Hey! Hope you all had a great holiday! Sorry, I had to get this one out. I hope it doesn't seem rushed. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR REVIEWS! Love them! Keep em coming! Again, I'm not a medical professional! I hope I'm on my way to being one! Don't judge! Reminder that this is drama. Alternative universe and reality. Some OOC and pairings are likely to change love ya!
-B
Yuffie and doctor Hewely got their patient, Mr. Valentine to surgery as quickly as possible. The surgeon on call was Dr. Sephiroth, and Yuffie felt confident that he would get the job done quickly, safely and efficiently. But she had to admit, she was very nervous, and she couldn't exactly pinpoint why.
She watched the majestic surgeon prepare for the operation from her place on the other side of the glass. She found herself hoping the man pulled through, but she wasn't sure. They should have caught this yesterday, but due to a miss communication, it went untreated and unnoticed. Yuffie inwardly scolded herself for not checking for it yesterday. It was so basic, and it had been a hunch of hers. That damn nurse! Neglecting to do her job.
Suddenly, Yuffie wondered to herself why she was so angry. She didn't know this man. He wasn't really even an acquaintance. But more than anything, she wanted to see him recover. He just seemed like a genuine person. So unique in his own way. He was different, and magnetic. He drew others to him, but remained cool and reserved all at once. For a few brief moments during her worry, she had forgotten about Cloud and their argument.
Suddenly, Yuffie was ripped from her thoughts when her cellphone went off. She thought she had left it in her locked, but come to find out it was in her pocket.
She snuck away and looked down, it was Cloud. Sighing, she thought she had better take it, in hopes of him apologizing. Once she had found the surgical break room, she stepped inside and answered.
"Hello?" She made sure she didn't sound too eager to talk to him.
"Yuffie." His voice cooed. He sounded soft, sweet, and like the Cloud she was used to.
"What do you want, Cloud? I'm at work right now." She put one hand on her hip and frowned, even though he couldn't see her.
"I'm so sorry for how I reacted yesterday. I treated you wrongly and for that, I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that." He sounded genuine, and sincere. But Yuffie wasn't planning on letting him off quite that easily.
"You're right. I didn't deserve that. What you did was completely inappropriate and uncalled for." Yuffie scolded harshly. But inwardly, the feelings she had for Cloud were returning all at once.
"I know, and Yuffie as soon as I get home, I'll make it up to you. I promise."
Yuffie smiled to herself, feeling excited and giddy all over again "okay, you better!"
"I promise, Yuff." He assured her.
"Okay, well call me when you get into town. I gotta get back to work."
"Will do. Be good." He said sweetly before hanging up.
She couldn't help but smile to herself. She was thankful the idiot had come to his senses and apologized. She had been so angry with him. But she decided then and there, she would absolutely not put up with that sort of thing again. So he was on thin ice.
After hanging up, Yuffie tucked her phone into her pocket and returned to her place at the observation window. She couldn't see everything, but could see enough to know that they were still working. From what she could tell, his monitors looked good. She was a little relived but he wasn't out of the woods just yet. Now all that she and Doctor Hewely could do was wait.
The two were soon joined by Doctor Nagano Lockhart, Chief. He had come to check on the situation, and get to the bottom of the negligence. "Hello, doctor, nurse." He said briskly as he gave the two a nod.
Yuffie's eyes averted from the surgery and traveled over to her boss. "Sir."
"Hello sir." Doctor Hewely said.
"Would either of you care to explain why it took two days to diagnose something as simple as appendicitis?"
"Sir-" Yuffie began, but was cut off by the doctor at her side.
"This was entirely my fault, Sir. I was under the impression that the nurse on the previous shift had already eliminated the possibility. And I should have followed up with her more thoroughly."
Nagano shook his head in disappointment. "I chose the two of you because you are two of my best staff members, and you miss something so basic?!" The man paused and drew a long breath before looking at Yuffie. "But good catch, Kisaragi. He would've died had it not been for you."
Yuffie blushed in embarrassment. The comment was the chief's way of complimenting.
"I want you there when he wakes up." Nagano stated. "As for you, Hewely, try to be more attentive next time." He said before turning and walking away.
Yuffie sighed in relief that neither of them had gotten into any real trouble. "Thank you for taking that all on your own. We were all to blame, Doctor."
"Nagano and I have a little history. He wouldn't punish me, so it's no problem nurse." The man said with a warm smile. "I'm sure they'll be finished with the surgery in no time.
