To the reader who said she can't sleep at night due to the last few chapters, is it wrong for that to make me smile? 😊 I can't sleep some night's either because I keep coming up with kooky story-lines for this couple.

CHAPTER 94 DOCTOR DOCTOR

"Any ideas?"

Jack looked to the doctor and hoped for a positive answer as to why his wife hadn't woken up yet.

Elizabeth had been brought to the infirmary and was lying in one of its beds.

When Jack had slammed his hand against the red emergency button in their quarters, the intercom's announcement had quickly brought the medical staff, as well as the Thornton's suite-mates and the people in neighboring rooms.

Linda from next door had taken the crying baby and promised Jack that she'd look after him while Jack had hurriedly followed the gurney to the infirmary.

Elizabeth had now been evaluated by the doctor, two medics, and a worried Jack who had hovered nearby, but so far there was no answer as to why she was unconscious.

The doctor watched Elizabeth's pupils constrict as he shined his small but bright light at them again. Her lids closed when he removed his fingers. "I can't find any obvious wounds, other than some discoloration on her face, which is getting worse. Slight swelling. And you say you found her in her berth?"

Jack nodded.

"It's possible that she fell and then crawled into her berth," Ensign Sooner, suggested. "It happens more than you think. People get confused in their sleep or when they first wake up and forget they're on a top bunk."

"She was in a lower bunk when I found her," Jack answered Ensign Sooner. "But you're right. She could have fallen. Maybe she heard Acorn crying and she jumped down to get him, fell, and . . . . was dazed so she crawled into a lower berth," he added somewhat unconvincingly. "Although, why would she be on the top bunk in the first place? If I'm not in the room, she usually takes the bottom bunk so she can be close to him."

"Maybe she was working - you know, typing up school work or whatever she does- grading papers, and she didn't want to bother him so she was on the top bunk and in a hurry to get to him, she fell down," the medic offered.

"The lights were off. And she was tired. She wouldn't have been working. Did you check for poisons?" Jack questioned. He hadn't forgotten Elizabeth's first transporter's voyage when she had bitten into a poisoned apple.

"I did. Just as you asked. Nothing there," the doctor replied.

"Virus? Bacterial infection?"

"Not likely on a ship," the doctor shook his head. "Everyone is cleared before coming on-board. But I ran the labs anyway."

He looked at the screen on his computer. "All her numbers look good. Her sodium level was a little low. Nothing to worry about. She might have been dehydrated. She's still nursing your son, so she needs to take in enough herself. Has she been eating okay?"

"Need to stop eating," Elizabeth murmured causing everyone to abruptly turn to stare at her first words.

Her head hurt, her jaw hurt, and her mind was muddled between her dream of people and squirrels eating her house of corn and the reality of being hit by her laptop, but she was starting to become aware that there were people standing close by.

"Elizabeth. Can you hear me?" Jack asked as he moved to her bedside. "It's me, Jack. You're in the infirmary."

"Stop eating," Elizabeth mumbled again.

"She's not anorexic, is she?" Cassie piped up, which earned her a scowl from Jack.

"No, she's not anorexic," he replied in disgust.

The young woman nevertheless continued with her medical assessment. "If she hasn't been eating, it would make her weak and explain why she fell."

"We don't know that she fell," Jack retorted. "We don't know what happened to her."

"Fell down," Elizabeth replied as she thought about the house in her dream falling down and Julie's irresponsible care. She wanted to tell Jack about the man who hit her, but her dream was getting in the way.

"That's our answer then," the doctor noted with a satisfied look. "She fell down and hit her head. Bruised the side of her face. Could just have been an accident. Maybe she tripped over something. The rooms can be small and cluttered."

"It wasn't cluttered," Jack countered as he remembered the scene when he had found her.

"Well, she could have been dehydrated. If she hadn't been drinking enough water. Dehydration can make a person light-headed."

"Here's some water," Cassie offered as she quickly handed a small cup to the doctor.

"NO," Elizabeth said irritably when she heard the words. She needed to tell Jack about . . .about . . . about something. But what? It had just been there. On the tip of her tongue, but she was losing it.

As she lay with her head on the pillow, she was now just confused as to what she needed to tell him. Her dream? Maybe she needed to tell him about her dream and the squirrels eating the house. That didn't seem quite right.

"Eat a house," she muttered anyway.

"She means horse," Ensign Sooner said knowingly. He was happy to be of assistance after the last fiasco when he had given away her condoms to be melted into an infant's teether. "The saying is 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse'. She's probably just a bit confused or having trouble talking. And obviously hungry."

No, you idiot. I mean house. My house of corn is getting eaten, Elizabeth thought irritably.

Oh, now things are all getting jumbled, she fretted.

