Disclaimer: I do not own Code Blue and the characters
"Why did he have to put one so visibly?" Shiraishi Megumi mumbled as she stared at her own reflection in the mirror. She could see the bluish-red rash at the left side of her neck and knew exactly how it ended up there. The female doctor tried so hard to hide the mark but to no avail. Today she's not on flight duty so she couldn't wear the flight jacket. Wearing a white coat would've been too suspicious as she barely wore one at the hospital, she didn't bring it today.
If only her hair was still as long as it was a few years ago, she could've easily braided it to her side and nobody would've notice but now, it is far too obvious. Even foundation couldn't fix the mess. She sighed in frustration, inwardly cursing herself for letting him make that. If she were in the right mind there was no way she'd let him put it where it was so obvious but last night was an exception.
They just had a heated argument and he was still upset about Amano Kanade's surgery. After days of giving each other the cold shoulder, last night they finally gave up and the rest was history.
It was hot, too hot.
She could feel the blush creeping on her cheeks just from remembering the events of last night. Aside from her neck, her waist was also killing her but she could easily use her injured ankle as an excuse. But the matter on her neck was another thing. What other options does she have?
Suddenly, the door slammed open and along came Hiyama Mihoko in her scrubs and a cup of steaming hot coffee into the changing room.
"Ah- you're here. Morning!" She exclaimed happily. From the fresh looks on her face it seems that last night was not too much of a hassle and she had enough time to sleep. Shiraishi hurriedly took a waterproof bandage from her locker and slapped it onto the mark on her neck. Too bad for her, Hiyama is too sharp not to notice her suspicious act.
"Oi Shiraishi, what happened to your neck?"
She gulped, hard, trying to find a good excuse.
"T-This, it's nothing. It's just..." Why does her brain have to stop working at crucial times? One wrong answer and she's doomed.
"Mo-Mosquito. Yes, mosquito bite. It's so itchy and I scratched it until it bled. I don't want it to get infected."
"Eh? I don't recon ever getting a mosquito bite from staying at your apartment."
Shit. Why does she have to be so smart.
"O-Oh yeah, how is Ogata-san doing? Any progress with his rehabilitation?" She changed the topic abruptly, but thankfully it works and Hiyama started ranting about it though Shiraishi's mind is occupied with the matter on her neck as she slammed the locker door closed and walked outside with her colleague. She just passed the hardest hurdle of the day, the extremely sharp Hiyama, so everybody else should've been easier right?
Or so she thought.
Shiraishi walked to the duty board, Aizawa Kosaku and Yokomine Akari are on flight duty. If only she could've asked for a schedule trade earlier so she could wear the flight jacket for a day. She sighed, secretly hoping that an emergency case would come and everyone would be too busy to notice that something's off with her but it seems that luck was not on her side today. So the female flight doctor walked out of the room to check for patients at the ICU. If she were busy, perhaps time would run out sooner and she'd be going home in no time.
"Mr. Takahashi, how are you feeling?" She asked as she pulled out her stethoscope, checking the heart and lungs of her post-surgery patient. The patient has regained consciousness last night and has been recovering well. Detecting no problem, she wrote it on the patient's chart.
"Mr. Takahashi, you seem to be getting better already. You can be admitted at the usual ward by this afternoon."
Hearing her statement, the 50-year-old patient beamed at her and bowed his head.
"Thank you doctor. I can't wait to start working again."
"You have to recover first, Mr. Takahashi. Your health should be a priority." And they both chuckled as Shiraishi excused herself to the patient on the next bed. The door to the ICU slid open, revealing Fujikawa Kazuo and Natori Shouma. An odd combination, but each fellow needs to experience being taught by different seniors. Hopefully Fujikawa could teach a little bit of compassion to the indifferent fellow, though recently it has changed a bit after the younger doctor followed Hiyama. It may be small, but at least it's a progress right?
"Shiraishi, morning!" Fujikawa greeted her with a wave. Natori softly bowed his head and Shiraishi smiled at them.
"Good morning Fujikawa and Natori." And she continued examining her next patient, an unconcious 32-year-old female who had recently undergone an open head surgery to drain a brain hemorrhage. She hasn't regained consciousness in the past 2 days and they are getting worried if she will ever do.
"Good morning Mrs. Yamada. Excuse me while I examine your eyes and heart."
Unconscious or not, Shiraishi always treated all her patient as a human being. She carefully used her penlight to check for pupillary reflex, not noticing the stares she received from Fujikawa.
