Disclaimer: I do not own Code Blue and any of the characters.

"The helicopter failed to land."

That was the last thing he heard before his mind blacked out. He tried to recall who among the team were on flight duty today. Nurse Yukimura, Fellow Haitani, and...

Shiraishi Megumi.

He wanted to rise from his seat, choke Tachibana, and demand further details about the flight. Or even run straight to the scene. He would do anything to find out. Did the helicopter fell and burn into ashes? Any casualties? What were they going to do about the patients? But most importantly...

Was she hurt?

"We have a phone call from Shiraishi-sensei." He almost jumped to grab the phone from Saejima and his sanity was the only thing blocking him from doing so. Tachibana grabbed the phone, which is the most appropriate for that time because technically he is the one in charge of the team. After he heard that she was still alive and could proceed treating the patients, he could feel his heart started beating again as if it didn't for the past few minutes that felt like hours. He thought everything was fine but when his phone rang and her name came on the screen, he answered in a split second.

"Aizawa-sensei, can you hear me?"

"What's wrong?"

The kept the phone call professional, asking him to guide Haitani while she handled another patient. That's how their relationship works and the only thing they ever talked was about work. Yes, it's inappropriate to discuss private matters at the office but for once he wished she would not be so uptight about it. Then again, we're talking about Shiraishi Megumi. The daughter of a professor, who had so many notebooks and examination kit inside her tiny pockets that she had to hold them down when running to catch a flight.

What made him upset was when he saw her came with the patient, her left leg tumbling with each step. She was not okay, she was hurt. And how he wanted to put the blame on someone so badly that Haitani's name came up when they were talking at the office. He even called him stupid which ticked her off. She treasured her fellows, but he didn't expect her to protect them to the point where they had to argue (again) even after she almost died on the field because someone broke the rules and tried to rush the helicopter. She even had the last words, and no truer words had ever been said about him.

He couldn't deny that sometimes he could be unrealistic. Aiming so high, trying to save his patients as if he was always blessed with miracle but when faced with reality he fell, hard on the cold hospital floor.

So she left to avoid conflict, but the damage was done. He slammed his fist on the table, regretting his actions. He should have caught on her, went home with her and made sure she made it back despite the injury but he didn't. He hurt her and he gave into his pride, preventing him from apologizing. At that time spending some time alone to collect each other's thoughts seems like the best idea.

They avoided each other for two days, somehow managing to keep their contact to a minimum although it felt like hell when they saw each other and neither were able to apologize because their prides were so high they had to wait for the other person. It was an endless cycle.

Until Shinkai stepped into the game and commented on the incident.

"I'm glad Shiraishi-sensei wasn't hurt." The neurosurgeon said as they walked towards the inpatient wards for follow-ups.

"Aa." He said, but inside he wanted to break the other man's neck and throw him off from the staircase. First, that annoying neurosurgeon meddled in his surgery, we all know how terribly it ended, and now he's talking about his girlf- Um, colleague. Why would he mention her name, pretending to care? Well perhaps he truly cared, he invited her to go out for a meal at the elevator last time, didn't he? Did they really go out afterwards and that's how he was able to mention her name so casually?

In the past two days, she had not left his mind for a moment. Even now, and not being able to be around her suffocated him. He was like a fish and she was the water. Her presence had been so important to him, it followed him everywhere. So that night he left work early and walked the route he had traveled quite some times in past years. From the hospital to her place.

He arrived on her front door and rang the doorbell. He could hear her voice from the intercom, the soothing voice that he had been missing the past two days.

"It's me."

And within seconds the door flung open, revealing a frantic Shiraishi Megumi in a loose t-shirt and her should've-been-illegal shorts that revealed her long milky white legs. She looked as if she had been expecting him to come for a long time, which made him regret coming so late.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

They looked into each other eyes, saw the same spark of approval and immediately he reached for her, hugging her tightly to his chest. She hugged him back equally tight, grasping the fabric on his back, the only thin layer of clothing that separated her from his skin. How she missed his smell, a mixture of cologne, sweat, and antiseptic. It's been too long. Far too long.

So they closed the door behind them along with their problems.

"!"

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" She shook her head but he could see her face wincing in pain under the dimly lit room of hers. He hesitated for a moment but she grabbed his hand tighter and whispered.

