Chapter 44
"What's going on? Bruce said as he came down the hall. "Tony came and got me, and said there was something going on with Agent Hand? What happened?"
"Her funeral's airing live on the internet and she somehow ended up seeing it." Coulson said. Banner. Why hadn't he thought to get Banner? At least Stark had the good sense to do that. "She didn't take it well. Agent Simmons said it caused an artery to spasm. Have you ever seen that before?"
"Dealing with Betty's father, I've seen people come close a few times." Bruce said.
"Should we be getting her to a hospital or something?" John asked. Coulson's girl had seemed to think that she could handle this, but still, if there was any chance that Vic could get worse, he really thought they ought to be getting her to a hospital. What if she had an actual heart attack from whatever that artery spasm thing was?
"What's Agent Simmons doing for her?" Bruce asked.
"She sedated her, and then she sent us to get these." Coulson said as he handed over the list that Jemma had given them. "Is there a chance this could get worse?" Jemma seemed to think she could manage the situation, but still part of him wondered if they shouldn't be trying to get Victoria moved to a hospital to be on the safe side. If she did have an actual heart attack, didn't that usually call for surgery? Jemma was good, and Banner was actually a real doctor, but would either of them have a clue about how to do heart surgery? Didn't that call for a specialist?
"There's a chance it could if the artery spasms again. If it goes on too long, or the spasm closes off the artery enough to cut blood flow to a section of the heart, it can cause an actual heart attack." Bruce told them rather reluctantly.
"Actual heart attack." Not good. "If she had an actual heart attack, how fast would she need to be in a real hospital?" John asked. If there was any chance at all that Vic could end up having an actual heart attack, he didn't know why they were standing around talking about it instead of dragging her off to the best hospital they could find.
"Do you want me to go and talk to Agent Simmons? If it seems like the spasm's eased off, and the sedatives are helping, the best thing would be to keep her here. She doesn't have any history of heart problems or any other health issues that could cause trouble, does she?"
"She's fine. The police had someone check her out after the incident in Lisbon, and the doctor said her blood pressure was barely 120 over something, and that was after nearly being set on fire and a very close encounter with smoke inhalation. If Vic had any issues with her heart, something like that would have triggered it before now, right?" But what if it had done something, caused some sort of silent, unnoticed, damaging issue that coupled with this latest incident could lead to a heart attack and disaster? "Really, wouldn't it be a good idea to get her to a hospital to be on the safe side?"
"If it's just an artery that's spasmed, basically what they would do for her in the hospital is what Agent Simmons is doing now, nitroglycerine to help with the pain and to cause the blood vessels to dilate, and probably watching her for a few hours on a monitor before letting her go with the suggestion to see a cardiologist. That can be done here, and at least here, we can hopefully keep her from hearing anything else about the mess that's been made with that funeral. In a hospital, it would be a whole lot harder to keep her in the dark about that."
"Someone would probably leak information on her to the press." May said. "And if seeing her funeral caused a problem, can you imagine how Victoria would take it to wake up with reporters everywhere?"
"Cardiologist? If you need to consult with one of them, I know plenty. Would that help if you could teleconference or something?" Tony asked as he came down the hall to join them.
"That might be a good idea." Bruce said. "If for nothing else than to be on the safe side."
"You know a doctor who would be willing to do that?" Coulson asked. He was sure Shield had cardiologists at one of their medical facilities, but with how crazy things were with the flu issue, it might be faster to go with a doctor Tony could come up with. And then there was the problem with the doctors who had said Victoria was dying with nothing to back it up. Who knows what sort of mistake they might make if asked to teleconference over a possible heart issue. Better to go with an outsider.
"If you pay people enough, they'll do anything, which probably explains why human resources hasn't fled the my building screaming by now. I know of one doctor, Kaplan I think's his name. Pepper could probably get him pretty quick if you think it's a good idea."
"Let me check with Agent Simmons and see what she thinks." Bruce said. "I'm sure she'll be fine with it, though."
Teleconference, it wasn't as good as lagging Vic to a hospital, but it was surely better than nothing. John started to pray again as he followed Coulson and May down the hall to medical while Benner headed upstairs. Just let Vic be okay. He would do better, he would be better, he would change for the better if she would just get through this. She had fought so hard. She didn't deserve for something to happen to her now because their boss and other co-workers were idiots and planned her funeral prematurely. Just let her be okay!
In case you didn't read it on one of my other stories, I lost my baby kitty on Saturday. He was a Victoria fan, and would sit with me while I was writing and urge me not to damage the poor woman too much. My current three stories are dedicated to him now. I love you so much, Pinky and I miss my writing buddy!