11
When Jean opened her eyes a blur of light and color slowly came into focus, and she found herself looking up at a ceiling. She didn't bother trying to move, but after glancing around she realized that she was on the floor of the transporter pad. And she wasn't alone. Her upper body and her head were being supported by something warm and solid. Warm and solid and breathing. A momentary panic settled over her but lifted when she caught sight of the her companion's face. Relieved, she forced herself to exhale slowly, knowing that anything other than a slow deep breath would heighten the pain in her side.
It's Lieutenant Reed. He carried you out of the city, remember? Now relax and stop being silly.
"If someone else wants to play Matah Hari next time, be my guest..." She broke off, wincing and closing her eyes before tiredly letting her head rest against Reed's warm shoulder. Without giving it any real thought, he held her closer and squeezed her hand sympathetically.
Reed wanted to help the ensign feel better, but he didn't know what to do. She'd saved his life and Captain Archer's on the planet and she'd gotten stabbed in the process. Now he held her in his arms on the transporter platform, wanting to do whatever he could to help her.
He owed her that much at the very least. Not because she'd made their escape possible and put her own life in jeopardy, but because he'd personally recommended her for this mission. She wouldn't have been in this mess if it weren't for him.
Yes, sometimes she was silly and highly unprofessional, but she was always good to have along on missions. Her bravery couldn't be questioned, she was a shrewd judge of character, and she had a great facility for deception. In fact, she'd been able to get the information needed to salvage today because of her talent as an actor. Even her reference to Matah Hari was accurate, with her acting chops she could be a good spy. Reed smiled briefly at the thought...
... until she whimpered softly and her fingers tensed on his neck, bringing him back to reality. I really did a bang-up job protecting her. He shook his head.
Her head began to roll to one side and she mumbled incoherently before pressing her cheek into his shoulder and tightening her hold on his neck. Getting increasingly worried, he grabbed her arm and lightly shook it. She shifted slightly in his arms, but her eyes remained closed.
Fortunately, Phlox arrived just then and got to work. After a quick glance at his patient, he shook his head grimly. "She's going into shock. We need to keep her warm and get her to Sickbay immediately. Corpsman, get her onto the gurney."
Jenkins, the corpsman, nodded, taking out a blanket from below the gurney and helping to spread it over the ensign. Once she was covered, he turned to Reed, moving forward to help lift the ensign out of Reed's arms. "Don't worry, sir. Phlox will fix her up in no time."
Reed instinctively tightened his hold on her. He knew it was irrational, but he couldn't let go of her. Somehow, he had the feeling that if he didn't maintain some form of physical contact with her, she would slip away forever.
Now, even though his arms were getting tired, his back was starting to hurt again, and his ribs had been complaining for some time, he wasn't about to hand her over to someone else, even if the someone else was following orders. Reed tried to get to his feet, but burdened as he was by the ensign's weight, and impeded by his own injuries, he couldn't quite manage to stand up without help.
Without being asked, the corpsman helped Reed get up and kept a hand on the lieutenant's arm, making sure he was steady on his feet. All through this, Jean remained blissfully unaware. Jenkins removed his hand from Reed's arm and shot a glance at Phlox before turning back to the lieutenant. "Sir, at least let me help keep her steady while you move her."
Before Reed could protest, something unexpected happened. A sleepy female voice floated up from somewhere around his waist height.
"Don' tell me the pall-bearers are volunteerin' already."
Both men looked down in surprise and saw that Jean had partially opened her eyes. She was looking much the worse for wear but still faintly smirking up at them.
"Don' argue. Jus let 'im help if he wants to. 'kay?"
She sounded tired but insistent, so when Jenkins took a step towards him with his hands outstretched, Reed allowed the other man to support her other side as they stepped off of the transporter and made their way to lay her down on the gurney.
"Okay, Ensign, I'm letting him help." He checked her reaction and saw her smile faintly and then he felt her nod her head against his hand as they set her down. Without her in his arms anymore, he felt strangely cold.
As soon as she was on the gurney, Phlox busied himself cleaning a portion of her skin and inserting an IV catheter into the crook of her elbow. Once the needle was in, they set off for the turbolift at a good clip. The corpsman hooked up the line to a bag of whole blood which was held aloft on a hook attacked to the gurney, ensuring that gravity would make the liquid flow into her veins and replenish at least some of what she had lost. "How about you, Lieutenant, hmm?" Phlox didn't look up from tending to the ensign. "Are you injured?"
Reed shrugged, trying not to let his hand move from her shoulder. He was helping to push the gurney, which at least let him feel useful, but he still felt that he had to stay in contact with her as much as possible. He gave a tiny, dismissive shake of his head after giving himself a mental once-over. "Just a few cuts and bruises, doctor, nothing to write home about."
