Disclaimer: Don't own Code Lyoko.
A/N: This is a sequel to A Surprise Patient. I highly suggest you go read that first. Otherwise, enjoy and I do love reviews.
A persistent buzzing pulled Aelita from the depths of dreams. Groaning at the sunlight bouncing off her eyelids, she stuck a hand out and silenced the hated alarm clock. The devilish red numbers told her that it was time to get up and stop procrastinating. Her first real day back at work demanded her attention. Aelita had no choice but to give in. The covers flew to the foot of the bed as the pink-haired woman got up rather enthusiastically. Aelita figured a cheery start to the day would result in a cheery ending. Or so I hope.
The four cardboard boxes huddling in a corner reminded Aelita of the changes storming through her life and the fact that she still needed to unpack for the second time in a month. Moving is aggravating, but so worth it in this case. Sunlight illuminated the sparsely decorated room as Aelita's thoughts turned to the darker side of change and she walked to the mirror. Good things in life came at a price.
A very pretty woman with long pink hair and emerald eyes stared steadily back at Aelita. Her reflection stood there silently, waiting. As always, the scar running down the center of her chest was a telltale reminder of that fateful day two months ago. Frowning at the bumpy tissue that marked her near-death experience, Aelita wondered for the countless time what would've happened had Jeremie not been there. She also thought about the robber who shot her as Aelita attempted to wrestle the gun away from him. The perpetrator had never been caught.
Let bygones be bygones. You have work to do. Aelita shook her head and smiled slightly at the wild tangle of pink hair on her doppelganger's face. Long hair was a hassle but she wore it for Jeremie. Besides, the more time she spent in the morning fixing her hair meant a better night previously. A wicked smirk crossed her face for a second as details popped into her mind. Too bad Jeremie was on-call for the next two days. He owed her a date night.
Grabbing the black towel hanging on the bathroom door, Aelita used her third favorite wake-up tool: a shower. After twenty minutes of glorious relaxation she yawned, stepped out of the shower, and went to work on her hair. How does Jeremie get almost no sleep and then perform an eight-hour surgery? I can't do that. A wry chuckle escaped her throat. Aelita knew better than most how much Jeremie shunned sleep in favor of important things. First her materialization, then her anti-virus, his job, and finally her.
Satisfied that she was ready for what the day had to throw at her, Aelita slipped into a simple but elegant blouse and skirt. The mirror approved and Aelita used the confidence-booster to head downstairs for a savory cup of caffeine. She needed it. The simply decorated living room filled her vision. So did the boxes. Aelita really needed to finish unpacking and add her own touch to the house. Jeremie's spartan layout was about to feel the wrath of her renovations.
A brightly gleaming glass vase filled with water caught her eye. A solitary pink rose shone in the block of sunlight filtering through the kitchen window. With a smile Aelita bent over and inhaled the subtle fragrance of the flower. Wonder what he's up to? She made a mental note to thank him later and pulled a mug from the black cabinet. A soft dribbling sound accompanied the water poured into the cup. Aelita put the full mug in the microwave and searched for the muffins. "Aha!" she said as the miscreant bread product fell to her superior hunting techniques. I'd totally rock a survivability course. Not.
Aelita danced across the kitchen and theatrically yanked a tea bag out of the container by the coffee machine. She had a habit of acting somewhat strange on occasion. Hmm, I should get back into DJing. It's been far too long. The last two months had returned Aelita to her life at Kadic. Music deserved to be included. Before she knew it, Aelita was savoring a delectable English muffin and a steaming cup of tea. She felt distinctly British.
"Top o' the morning to ye, guv'nor." Aelita said in a deep voice to herself. Oops. Pretty sure that's more Irish than British. Oh well. She gave herself points for trying. Too bad Jeremie wasn't here since he would probably be on the floor laughing. That was only the natural reaction to one of her goofy moods. Perhaps Aelita should have gone into the comedic field. Maybe jack of all trades would be the perfect occupation for the pinkette. Alas, programming would have to suffice for now.
Speaking of programming, I really don't want to be late. Aelita crammed the remaining half of the biscuit in her mouth and slung her black purse on her shoulder. A quick transfer of the tea to a to-go cup made Aelita ready for the day. Throwing the rose one last glance, the pinkette grabbed her keys and visited the other love in her life: the silver Camaro waiting to be ridden. There's a double entendre in there somewhere. Shrugging it off, Aelita slipped into the vehicle and smiled as the engine rumbled to life. There were a few perks to divorce after all.
A quick glance at her watch said she had twenty minutes to make it to work. Time to see how many speed limits she could break. Slipping a cool pair of sunglasses on, Aelita grinned at the sound of Alice Deejay pouring through the speakers and revved the engine. She certainly wasn't better off alone. The car gleamed in the sun as it pulled out of the garage and headed for the distant skyscrapers of Boston.
"Hello Dr. Zombie." Carol said while handing a coffee to her favorite doctor. Jeremie looked at her with a zombie-like expression before noticing the cup.
