===Doctor and Patient===
~~~Waking up~~~
"Doctor…." Ruby whispered, her eyes blank from having just waking up "What would be the waking words of a girl who has been in comatose for 4 whole years of her life" she gave the doctor a curious stare. The doctor was silent; he took a moment to himself to think up a satisfactory answer for his patient who will –most probably- be suffering the effects of PTSD.
"Well, miss Rose….. If you'd ask me I'd say 'Where's my family'" He answered Ruby, his voice tame as to not startle the distraught girl. Waiting for a response the doctor waited for a minute or two. Silence.
He coughed, trying to catch the attention of the girl who's staring out to the sterile, white ceiling of her room. "What about you miss Rose? What would you ask" He asked trying to illicit a response from her.
She looked at the doctor, giving him silence once again for an answer. "Well a verbal response would help" he thought to himself, he knows what the girl's going through and maybe it was too early for her to give a verbal response to him.
The girl then suddenly spoke her voice dry "Well…I'd probably do the same" she then gave the doctor a downcast look "but….."
"But what miss Rose?" He asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice "But…" she started again, before her memories took the better side of her and she settled for silence before smiling to the doctor, already thinking of a answer "Nothing, it's nothing doc please don't mind me"
"I see, well, nothing it is then" he settled for that answer too, 'nothing', he did not want to pry after all, he's in no position to do so, that was a patient and their relationship only extends to one of profession, so he can understand the –what he supposes to be- hesitation in her voice.
"I'll be going on ahead then Miss Rose" he gave her another curtsy smile before leaving the girl in her room, to her own devises.
As he walked out the room and closed the door behind him he dropped the professional façade the he put up for her, only to be changed to a tired face due to his long hours in the hospital. Usually he'd give the kind, professional and learned face of his to all his patients all day long. But four surgeries lasting for at least an hour; looking after interns during his breaks; doing general doctor work and hearing Ruby's cryptic waking words, not even getting to ask her questions for diagnosis or getting the appropriate verbal responses from her did take a toll on one's energy reserves.
Sighing heavily he walked across the hall way, heading to the nurse's office to retire himself and ease the fatigue inside his body.
"YO~! Dr. Brown, diagnosis for patient Ruby Rose is D.O.N.E done!" the twin nurses, Anne and Elise, announced as the tired doctor walked in the lounge like office of the nurses. He gave the nurse a hum of approval as he walked to retrieve it from her and sitting down on the nearest, most comfortable sofa around.
He then started reviewing the papers given to him before sighing "You know, you girls please call me Dr. Salix or just Salix I would really love and not mind the familiarity from you nurses" The nurses gave him a curious look before giggling "Please Dr. Bro-"Salix broke away from the paper to give them a sharp look, quickly correcting herself Anne continued "But Dr. Salix you know the higher ups. They hate us nurses being too close to you doctors"
Salix then raised a brow at them "You do know I am the higher ups higher up right?" he then looked back to Ruby's record "Besides they're old doctors they kind of prefer the company of other doctors or their inner circle? Or was it circles? Either way it doesn't matter" he then gave them a genuine smile "Besides that's them, and I'm me so call me as just 'Salix' if you guys want"
The nurses smiled at the kind doctor, giving him a mock salute "Ok Dr. Salix sir!" the two said in unison. Salix smiled and gave them a light hearted chuckle, amused at the two's energy.
Focusing on the papers in front of him, the medical records of Ruby Rose the girl he had save from immediate death. It was….. a bit disturbing to say the least the earlier logs in her four year long records were just that disturbing. The cause of her coma specifically, was the reason it harbored such reaction from him.
Witness testimonies drawn from police reports, news articles and multiple other reports filled the first few pages.
Ruby had been walking down the streets with her friends that day; Yang Xiao Long, the victim's sister-in-half; Weiss Schnee, the victim's "best friend"; and Blake Belladonna, her sister's girl friend at the time, close friend to her and the one who had pushed her towards harm's way.
Weiss Schnee, the only one who'd not been completely shaken provided detail as to what happened prior and during the incident.
"It was just after our dismissal from school" She started "The four of us were fun teasing, pushing and generally just enjoying with each other. When we were about to cross the empty street at the time Blake had pushed Ruby a little too hard. I could still remember her easy smile and light giggle as she started walking back closer to the group when a car came speeding by. The next thing we know was Ruby was already a bloody and mangled mess underneath a tree when we came rushing to her side." The testimony of the heiress ended as she…..
