So, this is the last piece to this story. To all those who read along, thank you very much, and I would be delighted to recieve reviews from you on how this story was good or not, what I could do better, etc.

"Whenever and however you give birth, your experience will impact your emotions, your mind, your body, and your spirit for the rest of your life." – Ina May Gaskin

Shiraishi sat near Sato Aiko's bed in the ICU and wrote down her notes in the medical history of the young woman's file. She leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. The time span between the moment they had entered the emergency room and the delivery of the baby in a c-section was about 15 minutes long, but Shiraishi felt exhausted as if she had been on her feet all day. Saejima came up to her and took a seat. She put a can of coke in front of Shiraishi.

"Good job, tonight." She said smiling. Shiraishi nodded.

"Good job, too. How is your back doing?"

"It hurts terribly. But I'll get over it." Saejima glanced at the young mother. "I'm grateful we still know how to do it. I was worried we would freak out while having her on the table."

Shiraishi nodded. "It was a tough situation. But I am very glad I had a trained flight nurse and former OR-nurse with me." She grinned. Saejima laughed and took a sip of her tea.

Shiraishi opened her can and drank some coke. She didn't feel so sick anymore, but a dizziness creeped into her mind. Her empty stomach and an emergency operation didn't go along very well. She was thankful that Haitani had taken the post-operative observation in his own hands and was dealing with it quite well, not disrupting her peace with frequent questions. He had thanked Saejima and her endlessly for the help and had apologised quite so much. Shiraishi frowned.
She would have to talk to him at some point; he had to learn how to deal with this kind of situations without calling her or any other doctor. What if she hadn't been within reach of the hospital? But she wouldn't bring it up tonight. Haitani seemed to be really concentrated on his patient and Shiraishi didn't have the motivation for this kind of talk at all. This evening didn't turn out the way she thought it would. Though – she grinned at that thought – she didn't mind having a little bit of action. Saejima was right; it was nice to know that they were still able to function in an emergency. And it was reassuring that people still valued their knowledge and help. Shiraishi unconciously laid her hand over her stomach. Under the wide scrub, it was hardly visible, but she knew there was a little human being growing inside of her, living within her, and she felt that her attention will be drawn more and more to that little human than to any other thing. Even Lifesaving came secondary.

"A girl."

Saejima glanced at her friend, raising her eyebrows. "Eh?"

"You asked me what it's going to be." Shiraishi smiled and rubbed her small belly affectionately. "It's a girl." Saejima smiled broadly back and nodded.

"You know, we are going to have – "

"Haruka!", Fujikawa exclaimed, hurrying down the hallway and startling both women and the night's peace. "What on earth are you doing here? You should be at home!"

"Calm down, everything's alright. We just wanted to help."

"But stress is poison for the baby! You could have fainted during the surgery!"

"I told you, I'm fine. And the baby's fine, too.", Saejima said, annoyed, and freed herself of his grasp. But Shiraishi could not help but to notice the loving smile that creeped over her features when Fujikawa wiped some of the sweat away from her forehead.

"Fujikawa-sensei really is a protective father." Shiraishi mocked. The orthopedic surgeon turned around and grinned broadly.

"That's right, I have to look after the two of them. I must nurture them very well. Our boy's going to be a handsome man like his father, ladies fainting over – "

Saejima lightly wacked him on the shoulder. "I told you to stop saying unnecessary things!"

Fujikawa winced. "Yes.", he answered.

"Shiraishi-sensei?", Haitani asked timidly. He nervously played with his fingers. Shiraishi looked at him.

"What is it?"

"Sato-san is awake. She would like to talk to you." Shiraishi nodded and stood up with a sigh, stretching her legs.

"Are you coming, too?" Saejima glanced at the young female doctor, astoundished.

"Eh?"

"Whatever she wants to talk about, I think we should meet with her together. This emergency needed the both of us to end well. I wouldn't have been able to operate with Haitani-sensei and Yukimura-san if you hadn't been there."

Saejima smiled, touched at the honest confession of her friend, and ignored Fujikawa's hand as she stood up. "Gladly."

Sato Aiko watched both women approaching her bed. Her eyelids were only half open, she was visibly tired from the operation and she felt very sore. The young doctor with the glasses had told her she would feel the aftermath of the seizure and the operation, and she was thankful for the pain killers that she received.

