A/N: hello all! Sorry it's taken so long to update. Work's a bitch of a time-stealer. Dirty theif... hehehe. THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO REVIEWED! I love you all! Okay, without further adieu, here's the next chapter.
Chapter 9: Healings and Close Calls
"Come on, Brennan, stay with me here." Jesse said under his breath as the helix flew low over the mountains that hid Sanctuary. The secret entryway opened and Jesse flew through it, landing the helix lightly beside the door into their living quarters. The doors unsealed with their usual pneumatic hiss as air pressure seals slid apart. Jesse glared at their regularity. They acted like nothing had happened. Stupid doors.
"Okay, now you're just being ridiculous. Doors are inanimate, Kilmartin, get a grip." Jesse berated himself, all the while gently laying Brennan, chest down on a roll able gurney and running him up to the lab. He hooked Brennan up to a life support system that Adam designed and ran back for Shalimar and Lexa.
After quickly using the lab equipment to heal Lexa, he set the computers on Shalimar and Brennan. He, himself, focused on Brennan. There would definitely be some manual labor going into Brennan's healing.
"Computer, be ready to cauterize."
"Computer ready, waiting on voice command." The computer droned back. Jesse took a deep breath and reached for the metal sticking out of Brennan's back. Wrapping his hands around the sharp edges, feeling it bite into his skin, he took a deep breath. It was now or never.
"Hang tight, Bren, this is gonna hurt." And without another word or warning, he phased the metal and slid it out of his friend. Brennan's face twisted in pain, but no sound came from him, as he slid further from the living, waking world. His heartbeat plummeted as blood gushed from the hole in his back.
"Computer! Now! Focus on internal injuries and bleeding! Rapid cauterization." Jesse shouted at the computer as what little color was left in Brennan's face slipped away. "Come on, Brennan, come on." Jesse gripped his hand tightly as the computer did its work. It was up to Brennan and the computer now.
"Healing complete."
Jesse froze as Brennan's life line stayed flat. On the next bed, Shalimar slowly rose, her weakened body shaking. "Jess?" She said hoarsely, then her quick ears focused on the sound of Brennan flat-lining. "Brennan!" She jumped from the bed and her knees gave out. Jesse caught her and helped her over to Brennan. Her shirt was soaked in her own blood, the smell of it making him sick, even though he knew that she would be okay. "Jesse, do something!" She cried, panicked, as no vitals showed for the man she loved. Tears flooded her eyes and dripped from her cheeks.
"Computer, begin resuscitation, crash cart procedures." Jesse ordered as he rolled Brennan onto his back and attached little wires to Brennan's chest.
"Beginning procedure. Stand back." Jesse dragged Shalimar away as Brennan's back rose from the bed and vibrated as the shock went through him. And hand on his shoulder told Jesse that Lexa was with him, but it didn't help, as Shalimar clung to his shirt and cried.
"Come on Bren, you can do this." Jesse breathed almost inaudibly. Lexa's grip on his shoulder tightened. Another shock jolted through him and tears pricked at the corners of Jesse's eyes. He could hear Lexa trying to restrain her tears.
"Brennan," Shalimar whimpered, as, once again, nothing happened. A third and forth shock bared no results.
"Computer," Jesse began hoarsely, "one last try." Shalimar sobbed and dropped to her knees, ignoring the pain that shot through her chest from her recently-repaired ribs.
A tear fell from Jesse's eyes as he watched in slow motion as the electricity flowed into Brennan's body and lifted him from the bed. He seemed to hang in the air for an eternity before dropping back to the mattress. The several seconds of silence dragged on until…just when they thought all hope was lost, a bleep of the heart monitor snapped on their heads toward the screen. One blip, then another and another, speeding up to a normal rate before their eyes. On the bed, Brennan's chest heaved as he sucked in desperate breaths. Shalimar forced herself to her feet, staggering to the bed and falling onto it beside him. She wrapped her arms around him and held on, tears flowing unchecked in her relief. Slowly, he slid a shaking arm around her waist and she buried her face in his shoulder.
