The Tegan Chronicles
Intuition and Lies 38
"You did it." Jack clamped his right hand down on Tegan's shoulder after McKenzie had cleared out.
She'd given no indication it was bothering her, but as soon as he touched her she flinched.
Before he could apologize Janet spoke; "I need to take a look."
Tegan shook her head fighting back the urge to say it was fine. She cast an accusing eye around the group. "You all lied to me, every single one of you."
"How many times have you told us you're 'fine', when you're not?" Jack asked.
"That's different."
"Maybe, but we were only doing what we thought was best." Sam offered without apology.
"They were following orders, Major." General Hammond spoke in all his authority. "So if you want to be mad and distrust someone, then be mad at me."
"Yes sir." She suppressed the growl in her chest.
"Now, let Dr. Fraiser do her job Major."
"Yes sir." She turned trying to block their view as she reached up and disengaged the prosthetic. She took a deep breath through clenched teeth and just pulled it off, a mixture of bodily fluids causing it to cling like a suction cup to the raw inflamed skin.
"Oh Tegan." Janet stepped forward as everyone else gasped.
"It looks worse than it feels." Though the truth was the reverse of what she'd said. Her stump was covered in blisters, some filled with blood, others with clear fluid, others had already popped and were now harboring infectious green and yellow pus. The areas where her skin was still intact was red and inflamed.
"How did you..." Sam started and then stopped. She forgot for a minute just how hard headed Tegan was.
"I had to." She answered the incomplete inquiry.
"No you didn't." Jack shook his head."
"I couldn't let Teal get carted off to some science lab in area 51, or you and Sam get court martialed." She didn't intentionally leave Daniel out. "Besides my job was on the line too."
"We wouldn't have gone down without a fight." Sam reassured.
"Yeah, we dug up some dirt on old sneaky snake." Jack added for good measure.
"Hold on to it, you might need it in the future." Tegan warned.
"You mean 'we'?" Daniel adjusted his glasses.
"Yeah, we." She looked at Janet who was still looking at her stump and clearly fuming, even if no one else picked up on it. She averted her gaze to General Hammond. "Sir, when can I return to work?"
"As soon as Dr. Fraiser releases you for duty, Major." He was glad to see some things hadn't changed.
"I need to take a better look at this in the infirmary, get it cleaned and dressed."
"And I can return to work tomorrow." It was more a statement than a question.
"No. You need to let this heal, you've pushed too hard."
"I wasn't given a choice. I did what I had to do. It's not like you all gave me the full four months to work up to this. I had to do it in three weeks. Besides, if I don't return to active duty satus McKenzie is going to be breathing fire again."
"You let me handle him." General Hammond ordered.
"By the way, how did you find out?" Jack asked.
"I over heard Janet's side of a conversation and she mentioned Jessica. I called her and got the condensed story from."
Janet cleared her throat, it explained a lot. "This really needs attended to."
"You're all dismissed." General Hammond turned to Janet. "I'd like to see you when you're done. Same goes for you Major Kiser."
"Yes sir." They answered in unison.
"What the hell?" Janet took a closer look at Tegan's stump when they got to the infirmary. "I can't believe Dana agreed to this with your arm looking like this."
"It's a stump, and she didn't see it."
"When's the last time you took the prosthetic off?"
Tegan set her jaw and stared off.
"I asked you a question Major."
She turned her head away from Janet and sighed, "Three days ago."
"Three days?"
"Yes."
"Care to explain."
"There will be times when I'm off world and I'll have to wear it 24/7."
"This isn't one of those times."
"It was swelling and I was afraid once I got it on, if I took it off I wouldn't be able to get it on again." Tegan looked at the pustules that had formed. "It didn't look anywhere near this bad."
"Of course not, it's had three days in a dark moist environment to incubate."
"There wasn't any breakdown at the time."
"You're sure about that?"
"No, now can we get this over with?"
Janet cracked the seal on a bottle of sterile water.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Tegan sounded almost child-like.
"I was given orders not to."
"By your self?" Suddenly the hurt had disappeared from her tone, she was hiding it with thick sarcasm.
"By General Hammond."
"But it was your idea."
