Trucking through my to-do list, once again... and I've still barely made a dent. (sigh)
Though I'm pretty sure all of you have played it or already know what happens, I don't think this will be an issue, but this does contain spoilers for Second Opinion. shrug
Other than that, it pokes fun at the Trauma Center series as a whole, so I hope that you like it.
And if you don't, the Medical Board will be notified.
"Are you serious?"
Angie Thompson raised an eyebrow at her doctor's question, who could not see her skepticism due to a little invention called the telephone.
"Yes I'm serious – it's our day off, and I'm bored… and Wii Sports just, isn't fun anymore... I need a new game."
The blonde sighed at Derek's obsession with video games, before she remembered that she too, was bored of playing Wii Sports.
"I don't know, I probably should get some cleaning done…" she mused, not convincing herself entirely that cleaning was what she really wanted to do.
"Oh, come on Angie -- nine times out of ten we spend our day off together anyway..." he reasoned, leaving her to realize that he was right. "And if you come with me, I'll let you pick what game I get..."
Angie's eyes lit up at his offer, a mischievous smirk crossing her lips as she contemplated getting him the girliest game she could possibly find. Quickly her evil thoughts dissipated and she instead donned a genuine smile, letting a small giggle slip.
"Oh, alriiiight…" she said, hearing him chuckle. "But you're driving…"
"I wouldn't have it any other way." he replied, his smile evident even through the phone. "See you in 20."
--
"What about this one?"
Derek looked over from the game in his hands at the one Angie held out to him, biting his lip regretfully. "I already have a racing game Ang… Remember? You hate it."
Derek laughed as Angie's face instantly grew angered, remembering the day that they had spent playing the stupid racing game he had – the time she had almost whipped the controller through the screen out of pure rage. It was frustrating to her, but hilarious to him – he had never heard her swear so much in her life as she did that day.
"I don't know then Derek..." she sighed, looking through what seemed like thousands of games. "What are you in the mood to play?"
"Just, something different… I have the sports games, I have the music games, I have puzzle games and racing games…"
Angie smiled, giggling evilly. "Well, there's always this…"
Derek turned around, his face dropping into a scowl as Angie giggled harder, holding a "Hannah Montana" video game in her hands. His anger instantly subsided and he smiled himself, chuckling. "Remember – whatever I buy, you have to play with me today."
Hannah Montana was immediately shoved back onto the rack.
--
"Come on, seriously Derek… this isn't THAT hard…" Angie whined, crossing her arms. They had been in the store for nearly half an hour, and were reaching the end of the rack.
"Yes it is – this has to entertain me the rest of the day. And since I drove, the quicker you help me do this, the quicker we can go." he simply said, smiling as he looked over another game, hearing Angie scoff to the left of him.
The two returned to silence as Angie lowered to the ground, crouched down and steadied herself on the balls of her feet as she looked to the very back of the racks, pulling out a stack to sift through. She had nearly gotten through all of them when she picked up the last one, her mouth instantly dropping open in shock.
"Oh, My, GOD!" she shrieked at such a high pitch, Derek covered his ears a few feet away.
The blonde was instantly on her feet reading over the back of the box frantically, unable to believe what was in front of her face.
"Angie…?" Derek questioned, placing the game in his hands back on the rack as he paced towards her. "Angie, what is it?"
She finished reading the box and turned her surprised eyes up at him, her smile exploding as her arm straightened, holding the box out for him to see.
"…US!" she squealed, seeing him smile and then take the game from her confusedly, his expression transforming into a shocked grin as he read it over.
"Join Dr. Derek Stiles and Nurse Angie Thompson in the fight of their lives… Trauma Center: Second Opinion." he read out loud, his face still stunned. "I can't… I just…" he stuttered, much to Angie's amusement. "This is so… CRAZY!" he finally exclaimed, sharing a chuckle with her.
"Well, is this the one we wanna try?" he asked her, smiling when he saw her right eyebrow shoot nearly up into her hairline, her arms instinctively crossing.
"I can't believe you would even ask me that." she said, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him to go pay.
"Alriiight! I get it – owww!" he laughed as he was literally dragged to the cashier and then promptly out of the store.
