"Pacific Coast is now opening it's doors again after one month since the shooting took place. Just a month ago, Mike Turner, a man whose wife died in this hospital two months ago during a complicated surgery, he was forced to leave after attacking the man in charge of her surgery, Dr. Percy Jackson, and banned from ever coming back, returned with a thirst for vengeance-"
"Mike Turner, a man who was fifty-four years of age came in one peaceful morning to Pacific Coast and went on a mass shooting spree, killing and injuring countless of innocent people. The hospital closed down their doors due to some of the doctors and nurses being killed and injured, and due to the overall trauma the staff had experienced-"
"His targets seemed to be only staff that worked at the hospital, due to many of the deaths belonging to doctors and nurses, but that didn't stop him from committing cold-blooded murder on civilians. This man killed innocent people and has left a scar on the nation, which makes people question, what is happening to the world? How could someone think to shoot up a hospital? What-"
...
Nico saw all of the news reporters and cameras standing outside of the hospital as he walked into work. One month had passed and now everyone was returning back to the place where their colleagues had died.
The only ones who didn't seem to be returning yet until another two weeks were Percy, Marina, and Marshall, while chief Brunner took things easy.
He was going to hold a press conference that afternoon, and try to bring up the overall moral of everyone coming back. Things would not be easy considering so many had been traumatized. So many of the older nurses retired within the month break Pacific Coast took. Even some of the doctors resigned and retired while others got jobs elsewhere.
Marina had been close to death because of blood loss because of the fact that Apollo had technically operated on her without any anesthesia until the end. For three weeks she was weak and very pale, but recently she had started to get better.
Marshall wasn't coming back until his shoulder healed. But after a month, it was starting to get better and Marshall could move his shoulder and arm.
Percy had been transferred to another hospital that was closeby while Pacific Coast closed down. He had been in the ICU for four weeks, until he regained full consciousness. Nico practically lived in the ICU, watching over Percy. His skin had taken a pale look, his cheeks had sunk in a bit, and he would get fevers. After a while, he started to drift in and out of sleep, mumbling things and blacking out. It wasn't until the third week in ICU that he opened his eyes and was fully awake. That week, he was moved out of the ICU and in to a regular room. Because he was shot and not really conscious, he didn't attend the funeral for Annabeth and Reyna. Percy learned about Annabeth's death just three days ago.
But Nico and the rest that could go to their funerals went, and it had been beautifully sad. Nico might not have liked Annabeth, but she didn't deserve to die. Neither had Reyna. The people that knew them best gave eulogies, and told fond memories of them.
The way Percy had reacted to Annabeth's death was understandable. Percy at first was in shock, then denial, and finally he cried. Annabeth had been such a big part of his life since high school. He had loved her for a very long time and even though Percy stopped loving her as a lover, that didn't mean he didn't care for her. That didn't mean he stopped loving her as a friend.
Nico braced himself as he entered the building that held so many bad memories now. He could understand why so many nurses and doctors left the hospital. Once he came in, the first thing Nico saw was Annabeth's face. Well, her picture actually, and then Reyna's picture. And then every picture of every nurse or doctor or patient or civilian that had died because of Mike. They were everywhere as far as Nico could tell.
Who knew how long this was going to be up for, but Nico hoped not for too long.
...
"Morning, Nico," Luke greeted in a solemn voice. Still obviously not ready to come back to work.
"Morning, how's Marina been doing?" Nico asked him.
"She's fine, she should be here in a week if she can convince the chief, what about Percy? Last time I saw him had been a week ago," Luke asked Nico.
"He's fine too, he's out of ICU, and he's awake now... I told him... about Annabeth's death and he... he took it hard..." Nico told Luke.
"I can only imagine..." Luke let out a heavy breath, "well, we've got a patient. His name is Theodore Rosen, and he's here for a lung transplant. UNOs called and said that they have a set of lungs for him at a hospital in Pennsylvania, so you and me are gonna fly out and retrieve it."
"Sounds like fun," Nico smirked.
"Oh yeah..."
...
That night Nico drove back to the hospital Percy was in, having passed by the apartment to shower and bring extra set of clothes. He made his way to his room to find Percy asleep. Nico quietly started to change into his pajamas and tried to get into bed without waking Percy up.
"Hey," Percy said as he felt one side of the bed dip.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you? Go back to sleep," Nico said.
