Stasis (First Time Challenge Response)
Title: Stasis
Pairing: Carson/John
Genre: angst
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 825
Spoilers: minor spoiler for The Long Goodbye
AN: Not the first time you might have expected :)
The infirmary was quiet although it was full of doctors and nurses. They were all doing something but had the air they were doing it because they lacked a better occupation.
John walked to Biro and forgot everything he wanted to ask when he saw the sadness in her eyes. There had been a change of attitude in everyone, towards each other, but especially towards him. They were more patient, more understanding. "You can go in, if you want to," she whispered.
It was the first time he got to see Carson in the pod and he was afraid that the sirens would start ringing the moment he stepped in. "Anything I shouldn't do?" he asked, just as quietly.
"Not really. Just… take care of yourself," she said, with the kind of look mothers give their sons when they're worried and understand the pain they're going through.
"Thanks."
The room was dimly lit, with no furniture or equipment except for the pod in the middle of the room. The pod was very much like the one Phoebus had occupied before that very unfortunate event, and like all pods they had encountered so far, its purpose was to sustain the life of its occupant - Carson.
As the doctors and Rodney had said countless times, the pod did nothing to help him recover, it just kept him alive until they could find a way to fix him. Looking at the still figure under the pod lid, pale and battered, John knew it would take a lot of fixing.
The explosion had been awful and they didn't really expect to find anyone alive under the debris. After a few hours of digging, they managed to recover two of their people. Lieutenant Jones was dead and Carson was barely alive.
The surgeons did everything they could, but explained that he wouldn't make it past the second day in his condition. Rodney stormed away, muttering something about incompetent people. Less than two hours later, the Canadian was explaining how they could keep Carson in the stasis pod until they found a way to fix his injuries.
John had the feeling that Elizabeth accepted this because she couldn't refuse it. Rodney bounced off, talking to Radek over the radio and preparing the transfer and John stayed behind to thank her. She smiled, then left the infirmary and he hadn't seen her ever since.
The left side of Carson's face was covered with a bandage, and John knew from Biro's report that he had most of body covered by wounds. John wanted to touch Carson, to feel the warmth of his skin, to have some solid evidence that he was alive, but he had to settle for the Ancient scanner that was constantly displaying Carson's vitals.
"We're doing everything we can to find a solution," Biro said from behind him.
"You don't think you'll find something?" John asked without turning around to face her. He knew everyone was affected by this and he tried to keep that in mind before snapping at them, but it was difficult.
"I don't know how much time we have… the pod uses power and as everyone keeps saying, we don't have that much energy to spare." She moved next to him. "There will come a day when we'll have to shut it down, and I'm not sure we'll have the time to find a solution. I…"
John clenched his fists. "They can't ask for this to be shut down. It would mean killing him." He wanted to shout, but in the silence of the room and next to Carson's still body, he couldn't do that.
"John, people have died. If we had used a pod for each person brought in with a critical injury…"
"Screw them!" And John really wanted to forget about the rest of the world, the ones that weren't doing anything to help save Carson. "We need to figure this out. Carson can't…"
Biro left the room, probably because she wasn't capable of being nice and saying everything was going to be fine. Anything else she would have said would have made John angrier.
After a few moments of staring at the opposite wall and trying to calm down, John looked at Carson again. "Sorry about that. Pressure's gotten to me. I'll behave next time."
A loud screeching noise stopped him from making more promises. Rodney walked in, dragging two chairs. He set the two chairs facing the pod and took the two laptops he brought with him.
"Might as well make yourself useful," Rodney said, handing him one of the laptops. "Each of us has a section of the database to cover, so we should get started."
John nodded and opened the laptop. After glancing one more time at Carson, he started scrolling through the database.
Pairing: Carson/John
Genre: angst
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 825
Spoilers: minor spoiler for The Long Goodbye
AN: Not the first time you might have expected :)
The infirmary was quiet although it was full of doctors and nurses. They were all doing something but had the air they were doing it because they lacked a better occupation.
John walked to Biro and forgot everything he wanted to ask when he saw the sadness in her eyes. There had been a change of attitude in everyone, towards each other, but especially towards him. They were more patient, more understanding. "You can go in, if you want to," she whispered.
It was the first time he got to see Carson in the pod and he was afraid that the sirens would start ringing the moment he stepped in. "Anything I shouldn't do?" he asked, just as quietly.
"Not really. Just… take care of yourself," she said, with the kind of look mothers give their sons when they're worried and understand the pain they're going through.
"Thanks."
The room was dimly lit, with no furniture or equipment except for the pod in the middle of the room. The pod was very much like the one Phoebus had occupied before that very unfortunate event, and like all pods they had encountered so far, its purpose was to sustain the life of its occupant - Carson.
As the doctors and Rodney had said countless times, the pod did nothing to help him recover, it just kept him alive until they could find a way to fix him. Looking at the still figure under the pod lid, pale and battered, John knew it would take a lot of fixing.
The explosion had been awful and they didn't really expect to find anyone alive under the debris. After a few hours of digging, they managed to recover two of their people. Lieutenant Jones was dead and Carson was barely alive.
The surgeons did everything they could, but explained that he wouldn't make it past the second day in his condition. Rodney stormed away, muttering something about incompetent people. Less than two hours later, the Canadian was explaining how they could keep Carson in the stasis pod until they found a way to fix his injuries.
John had the feeling that Elizabeth accepted this because she couldn't refuse it. Rodney bounced off, talking to Radek over the radio and preparing the transfer and John stayed behind to thank her. She smiled, then left the infirmary and he hadn't seen her ever since.
The left side of Carson's face was covered with a bandage, and John knew from Biro's report that he had most of body covered by wounds. John wanted to touch Carson, to feel the warmth of his skin, to have some solid evidence that he was alive, but he had to settle for the Ancient scanner that was constantly displaying Carson's vitals.
"We're doing everything we can to find a solution," Biro said from behind him.
"You don't think you'll find something?" John asked without turning around to face her. He knew everyone was affected by this and he tried to keep that in mind before snapping at them, but it was difficult.
"I don't know how much time we have… the pod uses power and as everyone keeps saying, we don't have that much energy to spare." She moved next to him. "There will come a day when we'll have to shut it down, and I'm not sure we'll have the time to find a solution. I…"
John clenched his fists. "They can't ask for this to be shut down. It would mean killing him." He wanted to shout, but in the silence of the room and next to Carson's still body, he couldn't do that.
"John, people have died. If we had used a pod for each person brought in with a critical injury…"
"Screw them!" And John really wanted to forget about the rest of the world, the ones that weren't doing anything to help save Carson. "We need to figure this out. Carson can't…"
Biro left the room, probably because she wasn't capable of being nice and saying everything was going to be fine. Anything else she would have said would have made John angrier.
After a few moments of staring at the opposite wall and trying to calm down, John looked at Carson again. "Sorry about that. Pressure's gotten to me. I'll behave next time."
A loud screeching noise stopped him from making more promises. Rodney walked in, dragging two chairs. He set the two chairs facing the pod and took the two laptops he brought with him.
"Might as well make yourself useful," Rodney said, handing him one of the laptops. "Each of us has a section of the database to cover, so we should get started."
John nodded and opened the laptop. After glancing one more time at Carson, he started scrolling through the database.