fandom_clinic | Tues 12-13-05

Current Music: Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down (Johnny Cash)

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Tues 12-13-05

He had Johnny Cash on the clinic radio. Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down, a song that reflected his mood a little too well. When it reached the final chords, he hit repeat to listen to it again, his fingers tapping out the beat on the edge of the desk.

He'd been trying to call his father all evening, and had only gotten the answering machince at home and voice mail on his cell The voice mail didn't surprise him, his father never turned the phone on. But the house phone? The fact no one answered unnerved him more than he cared to admit. He had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, maybe not constantly in his thoughts but always close, hovering, never far away.

He was in the clinic, reorganising the drugs in the lock up while he listened to Johnny Cash, because it gave him something to do. He'd had the bottles alphabetical, then rearranged by catagory, and decided he liked alphabetical better.

Hurt came over the CD player. With a weary sigh, he left the lock up half alphabetical, half by catagory, and went into the lobby to sit at the desk to listen without distraction.

"I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel...
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real"

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After the disastrous Pyramid practice session (http://www.livejournal.com/users/futurebucs_star/23096.html), Anders charges into the clinic carrying Kara in his arms. He's only just now realized that it was quite probably a stupid idea to not have stabilized her knee before picking her up.

"Doctor? Somebody? I got a serious injury here! Help!"

What a way to kill a mood. House stood, maybe a little too fast, but the pain he felt quickly receeded.

"Exam One." House pointed with his cane. He grabbed a clip board, and followed. "What happened?"

"In the gym," says Anders, his voice panicked, as he carries Kara into the room. "We were practicing, and she went to pivot, and then she just went down holding her knee. She's damn tough, so it's gotta be bad."

His eyes go wide. "Frak! I coulda made it worse just picking her up and bringing her here without wrapping it or anything."

Kara smacks his chest. "Just put me down you frakking idiot," she edges out between clenched teeth.

"Right," says Anders, moving over to the exam table and laying Kara out as carefully as he can. Once that's done, he moves to stand on the far side of the room, resting his forehead against the wall and closing his eyes. He can't look at her right now.

"Glad you realise this without a nmemo." House hooked his cane on the end of the exam bed and sat down on the stool. First things first, he noted her temperature, blood pressure, and pulse on a chart after doing a quick visual scan.

"First visit to the clinic? I need that paperwork filled out. Anytihng other than the knee hurt?"

Kara shakes her head.

"Good. So, a pivot gone bad. Did you go down on it? Hear anything crack or shatter?" He gently poked at her knee, which was already swelling.

"Watch where you poke, Doc!" yells Kara. "I went down on it, but I don't think I heard anything break." She shrugs against the pillows.

He looked up at her, his blue eyes dark with the burden of thought, possibly mmory.

"My gut feeling is ACL. Anterior cruciate ligament. It holds the knee together." He illustrated the points on her other leg. If his own leg twitched, it was probably nothing.

"You're looking at a serious injury. MRI can connfirm torn cartiledge, and we can go from there. Or I could be way off. Could just be a bad fall, a bit of swelling that'll respond well to ice and heat therapy."

Kara's stomach drops. "Right..." She bites her lip and closes her eyes against the bright light. You always were a frak up.

Anders hears the phrase "ACL," and he has to fight down a sudden urge to vomit; he knows how bad they can be.

Frak -- this is all your fault, Samuel. Just had to go and be stupid, and cocky, and let your ego take over. He pounds his head into the wall once and shuts his eyes tighter, suddenly very afraid he's going to cry.

Dr. House brings Lee into the Exam room and he's unsure what's going on with Anders leaning his head against the wall and Kara looking more devestated than actually in pain. This could be worst than he expected. "Hi. I came as soon as I could," he says quietly.

"Adama." Anders's voice is barely a whisper, and he doesn't look up. "I'm sorry, man, I didn't -- she just -- things got a little too rough, and it just happened."

"Things happen," Lee says in a calm voice but he bites his lip. "What's the diagnosis? What happened to her?"

Anders just chucks a thumb in House's direction as the doctor gives his initial diagnosis (http://www.livejournal.com/community/fandom_clinic/55767.html?thread=2645463#t2645463).

Kara sucks in a breath and her eyes open wide as she hears Lee's voice. "Lee..."

House took his seat on the stool again. "We're looking at a possible torn ligament. I'll need an MRI to confirm." He turned his gaze to Kara. "You think you're up for a trip to the lab?"

Kara's gaze turns away from Lee and back to House. "Don't have much choice, do I, Doc?" she says with grimace.

"Gods, Kara," Lee breathes and reaches out to hold her hand.

Anders hears the concern in Lee's voice and mentally curses himself again.

"I shouldn't be here," he murmurs. "I really shouldn't be here."

"You always have a choice, but I would definitely suggest the MRI. You boys think you can carry her without moving that knee around?" He stood and reached for his cane.