--
Angie still had not released her hold on Derek's wrist as they ran up the stairs to the floor where he resided, though he had done a better job of catching up with her. Before they had even reached the floor he had his keys out and ready, jamming his apartment key firmly into the lock and all but throwing the door open. He gently pushed her inside and followed quickly himself, kicking off his shoes and all but running to the couch, tearing the plastic wrapping off of the game as best he could on the way. She sat down on the couch and he vaulted over the back, plopping down next to her as she giggled.
"Here… hold this please." Derek said to her, giving her the box as he walked toward the TV to put in the game. Angie took it from him and removed the insert, reading it over with yet another shocked expression.
"What now?" he asked, her eyes never straying from the booklet.
"Character bios – these people know WAY too much stuff… Derek Stiles, age 26 – Grew up in Northridge, a suburb of Angeles Bay…"
"What?!" he laughed, turning on the TV and then coming to sit next to her.
"I know – they know I'm German too, apparently…" she said, looking over her own bio. "And it's kind of scary how close they got the characters to what we actually look like…"
The start-up screen to the console came on and Derek grabbed the controller, starting the game. "I just can't believe that we didn't know about something that centers around our lives…" he said.
"I know – It's got to be about the GUILT outbreak though… I mean, what else have we done that's noteworthy enough for a video game?"
Before he could answer her question, Derek was sidetracked by the screen, the storyline now getting into full swing.
"Oh my God – it's Nurse Fulton…!" he exclaimed, laughing. "This is so crazy…"
"And Dr. Kasal!" Angie chipped in, joining Derek in his disbelieving chuckle. "They even got him doing the hand on his chin, just like always…"
"Hahah, you look like such a dork in the game version…" Angie joked, seeing Derek turn around to glare at her angrily.
"I do NOT! I look DASHING!" he replied with a fake-offense, leaving her in a fit of giggles again.
"Suuure…" she pressed on through her giggles. "Might be hard to operate though, you know, while you're so busy falling in love with yourself…"
Angie giggled and Derek scowled momentarily before he joined her in laughter, unable to help himself.
"Alright Miss Know-It-All… we'll both play the first operation. And I bet, -- I just bet -- that I get a higher score than you…" he said, grinning at her childishly.
She surveyed the screen with her green eyes, the smile never leaving her face. "Glass shards? Pssht… like this'll be a challenge. You're going down…"
Derek's eyes narrowed as he turned towards the screen, watching his character on screen spring into action.
"Starting the operation…!"
Angie burst out laughing loudly as Derek's character came flying onto the screen with his hand extended, giggles almost causing her to fall off the couch. He just sighed and closed his eyes, trying to force his smile to stay repressed as he listened to her crack up, inevitably failing.
"Shut up." he muttered with a chuckle. "We both know I don't do that in real life…"
"But you SHOULD!" she shrieked with a cackle, ripping the remote from his hands.
"Angie, what are you…?" he asked, lunging for the remote, which she promptly pulled away.
"Nope, you're not getting it back until you do the pose…" she threatened, moving off the couch as he lunged at her again, causing him to get nothing but a face full of couch cushion.
"I don't want toooo!" he whined, jumping to his feet as she shrieked and bolted across the room and into his kitchen with him hot on her trail, the both of them laughing as they ran around the table like four year olds.
"Just DO IT!" she yelled at him through her giggles, shrieking loudly again as he grew closer, finally trapping her in a corner.
And with no other defense mechanism at her disposal Angie quickly pulled away the collar of her shirt and dropped the remote down inside it, watching Derek immediately stop in his tracks, his cheeks flashing a bright red. He took a moment to think before looking up at her, a smile on his face.
"I'm not doing it, Angie. And don't you think I won't go in there…" he teased with a big grin, earning a smack to the torso.
"If you ever want to see the light of day again I suggest you don't…" she bit back, eyebrows raised with a smile.
Derek shuddered once and then sighed at his defeat, dropping his shoulders and extending his hand out very unenthusiastically as he said, "Starting the operation…" in what had to have been the most monotone voice ever to grace the vocal chords of a human being.
"Oh come on…" Angie smiled, laughing with him. "…do it the right way and I might just let you get the controller…" she teased seductively, motioning toward the Wiimote-shaped bulge under her shirt.