"He's lying, Phlox," Jean muttered. She sounded annoyed, but couldn't quite muster the energy to glare at Reed. "Three bruised ribs and a mild concussion… and that was before the fight we were just in."
The doctor looked at her for a moment and then at Reed, lifting one eyebrow in a fair impression of Sub-commander T'Pol. "Lieutenant?"
After a moment's hesitation, Reed nodded at the doctor, confirming that what Jean had said was true, and then fixed her with a mock glare. "Tattle-tale."
She smiled up at him with weak defiance. "Doesn't matter how bad off I'm... 'm still a doctor."
Her voice was softer now and she sounded mildly confused, almost unsure of what was going on. Reed wanted to keep her distracted and hide how worried he was, so he tried to keep talking to her. It was hard, though, for him to speak past the steadily growing lump in his throat. Much as he cared about her, he hadn't even considered the possibility of shedding any tears. After all, Reeds don't cry… but since he hardly had the best track record when it came to upholding family traditions, the sardonic part of his mind snickered that him breaking down and weeping wouldn't really come as a galloping shock to anyone.
He pushed those thoughts aside and spoke with forced optimism, "don't worry, Ensign, you're going to be okay."
There was a weak but distinct laugh, followed by the half-mumbled word 'doubtful.'
She was getting worse. Her breathing was becoming shallow and rapid, she was shivering and her skin was cold but slick with sweat.
"Take slow breaths, Ensign, in and out," Phlox instructed, reaching up to give the IV bag a squeeze and thereby sending more of the whole blood into her system.
She weakly shook her head. "Breathing hurts. It... hurts..."
Reed saw her wince at each breath and worried that the stab wound might have grazed or punctured her lung. His medical knowledge was very limited; he knew she was going into shock, but wasn't sure exactly what that meant in terms of her chances for survival, and he hadn't been confident in his interpretations of the medical scans which he had taken.
"I'm sorry that it hurts, Ensign, but try some deep breaths. In and out, that's right, just like Phlox said. That's good. Doctor, what I can do to help?"
Phlox shook his head as they neared the turbolift. "Push faster. There isn't room for all of us to be in the turbolift at once." Isaac, the corpsman, ran ahead and triggered the door to open so the doctor wouldn't be delayed. Phlox continued, "You and Mr. Jenkins will need to use the lift on the other side of Engineering and meet me in Sickbay. Go!"
Reaching the pod took less than the estimated time since the captain and Trip were in such a hurry, and they got there without much trouble. Archer took the helm and fired up the pod. It would be a minute or so before they could take off, and he entered the launch sequence in the meantime.
Trip stowed the away team medkit underneath one of the benches, then there was a loud chittering sound and he seemed to stumble over something.
"What the hell…?" Trip sputtered
Archer swiveled his chair around, looking back at Trip worriedly. "Everything okay back there?"
Trip had fallen back onto the opposite bench and perched on his chest, making soft chirping noises while its purple tufted-tail twitched back and forth, was Sextus, the alien squirrel they had encountered at the beginning of the mission.
Archer laughed, letting out a relieved breath and letting his hand go back up to the console. When he'd heard Trip's exclamation, he had started to reach for his phase pistol, but once he saw Sextus, he instantly relaxed.
"How did it get in here?"
After a glance at the console, Archer caught sight of the open side hatch and chuckled. "That's my guess…" he indicated the hatch with his chin, then turned back to the controls. "We're ready to launch. Close the hatch and I'll take us up."
Trip reached up and gently moved Sextus to one of the benches so he could get up. "You just sit tight right there, little guy." He stroked the soft fur between the animal's ears, and it made the same purring-cooing noise it had when he first petted it. Smiling at his success in getting the animal out of the way, Trip moved to the hatch. He closed and secured it, then moved to sit in the co-pilot's chair by Archer's left elbow, giving the captain a thumbs-up.
"All set to go, sir."
Sextus chirped nervously as the pod's thrusters came to life. It jumped down from the bench, all six of it's tiny feet skittering across the deck, and clambered up Trip's leg. It didn't seem to settle down and stop it's fearful gibbering until Trip petted it a few times.
Trip smiled down at his new little friend while he kept petting it, but the smile faded as he thought about the first time they had seen the little guy. An image of Jean crouched in front of the bushes with Sextus tentatively resting his paws on the side of her hand popped into his head, and he swallowed hard.
"Think she'll be okay?"
The captain closed his eyes briefly and sighed. He'd managed to push that question to the back of his mind while he was doing the pre-flight checks, and a part of him hated Trip form reminding him of why only half of the away team was currently in the shuttle.
"I hope so, Trip. I really hope so."
