FireCacodemon: Welcome back to Trauma Center: A Pathogenic War. I think this is the chapter where things start getting interesting.

Derek: Trauma Center Under the Knife and Second Opinion belong to Atlus.

FireCacodemon: I won't say too much so get on with the chapter.

Chapter 12:

Juggling in the OR

It was too early in the morning for Derek to really understand what was going on. Once again, Gemma had pawed at his face and knocked off a few things on the bedside table and onto the floor. As Derek tried to hit his alarm, he ended up touching Gemma and she wrapped her paws around Derek's arm and playfully nibbled on his hand. It wasn't painful and when Derek found out that Gemma was there, he kept still until she had finished doing what she was doing. When she realised that Derek was waiting for her, she let him go and watched him back. Smiling, Derek slowly blinked at Gemma and she responded back with a slow blink of her own. It was time for breakfast for the pair of them. Derek threw the covers off him and slid out the bed, he wore a simple light t-shirt and a pair of pyjama shorts on in the colour of light blue. Gemma hopped off the bedside table and followed Derek downstairs. He wasn't sure what the time was but he didn't feel rushed or anything so his mind said that there wasn't anything important that needed to be done or if there was, it wasn't until he was at work. Walking into the kitchen, Derek scooped out Gemma's breakfast and put it in her food bowl and Gemma hopped up and started to tuck into the meal prepared for her. Derek smiled and gently petted her while she ate. Gemma already made his life so much better and now that he was slowly getting better as a doctor with Angie, he felt that he was happier than he was before. It wasn't long before there was a knock on the door. Derek wasn't sure who was knocking this early in the morning. He didn't have a morning shift, that was tomorrow and the post normally came after he went to work. Leaving Gemma's side, Derek walked over to the door and opened it.

"Angie?" Derek asked as she turned around and smiled at him.

"Morning Derek," Angie said happily. "Mind if I come in for a bit?" She asked him.

"Uh...sure?" Derek moved out the way to let Angie in.

"Nice pyjamas," she chuckled as she walked past. Derek watched her before he shut the door behind her. Angie walked into the living room and gently sat down on the large brown sofa. Derek watched her for a moment before he returned to the kitchen. Gemma had finished her meal and watched as Derek returned. "I know we don't have work until later but I just wanted to make sure that you're awake."

"Thanks?" Derek asked confused. He didn't think that Angie was going to be coming over to check on him.

"Oh come on, you've been late a few times."

"I have gotten better," Derek grumbled as Gemma got bored of him and left. There was something Gemma wanted to know and that was who this Angie person was. She was working with Derek so she had picked up her scent on Derek after work and Gemma wanted to know what she was like. If she could be trusted then Gemma would warm up to her and start to trust her.

"True but you're still late." Angie looked to see Gemma walk into the room; she kept her eyes on Angie while she walked. Derek wasn't far behind.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?" Derek offered.

"No thank you. I have breakfast before I came out."

"Then I'm going to go and get changed, I'll be back real soon." Angie nodded and Derek left to get ready for the day, Angie watched Gemma as she watched Angie back.

"Aren't you and a cute little kitty~?" Angie asked as she smiled at Gemma. Gemma hopped up on the coffee table for second and took a gently sniff in the air. Angie watched before Gemma hopped off the table and looked at her, wanting her to follow. Angie got up from the sofa and followed Gemma, like she knew what Gemma was after. She followed Gemma until she stopped in front of the large, grey lab door. "What...is this...?" Angie asked as Derek came back down.

"Shall we head off to work then?" Derek asked Angie.

"Yeah, we'll be walking."

Trauma Center: Calm before the Storm – Chapter 12: Juggling in the OR

"And that concludes this meeting. Review the information on your own. Let's just begin our surgical conference now, to save time," Greg informed everyone who was currently in the room. Derek and Angie had arrived on time but Angie had been quiet the whole way there since he had seen her in front of his lab door. She probably had questions burning inside her on what it was and why had his cat taken here there. Derek looked over at Angie; she was watching Greg as he was standing in the front of the meeting room. "Can those doctors involved, please stick around?" Greg asked before people start to file out from the room, leaving other members of staff behind who were involved in the upcoming operation. Angie watched as three quarters of the room had left, leaving a handful of staff behind. They were all going to be involved with the upcoming operation. Derek got up from his seat to stretch out his legs, already feeling them going numb.

