Home by cat_77 [Comfort Challenge]
Title: Home
Author: cat_77
Length: ~ 1850
Rating: PG-13 for mild language
Genre: Mostly Gen, with a tiny hint of femslash (Mehra/Vega)
Spoilers: 5.07 “Whispers”
Synopsis: They brought her home.
Author's Notes: For the sga_flashfic Comfort Challenge.
Disclaimer: Not mine, they belong to people with far more money than I have. Just borrowing them to play and making no profit from this.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Everyone ready to get the hell out of this place?” Sheppard asked with a tired sigh.
As expected, Beckett and Porter readily replied, “Yes,” but Teldy shook her head. She looked over to Sergeant Mehra and nodded. Dusty straightened slightly before stating, “Request permission to retrieve the body, sir.” It wasn’t truly a question and she knew the Marine was being fairly obvious about it, but she also didn’t really care at this point.
A shadow passed over the Colonel’s face, most likely adding Vega’s name to the long list of the fallen in his head, before he nodded in acceptance. “I don’t know how much will be left,” he ground out, and she knew he was just trying to prepare them. “Those things were pretty vicious. We scared them off, but...”
Dusty just looked at him as she shouldered her pack. “She deserves to come home, sir.”
They were already halfway to the door when they heard his quiet, “Yes, she does.”
It didn’t take long to find where they had left her; Teldy always had an excellent sense of direction and usually knew exactly where she was at any given moment and how to get there again. The night before they had battled the fog those creatures produced, but now the sun was shining and there was barely a trace of the mist remaining. She took it as further confirmation most, if not all, of the experiments had been terminated.
She held up her hand, stepping carefully over the bullet-ridden body of the thing that had taken Vega down, half expecting it to jump back to life like a bad movie cliché. She let out a breath as it stayed still; it’s pale form and grotesque features frozen in time. Only a few feet away lay Vega, ashen skin caked with blood and uniform darkened with mud. “Get a bag,” she ordered.
Kneeling, she brushed a stray strand of the Captain’s dark hair away from her face, thankful for small favors as she saw only long eyelashes as if she was simply sleeping, and not lifeless brown eyes. She glanced up to see Mehra holding the body bag, jaw clenched as she held in her own emotion.
The bag was laid out and unzipped, Porter moving in to help move the body into position. The small doctor reached for one wrist as she grabbed the other to fold them across the lifeless chest, expecting to feel the cold clamminess of death, but instead feeling... warmth. Her head snapped up to see a look of surprise that she knew had to be mirroring her own. “Alison?” she asked carefully.
Porter turned the wrist towards herself, two fingers over the pulsepoint. Cocking her head to the side, she reached past the grime and drying blood, seeking out the artery along Vega’s throat. “Doctor Beckett,” she said shakily. “I think you need to come here.”
Beckett dropped to her side immediately, repeating her actions. “Bloody hell,” he breathed. Looking up to meet first her gaze, then face of the man now kneeling at her side, he declared, “Colonel, she’s alive.”
Teldy turned just in time to see Sheppard’s face go white. One large hand fell across Vega’s forehead, sliding down against her neck as if he needed to feel it for himself. “I swear, there was nothing there. I felt no pulse, she wasn’t breathing...”
“Well, she is now,” Beckett snapped back. He lowered his ear to her blue-tinted lips, amending that to, “Barely.” He grabbed his pack from his back, gathering what he needed as he babbled, “It’s possible there was a paralyzing agent in the fog, or in the creatures claws. We know the Wraith inject an enzyme into their victims, perhaps this is the creatures’ version to make sure their prey...”
“Can you save her?” Mehra demanded.
“I’m damn well going to try,” he swore. Pausing slightly in setting up his equipment, he looked down at the barely moving form in front of him. “We’re going to bring you home, love,” he promised, resting a hand against her cheek. “And I’m going to do everything in my power to fix whatever those devils did to you.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Dusty was pacing outside of the doors to the infirmary when Teldy got there, still damp from her quick shower. The report to Woolsey had been... interesting. The Colonel had done most of the talking and had apologized, again, for mistaking near death with death. Part of her wanted to tell him not to feel guilty, and part of her was kind of happy he did. It showed he cared about his people, really cared, something the always looked for in a commander but rarely ever found much deeper than the superficial “they are my team, they will be fine” type of mentality until she reached the SGC. With Sheppard, it was more of, “they are my team, I will make them fine” instead.
