Hello Everyone! I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read this story, and thank you for the support! I forgot to say this before, but please excuse some OOC parts. I try to make everything as in-character as possible, but as you all know, slip-ups are highly likely. Also, I gotta say that I am NOT a med student, nor have I received any medical training. I am simply extremely interested in the field, who likes writing AU's about it ;). I get most of my info off the internet and make assumptions the rest of the time, so sorry for inaccuracies. Please bear with me. Please read, enjoy, and review! Constructive criticism readily accepted.
Disclaimer: I do not, and never will own Fairy Tail. All rights go to Hiro Mashima.
An Imminent Valediction
"WENDY?!" Gray took a mad dive toward the ever-narrowing gap between the armored metal doors.
"Gray, get back!" Juvia yelled as she forcefully hauled the man away from getting his arm crushed in half, "Don't be stupid!"
Gray huffed and turned to attack the elevator buttons instead, pressing the number 3 with rapidity to a degree where Juvia began worrying for the processing mechanisms' ability to keep up.
"Ice Prick, calm down!" Natsu snapped after a few seconds of listening to his frenemy's frantic clicking, a vein bulging from his forehead in annoyance. Gray slowed down, but continued clicking at a much slower pace, whether subconsciously or to annoy Natsu more, Juvia didn't know.
"What's going on?" Juvia confronted Gray, utterly confused about the situation, "What is your connection to that Wendy girl?"
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open to reveal the second floor, only to be reclosed immediately and forced back upward by Gray's revived bashing of the third floor button. He rolled his eyes in annoyance as the compartment slugged upward before answering, "Wendy's my adoptive sister, per say," he began, only to be interrupted by Juvia's look of surprise and doubt.
"Gray, your only adoptive sister is Ultear. Are you feeling okay?" she asked in concern, not quite sure what to think at the moment.
"No, no, I'm fine. Let me just start from the beginning," Gray sighed as they walked out to the third floor again, "Wendy's mom Grandine used to work here until she got into a fatal car accident about 12 years ago, leaving her five-year-old daughter at the mercy of an orphanage."
"It's the one Ice Princess used to volunteer at during high school," Natsu interjected, looking completely bored through the entire explanation, having already known about everything.
Juvia strained her memory and recalled Gray talking about his service activities on several occasions. Unfortunately, that memory was accompanied by one of her wild fantasies about running the orphanage together with Gray and, of course, growing old together. Feeling a blush coming on, Juvia shook her head and said, "Right, keep going."
"Well, Wendy was relatively new to the orphanage during my senior year, so I was put in charge of befriending her, since her previous volunteer (I think his name was Mystogan or something) there had graduated a year before. Long story short, Wendy practically got my entire family wrapped around her finger at some point, and my mom adopted her after I left for college."
"I see. No wonder seeing her here startled you so much…" Juvia nodded pensively.
"Yeah, especially since she should be at home, doing homework right now, not running around the ICU," Gray muttered as the elevator finally arrived at the correct floor. The three doctors rushed back out to the ICU desk and asked the very confused receptionist whether she had seen a girl with long blue hair go by.
The woman nodded warily and pointed to a room. Upon seeing that the room was Romeo's, a shadow descended over Gray's eyes, and a malicious glint appeared in his eye, "Natsu, say goodbye to your cousin…"
The salmon-haired man looked alarmed and scowled, "The heck d'ya mean by that, Ice Princess?"
"You know exactly what I mean," Gray growled.
"Oh hush, Gray!" Juvia sighed at her friend's behavior (ignoring how irritatingly attractive he was when he was overprotective) before knocking on Romeo's door, "Romeo, this is Doctor Lockser, along with Dr. Fullbuster and Dragneel… again. May we come in?"
Not bothering to wait for a reply, Gray barged through the door and scanned the room, observing his sister sitting next to the patient's father in an uncomfortable hospital chair that had been pulled up next to the bed. The thing that truly caught Gray's eye was the fact Wendy's hand was hovering over Romeo's hair. In true over-protective brotherly fashion, Gray jumped to conclusions and rounded on the two teenagers, "What do you think you're doing, Wendy?"
"G-Gray! This, uh, isn't what you think…" the girl stammered, flushing a bright crimson and jumping away from the bed. Romeo also looked mortified, but much more rational in the situation.
"If it isn't what I think, then what is it?" Gray growled as he bore down on the fidgeting boy.
"Gray…" Macao warned from his seat, only to be unceremoniously ignored.
"Dr. Fullbuster," Romeo's voice cracked in fear. His ears burned bright red, but he cleared his throat and barged onward, "Wendy and I are best friends. Nothing more, nothing less… Sir."
The boy stared defiantly into the anesthesiologist's frigid glare, putting on as tough a face as possible in his bedridden and bandaged state.
"Then what was that?" Gray gestured, referencing the hair incident.
