A/N: Trauma Center and Trauma Team are copyright of Atlus.

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Relapse

Chapter 2: Summons – The Doctor

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A jingle of keys and soft click, the dark pine door swung open to the entrance way of the small house. Small orange dress shoes dashed through the entryway and clattered as they were kicked off in the foyer. Heels clicked shortly behind clattering shoes, but stopped as the wearer paused to close the door. There was an audible sigh to follow as they – she – turned around and looked down at the dress shoes. She should call to the girl who ran ahead and reprimand her for again abandoning her shoes as she had, but they had been running late. The young girl had simply been in a hurry upon their arrival to catch her show before it was over. Nevertheless, Naomi would have to remind Alyssa once more that she had to put her shoes away; someone could trip over them and it would most likely be her.

Setting the case file she had tucked under her arm aside, she knelt down to remove her boots and straighten their entryway. Though she had come to live in America years ago now, she still removed her shoes and tucked them against the first step much as she had in Japan. After adopting Alyssa, she asked her daughter to do much of the same. It kept the floors cleaner and lessened the amount of dirt and bacteria spreading throughout the small home. Good thing too; she didn't have any time to spare towards cooking on most days, there wasn't any way to squeeze in cleaning the whole house.

With both pairs of shoes against the front step and aside, Naomi stood, retrieving her folder. Taking the step up, she walked down the hallway – the same way Alyssa had gone two minutes ago. Fortunate she didn't slip on the floor, but Naomi could digress. Her daughter spent some of her free time just sliding through each room until the transition to carpet in the bedrooms. If anyone should be careful, it would be Naomi. Always working, coming home so frequently after the events a scant two months prior still made the space so foreign. Cold and slick, each step had to be careful as she headed into the living room and kitchen.

"Yay! Look, look, Chloe! Black Condor came back!"

Naomi halted her stroll to the table and looked towards the screen. She didn't understand how Featherman was still going to this day, but it was and Alyssa's entire class was into the show. Her eyes fell to Alyssa and she smiled as the young girl held Chloe's front paws up and rocked back and forth. All the feline did was blink slowly and wave along with Alyssa as that familiar battle theme played.

This was a normal life. Yes, Naomi had noticed that one month ago after finally settling into the routine of picking Alyssa up from school and continuing work on the dining table. There was no going to the crime scene after they were both home so she had to make sure not to leave any stone unturned so to speak. For this case, she had all the evidence gathered; it was a matter of retrieving her laptop and working with the Little Guy to put the pieces together.

"Hm…"

Collecting her laptop from the counter where it lay charging from earlier this morning, she had to pull her thoughts back in from her assistant. Really, how on earth did that man always slip his way into being her partner? In the past, he had been assigned – or so it seemed. Agents chose their partners, or so she had come to learn later. All of them had been trained in more or less the same way in order to protect the researchers they worked with. Their medical knowledge wasn't bare minimum either in the event of some… complications. It hadn't been clear then, but Little Guy always had some apparent infatuation. Still, a moment of weakness amongst 'them' and he would have either been reassigned, or worse. Being able to express himself now, his filter was obviously broken. Though, to have him twisted around her finger; poor man, she wasn't the right woman for that.

Opening the laptop, she turned it on and allowed it to warm up while she opened the case file yet again. The evidence cards before her, she proceeded to spread them on the other side of the table where Alyssa wouldn't come over to look. Weapon, suspect, reason behind the murder, the truth behind the scene, and the…

Her brow rose as her fingers brushed the white envelope. Frozen, she tried to recall what it was, but found she didn't recall it being there earlier. Naomi hadn't placed it in there and Little Guy would have mentioned it were it from him. Picking it up, she turned it over and found only her name written in cursive on the back. Or was it? She only saw the 'N' first, but reading it again, her eyes widened. It didn't say 'Naomi', but 'Nozomi'.

"Ah, there you are, Dr. Kimishima. I just got the analysis back in from the lab and…"

But Naomi wasn't listening to Little Guy speak. Her mind was racing trying to figure out who could have delivered this letter. It could have—She shook her head. No, if Little Guy turned back to that group, he wouldn't remain within the FBI database. He would've erased himself and disappeared. And besides him, Ian was the only one holding her past above her head and not for reasons of working together then. The man was bad at jokes, but he wasn't terrible.

"… Dr. Kimishima?"

"Hm?" Naomi jerked herself back to the computer, staring at the icon representing the Agent. "What did you say?"

"I… said the lab analysis is back…" The way he spoke, he was about to tiptoe around asking if something was wrong and if there was anything he could do. She would give him about thirty seconds continuing normal conversation before switching over to it.

"It turns out that it's the culprit's… Is everything okay?" There it was and in ten seconds. She chuckled faintly, realizing she was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Before she could speak, he continued however. "You… there's nothing weird, right?"