Around two hours later, Yuffie sat in her patient's room in the chair beside his bed, waiting for him to awaken. He seemed rather peaceful, and Yuffie was more than thankful that the surgery had been extremely successful. Doctor Sephiroth had noted that had they been just a few minutes later, the man would never have survived.
Her dark eyes were becoming heavy, the silence in the room and the dim lights were making it difficult for the tired woman to stay awake. She found herself drifting to sleep despite her very best efforts to fight it off.
But when she heard the faint rustling sound of the starchy hospital sheets moving, she was wide awake once more.
She watched as a pair of sleepy Crimson eyes fluttered open and calmly began to scan the room and its surroundings. And finally, they landed upon Yuffie.
A drowsy smile found its way upon the man's face when he laid eyes on his nurse. The last thing he remembered was her face, and it was nice that her face was the first thing he saw when he woke. But his peaceful moment was shattered when he suddenly felt a surge of pain in his abdomen.
"Gah!" He cringed as his hands flew to his stomach, clutching it in pain. His brows narrowed and his face turned into a grimace as the pain grew more intense.
Yuffie was quick to notify the doctor and get the okay to administer some more pain meds. "It's gonna be okay, the pain will subside soon. Just try and relax, okay Mr. Valentine?" She looked down at his pained expression, and instinctively she gently stroked his hair for comfort.
It seemed to help smooth him as his smile slowly returned and his eyes regained their focus on her face. "Thank you, nurse. I really owe you one." He said quietly. He was finding himself to be overtaken by her beauty. Perhaps it was the anesthesia, or the pain medicine kicking in, but there was just something about her that radiated like bright light. When he looked at her, something stirred within him, a deep longing to know more about her.
"Just doing my job." Yuffie said as she returned the smile, she hadn't realized that she was still stroking his soft hair, because she was too busy staring into his eyes. She has never seen a pair so enticing before. And she thought Cloud's eyes were the most beautiful she had seen. That was until she had caught a glimpse of Mr. Valentine's.
"No, really. I owe you." Vincent said as he slowly reached out and took Yuffie's other hand. "Let me buy you dinner."
At first, Yuffie smiled and was about to accept when she was suddenly slammed with the realization that she was still with Cloud. It wasn't necessarily disappointment that she felt, but she knew there may always be the 'what if' lingering over her head because of what she was about to say.
"I.. I can't I'm sorry. You are my patient and it's just not allowed." And suddenly, she withdrew from his bedside, his hand dropped away from hers and back onto his bed. She could see the look of disappointment on his face, but he smiled anyway.
"Okay. Well if you change your mind, I'll be here." He assured. He felt his heart sink a little, but he wouldn't blame himself for trying.
"Why don't you get some sleep. I'll be back in an hour to check on you. But if you need me before that, press that call button on your bed." She stated with s kind smile. She watched Mr. Valentine nod before walking out of his room.
Her smile disappeared the minute she walked out of his room. What was she thinking, even considering the date. She inwardly scolded herself and walked to the nearest window, looking down at the parking lot.
At that moment, everything changed. She could not believe her eyes. She saw Cloud's bike parked next to a black SUV. She thought he was still out of town? And what she saw next, was even more shocking, and very disturbing.
She saw Tifa's patient Aerith standing in between the bike and the SUV, with Cloud. They were talking at first, but Yuffie's stomach grew sick when she watched Cloud's hands slowly wrap around the girl, and stop at her hips. She could see the smirk on his face as he drew near to her and then, they kissed.
She was furious! He not only lied about being out of town, he had been cheating on her. With Zack's wife! Hoping that maybe she was seeing things, she rubbed her eyes and checked again. This time, the kiss was more intense and he was pulling her closer.
"What?!" She exclaimed in a partial whisper, as she didn't want to frighten any patients in nearby rooms. Her heart was shattered. She wondered how long they had been together, how long had he been cheating? This couldn't be happening. She had to tell Zack! She should have listened to Tifa. All along she had been right. "So much for him making it up to me!?"
Yuffie quickly took her phone out and snapped a photo of them before storming down the hallway. And then she saw room 212. And in her anger she walked in and looked at her patient.
When Vincent saw Yuffie, he could tell she was distressed. Her eyes glistened as if they were about to spill over with tears. Her fair face seemed red with anger. Weakly, he tried to sit up. "What's wrong?" He asked instinctively.
Yuffie swallowed her tears and her expression changed, "I've changed my mind."
Zack was at the hospital a bit early that morning after leaving Tifa's house. He had stopped home to talk with Aerith for a bit, and then he went to work after they smoothed things over. As best they could anyway. He didn't tell her where he stayed, that could have had some Repercussions on Tifa.
