"Mckay, move your sorry butt now!" Tim was trying to use intimidation to get Mckay to move fast, and as far as they could tell it was working. He allowed Eric to clip him to the rope and lower him down to the ground level where a gurney was waiting for him. Beckett was lower to down while Mckay was being wheeled away. Before Rodney's complaining had faded way, everyone started working on the problem of getting the panicked Eaton out of the vent.
"What if we blindfold him?" Wage suggested "It works when you are trying to get a horse out of a burning building. Why won't it work as for a claustrophobic astronomer?"
"I heard that." Eaton wheezed, but didn't move.
"Well it is either that or you start moving."
Eaton figured out a third option. He hyperventilated to the point where he passed out.
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"You touched me again." Avril said sharply.
"No I didn't." Kavanagh shot back.
"Would you two stop it?" Albert Johnston was the next to speak up trying to prevent the argument from escalating, again."
"How much farther do we have to go?" Avril asked.
"I have no clue." Albert commented.
"Why don't you ask the person who is on the radio?" Kavanagh suggested annoyed.
"I am not going to tie up the radio frequency and bother Celia again asking about our location. We will get out when we get out." Wage replied. From the noise they made Wage knew that currently the only person Kavanagh and Avril hated more then each other was him. But by then he really didn't care. In fact he was almost to the point of hating them back.
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Part way through surgery, Bec blood oxygen levels continued to drop and it was clear she was going into respiration failure. They switched her from the non-rebreather mask to a ventilator. All they could do now was continue to pump her full of blood products and volume expanders, patch up the holes, and pray.
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"Sh, I think I hear something." Dr. Raginmar stopped and listened. There was someone in the vents.
"Carl, are you sure that it is something is there or it the same as the whole we are not going in circles thing?"
"Perez, be quiet." Raginmar replied sternly. "There is someone out there. ANYBODY OUT THERE!?!"
"Carl, are you out of your mind?" Perez was starting to panic. But after a few seconds they heard voices in reply.
"HELLO, MAY I GO OUT ON A LIMB AND SAY YOU ARE THE MISSING PAIR OF SCIENTIST. MAY I ALSO ASSUME THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET OUT NOW?"
Perez and Raginmar looked at each other and replied. "YES!"
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Grodin was still typing on the computer, when Sheppard radioed Weir with the announcement.
"We just got Mckay and Eaton out, plus one of the geologists found the last pair of scientists. They are currently on the last leg of the journey coming out."
"And now you work." Grodin glared at the computer, Weir looked at him a little funny. "The censors are working."
"Oh, and if Grodin is up there tell him that Carson wants him to report to the infirmary."
With a soft smile Grodin looked at Weir. "Today is not my day." He laughed, as he closed the computer and got up, but before he left he had on last request. "Make sure my people get some sleep." Weir quietly nodded.
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"Caroline, I think she is come to."
At that moment Bec's eyes opened wide with pain and panic. In one fluid motion she kicked out at the people holding her down snapping through a few her restraints. Flailing her injured arm she smashed it into the Dr. Andrew Ludwig face bruising his lip and causing a trickle of blood to drizzle down his chin. Dr. Caroline Marks immediately pinned down Bec's head and shoulders so she didn't dislodge the subclavian IV port.
"Sh, it is okay. It is okay." Bec made a choking sound. "It is okay we had to put in a trach tube, to help you breath. You need to relax and stop fighting it, okay?"
As things calm down and Bec body stilled but her eyes still looked up to her in pain. Dr. Ludwig glanced over Caroline as he lifted his hand from the injured arm. She has torn out at least a half hour worth of stitches and a small artery had started spurting blood again. He got fresh gloves and gently started the first stitch. Bec's back arched and her eyes were pain filled but keep her injured arm ridged. Caroline held Bec down firmly while gently holding her uninjured hand. Watching the reaction, it dawned on Caroline what was wrong.
"Andrew, stop stitching. I think that the local anaesthetic wore off." Still holding Bec's hand and she stroked her hair. "It is okay. Everything will be okay. We are going to give you something for the pain. You can go back to sleep." By the time were ready to give the shot of anaesthetic, Bec hand had relaxed. She had given into the darkness.
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"Mckay, stop moving." Carson was glaring at Mckay as he was squirming enough to make the medical staff worry about him dislodging the IV in the arm.
"But it really hurts."
"I know it hurt's, lad. You have eight cracked ribs. If you want to save yourself pain, I would lay back and stop moving."
"Can't give me anything?" Mckay wined.
"You suffered a concussion and you have already maxed out your Tylenol allotment. Now just lay back, try to sleep and if you are really good I will see if one of the nurse can find you a bowl of Jell-o."
"Blue."
"Yes, Rodney I will see if a nurse can find you a bowl of blue Jell-o for you." Beckett was glad that he could escape to check on how his other patients were settling in. "How are you doing Zelenka?"
"Okay," Radek looked up Carson. "Everything hurts."
"You know I can't give ya, anything you had a concussion, son."
"I know that, take two Tylenol and call you in the morning, I guess." Zelenka chuckled a bit.
"That is the spirit, lad; call me if you need anything." Carson was about to his attention to Eaton, who was now happily sleeping, when the next group of scientists came in. Perez was confused, Raginmar looked lost, Avril was flustered, and Kavanagh looked extremely flustered as he held a white cloth to his nose, blood starting to soak through his fingers. "Kavanagh, what happened to you?" Avril, Kavanagh, and Johnston, who was following them, opened there mouths and Dr. Beckett regretted asking.
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Five hours after Dr. Rebecca Thomason was rolled into infirmary, Dr. Andrew Ludwig came out to report on the surgery. He looked like a mess. Blood stains down his surgical gown and a purple bruise stained his puffy bottom lip. He also looked very tired as he scrubbed his hand through his scruffy hair.
"She made it through. We had to put her on the ventilator and we are still pumping blood into her, but she is currently post op."
"When can we see her?" Timothy Hendricks asked, quietly.
"Tomorrow afternoon at best, her bodies took big shock and she is still not out of the woods yet. If you will give us a chance to get her stable, promise you will have plenty of time to talk with her."
Tim and Eric were going to argue, but Dr. Beckett quickly came up after getting his patients settled. "Andrew, what happened to your face?"
"Dr. Thomason woke up during surgery. She panicked a little and broke the restraints, she did some damage before we got her calmed down." Dr. Ludwig touched his lip. "But she is fine now, Caroline is with her."
"Please can we see her, Dr. Beckett?" Tim asked. "Just for a minute, I won't get in the way. We just need to know that she is still here. Then we promise that we will leave. We will go get something to eat, report to the rest of the team and go to sleep. Just let us see her first."
Carson looked at the pleading ex-navy SEALS. "Alright lads, I will let one of you see her." Dr. Ludwig tried to argue. "Son, have you every tried to keep Major Sheppard out of the infirmary when one of the team is injured." Andrew shook his head no. "Well it is nearly impossible. The only way to get these people out of the infirmary and into their beds is to convince them everything will be okay. The only way to do that is to let them see there teammate alive with their own eyes."
Author's Note-I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As you can tell this story is coming to a close and I need your help. How can I improve my writing for the next story, which characters do you want to see again, and what types of stories do you want. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.