"No, it's okay. I wasn't sleeping I just had my eye closed. How was you day?" Percy asked him as he felt Nico get as close as he could without injuring Percy.
"It was okay, not too busy. I did a lung transplant with Luke, then put in a heart pager in a person's chest, I mostly did scut work... it was a bit dead. Almost like the universe didn't want to mess with Pacific Coast cause it did a number on us," Nico laughed softly, Percy soon joining him. Both of their soft laughter started to get stronger, but quickly died down.
"How was... Annabeth's funeral?" Percy asked after a while of silence.
"It was beautiful, but sad and unfair. And she didn't need to die. And she shouldn't have died all because a man wanted revenge. And she loved you Percy, and it's unfair she had to die," Nico looked up at Percy then, he could already see tears forming at the corners of his eyes, "I'm sorry."
"Me too. Leo came to visit me after you left today. He said that he was there when Annabeth died and she told him to tell me... that she loved me. That I had always been the one and to never give up on you Nico, and that she hoped we last forever... I hope so too," Percy said as he put his arm around Nico and brought him closer.
"I hope we last forever too."
"We didn't get married..." Percy said.
"You got shot..." Nico told him.
Percy rolled his eyes, "we should get married when I'm out of here."
"I think we should... postpone the marriage..." Nico slowly told Percy what he had been thinking for the past month.
Percy furrowed his eyebrows together and looked down at Nico.
"Why?"
"Because," Nico started, "you got shot, Annabeth; your first love died, and you and me have been dating for all of a year... we need more time, we need to heal and you need to grieve and we need to get through this together and we were fine just the way we were before. So we should be fine now."
"But, I want to get married to you, Nico I swore I would."
"And you will, just later on. Trust me on this Percy, please?"
"Okay... if that's what you want, we'll wait..."
"Thank you," Nico said as he pecked Percy on the lips.
They talked some more about how their day had gone. And before long, both of them drifted off to sleep.
One month later
"I am seriously going to miss you sis," Jason said as he hugged his sister one last time before she and Rachel boarded their plane.
"Aww, me too, but I promise I will call and text and Skype as much as I can. And you better do the same for me because if not I'll kill you," Thalia joked around, tears forming in the corners if her eyes yet not falling.
Two months ago, Rachel decided that she would do her fellowship at another hospital and got an offer from a hospital in Washington D.C., and Rachel took the offer. Thalia later applied for a job and got an offer to be head of Ortho in the same hospital Rachel would be working in.
They had resigned and had said goodbye to everyone, a going away party had been thrown in their honor at Nico's house. Percy, and Marina had gotten a lot better over the course of the two months and Marshall's shoulder healed nicely. Luke and Percy had been especially sad to see Thalia leave, but knew that this was a great opportunity.
And so, Jason was off, saying goodbye to his sister that Wednesday morning, knowing he would miss her so much.
Thalia and Rachel waved one last time before going through security check and leaving to find their terminal. Jason turned around and went back to the car where Piper was waiting.
Seventeen months later
"Morning Dr. Solace, what are we going to be doing today?" Leo asked Will as they made their way down a hallway.
"We are going to see Juniper Underwood, she's twenty nine years old and she's a cancer patient. We're going to be doing surgery on her to remove a few of the tumors she has and after that, set her up with a chemotherapy schedule," Will said as they neared the room.
They went in and found Juniper laying down, watching television.
"Morning Juniper, how are you feeling?" Will asked her.
"Morning Dr. Solace, I'm feeling fine although yesterday I felt better..."
"Well, after we get done with your surgery, I think you'll be feeling even better than yesterday. This is Dr. Valdez, and he is going to be assisting in the surgery as well," will introduced Leo.
"Hi Juniper," Leo said.
"Nice to meet you Dr. Valdez," Juniper responded.
Juniper Underwood was a woman with long, dirty blonde hair which was wavy, light brown eyes and skin that looked like she spent some time in the sun. She also had this vibe to her that made her seem a bit like a hippie, and the way that she talked was so relaxed.
"So," Will broke into his thoughts, "Dr. Valdez will prep you for surgery and we will see you after it okay?"
"Sure," Juniper smiled at both doctors before Will turned to leave.
...
