AU: When an exploration mission goes way off the left field, Jack and Sam are left to patch up their lives. Will that door stay open?
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters are the property of MGM/Amazon. No copyright infringement intended. I am once again taking my favourite two Gaters for a walk in an Alternate Universe. Takes place after 5.05 Red Sky with some canon episodes skipped (overlooked) and others referenced.
Rating: Mature.
Chapter 37: Going Home
Thursday morning (runs parallel to Chapter 36) – Doctor MacKenzie
I was right. Doctor Fraiser had called in the big guns to get Major Carter back to the SGC. Oh, she didn't do it herself, but she did use her significant influence with one Major General George Hammond to get an executive order from the President to have all treatment for the Major administered at the SGC due to her unique blood protein. Even going so far as to seek approval for upgrades to one of the isolation rooms to turn it into a padded cell should any member of the SGC be in a situation that required one, and that was before breakfast Mountain Time! I had to admire her guile for taking advantage of the time difference in Washington DC.
The only thing holding up the Major's relocation was the red tape involved with a patient transfer to a facility that was not technically a medical facility equipped to deal with psychiatric cases.
"Morning, Sir." Lieutenant Shenton at the front desk greeted me cheerily.
"Morning, Lieutenant." I responded as I signed in. "Any messages?" I asked since she and her opposite shift counterpart doubled as pseudo-receptionists.
"No, Sir." She responded quickly, "Oh, actually. This was returned by the courier company this morning. It wasn't addressed correctly." She added, passing me a small cooler with a hastily written and incomplete address. It was almost as if the person writing it had been interrupted.
"St Christina's, Washington." I read out loud, then lifted the lid to find about 20 blood filled vacutainer tubes.
"They said they couldn't find a St Christina's in Washington, Sir." She informed me.
"No, they wouldn't. It's in Seattle, Washington State." I replied as I picked up each vial one at a time and read the name. And it was closed. Decommissioned years ago. Over half of them were from my patients, but I had not ordered any blood tests from these patients.
"Oh, well, I can fix that for you." She replied, reaching for the case.
"No, Lieutenant. I'll take care of it." I said with an uneasy smile before putting the lid back in place. Tucking the cooler under my arm, I walked purposefully to my office where I could check the rest of the containers.
"Sir, Major Fraiser is on the line for you." Another Lieutenant called out as I passed. I had to think about that because the name was unfamiliar until it dawned on me. Doctor Fraiser.
"I'll call her back in five minutes, Lieutenant." I replied resolutely as I shut the door and twisted the lock with a satisfying click. Carefully placing the cooler on my desk, I removed the lid again and proceeded to pick up vial after vial – Captain Keith Summers, Major John Ikeman, Major Jessica Heyland – I read out, most of them having more than one labelled sample.
Picking up the next, I looked at the label and my blood ran cold. Major Samantha Carter. The next was the same, so was the third and fourth and fifth. I swallowed heavily before tipping the holder to put the remaining five in my hand, all of them reading Major Samantha Carter. I had already taken four samples yesterday; this was another ten. There was no way Major Carter would allow someone to simply walk in and take her blood unless she was… my stomach dropped as the vials rolled off my hand and back into the cooler, one of them shattering. Picking up the phone, I called the med room.
"Med Room." The familiar voice said in greeting.
"Kelsey. It's Doctor MacKenzie. When was the last time Major Carter was administered any medication?" I asked, hearing the nerves in my voice.
"Perfect timing, I have her records right in front of me. Lieutenant Stevens just signed out her shot, she is on her wa…"
"Stop her!" I barked. "Now."
"Sir?"
"Major Carter is on an as needed schedule. I did not approve Stevens to administer anything." I advised her forcefully. "Stop her!" I ordered, then slammed down the phone.
Grabbing the cooler, I wretched on the door handle making it rattle before I remembered it was locked. Cursing myself, I twisted the lock and opened the door. Then moved swiftly through the ward and toward the corridor to room E4. It occurred to me as I borderline sprinted that Kelsey was not permitted to leave the med room and that she wouldn't have been able to do anything but call out for someone else to assist. Seeing two orderlies who doubled as security on my way, I signalled for them to follow me.
"Sir." They both said as they fell in behind me.
"I have reason to believe that Lieutenant Stevens is assisting someone with unsanctioned medical testing." I informed them as we walked. "She is to be apprehended."
As we approached room E4, the first thing I noticed was the silence. Major Carter did not do silent, not at the moment. Chills raced down my spine as I opened the door to find Stevens crouched down tightening a tourniquet on Major Carter's arm while she lay slumped rather uncomfortably against the wall.