With more redness in his face Derek immediately shot out his best "Starting the operation!" yell as Angie was reduced to a fit of shrieking giggles, giving him a quick pat on the arm as she walked back to the couch with him watching her to see her next move.
He scowled when he saw her reach in her shirt and grab the Wiimote, turning around to flash him an evil smile as she got ready to begin the operation, pausing the game as he threw himself over the back of the couch and on top of her amidst a sea of giggles.
And with a proper amount of tickling, the remote was promptly given up.
--
"I hate this game…"
Thirty seconds into surgery Derek had already screwed up a multitude of times, leaving Angie to laugh at him and the on-screen version of Mary screaming at him.
"Dear God, stop doing that!" Derek yelled at the screen, leaving Angie to look over at him.
"Stop doing what?"
"Not you… Her!" he yelled, pointing at the corner to Mary. "Her mad face makes her look like she's going to breathe fire and then maybe eat a baby or something!"
Angie scoffed at him and then giggled, nodding her head. "Yeah, they did make her a lot scarier than she really is… but I think the reason you're mad is because you know you're loooooosing…" she teased in a sing-song voice.
"DOCTOR! What are you DOING?!"
"I'm trying to operate, shuuuut uuuuupppp!" Derek yelled back at on-screen Mary, sighing when he earned a "Bad" on his suturing of the entrance wound, and shooting Angie the evil eye when she laughed at it.
"Whaaaaat?" she asked in reference to his angry look. "You were doing all this "big macho guy talk" and then you couldn't put your money where your mouth is – I get to laugh at you all I want."
"Uh-huh, we'll just see…" Derek said, hanging his head when his ranking came up as a C – two scores lower than Angie's.
"HA!" she chortled, poking him in the side to further annoy him. "I told you! You. Looose!"
Derek just sighed again, handing the remote back to Angie.
I wonder how long this game is...
--
"THAT'S the new nurse?! Isn't she a little too--..."
"What's that, now?"
"Wha—Huh? No, nothing."
Angie whipped her head around to face Derek as they both shared a laugh at the game's near-flawless recount of the first time they met.
"Isn't she a little too… what, Derek?" Angie prodded, seeing him hold up his hands in defense.
"I have no idea…" he defended. "I didn't say that at all…"
She raised an eyebrow as the game went on and they started up the next chapter, seeing Mr. Cox, the rock singer, come onto screen – both shared a laugh at his expense and then Angie turned to him again, her curiosity getting the best of her.
"I was talking to another nurse when I first saw you - I didn't get to hear what you said. …so, that wasn't it?"
Derek laughed, shaking his head at her curious nature. "No, that wasn't what I said… I actually didn't say anything at all."
Angie stopped and looked at him as he continued to sift through the incessant dialogue. "You didn't? Why not?"
"Because I was too busy staring at you…"
He tried to play it cool as his cheeks turned red and he remained staring at the screen, trying his best to keep the focus on the game instead of himself - but Angie was going to make that impossible, even as he started to remove the polyps from Elliot's throat.
She poked him in the arm with a goofy smile on her face, giggling as he tried to ignore her.
"You think I'm pretty…?"
"Stoppit – I'm operating. This is serious."
Poke.
"You really think I'm pretty…?"
"Angie, this is life or death we're talking about here. Stoppit."
Another poke.
"Oh give it up – you think I'm pretty! Admit it!"
"Noo! Leave me alone!"
Angie kept repeatedly poking him, laughing harder when instead of getting angry he just continually tried to fight a smile, finally giving in and laughing along with her – still treating the polyps in the meantime.
"If I admit that you're pretty, will you tell me what you said about me when we first met?" he proposed, finishing up the last round of the polyps.
"Deal!" she chirped with a smile.
Derek sighed. "Fine. Angie, you're gorgeous…" he said as he turned towards her briefly with a small smirk, knowing full-well that he had gone one step further than what she asked. She smiled at him warmly as he turned back to the game, finishing up what he was doing.
"Now…" he continued. "What did you say about me?"
Both of them were now looking at the screen, just as Derek bandaged up Mr. Cox's throat.
(...So I've really been assigned to this inexperienced slacker?)
Angie laughed at her character's dialogue and pointed to the screen, alerting Derek to it before he could change the scene.