"Braiiins! Oh, coffee. Just what I needed, thanks." Another yawn broke through Dr. Belpois' façade as he enjoyed the first rich sip of coffee. His next surgery was in fifteen minutes and he needed to be at least able to keep his eyes open. "Everything ready in the OR?"
Carol pulled up the surgery schedule on her Blackberry. The hospital was trying to join the techno-revolution along with every other business in the United States. "Yep, OR 3 is booked for us all day. Ready for that lovely eight hour surgery? Looks like you need a lot more sleep, but something tells me you really didn't mind losing sleep last night." Jeremie rolled his eyes. Carol loved teasing him.
"I'll be fine. I have a long history of running with little sleep. Let's go fix that kid's heart now, shall we?" Carol nodded and the two set off at a brisk pace through the hospital corridors. As usual chaos ran rampant throughout but Jeremie and Carol were experts at avoiding any sudden mishaps. Needles rolled across the floor and the two calmly sidestepped the widening pool of syringes while an intern hastily attempted to clean the mess up.
"Remind me why I chose this job again doctor?" Carol complained as a glistening piece of vomit nearly soaked her shoes. Generally that sort of thing didn't randomly happen in the hall. Jeremie chuckled and shrugged.
"It's fun and the hours are good," he said before ducking into the elevator. Carol snorted and shook her head.
"The hours suck and you know it. How is Aelita handling that anyway?" Four interns hastily leapt into the elevator as the doors closed.
"We've discussed it and she understands. She doesn't like how the hospital owns me but there's nothing we can do about it. I think getting back into her job will help out a lot. She had a month of doing mostly nothing to drive her crazy," Jeremie said. Carol nodded her agreement. Aelita wasn't the type to enjoy sitting around doing nothing. "Hand me the pre-operative notes please. I want to double check everything before I start cutting."
"Your wish is my command boss." Carol drawled and handed Jeremie the file. He browsed the notes until the elevator dinged to a stop. "Someone should really tell Maintenance to fix these old machines. They're so slow."
"Agreed. So a dextro-transposition of the great arteries with a ventricular septal defect and patent ductus arteriosis? This surgery is going to be a while. Switching the aorta and pulmonary artery is never a fun task." Jeremie checked the name before continuing. "Brad can thank his heart defects for keeping him alive though. Without the septal defect and arteriosis, he'd be dead."
The two walked out towards Brad's room. Upon entering Jeremie was immediately besieged by Mr. and Mrs. Cooper. "Dr. Belpois, my wife wanted to make sure we understood the procedure. I know it's rather late but could you spare a couple minutes to explain it once more?" Jeremie nodded; they were worried and scared and needed any form of reassurance.
"Well Mr. Cooper, it's a fairly complex procedure but when done correctly has a very low chance for mortality. Your son has a defect where the aorta and pulmonary artery switch places. This means that deoxygenated blood cycles through the body while oxygenated blood cycles between the heart and lungs. Thanks to the hole in his ventricular wall and the ductus arteriosis connecting between the aorta and pulmonary artery, there is some mixing of blood to keep him alive." Jeremie waved to Brad's small form lying on the bed and continued.
"The good news is that the artery configuration in his heart allows us to put him on bypass with some transfused blood, detach the arteries and restore them to their natural positions, and fix the other two defects at the same time. With any luck he'll live a fairly normal life. He'll be fine."
The worried couple shared glances and turned back to Jeremie with steadier gazes. "Thank you doctor. Please do everything you can for our son," Mrs. Cooper said. Nodding, Jeremie motioned to the intern to start moving Brad towards OR 3. Back into the deadly halls they went. This time nothing happened and the group made it to the operating room on time.
"Ready for this, Dr. Somme?" Jer asked the intern. He remembered his days as an intern; how everything was new and exciting. Admittedly surgery still remained one of his greatest pleasures but all the procedures were drilled into his mind. This young man was learning it for the first time. Risk and reward mixed together filled the lives of interns. The fear of ending someone's life coupled with the sweet satisfaction of another soul saved.
"Yes and no," Dr. Somme said while tying on his facemask. Jeremie chuckled; he heard that answer quite a bit.
"It'll be fine. You'll see," Jeremie said. Aelita flitted through his mind as he snapped on his gloves. She always popped into his head at the beginning of a surgery now. He felt a tiny bit of unfounded fear that he'd find her on his operating table again. Once was enough for the both of them.
With a glance at Carol, Jeremie entered the operating room. Brad's small form lay there helplessly, waiting for a doctor's hands to correct his failing heart. "Alright everybody. Let's get this party started." Everyone present nodded and Jeremie picked up a scalpel for the countless time. A quick glance into its shining surface showed a determined face with focused blue eyes. I'm ready.