Anders swallows hard and finally steels himself to look up and meet Lee's eyes. "Yeah, I think we can. I should, like, go after that, though . . ."

Kara's eyes shift nervously between Lee and Anders as they move to help her up. "Careful, only have one right knee," she jokes, lamely.

"Yeah, doc, we can carry her," Lee says to Dr. House. He motions for Anders to lift up the cot from the bottom. "It's good to have you around, Anders," he says and he fakes a short laugh. "Need you around for some heavy lifting though, now."

"It's about all I'm good for," says Anders with rather more bitterness than intended. "We got one of those rolling cart things?"

House led the way to the lab and instructed the boys to put Kara on the MRI table. Leaving his cane at the door, he gently eased her leg out into position to get the best read from the machine.

He sent Lee and Anders out of the lab for the duration of the test. It took a few minutes to get the procedure done, then called the boys back in to carry Kara to the exam room, saying he'd meet them there when he had the results.

Lee paces while they wait for the exam to be over. "So what happened?" he finally asks.

Anders swallows hard, and his face flushes bright red.

"Was getting close to the end of practice, and we were kinda going all out. She went to pivot around me, and just sort of collapsed and went down screaming. You know how rough Pyramid is, you know how much punishment she can take. I've never seen her react to pain that way before. And if the doc is right, and it's an ACL tear? It's bad. It's really bad."

He slams a fist into the wall. "I really should go, Lee. She won't want to see me."

"Anders, you can't blame yourself for this," Lee says. "It's not like you goaded her on or anything. And even then -- she plays the game no matter what. It's just an accident. A terrible one, but ... we'll figure out something," he says with a quiet optimism.

There is a cat-call whistle from the lab, indicating House is ready for them to take Kara back to the exam room.

"Maybe I did," says Anders quietly as he heads in after House's whistle. "Goad her on, I mean."

He stands on one side of Kara and waits for Lee to get in position on the other side, but his eyes are on the far wall the whole time.

After they get her back into the room, he turns on Dr. House. "So?"

House limped into the exam room and held up the results. "ACL's definitely torn." He pointed the tear out on the Xray. "I'm going to put you in a brace, let you rest for a couple days. Are you going anywhere over the break? If you are, Ic an send some papers with you and you can get started on some basic exercises. In a couple weeks, we'll see what your progreress and mobility are, before we make any major decisions. With ACL injuries, it's best to give the knee time to heal, get a feel for how well it will heal on its own before we consider surgery. You may not need it, so don't eve worry about it right now. We won't know anything until after the first of the year."

Right then, his pager started beeping and he pulled it off his hip. "This is something I have to take care of. I'll be back to wrap your knee, don't move. And crutches. I hate the damn things myself, but you'll need them for a few days."

Anders pales as the full implication of this hits him. "The first of the year? That's -- tomorrow -- oh, frak." For the first time tonight since the injury, he looks at Kara with a sickened expression. "Kara, I'm sorry. For everything. Really sorry."

Shaking with the tension knotting every muscle in his body, Anders turns and walks out of the clinic as fast as he can, heading back up to his room (http://www.livejournal.com/users/futurebucs_star/23457.html).

Kara exhales the breath she has been holding and nods in resignation. As House leaves, she leans back into the pillows and stares up at the ceiling, wondering how this all got to be completely frakked up.

"Can I get you anything?" Lee asks. "Glass of water?"

"No thanks," Kara says, subdued.

"I'll stay with you if you don't mind," he says.

"Don't think I'll be much company," Kara says, a little sleepily. "I think the drugs the doc gave me will work their magic pretty soon."

He almost laughs. "Unless you don't want me here, I'd rather stay."

Kara meets his eyes and looks away quickly. "Do what you want," she mumbles and closes her eyes to escape his gaze, feigning sleep.

A little hurt, Lee doesn't respond but paces over to the light switch, flipping it off. He then moves to a seat near her and sits quietly with his head against the wall.

Kara squeezes his hand lightly, but turns her eyes away from his, undeserving of his concern.

Horrified at what he might be seeing in a few minutes, Lee comes quickly into the clinic and rings the bell.

House suddenly remembered why he hated working the clinic at night. Everyone and their brother got hurt at night.

Limping out of Exam 1, he poked his head around the corner. "What's the emergancy?"

"Hello, I'm Lee Adama. I heard that Kara Thrace was taken to the clinic with a knee injury. I'm her boyfriend," he says quickly and almost with military precision.

"Boyfriend. Right." Hosue gave him a once over. "Who's the other guy?" he asked casually, aand led the way to Exam 1 (http://www.livejournal.com/community/fandom_clinic/55767.html?thread=2639063#t2639063).

"Other guy?" Lee asks stiffly, as he follows him to Exam 1.

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Tues 12-13-05

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