"That's what I first thought – word, for word."
Derek scowled and she giggled again, grabbing his chin firmly and turning his head toward her.
"…A cute slacker…"
--
"I seriously don't know how they got this… veeery few people know this story."
Derek and Angie were playing through a cutscene where Angie had barged into Dr. Hoffman's office, and proceeded to chew Derek out about how his mistake had almost killed one of his first patients.
"Man, they make me look like such a bitch in this game…" Angie started. "Every time I'm in a scene with you I'm either making fun of you under my breath or telling you that you're completely incompetent. I wouldn't be surprised if complete strangers hated me."
"Well, I wish I could come to your rescue here but you did scream at me just like that… literally, JUST like that…" Derek replied, turning to face her as she scoffed.
"Well I wouldn't have had to scream at you if you weren't being incompetent!" she yelled back with a half-smile.
"And I wouldn't have been so incompetent had you not been screaming at me!"
Angie rolled her eyes and sat back on the couch.
"You're... you're not even a real doctor!"
"I guess if anything, I'm glad that they didn't put the part in here where I demanded to see your license to practice… and threatened to report you to the medical board." Angie said with a giggle.
"You mean right before Dr. Hoffman threw you out?" Derek asked, laughing as she scoffed.
"It just sucks – they make me look like such a witch… here's the hero doctor who saved the world, and his fire-breathing, temperamental, screechy queen bitch of an assistant."
"Aw, Angie…" Derek reassured. "I know you're off to a rough start here, but I'm sure it'll be better later on…"
"It's not that I care…" she continued. "I guess I'm more distracted by it because this game is helping me remember what a complete mess you used to be… and even now it's still funny." she teased with a laugh.
"And that's exactly why you're the favorite in this game…" Derek replied. "People only like me because they feel bad for me, what with the whole, "Doctor – you're utterly worthless and you look and smell like a hobo!" thing you had going on there…" he mocked in his best high-pitched Angie voice as she giggled.
"Exactly – people feel bad for you because I'm always yelling at you. That's why you're the favorite… yet, it still doesn't explain why you were such a slacker."
"Oh no no…" Derek continued, unwilling to give up the fight. "The only reason I was a slacker when we first met, besides the fact that I slept late practically every day, is because it was hard to do things when I was so busy watching you cure the blind, and save men who were hit by buses, and turn water into wine, and so on and so forth."
"Pshh…" Angie scoffed, crossing her arms as she bit back a smile. "You're retarded."
"Whatever, Jesus-with-boobs…" Derek replied, laughing until he was hit in the face with a pillow.
"Have a good rest... Dr. Stiles."
"Aw, see!?" Derek pointed out. "That was the first time you called me Doctor and meant it… I still remember that."
Angie smiled as Derek sighed, shaking his head.
"That was a long two weeks of "Mr. Stiles" and "Hey, you"…" Derek mused, reminiscing as she just laughed beside him.
Angie paused for a moment and then smiled.
"Hey, you…" she said. Derek looked at her and she pointed across the room at something, yanking the controller from him when he turned to look at what she was talking about.
And in response, he just sighed.
--
Time passed and the two were still flying through the storyline, now to the part where their characters had gone to Africa with Langston Miller.
"Do you mind if I get a glass of water?" Angie asked, rising to her feet.
"Not at all – you know you're always welcome to help yourself…" Derek replied.
"Is that code word for, "I want one too"…?" she asked, seeing him smile at her sweetly.
"Fine…" she sighed, walking into the kitchen. He threw a quick "Thank You" over his shoulder as he started up the next operation with a groan, rising an inquiry from Angie in the kitchen.
"What's wrong?" she shouted, hearing him begin to swear at the screen. He dropped the controller on the table when he failed the operation, thanking her as she returned with two glasses of water.
"You know how when I'm operating you yell at me for swearing at Triti?" Derek asked.
"Yeah, but that's only because I've never heard you use language like you do when you're removing Triti… seems somewhat inappropriate for surgery, don't you think?"
"It ruined triangles for me, Angie. And I really thought they were cool before."
"Not the point Derek – still no excuse for profanity."