Coffee in hand, he was heading toward his office when he noticed a delivery man delivering flowers to Tifa's office. His curiosity peaked. He remembered Tifa accusing him of sending her flowers, and from what he knew, she still hadn't pin pointed who had been sending them.
A smirk spread across his face and he decided to figure it out. Maybe he could try and set them up if he knew who it was. The flower man held a clip board with him, and Zack assumed that perhaps it had the name of the sender. He knew that the man wouldn't tell him if he just asked right out, so he had to come up with a plan.
He snagged a clip board from the nurses station and timed it just right, so when the man who set the flowers outside of Tifa's office turned around, he ran right into Zack. Both men dropped their clip boards.
"Oh man, I'm so sorry!" Zack said as he knelt down and picked up both clip boards, subtly glancing down at the list of names. The last name on the list that had yet to be crossed off, Sephiroth M.D. "Here you go, man." He handed the bewildered delivery man the clip board and headed to his office.
He started to think about Tifa, and how she deserved to be happy. And what Sephiroth was doing was kind of torturing her. She needed to know who was sending them, and if Sephiroth had a thing for her, he needed to man up.
What Tifa didn't know was that Zack had gone to medical school with Sephiroth. The two knew each other, and were friends for a while. He didn't really remember what happened to cause them to drift apart, but he needed to talk to the man. Maybe Sephiroth just needed the courage to talk to her.
Knowing both of them, Zack could see them potentially having a relationship. Since he and Aerith had sort of smoothed things over, he wanted Tifa to have someone who was able to dedicate their full attention to her. He wasn't sure if the surgeon was in or not, but he decided to give it a shot.
He made his way to the surgical wing, sipping his coffee along the way. When he arrived, he noticed the surgeon just walking out of the OR after finishing what appeared to be an emergency surgery.
Green eyes met blue eyes and both men stopped in the hallway in front of one another. "Fair, it's been a while." Sephiroth stated calmly.
"Figured I'd come and welcome you to the hospital." Zack replied with a shrug.
"Well thank you. You're a bit late, I've been here almost two months now." Sephiroth chuckled lightly. "How are you enjoying obstetrics?"
"I enjoy my job. My partner Tifa does as well." He watched as the silver haired man's eyes slightly lit up at the mention of her name.
"Oh? I had the privilege of working with her not too long ago. She's a good doctor. Stubborn, though." Inwardly, Sephiroth smiled to himself. But his expression didn't show it.
"That's Tifa for you." Zack smiled a bitter sweet smile, recalling the night before' events. She had been so relentless on stopping his advances. He was thankful for it in the end. "So, I know you've been sending her flowers."
"Is that a threat to you, Fair?"
Sephiroth always had a way of knowing things. Zack didn't know why, but the man could look at you and almost instantly now what was going on within a person. It was a little scary.
"I'm married, Sephiroth. What I came to talk to you about was the fact that I think you need to ask her out. Stop just sending her flowers with no note or card. It's making her crazy not knowing who sent them."
Sephiroth was quiet, he seemed to be thinking it through. "Perhaps. But she didn't seem too thrilled when her father tried to introduce us."
"Just leave her old man out of it. Just get to know her man, she's a good girl." Zack assured with a smile.
Sephiroth gave a short nod, agreeing that he would do so. He wanted to, he just wasn't sure of her feelings in return. He was attracted to her not only for her aesthetic beauty, but her intelligence as well.
"But I swear if you hurt her, I will come after you. And it won't be physically. I will find a way to ruin your career." Zack glared and warned the man boldly. He wasn't gonna let anything happen to Tifa.
Sephiroth smirked in response, "noted."
"She's off today, but she'll be back tomorrow. She's on call all weekend. You should talk to her then." Zack turned around and headed toward the elevators when he heard Sephiroth speak again.
"Fair."
Zack turned around and looked at his former friend. "Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
When he returned to his office, he saw a familiar face standing at the doorway with her arms folded across her chest and a scowl on her face. She was tapping her foot impatiently and she seemed extremely distressed.
"I thought Teef fired ya. Whatcha doin' in the maturity ward?" Zack asked Yuffie as he walked up to her.
"There's something you need to see." She flashed him the photo on her phone. The one that proved his beloved wife was still cheating on him. And not with just any old guy, with a guy he considered to be his closest friend. The one who happened to be dating Yuffie.
His jaw dropped, and anger began to well up inside of him. He had just decided that he would release Tifa to someone else, and try to make it work with his wife. He'd apparently done it prematurely. "That little..."
"They're outside right now."
That was all he needed to hear. He was off, he took off running toward the stairwell, screw the elevators.
