Trauma Center: Illness

Angie: Poison Ivy

It had seemed innocent enough. Angie had decided to spend her break outside and she took a nice, brisk walk around the perimeter of the building. The fresh air and sunshine put her in a good mood, as she rarely got to experience either. She stretched her arms over her head and let out a content sigh.

"Ah! I can't believe it!"

The sudden cry of one, Tyler Chase, brought her from her revere. She looked up to see him looking out a window as a bundled packet of papers fell and settled among the vegetation below. Derek appeared next to him and placed his hands on the window sill, leaning over slightly to see where the packet had fallen. "How in the world did you managed to drop that?" he asked, sending Tyler an inquisitive sideways glance. The latter said nothing more than unintelligible grumbles as he collapsed over the window, his arms dangling lifelessly.

Angie sighed inwardly and smiled. Neither man had noticed her standing not five feet away from the packet's landing area. They were in luck, as her being in the right place at the right time would save them a downstairs trip. "Don't worry, Doctor! I've got it!" she called up to them as she headed towards the bush. Both surgeons shot up upon noticing her, jaws dropping as she reached into the plant.

"Angie! No!" They called out in unison, reaching out an arm as if they could grasp her from danger.

But it was too late. . .

-----

"Mmmrmmph!"

"Don't scratch."

"I'm trying not to, but it's a bit difficult."

"Huh . . . and you said I was grumpy when I caught that cold."

Angie grimaced in response to both the agony and taunt, though more so at the former. She could not deny that she was being more than a little curt with her co-workers, though she found it nearly impossible to help herself. "I'm sorry, Dr. Stiles." she hissed slightly, wincing as a rather aggressive itch bit her. Derek gave her a sympathetic look as he snapped on a pair of surgical gloves. "Don't worry about it." he told her, watching as her fingers twitched desperately at the desire to attack her many rashes. Her left hand shot up suddenly and Derek grasped her wrist, preventing it from descending upon her red forearm. "And don't scratch."

She bit her lip, leaning her head back against the hospital bed's pillow and attempting to focus on the ceiling above her. "How did you know that was a poison ivy bush, Doctor?"

"You've never heard the old saying? Leaves of three; let it be?"

Angie grimaced. "I guess I'm just not that savvy when it comes to plants."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I learned that lesson the hard way when I was nine." A small laugh escaped Derek as he unscrewed the lid from an ointment bottle. "Looking back on it, it's actually pretty funny." He mused.

"What happened?"

As he placed the bottle on a bedside counter, Angie saw a flash of sadness in his eyes, even as it was over toned by amused nostalgia.

"This was about a year after my dad died. We used to go camping in this one part of the woods just outside of Northbridge. There was this other place off trail that he always used to warn me about, he said it was dangerous. Well, one day me and my friends were feeling intrepid – I guess stupid would probably be a better word here – and we decided to go check it out." Derek paused and let out a breath, somewhere between a sigh and chuckle. "There was this one kid that we used to let him tag along with this. We called him Chunk because he looked like that kid from the Goonies."

"Did he do the Truffle Shuffle?"

"Ugh, all the time, even when we didn't want him too. Especially when we didn't want him to. Here, let me put this on you."

Derek scooped up a handful of gel in one hand and pulled her arm back with the other. "You should start to feel instant relief, but it's going to take a few hours before the itching stops completely." He was right. The cool lotion did sub side the rash as he massaged it into her skin, but the discomfort was still barely tolerable. However, her attention had since been diverted. Her eyes focused on Derek, watching his stoic face as he did what he did best; treating a patient. Her heart skipped as he brushed his fingers over her arm and moved to spread the medicine on her neck. His touch was perfect. Fast and thorough, but gentle, as a doctor's should be.

"Anyway, when we got there, we found this murky looking pond. I was really mad at Chunk that day, can't remember why, so I decided to push him in. He hated water. Problem was that I was pretty small and underweight as a kid. I didn't have enough strength to just shove him in, so I had to get a running start and tackle him. It worked, but I almost fell in myself. I had to grab onto a nearby plant to keep myself from falling in."

"Poison ivy." Angie concluded and Derek nodded in response.

"I was miserable for days after that, especially after my friends told me they would've helped push him in if I just asked them. Well, I had it coming, I guess . . . . Hold still a second."

He scooped up another dollop of the lotion and reached for her cheek. The poison ivy leaves had brushed up against her face and stained her cheeks a rather unsavory red as well, but she was actually glad for it. No one would notice her blushing like mad, especially as he caressed her face. "How is she doing?" Tyler asked as he entered the room.

"Not bad, all things considered." Derek replied, smudging a part of Angie's cheek with his thumb. "Right, Angie?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Thank you, Dr. Chase."