An hour later, Will and Leo were scrubbing for Surgery, with Juniper already put under anesthesia and the nurses making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Leo and Will went in and put on their garments, then they each stood on one side of Juniper. Leo looked up and saw Apollo sitting up on the gallery, once they made eye contact, Apollo smiled softly at Leo.
He looked down and focused on what Will was doing. Will had grabbed a scalpel and started to make an incision on Juniper's stomach. After that Will asked for a ten-blade and started to open her up. Leo looked on, but soon he started to feel dizzy. He seemed to be seeing two of everything... and there was a smell in the air... it smelt like...
Leo couldn't tell what it smelled like, he only knew that it was getting foggy in his brain. His arms and legs started to feel numb and he felt his brain shut down. But Leo wasn't the only one being affected, before long a nurse who was grabbing lap pads and about to hand them to Will, soon fell to the floor. Will looked on and started to say something, but it sounded muffled. What was going on? Soon another nurse fell down, and then another. Before long the anesthetic fell out of his chair and onto the floor as well.
"L-Leo...?" Will asked in a weak voice as he wobbled on his feet.
Leo felt his vision get dark and before he knew it Leo fell to the floor, with Will following not too long after. Apollo looked on in horror as he saw everyone fall like dominoes. He had pressed the button to talk on the intercom, but no one had responded before they fell down. Apollo rushed out of there and ran straight to the Chief's office.
"Chief!" Apollo called as he entered the room.
"What's wrong Dr. Solace?" Chief Brunner regarded him, looking at Apollo as if he had gone crazy.
"In OR three, everyone has fainted, everyone. And I don't know why," Apollo told the chief quickly what had happened.
Chief Brunner and Apollo quickly ran to OR three and up to the gallery to see Leo, Will and everyone else on the floor, lying motionless.
"We need to get to the bottom of this quickly, show me her blood tests and scans, we're going to need to draw some blood from her right now!" Chief Brunner ordered Apollo, "get Jackson, Castellan, La Rue, McLean, and Rodriguez and fill them in quickly. We need to get them out of there. Who knows what could happen."
Apollo ran out of the gallery and paged 911 to everyone. Then he went to the labs and got Juniper's file and started to read through them. Apollo dashed to the emergency room where he knew everyone would gather for the 911 page and waited. Apollo soon saw Percy, Luke and Clarisse La Rue; a doctor who took over as Head of Ortho after Thalia left and was from the military come running. Soon he saw Piper and Chris Rodriguez; another doctor who was from the military as well and took over as Head of Trauma come running as well.
"What's the problem?" Percy said as he reached Apollo.
"Listen up," Apollo started, "Will and Leo were doing a surgery on Juniper Underwood when five minutes after opening her up, everyone slowly started to faint. I was up on the gallery when it happened and I told the chief. He said he needed you guys to find out what was going."
"Wait, they fainted?" Clarisse asked, "what are we waiting for, let's go!"
All six doctors made their way to the gallery of OR three and saw everyone still laying on the floor.
"Give me Juniper's file," Luke told Apollo who handed the file to him.
Percy went over and stood next to Luke to read over his shoulder. The file and scans looked normal, and the doctors were baffled because they couldn't see what was wrong with Juniper.
"The chief said we need to draw blood from her, which means someone needs to go in and draw some blood..." Apollo announced.
No one said anything until Clarisse got up, "alright, since no one is volunteering, I guess I'm going in."
"Clarisse, are you sure?" Apollo asked.
"Yeah, I don't see anyone else doing and it's gotta get done, so I'm going in."
Clarisse made her way down with a syringe in hand. She opened the door slowly and immediately smelt something in the room. She closed the door as the doctors watching in the gallery looked confused and took a deep breath before going in. She quickly got the blood drawn and got out of the room. She sent the blood to the labs for Marina and Hazel to look at and made her way over to the gallery.
"What happened? Why'd you go in, close the door and go in again?" Piper asked.
"Cause when I first entered the room, I could immediately smell something wrong I just don't know what it was. I sent the blood to the labs so that my pupils could take a look at them," Clarisse explained.
"Pupils?" Percy asked.
"Yeah doofus, Marina and Hazel," she insulted Percy as he pouted from being called a doofus.
"Why did it smell bad?" Chris asked.
"We'll know once they find something out..."
...
"What do you think it is?" Hazel asked Marina as each of them looked through a microscope at the blood Clarisse had given them.