Derek raised an eyebrow and handed her the remote, and she started the operation, quickly succumbing to its unforgiving learning curve. After ten seconds, Triti was covering the entire organ, and vitals were plummeting rapidly as the blonde grit her teeth, trying to recover before it was too late…
But "too late" came quickly. Very, quickly.
And when it did, a very loud "mother fucker!" rang through Derek's apartment, as the brunette just smiled in response.
--
A few more hours and a plethora of trash-talking later, it was Derek's turn to operate – this one, the removal of Kyriaki and Paraskevi from none other than the ace surgeon himself.
He switched the setting on the game to 'Hard' with an evil chuckle and started the operation, as Angie just rolled her eyes next to him.
"I barely remember this conversation…" Derek mused, sifting through the dialogue between him and Dr. Kimishima before his operation.
"...Don't worry about Angie. She's the best there is."
"Awww…." Angie cooed with a giggle. "Derek, that's so sweet! I can't believe you said that…"
Derek just turned and blinked at her, waiting until she realized it was scripted in the game. He smiled as she sat back with a pout.
"Oh, come on Angie… you know I think you're the best assistant ever… hey, what the hell?!"
"Then, it's too late..."
Derek threw his hands up in the air and opened his mouth in disbelief at Angie's on-screen reaction to learning he had two types of GUILT inside him, staring at her as she just giggled.
"Geez, Captain Bringdown! You had me written off as dead before the operation even started!" he joked.
"Hey!" Angie said, growing a bit defensive as her smile dropped. "I was worried, Derek. And Dr. Kimishima doesn't give the whole 'no disease is incurable' kind of reassurance that you always do… I got really scared!"
"Waaaait, wait, wait…" Derek said, stopping her with a hand. "You actually said that?"
Angie bit her lip and shot him a death glare, before nodding her head. "Yeah, I was pretty pessimistic at the beginning… but I held it together."
"We won't be allowed any mistakes, so we'll both need… complete concentration."
"That sounds more like the Angie I know…" Derek said in response to the words on the screen with a smile. "C'mon, let's hack me open."
"On 'Hard'? You're going to murder yourself!" Angie cried, only hearing another weird chuckle from Derek.
"See? Here we go with the negativity again… I'm starting to think you want me to die…"
Derek stopped as a small smile spread across his face, his eyes fixed on the screen.
"Aw, Angie… look! You're crying! You're sad that I'm sick!"
Angie turned beet red and crossed her arms, glaring at Derek who had a childish grin plastered on his face. "I was NOT crying."
"Oh, I SO call shenanigans…!" he said, making an incision into his on-screen chest. "You had to have been crying – the only times I've seen you cry were during the GUILT ordeal, and even though I don't remember it, I'd bet my life's salary that you were crying that day."
"I wasn't cryyyiiing!" she whined, watching him sew up the lacerations from the Kyriaki and fight the two rounds of Paraskevi that came swimming to the surface. "I was worried, but I wasn't crying!"
"Uh-huh, suuure…" he teased, practically feeling the steam shoot out of her ears in her frustration at him. "Just admit it Angie… it's because you looooooove meeeee…"
"Dereeeekkk! Stop being a jerk!"
"Oh fine, but only for a minute while I concentrate – this is really fricken hard."
A crease formed in Derek's brow as he clicked quickly through the words on the screen, beginning to operate before he was interrupted a few times by Angie.
"Doctor, pay attention!"
"Don't cut that!"
"Look out!"
"Doctor, look out!"
"Ugggggh, are you serious?!"
"What? Is it that hard?" Angie asked.
"It would be a lot less hard if I wasn't being interrupted every other second by something else…" he replied, eyes still zeroed in on the screen. "And if these things weren't cutting the hell out of me…"
"Derek, you might want to use the Healing Touch – Naomi's repairs vitals, remember…?"
"Vitals dropping!"
Indeed, the vitals were dropping, now hanging around 8 and going down quickly as the Kyriaki slashed through Derek's virtual heart.
"I don't need the Healing Touch, I can do this…"
"Vitals are critical!"
"If you're not going to use the Healing Touch at least use some stabilizer – quick!"
"Are you seriously interrupting me in real-life now too?"
Angie's eyebrows shot up in defense. "Excuse me?"
