let you out of here before the weekend," Miles said contentedly.

Virginia smiled weakly.

"Do you have any more questions?" Miles queried.

"No, I'm fine," Virginia stated.

"If you need anything just ask the nurse to page me. I have to go and check on a few more patients, but I'll come by to see you later. Bye, Ginny," Miles said warmly.

"Bye, Dr. McCabe, and thank you again," Virginia said hoarsely.

Miles nodded and left the room. She looked like she was going to cry again the second Miles walked out of the room. However, Miles felt inclined to believe that she just needed some time alone to come to terms with everything. He would see how she was doing later. In the meantime he was going to get a cup of coffee, finish his rounds and get back to his team. Miles thought about submitting a protocol revision recommendation once they got back to NIH. All NIH personnel should be required to wear N-95 masks to prevent infection when handling patients, samples and any and all other possibly contaminated paraphernalia. It would prevent something tragic like this from ever happening again.

Miles reached the cafeteria and quickly grabbed a coffee before heading up to finish his rounds. He drank the scalding liquid as fast as was humanly possible without scorching his esophagus while he waited for the elevator. By the time he reached the isolation ward again, Miles had finished half of his coffee and well and truly burnt his tongue. He tossed the remainder of the drink in the trash as he headed off to check on his remaining patients. He was pleased to see that all of the casualties were doing much better. Miles had managed to stop the tularemia in its tracks. At least, that's what it seemed like. The animal shelter hadn't been happy to hear that their animals were to blame for the epidemic. It was, after all, bad publicity. However, after a lot of smooth talking and a few comments he had picked up from Eva, Miles was able to convince the shelter to treat all of the recently contaminated animals and put down the initial carriers of the disease.

Miles smiled in spite of himself. It was a job well done.

He finished checking on his last patient, twenty three year old Kimberly Gonsalves. She had been one of the primary victims and had gotten lucky. She had narrowly avoided respiratory arrest and was given the Streptomycin just in time. Miles smiled again as he stepped through the door into his team's isolation room. They were chatting animatedly amongst themselves. He had won Stephen's approval, which was what he had longed for since the moment he had joined the NIH. Miles shut the door behind him and went to sit at his usual post beside Eva's bed. They looked even better than they had a few short hours ago. Miles, on the other hand, felt exhausted. The emotional scene he had had with Ginny had leached all of the energy out of his body. He must have let, despite all efforts not to, because the team looked concerned.

"Are you alright?" Stephen asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired," Miles replied.

"Go and get some rest. You need it," Natalie instructed.

"Not that kind of tired," Miles argued.

"What do you mean?" Eva inquired.

"Cognitively tired," Miles began. "I have a patient, Virginia Madsen, whose best friend died from the exposure just before she was given the Streptomycin. Virginia's been in a coma since shortly after she was admitted and I was paged to her bedside when she woke up. I had to tell her what happened to Jamie. That kind of tired."

The team all stared at him in a commiserating manner. At least he had been spared the task of informing them of what had happened to Frank. In a way, it was good that they had all been witness to the tragedy. However, on the other hand, Miles hated failing, especially in front of people whose validation he sought out.

"How did she take it?" Eva asked.

She had met both Jamie and Virginia when they had come in. They were a nice pair of girls. Intelligent, funny and completely devoted in their friendship. It must have been very hard on Virginia to have lost her best friend. After all, if Eva ever lost anyone as close to her as a sister she knew she would be upset. It must be even harder for a teenager who already has a mountain of problems on her plate.

"She was very upset, to say the least, but I think she'll be okay. She just needs some time," Miles supposed.

"Once you give me the all-clear I want to go see her," Eva mentioned.

"I just want you to give yourself some time to heal before going out there and living life in the fast lane again. I'll let you out of here as soon as I'm satisfied that you won't relapse," Miles agreed.

Eva gave him a well-practiced albeit rare 'you're the boss' look.

They sat and talked about the mundane world, which to a team which spends all of their time isolated from the outside by their work, wasn't so mundane. It was good for Miles to be able to take a break from the hectic maelstrom of being a one-man team. He was glad that Stephen had felt it necessary to asseverate that Miles had saved his and the other team members' lives. He had worked intrepidly and with unrivaled celerity. Time like these, where he could sit around and be glad for the power to save lives being at his fingertips made him glad that he was a polymath of the medical sciences. He was thankful for the varied skills he had picked up from the team. Public speaking and interpersonal skills from Eva. Attention to detail from Frank. Perspicacity between diseases and microbial organisms from Natalie. Last but certainly not least, determination, brio and hope from Connor. They were more sacred to him than the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Miles then realized that he had been lost in his own thoughts for a rather lengthy period of time and decided to rejoin the conversation. Besides, he would have plenty of time to rest and think once he knew his team was out of the woods.

Until then, Miles promised himself that he would devote as much of his attention to his team as was humanly possible so he wouldn't miss a thing…

A.N.: So? How was that chapter! It was actually quite easy and quick to write this time. I had a great time stretching my vocabulary muscles in this one as well as the last one. Countless minutes of searching went into finding everything to make this story perfect and as accurate as possible. Thanks for reading and thanks to those of you who reviewed the last few installments. Please review this one, too! I love hearing from you, it is very encouraging. Thanks again-Julia-