"Not sure..." Marina answered vaguely, "hey, what was this girl like? I know she has cancer but what was her personality like? Or her lifestyle?"
"I'm not sure, I could ask around but I wouldn't know. I think Nico worked with her once or twice..."
"Page him please?" Marina asked Hazel.
"Okay."
Soon Nico came by the lab both of the girls were in and sat down beside Hazel.
"What's up?" Nico asked.
"How many times did you and Will work with Juniper?" Marina asked as soon as Nico spoke.
"Um, four times," Nico replied.
"And you two never did surgery on her? This was Will's first time doing surgery?" Marina asked.
"Yeah, we had been prepping her and checking on her medical history before even thinking about doing surgery. I was supposed to scrub in with Will today, but Luke asked for me, why are you asking these questions?" Nico asked.
"What was she like? What was her personality and lifestyle like? Did she have any friends that came with her during her visits?" Marina continues ignoring Nico's question.
"Yeah, her husband Grover Underwood who came with her and she was very relaxed and calm almost all the time despite having cancer and chemotherapy. She looked a bit like a hippie, and so did Grover. I figured that they were hippies..." Nico looked at Marina with confusion.
Marina had her eyebrows furrowed, thinking hard about what information she was given. Clarisse had said there was a strange smell in the room, everyone in OR three had fainted five minutes after opening her up, she was a hippie along with her boyfriend, which must mean that her lifestyle and health care plus food would've been all natural.
"Marina?" Hazel asked.
"What's going on?" Nico asked again.
"Okay, well Juniper had the surgery today with Will as you know, but five minutes in everyone started to faint and we don't know why. Percy, Luke, Clarisse, Piper, Apollo, and Chris are all in there trying to figure out how to tackle this," Hazel explained to Nico.
"No way..." Nico looked surprised.
"Is Grover here, by any chance?" Marina spoke.
"Yeah, he's waiting in the lobby. He arrived about an hour ago," Hazel answered.
"Lets go," Marina stood up abruptly with Nico and Hazel following her.
"Why?" Hazel asked as they made their way towards the lobby.
"You'll see soon enough," Marina said vaguely.
They reached the lobby and Marina asked Nico to point out who Grover was. Sure enough, there was a man dressed in baggy clothes with a Rasta hat on his head. He had brown hair that was shaggy and a bit unkempt, he also had a goatee and a bit freckles dusted across his face. Marina made her way to him.
"Mr. Underwood?" Marina asked and the man turned to look at her.
"Yes?"
"I'm here about your wife, Juniper?" Marina told him.
"Oh," Grover said, "how is she? How did her surgery go? Can I go see her?"
"About that, the surgery isn't over yet... in fact it barely started."
"What do you mean?" Grover asked Marina.
"Five minutes in, everyone in the Rom fainted and we don't know why," Marina answered.
"What?!" Grover exclaimed.
"Mr. Underwood, I need to ask you, did your wife ever mix anything with the medication she was given for her cancer?" Marina asked ignoring his outburst, she was close to finding out what was wrong with the whole thing.
"Um... uh- she uh, no," Grover stumbled in shock.
"Mr. Underwood I need you to focus, did she have a certain routine or something?" Marina pressed.
"Uh, every morning she would drink this mix of different herbal leaves that would supposedly help her cancer. She never wanted to take the medication she was given, she wanted her recovery to be natural..."
"So she would mix herself a drink every morning and take her medication? She would mix those natural ingredients along with the chemicals in her pills?" Marina asked once more to confirm.
"Yes, she would- is my wife going to be okay? Please tell me she's going to be okay?" Grover pleaded.
"We will do everything we can," Marina assured him.
She quickly walked away from Grover and as soon as she was out of his sight of line, she ran to the stairs.
"Marina!" Nico called after her.
"What are you doing?" Hazel ran after her along with Nico.
"Don't you guys see?" Marina shouted as she ran up the stairs.
"What?" Nico and Hazel both asked at the same time.
"Her blood is toxic!"
"How do you know that?" Hazel asked.
"And why are you so happy about it?" Nico inquired.
"Because I figured it out! You'll see soon enough, right now I gotta tell the doctors!" Marina shouted as she reached the third floor.
