Back at the unit, Chantal sticks her head into 199. "Isobel? You're getting an admit." 

"Oh, am I? What is it." 

"...Actually, take your pick. We've got a 20-year-old female, overdose on Ecstasy, currently in the ER and just went into V-tach. Or early 20s male, near-drowning in the university pool public swim, probably also on drugs but we have no idea yet, he hasn't arrived in the ER yet." 

"I'll take the one that's arriving later, I'm sort of busy right now. Am I swapping 202 or 199 and who's taking them." 

"Plan was to give 199 to Loren." 

"Honestly I'd rather hand off 202." 

"Noted, but we're juggling a lot here. Is he giving you trouble?" 

Shrug. "I mean, he's chill on five of midaz, but day shift gets pissy about upping the sedation on nights, and we're not supposed to knock out his respiratory drive so he never breathes above the backup rate, which rules out propofol, and on just fentanyl he has a panic attack every hour. He's not complicated other than that, Loren would be fine." 

Sigh. Isobel isn't, in fact, the best personality fit for a patient like Ma'ar, and 199 is, in fact, a pretty complicated patient for Loren. But Isobel's had him for half a dozen shifts, in total. 

"I don't want to switch up continuity of care for him. And 199 will be educational for Loren. Sorry." 

"Fine, but you're on answering his call bell if I'm trapped in 201–" Sigh. She glances over. "Including right now, I've got to prep the room." 

"Yeah, sure." Chantal will go see what Ma'ar needs this time. 

Ma'ar is clearly awake, and equally clearly is working very very hard to achieve this feat. His eyes start to flicker shut every three or four seconds until he valiantly wrenches them open. The light by the sink is still on, and the light in the bathroom with the door half-closed. 

She crosses the room to him, makes sure he's seen her first before she touches him, and then takes his hand. "Hey. You look really tired. Do you want the lights off?" 

:No: 

"Do you need something right now?"

:I need - something to write on... Need to think. Forgot - thing I need to do. Important: 

Oh no, he's in this mood again. Marian is very good at sitting with him and talking it through until he calms down, and her advice to Chantal was 'he needs to feel oriented and he needs to remind himself that nothing is the kind of emergency he can fix right now anyway.' 

"Ma'ar, it's getting late at night and I think that you'll be more able to figure that out in the morning, okay? ...Do you remember where you are right now?" 

Ma'ar considers this intently for a while, eyes slitted half-closed. :Hospital. Montford. On Earth: 

"Yeah. That's right." 

:I...forget sometimes: 

"Mmm. That makes sense - you were very sick and we're still needing to give you medicine to keep you comfortable with the breathing tube." She squeezes his hand again. "You - think you're back fighting the war, sometimes?" 

:Sometimes I - forget - think it is not too late...Urtho...: 

He starts crying. And then coughing, because the ventilator is very unhappy with this. 

- she is kind of starting to see Isobel's point about it being incredibly frustrating to try to wean his sedation! Poor guy. Also she can't remember who Urtho is. 

"Yeah. I'm so sorry. But - right now you need to focus on resting, because it's nighttime. Do you think you need more of the medicine to help you be less anxious about it?" 

:No. Worse if I cannot think: 

"Yeah, okay. Should I - is there anything that would help you remember where you are?"