"Shiraishi-sensei.", she said hoarsely.

"Sato-san.", replied the female doctor and approached the bed, glancing quickly to the monitors. "How are you feeling?"

"Good." Sato-san's glance shifted between the female doctor and the nurse. "That young doctor told me you weren't supposed to be on duty and that he called you on your leave."

Shiraishi shot an annoyed glance in Haitani's direction, making the fellow wince. She bowed. "I am very sorry for the circumstances you had to go through. Our handling with this situation must seem very unprofessional to you. I can assure you this absolutely was an emergency and is fully against this hospital's guidelines, which is why I'd like to take full responsibility – "

Sato-san waved her hand dismissively. "Don't bother." She smiled reassuringly. "I didn't feel being looked after unprofessionally.", Sato-san said. Shiraishi listened attentively.
"On the contrary. When I was transported out of the ambulance and into the emergency, I was terrified. My husband was at a loss of what he could do, we both understood the complications were severe, and neither the paramedics nor the young doctor wanted to tell me what was going to happen.
They sent my husband out of the room with a nurse and looked after me. I couldn't count how many people were standing in the emergency, and I felt as if I was being passed around, everyone doing something to help me but no one telling me what's going to happen. I now think they were all afraid to tell me that I was going to have a ceasarean section, afraid of how I would react. " Sato-san looked to her belly that was still enlarged.

Shiraishi nodded, definitely deciding to bring this topic up again with Haitani and Yukimura. The way they had handled the patient was in no way acceptable, and she would make sure they knew that.

"I don't remember a lot of things about what happened after my seizure, I frankly do not remember anything.", Sato-san continued. "But I remember that somebody squeezed my shoulder, and somebody held my hand. The young doctor told me that you both were responsible for that. In a room full of medical personnel, you were the ones that didn't hesitate to touch me and telling me straight what I needed to know."

Shiraishi looked to Saejima. They indeed had tried to calm her down by touching her, holding her, and Shiraishi hadn't really realized that. It always came quite natural, because she was sure that she wanted somebody to hold her hand when she's the person laying on the stretcher. Saejima, and Shiraishi was sure of that, must have been reminded to the time when she collapsed, the cyanide outbreak and her miscarriage, where a holding hand could do so many things more than giving warmth.

"I didn't notice you both were pregnant, too." Sato-san remarked, and Shiraishi looked at her. She wanted to open her mouth, asking how she knew, as the baby bump of hers was hardly noticable, when Sato-san continued. "I don't know if you, as expectant mothers yourselves, understood me in a way a young bachelor doctor couldn't or if it was the instinct in you as doctor and nurse, but I want to thank you. I felt secure, because of you."

There was a silence between the three women as Sato-san's words reached the flight nurse and the doctor. A silence filled with a deep mutual understanding between them, as both women and mothers. Saejima and Shiraishi smiled at their patient; unsure what to reply to this, because there lay so many things in between these lines they simply could not express.

Sato-san was the one who started to talk again. She glanced at Saejima. "Excuse me, what is your name?"

The nurse seemed taken aback. "Ah, Saejima Haruka."

"Haruka.", Sato-san repeated, testing it aloud. "And what's your first name, Shiraishi-sensei?"

"Eh, Megumi." The young mother nodded thoughtfully and started to laugh when she saw the confused faces of the two women.

"Names for the list.", she explained. "My husband and I didn't have any idea what kind of name we would give her. We only had male names. And then each of us had one in mind and we discussed it over and over again, arguing which one was better. We never came to a decision, and when I felt unwell this evening and had to rush to the hospital, I simply thought we were too late.
I thought, if anything happens, if my girl dies, I don't even have a name. I wouldn't know what to call her. I always thought that choosing the name was something very important. So important I didn't want to make a list, I wanted the name to come to my mind when I first saw her on the ultrasound, or when I looked at the baby belly in the mirror, or when I went shopping for baby clothes. I was so naïve.", she chuckled. "But she survived, and she is doing well, my husband is looking after her. He showed me her picture. She is so beautiful. I would really want to see her, and it makes me sad that I cannot just get up and walk to her. But I think this is the right time to start the list. I will start it now, and when I see her, I can hold her and call her by the name she deserves."