"I didn't mean it like that… aah, shit!" Derek said, barely able to get in a shot of stabilizer in time as the vitals dropped to one, rebounding quickly to ten. "I just mean, it's friggin hard to do anything when I keep having to interrupt what I'm doing to listen to "game Angie" tell me what to do – I know, I have to watch out. I know, vitals are dropping, I know, or else I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be allowed to operate…! I'm so glad you're not like this in real life… I mean, how annoy—"
Pressing down the A button with the scalpel selected to cut out one of the Kyriaki, Derek was surprised when his hand was suddenly smacked to his right, causing a huge laceration to appear over the surface of the heart – which instantly dropped the vitals to zero.
Turning to his left slowly with his eyebrows raised, a very irritated Angie came into view, sitting back against the couch with her arms crossed.
"Angie… what the hell?! You just killed me! I'm dead!" Derek said with a chuckle, waiting for a response. She just offered a sarcastic smile, cocking her head gently to the right.
"Woops… it slipped." she said sweetly. "And look…" she continued, rising to her feet as her voice lulled to a whisper. "...dry eyes." she finished, pointing to her eyes with a smug smile and a giggle.
Derek pouted and leaned back against the couch, staring forward at the screen.
"No...! Derek... DEREK!"
"See?!" he pointed out, hand extended towards the screen. "Game Angie cares about me more than regular Angie! Regular Angie just butchered me and then made light of it!"
"Hey!" she fought back, unable to squelch a growing smile as she sat back down. "That is NOT true! You were holding the remote – you killed yourself!"
"You made me do it!"
"YOU said I was annoying!"
Derek sighed. "I said "Game Angie" was annoying… didn't you hear me say I'm glad you're not like that in real life?!"
Both of them just sighed and giggled at their immature argument, as Derek restarted the operation.
"I hope you're happy…" he said matter-of-factly. "Now the Medical Board is going to be notified."
Although she was still slightly annoyed with him, Angie couldn't help but giggle at the statement, especially the tone of voice he used when he said it.
"Oh cut me a break – they notify the Medical Board for everything in this game…" she said, trailing off. "Make sure you don't fall asleep doing your paperwork next time… the Medical Board will be notified."
Derek laughed out loud as he gave into the difficulty of the game and activated Naomi's Healing Touch.
"Well, that'll have to wait, unfortunately, because I have to meet with them next week for burning the grilled cheese I made the other day..."
Angie and Derek both burst out into a laugh as he pulled the bandage over his chest on the game with a relieved sigh.
"Damn. Being a doctor is hard…"
Angie slapped him in the arm with a giggle. "You're such a whiner. It takes five minutes for surgery instead of five hours… I'm sure you can deal."
"Why are you hiding your tears from him? You think he doesn't already know? The man deserves to see how you feel."
Both Derek and Angie stopped short at the words on the screen and exchanged an awkward glance, which lasted all of five seconds before Derek broke into tease her some more.
"Yeah Angie… why don't you show me your tears? Oh, wait… that's right – you didn't cry when I was dying. Just like you didn't cry when you viciously cut my heart open just now…" Derek started, grinning when he saw her grow frustrated.
"Are you done yet?" she asked coldly, trying to stop from smiling at his exuberantly pathetic explanation.
"Not quite..." he interjected. "You know, if you want there's some real knives in the kitchen – you can actually cut me open if you really want to. Because you know when I'm lying bleeding to death on the ground gasping your name with my last breath you still won't be crying. I'm sure you'll be off in the kitchen, eating all my Oreos, as a matter of fact."
"OH my GODDDD!" Angie groaned, flopping back onto the couch. "I can't take this anymore! You are so beyond ridiculous – I was CRYING, okay?! Fine! I admit it! I cried – a hell of a lot too!"
Derek suddenly felt bad as he saw Angie's eyes gazing at the floor, realizing that he may have taken it too far. He set the remote down and scooted closer to her, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, looking up at her.
"Can I tell you a secret?" he asked softly, seeing her nod.
"I lied when I said I didn't remember most of that day…"
She looked over at him with a perplexed stare, wondering what he meant.
"I know you were crying – that's one of the ONLY parts of that whole thing that I remember… because I thought it was cute my incredibly strong, professional partner was worried about me… and the reason I don't remember talking with Naomi is because I was thinking about you the whole time, wishing you would come back in to talk to me – I was scared to death."
