Chapter 286
Lindsey was exhausted and went to bed early but got woken up by her cell phone ringing just after midnight.
"Hello" she answered quickly.
"Lindsey, hi it's Sax"
"Oh god" Lindsey whispered. Her heart rate just about tripled.
"Lindsey I don't want you to worry. I wouldn't have called but you made me promise to call if there's any change. It's not a big deal and we have it under control but…"
"Just say it… what's wrong"
"It's just that Tegan developed a fever. We are taking care of it but..."
"I'm on my way" said Lindsey and hung up. She quickly pulled on some clothes and knocked on Sonia's door.
Sonia opened looking sleepy. "What's up Linds?"
"I need you to look after the kids please. I need to get back to the hospital. They say it's nothing to worry about but Tegan has developed a fever"
"No no no" said Sonia holding her head.
"I'll keep you updated. I just want to go see what's going on"
"Of course, call me please"
"Yeah. I will. Speak to you later"
Lindsey raced to the hospital accompanied by their lead security officer Beth. It was late and the media had apparently packed up shop for the night. Security by the elevator let her straight through. She stopped in front of the glass TICU doors to catch her breath. She didn't want to scare Tegan in any way. She calmly walked into the unit. The lights in the room were dimmed, the curtain around Tegan's bed was drawn. Sara and Kate were asleep, probably medicated up to their eyeballs. The lights were on but also down a bit behind Tegan's curtain. Lindsey just listened for a minute.
"Temps not going down, 102.6" said a nurse. "Her pulse is up to 121, BPs low but holding 90 over 60"
"Get a cooling blanket and some ice packs. Do another CBC and chem panel" she heard Sax say.
Lindsey opened the curtain slowly.
"Baby" she said and moved to Tegan's side. Tegan's eyelids fluttered open. They were puffy and red.
"Hey" she whispered.
"I hear you're not feeling so great honey. You okay?" asked Lindsey stroking Tegan's warm cheek.
"I'm okay" Tegan mumbled.
"I love you. Get some rest" said Lindsey. Tegan's eyes closed again a minute later. Her breathing evened out indicating that she had nodded off.
Lindsey left the room and found Sax at the nurses' station.
"You should have called me earlier" she said looking mad.
"Lindsey, these things happen. We've got it under control. Her body has been through a lot and it's still fighting, so a fever now and again is expected" said Sax.
"Expected… What are you doing about it?" said Lindsey sounding annoyed.
"We've given her something to bring the fever down. Her infection count is still in the normal range. If it does go up we'll put her on a new antibiotic"
"Another antibiotic… dammit... I knew she wasn't ready to speak to them. She had a crazy day" said Lindsey close to tears.
"Hey listen, hopefully we won't need it. It's okay, we have this under control. The orthopaedic surgeon will take off the cast soon, inspect the wound and recast if everything checks out okay. We can't pick up anything on the x-ray. Same with the leg."
"You better have this under control" said Lindsey.
"I know this is stressful… every day, it's so hard. But you need to be calm and strong for her right now alright. Go be with her" said Sax.
Lindsey stormed back into Tegan's room. Tegan opened her eyes again.
"Shhh, get some sleep" said Lindsey as a nurse put a cooling blanket over Tegan and some ice packs in her groin and in her armpits.
"No please, I'm cold… no more cold" said Tegan.
"We have to Tegan, you have a really high fever" said the nurse.
"I don't want to be that cold again… ever… It was so cold" Tegan mumbled. She mumbled a few more incoherent things as Sax walked back in.
"Temps the same. BP's dropped a bit" said the nurse.
"Okay, start her on this. Let's hope it touches sides" said Sax writing out a prescription for a new antibiotic and some fever meds.
A few minutes later Tegan opened her eyes again and tried to get rid of the cooling blanket.
"Hang on… you're a bit hot we need to cool you down" said Sax.
"Hot... Ha… hey Saxon, remember that time… that time in New York" Tegan slurred. "When we screwed on your balcony because it was so hot"
Lindsey's mouth fell open and she looked up at Sax who was now blushing beet red.
"She's delirious from the fever" said Sax looking uncomfortable.
"And we lay on that mattress… watching the air traffic and then the sunrise. Damn that was sexy"
"Uhmmm" Sax cleared her throat.
"I'm cold" said Tegan again with closed eyes.
Sax injected something into her IV and a minute later Tegan was out. The nurse continued to sponge her face with a cool cloth.
Sax swiftly made an exit and Lindsey followed her.
"Can we talk?" Lindsey asked.
"The meds we gave her now should sort this out in…."
"No, I mean… what the hell was she talking about in there?" Lindsey asked looking perplexed.
"I'm sorry Lindsey… I really thought you knew"
"Knew what?"
Sax sighed. "Tegan and I had… well… a fling… It was a long time ago and it wasn't important" said Sax.
"You slept together?" said Lindsey.
"Yeah… as I said, long time ago. Before she met you. It was over really fast and yeah… well that's it"
"You slept together" Lindsey repeated looking stunned.
"Well, I'm sure you didn't think you were Tegan's first?"
"That's not the point. Why didn't she tell me?"
"I don't know… maybe she didn't want it to come in the way of our friendship. When Jude and I were new in LA you guys, and Kate and Sara… well… it was really nice to have some friends you know"
"I'm not that jealous or petty Saxon, give me a break" Lindsey snapped.
