Going Home
Part Three
By Cathy Roberts
huntersglenn@yahoo.com

A John Carter/Luka Kovac/Dave Malucci Story. Rated PG. Contains
spoilers for Season Six. Last episode seen was "Be Still My Heart".

"ER" and all its characters belong to Warner Bros. No
infringement of their copyright is intended. This story
was written for the enjoyment of "ER" fans everywhere, and
may be downloaded for your own pleasure. However this
story may not be used, distributed or archived without the
permission of the author.

As always, I wish to say a big "Thank you" to Melissa, who
edits what I write and makes sure that it all makes sense.



In his dream, John smiled at Anna and his heart melted as she looked
lovingly into his eyes and smiled back.

"I never stopped hoping that you'd come back to Chicago."

"John, I could never leave you behind. You know that."

"Anna, what's going on here?" Max Rosher asked as he grabbed her
by the arm and planted a long and sloppy kiss on her. John rushed
to her aid, pushing Rosher away. When the man tried to grab Anna
once more, John hit him. Rosher fell to the ground, out cold.

"Oh, John."

"Anna, it's all right. He won't bother you again."

She shook her head. "No, you don't understand. He's my husband.
We're married now. I love him, John."

He shook his head. "No. You would never marry him without telling
me. I know you too well, Anna."

"I did marry him, John. We've been married for about a year now.
We're very happy together. I'm happy." She looked at him intently,
her eyes searching his face for a sign that he understood that this
was for real. That she really did love Max with all her heart.
"Can't you be happy for me, John?"

"Yes. I can do that."

"Thank you." She turned away from him and walked away. He tried
to follow her, but he stumbled over Rosher's body and fell to the
ground. When he tried to get up, he could feel someone holding him
down. Rosher most likely. Trying to keep him away from Anna.
Bastard.

"Let me go. Anna, come back. Please come back. Don't leave me
here," he called after her. But, she just kept walking away. "No."

The thermometer beeped and Dave quickly plucked it out of John's mouth
as Luka released John's shoulders. It had been a struggle to get the
thermometer into his mouth since John had wanted to fight them off. It
worried them that he had been so combative since he was more asleep
than awake.

"104.3"

"Damn." Luka shook his head. It had now been three hours since he
had given John the medicine and the fever had only gotten worse.
"Let's give him some more medicine. Since it was diluted with the
juice and he didn't drink all of it, it might not be as effective.
I'm sure a full dose will work."

"It had better. If he's like this now, what will he be like if his
fever gets any higher?" Dave asked as he measured out the dose. "Do
you want to wake him up or be the one to give it to him?"

"I'll wake him up. You give it to him."

"Considering how hard he fought us just now, I think I'm getting the
short end of the straw with this deal. Wake him up."

That turned out to be easier said than done, Luka later thought.
John had fallen back into a deep sleep and they were never able to
completely rouse him from that sleep. John was coherent enough to
take the medicine, or most of it anyway, although he kept telling
them he didn't want to take anything. Now all that was left for
him and Dave was the waiting. Luka thought that he would give the
medicine an hour to take effect. If it didn't work, then he would
resort to giving him an alcohol rub. He didn't want to think about
what he would do if that didn't work. The motel manager had called
back to the room to let them know that the county had effectively
banned traffic from the roads, so even if he did think he could
drive John to the hospital, it wasn't allowed now.

Luka was sitting at the table reading a medical journal while Dave
watched a movie on television. At least the motel had cable, so
the reception was clear. Dave checked his watch, wishing for time
to fly by. Hell, he was wishing for a lot right now. The number
one wish being that John's fever would break and he would quickly
recover from this bout of flu. The number two wish was that he
didn't catch the flu from John. The telephone rang and he jumped
from the suddenness of the sound. Luka answered it before it could
ring a second time.

"Hello?"

"Luka, it's Kerry Weaver. I just got off of the phone with
Memorial Hospital in Buffalo. Max Rosher is dead."

Luka thought he heard more worry than sorrow in her voice. "From
the flu?"

"Partially. It seems he was HIV positive, so his immune system
was already compromised. According to Anna, he didn't know about
his HIV status, so he had not been taken the AIDS cocktail.
Still, I think it might be a good idea for you to get John to
the local hospital. God knows it couldn't hurt."