"Derek…" Angie whispered, smiling softly. "How come you've never told me this…?"
"It's not exactly the kind of thing you just randomly bring up… but it's true. And I didn't mean to make you upset – but I wanted you to know that I was holding on that day because of you… it killed me to know that I was the reason you were crying. So, I held on so you would stop... and maybe a little bit because of that whole 'not dying' thing…"
Angie smiled sweetly and 'awwed' under her breath, doing a good job at making Derek blush as he chuckled and looked away, moving back to pick up the remote with one last warm smile. He was surprised when Angie moved with him, hugging gently around his waist as he simply rested his head against hers.
"Well, for what it's worth, I was even sad when "game you" died." she said with a giggle, pulling away from him and yanking the remote out of his hands.
"And it's my turn." she replied with a smirk. "If you keep hogging this thing, I'm going to have to notify the Medical Board."
Derek laughed.
--
"Wow – the epilogue? Does that mean we're done?" Angie asked, starting the episode.
"I guess so – it's about time too, seems like it took us forever to get here." Derek replied.
"Well, we would've finished a lot faster had we not spent nearly a half hour on GameFAQs because SOMEONE didn't know you have to save the Healing Touch until the end with Savato, even though you KNEW THAT in real life!"
"HEY!" Derek countered with a laugh. "You just nevermind…"
"Those two deserve a nice, long vacation... All this work hasn't left them much time to spend with each other."
"...What do you mean? They're working together all the time."
"Oh come on… You know what I'm talking about."
Angie scowled. "No, Tyler, we don't know what you're talking about. Nobody does. Ever."
Derek chuckled. "Funny enough, I know that part is a true story… because as soon as you and I got back from Afghanistan, he said that exact same thing to me. Except, he elbowed me a ton more times and kept doing that stupid thing where he raises his eyebrows up and down really fast."
"Haha, I hate when he does that…" she replied with a giggle, trying to change the subject as best as possible.
After the scene in Dr. Hoffman's office, the screen cut to a backdrop of Derek and Angie's office, to which both of them sat perplexed, before the credits started to roll. They both sat in silence for a moment and then looked at each other, mouths slightly open and confused expressions on their faces.
"That… was it?" Angie asked. "That's how they ended the game?"
"I know, that was stupid – we were barely even IN the Epilogue…!" Derek said, reaching for his water and taking a sip.
"Right?" Angie replied. "I mean, there were so many things they left wide open, so many things that they didn't explain. Yeah, GUILT is gone, but they make it just so ho-hum. Like, oh big deal."
"Yeah, I agree… not to mention that they basically made it look like you and I had the hots for each other the whole game, and then absolutely nothing happened at the end." he said.
"I was just thinking that!" she replied with a laugh, turning towards him on the couch. "I mean, it's true, nothing did happen, but they changed things around a lot for the game's sake – I figure they would've at least put a little romance in it… especially when they built up our "relationship" the whole game and then just, did nothing with it. It was like, oh, whatever."
"I agree completely – that was lame, at best. To me that wasn't a very happy ending – I could've written a better one." Derek said, watching as Angie looked at him curiously.
"Really…" she challenged. Resting her head on the back of the couch and looking up at him, she smiled. "How would you make it different…?"
Derek thought for a minute, turning towards her as well. He looked around in thought momentarily and then settled his eyes back on her with a small smile.
"…Don't hate me, okay?" he said with a chuckle as she smiled cautiously.
"Okay…" she replied, smile dropping off of her face as he gently scooted towards her.
Derek locked eyes with her with a serious stare momentarily and then leaned forward slowly, pressing his lips against hers as his hand slid through her hair and held the back of her head gently, pressing her into his kiss with a firm gentleness that gave her chills. Angie immediately kissed him back, grabbing his free hand in hers as the kisses deepened, her hand instinctively raising up to gently hold his face, her thumb stroking his cheek softly and grazing the small bit of stubble on his jawline. They broke apart for a moment as Derek situated himself cross-legged and pulled Angie into his lap, wrapping her legs around his back as he went in to kiss her again, now having to crane his neck backward just slightly to reach. She placed her hands on both sides of his face as his wrapped around and pressed gently at the small of her back, the two of them doing nothing short of making out on his couch now as the credits rolled on their autobiographical game – and it was the first time that night, neither of them were paying attention to it.