She ran into the gallery of OR three and found all six doctors hunched together trying to figure out what she already solved. Nico and Hazel soon came in after her and stopped short. Everyone looked up to find all three residents standing there.
"Did you figure it out?" Clarisse asked them.
Percy looked at Nico and gave him a wink making Nico blush, before turning back to Hazel and Marina.
"Um, I think so..." Hazel spoke up.
"What do you mean you think so?" Clarisse demanded.
"No, we did," Marina said breathlessly.
"More like Marina did..." Nico said.
"Well?" Clarisse asked impatiently.
"Juniper Underwood lives the lifestyle of a hippie, which means her diet would consist of natural things right?" Marina asked the doctors, who were listening intently to her, "so when she's made to take unnatural medication for her cancer, she's still continuing on with that lifestyle of hers-"
"Get on with it Lane," Clarisse growled.
"Let her talk," Luke defended her.
"Lets say she wants to cure her cancer the natural way, but she still needs to take the medication, what does she do? She would take her recommended medication and then mix that with a herbal drink made up of who knows what every morning. According to her husband, she would mix this drink every morning compiled of different herbal leaves and things and drink it along with taking her medication. She could very well have created a dangerous toxin in her body that once her blood was out in the open, it would make people faint. Her blood is toxic and that's why everyone in the room fainted!" Marina said excitedly, "you breathe in that toxin and you faint. So here's the solution, all of you need to hold your breaths and close her up as much as you can."
"No way... that was genius thinking Lane!" Clarisse praised.
"That's my girl," Luke said with a proud smile on his face that made Marina blush.
Nico and Hazel looked at her in surprise, "so that's why you asked me all those questions..." Nico said, "look at you, Sherlock."
"Marina," Hazel spoke, "that was smart!"
"Okay," Apollo interrupted, "let's see how long you guys can hold your breaths in. Piper?"
"Just a minute..."
"Clarisse?" Apollo asked her.
"Two minutes, three tops."
"Chris?" Apollo asked said man.
"Three minutes."
"Luke?" Apollo turned to him.
"Three minutes, four at best if I push myself..."
"Percy?"
"Seven minutes, eight minutes tops." Percy answered Apollo.
Everyone except Nico and Luke looked at him strangely.
"How is that even possible?" Piper asked him.
"I was on a swim team in high school and college and I would always try to hold my breath underwater for as long as I could. I still do that today," Percy said.
"Okay, I can hold my breath for two minutes," Apollo said, "let's all get in there and close her up. We're gonna need someone to stay near the doors and open them up for us so that we don't touch it when we have to go back in... Hazel, do you wanna do it?" Apollo asked her.
"Um, sure?" Hazel said.
"Okay, let's go people." Apollo called as they all made their way down, Marina and Nico being the only ones to stay in the gallery. That is until Percy grabbed Nico by the sleeve and pulled him outside.
"Jackson, let go of Di Angelo, you are so not going to make out with him at a time like this!" Clarisse shouted.
"I'll be just a moment jeez!" Percy said as they rounded the corner.
Percy turned back to Nico and pinned him to the wall.
"You know," Nico smirked at Percy, "you really shouldn't keep them waiting..."
"They can wait," Percy kissed Nico on the neck, making his way up to Nico's mouth where he gave him a passionate kiss that left Nico breathless.
"Dr. Jackson, I think after you're done here, I might to consult you on a... private matter," Nico spoke in a husky voice.
"Oh god, baby you're driving me crazy," Percy sucked on Nico's neck, "okay... I gotta go, but I will need to see you in my office after this Dr. Di Angelo." Percy kissed Nico chastely and gave him a sexy yet playful smirk as he turned around the corner.
Nico made his way back into the gallery where he found Marina trying to hold in her laughter.
"Don't say a fucking word Lane," Nico threatened.
"Kay," Marina said holding in her giggles.
...
All six doctors scrubbed in and gowned up, in positon of who would go in first to last; the order being Piper, Clarisse, Apollo, Chris, Luke, and lastly Percy since he could his breath the longest. Hazel was at the door, waiting for them to be ready, she would need to hold her breath in every time the doors opened.
"Okay, ready, set, go!" Hazel gave the signal and she sucked in her breath before opening the door for Piper to go in.