"You might be right, but we can't do that now. The county
officials have closed the roads to all but emergency vehicles.
They aren't even planning to try to remove the snow until the
storm stops."

"How's he doing?"

"His fever has gone over 104. We gave him some more medicine
about thirty minutes ago and we'll take his temperature again
in a bit."

"Have you been able to get more fluids in him?"

"A little bit."

"Well, keep trying. And if the medicine you're using doesn't
work, then you should switch to something else. Do you have
any aspirin?"

"Yes, I bought some when I went to the store earlier."

"Good. It's important that you..."

But, Luka never heard the rest of what Kerry had to say because
the line went dead and the lights in the room flickered, then
went out completely, as did the television. As Dave cursed and
stumbled around the darkened room, Luka replaced the receiver.
He knew that John had a cell phone and wanted to get it to call
Kerry back.

"Dave, open the drapes. There might be enough light for us to
see what we're doing."

"Sure." Dave bumped into the chair, but he ignored his throbbing
knee and made his way to the nearest window. He opened the drapes
all the way and it did help some. As he opened the rest of the
drapes, he could see that Luka was at the closet looking for
something.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for John's cell phone. Ah, here it is. Low batt? That's
not a good thing, is it?"

"Nope. You might be able to talk for a minute though, but I
wouldn't risk it. When those batteries die, they cut you off
abruptly."

"Then it probably won't be any good to us if we need it for an
emergency, will it?"

"No."

"Damn. That was Kerry on the phone. Rosher is dead. It seems
he was HIV positive and his compromised immune system coupled
with this flu was too much for his body to handle."

"Should we try to get John to the hospital then?"

"I don't think we'd get very far out there. Besides, as you've
pointed out to me once already, John isn't in any danger right now.
I think we can hold off on that." At least that was what Luka
hoped. He heard John moan and Luka glanced through the dimness at
him, thinking that the medicine wasn't doing anything to help.

"Maybe we can get help from 911."

"Maybe."

There was a knock on the door and Dave answered it. It was the
manager with lanterns for them. He told them that they were
battery powered and the batteries had full charges on them. "I
have no idea how long the power and phone will be out. Since
the heat is also out, I was thinking that the three of you might
want to come up to the office. My wife and I live behind the
office and our living room is big enough to hold a fair sized
crowd. There's only four other guests here tonight, so we could
easily accommodate the three of you. I do have a fireplace, so
there would be heat."

"Thank you for the offer, but we should stay here. John has the
flu and is running a high fever and is probably contagious right
now," Luka replied.

"That's okay, the wife and I have had our flu shots and I can
check to see if the other guests got theirs."

"It wouldn't matter. John had a flu shot as well, but he still
managed to catch it. You see, the flu shot doesn't protect you
against every strain of flu that might be out there. Just a
select grouping. John's flu strain was not included in this
year's shot," Luka patiently explained.

"Oh," the manager said, slowly nodding. "I see. I never really
knew how or why they worked. I just know that I get mine every
year and never get the flu. In this business, I can't afford to
be laid out with it."

"I guess not. Thank you for the lanterns," Luka said as he
opened the door. The manager took the hint and left. Luka
closed the door against the storm.

"John would be better off in a warm room," Dave said.

"That's true. It's also true that he's contagious as long as
he's running a fever. The two of us might already have contracted
this flu. We can't expose the rest of the guests to it."

"I feel fine. Don't you?"

"Yes, but that might change. John felt fine until right before
we left Buffalo."

"We don't even know how this thing is spread. John and Rosher
were sharing the same room and breathing the same air in a closed
in space. This room is much larger than the ones we had in Buffalo."

"The car was a confined space and we were all breathing the same
air. If it's that important to you, then why don't you take the
manager up on his offer? I can manage things here just fine."

"I'm sure you can. You want to do everything you can to help
John. And I know why, too. You want to get back to Chicago and
be able to tell Weaver that you saved John's life. Well, I'm
here, too, and I'm just as good a doctor as you, so you can just
go take the man up on his offer while I stay here to take care
of John." There was no way that Dave was going to get back to
Chicago and have to listen to Luka tell everyone that he had
deserted them. If Luka could stay here, then he could stay here,
too.

"I never said you weren't a good doctor and I never thought the
things you said. I feel that John will be better off if he has
both of us to take care of him. It will be a long night and we
can take turns watching him."

