Chapter 1

Familiar Faces

Derek called a taxi, and Angie asked the driver to head for the Angeles Bay Mall. Once the couple arrived, Derek paid for the service, and they stepped outside to examine the mall. Derek looked a bit shocked.

"Hey, Angie, to tell you the truth, I've never actually, uh..." Derek trailed off.

"Hmm?" Angie asked.

"Err...well, ah, two things. One, I've never really done much shopping here...and, uhm...I've...never, er, w-"

"Went on a date?" Angie inquired.

"Err, yeah, that." Derek ever so slightly blushed, which made Angie laugh a bit.

"That's okay Derek, neither have I. So, let's have fun while we have the time." Angie chimed. Derek paused and reinforced his thought about how great the day would be, just spending time with Angie, and-

"Derek! Run!" Angie quickly snapped Derek out of his fantasy.

"Eh?" Derek was clueless.

"Follow me! Hurry!" Angie frantically glanced around, and Derek was thinking of what to say next.

"But, why-" Derek's sentence was cut off as Angie dashed off into the mob of people.

Derek tore after her, dodging and weaving through dozens of people. After what seemed like an eternally long time, Angie finally stopped to catch her breath. Derek skidded to a stop beside her, panting heavily.

"You don't exercise much, do you?" Angie questioned with a teasing smile.

"I...think...you can answer that...yourself..." Derek puffed. After about a minute, Derek recovered from his fatigue.

"Why did you tell me to run?" Derek asked, bewildered. A pang of realization hit Angie.

"Oh, sorry for not telling you, I was too worried. Well, I saw my dad-"

"That was why you ran??" Derek couldn't believe himself.

Angie had ran halfway across the mall just to escape sight of Professor Blackwell? It seemed like a good enough reason for Angie.

"Well, if my dad had caught me with you, then he would begin with transferring me to a hospital on the other side of the country, just to start." Angie replied matter-of-factly.

"Does your dad hate me?"

"Err, you could say...!" Angie trailed off shyly.

"Well, at least we're in! Where to start...?" Angie asked out loud, while Derek gagged at Angie. Angie looked over Derek and saw his expression, and Angie's eyes with with sorrow.

"Sorry to bring your hopes down about appealing to Father, Derek...I didn't-"

"That's okay Angie. I'm sure you could convince him that I'm perfect." Derek sarcastically stated proudly, and Angie giggled. After that, they went around the mall shopping, most of the purchased items clothing for Angie, and Derek having to carry all of the bags, a very hard-to-accomplish job.

"Whew! After all this buying, I'm going to need a salary raise." Derek fantasized as the couple sat themselves in a food court.

"For something as grand as that after getting a full day off, you would need to work double overtime on night shifts." Angie remarked enthusiastically. The two laughed and had lunch at a café and chatted.

At the hospital, Tyler and Leslie were bored out of their mind and had practically no patients to care for, and the few patients there were, were all stable.

"Let's go check out if any messages were left for us while we were waiting to help someone." Tyler started, desperate for something to do.

"Sure, at least it's better than sitting around like this." Leslie replied. As the two walked briskly down the halls, the sound of their shoes echoed through the empty hallways.

"Gee, I bet Dr. Stiles and Angie are having the time of their life." Tyler thought out loud. Leslie pondered over Tyler's words.

"I guess you're right." As they neared the phone, the light was blinking, signaling that there was a message. Tyler's action-hungry darted towards the blinking phone, and he wildly dove to it first before Leslie caught view of the light.

"Yess! A message! One message! Okay, stay quiet while I listen." Tyler spoke, and Leslie obeyed by not replying.

"Hello, this is Adel Tulba, a former apprentice at Caduceus. I've already handed all my needed papers in to rejoin, but I just want to remind you that I will be arriving at around 2:00 today. Thank you for allowing me to rejoin the wonderful community at Caduceus, and I can't wait to continue helping save patients' lives as a certified surgeon. I can't wait to see Dr. Stiles!"

Tyler was awestruck after the message ended, his eyes staring off into space.

"Who was it from?" Leslie questioned.

"See for yourself." Tyler blankly replied. Leslie listened to the message and gawked.

"Adel's coming back? Today?!" Leslie looked at a digital clock on the wall. It read 1:30. Tyler and Leslie both looked at each other with horrified looks. They both ran to Victor's bedroom, a few floors up, where he was researching and reviewing previous works. He growled as they walked in.