"Doctor, we'll be starting soon," Angie reminded him.

"I know, but I'm no good if my legs fall asleep."

"It wasn't long, Doctor."

"I know," Derek stretched more.

"Do you know the operation?" Angie asked him.

"I've been going over it in my mind. All I just need to do is to take extra care so that no aneurisms burst." Angie nodded. "Well, let's get the conference started then, huh?" Derek smiled happily at Angie.

'There's another fake smile...he generally looks happy yet at the same time...he doesn't feel happy...' Angie thought to herself. 'What was the cat trying to say?' She continued to watch Derek before Greg came over to the two of them and handed Derek the notes for the operation. He was going to be operating on Mario Kovac who had multiple aneurisms that had formed on the surface of the large intestine. He was going to inject a sedative into the aneurisms before extracting them and then repairing the vessels. Seemed easy enough if it was possible to do one at a time but that wasn't always possible. Derek was going to have to adapt depending on the demand of the operation.

"Today's patient is Mr. Kovac, who was carried in this morning. He's...currently not doing very well...Tests have shown a number of aneurisms near his large intestine. Some of them have ruptured, and there's a risk of anemia so this operation is pretty serious. Derek, you'll be performing a laparotomy and then to treat the aneurisms. The objective of this operation is to treat the aneurisms on the outer membrane of the large intestine, that's all. So Dr. Stiles, what do you need to do?" Greg asked Derek with a serious expression on his face.

"I'll need to magnify the area to get a better look before injecting a sedative into the swollen vessel to reduce its' size. Once the vessel is small enough, excise the vessel and then reconnect the vessel together before suturing the vessel closed. If more than one is present, I'll do my best to prevent them rupturing," Derek told Greg with confidence in his abilities.

"Just remember to concentrate on the patient, don't worry about anything else."

"I will, let's begin the operation!" Derek struck his pose once more. Angie resisted the urge to face palm.

Trauma Center: Calm before the Storm – Chapter 12: Juggling in the OR

The vitals were capped at seventy. Not a number that Derek liked to see but what choice did he have? The staff where all there waiting for Derek to make the first move. Derek made sure that he had everything he would need. The magnification tool was ready for him when he needed it, as well as the antibiotic gel. Once everyone was ready, Angie spoke.

"The antihypertensive is in effect, but the aneurism could still burst. Hurry Dr. Stiles!" Angie said as Derek disinfected the area and made the incision into the patient. "The lump on that vessel is the aneurism," Angie informed Derek sternly. Derek nodded.

"Magnification please?" He asked and Angie handed it over to him. "Sedative please?" Angie handed him the needle and Derek put the scalpel down just on the side so that it was easy to reach. Greg stood away but watched on a nearby monitor so that he could see what was going on in the patient. Taking the syringe, Derek injected the sedative into the aneurism which slowly reduced the size of the lump. Once it was small enough, Derek excised the lump but was quickly greeted with a pool of blood from the open vessel. He didn't quite hear what Angie said but instead he reached for the drain which was nearby and drained away the blood pool. Already having the forceps nearby, Derek picked them up performed an anastomosis, he moved one part of the vessel to the other side. "Angie, can you pass me the sutures?" He asked of her. She nodded and handed over the sutures. Derek swiftly sutured up the vessel, preventing further blood loss and successfully handling the aneurism.

"The aneurism's been treated...We can finally relax," Angie said happily but Derek wasn't so sure. The file said that there were multiple aneurisms located but he had only dealt with one.

"Angie, I'd rather wait to make sure that it was the only one. From what the file said, there were multiple aneurisms near the large intestine."

"Well...then let's cease the magnification and wait. If another one appears then it'll be the same procedure," Angie said and Derek nodded, removing the magnification away from the current area. Once it had been removed, another aneurism swiftly appeared on the large intestine. There work wasn't quite done just yet. "You were right," Angie said as Derek moved the magnification over to the newly formed aneurism. The sedative was already ready for him. The vitals were at sixty-two and when the aneurism was excised, and then another blood pool was going to form. It was probably better to increase the vitals before suturing up the next vessel.

"It seems that ever vessel in the area is in danger of becoming an aneurism..." Derek muttered to himself.

