Fic: Chase the Morning {18/37}
Nov. 28th, 2009 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Date: January 31, 6 A.I. [2006]
Location: Atlantis Base, Colorado
Radek woke with a groan, feeling like he had the hangover from hell. His head throbbed if he moved anything too fast, and he didn’t think it was a wise idea to attempt to open his eyes at the moment. He was laying on what felt like a bed, but he couldn’t be sure, given his current state of discombobulation. The sound of low voices conversing nearby made him turn his head, which he instantly regretted, as the movement sent waves of nausea washing over him. Radek managed to fight back the instinctual urge to vomit, but only just so; he could detect the sharp taste of bile in the back of his mouth.
‘Doctor Zelenka?’ a man’s voice asked from nearby. Radek carefully cracked one eye open, his vision blurred. The speaker stood a foot or so away from him, looking concerned, from what Radek could tell.
‘Need a bucket.’ Radek managed, feeling another wave of nausea start to ramp up. ‘Now.’
The nurse quickly positioned a plastic-lined wastebasket under Radek’s mouth and helped him turn on his side so he wouldn’t choke on his own vomit. The movement was just enough to set Radek off, and he retched into the basket, the nurse supporting him with strong, sure hands. ‘Don’t worry; Doctor Beckett will be here soon.’ The nurse told Radek during a small pause in his attempt to empty his stomach of all the meals it had ever contained. ‘I’ve called him, and Doctors Weir and McKay and Colonel Sheppard should be coming as well.’
‘Guh,’ Radek managed as dry heaves wracked his wiry frame. He spat, trying to rid his mouth of the acrid taste of vomit. The nurse left him laying on his side and moved to a nearby drug supply cabinet, which he opened and retrieved a vial containing an antiemetic drug and a syringe, which he set on a rolling cart just out of Radek’s reach.
‘Water?’ Radek asked, his muscles quivering from the after-effects of the vomiting.
‘Not right now, Doc, sorry.’ The nurse said, taking the bucket away and replacing it with a fresh one. ‘Just in case.’
‘Right.’ Radek sighed, his voice raspy. He tried to turn onto his back once more, but the nurse stopped him.
‘You’d better just lie still,’ he told him. ‘You wouldn’t want to mess your clothes up, now would you? Besides, I don’t want you choking on your own vomit. It wouldn’t be pretty.’
‘Hmm.’ Radek lay there, idly noting that his left wrist was attached to the bed rail by a set of handcuffs. Odd, that. He could also feel the pinch of an subclavian IV in his skin; he shifted slightly so that he wouldn’t pull out any of the tubes out and create a mess. The nurse took away the full bucket, disappearing for a few minutes before returning with Beckett and the three members of the Senior Staff.
‘’Lo.’ Radek said, weakly managing to wave at them with his free hand. ‘What happened?’
Rodney blinked. ‘You don’t know?’ he asked, and Radek gritted his teeth slightly at the sound of Teshryn’s distorted voice, wincing at the noise. It grated harshly across his ears, which felt very sensitive at the moment.
‘No,’ Radek told him, watching as Carson injected the Cyclizine into the IV port. ‘I remember coming back from the mission to Hawk’s Flight, and then falling asleep in the Infirmary. I woke up here, feeling like hell. I still do.’
‘Nothing in between that?’ John inquired, and Radek shook his head minutely.
‘No. It’s all nejasný- unclear, fuzzy.’ He frowned. ‘What happened?’
The four standing in front of him exchanged glances, and then Elizabeth spoke, keeping her voice and expressions as controlled as possible. ‘For some reason, you attacked Jess and Anora.’ She said, and winced slightly when she saw Radek’s shocked face. ‘They’re fine; they’re recovering in the infirmary.’
‘Aren’t I in the infirmary?’
‘You’re in an isolation room, lad.’ Carson explained. ‘We wanted to keep you in here for everyone’s safety, including your own. There are those here who are very protective of Jess and Anora and have called for your immediate banishment from Atlantis, or worse.’
‘But I don’t remember doing anything!’ Radek snapped, his anger getting the best of him. He immediately felt contrite when he saw Carson’s startled face. ‘Sorry, Carson.’ He apologized. ‘It’s just that you’re telling me I attacked my mate, which I don’t remember doing, and it’s a little hard to believe.’
