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Chapter Thirty-Six: Stroke of Luck
As he walked away, Laura's words echoed in his mind.
"I'll be waiting for you, John, on the other side. I'll wait forever if I must, but promise me you won't hurry the end. Promise me you'll save Earth." She had left the most important thing unsaid, but he knew it anyway. Laura, I love you. I always will.
As he clasped her body closer to him, John almost swore he could still feel a heartbeat, albeit a faint one. Stopping for a moment and placing two fingers on her neck, he confirmed it: Laura was still alive, but just barely. With no clear idea of what to do, he began to run as quickly and as smoothly as he could, somehow heading closer to the base hospital. Pausing in his speed to negotiate a rough patch of ground, John resumed his run, taking extreme care not to hurt her anymore than was necessary.
Adams Medical Facility, 2253 hours
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
Dr. Gedeon was just finishing up a difficult lab test when a nurse stuck her head into the office.
"Yes, what is it?" She didn't mean to be abrupt, but this particular portion of the test was tricky, and if done improperly could negate the entire thing.
"Doctor, I think you'd better let me finish that up. You're wanted in ER stat." The nurse lowered her head. "I think it's your daughter."
Dr. Gedeon dropped everything and raced as quickly as she could to the emergency room, stopping as she saw Laura laid out on an operating table. Doctors, nurses, and orderlies were just finishing the transfer of her vital functions to life-support machines, and in one corner of the room stood a Spartan. She glanced up and noticed the look on his face, and thought it reminded her of Laura over the past few months: pain, despair, fear, loneliness.
"What have we got?" she quizzed one of the doctors, pulling off the lab coat and moving nearer to her daughter; even though she wanted to scream in her fear and worry, her medical persona took hold until she could move past the crisis point.
"Knife wound. It just missed her heart, but it was a near thing: took out two-thirds of her lung, severed a couple of connecting arteries. She's got severe internal bleeding, and according to the man who brought her in," the doctor indicated the Spartan, "she's been unconscious for about an hour. We've got her on life support for now, until we can get some new organs cloned for her and move her into the OR."
"How did this happen? How exactly did she get stabbed?"
"No idea. You'd have to ask him."
The room emptied out as the doctors went to see about Laura's replacement organs, leaving Dr. Gedeon alone with the formidable-looking Spartan. Now that she looked at him closely, she recognized him almost immediately: Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117, the man who had gone alone to rescue Laura from the Covenant.
"Master Chief, what happened? Who stabbed my daughter?"
"Ma'am." John hesitated. How do I tell her? "She did it herself. I couldn't get there in time to stop her."
"But why?" She looked intensely at the Master Chief, her blue eyes sporting a worried and confused look. As she stared at him, she noticed a pair of dogtags around his neck, dogtags that looked very out-of-place and oddly familiar. Wait a minute…those were Laura's! How did he get them?
"Ma'am, it's…a long story. Before I tell you, though, I need to know: Can you save her?" Dr. Gedeon noticed the look in his dark eyes, a look that mirrored something she'd once seen in Laura's eyes several months ago--hope.
"There's a good chance that she won't make it yet, but I won't give her up as easily as I did thirty-seven years ago. I'll do everything I can to save her; she is my daughter after all."
"Thank you, ma'am." He shifted uneasily, still not knowing where to begin.
"Several months back I was sent off to the front lines, by Colonel Ackerson. It wasn't just because of my being a Spartan, since I was the only one he sent. He sent me because…because I cared for your daughter, cared enough to risk everything for her." John shook his head, remembering the grief he'd felt leaving Earth, a grief that was only comparable to when Reach fell and most of his team was killed.
"I asked my team to keep an eye on Laura, and they told me when I got back that Ackerson had spoken to her, and basically told her that I wouldn't come home while she was alive. When she heard that…she…" he couldn't finish.
Dr. Gedeon was appalled, but she understood. Why didn't I realize it before? This isn't the first time this has happened, I should've known. She gently pushed the Spartan into a nearby chair; looking up at her at that exact moment, John saw the strongest resemblance to Laura in the intense look in Dr. Gedeon's blue eyes that he'd seen yet—that exact same fire that had caught his attention in Laura's dark eyes was there in the doctor's pale ones.
"I understand. She wanted to save you, so she played right into Ackerson's hands. Sometimes I wish she didn't care so much, since it can kill her so easily." Looking at the Spartan sitting in the uncomfortable-looking chair, Dr. Gedeon softened her bitter tone.
"Is that why you went after her, when she was captured?" He nodded. "I should have guessed. Laura told me Ackerson was very upset over that whole thing. I just wish she'd told me everything."
"She was afraid of what ONI might do. I never realized how much she feared them until…until I knew how much I loved her." The older woman smiled sadly, and placed one hand on his massive shoulder in reassurance.
"Don't worry, Master Chief. Laura's in good hands here. The number of times she's helped us out when things were busy here garnered her a lot of respect, and just about everyone here will do what they can for her now." She noticed the fatigue in his eyes; he was tired and worn out—and sad. "You should get some rest. I'll tell you if she wakes up. You can't help her anymore, for the moment."