Piper raced to Juniper and adjusted her anesthesia to last longer, then she started to fix her insides and made sure they were in place and nothing was wrong before she felt herself start to lose breath. Piper raced back in to safety and Clarisse was next to go. She started to put the thread in the needle so that they could close Juniper up. Clarisse then took out the forceps and tongs of her body and set them on the tray. Clarisse adjusted her blood and fluids so that Juniper received more. Soon Clarisse felt out of breath and went back to the safety of the others.
Apollo came went out next, he soon started to take the needle Clarisse had fixed up and carefully started to close Juniper up. Soon, the monitor started to beep and Chris had to go in and help Apollo. Chris adjusted some of the fluids and her anesthesia, monitoring her blood pressure and heart rate. Soon Apollo couldn't hold it in anymore and went back to be replace by Luke who started to suture Juniper. Chris couldn't hold his breath any longer either and was replaced by Percy. Luke and Percy switched sides and Percy started to close her up as Luke monitored Juniper. Percy was taking his time to make sure he closed her up right and didn't make a mistake. Luke looked at the people on the floor and it wasn't until Percy tapped Luke on the shoulder that let him know Percy was done closing Juniper up.
Percy pointed at Will and Leo and together both Luke and Percy came up with the agreement to gather the people up and out of the OR. Luke reached for a nurse and Percy picked up Leo, they both made their way to where the others were and dropped them off. They went back in and picked up Will together and brought him back. Soon, Percy and Luke had taken everyone out of the OR and Percy went back in alone, to unhook Juniper off the machines. He had his phone with him and Percy decided to have some fun. So Percy started to play some songs on his phone, the first one to come on was Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. Which had Clarisse shout 'are you fucking kidding me?!' and Nico, Marina and the rest of the doctors laughing so hard tears started to come out of their eyes.
Percy put away any lap pads and tools that were scattered out on the tray. He shut off the machines and anesthesia. He took Juniper off bypass, and took out the tube where the anesthesia would make its way into her body. Percy then took off the covered parts of Juniper and put a blanket over her and started to dispose of any trash. He started to dance around the OR, dunking trash in the bin to dispose of it and soon the OR looked almost as good as new. Percy danced his way to Juniper and took her out carefully, rolling the bed out of OR three and into the hallway. Shake It Off by Taylor Swift was playing when he left the OR and the others gathered around him.
"Percy, I think I'll give you a ten, because seeing you dance was a treat," Apollo joked.
"I'm giving you a negative ten because you dancing was horrible," Clarisse said.
"You're just hating on my awesome dance skills," Percy quipped.
"Rad dance moves Percy," Piper began, "but they lacked passion so I give you a six point five."
"Okay guys, let's get these people in bed and secure," Chris said laughing at the banter.
...
Soon, everyone that had fainted in the OR were in hospital beds and regained consciousness an hour later. There, chief Brunner explained to them what had happened, and Mr. Underwood was informed of what had happened.
Percy made his way back to his office where he was greeted by the sight of Nico laying side ways on top of Percy's desk. He wasn't wearing anything but his doctor's coat over his naked form.
"Dr. Jackson, I believe that you are late for our consult," Nico practically purred.
Percy's mouth watered as he made his way over to Nico, where he pushed Nico gently on his back and started to kiss him deeply. Percy blindly removed his coat and soon shimmied out of his pants. He broke the lip lock with Nico to take off his shirt but once it was discarded of, Percy attached his lips back to Nico's. Nico's coat was taken off and Percy reached for the lube he kept in his desk drawer. Percy poured a generous amount of lube on his fingers and inserted his index finger slowly in and out of Nico's entrance. Percy trailed open-mouthed kisses on Nico's neck before inserting a second finger in Nico's entrance and taking one of Nico's nipples in his mouth. Percy scissored Nico as he sucked harshly on the erect nub and soon went to the other one. The green-eyes male flicked his tongue once as he inserted a third finger in Nico.
"Ooooh," Nico moaned softly.
"Come on baby, let me hear you, I know you can get louder than this," Percy said as he hit Nico's prostate making Nico moan out loud.
Soon Percy coated his length with lube and lined up his tip at Nico's entrance. Slowly Percy slid in and let out a moan.
"Oh, god, Nico baby, you are so tight," Percy moaned.
"Ahhhh, Percy!" Nico mewled as he felt himself being filled up.
Percy slid out and then roughly went back in making Nico moan loudly.
...