Ever since they had launched, Archer had secretly prided himself on the fact that they'd had so few serious injuries and no fatalities on their missions. The few injuries which they had suffered on missions had mainly been confined to himself and the senior staff, with the exception of Novakovitch on their first mission after delivering Klaang, and one of Reed's people at P'Jem. He cared about every member of his crew and he didn't want any of them to be hurt, so it wasn't a question of wanting to maintain a zero percent casualty rate. Also, he liked Jean. He always had, even back when Trip's attempts to flirt with her had been a weekly fixture of their nights out together. Watching her consistently make a fool out of Trip had always been fun, and once he had asked her to join his crew as Deputy Medical Officer, his respect for her had steadily increased, especially after Terra Nova when she was looking after Reed and had managed to get the three of them to share a meal in his reclusive Tactical Officer's quarters.
Archer really didn't understand how she had gotten so close to Reed, considering how guarded the man was, but he was glad that the two of them were friends.
If Jean didn't pull through, he wasn't looking forward to calling her parents and notifying them. When he was asking her to join his crew, she had asked him if he'd ever had to do a notification. He'd said 'no', and she told him how difficult and unpleasant it is to notify family of a loved one's death. She'd given him some advice about the best way to do it, namely, that there is no best way to do it, aside from being polite and sympathetic, and honestly answering any questions which the family might ask. Archer wasn't sure how he'd react to the cruel irony if he had to employ her advice in notifying her family of her death… He shook himself, trying to concentrate on piloting the shuttle.
Suddenly the pod jolted sharply and Archer turned to check the guidance console. "Looks like our friends don't want us to leave just yet. Hold on back there, this could get a little rough."
A few alien vessels were in pursuit and firing particle cannons at the pod, causing it to shake and bounce the occupants. Another shot caused one of the guidance panels to throw up a shower of sparks, and Archer grimaced in pain as his arm was engulfed by it.
"We're almost out of the atmosphere, but the port thruster is gone."
Trip nodded, opening a channel to Enterprise. "Tucker to Enterprise."
T'Pol's voice echoed in the pod. "Go ahead, Commander."
Trip held onto the panel in front of him, trying to keep himself from being thrown to the deck. "We're takin' fire an we're having trouble shakin' our newfound friends. Can ya do somethin' about it?"
"Standby"
They heard a few impacts, and then sensors showed that the ships following them were breaking off their pursuit. Both men relaxed in their seats..
"I believe that your pursuers no longer pose a threat."
Archer adjusted some setting on the console, trying to see how able the shuttle was. It seemed capable of getting them back to the ship without needing to be towed by either of the grappler cables. "Thanks, T'Pol. Our engines took a hit, so it's going to take us a bit longer than usual to reach you. Have the shuttle bay ready for us."
"Understood. Will you require any more assistance, Captain?"
A soft chirrup caught the captain's attention, and he turned to see that Sextus was leaning forward on Trip's lap, resting it's two tiny forepaws on the edge of the commander's console. It appeared to be studying one of the display screens with great interest. Archer smiled at it. "Negative. Archer out."
Several minutes later they had docked and disembarked from the pod. Sextus was riding Trip's shoulder again, and the creature had curled it's tail around the engineer's neck. The tail was only long enough to go half way around Trip's neck, and the creature seemed to be holding onto him that way to improve it's balance.
A medical corpsman met them in the corridor outside launch bay one and went with them to Decon, glancing at Sextus every so often along the way.
Once the corpsman cleared them to be released from Decon, both officers headed over to Sickbay to see how Jean was doing. The Sickbay doors slid open, allowing Archer and Trip to come in. The first thing they saw was Reed pacing back and forth in front of a drawn privacy curtain. Every so often he would stop, gingerly putting a hand on his side, only to resume pacing a few moments later.
When he heard the doors open, Reed turned around and looked towards them. Captain Archer held a crude bandage to a burn on his arm, trying to keep the injured area covered. It occurred to Reed that if Jean hadn't been injured, she'd have quickly seen to the captain's wound and bandaged it neatly, but with her having been seriously hurt and Reed looking after her, Trip must have been forced to play medic, rummaging through the med kit and hastily taking care of Archer's arm.
"Report, Lieutenant." Archer's voice was firm, with a tinge of worry.
Reed reflexively came to attention, paling considerably when the motion jostled his ribs, and when he spoke his voice was strained. "Phlox and a corpsman met us at the Transporter platform. She was going into shock. The corpsman and I put her on a gurney and Phlox set her up with an IV. We brought her down to Sickbay, but I was redirected to Decon, just to make sure I hadn't been exposed to any dangerous pathogens."
He had only reluctantly cooperated, and that was only because he didn't want to be carrying anything which might endanger someone else on the crew.