That's not what I want to say. That was just the dream part. I need to tell Jack what happened when I woke up. The shadowy figure. Someone hitting me.

She so desperately wanted to talk to Jack, but while her mind could now comprehend the situation, her mouth seemed to be working at an incredible slow speed and was limited in what it was willing to do. She also had a splitting headache.

The doctor looked at Elizabeth, and then frowning, he turned his attention to Jack.

"Why is she hungry? When was the last time she ate?"

"I'm not sure. I've been at work."

"Did you know that she had an eating disorder? Is this related to the earlier pregnancy weight gain? Many women find it difficult to lose weight while breast-feeding. She shouldn't be concerned about her weight."

"She's not anorexic. She eats just fine," Jack answered irritably.

"I haven't seen her in the cafeteria much. She missed a bunch of days," Ensign Sooner offered up.

"That's because she was upset about people seeing her body," Jack said dismissively. He moved to pick up on of Elizabeth's hands and held it between his.

"That's a sure sign," Cassie noted knowingly to the doctor. She felt a bit as if she was back in medical training and this was an examination which she was acing. "People with eating disorders don't like others looking at their bodies."

"We read about that. You're right, Cassie. Good job," an impressed Ensign Sooner remarked. He had always liked Cassie but suddenly looked at her with new appreciation. He hoped she was still single.

"She doesn't have an eating disorder!" Jack erupted as he lost his patience. "People had seen her naked body and she was embarrassed!"

"Because she's still got some of the baby weight?" Cassie asked.

Jack's voice raised even higher in exasperation. "Something happened to her! Figure it out!"

Lowering his voice, he focused on Elizabeth, who was moving her head slowly. "Hey, dandelion. Can you hear me? I'm worried about you."

"Corn," a weak Elizabeth managed to say. She still hadn't managed to open her eyes but she was grateful that her brain and words were now in sync. She knew corn was important. The only problem was that the word was slurred due to her injured jaw.

"Porn? Did she say porn?" the startled doctor questioned. "Because that is definitely not something appropriate, Officer Thornton. And honestly, I have no idea what porn has to do with her falling down. In fact, I'd prefer not to imagine. Were you in the room with her? I thought that you said you found her alone in her berth. Why was she alone with porn? Oh, never mind, I don't want to know."

The man gave Jack a look of disgust.

Cassie and Ensign Sooner gave each other knowing looks. "Remember the condom thing?" "Sure do," they said in hushed voices to each other. "She's anorexic and into porn."

"Corn!" Jack said irritably. "She said corn and she's not anorexic!"

"Sounded like porn to me," Ensign Sooner muttered.

Cassie nodded in agreement and lowered her voice as she spoke to her fellow medic. "Didn't she used to be into S and M? When she was on a transporter a few years back?"

The medic shrugged. "I heard that it was a magic show, but who knows?" he whispered back.

"Corn," Elizabeth reiterated from her position on her bed.

"That's right. Corn. What do you want to tell me?" Jack asked.

"If she's got an eating disorder, maybe all she'll eat is corn," Cassie said to the doctor. "Should I go get some? I can go to the kitchen and get some. She seems kind of fixated."

"I'm not sure if she wants corn or porn or both," the doctor shook his head. "And a diet of corn alone is not healthy. We'll have to check her weight again. I want to make sure she's eating enough."

A disoriented Elizabeth wondered if Aaron Daniel was okay, or if the person who had injured her over the corn hologram had injured him. She was worried that she couldn't hear the small boy babbling nearby. She needed to know if he was okay. "Acorn?" she questioned weakly.

"Now she wants to eat acorns?" a stunned and bewildered Ensign Sooner asked. "Weird. Did we learn about that, Cassie? That someone's diet can be limited to foods that sound alike? Corn and acorn. Maybe popcorn?"

Jack ignored everyone in the room except his wife. He decided that they were all idiots. Well-meaning, but idiots. At least about this.

"Acorn's fine, sweetie. He's playing with Linda, and Susie, and Joyce. They're taking good care of him."

Jack had no idea why Elizabeth had talked about a house falling down and the need to stop eating, but he knew that her choice of the word Acorn wasn't accidental. She was asking about their son.

He also knew that her choice of the word corn wasn't accidental. It was too much to be a coincidence considering the last few days. She was trying to tell him something about the corn investigation. And maybe how it related to her lying injured in an infirmary bed.

He needed to know how his law enforcement investigation had resulted in his wife being injured.

So he could keep her and Aaron safe.

"Elizabeth, what about corn?" Jack inquired intently. He leaned close so he could hear her words, but she remained silent.

She had already fallen back asleep.

Up next: Chapter 95. (Until then, have a Happy Passover, a Happy Easter, and a Happy Weekend).