Work Text:
Paul, Hugh, and Adira were all relaxing after a busy day at work. The three of them had been working on a new jigsaw puzzle while talking about each other's day and many other things.
Paul had been left to continue the puzzle while Adira was going to check on the cookies they made and Hugh went to make another pot of tea.
He continued to work on the puzzle in front of him. He thought it was coming along quite nicely. It was a generic photo of brightly colored earth flowers. He sifted through the box of unsorted pieces to find pieces that would fit together.
Paul heard clattering from the kitchen and turned his head to the noise. Adira called out, “It’s fine! I just dropped something!” With confirmation everything was alright Paul turned back to the puzzle continuing to reconstruct it.
Unexpectedly Paul yawned but ignored his sudden sleepiness and continued working on the puzzle. He just got a big group of scattered pieces connected and while the majority of the puzzle has yet to be pieced back together it was starting to come along quite nicely.
Hugh and Adira were still out in the kitchen, he could hear them talking but couldn’t hear the full conversation.
He yawned again, the day must have taken a lot more out of him then he released. He tried to ignore his sleepiness and continued working but his sleepiness hit him like a truck.
A quick nap wouldn’t hurt. Besides he figured he’d only be asleep for a minute, maybe longer until Hugh dragged him to bed.
He rearranged a couple of pillows and laid down on his side on the couch. Sleep took over quickly. Quicker than usual. Soon enough he was asleep. Out like a light.
As quick as he fell asleep he was awake.
He opened his eyes.
He was shaking.
Every part of him was shaking.
He moved his hand up to look at it.
It was so hard to move his hand.
It took so much energy.
His hand was shaking, violently.
He tried to keep it up but it took too much energy.
Something was very wrong.
He tried calling for Hugh.
Hugh would know what to do.
It was so hard to move his mouth to say Hugh’s name, “Hugh.”
It was quiet.
God, it was so quiet.
He could barely hear it himself.
His pleas for someone were useless.
He tried to get up but his body was shaking so badly.
Even the slightest controlled movement took so much energy, energy that he didn’t have.
His vision was blurring.
He started to cry.
Something was very wrong and he needed help.
Then it went dark again.
Paul's eyes were closed but he heard voices.
“Adira! Call Tracy. Tell her what happened.”
He knew those voices. It was... It was Hugh. He knows Hugh. There was another voice too. Who was it? What was their name? He knows it but it's not coming to him.
He opened his eyes and saw Hugh next to him and the owner of the other voice.
Now seeing them, he remembers their name. Adira. Adira was his kid. He wondered, how could he ever forget his kid’s name?
“Hi, sweetie.” Hugh’s voice was soft and cautious. "Do you know where you are?"
“Home.” Paul pushed himself up from lying on his side and sat on the couch. His arms hurt a bit, well a lot actually, his arms were so sore and unstable but he moved. Hugh looked worried. He hovered his arms to catch him in case he fell, but Paul didn’t.
"Can you tell me your name?"
Paul looked at him. Hugh gave him a look, clearly waiting for a response.
Hugh repeated, “Your name?”
Paul was confused. Why is Hugh asking for his name? He didn’t fight the question, “Paul Stamets.”
He looked past Hugh to Adira who was talking to someone on their... talk thingy. He doesn’t know the name of it.
"Do you remember what happened?"
“I was sitting on the couch...” He paused. What happened after?
“If you can’t answer it, that's okay.” Hugh was still speaking softly and Paul just nodded. "Are you feeling okay?"
“Tired.”
"Do you need anything? Do you want water?" Paul nodded. Hugh turned around to Adira, “Can you get some water?” Adira walked out of the room to get a glass of water. Paul stared at Hugh.
Hugh tried to comfort him but Paul was confused. So confused about everything that was happening.
Soon enough Adira came back with a glass of water. They handed him the glass of water which he took in his hands and started to drink from it.
Hugh looked at Adira, “Thank you.” Adira nodded and hovered around the two.
Hugh hovered around Paul. He held the glass too, acting like Paul was going to drop it. “I’m fine Hugh.”
“I'm just making sure.” Paul took a sip of their water and realized how sore his throat really was. He drank all the water in the cup and went to set the cup down but Hugh took it and handed it to Adira. Adira understood what Hugh was asking and left to put the cup in the sink.
“Paul.”
Paul didn’t respond to Hugh so Hugh said his name again, “Paul.”
