Chapter 10: At the ER
Hello everybody~!! I have no school today (MUHAHAHAHA....gotta love teacher conferences!!) So I'm updating. A lot of you were asking for Seto/Tea. There's some in this chapter and next chapter's basically all about them, I think (I haven't started writing it yet) ^^ Anywayz a thank you and hug to everyone who reviewed. On with the fic~!!

********************* = major scene change

*~*~*~ = little scene changes

sorry if that sounds too confusing...I think you'll get it as you read along.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! because if I did, Seto and Tea would be together by now ^^

Tea grabbed the car keys before running out the door. One of the annoying things when you lived alone without a housekeeper or anyone, she thought as she started her car, was that you had to go grocery shopping. And since Tea didn't want to buy to much fresh goods and spoil, everything, she bought a little at a time, causing her to go more often than she wanted to.

She spent the whole morning doing chores (for herself) like that. She cleaned the whole house-she didn't want her parents to think she was irresponsible just because they weren't on her case every time.

"Ugh, I'm wiped out." She groaned as she finally plopped down on the couch in exhaustion. Then she perked up. 'Maybe I'll go over Yugi's or Serenity's. Joey told me they went out last night. I'll ask Yugi about how Serenity was.' Tea thought to herself as she started the car once again.

She was driving past Domino Park when she saw a group of kids. One of them looked pale and panicked.

'Hmmmm. I wonder what's wrong?' Tea thought curiously and got out of the car.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tea asked the pale kid. The boy looked up at her. "One of my friends broke his leg when we were rollerblading." He answered somewhat shakily. "Please, could you help us?" Tea nodded. "Why, of course! Where is he?" The boy looked extremely relieved.

"Over there." He indicated where the group of kids had huddled. "Hey guys, move out of the way! There's help!" Everyone moved aside quickly. Tea gasped. "Mokuba?! Here, see if you can get up. I'll help you."

Mokuba looked pale and he was grimacing. "I...don't...think I can." He gasped. Tea decided to just carry him instead.

"Just hang in there. I'll get you to the hospital as soon as possible." Tea flicked out her cell phone and called the Domino hospital. "Hello? Is this the ER unit? Yes, I'm bringing a patient over there. He has a broken leg. Yes, in a couple minutes. Could you have a wheelchair read? Thank you." Tea started driving.

"How are you, Mokuba?" Tea asked as she glanced quickly at him sitting in the back "I...think...I'll live." Mokuba smiled. "You know...when I first saw my leg...broken, that's what shook me up the most...not the pain at first."

Tea smiled at the rearview mirror. "Don't worry Mokuba. You'll be fine really fast." She assured him. "Thanks Tea." He said. When they reached the hospital, a nurse quickly rolled him on the wheelchair to a room.

Tea sat in a waiting room. 'Hold on, I'd better call Kaiba.' She thought and got up to go to a nearby payphone. She had to look up the Kaibacorp phone number first.

"Kaibacorp. How may I help you?" Tea heard a secretary say. "Hello, may I speak to Mr. Seto Kaiba, please?" She asked politely. "And who may you be?" The secretary sounded suspicious. 'She probably thinks I'm a fan or something.'

Tea groaned inwardly. "Well, I'm Tea Gardner. I just called to tell him that his little brother broke his leg and I'm in the emergency room." "Oh, I see. Please hold." Tea waited patiently,

"Kaiba." Tea soon heard Kaiba's cold monotone voice. "Hi Kaiba. This is Tea Gardner. I'm in the ER right now because Mokuba broke his leg--" "Mokuba broke his leg?! I'll be right there." Tea was left openmouthed and a dial tone on the phone. 'Well...ok.' Tea sat on a chair.

Moments later, a breathless and rather ruffled Seto entered. "How is Mokuba?" He asked a nurse. "Oh, are you his older brother? Well, so far the doctors have X-rayed him. They should be putting the cast on him about now. Otherwise, he's doing fine. But please, if you'll fill out theses paper in the meantime." The nurse handed over some papers.

That was when he noticed Tea sitting on one of the chairs. He sat on a chair next to her. "Where was he?" He asked while filling out the papers. "In front of the park. He was rollerblading with a group of friends. I happened to be driving by and I noticed a group of kids. Then I found out it was Mokuba so I brought him here." Tea summed up the incident neatly.

"I'm in your debt, Gardner- " "Tea. Nobody calls me Gardner. I don't feel comfortable being called that anyways." Tea interrupted. Seto nodded. "Fine. I guess you have more sense than some of your other friends like that dog." Tea could feel the heat rising to her face at the insult of Joey. But then, he actually thanked her-in his own way-so she decided to forgive him.

"Hey no problem." Just then, two people came out with Mokuba on a wheelchair. "Mokuba's fine now. You might want to get him crutches, though. His right leg was broken, but it's in a cast now. Everything should be fine. I would like you to come for a check in a month." A doctor said in a confident tone. Seto nodded.