"Fine. We can do that. So, you can go on and get some sleep
while I watch him."

"I don't have a problem with that," Luka evenly replied.

"Me, either," Dave snapped, thinking that Luka Kovac was a
sanctimonious bastard most of the time. No one else could do
things the right way as long as Doctor Luke was in the house.
No one. Especially him. "You should take the fold away bed.
You won't get too much sleep if you're in the bed next to John's."

"I had intended to take that bed anyway." Luka set the bed up,
then changed into pajamas and crawled under the covers. Dave
had cut off the other lantern but there was still a lot of light
in the room and Luka knew that between the light and the sound
of John's coughs, it was going to take some time for him to fall
asleep.

Dave propped up some pillows and took a seat on the other bed.
He wished the power would come back on so he would have something
to distract him while he waited for it to be his turn to sleep.
Still, with the lantern on the table that was nestled between the
beds, he found he did have enough light to read by. So, out came
the comic books. He was halfway through his stack when he saw
John sit up.

"Are you okay?" Dave put the book down and swung his legs over
the side of the bed, ready to help John if he needed it.

"Hot," John softly replied. "So hot." John's eyes were glued
to the window where he could see the snow falling outside. He
knew it had to be cool out there. And he was so hot. So very
hot. He struggled with the covers, then got to his feet,
determined to get outside.

"Whoa, I don't think you want to go out there right now.
Especially since you aren't dressed for the weather." Dave
rushed around the bed and caught up to John as he was halfway
to the door.

"Hot," John repeated. He knew that if Dave would just let him
go outside then he would feel so much better.

"I know. Let's get you back in bed and I'll get you something
cool to drink, okay?" Dave turned him around, or at least he
tried to turn him around. John had other ideas. If he had not
been weakened by the flu, then he might have been able to put
up more of a fight, but Dave won when he finally decided to just
pick John up and carry him back to bed.

"What's wrong?" Luka asked as he sat up.

"John's trying to get outside. He's still burning up, Luka." Dave
gently laid John on the sheets, then changed his mind as he
realized they were damp with sweat. He carried John over to the
other bed and was grateful to see that Luka had seen his intention
and had pulled back the covers. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. We can get fresh sheets from the manager."
Luka grabbed the thermometer, intending to take John's temperature.

"Let me go out there. So hot in here. Too hot," John murmured.

"I'll get that water I promised you, okay?" Dave grabbed a clean
glass and went to the bathroom for fresh water. When he came
back, it was obvious that Luka was having a great deal of
difficulty getting the thermometer into John's mouth. The man
kept shaking his head and trying his best to push Luka's hands away.

"You'll need to hold his head still for me."

"Can't he have the water first?"

"This will only take two minutes. I think it's more important that
we get his temperature taken first."

"And it will take less than a minute for him to drink some water.
He's hot, Luka. He might cooperate once he gets something to drink."
Not waiting for Luka's answer, Dave sat on the edge of the bed and
lifted John's head from the pillow, placing the rim of the glass at
his lips. John drank greedily, begging for more when the water
was gone.

"I'll get you more, but first you have to let Luka take your
temperature, okay?"

"Doan wanna. So hot." John's eyes were dull and they darted
from side to side. "Anna? Where's Anna?"

"Anna?" Dave asked.

"Anna," John yelled. "Don't leave me. Please don't leave me."

"Who is he talking about?" Dave asked.

"I don't know. Kerry mentioned that Rosher's wife was named
Anna."

"That's right. She was on my team and she mentioned that she had
worked at County General. She never said that she had been John's
girlfriend though, so it might not be her that he's asking for."
It certainly sounded to Dave as if John had been calling for a lover
and not a colleague.

"Anna's not here right now, John, but you'll see her soon," Luka
said.

"Anna?" John looked up at Luka.

"Soon. Let's get your temperature taken, okay?"

This time John didn't fight him as he placed the thermometer into
his mouth. Luka wasn't really sure why he bothered once he saw the
results. John's temperature was close to 105.

"We have to get his temperature down," Luka told Dave as the other
man helped John drink more water.

"Well, none of the medication has worked. What else can we do?
It's not as if we have a cooling bed at our disposal."

"No, we don't," Luka thoughtfully replied. "But, I did buy some
alcohol at the store. If you'll get me a wash cloth, I can give
him an alcohol rub. That should bring the fever down."