"Hey Natori, did you see that?" Fujikawa, being his usual nosy self, poked his junior. The younger doctor who was previously taken by his patient's chart turned his head to look at where Fujikawa was looking at.
"It's just Shiraishi-sensei. What's wrong?"
"You idiot, looked closer. To her neck." Natori squinted his eyes and after a few tries he finally saw the bandage on the female doctor's neck. It's easy to miss from afar but how come Fujikawa and his super thick lenses managed to see that from such a distance and not noticing other usually very obvious stuff from his patients? What a mystery.
"It's a bandage. What of it?" Fujikawa snickered and patted Natori's back proudly.
"Yes, and it is located on the neck. Come on, Natori. You're an adult. You know what I'm talking about. I wonder how did she get that."
Natori sighed and moved to get away from Fujikawa uncomfortably as he stated as-a-matter-of-factly.
"She could've injured her neck or something, Fujikawa-sensei. Don't be so dirty minded."
"I didn't say that it was from anything dirty. Or is it you who has a dirty mind, Natori-sensei?" The doctor in glasses mocked, flashing his signature dirty-old-man grin which has successfully pissed Natori. He thought nothing could get worse from being assigned with Fujikawa-sensei for a day but it turned out it could.
He was about to answer Fujikawa but suddenly a patient's monitor alarm rang and the nurse in charge of the patient yelled.
"Sensei, this cardiothoracic surgery patient suddenly became unconscious. His saturation dropped. He also had bradycardia."
Shiraishi, Fujikawa, and Natori ran to the patient's side. Shiraishi immediately checked his heart and rhythm which got softer as every second passed. No spontaneous breathing detected. Natori prepared himself to do chest compressions as Fujikawa watched over the monitor for every stat changes.
"He is having bradycardia. This is bad. I will intubate the patient. Natori, start chest compression." Shiraishi said to the younger doctor who immediately followed the instructions.
"I will inject the Atropine. Somebody, contact the doctor in charge of this patient." Fujikawa said as he took a syringe full of Atropine from the nurse, injecting it to the patient's IV line as he watched for any response. They continued working to resuscitate the patient until he is stable enough.
"Sorry I was late. How is the patient?" Saijo-sensei bursted into the ICU. Apparently he was a neurosurgery patient.
"He suddenly lost his consciousness and had bradycardia. We intubated and put him on mechanical ventilation since no spontaneous breathing reflex detected even after his pulse returned. I think we need to consult him to the cardiology department and check for any history of cardiac problems." Shiraishi explained as she took off her gloves. The senior neurosurgeon sighed in relief.
"Thank you Shiraishi-sensei. I don't know how he would've been if you weren't here."
"No problem, we have to take care of each other."
And that's when Saijo-sensei's eyebrow twitched, noticing the half-attached bandage on the flight doctor leader's neck slipping off from sweat.
"Shiraishi-sensei, your bandage's off. Are you okay?"
Shit.
Immediately she moved her hand to cover the left side of her neck and the bandage, trying to stick it back but it won't. Screw cheap waterproof bandages that's not actually waterproof.
"Thank you Saijo-sensei. I'll replace it with a new one. I hope my mosquito bite didn't get infected. Thank you for the notice." She said as she excused herself quickly from him, going back to writing charts, hoping nobody else had noticed it but too bad nothing juicy ever got off Fujikawa's sharp eyes.
"Did you see that, Natori?"
"Yes, I did." He said weakly. As much as he hated to agree, but it was so obvious. The coin-sized bluish-red mark that was previously hidden by the bandage looked nothing like a mosquito bite. What a lame excuse. They're all adults so they definitely knew how she got that. Eitherway, it's still none of his business so he continued managing the patient's IV drip.
"It seems like somebody got it good last night. I didn't expect that from such a baby-faced Shiraishi. Aren't you curious who made that on her? Someone from this hospital?" Fujikawa snickered again, annoying Natori even further. He's not in the mood of being a busy body but apparently it's the opposite for the other emergency doctor.
"If you're curious why don't you ask her, Fujikawa-sensei?"
"Eeeeeh? You ask her."
What the actual f-
Natori snapped.
"Um, Shiraishi-sensei. Fujikawa-sensei wants me to relay this question to you." He said rather loudly so every attention turned to them.
"No, not so loud Natori. No-"
Too late.
"He said 'Who made that mark on your neck to you. Is it someone from the hospital'?"
Everyone in the ICU never saw the usually calm and collected doctor made that kind of expression before. Sometimes flustered, yes. Panicked, yes. Disappointed, yes. But never like this. Face flushed like a big red tomato, frantically trying to hide the thing on her neck, mouth gaping like a goldfish but nothing came out of it. She dropped her pen and ran out of the ICU, leaving everyone including Saijo-sensei shocked from realization.
