A/N: Holy dookie! I've updated Illness! That can only mean . . . Christmas present! A present for MoonCat and TCGeek! I'm sure the rest of you will enjoy it too! Handle with care now . . .
Trauma Center: Illness
Derek: Second Opinion
Breathe in . . . . breathe deep . . .
Derek winced slightly at the blinding light that poured upon him.
Breathe deep . . .
It was all he could do to suppress his nerves, though the electrocardiograph seemed to take pleasure in blaring out his elevated pulse.
There was no reason to be scared. Angie was the best nurse and assistant the medical world had to offer. He had seen this for himself. And Dr. Kimishima – she had the Healing Touch. Medicine's best women would be taking care of him. There was no reason to be afraid.
Breathe in . . .
But he was.
I know I can trust them with my life . . .
Breathe deep . . .
. . but it's hard . . . to feel so helpless . .
Breathe in . . .
Is this how my patients feel?
The doors squeaked as they were pushed open and the clicks of two pairs of shoes engulfed the room. He saw the fuzzed outline of Angie and Naomi appear over him. It was hard to make out their expressions without his glasses, but Derek thought he saw a hint of anxiety behind Angie's firm set eyes. "Are you . . ready, Dr. Stiles?" she said softly, her voice confirming his suspicions. He looked at her, giving her a warm smile. "I'm ready, Angie. Everything's going to be okay." he whispered. "I believe in you, both."
"We're going to start anesthesia now, Stiles." Naomi said, placing a translucent mask over his mouth. "Just breathe deep, okay?"
"Heh . . ."
If only she knew.
"Derek?" Angie said. "I . . . We're going to take care of you. Just leave it to us and . . . don't worry. . ." The strong foundation of her voice returned, stilling the slight quiver it had before. Derek's drowsy smile deepened. This was the nurse he knew.
"I know, Angie. . ."
Her name poured from his lips as the blurry colors before him melted together, slowly fizzling into a thick blanket of black.
-----
Derek rushed for the operating room. The air pulsed around him in time with his footsteps, their loud thumping against the tiled floor the only noise. The hall was eerily quiet and deserted in spite of the tension hanging over him. He crashed through the OR doors, earning not as much as a creek from them. Even the monitors that flashed the patient's grave vitals made not a sound.
He pushed through the thick silence, pulling on his gloves as he looked at the patient's readings. "Cardiac arrest . ." he muttered as he crossed over to the table. "Gotta work fast." He reached to pull back the sheet covering the patient's chest, his narrowed eyes loosening as saw who he was operating on.
His mouth dropped open ever so slightly in contrast to his eyes, his thoughts becoming as mute as his surrounds as he stared at himself, lying motionless on the operating table. Struck numb from the shock, Derek was unsure of how much time had passed when he noticed that his instincts had kicked in and his body was moving into chest compressions. Even having noticed that, he was unable to keep from studying his own sleeping face, pale and lacking glasses.
"A . . Angie." he said breathlessly, still keeping his eyes on the . . . patient. "Angie, I need to you start the defibrillator."
He was answered only by his unsteady inhales. He flickered his gaze away from himself, staring blankly at the empty space across the operating table, where his assistant had always been in the past. "Angie?" He continued the compressions as he frantically looked about, finding not another soul in the OR. "No . . . where is she?" The flat line on the electrocardiograph drew his vision. Gritting his teeth, he quickly located the defibrillator.
Rushing for it, he switched it on and dragged it to his side at the table, working up a charge as fast as he could. He shocked his sleeping form, watching his body twitch but receiving no response from the heart monitor. Throwing the paddles on the machine's tray, he reverted back to chest compressions, desperately trying to cut the time between that and delivering the shock.
Again, there were no changes in the patient's condition as the second jolt was given. "Angie, where are you?" he gasped, pressing into his ribcage again. It was no good. He could not seem to move fast enough. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to call forth his Healing Touch. The star shape taunted him, slipping out of his grasp with each mental stroke he made. He grunted at the betrayal of his own powers, his breath quickening as he felt himself slip away. "I'm running out of time." he hissed and powered up the defibrillator.
He moved in to give himself another shock. His body jumped, but the heart monitor did not. Sweat seeped through his skin and slowly cascaded down his temple.
"Angie . . . I need you . . . I . ." He closed his eyes as dizziness swept over him, trickling down his head like the sweat on his brow. "I can't do this alone . . ."
The paddles slipped from his fingers, leaving only dull murmurs of sound as they crashed to the floor. Even through closed eyes he could feel darkness begin to eat away at the edges of his mind. Time slowed as he began his plummet, gravity sluggishly pulling his body through the air.
Derek felt a set of arms snuggly wrap around his waist. His cheek pressed against a soft crown of hair as his dead weight leaned into someone. A familiar scent filled him, casting away the impending haze.
"You're not alone, Derek. Not as long as I can fight by your side."
"Angie. . . ."
He opened his eyes as she pushed him back up, keeping him steady as he regained his balance. He found his footing and looked over at the warmth that clung to him. Angie looked up at him, her arms still around his waist and her cheek against his shoulder. Her clear eyes pierced into his, a backdrop of focus holding in the compassion and faith swimming within them. "Dr. Stiles, we can save the patient."
