CHAPTER SEVEN: PUSHING THE LIMITS

Two days later, Bertrise had noticed that Rachel's cold wasn't getting better. In fact, it had gotten much worse. Bertrise looked up from her work at the sound of her mentor coughing. "That doesn't sound good," she commented.

"I'm fine," Rachel dismissed her concern. "Stop worry - " Another coughing fit cut her off, undermining her protests.

"I still think you should talk to the doctor," Bertrise told her. She'd been trying to convince Rachel to go to sickbay all morning. Yes, they had a lot of work left to do, but she was starting to get genuinely worried. Rachel was white as a sheet and seemed to be struggling to breathe.

The scientist rolled her eyes. "If it will make you feel better, I'll go once we finish this batch."

Bertrise nodded. "Yes, it will."

"Fine." Rachel stood up to go get some samples out of the centrifuge, but didn't make it more than two steps before her eyes rolled up and she dropped to the floor, unconscious. There was a sickening thud as her head struck the table on the way down.

"Dr. Scott!" Bertrise cried as she rushed over. "Are you okay?" But there was no response. In fact, Rachel didn't move at all, and blood was slowly starting to drip to the floor from the wound on her head. As Bertrise tried to determine if she was still breathing, she realized that the other woman was absolutely burning up. Something was horribly wrong.

Considering how busy the past week had been, Ashley, Ava, and Sam hadn't seen Rachel very much. Just quick hellos as they passed through the lab on their way out to play on the flight deck. They all missed her, and eagerly agreed when Ava suggested bringing lunch down to the lab for Rachel and Bertrise.

Sam carried two cups of water, while Ava and Ashley each held a plate. They were feeling particularly giddy because Mrs. Tophet had allowed them to walk down to the lab on their own. They had to promise that they wouldn't stay if Rachel was busy, and that they would get back on time for a history lesson with Jed. But they'd earned a rare little bit of freedom and cheerfully said hi to everyone they passed along the way.

"Make a hole!" a voice suddenly yelled, and the children looked up in surprise to see a couple crewmembers hurrying in their direction down the p-way. They easily recognized Doc Rios; he and the sailor behind him were carrying a stretcher.

A nearby crewman noticed the three children frozen in shock in the middle of the corridor. He pulled them against the wall, out of the way, just in time. The trio watched with wide eyes as the little medical procession passed by.

"That's Dr. Scott!" Ava exclaimed as she realized who the unconscious patient on the stretcher was.

Ashley and Sam were speechless, both reliving horrible memories from a few months prior. The scene was too similar to seeing their mother taken away from them for the final time.

Tom got alerted on the bridge that there had been a medical emergency in the lab, but he didn't receive any other details as the afternoon wore on. Therefore, he decided to stop by sickbay before going to meet his family for dinner.

Doc Rios was at his desk in the main area, and Tom could see Bertrise sitting at Rachel's bedside in the back room, holding her hand. The scientist was still unconscious, which he assumed was a bad sign. "How's she doing, Doc?"

"I'm trying to get her fever down. It's still above 103, which is an improvement from the 104.3 reading I took when she got here, but just barely."

Tom's eyes widened. "That's a helluva cold."

Rios scoffed. "A cold? She's got pneumonia - and now a concussion. Although if she hadn't passed out, who knows how long she would have gone before getting medical attention."

Tom sighed. Apparently the saying that doctors make the worst patients was true. "How bad is it?"

"Besides the fever, I'm keeping an eye on her oxygen levels. She's on antibiotics, and hopefully she'll start responding soon."

He nodded. "Thanks, Doc. Keep me posted."

When Tom arrived in the wardroom for dinner, Ashley and Sam were sullenly sitting in their seats, staring at the table. "What's the matter, guys?" he wondered as he sat down. "Bad day at school?" Normally they were little chatterboxes in the evening.

"Dr. Rachel is sick," Sam quietly replied.

Tom looked to his father, wondering how the kids knew. "They went down to the lab," Jed explained. "Saw Dr. Scott being taken to sickbay."

He sighed, imagining how scary that had been and wishing he'd known sooner. "Doc Rios is taking really good care of her," he explained. "She's pretty sick right now, but should get better soon."

"Are you sure?" Sam wondered.