"When I scanned clean, Crewman Cutler released me from Decon and brought me back to Sicbay. Phlox had begun operating on Jean and I haven't been given any details on her condition since then. Cutler gave me a brief physical when we got back. Once she was done she gave me a hypo and wrapped my ribs before ducking in to assist Phlox." He glanced at the chronometer on Phlox's work station. "That was five minutes ago."
Archer nodded slightly, reaching out to put a hand on Reed's shoulder. "At ease, Malcolm." His expression softened and he tried to force a smile at his officer. "And you've just been pacing since then?"
Reed gave a short nod, swaying a tiny bit when the motion upset his balance. However, he quickly recovered himself. "Yes sir. I've been…" he glanced over at the curtains where the operation was going on. Before the other officers had arrived, he had been able to listen to snatches of what Phlox was saying and to overhear the sounds from the monitoring devices. It wasn't nearly as good as really knowing what was going on, but at least he knew that nothing had gone horribly wrong with the operation.
"Malcolm?" The captain prompted him, tightening his hand on the lieutenant's shoulder.
Reed started a little, turning back guiltily to look at Archer. "Sorry sir. I've been trying to listen to the monitors. I expect that if something…" He grimaced, either not willing or not able to verbalize what that 'something' might be. "If something happened, there would be a good amount of bells and whistles, but so far I haven't heard anything like that."
Archer smiled tightly and released the lieutenant's shoulder just as Trip stepped forward. "Malcolm, you were carrying her since we got into the forest. Why don't you take a break, sit down for a while?"
Reed frowned, holding one arm stiffly by his side and shaking his head. His head throbbed at the movement and Sicbay seemed to melt and swirl before his eyes, so he reached out a hand to steady himself on a counter. Once he had regained his equilibrium, he looked up at Trip again, only realizing then that the alien squirrel had been perched on the commander's shoulder ever since he had come into Sicbay. Reed blinked, fervently hoping that he wasn't hallucinating. "I appreciate your concern, sir, but I'm fine."
Archer and Trip exchanged a look. Reed's split lip had swollen to twice its normal size and his ribs were obviously causing him a great deal of pain, so neither Trip or the captain believed his claim for a second. They'd both seen how protective Jean and Reed were of each other, particularly down in the cells and during the fight prior to their escape, and they knew that trying to get him to leave her now would be just this side of impossible.
Just then Cutler came out from behind the curtain and insisted that Captain Archer and Commander Tucker follow her over to the recovery beds. She was almost there when she let out a squeal of delight. "Ohmigosh, what is that?"
Trip looked around in confusion, then he saw that she was pointing at his shoulder. "That's Sextus. We found 'im on the planet."
Reed followed them over, glancing back towards the operating area guiltily. "I thought he ran off when Jean was captured." He looked back at where the commander was standing, pursing his lips in disapproval when Cutler reached out to pet the creature.
"Is he friendly?"
Trip nodded, moving the rest of the way to an empty bed. "It's androgenous, Liz, and yeah, Malcolm, it did, but I guess it followed us back to the pod once we were in the woods again."
As soon as Trip climbed onto the bed, the biomonitors chirped to life. Sextus canted it's head to one side and scampered towards the monitors, chirping back at them. Cutler smiled. "I guess he- sorry, it must think that it's found a friend. Hey there, little critter." She pet it for a few seconds before turning back to focus on Trip. "Okay, Captain, Commander, I'm just going to give you a quick once over. Phlox will do a more thorough physical on each of you once he's finished seeing to Jean."
The men shared a look. "Any idea when that will be?"
She gave a sad little shrug, moving over to roll the equipment cart towards the beds. "Sorry. Phlox said there was a lot of damage, so he's going to be operating for a while. He told me that as soon as I'm done patching you sirs up, you should all try to get some rest, either here or in your own quarters, or maybe get something to eat."
Trip started to take off his alien tunic so that Cutler could examine him and gave the captain a look. "I wouldn't say no to some food an' a bit of shuteye… after I know that Jean's gonna be okay."
Cutler shook her head emphatically, running a scanner over Trip's chest. "Sir, that won't be for a few hours. I'll page you when she's out of surgery."
Archer crossed his arms, playfully lifting his eyebrows. "You wouldn't be trying to order the commander around, would you, Crewman?"
Her eyes went wide as she shook her head. "No sir, I just… I'm relaying what Phlox told me, and he also said that…"
"That what?"
She shifted uncomfortably, concentrating on the scanner readouts for Commander Tucker instead of looking the captain in the eye. "He said that in his Sickbay, he's in charge, and when it comes to medical matters, even the captain has to follow his advice."
Archer scrubbed a hand over his face. It looked like this was going to be a long night.