Yuffie followed him and they both dashed down five flights of stairs and out the exit that lead to the parking lot. Sure enough, Cloud and Aerith were standing beside her car, fraternizing.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Zack boomed in a vicious and territorial voice. He walked up to the pair and ripped them apart.
Yuffie was shocked at the fact that Zack wasn't winded at all. She did her best to catch her breath and stand up straight beside him. She looked at Cloud. He was shocked to say the least. "You two are awful ballsy to do this outside the hospital, where both of us work!"
"Zack, I can explain!" Aerith exclaimed frantically as her eyes filled with tears.
"You two have been at this for years, haven't you?!" Zack yelled, grabbing Cloud by the collar of his leather jacket.
Yuffie just watched things unfold before her. She was growing a little numb. "You are such a liar, Cloud!"
"Zack, look man it's not what you think.." Cloud tried to defend himself, but couldn't.
Zack slammed his former friend into Aerith's car, denting the door severely before dropping him to the ground. He would've pounded him into oblivion, but he had a full day of patients and he wouldn't abandon them. Shaking his head, He then turned his attention to his wife. "We're done." He spat venomously.
"Zack!" Aerith cried after him as he turned his back on her and headed back into the hospital.
"Come on, Yuff. They're not worth our time." Zack briefly looked over his shoulder, noticing Yuffie kicking Cloud in the ribs before running after him.
"I'm gonna go talk to Tifa." Yuffie said as she caught up to him.
Zack's heart sank. He was kicking himself for talking to Sephiroth now. He would be an ass hole if he went after Tifa now. He gave Yuffie a nod. "I'll let the chief know."
"I'm so sorry, Zack." Yuffie offered him a sympathetic look.
"Thanks for telling me. I'm sorry too. He's a worthless piece of shit."
"I've already got something else lined up. Don't worry." Yuffie felt a little bad for accepting the date with Mr. Valentine so quickly, but she was angry and hurt. And the man was so handsome and charming, how could she say no?
"Good for you, kid. See ya around."
Zack seemed defeated, and sad. Yuffie felt for him, she really did. She wished she could offer him more comfort, but he wasn't much of a talker when it came to things like that. But right now, she needed to make things right with Tifa.
Tifa was afraid when she heard the knock on her door that evening. She feared it was Zack again, coming to pull the same stupid crap he had the night before. But still, she answered the door and was surprised to see Yuffie standing there with a cup of coffee.
She couldn't help but smile. She missed her friend. "Hey."
"You were right." She admitted as she handed Tifa the warm coffee.
Tifa looked perplexed. "What?" She asked, looking down at the cup.
"Can I please come in?" Yuffie asked as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.
Tifa looked at her friend worriedly. "Of course." She said, before moving out of the way to let Yuffie in.
They settled into the living room before Tifa asked what happened. "So, what's going on, Yuffie? Are you okay?"
Yuffie sighed and shook her head. "You were right about Cloud. I caught him cheating on me with Zack's wife."
Tifa blinked at the words that just came from her friend's mouth. "Wh-what?" Her first thought was 'does Zack know?'
"I saw them at the hospital. Zack and I confronted them. I just can't believe this Tifa. I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you." She said sadly as she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them while sitting on the couch.
"Yuffie, I never expected him to do that to you! And I didn't know he would've been with Aerith! Don't beat yourself up." Tifa said as she sat beside her friend and hugged her.
"I can't believe I fell for his BS."
"He's charming like that." Tifa sighed, she knew that all too well. "I knew Aerith was cheating on Zack. She told me while I was doing her 9 week exam."
"What?! Did you know it was Cloud?!" Yuffie ripped herself away from Tifa, looking at her in shock.
Tifa shook her head. "No, she never told me who. And she said it was a one time mistake, but clearly it wasn't."
"So the baby... It could be Cloud's?" Yuffie suddenly realized why Cloud got so upset about her little scare.
Tifa nodded. She herself was in shock. Poor Zack and Yuffie. What a devastating blow. "I'm so sorry, Yuffie."
"I should've listened to you." Yuffie frowned sadly.
"Yuffie I shouldn't have butted in so much."
"No, no! You had every reason to warn me. What did he do to you, Tifa?" She looked up at her friend sadly.
Tifa shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it now. But Yuffie, you will find someone else. You're so cute and lovable."
"Well actually... Your father had assigned me to this patient who happens to be a chairman of the hospital board... He asked me out.." The excitement she felt about the upcoming date helped ease the sting of betrayal left behind by Cloud.
"Really?" Tifa smirked and quirked a curious brow. "Tell me more!"