"I'm sure," Tom replied, and prayed that Rachel didn't turn him into a liar.

Ashley sat motionless in her chair, even after a steward brought their dinner plates out. Sam started to pick at his food, nibbling on tiny forkfuls, but his sister refused.

"You need to eat something," Jed tried to tell her.

"I'm not hungry. I want to go see Dr. Rachel." He'd heard that request a lot throughout the afternoon; keeping the children occupied had been a difficult task.

"She's sleeping right now," Tom informed his daughter.

"I can be quiet," Ashley countered. "I want to see her."

"Me, too," Sam piped up.

He shook his head. "Not tonight. Once Rachel's feeling a little better, I'm sure she'll be happy to have you visit."

Ashley sat back in her chair, pouting. "I'm still not hungry. Can I go to my room?"

Tom nodded. "After you finish your dinner."

For the rest of the night, the kids didn't stop asking their father about when Rachel would be better and when they could see her. Getting them to bed took effort, especially Ashley.

In all honesty, Tom was worried about Rachel, too. Over the past several months, their little sickbay had been forced to handle way more than it was designed for; he prayed this wouldn't be the first case where they fell short.

Once his children were asleep, Tom headed back down to sickbay. Bertrise was still at Rachel's side, and the scientist remained unconscious. A small bandage covered a gash on her temple, and an oxygen line snaked across her face.

"How long have you been here?" he asked Bertrise.

She shrugged. "Since this afternoon."

"Have you eaten anything?"

She shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

Hearing Bertrise repeat the same words his daughter had been saying reminded Tom that she was also still a child. A soft-spoken old soul who had always been eager to be helpful, but nonetheless only 17 years old. They were supposed to be the ones taking care of her, not the other way around.

"Rachel wouldn't want you to end up in the other bed," he told her. "Go get some food and some sleep; I'll stay with her for a while."

Bertrise thought about it for a moment, but finally relented and stood up. "Okay. Goodnight, Captain."

"Goodnight... Sweet dreams," he added with a smile. Once alone, Tom sighed as he sat down beside the bed. "Well, you've had a helluva day, haven't you?" he asked Rachel's unconscious form.

Seeing her sickly and motionless was highly unnerving, so Tom started filling the silence. He talked to her about whatever he could think of, from what his kids had said at dinner to memories from their early childhoods.

"Sam took that bear everywhere," he explained about his son's favorite toddler toy. "Got it absolutely filthy and would cry anytime we tried to take it away to wash it. We'd have to try sneaking it out of his grasp while he was sleeping."

One of the monitors suddenly started beeping. "Doc?!" he called, and Rios quickly made his way over. After checking the machine, the doctor then fiddled with a device on her hand.

"Pulse-ox came loose," he explained as the beeping stopped. Satisfied, he headed back to his desk.

"You know, I could set my kids loose in your lab," Tom told Rachel as he sat back down. "I bet that would get a reaction out of you."

The monitor started beeping again. Instead of getting Rios, Tom looked for the pulse-ox monitor himself. It had slipped off once more, and then he saw why - Rachel's fingers were moving. She'd knocked it off.

"Rachel? Can you hear me?" Her fingers slowly tightened their grip on his hand. "You can," he realized. "Come on, open your eyes." It took a seemingly eternal minute, but her eyelids started to flutter. Tom smiled as she slowly looked around. "Hey. Welcome back."

Rachel's eyes finally met his. "Hi," she whispered, her voice rough. "What happened?"

"We officially found the limit of how hard you can push yourself."

She blinked. "I remember being in my lab…" she trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah, it's probably pretty fuzzy. You hit your head pretty hard when you passed out."

"How long was I out?"

"The rest of the day. It's gotta be near midnight now."

Rachel sighed. "I need to get back to the lab; we'll be behind schedule." She started to sit up, but the room began spinning wildly.

"Whoa, you're not going anywhere," Tom told her, pushing her shoulder to get her to lay back down.

"Captain - "

"Even if I have to post a guard at the door," he finished. "And don't think I won't do it. You are delirious if you think you're getting out of here before Doc Rios gives the okay."

Rachel sank back against the pillows in defeat. She didn't actually feel capable of standing, let alone walking to her lab, anyway. "Okay."