Tyler walked over to the window, crossing his arms and smirking slightly. "Looks like Victor's taking care of the poison ivy."

"Victor?" Derek looked up in surprise. Tyler responded by motioning towards the window. Derek and Angie shared a glance and he finished taking care of her face to see what Tyler was talking about. As he approached the window, a surprised smile broke his expression and he let out a small laugh. "Is that a . . . goat? What is he doing?"

"Well, apparently goats like to eat poison ivy and they can do it without getting sick."

"But . . . why is he, of all people, doing it and where did he get that goat to begin with?"

"Dunno. Let's ask him."

Angie strained to sit up from her position, but only managed to skim the top of the cityscape from her field of vision. "Wait, am I to understand that Dr. Niguel is outside with a goat?"

Tyler looked at her grinning as he nodded his head and opened the window. "He sure is. Hey, Victor!"

"What?!" Angie heard his distant reply.

"Dude, seriously, you know you're gonna to have to explain this."

From his position on the ground, Victor glared up at the amused surgeon. "Not much to explain." He said. "Chief wanted me to trim back the poison ivy and this was the quietest way to do it." He took a casual glance at the goat, which grazed at the end of the rope leash he held. "Speaking of which, I'm sure the patients don't appreciate your shouting out the window."

"But . . . the goat . . . where . . ?"

"None of your bus – Raisin! No! Don't eat that!"

Derek and Tyler stiffened slightly before sending one another a bewildered look. There was a mild pause, before barely contained laughter broke it. "R-Raisin? The goat's name is Raisin?" Tyler chortled.

"I didn't name her!" Victor growled. "Shouldn't you be working, Dr. Chase?"

Tyler held up his hands defensively. "All right, all right. I'll leave you and Raisin to your task." Tyler left the room, chuckling, as Derek shook his head and returned to Angie's bedside. "Sorry about that. I just had to see what was happening."

"Don't worry about it." Angie said, grinning herself, as she leaned back down. He returned to placing the lotion on her skin. Angie diverted her gaze towards the ceiling but kept an eye on Derek from the corner of her vision. His face returned to a more focused expression, though his mouth was slightly up curled by the amusing sight he had just witnessed, until she saw him blush suddenly. "Um . . . Angie?"

"Yes?"

"I need to . . . uh . . . that is, your leg . ."

She lifted her head slightly and saw what he was referring to. The inside of her thighs had gotten a rather generous greeting from the plant. Her face heat up as well. "Oh . . . of course, Doctor. Do what you need to." She struggled not to stammer. Derek gulped silently as he moved a hand towards her leg. He massaged the gel in, trying desperately to keep his thoughts clean. Angie was having the same struggle as her heart fluttered at his touch. "How does that feel?" Derek said, stuttering immediately afterward. "The rash! I mean the rash . . how does . . is it still itchy?"

"Y-yes, but it's better now. Th-thank you."

Silence fell upon them as Derek finished applying the medicine. He quickly took off the gloves and drew a thin blanket over her. "Give it an hour or two and the itching should be gone. It may take a day for the redness to disappear but after than you'll be good as new." He picked up his charts but was still blushing slightly. "I need to check on our patients, but I'll be back to see how you're doing." Angie looked up at him with a disguised blush of her own, smiling. "Thank you, Derek."

"You're welcome." He said, returned her smile warmly.

He turned to leave and she leaned her head against the pillow, sighing. He stopped at the door for a moment, looking over his shoulder. "Don't scratch!"

"I'm not going to!" Angie's eyes slightly grew in mild annoyance, leaving Derek one last chuckle as he left. "Gah!"

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A/N: It puts the lotion on its skin . . . . I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. Does it make me lame that I listened to a great deal of 'Poison Ivy' by The Coasters when I wrote this? Yes, Raisin is the same goat that was in the Fever chapter.

Speaking of the Fever chapter, as my prize for winning the first fanfiction contest held by Caduceus HQ on deviantart, I received a fanart of portrait Jessie, Victor's sister. I pasted a link to it in my profile, just above the general statistics for her. It's near the very top of my profile. Check it out, or not, 'tis up to you.

I must say I'm very pleased with it. I asked the artists to go strictly off of their perception of Jessie rather than my own, and it's actually pretty close to what I had in mind.

Oh yeah, I forgot to write disclaimers for the Fever and Sore Throat chapters, so . . . . (takes a deep breath)

Disclaimer: Derek Stiles, Angie Thompson, Tyler Chase, Victor Niguel, Cybil Myers and Leslie Sears are property of Atlus.

But guess what, TC: Illness fans? There's another chapter in the works! Yay! Stay tuned and don't forget to check out my other stories as well.