"Don't stop." Her voice husky, filled with lust.

He didn't, but he slowed down his pace that she no longer showed any sign of pain. When it ended, they both laid on top of the white sheet together. He could still feel the rush in his veins, his fast breathing matching with hers. Was it good? Yes. Was it hot? Yes, so damn hot.

It had always been that way, happened quite a lot of times already. The first being after her father's funeral. He still remembered how wrecked she was; even worse than the time she knew her father had a terminal lung cancer. She was an empty shell and sought comfort in his touch. He felt terrible after taking her for granted but the next morning they acted like nothing had happened, even at the hospital when they got onto the elevator at the same time, they could still pull off a light conversation as always.

The next one was when her grandmother got admitted again at the hospital when she got hurt after trying to run away from the nursing home. He first knew about it from Shiraishi's phone call, directly to the on call Neurosurgery phone, the only phone she knew that he'd pick up no matter what. Again, the elderly woman did not recognize him. Talked to him as if he was a doctor that her young grandson had aspired to be.

He almost regretted his decision to let her live alone. If only that time he had stopped her from riding the taxi and asked to live with him this might not happen. Throughout the day he could only feel regret piling up so in the evening he waited for Shiraishi in front of the hospital, and when she arrived, even without a notice, she knew instantly what was bugging him. She held him a lot that night, running her hands on his back. Consoling him as he buried his face onto her neck, hiding his rare tears.

Not just once or twice, it happened many times already. Whenever they felt sad, angry, frustrated, or after an argument they always made it happen. Including today, but there was a pattern to it. How their body moved honestly according to their feeling, they knew how to reach other's mind with unspoken words.

So tonight, even as dense as Shiraishi usually was, she knew something was off and it was not just about their argument. Sneakily, Aizawa hugged her tight from behind. She could feel his steady breaths on the nape of her neck, slowly planting soft kisses as if to mark his territory on her body, or to remind him that she was physically there.

"Were you worried?"

The series of kisses stopped, but he didn't answer immediately. She knew his answer from the tightness of his hold. Like he would never let her warmth easily slip away, the way it almost did that time.

"Aa."

It was peculiar for him to admit such an emotional thing, especially considering that they still hadn't made anything official after so many years of waking up next to one another despite not seeing anybody else. They simply were not ready for any commitment at such crucial time for their career, not to mention the possibility of being 10,000 kilometers apart, from Tokyo to Toronto. Perhaps it was his way of admitting that what they have was more than just a fling, but they probably knew about it from the very first night.

"I'm sorry for not considering your feelings. After thinking about it, I realize that you must've blurted those words out of worry. You were upset I hurt myself on the feel, weren't you?

She put her hand on top of his which was circled loosely around her waist and squeezed it tight.

"But here I am. I won't leave you that easily. I'm staying."

Unlike how he was left alone by her parents, or his grandmother who just passed away last year. She knew how upset he was after losing the most important person in his life. Six consecutive days of restless nights which gotten worse with his recurring nightmares about the same thing over and over. So many people had left him and she wouldn't want to add the number on the list.

The helicopter, after all was one of the safest option. What happened that time was the first incident in so many years. Considering the frequency of flights each day, it was probably even less likely to get into an accident than driving a car on your own.

But they knew just words wouldn't reassure him, so she moved his hand and lifted his pinky, intertwining it with hers.

"Pinky promise."

She vaguely remembered what happened afterwards and drifted off to sleep. Little did she know, for the rest of the night he did something that she would need to deal in the morning besides her sore back and hips.

An annoying "mosquito bite".

Thank you, Shinkai.

It's over! Did you expected it to be the prequel to Mosquito Bite? I hope you didn't haha. In case you're wondering, Mosquito Bite is another Code Blue fanfiction I wrote. There's no order for which one you gotta read first so you can read it back and forth to get the idea. I wonder what I should write next, considering that we only have 2 episodes left in the story and so many issues left hanging I can't expect too much so I'll just pamper myself with more fanfictions for now.

Do you have any prompt for me to write? Please let me know in the review section below. Reading them surely boosted my motivations by a lot. Thanks for reading!

Kimchi/summermelon