Angie pulled away and looked him in the eyes, her hair falling all around the two of them as her hands continued to hold his face, a sweet smile on her lips as she cocked her head to the right just slightly before leaning forward and resting her forehead against his. He smiled back at her and leaned up to catch her lips again, pulling back with a bigger smile than before.
"So… that's how the story ends? If you had to rewrite it, that's how you would have it all end?" she asked quietly.
He nodded and smiled warmly in response. "Who needs anything else? As long as I finally get to be with you, then that's my happy ending right there…"
Angie smiled and 'awwed' at him again, and this time, somehow, he managed not to blush. "Well, who am I to stand in the way of our happy ending?" she said, leaning forward and kissing him gently again as she felt him embrace her more tightly than before, their kisses quickly picking up speed and passion. Derek leaned forward and laid Angie down on the couch, resting his body on top of hers as they continued making out, thoroughly enjoying each other's lips and company as they abandoned the game completely.
"Y-You know…" Angie said, breaking off their kiss as Derek reared his head back and looked at her. "I still can't get over this game though – who knows this story well enough? And how did it get into game form? And if it was about us, why didn't we get a cut of the money?"
Derek thought about it for a moment before Angie decided she didn't care anymore and yanked him back down on top of her by his shirt, giggling all the way.
"Ugh, you're kidding…" Derek said, rising off Angie again as his phone rang.
"Don't answer it then…" she replied with a heated kiss, though it did very little to deter the surgeon.
"I have to at least see who it is – you know I'm on call tonight, even though I'd gladly quit my job to keep kissing you…" he said with a laugh and a smile, checking his Caller ID and sighing.
"What?" he answered, mouthing "Tyler" to Angie who just rolled her eyes.
"Hey man, sorry it's late, but you'll never guess what I bought today!"
"I don't care – I'm busy, call me tomorrow…"
"Seriously dude, its sweet – guess what I bought?"
Derek sighed. "What did you buy?"
"I just bought two jet-skis and a new boat! Get ready, cause next weekend we're all going to party out in Angeles Bay!"
"Tyler!" Derek exclaimed. "You're always complaining about how poor you are! Where the hell did you get money to buy a…"
The brunette trailed off as he and Angie exchanged an angry glare, both of their eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.
"You there, dude? Why did you cut off?"
"Hey… Tyler?" Derek asked as Angie sat up with him, her eyes wide and fiery. "You'll never guess what Angie and I did today…"
"Oh SNAP dude! It's about time...!"
"NO!" Derek yelled. "You pervert – I'm not talking about that!"
"Oh... okay, well what did you guys do?"
"We played this really crazy game… it was about surgery. It's totally sweet, have you played it?"
"I don't think so, what's it about?"
"It's funny…" Derek continued, seeing Angie smile. "It's actually about Angie, me, and the GUILT outbreak… it's called 'Trauma Center', and it's crazy close to how things actually happened. So close, in fact, someone must've sold the story to them or something, because not a lot of people know half the stuff that happened, but there it was, right there in the game… you're even in it! Isn't that crazy?"
Silence.
Angie and Derek exchanged another glance as Tyler said nothing for a short period.
"You'll get your cut tomorrow."
Click.
The pair giggled as Derek tossed his phone gently onto the coffee table, seeing that the game had started over. He reached over and selected the game, seeing that a whole new set of missions were available.
"X-Missions, eh? They're on "Extreme" level too – they must be stupid hard." Derek said, looking at the screen.
"Ahem." Angie interjected with a half-cough, lying slowly back onto the couch as she pulled him down with her. "I never said I was done with these lips…"
Derek smiled as she kissed him once softly. "Oh, so they're yours now?"
"You've got that right…" she replied with another kiss, smiling up at him.
"I think the best part about this…" Derek started, talking between kisses. "Besides us, of course… is the fact that tomorrow we can just make out in a big pile of money."
Angie giggled, locking lips with him firmly.
"Sounds like a happy ending to me…"
Seriously. I think one of my life goals is to just have so much money you can roll in it. Awesome.
Anyway, hope you liked it. See you next time.