"Dr. Stiles?" Angie asked.

"Don't worry, I've got this," Derek said before he continued the operation. Once the new aneurism had been treated...another two had formed. Using the same syringe, he injected the sedative into both the two new aneurisms that appeared on the large intestine, cutting them both out, draining the blood and then reattaching the vessels, he sutured them both up after. He could feel the pressure starting to rise as he feared that more were going to arrive. The magnification tool was currently covering them both, making it easier for Derek to deal with both of them. If two of them had formed now...what stopped more from forming while he worked on the current two? He didn't want to think of anything else, the patient was counting on him to not screw up. Once the two vessels remained, Derek injected stabiliser into the patient, bringing the patient up to eighty vitals. He could see that Angie wasn't liking this but then who would? He could feel Greg ready to jump in to assist with the operation yet was restraining himself to see how Derek was going to handle this. After suturing one of the two vessels...another two had appeared.

"This doesn't end...Keep up the good work, Doctor." Angie sighed.

"I'll probably leave the vessel alone while I deal with the other two aneurisms, Angie can you keep an eye on the vessel for me? If anything changes, let me know," Derek asked Angie.

"Yes Doctor." Derek worked on the two new aneurisms that had just formed. With the vitals capped at eighty, he didn't need to worry too much about them.

"Can I have more sedative?" Derek asked as he carefully handed the syringe back to Angie to fill back up again. Once it had filled up again, she handed it back to Derek and the operation continued. Thankfully nothing happened with the vessel that only needed to be sutured up. It meant that Derek could focus more on the aneurisms at hand. Derek worked quickly to prevent the aneurisms from getting large enough. Once again, the magnification tool was in the right place to handle the aneurisms. Derek must have had good luck when they formed. Once all the vessels had been sutured up, Derek let out a heavy sigh. He was starting to feel tired and he was sweating slightly. Angie noticed and gently wiped Derek's brow from sweat. "Thanks," he thanked Angie as the last vessel was sutured shut.

"Good work...I think it's settled down, for the time being."

"We should wait a moment, to be safe, before we close him up," Derek told her. She nodded and the two of them waited. It was only a few seconds but five aneurisms appeared at once.

"Th-This isn't good! Hurry up and treat it!" Angie yelled.

"Keep calm Angie," Derek warned her. She nodded and calmed back down. Her panicking wasn't going to help Derek deal with the aneurisms. She needed to keep up with him and his demands. She watched as Derek began to work on them, making sure that they all stayed small and that none ruptured. It wasn't easy when one of them was just outside the magnification zone. He was going to have to work quickly and possible work his way down the five aneurisms.

'Come on Derek...show us your skills...' Greg thought to himself as Derek moved the magnification tool to get all five of the aneurisms in one place. He was really struggling to stand back while Derek went through this. If Derek did pull through though and none of them ruptured then he was going to be very impressed. Derek started once again. Once Derek had managed to get one of the aneurisms small enough to excise, he did just that while juggling with the other four. Angie and Greg watched amazed as Derek juggled the aneurisms, the vitals were plummeting down though, as blood was escaping from the excised aneurisms. Angie handed Derek another syringe as the current one he was using was starting to become less effective.

"Stabiliser please!" Derek ordered as Angie handed him the stabiliser. Derek injected it into the patient. The vitals went up before Derek started to remove the excised aneurisms. As the blood pool formed, Derek drained it and clipped the vessel back together. He didn't dare suture it while the patient was bleeding elsewhere. From what happened before, the vessel was going to be fine while he focused somewhere else. He moved onto the others, extracting, draining and then clipping the vessels back together before moving onto another one. If needed, Derek used the stabiliser to bring the patient's vitals back up again. The less open wounds there were, the slower the vitals dropped. Soon, only five vessels needed to be sutured up before the patient was hopefully cured. He looked at the vitals to see them at fifty-eight. Not a number that he liked seeing but he hoped that the patient wouldn't lose any more vitals now. "Suture...please..." Derek said starting to sound tired.

"Are you okay Dr. Stiles?" Angie asked.

"Yes...juggling isn't easy," Derek admitted. Angie nodded as she handed him the sutures. Derek swiftly stitched up the vessels.

