A few minutes later Kate was ready to be pushed into the CT scanner.

"I'll be right outside baby, right outside okay" said Sara squeezing Kate's hand and stroking her hair.

"Okay" Kate said softly. She struggled to just keep her eyes open. Her hands were trembling, and she still felt short of breath. Her headache seemed to be intensifying.

"Kate, stay awake for us please" said Sax over the intercom.

Kate opened her eyes. "Yeah" she said softly. Her eyes were drooping again as the machine started.

"Wakey, wakey" said Sax again over the intercom.

Kate's eyes snapped open again.

"Talk to her" Sax asked Sara.

"Hey baby, it's me. You're doing great in there" Sara watched Kate's face on the monitor in front of her. She saw her swallow hard.

"We'll be home in no time". A few moments of silence followed. Sara didn't know what to say anymore. "You won't believe what Amelia did today. I turned my back for a minute and when I checked again, she was digging out the potted plant in the living room. Mud all over"

Kate smiled weakly. Sax was looking at the screen starting to show images of Kate's brain.

Kate was starting to nod off again. "Kate! Stay awake" said Sara desperately.

"Uh huh" Kate grunted opening her eyes again.

"And stay still!" Sax added.

Kate just couldn't keep her eyes open. Lying perfectly still didn't help! Her eyes closed slowly again.

"Baby!" Sara said desperately

Sax sighed and started singing into the microphone "99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer". The CT tech stifled a laugh. Kate's eyes remained closed and Sax kept singing. A few seconds later her eyes opened again.

"Okay! I'm awake! Just shut up!"

"Stay awake" said Sax before studying the images again. She was talking to the radiologist.

Sax looked at the monitor showing Kate's vitals.

"Her heart rate is up, pressure holding" she said to the radiologist.

Kate's eyes closed again.

"Kate, stay awake" said Sara. Kate's eyes stayed closed.

"Kate!"

"98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer" Sax started singing again.

"Stop it! My head hurts" Kate complained mumbling.

Sara started talking again. A few seconds later Kate started nodding off yet again.

"Dammit there she goes again" said Sara. She pushed the intercom button to wake her up.

"Sara, it's okay. Her head is clear. We don't see a bleed. Let her get some rest. It's okay" said Sax.

Sara gave a huge sigh of relief. One thing they could tick off the list of things to worry about.

-0-

"Is she okay? What did you see?" Sara asked as Kate was coming out of the CT scanner.

"Sara, I need to have a quick discussion with the radiologist, but I think the CT is fine. Go with Kate. I'll be right with you and we can talk okay?" said Sax. Sara just nodded.

"Dr Sinclair, Dr Morgan's labs" said a resident and handed Sax a tablet. She glanced through it.

"Shit" Sax sighed before walking back into the radiology suite.

-0-

It was clear that Kate was asleep, but her breathing was still hard and fast. Sara was sick with worry where she sat holding Kate's hand in the emergency room cubicle.

There was a big commotion outside before Sax came into the cubicle.

"Sara, let's step outside so we don't wake her"

"I'm awake. How can anyone get any rest in this ruckus" Kate mumbled.

"Alright… Kate…. Good news and bad news" said Sax.

"Ugh just give it to me" Kate moaned.

"Good news is your CT came back clear. You have a nasty concussion but there's no bleeding or cracks or anything that we could pick up. We'll keep you on full neuro obs for a while though"

"No fuck that. I'm out of here" said Kate.

"Hang on… I'm not done. Chest and abdo look good too"

"So why does she look and feel like shit?" asked Sara.

"Jeez, thanks babe" Kate rolled her eyes.

"Sorry honey…"

"Labs came back and it's…. well, it's atrocious" said Sax.

Kate adjusted the nasal oxygen cannula and tried to sit up.

"Hold on" said Sax and raised the bed head some more.

"Show me" said Kate.

Sax handed Kate a piece of paper. Kate's head hurt so much she could hardly read.

"Ugh just tell me. My head hurts"

"Well, as suspected you're severely anaemic. Your haemoglobin level is super low. Explains why your oxygen sats are low. We need to transfuse you immediately. I've ordered the blood and a unit of plasma. Your electrolytes are way off. You're severely dehydrated and your white blood cells are elevated. We're running a few more tests to find the cause of that. You know that with you having your main spleen removed you're in danger of infections. We need to do lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis" said Sax.

"Meningitis?!" Sara exclaimed.

"Fuck me" Kate sighed.

"No major indications of that right now but I want to make sure okay. I'd like to rule it out" Sax smiled reassuringly.

"I'm sorry Kate, but I don't want you to worry, we'll have this sorted out soon"

"Good because after that transfusion I'm out of here"

"Kate… have you seen your vitals? You're in no condition to get out of here" said Sax.

"I'm just so fucking tired" Kate grunted.

"Blood's here" said a nurse from the door.

A resident swiftly started another line in Kate's arm and had the blood running soon. Sara looked up at the bag of blood. It made her nauseous.

"Alright just relax now. I'll do the lumbar puncture myself. Nice deep breaths now. We've got you" said Sax and patted Kate's shoulder.

A/N: I know, I know. It's been more like a year than months since there's been an update. Sorry about that. I have some time off in December so maybe I'll finally be able to give the story a real ending. Not making promises but I'll try. Please pop me a comment so I know you're still out there. It may be worth re-reading the last few chapters in case you forgot where we were.