Leo woke up an hour later and was told of what had happened and he resumed the rest of the day normally. That is until Henry came in looking pale and sick. Leo rushed over to his side and got him check in.
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you sick again?" Leo asked as he paged Will.
"You know how it is, one day I'm fine and the next I'm close to dying," Henry joked.
"Don't joke about dying," Leo scolded.
"Okay, okay."
Soon Will came in, and asked what the problem was. Henry told them that he was feeling dizzy and had a fever coming and going. He was short on breath and his heart was hurting. Will sent Henry to get cat scans and blood work done. Once the x-rays came back, Will, Leo, and chief Brunner all looked at the scans together. What they saw, was not good at all. Henry's heart had a tumor attached to the main valve that pumped out blood.
"He's going to need surgery, but Luke's not here, he went with Marshall Lane to pick up a heart for his transplant patient," Will spoke.
"Well then, we get the next best thing," chief Brunner said, "we get Nico to do the surgery."
"I don't know sir," Will started, "Nico is good friends with Leo, I don't think he would be able to do the surgery without psyching himself out."
"Then we just won't... tell him," Leo said.
"You don't want to tell him who he's operating on?" Will said.
"I think that would be a good idea, that way Nico is completely focused on the task at hand," chief Brunner agreed to Leo's idea.
Will didn't say anything and instead let Leo decide what to do. The three off them came up with the plan to not tell Nico, Percy, or Luke when he returned. That would cause them to tell Nico and then the whole thing could be ruined. During the surgery, Henry's face would be covered by a cloth so that no one would be able to See his face. Chief Brunner would be there to make sure Nico did well as well as help him out in case Nico would need help. They decided to call Luke and tell him that Nico was doing a surgery with a patient so he wouldn't ask for Nico when he got back. Leo went back to Henry's room and told him what would happen.
"Leo," Henry called to Leo.
"Yeah?"
"Give me a kiss please?" Henry asked such a simple request, that made Leo smile.
"Sure," Leo leaned in and kissed Henry on the mouth deeply.
As they pulled back, Will came in to tell them that it was time for the surgery. Henry and Leo kissed once more and then said good bye as Henry was taken away up to surgery.
...
Nico had been asked to do a surgery on someone who would remain anonymous thought out the whole surgery. Nico wouldn't be able to look at his face or know his name or anything. Which was fine by Nico because he would actually get to lead and Chief Brunner would be there to assist. Nico began the surgery, and opened up the man carefully. He saw the tumor surround the valve that pumped blood out to the rest of the body, the tumor was attached intricately, making it hard for Nico to see how he could cut through. Chief Brunner suctioned away at the heart while Nico gently prodded the tumor with forceps.
It had been almost an hour later when things started to go wrong.
"Chief, his cavity is filling up with blood, let's find the bleeder and fix it," Nico said as he saw blood rising.
Lap pads were thrown in to soak up the blood.
"His heart's in distress doctor," a nurse said.
"Okay, let's see where the bleeding is coming from..." Nico said he carefully inspected the heart, "okay I found it, chief can you please hand me a patch?"
The chief handed Nico what he asked and watched as Nico patched Henry's heart expertly. It seemed as though Luke taught him well. Nico went back to removing the tumor, although it didn't seem to want to budge. Slowly, Nico started to remove part of it and made some progress.
"His pulse is decreasing doctor," the anesthetic informed Nico.
"That can't be..." Nico said as he started to massage the heart with his hand.
Soon the line went dead and Nico started to perform CPR as he waited for the nurse to come back with the crash cart. The nurse made her way back and Nico took the two small paddles, gelled them up, rubbed them together and then he put them near Henry's heart.
"Clear!" Nico yelled and everyone took their hands off of Henry's body as Nico recharged Henry's heart.
They tried for another fifteen minutes until Nico called it quits. But the chief couldn't let that happen and so he kept on trying to revive Henry.
"Chief, I'm sorry but I'm calling time of death, fifteen twenty two," Nico said to the chief and he walked out to scrub out.
...
"Wait, Henry got sick again?" Apollo asked as Will came to tell him what was going on.
"Yeah, he's been sick for awhile now, that last surgery didn't seem to help," Will answered.
"That sucks, what was the problem now?" Apollo asked.
Luke had come out of the surgery he had and saw Apollo and Will in the locker eating and talking, made his way over to them listening to their conversation for a bit, he was curious to see what was going on.