"I don't want to leave her, ma'am."
"She'll be safe, I promise. There's a small bunk area nearby, if you're insistent on staying here. I'll tell General West what's going on." John nodded and allowed Dr. Gedeon to escort him to the overnight room. It was sparsely furnished and not very comfortable, but it was sufficient for his needs. Dr. Gedeon pointed to the bed, and he sank down on top of it.
"I'll see you're not disturbed. The moment she wakes up, I'll call you."
After she left the Master Chief in the overnight room, Dr. Gedeon sat down and held her head in her hands. Laura, what have you done? I don't know how I can help you anymore. While she was a decent enough doctor, Dr. Gedeon knew she didn't have the proper knowledge on the changes that ONI had made to Laura's physiology: in short, she didn't know if she could save her own daughter's life. When Laura had been brought in from the Covenant ship after being tortured, all she had done was keep her on pain medication and let her heal herself. Now she wasn't sure what to do.
"How is she?" Dr. Gedeon looked up to see General West and several ONI members standing in the doorway. She hadn't even heard them come in.
"Laura's in critical condition, sir. And without the proper knowledge of her physiology, I can't help her. With all the augmentations that were done, I don't even know where to begin."
"What exactly does she need?" one of the ONI men asked.
"Laura just missed stabbing herself in the heart; as it is, she damaged two-thirds of her left lung and severed two major arteries leading to her heart. She's on life support at the moment."
"I'll see to it that we send you all medical data relevant to the treatment she'll need. But remember, this data is classified."
"Of course."
Laura was floating in a strange dream; she remembered vaguely what had happened after she'd stabbed herself, but part of her still heard voices from the world she'd left behind—her mother, John, various doctors and nurses. They're trying to bring me back, trying to save my life, she realized. Poor fools, they don't realize it's already too late. She saw a light in the distance, strangely clear in the mists which drifted around her; she approached it and found herself in her grandmother's house, in the kitchen. Plants, mostly African violets, were on every windowsill, and there was a smell of freshly baked poppyseed cake all around her. Nana's favorite. She bent down to look at the cake cooling on the kitchen table when her grandmother walked into the kitchen. She looked nothing like she had when Laura had disconnected the life support, not frail and old—instead, she looked how Laura remembered her from when she was little: plump, smiling, old yet fit, with her hair tightly curled.
"Angel, how are you? I wasn't expecting you for several more years," the old woman smiled as Laura bent down and wrapped her arms around her, being careful not to squeeze too hard. Guess old habits really do die hard, even after death, she thought wryly. I'm still afraid of injuring people with a hug, even though I can't hurt a ghost.
"Oh, Nana, I missed you. I have so much to tell you."
"Yes, you do, but not yet." Laura looked at her grandmother in surprise. "You need to go back, Laura. It's not time for you to be here yet; no one comes here before their time."
"Nana," Laura's voice began to break, "I can't go back. I've fallen in love, but they'll kill him if I survive. I can't let him die."
"Laura, everything will be fine, trust me. You must go back," the old woman murmured as she kissed Laura on the cheek. Laura saw the kitchen door open, and there was a tunnel leading back to an operating room, and beyond it she saw John. Looking back one last time at her dear grandmother, Laura heard her whisper "Have faith" just before she stepped into the tunnel. For a brief moment she saw faces, and then all was darkness as she slipped again into unconsciousness.
June 30, 2553 1230 hours
Adams Medical Facility
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
It hurts, everything hurts, she thought as she tried to open her eyes. She was lying in a hospital bed, and felt I.V. tubes snaking into her arms. Around her she heard concerned voices, and struggled to recognize them.
"Is she going to be alright, Dr. Gedeon?" General West? Why's he here?
"It seems her body has accepted the replacement organs, now all we need to do is wait for her to wake up." Mom.
"Where's the Chief? I'd have thought he'd be here." Linda? How on Earth did she get here?
"I had to order him off to get some rest an hour ago. He's never left her side for a moment if he could avoid it." John, here? How? Ackerson will kill him! I have to stop him. That panicked thought brought her fully awake as she forced her eyes open and struggled to sit up, getting her mother's attention in the process.
"Laura, stay still. You're going to hurt yourself even worse."
"Mom, no, listen to me! They're going to kill him!" Her mother's face frowned in thought for a moment before she remembered the Master Chief's words two days before. "I have to stop them before—"
"Laura, it's okay. Nobody's going to kill him. You're safe now. Both of you." General West and Linda stared for a moment before they understood what Dr. Gedeon had picked up on almost immediately: Laura was thinking about the threat from Colonel Ackerson.
"What?" Laura couldn't believe her ears.
"Colonel Ackerson has been arrested for treason, attempted murder, and conduct unbecoming an officer," West spoke up from the corner of the room, a dark look on his face. "Whether or not the conviction will stick remains another matter, but there's no need to worry about him at present." Laura was relieved by this bit of news, but was still very confused.