"Weird? How so?"

"I'm not… never mind. I'll just… continue the report."

Brows knitted, she didn't know what to say and let him go on. However, she wasn't listening to his words now. That question had been too specifically vague. Either he did know about the envelope and was attempting to hide involvement, or he possibly received one as well. Though, maybe she was being too suspicious. Delphi had been dismantled years ago and Adam had been declared dead. Members had been scattered for various reasons; captured, eluded the police, or killed being the main three. The more fanatic members fell mainly into categories one and three, first being captured and often killing themselves in prison. Naomi herself didn't fall into any; remaining under the eye of the police, but she had amnesty. Never again would she use her skills to operate on the living in exchange for freedom. Obviously, Little Guy used his technical skills to forge yet another identity for himself and get into the FBI. Just another reason she didn't want to be close to him; she would be dragged in once he was uncovered.

"So, what are your thoughts, Doctor?"

"… One moment. There's a connection…"

Little Guy didn't say anything, but was that out of respect not to call her bluff, or did he really buy it? This wasn't going to work out. Opening that letter while Alyssa sat in the other room wasn't possible though. If it was what she believed it was, then she couldn't guarantee how she would react to the contents. Quietly, she set the envelope back into the folder. Once the case was resolved and Alyssa was in bed, she would open it.

It sat there long into the evening and after dinner was concluded. Naomi didn't even look at the folder as she walked Alyssa to bed and tucked her in, opening the thick novel she (and Navel for a while in the hospital) had been reading to the young girl at bedtime. Time continued to march on, the clock soon ringing midnight as she sat in the darkened living room. One o' clock came, and then two and the examiner still stared at the coffee table, the folder once on the kitchen table moved to the center. Alyssa should be deep in REM sleep; Naomi shouldn't wait any longer to read the message.

Pale fingers clasped the file and opened it, immediately taking hold of the white envelope. The contents were folded vertically into three and unfolding it only revealed printed text on the white paper. Teeth closed on her lower lip, she let the message drop on the table as she dialed Little Guy. As late as it was, it really didn't matter right now. She could only contact him about the words forming a single sentence on the sea of white.

'Dr. Nozomi Weaver – August 13th, 2020'

The phone rang and rang and she felt her body steadily growing cold. Maybe she was wrong about Little Guy. The longer it took for him to answer, the more she wondered whether he was expendable to them. If it was them, how many people were already there? If they didn't need him, but needed her, she would not catch a break so easily when the police finally caught onto them. Naomi almost missed the click on the other end of the line.

"… Doctor?"

He sounded wide awake for someone who had just been sleeping. What had the Little Guy been up to? However, this wasn't the time or place to inquire about his activities. She had called him for a specific reason, but her voice caught. Somehow, she couldn't speak and her tone was different, threatening to betray her. He hadn't hung up yet, his breathing audible on the other end as he waited. She didn't know what to say without sounding completely defeated.

"Navel…"

On the other end, it seemed like the voice clipped and everything stopped around her. Raising a hand to her head, her forehead pressed against the palm as she leaned against it, waiting for him to say anything back.

"… I'll come over. Alright?"

She felt foolish for doing this. There was a rustling on the other end; probably him getting out of bed and dressing. Naomi had time to stop him and tell him to forget about her calling, but again, her voice didn't come as her throat closed. She had a new life, survived the terminal illness her past job had left her with, and had a daughter to care for. Everything had been perfect and then these note decided to make an appearance.

"Naomi?"

"I'll be waiting…" Her voice finally managed to come back. "Try to keep your voice down when you arrive. Alyssa is sleeping."

"Okay."

With that, the line went dead and she closed her phone. It was an effort to place it on the table without a sound before she dropped back against the couch. Exhaustion was threatening to overwhelm her, but panic kept her wide awake and restless. Eventually, she needed to sleep for work tomorrow, but this letter and its date were not going to let her rest easy. Hopefully, just hopefully, speaking to Navel would give her some form of reassurance that she could sleep. Of course, her nature wasn't going to allow her to think positively. The pending discussion with her assistant would only further hammer in reality. She had been summoned, and from the way Little Guy had been reacting, he must have as well.

Delphi, the bioterrorist group responsible for GUILT, said to have been defeated back in 2018, was rebuilding. They wanted her back – wanted them both back and to what end? More GUILT? And what would happen once they were finished with the two ex-members? Naomi could only attempt to hold her usual façade as her mind ran wild with only the worst scenarios. Hopefully, it wouldn't take much longer for Little Guy to arrive.

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A/N: Think I might roll with switching off who holds the focus in each chapter. So like, Naomi in one, Little Guy in another and so on until later. Sometimes they'll be together, other times, one might have more chapters following one they just led. But, let's see how it works out as we get further into Relapse. Would you kindly review? Feedback is always appreciated.