FTEC, Monday Evening, New Year's Day

[janet_fraiser]

Janet was in the clinic, bottle of ibuprofen in one hand, bottle of water in the other, and only a slight hangover causing her head to throb. She hadn't been able to find the coffee right away, and the front area was slightly messy, as she'd rummaged in all the drawers and cupboards hunting for it. The smell of hot coffee was finally starting to percolate throughout the front desk area, though.

It would be a stroke of horrible luck for Janet's stress levels should anyone be in urgent need of medical care tonight. Just awful.

OOC: And, therefore, please wait for the OCD threads to go up before posting. OCD has been completed. Yay, medical crises! Should, say, anyone specific need urgent medical attention tonight. *haloes*

Comments

Front Desk

[janet_fraiser]

Janet was sitting at the desk, looking slightly pinched around the eyes. She was swilling down both water and coffee with equal abandon.

This was the place to check in when seeking medical attention.

Re: Front Desk

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

The headache was probably not helped in any way by the unexpected sound of music and beating wings, and the sudden arrival of one extremely ruffled angel carrying a body wrapped in a hospital blanket. He stood still for a second, as if not certain what to do, and then spoke in a hurried, almost angry tone to Janet.

"James is hurt. Badly. He needs a bed."

And a lot of medical attention, but at the moment Aziraphale wasn't too keen on letting anyone else touch the man.

[ooc: Continued from here (http://a-phale.livejournal.com/109368.html).]

Re: Front Desk

[janet_fraiser]

Janet's head snapped up, and she controlled a wince. Someone with wings? And Wilson was there, injured. She glanced at him, making mental note of all the visible wounds, and also seeing-- "You disconnected him from the ventilator?" she asked, frowning. "You moved someone that seriously injured, who'd received medical attention, and was presumably resting and in hopefully stable condition?"

She nodded at Exam One. "He needs more than a bed, but I can't examine him until he's in one."

Exam One

[janet_fraiser]

Look at that. The exam room was clean, and in perfect order. Good thing the clinic staff has everything well in hand.

Re: Exam One

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Well, yes...the whole ventilator problem had occurred to Aziraphale, but he'd wanted Wilson out of that hospital, out of that strange world that wasn't theirs. Besides, Metatron had said no healing, he hadn't said a word about temporarily assisting with breathing.

Aziraphale was good at working the gray areas.

With a dark glare at Janet for fussing at him when she obviously didn't know anything about the situation, he nonetheless followed the nod of her head and carried Wilson into the exam room. Setting the man very gently onto the bed, he waved his hand toward the silent machines set nearby. "He needs one of those...beeping things. With the...tubes."

Re: Exam One

[janet_fraiser]

"Ventilators," said Janet shortly, her focus on Wilson. Unfortunately, the man who'd brought Wilson in was hovering. Not literally, though she supposed he could if he wanted to. Wings. Hmph. She set her hands on her hips and continued frowning. Her voice was tart as she continued speaking. "However, I can't connect him to one until you're out of my way, unless you think being able to describe the sound a machine makes is roughly equivalent to a medical degree? In which case, perhaps you'd like to just stand there and do it yourself?"

Re: Exam One

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale looked up from where he'd been carefully making certain Wilson's bandages hadn't shifted, and tucking the blanket around the young doctor. He arched an eyebrow at Janet's words, giving her a cold and possibly slightly condescending gaze.

"Quite." There was a moment of hesitation before he forced himself to step aside slightly, just enough to allow Janet access, although his hand remained resting on Wilson's chest.

"I'd do it all myself, but THEY've decided otherwise," Aziraphale snapped.

Re: Exam One

[janet_fraiser]

Janet's eyebrow arched into a curve, and she stepped forward, unimpressed by either coldness or condescension. "Move your hand," she said, wheeling the ventilator forward and positioning it to hook Wilson's tube up. "Did you at least have the foresight to bring Wilson's chart, or did they, whomever they might be, hide it on you?"

Re: Exam One

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Chart?

Aziraphale blinked, thinking back to his experiences being around Wilson when they'd visited his hospital in New Jersey, and decided Janet must have been referring to the folders that the doctors always carried around with them. There was probably one in the room back in LA.

Which was now sitting tucked under Wilson's shoulder on the bed.

"This?" he asked, tilting his head toward the file. And still not removing his hand.

Re: Exam One

[janet_fraiser]

Well. That hadn't been there when they'd come in here. Another magical type, then, or possibly an alien. "Yes, that," said Janet tightly. She reached out, grasped the man's wrist firmly, and pulled his hand up, off Wilson's chest and away from the bed, then let his hand drop. "Much better."

OOC: Hand-pulling modded with permission.

Re: Exam One

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

It was so unexpected, that Aziraphale didn't even try to resist his hand being moved, although he remained standing right where he was. And watching Janet like a hawk, as if he expected her to secretly try and do Wilson in.

Once she'd finished reconnecting the ventilator to the intubation tube, he moved subtly back into her space, as if either assuming she was planning on moving away, or else intending on making her move away.