Shiraishi nodded, tears in her eyes, then she excused herself and quickly grabbed a clipboard and a white sheet of paper. "I am sure you'll find a great name to pick for her. We will be no longer disrupting you from doing so. Please rest well." She bowed and Saejima did the same before they left the young woman in her bed, writing down names that came to her mind, Haitani standing nearby and writing his notes into the computer.

Shiraishi walked back to her chair. The fatique and dizziness had been washed away, simply by listening to her patient. It was funny, really, what words could do, what compliments and praises could stand for in a doctor's life.
Shiraishi noticed a tall figure standing next to Fujikawa and quickly met his eyes.

"Kosaku." She called him, grinning. Her husband leaned against the shelf behind him, crossing his arms in front of his chest, calmly watching her.

"What are you doing here?", he asked her. His tone didn't seem very different than when he talked to the fellows, and for a second Shiraishi thought he wanted to reprimand her. But then she looked into his eyes, these soft and concerned eyes that betrayed him, and smiled. It was a rhetoric question. He knew she would never decline help if Lifesaving calls for her. Aizawa reciprocated a smile by lifting the corners of his mouth a little upwards. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Fujikawa and Saejima being in a very deep conversation about what he persumed to be Fujikawa's protectiveness over her and her affectionately mocking him. The neurosurgeon swiftly stepped closer to his wife, stroking her side with one hand.

"How are you feeling?"; he asked her in a low voice. Shiraishi shrugged.

"Actually, quite good. The nausea isn't so strong right now."

"Did you have to throw up?"

"Once after the operation.", she confessed, and when she saw his furrowed eyebrows, rapidly added: "But I drank something after that. And I managed to keep the dinner I had in my stomach for a while. It has been worse."

Aizawa nodded, letting his hand drift up towards her shoulder where he applied light pressure on the muscle, massaging it. She leaned into his touch, enjoying the warm feeling spreading through her whole body. It was uncommon for them to show affection in public, but they were slightly hidden behind Fujikawa and Saejima who were still engrossed in their discussion, while Yukimura and Haitani were staying with the patient.
Shiraishi suddenly felt tired. She looked at the clock in the ICU. They had been here for about three hours already. How come it was already so late? Shiraishi noticed Saejima yawning and stretched herself.

"Well, then." She announced. "I guess I'll bring you home now, we had enough action for one day. Fujikawa-sensei, is this going to be okay, or do you still need help?"

Aizawa rolled his eyes, smirking, while Fujikawa only looked at her like watching a lunatic. "By all means, go home and rest. You shouldn't even be here at all."

Shiraishi heard a rustling sound in the living room and light creeped in through the slightly opened door to their bedroom. She didn't make a move, didn't make a sound. But she smiled. He was finally home. Soon enough, she noticed the door being opened and heard his footsteps on the floor, walking very careful not to wake her. He quickly discarded his clothes and dressed in his nightwear before he finally climbed into the bed, moving towards his wife. As his arm encircled her waist below the blanket, she lightly traced his hand's features with her fingertips.

"Good morning.", she wispered. He hummed and kissed her neck.

"Did I wake you?"

Shiraishi shook her head and turned so that she was facing him. "No, I have been awake for quite some time. How was it?"

"Awfully long and boring, since you left. There weren't any more emergencies and the patients slept well. I even managed to get some sleep in the on-call room. Boredom is not necessarily a bad thing after all.", he answered.

Shiraishi smiled. "That's nice to hear." She stretched her legs and snuggled closer to the neurosurgeon. "Did you do a CT scan on Sato-san along with Haitani?"

Aizawa nodded. "No further damage. She's going to be fine."

Shiraishi closed her eyes, feeling suddenly very relaxed next to him. "That's a relief."

"Were you worried?"

"Ah, well, it's nothing simple, having an eclamptic seizure. This is a serious complication."

Aizawa agreed. "Ah. All the more why Haitani shouldn't have called you."

Shiraishi lifted her head. "Eh?"

Aizawa propped himself up against the pillow behind him, still encircling Shiraishi's waist with his left arm, the right was laid behind her head around her shoulders to press her closer to him.

"This woman was in need of urgent medical attention. He was very lucky that you were within reach, otherwise no one would have made it in time. But by calling you, he made you carry the whole accountability all by yourselves. I know as well as Haitani that you wouldn't be able to refuse any cry for help, no matter where you are. Both you and Saejima have a strong sense of responsibility towards Lifesaving. Not only did he break several regulations at once, he put the both of you in danger too. There is a reason why you are supposed to be on leave."