The news paper/testimony was cut there, eyes gliding down to the next note one from the paramedics.
When we got to the scene we would have already announced her to be dead but to our surprise she still had a pulse and was breathing if only barely. Quickly the team closed and blocked up the most visceral of the wounds trying to preserve her life for as long as we could until she could get into the hospital. The team loaded her…..
Cut, the next note was from the hospital itself or more accurately the attending staff at the time.
The patient was teetering at the edge of death when she was brought to us 4:00 P.M. in the afternoon. Attending physician, Dr. Morris was already ready to declare her as deceased but when we found out that she's still somehow holding on everyone on the room started prepping for surgery. Initial diagnosis shows multiple fractures, cracks and outright broken bones from the upper body to the lower body her rib cage and spinal column suffering the bulk of the damage; Massive amounts of bleeding internally and externally. Dr. Brown was called to the scene right away and with Dr. Morris the two saved the girls life after what seemed to be 16 hours inside the O.R. attending physician Morris committed 6 hours in to the operation whi….
"While doctor Salix committed 10 of the remaining hours…" Salix breathed as he closed the records.
Grim
What else word can he describe the girl's condition back then? But four years and nearly a forth of a billion later she finally woke up,
Sighing heavily he flipped through the records to the present day, casting a knowledgeable eye across the multiple numbers and deep, complicated words written there "Stable…..Stable…..Stable….Stable" he hummed, satisfied at the girl's current health condition.
Standing up and stretching the sleepiness away from his body he headed for the door "I'm going to my office, I'm going to call the friends and relatives of Ruby" The twins gave the doctor a deviant smile and matching eye rolls "You act like her boyfriend don't you doc?"
Salix gave both of them a hard look "Anne…..Elise….." a sigh "The girl's like twenty and I'm twenty-eight. Whatever you guys are thinking it won't happen" the girls smiled both smiles reaching their ears "But doc! We were just talking to ourselves" The two countered Elise then spoke up just before the doctor could talk back her speech alternating with Anne "You. Were. The. One. Thinking. Of. It"
Salix cringed at that one.
"Besides doc" Anne continued "You never know right?" stretching the 'R' with a playful tone the twins started giggling again.
"Pff…." Salix simply blew it off then started walking towards his beloved office, one of the many fruits of his labor. Propping his body back up at his swivel chair, one of the luxuries that the hospital oh so generously provided to him, he flipped towards the page where the numbers of the different relatives and friends of Ruby can be located in.
Calling the first number in the list he was greeted with a fairly long dial tone, then after a moment he was greeted by an energetic female voice from the other line "Yang Xiao Long speaking who's calling"
Clearing his throat he answered "Hello my name's Dr. Salix or Brown if my first name doesn't ring a bell" The energy from the voice faded Yang recognized his voice immediately "No no I remember you Doc." She cut him off "Is….Is something wrong with Ruby?" She asked, fear apparent from her voice.
Salix quickly eased up into a more enthusiastic voice as no too seem like he was delivering bad news "No ma'am nothing wrong happened to Ms. Ruby I called to relay good news, Ruby's awake and well you can visit her anytime you w-"
The line was cut.
Overcome by Joy? Definitely after all he heard the small whimper of joy coming breaking out from the woman in the other side of the line. If his guess was right, which is likely the case- Yang was on her way to the hospital.
A smile crept up to Salix's face it always did fill him with joy when the relatives of the patients heaved, or well in this case whimpered in relief to the news of the cured patient. Something about making others happy filled him with joy too… clearing his head from the awfully cheesy line in his head he continued to the next line, looking over the name of the next person in the list before calling.
Tai-Yang Xiao Long.
Dialing in the his number he was almost immediately greeted by the man this time however, unlike the last call, it sounded like the person who answered was hard at work only pulling out his phone, panting slightly as sounds of welding and general mechanics was happening around him.
"Tai-Yang Xiao Long speaking" he gave Salix a curtsy greeting before continuing "I'm kinda in the middle of working so you got to talk to me so I can go back to it"
Salix understood Tai's stance on being called while in work after all he would also hate it if he was called out of nowhere while he was opening up the body of a patient or in Tai's case something mechanical.