‘Tell that to Connor.’ Rodney snarled, and John hit him upside the back of his head. ‘Ow! What was that for?’
‘Give the man a little grace, Rodney. He just woke up and got this dumped on him.’ John said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Wouldn’t you be concerned if you woke up and found out that you and Teshryn had attacked Jennifer and Nashi?’
‘Well, yes, but-’
‘It’s no different, McKay.’
Rodney huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, looking just a bit put out.
‘You said they are recovering?’ Radek asked Carson, who nodded.
‘Yes. They should be released sometime within the next few days. I’d prefer if they stayed longer, but they’ve been wanting to get back to work, and there’s not much else I can do besides tying them down and sedating both of them to keep them from leaving.’ Carson told him with a chuckle. ‘As for you- well, I’m not sure what to do with you, lad.’ He looked at Elizabeth, John, and Rodney. ‘Any suggestions?’
‘Well, until we can figure out what’s going on, I say he stays here.’ John said, idly stuffing his hands into his pockets. ‘He probably doesn’t need to be handcuffed, but the guards stay.’
‘Agreed.’ Elizabeth concurred. ‘Rodney?’
‘That sounds reasonable. Have the results on his blood work come in?’
‘Not yet; Jen should be bringing them any time now.’ At these words, the door to the isolation room opened and Jennifer walked in, bearing a tablet computer.
‘Hello,’ she said brightly. ‘I’ve got Radek’s blood results right here, and I think you’ll want to see this, Carson.’ She handed the tablet to Carson, who quickly scanned the information on the screen. Radek watched him read, Carson’s eyebrows rising with each sentence he took in.
‘Well, that explains quite a bit.’ He mused distractedly. ‘According to this, there was a low dose of some sort of deliriant in his blood, though we can’t tell which, since it seems to have degraded rather quickly.’
‘Deliriant?’ Rodney asked. ‘Wait, you’re saying he was drugged?’
‘Aye, most likely when he got stabbed. It’s rather like smearing poison on a spear or knife, but I think that whatever was used was meant to merely incapacitate, rather than kill.’ Carson said. ‘It makes the most sense, especially since all the reports said that there weren’t any fatalities, merely non-severe flesh wounds.’
‘That’s right.’ John said.
‘So, it wasn’t truly my fault?’ Radek asked, hope ringing in every word. ‘I mean, I wasn’t exactly myself, right?’
‘Some of the more common side effects of a deliriant are dilated pupils, a fugue state, mood swings, and impaired recall, up to and including a total blackout of events occurring while the drug is at its peak.’ Jennifer piped up. She blushed at the sudden scrutiny, but rallied magnificently. ‘Nashi had a doctorate in toxicology before she blended with me.’ She explained. ‘Now, even though the drug has seemed to run its course, we should probably keep you under observation for a little while, just in case.’
‘How long has it been since I attacked Jess and Anora?’ Radek asked as John unlocked the handcuffs securing him to the bed. Radek shifted and made himself more comfortable. Carson helped him sit up, and Radek was relieved to see that the medicine he’d been given was working; he didn’t feel as nauseous as before, and his headache and sensitivity to light had lessened greatly.
‘Two days,’ Elizabeth said, brushing an errant lock of hair out of her face. Radek sighed, running a hand over his face.
‘And how long will it be until I can get out of here?’
Jennifer glanced at Carson, who shrugged mildly. ‘A day, maybe two. We want to make sure that the drug’s fully out of your system; you understand, right?’
‘Of course.’ Radek acquiesced. ‘I, too, am not fond of missing too much work.’
‘Well, there’s plenty of it waiting for you once you get out of here,’ Rodney told him. Carson raised an eyebrow at Rodney, who looked confused. ‘What? It’s true.’
‘Aye, and there’ll be no sneaking in of work to Radek while he’s recovering, understood?’ Carson said, crossing his arms over his chest.
‘But-’
‘Ah! No, Rodney, that’s final.’
Radek settled back on his pillows, enjoying the back-and-forth between his two friends. His thoughts drifted towards Jess and Anora and he sighed softly. God, he hoped he could make things right between them. If not, well, he wouldn’t be all too offended if they didn’t want to be his mate anymore. He’d be hurt, true, but he also understood that it would take a hell of a lot of rebuilding of trust and faith in one another before they would be able to continue down the path they had been contentedly treading before this horrible accident had occurred.