Brennan's deep brown eyes flickered open as he held onto her. Jesse and Lexa went to him and Jesse squeezed his hand, holding his emotions at bay. Brennan gripped his hand tightly before releasing it. He met Jesse's eyes, thanking him without words. Jesse smiled at him and put an arm around Lexa's waist.
"You okay?" he whispered in her ear. She nodded and showed him the faded bruising from what was left of the cut on her arm.
Under the drying blood on Shalimar's torn shirt, he could see deep blue and purple bruising from her gashes and metal wounds. It was the best the computer had been able to do after healing the serious parts of her injuries. Jesse knew she must be in pain. Brennan too. After having a sheet of metal in his back and multiple shocks through his body, Jesse knew that he was putting on a brave face for Shalimar. A thin red, fading line above and below his eye showed where that cut had been, and another was barely visible across his temple. Jesse didn't want to imagine what the poor guy's back looked like. After all, bruises were spreading from the electrical wires alone, let alone the damage to his back. Computers were computers, not miracle healers.
Lexa felt something warm spreading across her side and looked down. Deep crimson spread from under Jess's hand. "Jesse!" she exclaimed and turned his hand over, grabbing the other and doing the same. "What'd you do?"
Jesse looked down and blinked in surprise. There was no pain, no nothing; he hadn't even realized he'd been bleeding. "Oh…" He said absently, staring at the pooling blood in his hands.
"Oh?" Lexa repeated critically. "OH? Jesse, you're bleeding! Why didn't you say anything?"
"Didn't notice, actually. I must've done it taking the sheet of metal out of Brennan." He replied, realization dawning on his tired, stressed mind. He shrugged as Lexa looked at him, wide eyed. "I had more important things, more important people," he looked at the three people he loved more than life itself and smiled gently, "to worry about."
Lexa hugged him tightly and then steered him the lab table, setting the computers to stitch up his cut hands. When that was done, she wrapped a thin layer of bandages around his palms and kissed his fingers. Jesse smiled and hugged her, keeping an arm around her shoulders and turning back towards Shal and Brennan.
"Are you feeling okay, Bren?" Jesse asked, eyes narrowing in concern. Brennan forced himself into a sitting position, nodding and wincing at the same time.
"Bruises and pain… nothing I can't handle." He smiled weakly.
"You should lie back down and get some rest." Shalimar mothered him lovingly, stroking his hand with her thumb.
"I'm okay, really. What about you?" He reached up and touched a blood-and-dirt caked lock of hair behind her ear. His eyes fell, at last, on the blood covering her shirt. "How bad were you hurt?" He frowned, gently touching the bruises on her ribs and shoulder that showed through the tears in her shirt. She shrugged, trying to make it seem unimportant. She knew she's gotten lucky today, as had Brennan. "Jess?"
"Pretty bad. There was a lot of blood. But it was nothing compared to you. I thought you were a goner for sure, man.
"Nah," Brennan shrugged, grimacing and then rolling his eyes. He should've known better than to move his shoulders and stretch the bruising on his back. "It'll take more than that to kill me….I hope…" He grinned and Shalimar slapped his chest and glared at him.
"Not funny." She snapped.
"I agree," Jesse narrowed his eyes at him. "You're just fortunate I was there to save your ass…stupid, macho, ungrateful, son of a-." He grumbled.
"Hey Jess," Brennan interrupted before he could start cursing. "Thanks." His voice was soft but the sincerity was there. Jesse grinned.
"That's all I wanted. A simple thank you and the molecular's happy." His friends laughed and Lexa kissed the arm that was around her and she leaned against his chest. They were back together again, his family. Alive and safe and on the mend. He truly was, for the time being, a happy molecular.
Too bad it was temporary.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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