Tegan Chronicles

Intuition and Lies 27

The rest of the week went no better. Tegan continued to spend restless nights in the normally unused master bedroom while Janet woke frequently listening for signs of distress. Galahad and Cassie slept soundly on the other end of the house. Friday evening Jack called and talked to Janet about getting the team together over there. She agreed it might be nice, not just for her but Tegan could use some company besides her and Cassie and occasionally Maggie Scully.

Tegan was making some progress. She was moving around the house on her own, it was an improvement but she still had a long way to go. Janet was still using the threat of the NG tube daily to get Tegan to eat.

Janet and Jack both watched as Tegan shook two pain pills into her hand Saturday evening and swallowed them with a swig of water. She made a face, she'd never cared for warm water. Jack couldn't count the number of times she'd made the same face after drinking from her canteen.

"Pond water?"

"Yes sir."

"Relax Tegan, drop the sir."

She nodded.

Daniel and Teal'c were out on the back deck freezing their collective body parts off in the chill of Colorado in mid February as Daniel tried to teach Teal'c the finer points of grilling the perfect hamburger. Jack had said he was too old to deal with frost bite and had instead stocked the fridge with various beverages, most of which were bottled in brown glass. Sam had taken over Tegan's normal role and baked a pan of blondies, she was now semi immersed in a street racing video game with Cassie and losing badly.

Tegan shooed Galahad off her lap.

"Where'd that cat come from again?" Jack asked.

"Cassandra found him in a box on the porch." Janet watched Tegan stand.

"Do you still have the box?"

"I put it in the garage." Cassie answered as Sam slammed her lime green sports car into a concrete pillar. "You always hit that one."

"I know." Sam tossed the controller into the basket where they were stored. "I hate this game."

"What can I get you Tegan?"

"Nothing." Tegan looked back at him as she made her way to the fridge. "I need to move around."

Jack watched her pull something out of the fridge and put it between her thighs. He thought it was a pretty ingenious way to open a bottle with one hand, though he'd probably done it himself a time or two if he really thought about it. Then he realized exactly what kind of bottle it was and made eye contact with Janet. He held his own bottle up and pointed as Tegan managed to pry the lid off hers. Janet looked to see what she was doing and quietly got up and moved into the kitchen behind Tegan. Just as the cool round glass touched her lips she felt it pull back.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to drink." Tegan thought the answer was obvious.

"Not this."

"And why not?" Her voice held a certain hostility.

"Not with the meds you're taking."

Sam looked at Cassie. "Why don't we head upstairs and I'll beat you at a game of chess."

"In your dreams." Cassie led the way.

"You shouldn't mix alcohol with Vicodin."

"People do it all the time."

"You're smarter than most of those people."

Tegan pulled the bottle back from Janet.

"You don't drink."

"I can't think of a better time to start, can you?" The question was rhetorical.

"Tegan don't do this."

"What?" She looked at Janet for a minute and then laughed mirthlessly. "You think... Vicodin and alcohol aren't going to kill me."

"You just took two pills."

"No." At this point she couldn't remember if she'd taken two. Janet had written the script for one to two every four to six hours as needed, but she'd only been taking one even when the pain was bad. Of course it was always bad.

"You did. And you don't want to do this." Janet pointed at the bottle.

From the living room Jack was watching to see if he needed to intervene.

"I'm not..." Tegan turned to the sink and tilted the bottle upside down. "I'm not suicidal."

"No, you're just going through a lot."

"I don't even like beer, it smells to bad to drink.." Tegan handed the empty bottle to Janet. "I'm not hungry."

"You didn't eat much for lunch and you skipped breakfast."

Daniel slid the door open. "Burgers are ready."

Sunday afternoon Cassie plopped into the chair and looked at Tegan who was sitting on the other end of the couch with her cat in her lap. He was her cat because she had found him. Why he had to like Tegan so much was beyond her. She sighed. "Do you hate me?"

"What?" Tegan's head popped to the side so she could look at Cassie.

"You heard me."

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

"You've been home a week tomorrow and you've barely said anything to me."

"Come here." Tegan patted the cushion next to her.

Cassie got up and cautiously sat beside Tegan despite her stump being on the other side.

Tegan leaned against Cassie and rested her head on her shoulder. "I've kind of been caught up in my own world lately."

"I know."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, don't worry about it." Cassie felt guilty for being so self conscious, especially given the circumstances. "Does it hurt?"

Tegan nodded without lifting her head. "All the time, but don't tell your mom."

"I think she already knows." Cassie warned. "Does it even hurt when you take the pain meds?"

"Some." There was no reason to lie, still she spared her the full truth.

"Is it going to get better?"

"I sure hope so kid."

"And you and mom?"

Tegan was quite for a while. "We're ok."

Cassie let out a doubtful sigh.