There hadn’t been too much to say at that point other than the basics of what they found and whom they killed and yeah, they are pretty sure they got them all. Beckett had not been there, still running the roost in the infirmary and trying to bring her errant team member back to life, so they had glossed over the details and assured the bureaucrat that a detailed report would be forthcoming. He had released them with a request to be updated on Vega’s condition as soon as there was any change and a semi-order to get some sleep. Seeing how he hadn’t actually phrased it as a true order, she was taking it to mean after she saw her Captain alive and breathing and had word she was going to be okay.
That left her here, with Dusty making one more aborted pass towards the door before circling back around. The Sergeant had gone a whole three steps before she saw her leaning against the wall of the hallway, snapping up to attention at once. “Ma’am,” she greeted her.
She gave her a wave to let her know the formality was overrated and asked, “How’s she doing?”
Mehra hesitated, which was always on odd thing to see. “I’m not sure,” she admitted, looking towards the door again. “Doc said he would update me, but he hasn’t come back out yet.”
“How long ago was that?” Teldy asked, knowing these things could take some time.
“About two hours ago, ma’am,” she replied.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Dust, go in and check again,” a third voice joined them. Anne looked behind her to see Alison approaching, clean BDUs and perfectly sparse make-up applied. “He probably got distracted or lost track of time,” the doctor pointed out.
Suiting action to words, Alison walked right up to the doors and palmed them open. She gave them a little crook of her finger indicating that they should follow, and marched on through to the other side. After a look to Dusty, Anne shrugged and walked through, hearing the booted footsteps behind her that indicated Mehra got with the program and was on her six.
“Where do you think...?” Mehra stage whispered to her.
“Bed seven? Thanks so much, Nancy,” Alison chirped, finishing talking to the nurse on duty. She motioned them to the right, and then to the left, and then there they were, standing at the bedside of their final team member.
She looked... small. Not that Vega was a giant by any means, but she looked swallowed whole by the bed and blankets. Her skin still looked ashen again the stark white of the sheets, with the noted exception of several dark red-brown scratch marks leading down each arm from about the shoulder to the elbow, just visible through the thin infirmary scrubs she currently wore. She had an oxygen mask and an IV and several other tubes leading several other places that Teldy really did not have any idea what they did. Instead, the Major concentrated on the gentle rise and fall of her chest and the quiet little beeps from the monitor she did recognize that told her she was alive, she was breathing, and, hopefully, she was going to be okay.
Mehra took up position on the far side of the bed, gently picking up the hand not currently attached to an IV and giving it a soft squeeze. “Hey, little bitch, you made it,” she whispered. “Knew those genetic zombie freaks were no match for you.”
“Let me see if I can’t get her chart, or maybe Carson, to let us know how she’s really doing,” Porter suggested, resting her hand on Dusty’s shoulder for a second before stepping away.
“Hey, Ali,” Dusty called after her, making her spin around on her toe and offer a questioning look. “Can you see if they’ll give us like some water and a sponge or a comb or something?”
Both Alison and Anne grimaced at the mud-caked strands still tied back into a knotted ponytail. It looked like the nurses hadn’t gotten a chance to do more than a quick scrub down yet. “I don’t know how much help that’ll be,” Teldy admitted. There were knots, there were snarls, and then there was the mess before them.
“We have to cut this crap, and she will kick our asses,” Dusty pointed out. “I’m willing to give it a shot.”
Anne bit back a smile at the thought of the big bad Sergeant brushing anyone’s hair, and saw Alison doing the same, only less successfully. “I’ll see what I can do,” the doctor promised, eyes shining despite the glare she was now receiving. “Plus it will give us another excuse to hang around for a bit.”
“Bonus,” Dusty grinned.
Teldy realized that it was the first full-blown smile she had seen on any of her team’s faces since everything went horribly wrong. That, mixed with the breathing and the beeping, let her let out a breath she barely knew she had been holding.
Her radio chose that moment to go off, requesting her presence elsewhere, even though she was technically supposed to be off duty. She acknowledged the request and promised she would be there momentarily, looking up to see Ali approaching with Doctor Beckett in tow, a brush and a sponge in her hands and a tray full of water in his.
She let herself indulge in one final glance over at her injured teammate, watching as Dusty carefully brushed some of the tangled mess from slowly opening brown eyes. “Yeah, you better wake up, sweet cheeks,” Mehra was teasing her. “Another hour and I was going to call you ‘babe’...”
“Not your babe,” Vega’s replied. Her voice was weak from her injuries and muffled from the oxygen, and sounded like music to the Major’s ears.
Anne acknowledged her with a nod and a smile, slinking away to where duty called. As she left, she heard a whispered, “Sure you are, and you know you love it,” followed by, “You’re such a bitch.” At that, she allowed herself a little chuckle, knowing all was right with the world.
End.