Tom nodded. "Good. Since you can't seem to manage taking care of yourself, I'm going to make sure it's done for you."

She smiled slightly, though couldn't keep her eyes from drifting shut due to exhaustion. "Should I be worried?"

He chuckled. "Maybe." Silence reigned for a long moment, and Tom wondered if she'd fallen asleep. But then Rachel spoke again.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He frowned. "For what?"

"Being here."

"Well, give Bertrise most of the credit; she was here for hours… But it was my pleasure."

Tom stayed a while longer, until Rios had finished checking Rachel over and she actually fell back to sleep. By the time he left for his stateroom, he was feeling relieved but totally worn out.

Before going into his own room, he decided to poke his head in and check on his kids. Sam was fast asleep in his upper bunk, but to his surprise, Ashley was sitting at the desk, working on something by flashlight.

"Honey, what are you doing?" Tom whispered. "It's - " his eyes widened as he checked his watch, "Oh, jeez, it's 1:17 in the morning."

She wasn't fazed. "I have to finish this for Dr. Rachel," she softly declared. Tom realized that she was making a bracelet. Twine and red insulated wire had been carefully braided together in an intricate pattern. More wire had been wrapped into a heart-shaped charm, which dangled from the bracelet.

"You can finish that in the morning," he told her. "Go on and get to bed." He started to take her arm to help her up, but Ashley dodged him.

"No! I have to finish it now!"

Sam stirred slightly at the sound of her outburst, but rolled over and remained asleep. "Come on," Tom told his daughter as he headed for the hatch, pulling her behind him. Across the hall in his room, he sat down on his bed and she stood in front of him. "Now, what's the matter?" His kids were almost never disobedient just to be rebellious. If they were misbehaving, something was going on.

"I have to finish my bracelet," she repeated. "It's to help Dr. Rachel feel better."

"That's very nice of you, but why can't you do it in the morning?" He wasn't expecting that question to send his daughter into tears.

"B-because I don't want her to d-die," she finally got out between sobs.

Tom was perplexed; where had that come from? "Sweetheart, she's not going to die."

"I d-didn't make Mommy a bracelet!" Ashley admitted, her tears coming faster. "W-when she got sick, I d-didn't make her anything to show her I loved her a-and then she died!"

Now it was all starting to make sense. "Shh," Tom whispered as he gathered her in his arms like when she was little and rocked her back and forth. "Oh, sweetheart, it wasn't your fault."

"W-what if it was?!" Ashley sobbed. It was a horrible thing to wonder - could a simple act have given her mother the strength to keep fighting just a little bit longer?

Tom hated that she'd been silently carrying this around. "Mommy knew how much you loved her. She knew it every single day whether you made her something or not. And she loved you so much. She would've done anything to be here with you now."

"I miss her so much," Ashley whimpered.

Tom held her a little tighter. "I know. And that's okay. It's going to get better, though, I promise."

"I don't want anyone else to die."

"Rachel's not going to die, sweetheart. I was just with her. She's really tired and she bumped her head, but she's going to be fine. You don't have to worry anymore, okay?"

Ashley nodded, wiping at her eyes as she started to calm down. "I miss Mom a little less when Dr. Rachel is around," she finally admitted. "Do you think she would be mad?"

Tom gave her a teary smile. "No, sweetheart. I think she'd be happy that you're not so sad all the time."

"Do you feel better when Dr. Rachel is around, too?"

He was about to say yes when it hit him like a lightning bolt. The answer to her question was YES. Yes, another woman made him feel better about losing his wife. Yes, another woman had become his friend and confidant and support system. Yes, there was the possibility that he loved her for it. It hadn't even been three months yet - how could he feel this way? How the hell could he betray his wife like this?!

"Daddy?" Ashley asked, and he realized he hadn't given her an answer.

"Uh, it's ridiculously late, sweetheart. Off to bed, now." Lucky for him, Ashley didn't push the issue. She just got up, gave him a hug, and went back to her room. Tom was left alone with a lot of interesting thoughts.

TBC...

A/N: Extra big thank yous to those who left feedback on the last chapter. You helped me get through a rough week, between work and evenings spent making hospital visits. But, thankfully, everybody's going to be okay, and it's almost the weekend. ;-)