Simply Sturgeon's Law
Sturgeon's Law: "Ninety percent of everything is crud."
Sesshomaru Takahashi sat in the waiting room, clenching on a cup of coffee with both of his hands, his knuckles were turning white and he was staring lifelessly at the white wall. His mind was blank. Life without her almost lacked purpose. If she died... If Rin died. He would have to enduring waking up alone every morning. There would be no more heartfelt sticky notes in his bento everyday telling him that she had loved him. It would be his first Christmas in 4 years without her. How he celebrated the winter holidays before he had met her, he couldn't remember. If she died...
A part of him would die too.
4 Years Ago. Takahashi Cardiac.
"The ratings for Takahashi Cardiac in the last quarter has been amazing, good work, InuYasha!" the Investor was pleased with the private practice's performance. The return on investment and equity from Takahashi Cardiac had been higher than industry benchmark.
"I'm currently doing a research on a new non-invasive technique of -" InuYasha began until a woman who had just walked into the room with an apologetic frown cut him off.
"Takahashi-san," a woman meekly walked into the conference room and whispered. She tried to be surreptitious. Too late. The board's attention had all been diverged to the woman. She was Sesshomaru Takahashi's executive assistant. "The IPO with Kato-san fell through."
Sesshomaru had been working on an initial public offering deal with the electrical company for months; it was one of his top priorities. His ashen face was filled with confusion and rage. He needed to go and fix this. Now.
"Excuse me, gentlemen."
Little Miss Rin Hokkaido was bored.
She had been put to rest for over two weeks now, InuYasha's orders. Takahashi Cardiac was great; Doctor InuYasha Takahashi was quite friendly and she absolutely enjoyed Kaede's company but there was nothing she could do. She had been wandering around in the clinic for a quarter of an hour now, looking for something amusing to do.
Suddenly, the beautiful bouquet of pink lilies in the waiting room caught her attention.
'They're so pretty. They smell so nice.'
With her eyes glued to the bouquet of fresh-cut flowers, she advanced down the hall unaware of her surroundings.
Then suddenly.
Wham.
The force pounded the air out of her lungs.
Pain.
'Ouch.'
Piercing physical pain.
For a moment, everything was fuzzy.
Pain.
It hurt.
She rubbed her neck and slowly opened her eyes - there he was.
Sesshomaru winced in pain. The great demon was in utter pain. Oh the pain.
He was furious, 'Who the hell is this?'
He recollected himself and looked ahead at the small mass on the floor by his feet - there she was. She was perfect.
Present day.
"Both." InuYasha's cool voice was steady and calm. "I want both."
"Kawasaki, hold this," InuYasha commanded his assistant surgeon to hold the hemostat in place. "
There wasn't time to call a gynecologist. He hasn't seen this being done this since over a decade ago while he was in residency. Dammit.
He was going to perform a Caesarean section. The baby should be just about 29 weeks. It was premature but it was going to live. He was going to do it. He was going to perform the C-section. He needed to be quick but very precise.
"Straight mayos," InuYasha commanded his team calmly. "I need a pair of Adsons, now. I'm going to perform a laparotomy."
He made an incision across her abdomen.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Sir! She's bleeding from the ventricle! You can only save the baby!"
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
No, he was going to save both. He owed it to Rin. He owed it to Sesshomaru. He wasn't going to lose her. She was family. He could do this.
"Her heart stopped beating, Sir!" the surgical staff was in a frenzy.
"Epinephrine 1 mg! Now!" His voice was commanding. InuYasha wasn't going to give up yet.
3 Years ago.
"Let go of me, Sesshomaru!" Rin twitched in pain; he was tugging on her wrist too tightly. "Let me go!"
Sesshomaru had finally convinced Rin to see him.
"No! You can't go until you've explain yourself, Rin!" Sesshomaru was enraged; Rin had not answered his calls for days. He missed her. So much. He was also so worried about her.
"Does it matter, Sesshomaru?" Rin looked away, avoiding his eyes because she knew as soon as she caught sight of them, she wouldn't be able to defy him. "It's over."
He loosened his grip on her and stared at her furiously. Her cream colored sundress shone at dusk as the wind carried the fabric in its path.
The wind by the sea was strong; the petite woman shivered.
He had never been so certain about anything in his life, he cracked the question.
"Marry me."
"What?" she whispered softly; she had been fearing these two words for so long.
"Marry me, Rin."
"I... I don't think I ..." Rin hesitated. She wanted to say yes but she couldn't. "I can't give you a successor."
"All I need is you in my life. I don't need an heir. I need you and only you."
The great demon lord kneeled down on the wooden deck of the porch. The crashing waves of the sea washed the shore, filling in the silence between them.
Drops of warm tears poured down her cheeks, "Yes."
Present day.
The medical staff injected the needle directly into her heart and hoped for a miracle. The epinephrine was supposed to give the heart muscle a shock and to restart it again.
"Sir, there's a faint heart beat!"
Good.
"Allis Adairs." He was handed the instrument upon request. He used it to clamp the uterus from bleeding.
There. He saw it, the miniscule baby.
"Kocher."
He used the instrument to clamp the umbilical cord.
"Long Kelley."
He removed the baby from the womb and hand handed it to his medical staff.
"We need a bulb syringe to suction the fluid from his mouth and nose!"