"Let's just hope you never have to juggle like that again, huh?" Angie asked with a smile on her face. "I'm surprised you handled them like you did."

"Let's close him up," Derek said and Angie nodded. Derek sutured up the incision made before he disinfected the sutures and then applied the bandage. Mr. Kovac was going to be okay and hopefully on the road to recovery.

"That's another operation complete, great work Dr. Stiles."

Trauma Center: Calm before the Storm – Chapter 12: Juggling in the OR

"That was an impressive operation you pulled there, Derek," Greg smiled once Mr. Kovac had been wheeled out the OR. Derek was still classed as a rookie doctor so for him to complete that operation without any of the aneurisms bursting was impressive. He was glad that Derek had handled things but Greg would have loved to help get involved with an operation like that when five aneurisms appeared at once. "You're really honing your basic skills as a surgeon."

"Thank you sir," Derek removed the surgical mask from his face and ripped off the scrubs and disposed of them in a yellow waste bin. It was a bio-hazard after all. It wasn't too long before Derek's vision started to fade to black for a second before his vision returned to normal. 'Huh...?' Derek thought to himself. Angie looked at Derek confused, his expression changed suddenly when nothing had happened.

"I know it isn't easy but I'm sure you didn't take this job because..." Greg's voice started to fade for Derek. Now he knew that something was wrong. It also didn't help that his vision had gone black again...and stayed black.

'Everything's...going black again...' Derek thought to himself.

"Derek...? Are you evening listening?" Angie asked but Derek obviously could hear her. Greg looked at Derek concerned as he noticed Derek's eyes had become dull.

"Derek...? What's wrong!?" Greg asked before Derek suddenly collapsed, his eyes closed as he fell. Greg was quick to catch Derek as he fell so that he wouldn't injure himself. Angie felt herself starting to panic, unlike before when she didn't really care but now that they had bonded, she was concerned for his welfare. "Derek!?" Greg asked again as he checked a pulse. Derek's pulse was faint but he was still alive. "He's still got a pulse so he's still alive! Help me carry him to a bed," Greg said as he gently put one of Derek's arms over his shoulder and Angie put Derek's other arm over her shoulder.

"What...do you think is wrong?" Angie asked him.

"I don't know..." Greg admitted. "Nothing came back from the tests when Derek said he felt the pain in his chest. All that came back was the slight increase in white blood cells."

"I'll run the basic tests when he's in a bed," Angie informed Greg who nodded.

"Thank you, I'll deal with Derek's operations if you would like to assist me?"

"Yes, I'll assist you while looking after Derek too."

"Let me know when Derek awakens."

Trauma Center: Calm before the Storm – Chapter 12: Juggling in the OR

The void was dark, he wasn't sure where he was but Derek was there alone. After taking a few steps, he felt something watching him. Turning around, he couldn't see anything. That was when the pain erupted in his chest once more. Derek cringed in pain, it was the same pain felt after Mr. West's operation. His chest felt like it was on fire; something had gotten into his lungs and was causing chaos in there. He coughed for a couple of minutes, covering his mouth before removing the hand and looked at it. There on his hands was blood. His blood. Panic started to rise in Derek's body as he started coughing more; he felt more blood being coughed up as the pain only grew stronger in his chest. It got to the point where Derek lay down in the void and tried to curl up as much as possible. He only hoped that this was a dream and not reality. He didn't want to die before he had even begun.

"This...is mankind's first sin. Man created swords to kill, and was in turn killed by swords..." A voice echoed in the void.

"No...that's not true..." Derek said weakly between the coughing and near vomit of blood. "We...created many other...things in order...to live..." Derek managed to say before his vision started to fade once more.

"Father...I'm so alone...why must...I be so alone...? Will...you come back...when I slash...this thing open? Will you notice me then...?" A new voice came into the void. Derek wasn't sure who the voice belonged to but it didn't sound human. Derek's body grew heavy, the coughing stopped, allowing Derek to breath. Despite the moment of freedom, Derek's eyes closed as he drifted off to sleep.

Derek: I see why other characters hide when you walk into the room.

FireCacodemon: Trust me, it's for plot.

Derek: ...

FireCacodemon: baebydeng - All in due time reader, all in due time.

Derek: We plan to have the next chapter out by 30/08/2016