This is a joint fic, the last prompt for Sicktember day 13 appendicitis and BTHB Appendicitis with John for Islandandstars.
John wound up the rescue with a sigh. It had been a long one, but finally all his brothers were safe at home. He watched as they ate and relaxed and eventually they went to bed – except Scott of course – and then he could relax.
He grabbed a coffee and a bagel and settled down to watch the stars for several hours before going to bed himself.
A sharp twang in his side woke him quite suddenly, and he gasped in pain, pushing hard with the heel of his palm. With the pressure the pain lessened, and he groaned and rolled over, flinging one arm over his face.
It was gone within almost 10 minutes and John gradually drifted off to sleep and the pain was forgotten.
Until the next time.
Three days later the pain hit in the middle of a rescue, leaving him gasping with breath. He had been talking to Gordon at the time, which relieved John no end. If it had been Scott or Virgil both would have seen right through him.
'John? John, are you alright?'
Ah, he'd forgotten Gordon's squid sense. 'I'm fine, Gordon. Just a touch of indigestion.' As if to support this his stomach released a belch and Gordon laughed. And the rescue continued and again the pain left and John forgot all about it.
The next time was only a few hours later.
This time the pain was longer, sharper. It left him panting for breath as it appeared to travel lower to his right side. When he pressed on it this time the pain became worse. John tried to get up to make it to the bathroom as a wave of nausea passed over him, but he didn't make it.
'Scott?'
Scott looked up. EOS rarely spoke directly to him, the residual fear engendered by his threats against the AI a lifetime ago still fresh in her mind, even though he had long come to terms with her and had promised he would never hurt her as long as she kept his brother safe.
'EOS? Is John alright?'
It was a natural leap of logic. Before she had even answered him Scott was heading down to the hangar, where he could see the elevator was ascending already.
'John was holding his side and then he collapsed when he tried to get up. I cannot rouse him.'
Cursing under his breath that he was alone on the island, Scott waited impatiently. Eight minutes was a long time when a brother was in trouble. He grabbed the medkit from the hangar wall.
'Any symptoms that you know of, EOS?'
'Negative. John has not shared anything with me, although his suit telemetry suggests that he has had pain on and off for a few days now.'
He cursed his brother again.
'Call Virgil and Grandma back immediately, please.'
And he was climbing into the elevator and was away.
John was crumpled on the ground but was coming around as Scott ran the Medscanner over him. His brother was pale and clammy, and Scott bit his lip as the scanner flashed up yellow over his abdomen. That did not bode well, he needed to get John down now if he was reading the scanner right.
Getting John upright was a struggle, but there wasn't room for a stretcher and he needed to get him to walk to the elevator. John was uncoordinated, like he usually was on earth, and Scott struggled getting him into the seat, sighing with relief when John was secure.
EOS let them know Virgil and Grandma were on their way back as Scott got John to the infirmary, setting up the monitoring equipment. John protested loudly, and Scott grimaced, knowing he was a worse patient by far.
Virgil and Grandma went straight to the infirmary. Virgil fussed over John while Grandma checked over the scans. Two minutes after she had read the scan, Sally was bustling all three boys out, Virgil and Scott directing John's hover stretcher into Two's medbay.
John needed a hospital. Now. Appendicitis.
Scott stayed in the infirmary with their Grandma while Virgil flew. It didn't take too long to arrive and John was whisked off immediately. As this was their usual hospital, the three of them were installed into their usual suite of rooms, complete with the ability for their surveillance equipment. That was John's usual job, but between them Scott and Virgil had everything up and running before John was wheeled in. Even if EOS was complaining about how long it took them.
John looked better. He felt better. The first words out of his mouth was 'when can I go home', and Virgil and Sally stared at Scott, the usual culprit of such words, and he blushed slightly.
John smiled at the reaction. He wanted to go home, he felt better – so much better – and he was just waiting to be told he could go. Until the doctor came the four of them chatted. They didn't have to wait long.
'John, good afternoon. I'm Dr Lane.'
'Doctor.'
'We've scheduled your surgery for tomorrow morning.'
'Wait. Surgery?'
'Yes. It is routine to take an appendix out when it plays up like it did for you.'
'Oh.'
Well, that put pay to him going home. They decided that Scott would stay while Virgil would fly Grandma home. Sally would get their infirmary together while Virgil stayed just in case there was a rescue to attend.
John felt better and protested regularly through the night.
Until about 3am.
John shot up, groaning with the sudden exertion, and vomited. He hadn't eaten but that didn't stop his stomach attempting to expel bile and mucus. Scott hit the emergency button as John's heart rate rocketed.
He looked worse than he did when they had brought him in.
The nurse on duty took one look and she hit a different emergency button and before he knew it John had been whisked off. Scott tried to follow but was blocked, and he sat on the floor outside, waiting for someone to tell him what was going on.
One of the nurses came out shortly, saying that John was prepped for surgery. They suspected his appendix had burst and he needed immediate care. Scott signed off on the op before returning to the room to call home.
By the time John was out and in recovery everyone was waiting for him. They were in varying degrees of shock that his health had turned so quickly, but at least he had been here, and not at home.
It took a while for John to come round enough to have a coherent conversation, by which time the family had been there for almost 24 hours. Dr. Lane came and explained that they had cleaned his abdominal cavity to try to ensure he didn't get peritonitis and explained he wouldn't be going anywhere for at least a week, during some of that time he would be kept on a drip with antibiotics to be sure there was no lasting infection.
John hated every second.
Once he was home he needed to stay on the antibiotics for another two weeks, while being told that he could do nothing strenuous for a minimum of two months.
John didn't set foot on Five for a total of nine weeks, one of the longest periods he had ever stayed Earth-bound since iR's inception.
His brothers may have loved having him home, but the welcome peace of Five instantly soothed his frazzled nerves.
'Welcome home, John.' EOS greeted him.