"How are you, kiddo?" He asked Mokuba lightly. "I'm fine. Sorry I caused all this commotion." Mokuba apologized sheepishly. Seto smiled one of his VERY rare smiles. "As long as you're ok, I'm ok." Mokuba lightened up. "Hey could Tea come over?" Mokuba asked. Seto knew he still had work to do and he didn't exactly want to leave his brother alone. "Well...all right. If it's ok with Tea." The Kaiba brothers looked at Tea. Tea nodded and grinned. "Sure, why not?"

"YESSSS!" Mokuba grinned happily and all three of them walked out.

*****************************************************************

~Meanwhile...the same morning~

Serenity woke up that morning, as they say, on the wrong side of the bed. She had had a nightmare of the times she had gone through when she first discovered that her boyfriend had been killed. She woke up with the same heart-wrenching sorrow she had woken up with so many times before.

The worst thing about this time, was Serenity had not prepared herself for it. And all the sadness seemed to be compressed into this one night, and not spread out to days.

She was glad that Joey was out all day today. She didn't want to disappoint him by being sad again. After crying to herself, Serenity fell asleep again on her bed. This time, she saw her boyfriend! Her heart leaped at the look of him. She felt so warm and safe and happy with him. Then she was jolted back into the harsh reality, all too soon.

Try as she might, Serenity couldn't return to the safe refuge of her dreams. She decided to take some sleeping pills. Suddenly, a thought struck her mind. 'Wouldn't it be nice,' she thought, swallowing 2 pills, ' to go to sleep and never wake up again?' Her mind was too numb from the return of her sorrows to realize that meant death.

Serenity almost involuntarily swallowed the whole bottle of pills. One by one. A small smile traced her lips. 'Now, I'll never be hurt of sad. Ever.'

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey Serenity! I'm home!" Joey and Yugi entered through the front door. "Hmmmmm. Probably listenin' to music or somethin'." He muttered to Yugi. He knew his sister never slept this late. "Wanna say hi to her?" He turned, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Um, okay." Yugi replied, going through several shades of red and sweatdropping. "Follow me." Joey said going up the stairs.

"What the H*LL?!" Joey stared in disbelief at the hallway. Yugi curiously hurried to take a look. When he saw what had caused Joey to swear, his blood turned cold.

For there was Serenity.

Unconscious on the floor.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Yugi and Joey waited in front of the double doors. They had dialed 911 (I dunno what they dial in Japan ^^;;;) and had ridden the ambulance to the emergency room. Both boys paced with impatience.

A female doctor walked out. She was looking through a clipboard. When she looked up, her face was very grim. "Are you Miss Wheeler's brothers?" She asked.

"I'm her brother." Joey stepped up. "How's she doing, doctor?"

"Well, we had to pump her stomach to get rid of all the pills she swallowed. She was unconscious when we did this and her condition hasn't changed much since. We think there is a greater chance of her living than dying as of now."

She leaned forward. "Tell me, Mr. Wheeler," she said softly. "Is Serenity suicidal?"

Joey looked shocked at the question. "I...I don't know. She was really sad over her boyfriend's death a year ago. I thought she was better. Recently she's been almost back to her normal self." He looked at Yugi for confirmation. Yugi nodded. "She seemed fine yesterday. We were out doing some fun things and she seemed all right." He added.

The doctor took in all the information. "She may be depressed. You said she has been moody? And just recently, she was fine. Yes, that is a mood swing and she lost a loved one, which could have been a triggering factor. I'll recommend a counselor for her to just talk to. I don't think a medication is necessary." She looked at the anxious boys. "You may visit her if you wish, her room is 351." A small look of amusement crossed her face as she watched the boys hurriedly go to the aforementioned room.

Both boys approached the girl quietly. Serenity looked so pale, yet in a way, calm and peaceful. Joey and Yugi sat on either side of her bed.

"Sis, you are one heartstopper." Joey said softly, patting her hand. "You got us so worried! Geez, you're in for some trouble when you wake up!" His voice softened. "But not before you get better, 'course." He added.

"Serenity, living a life's not easy, but just because there's a way blocking you doesn't mean you give up. There's always going to be people who're more than happy to help you out...like Joey, Tea, your parents, and...me. Please come back to us, Serenity." Yugi said quietly.

As if in cue, Serenity's eyes began to flicker. When they fully opened, she was faced with Joey's and Yugi's overjoyed faces. "Hiya Serenity!" Joey grinned at her. "Hey there." Yugi smiled at her shyly.

"Hi Joey. Hi Yugi. I'm sorry for all this trouble." Serenity apologized, regret in her eyes.

Joey shook his head. "No way, sis. And from now on, we'll help you, 'k? So don't try anything like that ever again. Got it?" Serenity nodded, silent. "I'm glad you're back with us." Yugi said, relieved.

After a moment, Serenity cleared her throat. "Hey guys?" Yugi and Joey looked at her. "Can I go home?" She asked smiling.

"Of course!" Both boys smiled. Serenity was back! And this time, they were going to do everything to keeper her there.

A/N: Looks back at chapter 10. OMG. Tell me if that wasn't long! It took me FOREVER (sadly looks at broken hands) The whole thing with Tea and Seto will happen in chapter 11. R + R as always~!!

From your devoted authoress of ff.net,

Fantasizer