"He had a piece of fuzz in his hair, Gray," Macao sighed in exasperation, "What could they have done with me here?"
Natsu snickered behind his hand, "Pretty dumb for the top student in med school…"
A vein pulsed in Gray's forehead and he redirected his anger on Natsu, "Says you, Flame Idiot!"
"Got a problem, Icicle?" Natsu jeered tauntingly.
"Why, you little…" Gray took a menacing step forward, hands balling into fists, but something held him back. Glancing to the side, he saw Juvia's hand laid lightly on his shoulder, and Juvia herself shaking her head imperceptibly. Gray's muscles involuntarily relaxed under the woman's touch, and he grudgingly backed down. Natsu winked suggestively, and the vein in Gray's forehead inflated once more. Macao lazily smacked Natsu over the head, effectively silencing the irritating jester.
Wendy and Romeo were watching the exchange in confused amusement, but they looked down quickly when Gray turned to glare at them. He was about to begin a tirade about their friendship when his phone started ringing. Pulling the device out of his pocket, Gray's scowl morphed into a look of concern as he ducked outside to answer the call.
Juvia was immediately alert at the sight of the worry and fear obscuring the man's features, and she excused herself as well to check on her colleague.
She stayed a suitable distance away from him to ensure his privacy, but that didn't stop her ears from subconsciously seeking several bits and pieces of the conversation.
"What! How did that…? There has to be something… Do you know…? I'm coming down there now!" He hung up and barreled back toward Romeo's room, only to be intercepted by Juvia's calming voice.
"Gray, what's wrong? Please take a deep breath and tell me," the blunette whispered soothingly as she watched the normally stoic man break down in front of her eyes, "I just want to help."
"Mom-hospital-Wendy-go!" he gasped, shoulders shaking uncontrollably. His phone slid from his grasp as he started pacing back and forth. Juvia looked on worriedly as she followed the distressed doctor.
"Ur is in the hospital?" Juvia paled at the implications. With how badly Gray was reacting, it must be serious.
Gray nodded as he rubbed circles around his temples, "I n-need to get W-Wendy and go."
"No, you won't," Gray stared at her like she was insane and looked as if he were about to punch her. Juvia held up a hand, "As in you are in no condition to drive anybody anywhere. Juvia will drive."
"What? No! This is a family matter! You can't go barging in everywhere as you please!"
Juvia was loath to admit it, but that comment stung a little; however, she had bigger problems to worry about at the moment, "Gray, think! You and Juv-i-I both know you're unfit to drive. We're wasting time out here arguing." Juvia winced at her slip-up into third person, but stood her ground.
With dislike and annoyance clouding his turbid brain, the anesthesiologist forced out from between gritted teeth, "Fine, Fiore Medical Center… please."
Juvia looked down sadly and nodded as they retreated to Romeo's room. The room became hushed as the pair entered, and a look at both their faces told everyone that something was wrong.
Seeing as Gray was not going to take the initiative and explain, Juvia took the reins in the conversation, however reluctantly, "Wendy, we need to go. Either Gray or I will explain on the way. It's urgent."
Hearing that, Wendy leapt up and rushed out with the two doctors, only pausing at the doorway to pay a rushed goodbye to the Conbolts.
The trio dashed out to the parking lot where Juvia led them to her navy blue hatchback. Once Gray and Wendy had gotten situated in the passenger and back seat respectively, Juvia started the engine and set off. After several moments of tension, Wendy broke the silence and asked, "What happened?"
Gray's harsh frown softened a fraction, but he remained immutable otherwise. Juvia had no real answer for Wendy, so she chose to remain quiet as well. It seemed Wendy herself had little urgent desire to know the terrifying truth, so she let the topic drop for a moment and stared out the window at the city's lifeless night sky.
At length, Gray managed to gather himself enough to explain the situation, "Wendy, Mom's in critical condition. She collapsed at work and her heart stopped. She's in Fiore Med Center's ER right now."
Wendy let out a choked sob as she struggled to process the information, but there was no time for the impact to truly sink in as the hatchback pulled into the visitor parking lot not a minute later.
The three sprinted into the ER; Gray was barreling through families and patients in an effort to reach the front desk, but Juvia and Wendy pulled him aside and apologized to the irate crowd. Gray was ready to protest, but a stern glare from the two blue-haired females quickly silenced him.
At length, a brown-haired ER doctor came out and called for the family of Ur Milkovich. As the trio approached, he looked slightly taken aback by the scrubs Gray and Juvia were wearing, or rather the logo printed on them.
"Fairy Tail, I see," he observed, shaking hands with Gray, Juvia, and Wendy, "Doranbolt Gryder."
"Fiore, I see," Gray responded snappily, fully aware of the animosity most other hospitals held for Fairy Tail because of their general rule that a breach of policy and convention is nothing in comparison to saving a life.