"What the hell are you doing?" I bellowed at the woman who jumped back releasing the tourniquet so quickly it snapped a red mark across the Major's face. An action that did not elicit any movement from her. Looking down, I could see needle tracks in the folds of both elbows. Turning back to the Lieutenant, "Arrest her!" I demanded.
"You can't, Doctor." She bit back. "I am only doing my job."
"Your job? Since when is taking sixteen samples of blood in less than 24-hours your job?" I asked, noticing that she had six empty vacutainers on the floor by the Major. She baulked at my accusation. There was no point raising the medications because she would have had to have approval from a doctor to even sign the medication out of the med room. "Get her out of my sight." I told the orderly who had cuffed her hands, he nodded before marching her out. Gripping the cooler hard, I looked at my patient. She was awake but completely out of it.
"Major." I said, as I crouched to her level. Putting the cooler down, I tapped her face gently. "Sam." She spun her head slowly to look at me, but she was vacant. Catatonic, and I feared that she had been dosed up constantly since I had signed out last night. I had brought her here to heal because I thought she would be better off. She should have been safe. How could this have happened? Looking at her, I made my mind up. My report would be withdrawn, opening the way for her to be released back to the SGC immediately. No more red tape. No more bureaucracy. I would face the General and the Colonel and take whatever punishment they deemed necessary.
Turning to the orderly, I motioned for him to pick her up. "Take her to 4A." I ordered sullenly.
"Yes, Sir." He responded and moved to gather her up in his arms. Seeing her flop like a ragdoll sent another jolt through my system. Moving toward the big man, I motioned for him to stop so that I could lift her head up to rest between his arm and chest, then lifted her arm up and placed it in her lap. Happy that she looked more comfortable, I stepped back and opened the door before escorting them back to 4A, once again opening the door.
Though I hadn't seen the records for how much the Major had been given, the symptoms I had seen were without a doubt signs of a borderline overdose. The maximum for a 24-hour period was 40mg. I knew I had given her 2mg myself once we arrived, but that was off the back of the Lorazepam given at the SGC twice in one day. If it had stopped there, there should have been no adverse symptoms. It would have stopped if I had been vigilant.
While the orderly carefully laid her down and covered her with a couple of heavy blankets, I retrieved an IV kit from the supply trolley and went about setting it up using the back of her hand as the entry point before checking her other vitals. Thankfully her breathing sounded fine through the stethoscope, unfortunately her blood pressure was a lot lower than I expected it to be, even for a pregnant woman. I remembered reading that her BP had been running high on her last couple of tests, so I guess that was a good thing, in a way. Once I was done, the orderly raised the rails on her bed before leaving the room. Walking back to the head of her bed, I looked down at her glassy eyes as they flicked from side to side, up and down as if she were looking for something. I could see that she was tired.
"Sleep now, Sam." I told her, brushing a piece of her hair away from her face. There was no response other than her eyes closing. God, what had I done? Grabbing my phone, I dialed the number for patient records.
"Records." The woman answered.
"Hello, this is Doctor James MacKenzie, service number 522-03-7454." I recited my credentials efficiently.
"Thank you, Doctor. How may I be of assistance?"
"I require the most recent diagnosis report for Major Samantha Carter to be withdrawn." I stated clearly and without reservation.
"One moment, Sir." She responded. I watched the Major sleep while listening to probably the worst – no second worst – hold music in existence. At length, she came back on the line. "Major Doctor Samantha Carter. Diagnosis Report number 861529A Schizophrenia." She reported the document name and number. "Reason for withdrawal?" She asked while I heard tapping on a keyboard in the background.
There was no point telling her it was to subvert red tape because that was not a valid reason. "Incorrect diagnosis." I found myself answering.
"I will require you to come by and sign the official request to withdraw before the end of the day otherwise the withdrawal will be reversed." The woman informed me. I found myself nodding in response, forgetting that she could not see me.
"Thank you." I replied, "I will be there within an hour."
"You're welcome, Sir." She replied, a click of the phone signalling an end to my call. Taking one last look at the Major, I walked out and made straight for the med room still carrying the cooler since it was evidence of misconduct. I had to see how much medication the Major had been given and who had authorised it. As I walked in, Lieutenant Kelsey looked up wearing a shocked face.
"Sir!" She greeted apprehensively.
"Lieutenant. What have you found?" I asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.
"I have Major Carter's medical orders." She shuffled a few pages before handing me a sheet with a schedule approving 5mg of Diazepam every two hours. That was two and a half times more than what I had given her when she had been shouting for O'Neill yesterday and more often than it should have been. Obviously whoever did this did not want her in any state where she could fight back. The chill I felt slide down my back made me shiver without being cold. What shocked me the most was my signature at the bottom of the page. My hand shook as I held a document that I had never seen and certainly had not signed.