“Yeah?” Paul looked at him unaware that Hugh had to repeat himself.
“We’re going to take you to medbay alright?”
Paul would typically fight Hugh about this but he didn't have the energy for it, so he nodded in agreement.
He was in the medbay. That’s what it's called, right? He couldn't remember if that was what Hugh called it or not.
He was sitting on a chair bed thing while waiting. Adira was in a chair near him, they looked worried. Adira looked at Hugh and another woman. They were listening to the two. Hugh and a woman were talking. He looked at them but wasn’t paying attention to their words.
He could hear their words and understand them but he couldn’t keep what they were saying. It was better to drown their voices out, so he did. They weren’t asking him anything, and he couldn’t remember most of the big fancy words they were saying, so why try to remember them?
He looked at the woman. He knew her. He knew her name, it was Talyor. No. It was Tammy. That sounds right. He thinks. No. That wasn’t her name. Why was it so hard to remember things?
His brain was fuzzy and so were his thoughts. It didn’t feel like he was there. He was just watching. Staring.
He felt nothing. Nothing that was real anyways.
He looked at Adira who was concerned about him. They tried to be as close to him as they could and eventually settled on sitting in a chair they moved next to the bed thingy. He still couldn't remember that damn word for the life of him.
He wasn’t sure what to do to comfort them but he ruffled their hair. They looked at him worried and Paul held his arms open so he could give his kid a hug. Adira basically jumped out of their chair and into his arms.
Paul could tell that Adira wanted to hug him tight but stopped themselves. He wanted to tell them everything was going to be alright but he didn't even know what was going on.
Eventually they let him go from the hug and Paul tapped the bed thingy and Adira hopped up to sit next to him. Paul gave them a kiss on the head and the two sat in silence until the two doctors finished their talk.
After a few more minutes Hugh and the other doctor walked over to him.
The lady who he is pretty sure is named Tammy started asking questions, “What do you remember before Hugh and Adira found you?”
“I was working on the puzzle and then I got really sleepy so I laid on the couch. Then I woke back up shaking, tried to get help because I couldn't move and then I fell back asleep as I did earlier.”
She wrote some things down on her talk device. It's starting to bug him that he couldn’t remember the thing's name.
Tammy looked at Hugh, “Was he slurring his words when he returned to consciousness?”
“Yes. I could tell what he was saying but it was bad. It's stopped now but it was hard to tell what he was saying.”
“Was he out for under five minutes?”
“Yes, we're pretty sure.”
Paul finally asked, “So what happened?”
She looked at him and answered, “I'm pretty sure you had a seizure. This isn’t your first one if you remember. You had one during a jump to the mirror universe.” Paul kind of remembered that. “We hoped that was just a cause of the spore drive and swapping universes but I guess not.”
Paul nodded, “Am I ok now?”
“Well we are going to do tests but you seem fine.”
“OK. Thank you Tammy.” They all gave him a look.
Hugh whispered, “Her name is Tracy not Tammy.”
“Tracy, sorry, Tracy. Thank you Tracy.” Tracy smiled and turned to Hugh.
“If he even has another one Hugh, make sure he is on his side, never his back. I know you're also a doctor but I just want to remind you. Never put a person having a seizure on their back.”
“I know Tracy. Thanks for the reminder. I'll look over seizures more later tonight. It will be good in case anything happens again.”
“We are going to need to do a brain scan soon. Not now though, we need him to be asleep during that.” Hugh nodded, “We also needed to do a few more scans too but the main one in the brain scan. To make sure the mad scientist didn't go completely mad.”
Tracy and him laughed then Hugh asked, “So which type of seizure do you think he has?”
“I'm pretty sure he has Grand Mal seizures also known as Tonic-clonic seizures.”
“Ok. Thank you Tracy, I'll make sure to watch over him when we get back home. Are you going to do any tests today?”
“Yes I would like to.” Hugh nodded in understatement.
Hugh was going to tell Paul he was going to be here for a while longer but he saw Paul and Adira sitting next to each other on the biobed. Adira’s head resting on Paul's shoulder as he rested his head on theirs.
He could wait a little before disturbing them. Paul has had a rough day already. Relapsing with a seizure is tough, especially since they hoped it was a one off occurrence. Things are going to change for sure but at least for a little bit he can watch his husband and kid comforting each other.