"How am I still alive? I stabbed myself in the heart." Laura's mom shook her head.
"No Laura, you missed the heart and hit the lung, for the most part. I think that's the only time I've been proud to hear that you missed a target." And about the only time I've been glad you don't know mauch about human anatomy, she thought privately. Before anyone could say anything more, the door opened to see Nicole, Nathan, Fred, and Will standing outside.
"Laura! You're alive!" Nicole shouted as she bolted into the room and threw her arms around her friend's neck. Laura winced but smiled through the pain.
"I may not be if you keep this up much longer," she joked. Nicole immediately let go of her friend.
"Laura, I'll have you know you had everybody worried when you stabbed yourself," Nathan lectured from the doorway, a small smile on his face. "There's about a hundred people in the waiting room just waiting to hear if you're going to make it: myself, Nicole, your father, your brothers, Angela and the twins, several members of the brass, and tons of Marine and Naval personnel, not to mention a few Covenant pupils of yours." He smiled a little more broadly. "Nicole probably would have brought Skeeter with her if she'd been allowed."
"Oh shut up, Nathe. No way I could be that popular, remember? Everyone thinks I'm a traitor, and that I sold out humanity to the Covenant, or have you forgotten that little fact? There's no way they would change their minds now." Her dark eyes filled with tears, remembering the cruelties she'd gone through, and how simple it had really been to push her to destruction. She turned away, trying not to let her pain show, but Nicole and her mother both saw it.
"I think she's had enough visitors for one day. She needs a lot of bed rest if she's going to make it out of this," Dr. Gedeon herded everyone out of the room, deliberately refusing to see the figure who slipped past her into the door.
Laura was trying to cry into the pillow, so no one could see her tears, when she felt a familiar touch on her face, a gentle caress accompanied by a light clinking of dogtags. She turned her head, the tears still flowing, and cried even harder when she looked into John's beautiful brown eyes.
"It's all right, alaya," he whispered as he brushed away her tears. "Ackerson's in prison now. He can't hurt you any more, and he can't hurt me."
"Oh, John, I'm so sorry. I only wanted to save you, but he said you would never come home until I was dead. I couldn't let them kill you like that." She cried even harder, and John lifted her up and held her gently, stroking her dark hair as she cried against him.
"I know, Laura, I know. If it makes you feel any better, I hit the bastard myself. Broke his jaw, and damn near broke his neck." When Laura looked at him in surprise, he nodded grimly. "He was practically jumping with glee when he saw you lying there almost dead. I couldn't stand him looking so smug." He stopped for a moment and cupped her chin in his hands.
"When I realized you were still alive, I brought you here. Dr. Gedeon saved you, she gave you back to me. I refused to leave until I knew you'd be all right." He brought his head down and kissed her gently, softly. Laura had dreamed of his touch every day since he'd left, and it filled her to the soul. She kissed him back, wishing she had the strength to hold him in her arms. As it was, she was stuck in a hospital bed, with John holding her as if she were only a child.
A noise form the doorway interrupted their reunion, and they both looked up to see an amused Dr. Gedeon watching them.
"Master Chief, I'm sure you're pleased to see Laura's current condition, but I must insist you give her time to rest. She has a long road ahead of her, recovery-wise." He nodded and looked at Laura again.
"If you ever try something like that again—"
"I'll make sure not to leave a visible trail," she interrupted with an evil smirk on her face. Seeing his shocked reaction at her quip, Laura rolled her eyes. "You still can't tell when I'm being a smartass?"
"I've given up trying. Now get some rest, so I can get you out of here sooner." A small smile flickered across his face briefly, but faded as he turned and exited the room.
October 15, 2553
Adams Medical Facility
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
Laura hadn't been feeling well, and had asked her mother to run some tests. This was the third morning in a row she'd woken up sick, and it worried her. I can't stay out of this hospital for more than a few months, can I? she thought as she waited for her results. When her mother entered the room, Laura could tell from the smirk on her face that she was in for it.
"Well, what's wrong with me? What kind of virus is it, and how do I deal with it?" And why the evil smirk?
"Actually, it's not a virus, and there's nothing wrong with you. You're in perfect health," Dr. Gedeon replied, her grin getting wider. She enjoyed playing mind games with her daughter, even though it was rare that she had the upper hand.
"If I'm so healthy, then why do I wake up sicker than a dog?" Laura snapped in annoyance. "There's no reason why I wake up and feel like…wait…you're kidding…" her voice trailed off as she finally realized what her mother was implying. "Am I…?"
"Congratulations." The grin on Dr. Gedeon's face got even wider.
"How long?" Is this even possible?
"About four months. As I recall, that was just about the time you finally got out of here after your attempted suicide. You practically vanished that night, and no one could find you." Laura could only gape at her mother's face: if her grin got any wider her whole head would split in half. "At least, we thought no one could find you."
Laura didn't hear anything else; her thoughts were busy turning inward. All this time, I never dared hope. Now I have almost everything I wanted, and when John returns I will have everything.