"Call Lieutenant Shenton. Ask her to arrange transport of Major Carter back to the Mountain for this afternoon. The Major is back in 4A. Do not allow anyone to sign out medication for her." I ordered, then fixed my eyes to hers. "How was this delivered?" I asked holding up the letter.
"Fax machine, Sir." She responded quickly. Fax. That meant that we should be able to trace the number that it came from, but it didn't solve the problem of who had access to my signature. We were slowly moving to electronic scripts, though I still maintained my physical book if it was needed, but that was locked up in my office filing cabinet.
"Can I see your register from yesterday?" I asked the young woman. She nodded and flipped two pages back to show the date, time, medication, and dose and alongside it, my signature. Looking closely, I could see that the pen on the signature was much darker than the rest. Flipping the page over revealed an indentation in the reverse side of the paper. Running my finger over the indentation, I scanned the rest of the pages in the book and found three other doctor's signatures with the same indentation.
"What are you looking for Sir?"
"Proof of forgery Lieutenant. See this?" I pointed out the indentations to an audible gasp.
"Oh my God! I was on duty every time. I swear Sir, I never left my station other than to go to the bathroom and then I locked the door." She defended herself.
"It's OK, Jasmine." I replied, resting my hand on her shoulder to try and give her some comfort. "We'll get to the bottom of this. I'll go and see the 10th Medical Group Colonel to inform him of what's happened." In truth, I knew this would go straight to the General in charge of USAFA, but we had a chain of command to follow.
"OK. Thank you, Sir." I nodded and turned to leave on my way first to records and then to the Commander of Medical. Pulling out my phone, I dialed a number I knew well.
"Fraiser."
"Janet?"
"James? How can I help you?" Her question was professional, no hint of the comradery or friendship we had forged over the last five years.
"I'm sending her back to you. She's not…" I wanted to say safe, but I didn't because a hospital should be one of the safest places on Earth. "Somethings happened. I'm on my way to sign a release form to reverse my diagnosis."
"What's happened? Is she alright? Why change your mind now?" She rapid-fire questioned me, her voice full of concern, indignation and a little of 'I told you so'.
"I'm sorry, she should have been safe here, but…" I swallowed hard as I reached the door to records.
"James? What has happened to Sam?" She asked again, her tone now a lot more concerned.
"There was a rogue nurse. God Janet." I wished for a moment that I had a free hand to pass over my face. "My signature was forged and added to a medical instruction to keep the Major dosed on 5mg diazepam every two hours over night."
"Oh my God!" She breathed. She must have had her hand over her mouth judging by the muffled sound of her words.
"It gets worse. The same nurse has taken at least ten additional samples of blood. She was working on another six when I found her fifteen minutes ago. I don't know if there were any others that I didn't catch." God, I hoped there weren't. Not because of the quantity of blood taken, 27ml was not a lot, but because of how unique her blood was.
"Do you have them?"
"Yeah. Along with a bunch of samples from other patients. Whatever is going on here, its more than just one nurse." I told her. "Look, I have to go. Lieutenant Shenton is organising transport for this afternoon after she has had time to rest. She has an IV and a BP monitor. I'll check on her every 30-minutes until she's ready to leave."
"Transport won't be necessary, I'll send Doctor Jackson and Teal'c."
"OK. What about Colonel O'Neill?" I asked. I had heard about the attack and wondered if he was in the brig.
"He's unavailable." She responded in a tone that suggested my suspicion was correct. "James?" She grabbed my attention.
"Yeah."
"Thank you." I smiled and muttered a 'you're welcome' back, though I didn't feel like I should have been thanked. It was my decision that had put Major Carter in danger. A danger I could not have anticipated. Hanging up and dropping my phone into my breast pocket, I twisted the door handle and walked in the office ready to cut the tape that stood in the way of Sam returning home.
A/N: I am not a medical doctor. I have used over the top dosages for Diazepam due to Sam's Naquadah and blood protein. The recommended dosages given are the result of me talking to my husband who is an Emergency Services Co-ordinator (Paramedic) on a mine site here in Western Australia and also some fishing on Google for maximum recommended dosages. So far, most information suggests that Diazepam is not harmful within the first trimester of pregnancy, though it is still not recommended, hence why MacKenzie did not prescribe further shots after his chat with Janet. I would assume that Sam is going to have some withdrawal symptoms (i.e., heightened emotions, mood swings) and will do my best to capture this.
The Service Number / SSN quoted by MacKenzie is made up. It is based on the numbering protocols for Colorado. I apologise if I have inadvertently given MacKenzie a number that belongs to a real person. It was not intended.