"You must be Mr. Gray Fullbuster," Doranbolt continued, unfazed, taking a peek at Gray's hospital badge. "A pleasure, Ms. Lockser," he continued, inclining his head to Juvia after glancing at her badge as well, "But who is this young lady?"
Gray's fists clenched, despite the perfectly innocent question, "Wendy Marvell, my sister."
"My apologies, Mr. Fullbuster. It is Marvell-ous to meet you, Wendy," the teen smiled slightly at the doctor's poor pun despite the constant cloud of worry looming over their heads. Gray, however, was not amused, "R-right. Bad time."
Suddenly, there was a ruckus in the nearby trauma bay, and a head poked out, "Doranbolt, Code Blue* on Ms. Milkovich! Get in here!"
Doranbolt's mannerisms immediately became serious and he stared down the trio in front of him, "I recommend family members stay here. Your mother is in serious condition from a yet-unknown cause. She came in a few minutes before you, and we got her stabilized, but it seems she's gone into cardiac arrest again."
Gray stepped forward rebelliously, "I can't wait here idly and not do anything! I'm coming!"
"Sir, I understand…" Doranbolt resisted, sensing the action to be quite futile.
"You understand nothing! Move aside or I'll be forced to move you myself!" Gray growled menacingly, focusing on nothing besides a nagging necessity to get to his mother.
"Sir, we don't have time for this. I will only allow you in once you have calmed down. Until then, you will be nothing but an obstacle getting in the way of your mother's care," Doranbolt demanded, turning to move to the bay.
Gray glared hard at the other man, but took a deep breath and said in a much more level tone, "I'm calm. Please let me help. Wendy, stay here."
The younger girl looked ready to object; however, a firm stare from her brother killed the impulse, and she sat down obediently.
"Juvia, you stay with Wendy," Gray ordered, already beginning to go into the bay after Doranbolt.
Juvia's eyebrows scrunched in displeasure as she walked over to sit next to Wendy. The younger girl was tapping her foot nervously, not even bothering to look up when Juvia sat down. After a moment, Wendy asked, "What is it that you do, Juvia?"
"I am a cardiologist. I study the heart and the diseases which affect it."
Wendy nodded, becoming reserved again, but a second later, her head shot up and she surveyed Juvia pleadingly, "Then you can figure out what's wrong with Mom! Please, you must help her!"
Juvia smiled sadly, "Unfortunately, I am unable to do so at the moment. I would need access to all her charts and labs, all of which are things hospitals do not distribute lightly."
"Then, can you examine her?"
"Wendy, I am sure that they have much more experienced cardiologists here to help. Don't worry too much."
The pair waited in tense silence for the doctors and nurses to successfully finish CPR. Time seemed to drag out: 15 minutes, 20 minutes, almost 30 minutes had passed, yet there seemed to be no improvement in the patient's heart function.
Juvia's very instinct was screeching at her to go in and help, but she heeded Gray's orders and stayed put, feeling Wendy needed the company more. But at the 30 minute mark, the commotion stopped, and it seemed the entire emergency room heaved a collective sigh of relief. A different doctor walked out of the trauma bay, drenched in sweat with a dull look in his eye, "Dr. Lockser? My name is Lahar. We need you in the bay."
Wendy looked frightfully between Lahar and Juvia, "Why? What's wrong? Will my mother be ok?"
Lahar looked over at the girl sympathetically and nodded noncommittally, "We can't say for sure, but she's been stabilized. We just need a cardiologist to come and examine her so we can treat her as soon as possible."
"Then, Dr. Lahar, what is it that you need with me?" Juvia looked at the man quizzically.
"You see, that's the problem. Our only cardiologists are currently occupied with cases. There's no other option in this entire hospital but you, and Mr. Fullbuster has assured us that you are quite the qualified physician."
Juvia was dumbstruck. She was now in charge of saving Gray's mother's life. Never in her wildest dreams (and she was notorious for having quite the bizarre ones) would she have ever imagined being trapped in this position. She glanced from Lahar's patiently waiting countenance to Wendy's pleading, yet encouragingly hopeful expression and couldn't find it within herself to deny either of them, "You know, since I work for a different hospital, I am not allowed to touch your patients."
Lahar nodded determinedly, "We will carry out your instructions. Don't worry"
Juvia completely caved and answered with a steely-eyed expression, "I'll do my best."
She was immediately rushed into the bay, only to be assaulted by the most heart-wrenching scene she'd ever witnessed. There lay Ms. Milkovich unmoving in her stretcher. Beside her, the heart monitor beeped excruciatingly slowly but steadily. The Code Blue squad were scattered around various portions of the room, trying to catch their breaths from the rigorous rounds of CPR. And there was Gray, with his head between his hands, also exhausted from the mental stress of watching an entire team of burly men try to resuscitate* a loved one.
