Good afternoon! I hope I edited this right…I hope. But, let me know and I'll fix what I missed.
Just to let you know, I don't have a medical background, so don't take what I wrote as "true". Although, the medical equipment does exists, I'm not sure if the medical plan would really happen. LOL. It's fantasy after all…
Anyways, enjoy. We are almost done with this one. Already working on a second fic. ;)
Tania: Here's your answer my friend! Enjoy!
Lilievahine: Thank you for reading. I hope you like this chapter as well.
LittleMonkeyDog: Yeah, I never saw Face as a Richard either. Although, I can of see where the "rich" pedigree came from now. LOL! As with Tania, here's more. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. I always enjoy your fics too. I'd love to see what you can do with an Ellen story!
Chapter 6
Waiting outside the room, Hannibal's patience depleted rapidly. He was tempted to barge into the room to demand answers, but he knew better than to interrupt the medical team while they were taking care of Face. Murdock sneaked a peek every now and again, but he couldn't see anything other than a couple of nurses and the doctor hovering over Face's bed speaking medical jargon that he couldn't understand.
"How long has it been?" Frankie sighed as he leaned on the wall across from the room.
"Not too long," Murdock replied. "About five minutes or so."
"Feels like forever," BA sighed as he shook his head with worry.
Hannibal was past his patience level as the other men talked to one another. About to go in, he was suddenly stopped by the door of the room opening and the doctor walking out, "Mr. Smith?"
"Yes," the Colonel immediately answered, "What's going on? How's my nephew?"
"He is running an extremely high fever," the doctor answered. "I believe that he's not responding well to the medication we used to induce him. I'm having the staff call Doctor Cartwright. In the meantime, I'm going to have to get the drug out of his system. Before I do, however, I want to do another MRI to see if there's been any decrease in the swelling."
Looking worried, Hannibal asked, "Is he going to be alright?"
"I'm not concerned with the fever. Once the medication is out of his system, it's most likely to break," the attending on call answered. "What I'm concerned about is if the test shows that there is still some brain swelling, we'll need to figure out what other alternatives can be used to decrease it. If he is not responding well to this medication, which is the least strong of the three, I'm pretty positive he won't be able to stand the others."
"So what other alternatives, are they?" Murdock asked.
As soon as the question was asked, the doors of the room opened and the nurses wheeled out the bed carrying Face who lay motionless, but profusely sweating.
Looking back at the man wearing the dark brown leather jacket, the doctor replied as he hurried out, "Let's just take it step by step for now. Allow me to do the MRI first and then, either Dr. Cartwright or I will brief you as to our next steps."
As the men watched their friend whisked away by the healthcare personnel, a woman appeared from the opposite corner of the hallway and called out, "Wait!"
The men turned and watched as Ellen Bancroft almost ran to her brother.
"Excuse me," the doctor suddenly asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm his sister," she answered as she reached her brother. Caressing his face gently, Ellen answered, "What's wrong with him? Why are you taking him away?"
"Miss, I need to get him to Radiology," the doctor told her. Turning to Hannibal, he asked, "Can you brief her?"
"Yes. Ellen," Hannibal walked up to her, "Let them take care of him."
"Go ahead doctor," Hannibal interrupted, "We'll brief her."
"I'll provide you an update as soon as I can," the young doctor replied before helping the rest of the staff wheeled the patient to the elevators.
"Hannibal, what's going on? Where are they taking Templeton?"
"He's having a reaction to the medication they gave to induce him and it caused him to get a fever," he explained. "They need to get it out his system to stabilize him."
Nodding and immediately crying on him, Ellen answered, "Oh my God!"
"He's going to be fine," Hannibal gently stroked her back.
"How? What did they give him? Why are they making him worse?" she asked again trying to hold herself together.