"No, it wasn't." And that was the truth. Everyone had come to the same conclusion and General Hammond had enforced it. She touched Tegan's stump with gauze she'd soaked in the sterile water.
"Ouch." She jumped.
"Sorry."
Nothing else was said as Janet cleaned and dressed the wound. "All done, but you're not going to be able to wear that for a couple days, maybe more."
"I know." Tegan picked up the prosthetic and slid off the bed. She walked around the curtain and saw Julie. "Copley."
"Major Kiser, how are you doing?" Her face beamed.
"Ok." She looked at the gift wrapped box with a large green bow on it, in Julie's hand.
"I was going to stop by and drop this off after work, but I heard you were on base." She held the box out.
Tegan took the box. "Thanks?"
"You can open it."
Tegan found an empty patient table and sat the box down realizing she could simply pull the lid off. She should have guessed that Julie would have thought ahead and wrapped it for easy access. She slipped the lid off to find several interesting pieces of material. She pulled a black one out, realizing immediately what it was. "Sleeves?"
"Yes, it's a custom blend material made to wick moisture away. I hope they fit. I did the measurements when I did one of your dressing changes."
Tegan looked at the seamless sleeve with complete awe at Julie's skills. The sleeve would pull over her stump and then there was a strap that would go over her head to keep it in place. It was slightly elastic to fit snugly, and even had two holes that should line up with the interlocking piece to her prosthetic. "I'm sure they'll fit fine."
"I made you two white ones, three beige, and four black. Though I'm working on a few more black ones since they'll probably be the ones you'll wear the most."
Tegan nodded, the black would go better under her black t-shirt with her BDUs. "How much do I owe you?"
"It's a gift, you don't pay for gifts."
"Ah." She smiled. "Thank you, I really can't tell you how much I appreciate this. Or how much help I'm sure they'll be."
Julie nodded. "Just don't try them on until Dr. Fraiser says you can put your prosthetic back on."
"Not you too?" She glanced back at Janet who was watching her.
Julie smiled as Tegan put the lid back on her gift.
"General Hammond's waiting." Janet reminded.
"After you."
The Sergeant working outside General Hammond's office greeted them. "Major Kiser, if you'll have a seat. Dr. Fraiser you can go on in."
"General." Janet walked into his office.
"Close the door and have a seat Doctor."
"Yes sir." Janet pushed the door until it clicked into the frame before sitting in the chair facing his desk.
"I'm assuming from Major Kiser's performance, she's able to return to duiy?"
"Physically sir," Janet paused. "May I speak freely?"
It was never a good sign when she asked, and it wasn't like she wouldn't if he'd said no. "Of course."
"You saw her stump."
"But other than that?"
"That's a pretty big but sit, and there's still the question of how she's dealing with this mentally."
"I have her psyche eval here." He tapped the folder on his desk. "And she's fit for duty."
"I can't clear her for any missions off world until she's completely healed without any open sores."
"And how long will that be?"
"A week, maybe two if she listens to me and doesn't wear her prosthetic. Longer if she disregards my advice."
"I'll make sure she doesn't and I'll let her know she's cleared for restricted duty beginning Monday."
"Yes sir."
"One more question, should her prosthetic arm have caused that kind of injury?"
"Not under normal circumstances sir. But I believe she's been working aggressively every minute I've been gone over the last three weeks, and sneaking out once I was asleep to do the same."
"Some things never change do they Dr. Fraiser?"
"I'm afraid not sir."
"Thank you Doctor. You're dismissed." General Hammond waited a few minutes before he called Tegan in. "Close the door and have a seat."
If she thought he was going to congratulate her, she quickly changed her mind.
"How's your arm?"
"It's infected, sir." She figured Janet had already given him a run down of her injuries.
"I understand you won't be unable to go off world until it's completely healed."
Of course, she knew this was protocol but it still caused her to curse Janet silently. "Yes."
"I'm willing to let you come back to work on Monday, limited duty, if you promise to follow Dr. Fraiser's orders to a T."
Tegan sat there for a full minute before agreeing.
"And for the record McKenzie didn't have a leg to stand on, so you should have come to me. He isn't the only one with connections."
"Yes sir."
"That'll be all."