~~~~~~~~~~
Feedback is always welcomed.
Author: cat_77
Length: ~ 1850
Rating: PG-13 for mild language
Genre: Mostly Gen, with a tiny hint of femslash (Mehra/Vega)
Spoilers: 5.07 “Whispers”
Synopsis: They brought her home.
Author's Notes: For the sga_flashfic Comfort Challenge.
Disclaimer: Not mine, they belong to people with far more money than I have. Just borrowing them to play and making no profit from this.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Everyone ready to get the hell out of this place?” Sheppard asked with a tired sigh.
As expected, Beckett and Porter readily replied, “Yes,” but Teldy shook her head. She looked over to Sergeant Mehra and nodded. Dusty straightened slightly before stating, “Request permission to retrieve the body, sir.” It wasn’t truly a question and she knew the Marine was being fairly obvious about it, but she also didn’t really care at this point.
A shadow passed over the Colonel’s face, most likely adding Vega’s name to the long list of the fallen in his head, before he nodded in acceptance. “I don’t know how much will be left,” he ground out, and she knew he was just trying to prepare them. “Those things were pretty vicious. We scared them off, but...”
Dusty just looked at him as she shouldered her pack. “She deserves to come home, sir.”
They were already halfway to the door when they heard his quiet, “Yes, she does.”
It didn’t take long to find where they had left her; Teldy always had an excellent sense of direction and usually knew exactly where she was at any given moment and how to get there again. The night before they had battled the fog those creatures produced, but now the sun was shining and there was barely a trace of the mist remaining. She took it as further confirmation most, if not all, of the experiments had been terminated.
She held up her hand, stepping carefully over the bullet-ridden body of the thing that had taken Vega down, half expecting it to jump back to life like a bad movie cliché. She let out a breath as it stayed still; it’s pale form and grotesque features frozen in time. Only a few feet away lay Vega, ashen skin caked with blood and uniform darkened with mud. “Get a bag,” she ordered.
Kneeling, she brushed a stray strand of the Captain’s dark hair away from her face, thankful for small favors as she saw only long eyelashes as if she was simply sleeping, and not lifeless brown eyes. She glanced up to see Mehra holding the body bag, jaw clenched as she held in her own emotion.
The bag was laid out and unzipped, Porter moving in to help move the body into position. The small doctor reached for one wrist as she grabbed the other to fold them across the lifeless chest, expecting to feel the cold clamminess of death, but instead feeling... warmth. Her head snapped up to see a look of surprise that she knew had to be mirroring her own. “Alison?” she asked carefully.
Porter turned the wrist towards herself, two fingers over the pulsepoint. Cocking her head to the side, she reached past the grime and drying blood, seeking out the artery along Vega’s throat. “Doctor Beckett,” she said shakily. “I think you need to come here.”
Beckett dropped to her side immediately, repeating her actions. “Bloody hell,” he breathed. Looking up to meet first her gaze, then face of the man now kneeling at her side, he declared, “Colonel, she’s alive.”
Teldy turned just in time to see Sheppard’s face go white. One large hand fell across Vega’s forehead, sliding down against her neck as if he needed to feel it for himself. “I swear, there was nothing there. I felt no pulse, she wasn’t breathing...”
“Well, she is now,” Beckett snapped back. He lowered his ear to her blue-tinted lips, amending that to, “Barely.” He grabbed his pack from his back, gathering what he needed as he babbled, “It’s possible there was a paralyzing agent in the fog, or in the creatures claws. We know the Wraith inject an enzyme into their victims, perhaps this is the creatures’ version to make sure their prey...”
“Can you save her?” Mehra demanded.
“I’m damn well going to try,” he swore. Pausing slightly in setting up his equipment, he looked down at the barely moving form in front of him. “We’re going to bring you home, love,” he promised, resting a hand against her cheek. “And I’m going to do everything in my power to fix whatever those devils did to you.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Dusty was pacing outside of the doors to the infirmary when Teldy got there, still damp from her quick shower. The report to Woolsey had been... interesting. The Colonel had done most of the talking and had apologized, again, for mistaking near death with death. Part of her wanted to tell him not to feel guilty, and part of her was kind of happy he did. It showed he cared about his people, really cared, something the always looked for in a commander but rarely ever found much deeper than the superficial “they are my team, they will be fine” type of mentality until she reached the SGC. With Sheppard, it was more of, “they are my team, I will make them fine” instead.