Her voice stroked a tender balm over his nerves. He took a deep breath, feeling his inner tremors begin to settle. "Of course we can." he murmured back to her, smiling.
She stepped away from him, her warmth continuing to envelop where she had embraced him. "Angie, I'll continue chest compressions to stimulate a rhythm and you stand by with the defibrillator."
"Understood."
Derek pressed into his sternum, slightly nerved when he noticed that his complexion had turned as white as the sheet that covered him. He shook it off and focused on the procedure, pulling back when he heard Angie finish charging the paddles. She shocked him, his body giving another jerk, but the heart monitor stubbornly refused to trace away from its line. As they repeated the procedure, the electrocardiograph proved to be ever resilient, determined to continue its flawlessly straight drawing despite their efforts.
With Angie at his side, Derek courageously accepted the machine's challenge, refusing to back down as he continued pushing in the ribcage. However, his efforts seemed to be draining him, his own heartbeat growing weaker with each chest press he gave. He stopped, glancing down at his own chest as he felt the pulsing within it become feeble. He looked back at his unconscious double then back at Angie, who met him with a curious expression. "Angie, give me your hand."
She blinked. "Doctor?"
"Put the paddles away and give me your hand."
She did so in spite of the confusion on her face and Derek felt her soft hand warmly conform to his own. He pulled their hands into the patient's chest and slowly pressed their finger tips to it. The skin gave way, melting coolly under his touch, as did the muscle and cartilage beneath it. The now liquid flesh and bone had a silky but firm grip on their fingers. Through the muscle that parted for him, Derek felt the heart, cold and motionless, and he pressed her fingers to it. "Move with me, Angie."
He gently squeezed the heart as Angie's hand moved in time with his. Over and over they continued the compressions, feeling the tissue slowly warm in their grasp. Derek felt his own heart begin to flutter, growing stronger until the pulse of the organ pressed against their grip.
A single chime filled the air.
The electrocardiograph timidly chirped and broke the silence. It sang out an even, steady melody as the patient's heart began beating. The two removed their hands from the chest and the flesh quickly pooled to fill the crevices their fingers had left. Not a single scar was left when it had settled, and their hands were still clasped together.
Derek's own heart was hammering as he looked back at Angie. She sighed in relief as she returned his glance. "Derek . . ."
He squeezed her hand a little more tightly as he turned towards her. "As long as we're together, everything will be okay. You've taught me that." he whispered. She smiled as she felt him wrap an arm around her waist and pull her closer. He could vaguely feel her heart pound against his chest, the two organs beating as one. "Derek . . . I . ."
"Shhhh." he whispered again. The heart monitor continued beeping in the background as the air tensed around them. Derek's breath became shallow as he slowly moved in. Angie parted her lips slightly, her eyes closing as he tenderly kissed her. The two suckled on one another's sweet breath, the serene but passionate meeting of their lips intoxicating them both. They pulled away slowly and sighed, their content breaths giving way to chuckles as they noticed the blush on both of their faces.
"Angie . . . ugh . . ."
Derek stammered as his legs gave out again. Angie's arms were quickly back around him, carefully lowering him to the floor. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, I've just been . . . so tired lately . ."
Cradled his shoulders, she moved to sit behind him, resting his head in her lap. She looked down at him and gently placed her hands on his temples, running her thumbs through his hair. "It's all right. You've done so much . . ." she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Rest," her gentle words tickled his brow. "Just rest, and I'll take care of you."
Derek complied and smiled, closing his eyes as she continued to play with his hair, the feel of her soft fingers lulling him into a slumber.
-----
It was that same soothing tickle on his scalp which pulled him from his deep sleep. Derek leaned into the hand that rested on his temple, a heavy groan escaping him as his eyes opened. The gentle stroking stopped as a blurred figure leaned into his vision. Given his naturally bad eye sight, the medicine induced distorted shapes and colors around him did not make much difference. While it was not exactly helping him either, as the swirling figments tugging at the edges of his brain did nothing for his disorientation, he was able to feel through the abstract before him, knowing well who was at his side the moment he saw her.
"Dr. Stiles? Are you awake?"
"I'm awake, Angie." Derek murmured, his voice dripping heavily.
"Good, about time too." she breathed, a short but relieved chuckle following.
"Mmm, I wasn't asleep for that long, was I?"
"No, just a few hours, but you slept a little longer than we expected. How are you feeling?"
"I . . .. ugh . . ."
The room finally decided to stop spinning as he spoke, though the abrupt stop gave him a jolt of nausea. Derek grimaced as his stomach flipped and Angie was quick to alert. "What's wrong?! Are you all right?"
Derek bit his lip and waited for the nausea to pass, hoping that his stomach would calm down before he purged. Thankfully, it did just that, though the passing of the queasiness left him to realize just how much his chest hurt. He hissed as his hand came to rest over the bandage. Angie gasped slightly, her hand landing upon his, her voice silencing itself before she could ask if he was okay.