As soon as the fluid was drained, the baby began to wail.
"Sir! It's a baby boy!"
A boy for the Takahashi family. He smiled.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Dammit, Rin was having a hemorrhage from the Caesarean section. The uterus was hemorrhaging.
"Let's get her another bag of 'A' negative blood!" Shoot... shoot... Damn. Damn. Damn. She was losing more blood than she was receiving. He needed to make a decision to stop the hemorrhaging now.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Then it struck him. As much as he hated it, it was the only way.
"I need to remove her uterus. Someone get me a pair of Metzenbaum scissors!"
He knew by removing her uterus, Rin would never be able to have children again and that she was going to be sterile. He didn't know how she'd feel about that. But seeing the complication from her first pregnancy, he highly doubted the possibility of another child for his brother and sister-in-law and most importantly, he needed to save her life.
With quick and adroit incisions, he removed the cause of the hemorrhage and stopped her from bleeding.
He didn't have time to lament for her loss. The sleeves of his scrub cover were stained black with blood.
"I'm going to close her abdomen."
InuYasha was very meticulous in his stitch work. He worked swiftly across giving her a perfect stitching; it was going to be scar free once it healed. At least Rin won't have an ugly scar across her abdomen to constantly remind her of the removal of her uterus.
He moved back to her heart, his area of specialty.
"I need the artificial aortic valve."
He used the forceps and fastidiously inserted the valve into her heart. Perfect.
"Aortic valve successfully inserted. Remove the tubes and send her a shock. Can I get the pacers?"
He observed her heart's pace and made sure it was paced at the right speed and sewed her sternum in small wires. He closed the incision with surgical tapes.
"Can we drain the blood and fluids from the heart? I also need tubes to drain the fluid from her nose and stomach."
He drained the excessive fluids collected in her during the surgery. Upon draining, he applied the bandages and dressing over the newly operated areas.
"Give her an injection of fondaparinux to unclog the blood for her thrombosis and take her to the post surgery recovery room."
Beep... Beep... Beep...
He knew everything was under his control all this time and it wasn't an incredible miracle or anything; he knew what he was doing... but it was just all so surreal. When the surgery commenced, he felt fearful. But during the surgery, he didn't have time to worry - he just made quick and accurate decisions. Now the surgery was successfully completed. Thank the deities' blessings.
"Congratulations, Dr. Takahashi, the surgery was a grand success! Only you could have done it!" His surgical team was bewildered. Even they couldn't believe it; Doctor Takahashi InuYasha was good, but they realized they had underestimated him before. This man was freaking unbelievable - he was second to none.
InuYasha was exhausted. He didn't know how long the surgery took, it was almost like all the time in the world was condensed. As he disposed of his mask, the surgical gloves and the cover of his scrub, he slipped into his white coat.
He stepped out of the surgery room and was greeted by his brother's tight embrace.
"InuYasha..." Sesshomaru's voice was raspy. "Thank you... thank you..."
InuYasha didn't know how to act. Should he enjoy the moment or pinch himself? Was that his half-brother? Sesshomaru did not... Did not give hugs. Ever. Of 33 years of his life, he had never, ever, ever received a hug from his older brother, ever. InuYasha patted Sesshomaru on the back and returned the gesture; he should let it sink in because this was probably the only hug he would ever get from Sesshomaru in his lifetime.
"Just as I promised, she's going to be okay, Sesshomaru."
InuYasha led Sesshomaru to the post surgery recovery room where Rin was laying in bed with intravenous, wires and a monitor attached to her. An oxygen mask covered over her nose and mouth. She was still asleep.
"How long will it be until she wakes up?" Sesshomaru whispered to InuYasha.
"Not for at least another ten hours or so, her body's been through a lot, she needs a lot of time to recover." InuYasha replied softly back to his brother. "Do you want to see your son?"
Sesshomaru paused for a moment. Wait, did InuYasha just say "son?"
Sesshomaru couldn't believe his ears. His... son? Had his brother manage to save his wife and his... son? He had a son now? He hadn't expected this.
Why doesn't anyone tell him a damn thing around here?
A son?
His wife had given him a child: a son to carry the Takahashi family name.
He never fancied children and never had he imagined that he, Sesshomaru Takahashi would have a son.
"Can... I see him?"
His son was tiny. He was born 8 weeks premature. With his hands and nose firmly pressed against the glass, Sesshomaru was staring his tiny son who was on the other side of the glass in the incubator across the room. He was a split image of him - golden eyes and silvery hair, a Takahashi.
"The pediatrician and gynecologist are on their way," InuYasha began. He was about to continue until he realized Sesshomaru was too absorbed by the sight of his son. He was probably tuning him out and absorbed by the sight of his son.
"He's only three pounds and four ounces but everything seems to be fine; for starters, he's got a strong heart. The pediatrician will give him another exam."
InuYasha left Sesshomaru to soak in the newly discovered joy of fatherhood.
The child was a half demon, very much like InuYasha. Sesshomaru had despised half demons but that little thing there was the essence of his and Rin's love. He would love him unconditionally and protect him with his life whether he was half demon or full.
The demon lord's eyes were glued to the little bundle in the incubator. Who knew a 6'3" grown man could be brought to such helplessness at the sight of a newborn?
It was his newborn that she had given him.
He cooed and grinned. He was a dad. He was going to be the best dad.