"Sorry sir but I'm Dr. Salix or Brown if my first name doesn't ring a bell. Seeing that you're in the middle of something I'll give you the good news quickly" the sound of a hard metal object rang across over to Salix's line, Tai had dropped his wrench, his attention pinned down on the 'good news' that was about to be told to him.
"Ms. Ruby is awake and well sir if you want sir you can come visit her immediately" Silence. "Yes of course I'm on my way" Tai's voice seemed joyous and overwhelmingly so, once the line had been cut Salix headed straight to the next number with a smile on his face.
Weiss Schnee.
Upon calling the number, the quickest, sharpest and coldest voice pierced thru the phone "WHO IS THIS!" Weiss whispered a shrekeich, obviously in distraught the heiress of the Schnee legacy continued "This is a private line only those who are close to me only know so answer me or I call the police!" the threat had Salix on high alert quickly answering as the successor had demanded "Yes! Sorry ma'am I'm Dr. Brown, I called to report about Ms. Rose she's already awake as of an hour ago if you want ma'am you may visit my patient sorry for calling unannounced"
A sigh of relief eased on to Salix's ear thru the phone as the high walls of ice melted away to reveal the clearly happy and relief filled voice of Weiss.
"Thank you doctor and sorry for hounding on you" Weiss apologized "I'll be on my way then"
"You're Ms. Schnee"
And at that the line cut and Salix proceeded to the next number in the list
Blake Belladonna
Now that name caught Salix's attention. Shaking his head free from the grim thoughts of Ruby's accident he started dialing the number of Blake.
Blake answered the phone almost immediately thou it seemed like she didn't even read that it was a unknown number calling her.
"Sorry editor but today can't do your literally asking for me to finish what can only be a hundred chapter long book within the span of a year, granted I've finished the first fifty but you know me, it… is this even the editor" the pause seemed to be Blake checking the number of the caller.
"Oh….ummm" her sober, tired voice seemed to have disappeared as she gave Salix the curtsy greeting "Blake Belladonna here who's calling?"
"Hello Dr. Salix or Brown if my first name doesn't ring a bell I'm calling to report about Ruby Rose and her condition"
Ruby Rose.
That name made Blake disturbed as memories about that faithfully dark day resurfaced. Her voice stiffened "Yes….what about her?"
Feeling that Blake had tensed up Salix used his more exuberant voice and gentler voice "Ruby Rose is awake and if you want of course you can visit her right away" Tears and light sobbing went thru the line tears of happiness is what Salix assumed. But for Blake it was more of a mix of fulfilling happiness and guilt that's enough to make a person gag.
"T-thank you Doc" her composure lost in the wind as she gave Salix an answer.
"You're welcome"
Setting down the phone he leaned on the swivel chair as finally he was given time to rest, no more operations, no more patients just him in his office, eyes closed with his consciousness slowly slipping away to sleep.
…
Rest wouldn't come to him thou instead he slipped in to deep thought. It's been a long time coming for Ruby isn't it? Imagine walking in between that line were death and life stare in to each other, where their reach doesn't quite make to.
Thankfully thou she was pulled back into life's side after four years of staying in that purgatory-like place.
Thou, four years of sleep is four years of inactivity, of being left behind. And no matter how much help she would accumulate and get from her family and friends, no matter how much time she would get to get back those said four years. Four years is still four years.
Sighing heavily he opened his eyes, casting a quick glance onto Ruby's records, interest returning to him as he sifted thru her day to day records from the day of the accident up to the present day. Setting down the records he brushed his hands over his face then looked out to the solitary tree outside through his window.
"I guess being interested in her is just a byproduct of her case being the one to give me the brake that I needed to be what I am today...huh never knew I could get this attached to a patient" he thought to himself. Sighing he stood up from his comfortable swivel chair to go watch over his patient, grabbing drinks from the vending machine before doing so.
Upon arriving to his destination he knocked on the door, thou he did not expect Ruby to answer but after a moment or so an answer came through the door a warm 'come in'.
"Well that's definitely a good sign" he mused to himself as he entered the room. Finding the girl looking at him with an equally warm smile as she used with her answer, Salix responded with his own smile. Settling down on one of the chairs beside her bed Salix handed her one of the sodas he bought on his way to her room.
Ruby gave the doctor a side-long glance as she took it from his hand "Umm am I suppose to drink this?"