Shiraishi furrowed her eyebrows. "Does this mean you talked to him about the matter?"

"Certainly. Haitani didn't think it through, not at all. He put Saejima and you under an immense pressure. Don't think that I don't believe you're not able to handle it, but your both in a delicate situation.", Aizawa stated matter-of-factly, but seeing her concerned face, he quickly continued: "I didn't yell at him. I reprimanded him, and repeated the regulations to him, but I didn't yell. I think he will have to deal enough with it when Tachibana comes up to him."

Shiraishi's eyes widened. She reached over to his side and turned on the little bedside lamp, engulfing the room in a weak light, enough to make out his features. She knew he didn't intend to frighten her, he wanted to be honest. Aizawa glanced towards his wife.

"Tachibana learnt about it in the rapport his morning." Aizawa's hand on her waist drifted towards her back, stroking it in an up-and-down manner. "Fujikawa phoned me before the end of the shift to tell me that Tachibana wanted to speak with the both of us. It seems that he has to report the matter to the investigative panel."

Shiraishi's face fell. "That means, Haitani – "

"Will not be blamed for the situation. They will probably blame him for violation of the guidelines, but since the patient is perfectly fine with the way that things turned out and even praised you, I highly doubt they will punish Haitani. There was no other senior he would have been able to call in this narrow time frame. You and Saejima are not going to be blamed either. You received the call, assessed the situation, and made up your decision based on the conclusion you came to. You are not to be responsible for the chaos, and Tachibana said he would make sure of that."

Shiraishi sighed relieved. She had been worried about the outcome of the whole fiasco. She knew the second she exited the emergency room that what she had done was a violation of this hospital's guidelines, regulations that the directorate held very dear. They had been lucky that the situation had ended well, or this would be a different matter entirely.

"But what does he want to discuss, then?"

"The possibility to have somebody on standby for emergency duties every night in several departments. I don't think I have to tell you what would have happened if the woman and her baby hadn't survived the eclampsia."

"The outcry in the media would be gigantic."

"Exactly." Aizawa tightened his grip around her, pressing her softly into his chest while his hand kept stroking her back. "Tachibana said he might call you at some point to talk it through with Saejima and you, as you both are probably the most reliable ones when it comes to explaining the whole situation. But he is glad how it turned out. He was very worried when he first learnt of it." Aizawa turned his head towards Shiraishi and met her gaze. "He told me I should hurry home and look after my wife." His mouth formed a small smile.

In the dim light, he could see her blush. "Ah, I see.", she answered, nodding a bit too fast. He chuckled. She would never change, not even in marriage. Shiraishi stayed the dense staff leader she was, clumsy when it came to personal emotions. He had to admit he liked this personality trait about her, since he found it endearing. It constantly told him that the person he knew for all those years was still there, no matter how old they would get, how many things they would experience. Shiraishi stayed by his side.

A warm touch on his neck interrupted his train of thoughts. He glanced down to her again to see her smiling up at him. She brushed her hand through the small strands of hair and eased herself out of his grip. Propping herself up on her ellbows, she reached for his face, stroking it with her other hand, before finding his lips in a long, sensual kiss. She capsured his lips firmly, demanding him to give her the lead. He chuckled against the soft lips of hers. One thing did change, after all. From time to time, she liked to take the lead.

"You seem to be very energetic today."

She hummed in response. "You seem to be quite talkative today. Being in the emergency has always done wonders." He couldn't help to silently agree on that. Both of them sought the kick of adrenaline, this was probably why she loved to work in Lifesaving while he preferred difficult surgeries over procedures he did on a daily basis.

She moved her hand from his cheek down towards his chest and grazed his skin with her fingernails until she reached his abdomen, tracing his palpable muscles. She met his gaze. He watched her silently, calmly observing what she did to him. She smiled innocently, waiting for a reaction from his side. His eyes shifted towards the small baby bump of hers. Normally, Shiraishi would wear wide shirts or blouses, so it was barely visible. Even the scrubs she had worn a few hours ago had hidden her belly almost entirely. The belly was almost nonexistent compared to Saejima's baby bump, even though there only was a time difference of six weeks between both pregnancies.