Sax held her hands up. "She's on a lot of meds… she has really high fever. Those things make people say wacky shit. Give her a break"
"I'm sorry… of course it's nothing. I'm fine with the fact that you guys… ummm… saw each other. That's not what I'm upset about. Anyway, sorry for involving you"
Sax smiled and put her hand on Lindsey's shoulder. "Hang in there okay" she smiled.
The orthopaedic team took Tegan away to remove the cast and check her wounds. Lindsey sat with Saxon at the nurses' station.
"You think it's one of the wounds?" asked Lindsey.
"I doubt it, but we need to check to make sure. High fevers are not uncommon for a few weeks after a patient had hypothermia. The whole thermostat is a bit on the blink I suppose" said Sax.
"So she'll be okay?"
"If we can manage to break her fever, make sure there's no infection, yes"
"Good, cause I'm going to kill her" said Lindsey and burst out laughing.
Sax laughed too, shaking her head.
"What was she thinking? I mean really. We're all adults here. I don't give a damn who she's slept with in the past, I know she's coming home with me every night" said Lindsey laughing.
"Don't be too hard on her" Sax laughed.
"I won't, but I think I'll let her sweat for a while"
"If she has any sweat left after that fever"
"I know she did it because she loves me… and she didn't want there to be any awkwardness between the two of us" said Lindsey pointing at Sax.
"She really adores you Sax" said Lindsey, Sax started talking with her hands up. "Lindsey I swear…"
"No Sax, not in that way. But she likes you, and she respects you. I know she appreciates your friendship. I don't want her to lose that. I haven't known you that long but I like that we've become friends. I don't want something silly like this to get in the way of that" said Lindsey.
"Me neither. I mean I think she's really cute and all but I have no idea how you live with that one" Sax laughed.
"Tell me about it" said Lindsey rolling her eyes.
"We're good?" asked Sax.
"We're good" said Lindsey and gave Sax a fist pump.
"You just play along when she's back to normal" Lindsey winked.
The orthopaedic team rolled Tegan back into the room a few minutes later.
"Good news, incisions on both the arm and leg look good. No infection. Did some more scans on those and the shoulder and we're good. Go search elsewhere for your cause of fever. By the way, she's moving in the right direction. It's dropped one and a half degree since we've had her" said the athletic looking male orthopaedic surgeon.
-0-
"Victory! Fever has finally broken" said Sax a couple of hours later.
"Thank god" Lindsey whispered.
"All other vitals look good. BP has come up nicely" said a resident.
"Good, lungs sound clear. Sats are back to normal. Lindsey, you look exhausted. Why don't you go back to the hotel and get some rest" said Sax.
"I'm fine thanks, I'm going to camp out here until she wakes up if that's okay?" Lindsey asked.
"Alright. Kelly, I'll be in the on-call room if you need me" said Sax and left the room.
"Thank you, I'll just let Sonia know she's okay" said Lindsey and took Tegan's hand in hers. She was relieved that it was back to normal temperature.
"I love you, you little minx" she whispered and kissed Tegan's hand before putting her head down on the recliner to get some sleep.
-0-
Dawn had just broken when Tegan woke up.
"Ugh… I feel like a truck went over me" she grunted.
"Morning" said Lindsey.
"What happened?" Tegan mumbled.
"Morning, you kept us quite busy last night. Had a raging fever" said Sax.
"So that's why I feel parched? Have I cooled down a bit?" asked Tegan taking a large sip of water.
"You're back to normal now. You'll be a bit more tired than usual today though. A fever like that will take it out of you" said Sax checking Tegan's vitals.
"When did you come back? Thought you were at the hotel?" asked Tegan smiling at Lindsey.
"Oh just in time to hear you reminisce about that time you and Sax screwed on her balcony" said Lindsey.
Tegan swallowed hard and looked at Sax. Sax just shrugged.
"What?" she said softly.
"Oh yeah… watching the air traffic and the sunrise… all sweaty and sexy" said Lindsey.
Tegan's heart rate jumped up, so did her blood pressure.
"I'm sorry… I… we… look it was ages ago… like really long ago. Before I met you. It was nothing, it was a fling and I…"
Lindsey laughed. Tegan looked perplexed.
"I'm sorry… I love you" she said.
"Baby just calm down. It's okay" said Lindsey watching the monitors.
"No… I should have told you… I'm sorry"
"Yeah you knucklehead, you should have" Lindsey smiled.
"Oh God I'm so embarrassed" said Tegan putting her hand over her eyes.
"So am I" said Sax.
"I'm so sorry Sax"
"Look, Sax and I had a long chat. I know it was ages ago and while it was fun while it lasted but apparently you're not her cup of tea" laughed Lindsey.
"I didn't say that" said Sax.
"Fuck" Tegan mumbled.
"Excuse the pun" Lindsey laughed.
"That's not funny" said Tegan seriously, looking at Lindsey.
"Sweetie… You deserved that bit of flack. You should have told me, but I'm not mad. It's okay. As long as you keep coming home to me and me only" said Lindsey and kissed Tegan on the mouth.
"Always babe… you and me"
"Me and you" whispered Lindsey.
"Excuse me, I'll go check on the other two patients" said Sax still blushing.
A/N: At least it's out in the open now! Review please!