Salix opened his own can of soda before answering "Yeah no problem there. I've been your doctor for four years, I'm sure I'll know when something is bad for you don't worry"
Ruby dropped the can from her hands. Four years, those words echoing in her head as she panic started to build in her. She knew there was an accident, that there was a heavy blunt pain bashing her across the body, that she was rushed in to the hospital...she knew that it all went blank sometime after entering said hospital. But she didn't know that she'd been asleep for nearly half a decade now.
Shivering at the prospect of essentially being gone from the world for four years her mind ran wild with negative thoughts "What happened to me? What happened to Yang, to dad? what about the others….did something happen to them while I was sleeping? What about school? what about my future?..."
A hand lightly tapped her shoulder dragging her out of the bottomless abyss that is her mind back to the real world.
"Are you Ok Ruby?" Salix asked concern evident in his voice
Ruby looked wasn't sure herself so she shook her head as a response to the doctor. Registering her concern he sighed and got both of her hands then wrapped his own around them, in an effort to help the clearly shaken girl.
He sighed and looked straight to her eyes "Look I'm not good with the whole talking thing to the patients but…. It's going to be Ok, I've seen a lot of patients come in half dead and come out the hospital livelier than ever before" he smiled at her "So I'm sure the corpse that they brought to me four years ago will come out of this hospital as a….a…. I guess livelier person!" he tried putting up the best cheering statement for the girl but with the word 'corpse' in it, he wasn't really sure if it came out well or if it didn't.
Thankfully Ruby took it well, her mental state stabilizing. Giggling she gave the doctor a smile "At least try to make up your speech a little better?"
"I try, I really do" Salix sighed to himself.
"Well doc you obviously don't try hard enough" when the doctor breathed another disappointed sigh at himself Ruby giggled at him which had the same effect as driving the stake further in.
Her voice then switched to a grateful voice "Thank you doc for….saving my life" she said indebt to the doctor in front of her.
He smiled "Thanks but you should also be thanking all the others who were there for you when you were sleeping it wasn't just me who did it you know"
She went to say something before pausing he did have a point after all "Still thank you doc for saving my life…. Oh and the drink too!" she picked up the drink that she dropped just beside her legs then smiled warmly back at him.
"My pleasure" Salix answered back as he took a sip out of his own soda can. "That's nice, her mental state is doing great she might be able to be discharged sooner than expected" he thought to himself as he stared blankly at the wall just across him.
"So doctor…" Ruby started but then quickly stopped when she realized she didn't even know the name of the man who saved her. Salix was quick to notice so he smirked playfully "Doctor who Ruby?" he teased.
Ruby then hummed to concentrate quickly darting her eyes around the room to find a clue as to the name of the doctor. She smiled when she thought that he may have a name patch at his lab coat and quickly looked at it only to find it being covered by Salix's hand.
Looking up to his face that carried a challenging smirk, she pouted and crossed her arms "That's unfair~!" she grumbled at him.
Salix just chuckled slightly "Isn't it more unfair that you don't know the name of the person who saved your life?" Salix shrugged "Because for me it is"
"Hmph! I was asleep!" Ruby countered
"And you had all the time in the world to know my name as when you woke up" Salix quickly responded.
"But th-"
"I believe two nurses visited you here before me right? You could have asked them" Salix almost instantly argued not letting Ruby finish her statement.
Somehow the two are finding enjoyment in this little tirade of theirs (or well more so for Salix than Ruby) the two already comfortable throwing insults and bantering since they continued it for about ten minutes Before Salix and Ruby laughed at each other after a joke.
Salix dropped his hand from his name patch then offered her a hand shake to properly introduce himself "By the way my name is Salix Brown, Calling me Salix is just fine too" Ruby took it, her smile beaming towards him "Nice to meet you Salix!"
~Fish
Well there's that THANK YOU FOR READING! please leave a comment prefferably one of the constructive kind since 1. My writing will improve as I listen to your tips and stuff and 2. You guys will Have a better time with reading this FF of mine!
Well now time for me to talk a little. "A RE-WRITE! WHAT IN THE WORLD" yes a 're-write' I guess I felt as if one was in order for Ch1 since...well...I believe that the first Ch1 will be the face of your FF and if its bad -and I know the first ch of Doctor and Patient back then was shit- no body will continue to the next ch so BOOM! I re-wrote it.
Oh BTW this won't get in the way of the schedule I'll still post Later in Wed. so Look out for that one dear readers! :D
Any ways that's everything from this fish thanks for reading! :) :D (O.O)