The scalpel sank into skin as Jer began opening the chest. Once the heart was exposed, Dr. Somme separated the ductus arteriosis and part of the pulmonary artery from the surrounding tissues. Jeremie inserted a tube into the aorta and right atrium of the heart to prepare for bypass. Before the surgical repair could begin, the team had to cool Brad's body down to a low temperature, around sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit, to prevent brain damage during the procedure.
Might as well do something while waiting for him to cool down. Jeremie tied off both ends of the patent ductus connecting the two great arteries and sliced it in the center. "Doctors, he's at sixty-five degrees," Carol said. With a nod at his intern Jeremie motioned for the actual procedure to begin. Slicing the coronary arteries away from the heart, the two doctors prepared to detach the aorta and pulmonary artery. Jeremie marked the locations to cut the aorta and pulmonary artery with a silk suture.
"Looks like we can just transpose the two without any complications. The coronary arteries won't be affected," Jeremie said. A flash of scalpel resulted in the aorta losing its connection with the heart. The steady beeping of the bypass machine overshadowed the quietly tense scene. Jeremie sutured with precise efficiency as the aorta became one with its natural spot. A quick check of the sutures told him that they would hold.
Time inched by as the coronary arteries were re-attached to the aorta. Jeremie stepped back with a sigh and motioned for the heart-lung machine to be turned off. The beeping stopped and the two tubes were removed from the aorta. This part had to be done quickly to prevent any tissue damage. "Let's fix that ventricular defect." Jeremie motioned for Dr. Somme to take over.
The intern blinked and made a confident incision in the heart muscle. With the small hole in the heart wall revealed the doctors could suture it closed. Dr. Somme went to work and quickly closed the unnatural hole forevermore. "Good work. Now close up the incision you made and we can finish this off."
The bypass tubes were replaced and Brad went on bypass again. Jer patched up the small holes in the heart left by the coronary artery excision and went to work on the pulmonary artery. A few more sutures turned Brad's heart into a normal one. This kid will be perfectly fine. A few more doctor appointments is all. "Show me what we do next Dr. Somme," said Jeremie. He watched the intern frown at the small chest under the light.
"Insert a chest tube and relax the rib cage while leaving the sternum open to account for heart swelling?" Somme asked uncertainly. Jeremie smiled, nodded, and motioned for the intern to carry on with the final procedure. The tube was placed in the chest to handle any bleeding that could occur afterwards. Grinding to a halt, the bypass machine ceased its whining once more. The doctor closed the exterior wound and stepped back with a triumphant grin on his face. Jeremie grinned and looked around at the surgical team. Everyone felt elated; successes made this job worthwhile.
"Excellent job everyone. Who knows, Brad could thank us some day in the future. Now go celebrate with another surgery," Jeremie said and a few chuckles echoed in the room. "Dr. Somme, feel free to let the parents know that everything went swimmingly. I need more coffee and something filled with sugar." Two forlorn gloves fell into the garbage can as Jer wearily walked out. Once surgeries ended his razor sharp focus became dull. I need to find a bed for a nap. Just a short one.
"Nice one Jer. You have a couple hours for sleep before your next one," Carol reassured and handed him another cup. Blinking in surprise, he took a hit of coffee. Does she have an espresso machine hidden in her scrubs or something?
"Thanks again Carol. I guess I should make you my official caffeine supplier. I really want to know where you get this from so fast." Carol grinned and wagged a finger at Jeremie.
"Trade secret. You'll just have to figure it out. Now go sleep!" Carol admonished before heading off to check on patients. Jer drained the coffee and headed for the nearest bed yawning the whole way.
Watching. His greatest skill, his biggest weakness. All his life he hid in the shadows; turning himself so average that no one regarded him as someone worth talking to. Those who he passed every day for years never knew his name, never thought about him, never cared. Nearly thirty years of invisibility and the cloak was wearing thin. Like a volcano pressure built in him and now waited to be released. He had to do something to get noticed or he would implode.
She showed up today. Something about her captivated him and so he watched. His job fell by the wayside as he studied the strange creature. She didn't seem a part of this world, much like him. Yet at the same time she was immersed in life along with everyone else. Fascinating. A living paradox: the perfect thing to attract his curiosity.
The central question remained: What to do? A few months ago he would've thought about merely talking to her, no more. That was before the Event. Now there were so many more possibilities. Exciting possibilities. His black-eyed gaze scrutinized every detail of the unsuspecting woman. He had an uncanny suspicion that her hair was real.
Which opened up a whole new area of speculation. Was it genetics? Some mutation that resulted in that strange hue? Or something far more unbelievable? He'd have to investigate. That pressure within him screamed to be released. It had exploded in a life-changing firestorm once before. This could be the second time. He got away with the Event after all. Fate would give him the tools to succeed as it always did.
So he returned to his vigil. The device that became more than a mere activity; it defined who he was. Mediocrity and vigilance were the only ways to survive the hellhole of foster care and he turned it into a talisman to live by. He'd learn more about this ethereal being with pink hair and decide on a plan or two. Until then, there was always one option. The only option. Watching.