Spoiler Warning: Mild spoilers for the beginning of chapter four of the game. Nothing major revealed, but . . . ya know . . . just a friendly heads up.

Disclaimer: Greg Kasal, Cybil Myers and all other Trauma Center characters are property of Atlus.

Trauma Center: Illness

Greg: Post-Op

Waking up from surgery was very disorienting. The transition to and from consciousness was abrupt, which did not at all aid the grogginess one felt from the anesthesia and any other medication. Having witnessed and preformed countless operations, Dr. Kasal understood that his patients were going to be a little more than confused upon being roused from their drug induced sleep. Yet, having never actually had surgery himself, he always wondered what exactly they were going through upon waking.

He wondered no more.

As his eyes blinked open and he found his surroundings transformed from the operating room to his recovery ward, he struggled feebly to piece a coherent thought. He felt like he was dreaming. Everything swirled around before his eyes and each abstract part of the puzzle evaporated as he reached to put it together. He blinked as a solid figure came into his vision, haloed by the blurred backdrop. Cybil stood beside him, her face steeled and professional as her time in the police force had crafted it. Her eyes were framed perfectly to reflect this, but he could see a sparkle whisper from within them.

"Greg?" she murmured. Her tone was soft, unusual for her, yet it cut straight through the fog that plagued him. He had not heard that voice in years. He had to be dreaming.

"Cybil . . . it's been too long." His voice sounded so feeble and alien to himself, but he was relieved all the same. The words quivered in his throat and his parched lips stung slightly as they pushed his voice out. He tethered onto the feeling as his senses slowly returned, which made the slight smile Cybil gave him even better. "You're okay." She spoke with a louder volume and turned away slightly, lifting her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. The glint from her right eye managed to escape, sliding down her cheek and disappearing quickly, but not fast enough to go unnoticed by the surgeon.

"Dr. Stiles did well." He mused as his thoughts began to fall into place. "I have nothing else to teach him. He's a real doctor now."

Cybil turned back to him and nodded. "Yes, he's really learned a lot from you."

"My brother tells me you've been keeping an eye on him."

"Yeah, the kid looked like he could use some guidance, but it looks like he's found his path."

"He'll make a great surgeon."

The fog around him finally cleared. Greg took a breath, testing his body and feeling a dull pain in his abdominal area. The numbness slowly melted away from his arms as he flexed his fingers. He pulled his arms underneath him and pushed himself up, gaining about an inch of elevation before he was pushed back down. "You need to rest!" Cybil's insistent response was accompanied by a hand pressing firmly against his chest, just above his beating heart. She looked at him with a strange hybrid of a soft and hard glare. It entranced him in an odd way, seeing her menacing hawk stare surrounding her fretful eyes. He had never met another woman that could pull off such a look. As he looked back into her eyes, retracing the image he had imprinted from their college days, he wondered if she could feel his heart fluttering against her palm. "Are you . . . going to just leave your hand there?" he asked.

The perfect frame of Cybil's eyes broke as she realized what she was doing. She removed her hand nonchalantly, as if to negate the crimson twinge that settled on her cheeks. "I've . . . missed you." He heard himself say. The crimson spread in surprised reaction to his words, and Greg could feel a bit of it splash his own face. He had not been expecting it any more than she had, but he found himself continuing. "We haven't directly spoken to each other since med school. How did we let that happen?"

"I don't know. It's not as if we didn't know how to get in touch." Cybil chuckled. The absurdity of having their friendship frozen as it had been was not a new concept to her. Meeting up should have been easy. She had come close to initiating a friendly get together for the two of them. Nothing fancy; a quick cup of coffee or perhaps a movie. Yet, just as she was about to cross the threshold, her nerves would bite and her limbs would fail her. She would never admit it, but if there had been one thing to break through the Iron Vixen's steel defenses and determination, that would have been it.

"We probably won't have time to spend together for a while. Caduceus will be busy and I'm sure Hope will be getting a good amount of patients at this rate." Greg mused, a sliver of regret weaving through his words. He had not fared much better than she had. His calm and cool demeanor had never failed him through even the most stressful of situations, regardless of whether he had a dangerous operation or sizable conference to lead. Yet, he had grown frustrated at how his nerves clenched up the moment he picked up the phone.

"Can we spend time together . . .now?" Cybil asked.

"Now? Are you sure this is a good time?" Greg almost cursed himself for saying that. His professionalism was doing him in.

"You're not leaving here until you're fully recovered if I have anything to say about it, and I do."

The Vixen had this under her paw and she was not going to let what had eluded her for years squirm from her grasp now. Greg gave a drowsy smirk. For once, he was thankful that he was not as stubborn as his brother. "You haven't changed a bit."

"I hope that's a good thing." She said, smiling.

"It is. Trust me."

A mischievous grin broke over her face, praising homage to her animal namesake. She raised an index finger to her mouth, wordlessly hushing him, before she slowly brought it to his lips. "Not another word out of you, okay?" she whispered. Greg indulged in the rarity of her soft voice. He had forgotten how it sweetly dripped from her tongue, like honey. It soothed him. "Okay, not another word." He whispered back, his breath tickling her finger. "With the exception of those previous words, in which I simply stated that I would not be saying another . ."

"Oh hush already!" The nerves nibbled threateningly at her and she could feel her core trembling, but she would have none of that this time. She lifted her finger from his mouth and replaced it with her lips. He eagerly welcomed them and they drank in the kiss, savoring it for each year it was delayed.

The Vixen had finally caught her prey. As for Greg, well, he suddenly was not in such a hurry to return to Hope anymore.

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A/N: Greg and Cybil were a bit hard to write, considering they never directly interacted with one another in either UtK or SO. Ugh . . .

I've been getting a good number of requests to have Cybil fall ill next, so I guess I've no choice but to comply. The old switcharoo – Greg will be taking care of her . . . or maybe Victor? Maybe it'll be a fight between the two to see who gets to nurse her? An old fashioned battle between men to win a woman's heart . . . in the mud! Greg and Victor mud fight teh hawt!