Their eyes locked. They stared at one another, lips barely parted as thin breath passed through them. "Angie . . ?"
She seemed startled when he called her name, but Angie remained gazing at him as she answered. "Derek?"
Derek pursed his lips, longing to press them against hers, to taste her sweet breath and hold her, just as he had in his dream. The electrocardiograph connected to him jumped, prompted him to blush as it blared out his skipping heart beat for all the world to hear. Angie broke of their stare as she looked at the monitor, furthering his embarrassment as he looked away. "I'm all right." he said. "I'm just a little overwhelmed by everything is . . ."
He stopped as he felt her fingers on his neck. "I . . . I understand." she said as she checked his pulse. "Things have been overwhelming for the both of us lately . . . I just want to . . ." Derek turned back to face her. " . . make sure . . ."
She was close. Very close. Their noses nearly touched as they returned to their staring match, the blush on Angie's face evident even with Derek's poor sight.
Kiss her!
Derek's mouth twitched in response to his mind's shout, but he found himself unable to close in. He could only keep taking in the gorgeous sight of her eyes and feel warm puffs of her breath on his face. "A . . . Angie?"
"Yes?"
"I'm glad that . . ." he swallowed. ". . .you were here to assist . . . with my operation. "
"I . . . I'm so glad that you're okay . . ." Her lips parted, ever so slightly, still pouring shallow streams from her mint lip gloss onto his own.
What. Are. You. Waiting. For? Kiss her already!
Shut up, voice in my head! You're making me nervous!
Geez! What are you, twelve? You're an adult! Kiss her!
All right! I'll do it! Just . . . get off my back!
He clenched his muscles, still reluctant even after his mental berating. He took a breath, forcing his way through his nerves as he began to push himself up . . .
The door opened.
Angie quickly got to her feet, diverting her glance to a wall as Derek settled back down, turning his head completely. Both had a suspicion that the blushes on their cheeks had radiated to epic levels, which was confirmed by Naomi's low chuckle. "I see that Stiles is awake. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." she smirked as she looked between the two of them. "Well, Director Miller wanted me to inform him when you regained consciousness, so I'll be leaving you to rest." She turned her silver eyes on the nurse. "Though I hate to interfere with your bedside vigil, Dr. Owens wanted you to check up on a few post-op patients."
"O-oh . . . yes, of course." Angie stammered before clearing her throat. "If you'll excuse me, Dr. Stiles."
"Huh?" He sheepishly looked back at her. "Oh. . . yeah . . ."
Naomi's chuckle returned, doing everything but helping them bleed the crimson from their faces. "Well, I have duties to attend to, as do you, Nurse Thompson. Get some rest, Dr. Stiles." She closed the door without another word, leaving the two to squirm under the thick static that formed. The stark red on their faces had faded to a more modest hue of pink, though each sound made seemed deafening against the dense quiet.
"Well, I'd better go see to those patients." Angie said, clearing her throat again.
"Yeah . . ."
"Do you . . . . do you need anything before I leave?"
"No, I'm fine . . . thanks."
"All right." She gathered up her clip board. "I'll check up on you when I'm finished."
"Right . . ."
They shared another glance, short lived as Angie excused herself. As the door clicked shut, Derek allowed his head to fall completely onto the pillow as he let out an aggravated groan.
Way to go, Stiles. Very suave . . . no stoppin' ya now.
He sighed as sarcastic claps echoed in his mind. His grumble soon gave way to a yawn as fatigue overcame him, pulling fiercely on his eye lids. He fought it a little, recalling that Director Miller would probably want a word with him upon hearing he had awoken from surgery, but he soon realized he was too disappointed to care. Besides, he could always wake up again later.
"Maybe next time. . ." he mumbled as he closed his eyes.
Assuming there is a next time, and you don't screw it up again . . .
"Shut up, voice." he slurred before passing from consciousness. At least, in his dreams, he could retreat to a plane where he could kiss his nurse boldly, press her warmth into him without anything getting in his way. So, he did just that, hoping for the day in which he could experience it in the waking world.
Someday . . . it was going to be amazing.
-----
A/N: Greetings from Mexico! Still on the lamb from the Stiles Protection Agency, but mostly from the winter chill. I'm sorry I'm such a desert rat, but 40 degrees is too cold for me! (gets laughed at from all the readers that can withstand mentioned temperatures without shaking like a Chihuahua)
Another request for the ever wonderful MoonCat, who wanted to read a story about operation 6-4 from Derek's POV. I also dedicate this to the everlasting awesomeness that is TCGeek, who needs some DxA fluff. She's right you know – there can never be enough Derek/Angie fluff!
Maybe this'll be enough for the SPA to drop charges against me, and I can return to the states.
I mentioned this on DeviantArt, but I made something of a revelation in New Blood. Dr. Kanao Tsuji looks almost exactly like me! It's kinda creepy but cool at the same time. She even has the same type of glasses I wear. Apparently, TCGeek looks like her too, but with lighter hair.
ROFL we are in the game. Hehehe . . .