The Flu

"Simmons?"  Coulson called as he knocked on Victoria's office door.  The little scientist was not going to be happy when she heard what Fury was thinking.  Even though she wasn't an actual doctor, she was sure to be offended that the director thought she could miss the symptoms of septic shock, when she had been sitting at Victoria's bedside for two days.

"Sir, what's Agent Garrett doing here?  Has the director finally sent more help?"  Jemma called.  She and Skye were managing fine with Agent Hand, but she knew the others could really use the help, especially with how she had heard Fitz ranting about the damage that apparently insane maintenance man had caused to the building.  She was going to have to have a talk with Fitz about yelling so loudly.  It wasn't going help Agent Hand's recovery if she woke up to someone implying that her building might be about to burn to the ground.

"No help yet.  John just heard about how sick Victoria was and decided breaking out of a lock-down to come check on her was a wonderful idea.  How is she doing?"

"Asleep again, but I'm going to see about switching her to a different medication soon, so I expect her to wake up a bit more by tomorrow."

Waking up.  That was good, although if Victoria woke up and found out what was going on, with her obituary in the paper, her funeral practically planned, and Fury thinking her brain was damaged, that was a disaster waiting to happen.  "I have talked to the director and updated him on the situation.  One of the doctors Fury's been consulting with has expressed a concern about septic shock and…."

"What?"  Jemma almost shouted.  "And did the director check to make sure that this doctor has an actual medical degree, and not something out of a box of those crunchy snack foods?"  Septic shock?  How could someone possibly think that?  "Did you tell them that she's responding to treatment and her fever's coming down?"  And the pictures that Coulson had asked them to take clearly showed strong , steady vitals, so how could anyone possibly thing….

"The director's been having a few bad days, and when he couldn't reach anyone here, he's been thinking the worst."  Coulson said.  "I know you know what you're doing.  If you say that Victoria's getting better, I trust you, but to calm down Fury, do you think you could draw blood for tests?"

Blood for tests.  Tests that were totally unnecessary but with the IV line in, it would be easy to draw blood without an additional needle stick.  She was not going to cause Agent Hand even that small additional pain over something so ridiculous.  "I will draw the blood, and Fitz can run it if it will make the director feel better, but I swear, this is unnecessary."

"I know.  I know.  I don't know what the doctors Fury's talking with are thinking."  Well, they obviously weren't thinking about their own life expectancies if Victoria found out about this.  "There's one other thing.  The doctor also expressed a concern about brain damage due to the fever so now the director would like tests evaluating her brain function as well."

"The…  And does the director want her DEAD?"  Jemma did shout this time before bitting her lip and forcing her voice to drop.  Shouting, especially shouting about this wasn't what Agent Hand needed right now, but was the director insane?  "Sir, I will do the blood tests, but tests to evaluate brain function…."  An EEG would be be simple and noninvasive, but some of the other tests….  And all of them would involve moving her down to medical.  "We would have to move her down to medical for any additional tests and that could very well kill her.  She's responding to treatment, she's getting better, but she fought so hard to stay awake, to stay alive before we found her, if she contracts a secondary infection, I'm seriously afraid that she won't have anything left to fight again.  I'm not going to risk her life and expose her to who knows how many germs just to satisfy some ridiculous notion the director has in his head."

"Give him my phone number."  Skye suggested.  "Maybe if he calls and you explain things to him…."  Why were people giving up on poor Agent Hand without knowing anything about the situation?

Before Coulson could say anything, his phone rang.  "Director Fury, I was just telling Agent Simmons about your concerns.  She's going to arrange blood tests, but as for the rest…."

"As for the rest, they would require moving her, and I have her isolated for a reason."  Jemma called through the door, hoping that Coulson would turn his phone onto speaker so the director could hear her.  "If we can prevent a secondary infection, I have every confidence that Agent Hand will come out of this fine.  I am not about to drag her down to medical, a place packed with flu victims, and who knows how many other germs, and risk her life for some totally ridiculous, unnecessary and in some cases painful tests!  I may not be an actual medical doctor, but I have ethics, and risking someone's life like that violates all of them."

"Is that someone at the Hub?"  Banner said as he came into the office, grinning a bit at the expression of shock on Fury's face.  "Maybe I ought to talk to her?"

"Be my guest.  Agent Simmons, Doctor Banner would like to speak with you."  And hopefully Coulson would know to keep quiet.

"Doctor Banner?"  Jemma's eyes lit up for a moment at the thought of actually speaking to the scientist whose work she admired, but then she recalled the situation with Agent Hand.  Was he one of the people who was giving up on her?

"Agent Simmons, right?"  Bruce said.  "Do you think that you can give me an update on the situation?"

"Alright.  Agent Hand's temperature is still hovering at around 101, heartrate's 85, O2 levels are running between 97 and 99, blood pressure was 100 over 60 the last time I checked.  I have her on a low dose of midazolam and precautionary antibiotics at the moment."

Good, those vitals sounded really good, and once more Banner wondered what in the world the doctor who had suggested possible septic shock had been thinking.  "Okay, her temperature went over 106 at one point from what I've heard."

"106.7.  We were locked in an overheated room at the time.  But Fitz was able to get the malfunctioning heater shut down, and she started responding as soon as that was gone, and we could get some air moving around her."

106.7, not great but….  "How long would you say that her temperature was over 106?"

"Forty minutes, maybe an hour."  Jemma said after taking a moment to think back.  "She started responding right away when we got the heat off and got some air moving, and then once she was on an IV, and wrapped in cooling blankets, her temperature came down even more."

"Okay.  And she's been semi-conscious?"

"She was semi-conscious the entire time she was running temperature that high."  Jemma said.

Semi-conscious with a temperature that high?  "Oriented?"

"From what I could tell, yes.  What she was saying seemed to make sense to me.  I did have a concern that she was seeing auras at one point.  It might have been due to the headache, but that's one reason I went with the midazolam, in case it was an indication of a pending seizure."

"But there wasn't any seizure activity?"

"No, nothing, thank heavens."

"Good, that's good.  What about movement?"

"She's weak, but she has moved a few times, and I didn't see any sort of abnormalities there."  Jemma said.  "As coordinated as you would expect from someone seriously ill with the flu.  We've been able to wake her a bit to eat some ice cream.  She didn't have any problems swallowing that."

"Okay.  Are there any supplies you need?  Tony's getting together a supply run."

"We're fine as far as medication goes, but if you could please talk to the director?"

"I'll call back in a minute."  Fury took the phone back and closed the connection.  "Well?"

"You need new doctors."  Banner told him.

"No indication of septic shock?  What about brain damage?"  Fever of 106.7?  How could Victoria have a chance of being normal after that?

"Her temperature going that high is a concern, but forty minutes or an hour, and the fact that she reacted to the cooling measures right away when they took away the heat source that was part of the problem?  I think if she does have any sort of brain damage, you're going to be looking at the type of injury that calls for physical or occupational therapy, not the type that calls for a nursing home or a hospital."

"Thank you, Doctor Banner."  Fury said with a sigh.

"No problem.  When you know what equipment they need, Tony wanted me to tell you that he has a plane ready to go."

Finally something was going right.  Fury signed as Banner left and he started to redial Phil.

"Therapy?"  Jasper said from the doorway, stopping him in mid-dial.  "Victoria's going to need therapy?"

"Therapy's a lot better than a nursing home, or a funeral."  Fury muttered as he finished dialing.  "And shouldn't you be doing something to make that obituary disappear?"