The Colonel gently rubbed her shoulders as he tried to calm her down. The shock must have been so great for her that she didn't process his words the first time. He tried again. "Ellen, listen to me carefully. Face had an allergic reaction to the medication they gave him to induce him into the coma. They need to pump the meds out of his system."
"It's okay Ellen," Murdock whispered to her as he put his arm around her shoulders, "He'll be alright."
"What if he isn't?" she cried as she held on to Hannibal. "What if he…and I treated him…I was so awful to him."
Gently taking her away from Hannibal and guiding her to the room, Murdock sighed, "Don't think that way. Face is going to be very happy to see you."
The Colonel watched as Murdock tried calming the younger woman down. He had heard what had occurred between Ellen and Face months ago. Although surprised by her being here, Hannibal was happy that she had come to her senses. He knew that Face would be extremely happy to wake up and find his sister by the bedside.
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It had felt like hours before the group watched their friend and brother brought back to the private room where they held vigil. When looking at Face, they noticed how tired he looked despite his current state. When Ellen went to him, she immediately touched his forehead to see if the fever had passed.
"He will still have the fever until it eventually breaks," the doctor immediately told her when he watched her actions. A man in his mid-thirties, he was considerably younger than Dr. Cartwright, but his youth didn't take away the confidence in his disposition and firmness in words. Hannibal could tell the kid was smart.
Looking up, she asked, "How is he?"
"We ran the MRI and found that the swelling to the brain is slightly less, but he is not out of the woods yet. It would have been better to have kept him dosed. At this point, he can wake up at any time and it would complicate things."
"So what's next?" BA immediately asked. "I don't like the word complicate."
The doctor nodded cautiously, "Neither do I. Waking up in this condition could have dire consequences on him."
"What does that mean?" Frankie suddenly asked. "I mean, are you saying he's not going wake up at all?"
Ellen looked at her brother for a moment, regret filling her eyes, "Damn it," she whispered.
"That's one possibility," the doctor replied to the group. "Another could be that upon waking up, he can experience dizziness, irregular breathing, vision or memory loss, inability to walk, difficulty speaking, seizures, consistent loss of consciousness. There's a lot of possibilities. Truthfully, I'd rather he not wake up until the swelling goes down."
"You mentioned earlier about alternative treatments. What do you have in mind?" Hannibal asked.
"Dr. Cartwright is arriving at any moment," the doctor began, "I'm suggesting to her that we begin Oxygen Therapy on Mr. Bancroft."
"How does that work?" Ellen chimed in as she held her brother's hand.
"It's a new kind of therapy for coma patients still in its experimental stage," the man answered.
No sooner had the doctor replied when Dr. Cartwright walked into the room and continued the conversation, "I think it's our best option at this point." Looking at the rest of the group, she said, "Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy has been proposed as a treatment for minimizing secondary brain damage by improving the oxygen supply to the brain. In this case, Mr. Bancroft will be placed inside a specially designed chamber in which 100% oxygen is delivered at a greater than normal atmospheric pressure. It's the fastest and best method to getting him better at this point."
"You are telling me that there are no other options?" Ellen suddenly asked.
Shaking her head, the female physician turned and closed the door of the room before replying, "I'm going to be frank. We know who all of you are. General Stockwell briefed me."
Hannibal wasn't surprised, but instead of confirming his suspicions, he allowed her to continue, "Doctor Adam Jones served as Staff Sergeant in US Air Force prior to his discharge a year ago and I served in the US Navy, First Class Petty Officer."
"Let me guess," Hannibal now nodded in understanding, "You both work for Stockwell."
"We are on call whenever his people need help," Doctor Jones replied. "There are certain liberties that allow us to conduct procedures such as these to help…the EIA."
Frankie smiled, "So you all work for Stockwell too."
"Even though, we no longer serve in the military, we believe in serving our country the best way we can," Cartwright answered, "Mr. Peck is someone of value to our country, just like you all are. We will do everything we can to make sure he recuperates."
"You do know that we are fugitives, right?" Frankie shook his head in confusion, "I mean, you make us sound like assets to the country."
