SGC/SG5 - Intensive Care [Cochraine / Montalvo]

[Hilary Doda]

"Honestly Major..." Ki groused. "It's fine. One of your techs just did
the dressing change like... a day or so ago. And I haven't touched it,
and I'm not coughing, and I'm using my... my..." He flicked a finger
at an odd domed contraption on the bedside table, which looked like a
miniaturized SCUBA tank with hose and mouthpiece attached "...whatever
*that* thing is."

"When someone makes a habit of blowing themselves up, Lieutenant, we
try and take recovery times seriously," Mimi chided. The resistance
was by the book, really; anyone who was of the type to end up at the
SGC tended to also be the sort with little patience with medical
protocols and enforced rest periods.

And medics made the worst patients. Herself quite firmly among them.
It didn't help that she'd entirely lost track of how many days she'd
been down here, catching a couple of hours of sleep at a time on one
of the cots, marking times in charts and stitches rather than hours
and minutes.

"And the more you rest now and let me do /my/

 job," she picked up the
thread of her miniature lecture again, and pushed lightly on his
shoulder to get him to lie down, "the sooner I can get you out of
here, and back to doing yours."

He flopped back into bed with a grimace.  "Since you're here, I take
it we won.  What kind of stupidity did I get into this time?"

"You particularly, or the base in general?" Mimi asked, moving around
him to continue her work as she spoke. "We were attacked; I know that
much. Humans, not goa'uld or any of the other 'friends' we've picked
up along the way. I was already in medical when the fighting started,
and I've essentially been here since."

Her tone was apologetic; she tried to think back, figure out how many
days she'd been down here, catching naps on a cot when she could - it
was all blurring together into patients and charts, rather than
minutes and hours. "We've had enough casualties to keep us going
constantly since. I'm afraid I can't tell you more than that. What do
you remember?"

"I remember that they were well trained; they moved and worked like
teams that had worked together.  I remember that we ended up doing a
fair bit of damage in order to clear the Cafeteria and the Systems
room.  We... lost a lot of people, too.  I... vaguely remember the
Gate room.  It was... ugly."  Ki closed his eyes, trying to organize
the flashing images into something that made sense.

"I've heard scattered bits and pieces from others in here and they've
said much the same," Mimi kept her voice pitched soft and comforting
as she worked her way through her checklist and checked on Cochraine's
injuries. "I haven't seen the full casualty report yet; I don't know
if one's been released. They're still clearing debris from some of the
lower levels." And the list of the missing still had some names that
could easily wind up moved to the list of the dead once that had been
completed.

"Damn.  They need help, I'm sure.  When can I get going?"  He shifted
in bed, testing to see if his legs were willing to respond.

"Not yet," Mimi replied sharply, pressing down on his knees with the
flat of her hand, careful not to come too near any of his obvious
injuries. "There's enough to do out there right now without adding
'picking you off the floor' to the duty list. You're here for at least
another twelve hours while I monitor your lung capacity, and keep an
eye on those stitches, and then you're getting at least another 24 on
limited duty and a week on restricted profile for rest. So park it."

"Mermph."  Ki growled - but he desisted his struggles to get out of
the bed.  "Y'know, I've jumped out of planes with worse, Major."

"Mmhm." She gave him a look that would at best be described as
'skeptical' and poked him where she knew it would be tender. She
raised an eyebrow at his reaction, and shook her head. "If you have,
I'm glad that I wasn't the medic on the ground who had to put you back
together afterwards. Now relax, enjoy the rest of your visit, or I'll
be forced to slide some of the good drugs into your IV drip to keep
you out of trouble."

"Well..."  He shrugged, and gave her a rueful grin.  "All right - I
give.  I'll behave.  Can I at least have visitors?"

"Major?" One of the nurses stuck her head around the divider and
beckoned to Mimi, and she nodded perfunctorily.

"I'll be there in a minute."

She'd covered the basics with Cochraine; everything else could wait.
"One at a time, no team meetings in here." She pointed a finger at him
in warning, trying to keep a faint smile off her face for a moment
before the seriousness of the whole mess overtook her again. "And do
try and get some rest," she suggested softly. "You've got a day where
the only weight on your shoulders is a bedsheet. Take advantage of
that."

Ki paused to consider the point, and deflated with a nod.  "You've got
a really good point, Major.  Thank you.  I will."  He laid back and
gave her a grateful wave, drew a deep breath, closed his eyes, and
relaxed into the nice, warm glow of the painkillers she'd slipped him.


Maj. Maria Montalvo
SGC Medical


Capt. Malachi Cochraine
Reluctant Patient
SG-5