He reached out and touched the firm skin of Shiraishi's belly under her night shirt, stroking the small bump affectionately. He smiled. They had been told in one of the several controls that their girl was a bit smaller than others. Healthy and growing at her own speed, however slow. A delicate little human, yet strong, this is what he determined when he saw her moving and stretching her arms and legs in the ultrasound, when Shiraishi placed his hand on her belly, telling him that the little one was probably having a hiccup again, and he tried to feel it. She was there, constantly growing.

Shiraishi laid a hand over his, lacing his fingers with hers. She glanced at him again, her cheeks flushed, her smile warm, and he sat up, turning the both of them around so that he was hovering over her. Their lips met again, slow and steady, building a rhythym, moving in synch. He slowly pulled apart. Shiraishi's glanced up at him through half lidded eyes, slightly blushing. She cuddled herself against him when he laid down next to her and turned off the light.

"To be honest.", she began while stroking his arm that lightly resting on her stomach. "I didn't mind that Haitani called me. I was frustrated at first; I thought that he, after all this time, was not able to do it on his own. When I came into the emergency, all I saw was a frantic doctor with an anxious nurse. I was also angry that he called the both of us, that we had to deal with this. But – ", Shiraishi struggled to continue, unsure what to say. Aizawa nodded for a second, then answered:

" 'Because I, as a mother, would want the kind of professionals that are able to tell me the ugly truth and are going out of their ways to save people' ?"

Shiraishi widened her eyes, astoundished. "Eh?"

Aizawa nodded again. "I heard you talking. But I didn't want to interrupt you."

Shiraishi thought about it again. Back then, she had not been able to say anything to agree or disagree to the patient's statement. But as soon as she had turned on her heels, as soon as her gaze had fallen on Saejima, she knew that the woman was quite right.

"In a situation like this.", she began. " If it had been Yokomine or Natori, it might have ended badly. Yokomine, probably having the right idea about treatment, wouldn't have dared to call me and Natori would have reacted the way he does under pressure; impulsive and very self-confident, but lacking the experience he'd need to succeed. Haitani noticed the woman's condition, the foreboding signs, and he called the right person that could be available at the right time. To me, it doesn't matter that he broke the regulations. I know he will call himself responsible for that and sincerely apologise. To me, he handled the situation the best way that was even feasible, and I am grateful for that.
Not just as his superior, but as a mother. I would want to have this doctor with me, someone who knows the signs and his own limits and doesn't hesitate to call for a senior instinctively."

Aizawa listened to her for a moment, remaining silent. "Ah.", he finally said, a small smirk on his face. Shiraishi looked at her husband, and her gaze remained within these faithful eyes of his, eyes that told her he understood. It didn't matter that she had based the decision of performing a difficult surgery herself on her motherly instincts. It didn't matter that she broke the regulation either.
She was a mother, and that meant that she would see the world with different eyes. His understanding look was everything she needed to know why she wanted to tell him. Shiraishi noticed how he struggled to keep his eyes open, and looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was already half past 8.

"Good night.", she wispered and pulled the blanket up higher. He just hummed, holding her close to his chest, when they heard a vibrating sound coming from Shiraishi's phone. Both freezed. They didn't say anything, yet they thought the same thing. Don't tell me…, Shiraishi thought, grabbing the phone and unlocking the screen.

A message popped open on her homescreen.

Shiraishi!

I knew it, you couldn't stay away from Lifesaving for long, couldn't you?

Anyway, I wanted to tell you that the baby is doing fine, they will hand her to the mother
for a short while after lunchtime. I came looking for you, but aparently we missed each other.
I'm free today, so I'm coming over for some tea later in the afternoon. You absolutely must tell me what happened.

Alright, gotta go, see you later, mama!

Hiyama

Shiraishi chuckled. Hiyama would probably call her if she does not respond to the message, and even turn up uninvited in the afternoon if she didn't reply at all. Yet, Shiraishi looked forward to see the obstetrician. She turned towards Aizawa, opening her mouth to say something, and finding him sound asleep next to her. He must have been really tired, she thought and quietly put the phone back on her bedside table.
I can always write her back once I wake up again, she mused, making herself comfortable. And if she would actually turn up uninvited in the afternoon, then Shiraishi would gradually accept it.

It wasn't like she planned to pull another stunt like she did the night before.