Doctor Jones smiled, "I've followed the A-Team for years. Even before you joined the EIA, I always believed that there was something unique about your situation."
"Joined?" Murdock snorted.
"Can't it fool!" BA whispered to the crazy man.
"Tell me what you plan on doing," Hannibal tuned the conversation back to his lieutenant.
"This is a portable chamber that we can bring to the room," Jones replied. "We can put the lieutenant inside the chamber for a few days. We're hopeful that the brain heals not only faster, but without any after effects to him."
"What are some of the side effects?"
"There's a possibility to damage to the lungs, damage to the ears and sinuses, vision changes," Cartwright answered, "But my main concern is oxygen poisoning. Unfortunately, this is the only thing we can do to save him from any brain injury."
Taking her brother's hand, Ellen answered, "What about his wound? Will the chamber affect the healing?"
"That will be very carefully monitored," Doctor Cartwright replied. "Please know that we have thought of all possible scenarios. Doctor Jones and myself will closely keep an eye on him for the next few days."
"How many days are we talking about?" Murdock asked.
"At least three," she answered immediately. "If we see that the swelling decreased, we will pull him out. At that point, he'll be able to wake up on his own."
"You sure 'bout that?" It was BA who now sounded skeptical.
"In the medical field there are never certainties, Sergeant Baracus," she answered gently. "But, I am certain that at this point, this is the best alternative we can provide your friend."
"We can bring in the chamber tonight," Jones replied. "The sooner the better."
"Do it," Hannibal immediately answered as he looked at Face and Ellen. He suddenly imaged the smile that would emerge from his friend's face if he saw the love Ellen showed to him, "We need him back soon." Looking at the rest of his team, the colonel watched as they looked back at him with agreeable eyes. Cartright was correct, this was all they could do at this point.
Nodding, the physicians asked if there were any other questions.
When no one in the group replied, the doctor nodded, "Okay. Then, the best thing to do now, is just talk to him. No study have been found to prove this theory, but there are cases where coma patients have stated that they could hear those around them even in their sleep state. Perhaps, by you doing this, you can motivate Lieutenant Peck to keep fighting."
"Thanks doc," Murdock smiled a little, "It may help."
With that, the doctors took their leave.
Once alone, the group looked at their leader. Wordlessly asking what was next, Hannibal turned to Ellen, "Well kid. You should use this time wisely."
"What do you mean, Hannibal?" she asked, curious as to what the older man meant.
Smiling the Colonel answered, "You came here to be with your brother. We'll leave you alone with him for a while. Talk to him. If the doc's theory is right, then you might just be the key to motivate him to come back to us."
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They had left her alone. Alone with her brother. Ellen still felt somewhat nervous about being left alone with Face, but oddly, she also felt happy and grateful. His family trusted her. Looking carefully at him, Ellen noticed, probably for the first time, how handsome her brother was. Despite how pale he looked, her attention focused on his facial features. They were perfect.
Funny, she thought, even noticing how handsome he was, she never, even when she didn't know about their relationship, felt attracted to him. She smiled.
"You know," she whispered in his ears. "You don't look like Dad. You don't have his eyes, or hair color. I got all that," she sighed. Her brother had obviously inherited all his physical traits from his mother. "Don't get me wrong Temp," she brushed his hair gently with her hand, "I think you got the better end of the bargain."
Part of her was hoping he'd answer her, but realistically, Ellen knew that wouldn't happen. Knowing that small talk wasn't really what she needed to do, the woman said, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for acting the way the way that I did. I'm sorry for not…trying. But, I need you to give me a second chance. It's like you said before, we only have each other. And, if you go, I'll be all alone and I can't have that because, I don't want to be alone. I can't allow you to leave me because I need my big brother. I need you Templeton."
Ellen kissed his forehead. He was still warm to the touch, "You can't leave me Temp. You can't."