"Good idea." Dave got a wash cloth while Luka retrieved the bottle
of alcohol. It didn't take long to give John the alcohol rub, and
they made sure that he was bundled under the covers the second
that Luka was finished. While they waited to see if it would work,
Luka took the time to change out of his pajamas.

"Luka, doesn't it seem strange to you that John would have been
sweating like that? And shouldn't he also be experiencing chills
alternating with the hot flashes? It doesn't fit the usual flu
symptoms."

"Kerry said that there wasn't a lot known about this strain of flu."

"Still, it seems odd to me. And he's too delirious for his current
temperature. Sure, I know that 105 is high, but it shouldn't make
him combative and this delirious."

"Let's concentrate on getting his temperature down, then we can
worry about what seems odd, okay?"

And the alcohol rub worked. It brought John's temperature back
down to 104.1, but after thirty more minutes, it went up again,
going above the previous high of 104.7.

"What about a tepid bath?" Dave suggested, "it might help."

"We can try it. It certainly can't hurt him right now, that's for
sure."

"And I think we should let the manager know that we need an
ambulance as soon as possible. His respiration is way too fast
now, but it can slow down and send him into respiratory distress
before we know it. Especially with this cough."

"You're thinking that he's going into pneumonia?"

Dave nodded.

"I agree. I'll go run the bath. Hopefully there will be enough
hot water available so the water won't be too cold."

"I'll get some dry clothes for him and a lot of towels." Dave
headed for John's suitcase while Luka took the second lantern and
went into the bathroom to run the bath. As he rummaged around
for something to dress him in, he could hear John mumbling. Now
he was talking to or about someone named Bobby. Or was it Bobbi?
John was a good-looking guy and Dave was sure he must have had a
large number of girlfriends over the years. Probably all looked
like Elaine, he bet. How did someone get that lucky?

"The water's almost high enough. Did you find some clothing for
him?" Luka asked from the doorway.

"I think these sweatpants and a T-shirt will do." Dave turned to
put them on the bed when something fell from between them. He
set the clothing down, then looked to see what had fallen. It
was a bottle. A prescription bottle to be exact. He picked it
up, then walked over to the nightstand so he could more easily
read it in the lantern's light. The name Nardil sprang up at him
and he re-read the label, noting that Karl Daraad was the
prescribing physician. John was taking an anti-depressant.

"Luka, we need that ambulance now." Dave hoped that his voice
didn't betray the panic he was feeling.

"Why?" Luka asked from the doorway.

Dave tossed the bottle to Luka. "John's taking an MAOI."

Luka shook his head. He knew he had heard the term before, but
he wasn't exactly sure what it meant.

"A Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor. You can't take cold medicines if
you're taking this stuff, Luka," Dave yelled.

"I know what a Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor is, Dave," Luka yelled
back as he fought down a wave of guilt -- and panic. He had been
the one who thought of slipping the medicine to John. Putting his
life in danger.

"That explains the oddness of his symptoms. Not only is he showing
flu symptoms, but symptoms from the drug interaction." Dave was
trying to remember all the various symptoms and dangers involved with
mixing an MAOInhibitor with a cold medicine. He knew he wasn't
remembering all of them, but those that he did remember were
bad. And deadly if left untreated.

"I'll see if the manager has a cell phone." Luka tossed the
bottle back to Dave, grabbed his coat and ran out the door.

Dave went into the bathroom and cut off the water. It was
vital to get John's temperature down now. Having a high
fever was one of the symptoms of the drug interaction. He returned
to the room and gathered up all the towels he could find, setting
them on the floor of the bathroom so it would be easy to dry John
once they got him out of the tub.

Returning to the bedroom, he pulled back the covers. "Come along,
John. We're going to see if we can't get your temperature down."

"Where's Dennis? Do you know where he is? Oh, God, no, he can't
be dead. Not him, too. Please not him," John cried out, his arms
flailing about as he relived his own personal Hell.

Dave bent down and scooped John up into his arms, then carried him
to the tub. He gently lowered him into the water, resting John's
head against his arm. John's body shuddered at first, then he
quieted down. Dave grabbed a washcloth, and used his free hand
to carefully bathe John's face. "This has to work," he told
himself.


End of Part 3