There hadn’t been too much to say at that point other than the basics of what they found and whom they killed and yeah, they are pretty sure they got them all. Beckett had not been there, still running the roost in the infirmary and trying to bring her errant team member back to life, so they had glossed over the details and assured the bureaucrat that a detailed report would be forthcoming. He had released them with a request to be updated on Vega’s condition as soon as there was any change and a semi-order to get some sleep. Seeing how he hadn’t actually phrased it as a true order, she was taking it to mean after she saw her Captain alive and breathing and had word she was going to be okay.
That left her here, with Dusty making one more aborted pass towards the door before circling back around. The Sergeant had gone a whole three steps before she saw her leaning against the wall of the hallway, snapping up to attention at once. “Ma’am,” she greeted her.
She gave her a wave to let her know the formality was overrated and asked, “How’s she doing?”
Mehra hesitated, which was always on odd thing to see. “I’m not sure,” she admitted, looking towards the door again. “Doc said he would update me, but he hasn’t come back out yet.”
“How long ago was that?” Teldy asked, knowing these things could take some time.
“About two hours ago, ma’am,” she replied.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Dust, go in and check again,” a third voice joined them. Anne looked behind her to see Alison approaching, clean BDUs and perfectly sparse make-up applied. “He probably got distracted or lost track of time,” the doctor pointed out.
Suiting action to words, Alison walked right up to the doors and palmed them open. She gave them a little crook of her finger indicating that they should follow, and marched on through to the other side. After a look to Dusty, Anne shrugged and walked through, hearing the booted footsteps behind her that indicated Mehra got with the program and was on her six.
“Where do you think...?” Mehra stage whispered to her.
“Bed seven? Thanks so much, Nancy,” Alison chirped, finishing talking to the nurse on duty. She motioned them to the right, and then to the left, and then there they were, standing at the bedside of their final team member.
She looked... small. Not that Vega was a giant by any means, but she looked swallowed whole by the bed and blankets. Her skin still looked ashen again the stark white of the sheets, with the noted exception of several dark red-brown scratch marks leading down each arm from about the shoulder to the elbow, just visible through the thin infirmary scrubs she currently wore. She had an oxygen mask and an IV and several other tubes leading several other places that Teldy really did not have any idea what they did. Instead, the Major concentrated on the gentle rise and fall of her chest and the quiet little beeps from the monitor she did recognize that told her she was alive, she was breathing, and, hopefully, she was going to be okay.
Mehra took up position on the far side of the bed, gently picking up the hand not currently attached to an IV and giving it a soft squeeze. “Hey, little bitch, you made it,” she whispered. “Knew those genetic zombie freaks were no match for you.”
“Let me see if I can’t get her chart, or maybe Carson, to let us know how she’s really doing,” Porter suggested, resting her hand on Dusty’s shoulder for a second before stepping away.
“Hey, Ali,” Dusty called after her, making her spin around on her toe and offer a questioning look. “Can you see if they’ll give us like some water and a sponge or a comb or something?”
Both Alison and Anne grimaced at the mud-caked strands still tied back into a knotted ponytail. It looked like the nurses hadn’t gotten a chance to do more than a quick scrub down yet. “I don’t know how much help that’ll be,” Teldy admitted. There were knots, there were snarls, and then there was the mess before them.
“We have to cut this crap, and she will kick our asses,” Dusty pointed out. “I’m willing to give it a shot.”
Anne bit back a smile at the thought of the big bad Sergeant brushing anyone’s hair, and saw Alison doing the same, only less successfully. “I’ll see what I can do,” the doctor promised, eyes shining despite the glare she was now receiving. “Plus it will give us another excuse to hang around for a bit.”
“Bonus,” Dusty grinned.
Teldy realized that it was the first full-blown smile she had seen on any of her team’s faces since everything went horribly wrong. That, mixed with the breathing and the beeping, let her let out a breath she barely knew she had been holding.
Her radio chose that moment to go off, requesting her presence elsewhere, even though she was technically supposed to be off duty. She acknowledged the request and promised she would be there momentarily, looking up to see Ali approaching with Doctor Beckett in tow, a brush and a sponge in her hands and a tray full of water in his.
She let herself indulge in one final glance over at her injured teammate, watching as Dusty carefully brushed some of the tangled mess from slowly opening brown eyes. “Yeah, you better wake up, sweet cheeks,” Mehra was teasing her. “Another hour and I was going to call you ‘babe’...”
“Not your babe,” Vega’s replied. Her voice was weak from her injuries and muffled from the oxygen, and sounded like music to the Major’s ears.
Anne acknowledged her with a nod and a smile, slinking away to where duty called. As she left, she heard a whispered, “Sure you are, and you know you love it,” followed by, “You’re such a bitch.” At that, she allowed herself a little chuckle, knowing all was right with the world.
End.
~~~~~~~~~~
Feedback is always welcomed.