"We hope you don't mind, Victor." Tyler spoke.

"Of course I mind, but...what do you two want!?" Victor snapped. The two looked at each other, and then started talking extremely fast, so fast that Victor found both of them incomprehensible and annoying. He cleared his throat.

"Quiet!" Victor shouted over them. They were instantly muted.

"One...at a time, please." Victor snarled.

"Well, we're pretty sure you know that Adel's coming to Caduceus, right?" Tyler started.

"Yess, I have his papers."

"And you do know that he's arriving in half an hour, right?" Leslie continued. Victor frowned more than usual.

"No, but keep going." Victor at least seemed somewhat into the conversation.

"So...what should we do?" Tyler asked. Victor's frown turned into a gritting teeth.

"Well...you could wait for him, that would be a smart thing for you two to do." Victor spoke through his clenched teeth.

"But he said-"

"I'm guessing he said he wants to see Dr. Stiles. Correct?"

"Yes. Exactly." Tyler responded. Victor sighed.

"Just call him. I won't tell you what to say," Victor paused to grin naughtily,

"Because I'll leave that up to the jokers here." Victor ended bitingly. Tyler and Leslie nodded, accepting their duty as the Caduceus pranksters, and they proceeded downstairs.

"I've got it." Tyler said as he reached for the phone. Leslie made a motion with her hand saying to continue.

"Just watch and learn. And laugh." Tyler swiftly went on the computer beside the phone before calling, and opened up an audio file.

It was labeled, "abulence_", and he readied the "play" button for the moment.

Derek and Angie were still chatting when Derek's cell phone rang.

"Grr...if this is Caduceus, I'm ninety percent sure it's a prank." Derek muttered grouchily before he flipped the phone open. He could hear a wailing noise, like sirens, in the background.

"Derek! Help! Neo-GUILT! Building...gases...Delphi...everyone...save us-" The phone cut off. Derek instantly stood from his seat.

"Angie! All of Caduceus has been flooded with Neo-GUILT gases from Delphi! We've got to save them!" Derek ran to the nearest exit, not taking the bags, with Angie running beside him.

"What a great day to take a day off..." Angie's voice was filled with uneasiness.

"Ha! They fell for it! Hahaha! I don't believe it! Haha!" Tyler and Leslie were laughing after they had hung up. Leslie's stomach ached, and Tyler was laughing so hard, he was crying.

"Ahaha...hahaha! Wait wait, wouldn't it be hal-larious if we were like, unconscious on the ground-"

"You guys pull it off?" Victor was downstairs, smoldering a laugh.

"Of course we did." Tyler responded matter-of-factly.

"What was it this time?"

"Neo-GUILT."

"A wise choice."

"We have to look completely normal when they arrive, because Adel's gonna come any minute now. Derek and Angie are going to be the one's out of it."

"Oh look, here they come. Act natural. Victor, sit there and work on research."

"Yeah yeah, I hear ya." With that, Victor promptly took a seat on the rotating chair and began typing fast, swiftly opening up multiple tabs related to his current project. Tyler and Leslie started to talk of the states of health the current patients were in, and whether or not they needed an extra surgery. Derek and Angie came bursting through the doors, looking around for people on the ground, instead to find people performing their normal duties. Derek was at a loss for words.

"Are...are you guys alright? Is the Neo-GUILT dormant? Or active...?" Derek gave an odd expression to everyone. Tyler and Leslie couldn't control themselves any longer. They burst out in laughter, and Victor smirked at the jokers and hopelessly shrugged at the confused couple. At first, Derek was in puzzlement, but just as fast as they got to Caduceus, Derek's emotions converted to fury.

"You pranksters! That was a joke, wasn't it?! You just tricked us into coming here to-"

"Actually, no, wait, ...never mind." Victor observed the situation going on. Tyler and Leslie were still laughing, Derek was in flames, and Angie was ticked and wanted an explanation. Victor glanced outside as a taxi pulled up, and a certain surgeon came bursting through the doors.

"Dr. Stiles!!"

Now, wasn't that refreshing? I hope everyone likes it! ^^ It's great to write Trauma Center fanfics, isn't it? Don'tcha feel great? Whatever, 'cause I do. Keep reading!
By the way, I love reviews. =3