"There. Fujikawa-sensei I'm done here. Excuse me." Natori washed his hands and left the ICU smugly. Seems like they got the answer. Shiraishi Megumi is definitely seeing somebody. It didn't take long for the rumor to spread throughout the hospital, even in the afternoon when she had replaced her bandage people still stare at her weirdly as if she's some sort of endangered animal in the zoo. She could handle being the center of attention, not to mention the shame. Even when she answered the phone for an emergency request she could feel their stares boring into her neck.
God, please let today end sooner.
To top it off, then came Hiyama bursting into the door of the emergency room.
"Shiraishi Megumi, is it true what I just heard? I demand an explanation. We're hitting Mary Jane's tonight."
No. God, help.
Finally, the day ended. Hiyama came home earlier after Shiraishi turned down her invitation using a night shift as an excuse. The senior staff and fellows had all gone home and she finally had her time of solitude in the staff room, writing the medical reports and grading fellows.
"I wonder if I could mark down Natori's grade from the incident this morning..." She mumbled as she stared at his name on the paper. Then somebody came into the room and on instinct Shiraishi tried to hid her neck. Thankfully it's just Aizawa Kosaku. She dropped her hand and sighed in relief.
"Good job today."
"Ah." That's all he replied, always, before grabbing a chair on his desk to sit and write his own report. Shiraishi turned her attention back to the paperwork on her desk before Aizawa broke the silence.
"It seems like you had a rough time at work today thanks to that 'mosquito bite'."
"You heard?" She said, her sight never leaving the paper in front of her though she couldn't write anything with her mind preoccupied. Perhaps it's the same for the stoic male doctor.
"Yep. People are speculating around." Her biggest fear came true. Again she dropped her pen on the table, and buried her face into her palms.
"What did they say?"
"Fujikawa said it may be Shinkai. I 'accidentally' elbowed him for that one. Some other said it may be someone from the hospital." For the first time today, she smiled.
"No one suspected you?"
"Hiyama did. Saw her walking out of this room mumbling the names of all your male acquaintances including mine and when she saw me she said 'impossible'. Hearing that, Shiraishi chuckled. Her fingers tugged on the bandage, taking it off slowly since there's nothing left to hide.
"And no one noticed your weird gait." He added, which Shiraishi agreed.
"They think it may be from when I hurt my ankle, that helicopter accident. Remember?" Aizawa nodded, the image from that day still haunted him sometimes. It was one of the most terrifying moments in his life, on par with the day her grandma got admitted to their hospital.
He stood from his seat and walked to her side, rubbing his thumb on top of the mark on her neck.
"Does it still hurt?"
"Nope, I've walked normally even before noon. You don't have to worry." She knew he must've been, even when he didn't say anything. She put her hand on top of his, gently squeezing it.
"But next time, don't make this kind of thing where it's so obvious."
"It was dark."
"No it wasn't. We both have 20/20 visions and it was dimly lit."
"How many times did you recall the events of last night?"
"Aizawa-sensei, you're missing the point."
"That's not how you called me last night."
"Aizawa-sensei!"
They both went silent afterwards, but both hands are still intertwined to one another.
"I can't promise that. Not after what Fujikawa said about Shinkai making that."
"You took your rivalries too far. It wouldn't affect your chance of going to Toronto, you know." He could feel her grip weakening. Always happens whenever they discussed about his upcoming neurosurgery residency in Toronto University. He tightened his grip which surprised her.
"This is not about that. This is about you." She could see anger flickered in his eyes, and that's how she knew how he feels. Without words nor actions. All the time, and vice versa.
But she didn't know how bad he wanted to kiss her, right there, right now.
"So, what time are you off today?"
"I can leave anytime but I'd like to finish the fellows' assessment forms first. In around an hour perhaps. Why?"
He lowered his head and whispered into her ears softly.
I'll give you more 'mosquito bites' tonight.
"AIZAWA-SENSEI!" He walked out of the room, leaving the flustered Shiraishi alone to do some follow-ups on his few patients before picking her up later into the night, to continue where they left off last night.
Finally, my first Code Blue Fanfiction! I've been a fan of this ship since the first season aired and season three is an oasis for me. I'm still hoping for something big to happen to both of them, meanwhile I wrote a little fic to quench my 'thirst' or so haha.
Please let me know what you think about this fic in the review. I respect all constructive criticism 3
Cheers!
Kimchi/summermelon
