Guest: Thank you for the compliment! *blush* You read all of my stories, including the super long Dragon's Tear? I hope you continue enjoying them! ^^

FanficLuverHM13: I know right! There's just something in British accent that makes it sounds soo... awesome! :P

It was hard to keep your mouth shut when things as spectacular as getting stabbed by an axe were rolling. Especially when the one handling the procedure was a 'mere' internist.

When Reine arrived at the hospital the next day, the staffs were staring at her before whispering to a nearby colleague. Reine initially though it was because of her pink hair, although it was supposed to be long overdue since she had worked in this hospital for three months now. Reine simply shrugged it off and walked to her locker.

She had just finished putting her hair into her signature bun (since it was placed at the top of her head rather than the back of it like people usually would do) when Chelsea suddenly burst in. "Chief wants to see you, Reine—and I tell you, he smells trouble."

"About last night?" Reine asked calmly.

"What else?"

Reine sighed. "Okay, here we go."

Reine was on her way to the Chief's office when she spotted Hiro Kagayama, the surgery intern. "Dr Kagayama, anything I can help you with?"

Hiro bowed deeply before her, "I'm so sorry, Dr Kreiss! I only told my friend about how awesome you were in the ER last night and it went viral! I'm so so sorry!"

Reine smiled and patted his shoulder. "Never mind that. Get back to your work."

Chief of Internal Medicine was a kind man. But he was the kind who would follow the rules to the dot, and he expected all of his employees to do the same. Of course, what Reine had done last night would constitute as a violation to the rules to him.

Reine took a deep breath before opening the door, "Morning, Chief. I understand that you're looking for me."

"Take a seat, Dr Kreiss."

Reine sat before the Chief and he began to talk, "I heard that last night you pulled off… an unacceptable procedure for a clinical physician." The emphasis on the word 'clinical' almost nauseated her. "I would like to confirm that you know you are an attending internist not a surgeon."

"Well, yes, thank you. My scrubs remind me of that." Reine replied, "With all due respect, Chief, I had paged for Dr Forrester at the time of arrival of the patient, but of course until he arrived something had to be done!"

"Leave that to the surgery intern!"

"Are you seriously asking me to leave that man dying at the hand of an unsure intern when I know I can save him?!"

"You are an internist! That's already out of your responsibility!"

Reine stood up as she banged on the table, "The responsibility of any doctor is to save others!"

"Dr Renaissance Kreiss!"

The Chief's fury was halted by the sound of someone knocking the door. The Chief turned abruptly, "Not no—"

He was stopped short when he recognized his visitor. Reine turned around and was shocked as well. It was the Head of Trauma of Oakbrook General himself, the Hands of Asclepius, Neil Forrester.

The Chief wasn't a great fan of the surgeon, so he snorted sarcastically. "What honor do I owe the hand of god to earn this early visit?"

Neil stepped in and stood next to Reine. While standing, she was only as tall as his shoulder, so Reine tilted her head upward to see his face. "What are you doing here?"

"The patient in concern was saved by Dr Kreiss' timely intervention and I would like to ask Dr Kreiss to handle his post-op procedure as per the hospital protocols." He said, "And I'm counting her intervention as a pre-op procedure."

"What the—"

"I am sure you are aware what that means: she is not breaching any of the hospital rules."

The Chief slumped to his seat and sighed heavily. "Leave my office. Both of you." He said, "NOW!"

Neil pulled Reine's arm and dragged her out from the Chief's office. Once they were out, however, Reine yanked his hand off and glared at him, "What were you doing back there?!"

"Stating facts." Neil replied, "You saved the patient. He's not that foolish to fire you because you saved a man."

Reine sighed, "Thanks, Forrester. I owe you one." She then noticed something, "Hey, you didn't sound so British when talking to Chief just now. In fact… you don't usually sound so… British."

Neil quickly cleared his throat. "I can… uh… adjust my accent."

"That's too bad," she muttered. "I like it more when you sound British."

"So what?" Neil growled, "I won't speak in my British accent just because you like it."

He spoke the last sentence in a thick British accent, like a tourist who came from London rather than an immigrant from London. Reine turned her head up, her eyes glimmering. "That's it! That's it!"

Neil quickly turned on his heels, "You're wasting my time!"

Reine laughed. "You're so much nicer than you give yourself credit for, Forrester."

Suddenly, she felt her pager was vibrating. She took a look at it and shot a glare at Forrester, who had turned around to look at her. They both nodded at the same time.

ER never sleeps.

Their patient was a boy sitting upright on his bed. No gunshot wound, no axe protruding out his chest—he seemed to be fine.

At least, he seemed to be.

His guardian—at least the adult who accompanied him to the ER—was a brunette in her twenties with oval-shaped spectacles obscuring her otherwise clear steel grey eyes—with an obvious widow's peak at the centre of her forehead. She was carrying a white canvas bag, complementing her white suit.

Reine took a look at the boy: blue eyes and sandy blond hair. No widow's peak.

Elli gave Forrester the chart. He took a quick look at it before passing it to Reine who took a glance at it. Reine looked over to the boy and smiled, "So, Edward, tell me what's troubling you?"

The boy refused to look at her. "Nothing, doctor." He then stared at the lady, "I-I'm fine, Miss Thompson."

Reine took a good look at him before she went over to Elli, "Distract his teacher," she whispered. "This is a kid we're dealing with."

Elli nodded, "Miss Thompson, we need some admin to do," she said with a very receptionist-like tone, "Please follow me."

After the lady was gone with Elli, it was only Edward, Neil and Reine in that small space inside the curtain. Reine sat on the edge of the hospital bed and reached out to touch Edward's lower jaw. "Ed, look at me," she said gently. The boy followed her words and now her green eyes were set against his blue eyes. "Is there anything, anything, that happened in the school? I won't tell your teacher."

Reine felt his pulse was rising, and his pupil dilating. He's nervous.

"P-promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

Edward stared at her intently for a few moments, so intently she could see his irises so still like a rock. He then reached out to the hem of his vest and pulled it over his head, revealing his crumpled white shirt. Reine began to grow suspicious, but she didn't let it show. Instead, she kept smiling at Edward.

He began to unbutton his shirt, and when he reached the fourth button Reine realized what was wrong with him.

There were numerous blue-black markings on his skin: the smallest of them was the size of a pebble, while the biggest was the size of an adult's fist. His abdomen was almost completely turned into sea of bruises—there was minimal space that showed his real skin colour. Even Neil widened his eyes in shock.

"They said… if I told the teacher… I'm a wimp." He said carefully, "And… a wimp should get a harder whip. To be stronger."

Reine hadn't fully recovered from her shock when suddenly Edward cringed in pain and he coughed violently for a few times.

"Edward?" Reine called worriedly.

He coughed again, but this time fresh blood burst out from his mouth like a geyser. Neil yanked the curtain open.

"Page Dr Kreiss!"

Another bloody episode on the ER

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

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