It dawned upon her that this was the weakest she had ever seen Ms. Milkovich or Gray in all the time she had known the two. She remembered the sharp-tongued, yet kind woman from her high school days who always greeted her kindly with a warm smile, despite it being painfully obvious that Juvia was a little more than obsessed with her adopted son, that very son who was usually as strong and supportive as anybody could be.
The urge to save Gray's mother reaffirmed itself inside Juvia; she would diagnose and treat Ms. Milkovich for her and for her son.
The only problem was that Juvia was a pediatric cardiologist. She had no clue exactly what in a broad spectrum of problems could be afflicting the dark-haired woman. Yet, the longer she stood there analyzing the symptoms, the more some foggy residency memory seemed to wriggle out to the forefront of her mind.
"Acute Massive Pulmonary Embolism*… " Juvia whispered after what seemed like an eternity, "Quick! Ms. Milkovich needs to go to CT* immediately!"
Doranbolt immediately caught onto the situation and dove for the phone, "I'm on it!"
The line finally came through, and the hope in Juvia slowly drained away as she watched Doranbolt's frown become more and more pronounced.
"Bad news," he said, "CT can't take her for another hour."
"We don't have an hour!" Juvia cried in disbelief, pacing up and down in agitation, only managing to come up with one solution to the issue. And it was something she wouldn't normally do as it was a serious violation of hospital policy, but the time called for it. Plus, she was a Fairy Tail doctor now; it was time to start acting like one, "Prep the tPA*!"
"You're trying to dissolve a clot that you aren't even certain exists?" Lahar asked in disbelief when he heard the order, "This could cause her to bleed out, and it is a serious breach of hospital policy. We can't risk it!"
Suddenly, Gray seemed to awaken from whatever daze he had been in and stood up determinedly, "Do you think we have any other options? You called Juvia in here, so you should listen to her!"
"That was under your recommendation!" Lahar argued, turning toward the anesthesiologist.
"I recommended her because I believe her to be the best hope we've got!" Gray yelled back heatedly, "And as the relative of the patient, I say we give the tPA a try."
Lahar still hesitated, quite uncertain and conflicted as to what to do. But Doranbolt had his mind made up. He brusquely swept past Lahar to get to the medicine cabinet and withdrew several little bottles and syringes. Doranbolt worked quickly with the medications, drawing the correct dosages into an empty syringe, and pushing it through the patient's IV.
There was a moment of complete silence as the drugs entered the woman's system, only for it to be broken by the shrill noise of a flat-line. Doranbolt cursed and rang the Code Blue again as the team once again commenced CPR.
As this happened, however, there was a different sense of urgency that was absent the first time around. CPR was an extremely risky maneuver to attempt while tPA was running its course. The trauma the body undergoes coupled with higher chances of bleeding out could lead to a grim outcome all around.
Juvia had retreated in shock and terror, mentally questioning whether she did the right thing, but knowing deep in her heart that she made the right choice. It was pure, unlucky coincidence that Ur chose that moment to code, but the seed of doubt had been planted. And very little could be done to uproot the germinating sprout besides the full recovery of the patient in question.
After a harrowing 10 minutes of resuscitation, the team recovered Ur's pulse and waited in dreaded anticipation for the highly likely internal bleeding to occur. They waited with bated breaths and no change in the stats, until the beeping on the heart monitor increased, getting stronger and stronger, and slowly recovering back to normal.
"Pulse steady! BP* rising!" Juvia breathed in wonder.
For one beautiful, shining moment, the sun broke through the clouds and shone on the occupants of trauma bay 1. Lahar stared in disbelief while Doranbolt teased him, the Code Blue team was high-fiving each other for a job well-done, and a teary-eyed Gray swept Juvia into a bone-crushing hug. But they were far from out-of-the-woods.
Patients should normally have begun to awaken by that point, but Ms. Milkovich remained unresponsive, dead to the world around her. The doctors became somber again as they conducted regular physical exams, all to no avail.
Finally, Doranbolt pulled Gray and Juvia aside and explained dejectedly, "I'm sorry. This was by no fault on either of your parts, but Ms. Milkovich… is in a coma."
Whew! Aaand cut! I'm sorta glad this is how it ended up because I originally went into this chapter fully intent on killing Ur off. The original idea was to have her bleed out, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that. So I leave you with a glimmer of hope and lots of drama. We'll see how this goes!
Glossary:
Code Blue - An alarm when a patient goes into cardiac arrest that summons a "code team" immediately to commence CPR.
Resuscitate - To revive someone
Acute Massive Pulmonary Embolism - (I simplified this definition) A large blood clot(s) in the lung arteries.
CT (scan) - Computed Tomography. An x-ray imaged created using computerized axial tomography.
tPA - Tissue Plasminogen Activator. A protein involved in the breakdown of blood clots.
BP - Blood Pressure