Either would work just fine.

"Thank you," he said, his voice dismissive.

Re: Exam One

[janet_fraiser]

Janet had the chart open and was skimming it, her gaze flickering quickly to the man as he spoke. "You moved a man with a basilar skull fracture, severed finger, and a collapsed lung," said Janet, going back to the chart and reviewing it in more depth. "If you think I'm remotely close to finished in here, I'm hardly afraid to tell you that's wishful thinking on your part."

Re: Exam One

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

"His finger isn't severed anymore," Aziraphale pointed out, as if that made it all okay. "And I would never hurt James. It took hardly any time at all, he hasn't been away from the hospital for more than a few minutes."

Maybe Wilson did need more attention from Janet, though. After all, Aziraphale had no idea what sort of treatment the doctors had been planning. And now that Metatron had barred him from being of any help himself....

He carefully looked Janet up and down, frowning a little. "Aren't you a student here, Miss Fraiser? Shouldn't we get a doctor, if he needs more attention?"

Re: Exam One

[janet_fraiser]

Janet shook her head slowly. "Wilson is in a coma," she said gently. "A basilar skull fracture is a break in the bones at the base of the skull." She glanced down at Wilson, her gaze darting across the remaining telltales of bruised eyes and ears. "I wish there were good news I could give you, but this alone is a very serious injury, not to mention the other trauma you brought him here with. There's the potential for nerve damage, and he may develop meningitis as well. Everything that can be done has been done, and now--" Janet took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "Now we monitor him, and we wait."

OOC: Just for an FYI, physical symptoms and other info on basilar skull fracture pulled from here. Janet's giving the medical info, but hey, we're all hero types. Yay for miraculous recoveries, and everyone not exhibiting the most severe of the symptoms, right? :)

Re: Exam One

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

"A coma?"

It took a moment for Aziraphale to understand what Janet was telling him. The description of the skull fracture didn't mean anything to him, except that he knew that any sort of injury to one's head was a dangerous thing. And he knew what meningitis was, although he wasn't certain he understood why Wilson would be susceptible to it.

But it was the coma that threw him.

"But...you can wake him up from it. Give him some medicines of some sort, right?" If Wilson was unconscious, how could Aziraphale talk to him? How could he find out what had happened, who had done this so that vengeance could be carried out?

Re: Exam One

[janet_fraiser]

"While there are medications that will theoretically wake patients in a coma," said Janet softly. "In many cases, it's not just unwise, but a severe risk to use them. If Wilson were awake, I have no doubt that he would tell you the same thing. He's in a coma because his body needs to be. He needs time to heal. I'm sorry, but there's nothing more we can do right now."

Janet had seen more than her fair share of combat trauma. Her idea of why Phale was asking for her to wake Wilson up was probably close to what was going through Phale's mind. It still didn't make a difference. Any doctor could only do so much; she'd come to that hard realization long ago.

Re: Exam One

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

"How...how long?"

Metatron hadn't told him anything, beyond that there was a reason Wilson needed to recover on his own, without the angel's intervention. Apparently that included being in a coma. But how long would it last? A few hours, a few days...

Longer?

Feeling suddenly as though the floor had fallen out from under him, Aziraphale sank into the chair next to Wilson's bed, staring at the unconscious form. "But I don't know how to protect him, if I don't know what to protect him from."

Re: Exam One

[janet_fraiser]

"I don't know how long. It depends on if any complications develop, and if so, then it depends on what the complications are." Janet slipped the chart into place by Wilson, then glanced back at Phale. "Sometimes we can't protect the people we love. Sometimes all we can do is be here for them."

Re: Exam One

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale shook his head in disagreement. "It's my fault this has happened. They targeted James because of his association with me. It's the only explanation. Why would anyone want to hurt him?"

The only people he could think who might want that were Percuxanth's minions. And this had to be their doing. It wasn't the first time they'd gone after the young doctor, after all.

"I can't heal him, I can't protect him, I can't take revenge for him. What am I supposed to do?!"

Re: Exam One

[janet_fraiser]

"I couldn't say what you're supposed to do," said Janet. "But I have two questions for you. First, do you honestly believe that revenge will make this situation better? Second, when Wilson wakes up--and I choose to believe that's a when, not an if--do you really think the first person he's going to want to see is whoever's on duty when that happens?"

Re: Exam One

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale looked up at Janet's first question, his eyes so dark they looked almost black, but strangely lit from within.

"Yes," he replied in a low voice. "I do."

The second question softened the hard lines his expression had taken, however, and he glanced quickly back at the young doctor. "I'll be here, when he wakes. No matter how long that might take."

Exam Two

[janet_fraiser]

Perfect for an impromptu conference room, since we don't generally give updates right in front of our patients.

Exam Three

[janet_fraiser]

You know. Just in case!

OOC

[janet_fraiser]

Erm. Ping me if you need me!

Re: OOC

[janet_fraiser]

Janet's research is here. Just for reference.