"A tumor in his heart..." at that Luke froze, "Luke wasn't here so chief Brunner suggested we ask Nico to do it, which he did, but we couldn't tell him who it was. We also didn't tell Percy cause we knew he would try to stop Nico or Luke cause he'd probably do the same thing too. But I just feel guilty you know?"
"Yeah, I wonder how Leo's doing right now...?" Apollo asked absent-mindly.
"Oh shit," Will said as he looked at his pager, "Apollo, we should go get Leo..."
"Why?"
"Because Henry is dead..."
After hearing that, Luke made a mad dash for Percy's office. He was beyond pissed that he wasn't told and that they couldn't wait for Luke to get back. They just had to get Nico involved and most likely ruin his confidence. Luke made it to Percy's office and saw said man working on the computer.
"Percy," Luke called out.
Percy looked up from the computer and at Luke, "yeah?"
"Nico was operating on an anonymous person which is actually Henry and now he's dead and Will, and the chief knew about it and they didn't tell you or me or Nico and now Henry is dead." Luke rambled on until Percy shot out of his seat and started to run to the OR Nico was in. Just as Percy got there, he saw Nico scrubbing out.
"Oh, hey baby," Nico greeted Percy once the brown-eyed boy saw him.
Soon Leo burst in, his eyes wide and wild, glassy as if he were about to cry. And then Leo looked over at the body still on the table of the OR, and he fell his knees. Henry was dead. He had actually died. Leo let out a scream and started to cry as he helplessly looked at the body that once held Henry's life.
"Oh, God, Henry!" Leo sobbed.
"W-what's going on?" Nico asked as he stared at Leo in shock.
"Nico, that man you operated on, it was Henry. I am so sorry. If I had known, I would've stopped you. Nico, I'm sorry." Percy explained to Nico what had happened, but Nico could only stare at Leo as he broke down, crying.
"Oh my God, what did I do?!" Nico panicked as he started to feel guilty bubbling inside of him.
Henry had died and it was all Nico's fault. Nico couldn't save him and then he just gave up on trying to after his heart stopped. Now it made sense why the chief and Will were so nervous. Now it made sense as to why the chief wouldn't give up. Nico was operating on Henry. And he had died.
"Leo, Leo, I am so sorry. Please forgive me, I didn't know. Oh god Leo, I'm sorry," Nico apologized.
Leo didn't get a chance to answer before he was picked up by Apollo and carried off home.
"Its my fault," Nico cried, "I-I killed him. I gave up on trying to save his life, and now he's dead and it's my fault!"
"No, Nico sweetie, you didn't know, don't blame yourself. You tried your best to save him-"
"I could've tried harder," Nico sobbed into Percy's chest.
"Nico, you tried your very best. Nico, Nico look at me," Percy told Nico but he wouldn't listen, "Nico baby, please look at me."
Nico looked up at Percy's face.
"You did not kill him. You tried your best to save him, but you did not kill him, understand?" Percy said firmly.
"I just feel so guilty."
"I know you do, and I'm sorry you had to be the one to operate on Henry."
...
Leo was inconsolable. He had cried, thrown stuff, gotten angry, and then sobbed. Henry had been his world for an entire year. To think he just died that day...
Henry had helped Leo get over Apollo, he had been sweet, kind, gentle and passionate. Henry had been a slice of heaven for Leo and now, Henry was in heaven, or that's how Leo thought. Leo had fallen in love with Henry only to have him ripped away. It wasn't fair. It didn't seem fair to Leo. Why did Henry have to die? Why was the universe so cruel?
Finally Leo had been given a sedative and put to sleep. He had a long, restless sleep. But being able to not think and just leave reality to go into his dreamscape, was good enough for Leo.
Why did Henry have to die?
Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed reading last chapter and this chapter! I'm so sorry if this chapter sucked... I broke night trying to type up this chapter and my thoughts were jumbled because of lack of sleep. But I promise next chapter will be better. And sorry for any spelling mistakes as well.
I decided to upload two chapters for this story because the last one seemed a bit short. And in this story, it's been one year and nine months since the shooting. So since this story started it's been two years and nine months already!
I just want to say that I never imagined this story would have so many reading, following and favoriting so thank you all so much! I hope you guys enjoy where I take this story!