-14-
„I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom."
- Bob Dylan (1941 - )
„If God lived on earth, people would break his windows."
Jewish Proverb
„There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?"
- Woody Allen (1935 - )
"So…what causes a feint and tachycardia?" Sasuke asked while writing on the whiteboard.
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Karin asked.
"If I wasn't sure, you'd be still asleep" Sasuke retorted "now, seriously, people, I need differential"
"Stress, tiredness, could be environmental" Shikamaru threw a guess.
"She should be working like a mule to get to this stage and so sudden" Sasuke shot it down "what else?"
"Couldn't she have had a partial seizure?" Temari suggested.
"It would explain everything except why she had it"
"Infection?"
"Not without a fewer"
"Hypotension" Temari threw a guess.
"Possible" Sasuke wrote the possibility on the board "but what's triggering it?"
"Could be genetic"
"If it was, I would know" Sasuke stated "she doesn't have a single family member with even a factor of this"
"Myocardium thrombosis" Karin suggested.
"And the trigger for this goes back to environment" Sasuke sighed and rubbed his forehead "ok, Temari and Shikamaru, go to her home, search for anti-depressants and anything that can be connected to her having severe heart failure"
"Roger that" Temari and Shikamaru stood up to leave.
"Karin, do an echo of her heart. If you see no abnormalities, do an angiogram"
"You do realize that her heart almost stopped few hours ago and now it's beating faster than drums in a hard rock concert. It could damage her incurably"
"I know that" Sasuke sighed "but if we don't do anything, she'll have a real infarct. Her BP is still high, her heart wouldn't stop racing. Although angiogram is dangerous, we can't go on with differential or curing"
"At least let me do the blood work" Karin stood up and closed to Sasuke "she may have something else triggering her symptoms, like…bacterial infection that binds with blood cells and her heart just wasn't able to pump it. Those kinds don't present with a fewer"
"Cultures wouldn't grow fast enough"
"I'll go for the most common ones" Karin raised a hand when she saw Sasuke wanting to say something else "listen, I get it that Naruto's your best friend and his girlfriend is everything to him. But…don't go too far. It's because he's your best friend you should take the safe course" they stood in silence for a while, then Sasuke nodded.
"Alright, go do the blood work. But do an echo too"
"Gotcha"
-x-
Sasuke found Naruto sitting in front of the ICU, looking straight at Hinata through the glass. The woman was paler than usual and even though she was sleeping, her face was tense.
"You should go home and have a nap" the Uchiha stated "Hinata won't be pleased if she sees you looking like crap" Sasuke sat down beside his friend and also looked at her.
"Can't leave her" Naruto said with a little sad smile "I'm afraid that if I miss something it might be too late"
"Aren't you an optimist?" Sasuke rolled eyes "you were the one who said I needed to be inflicted with optimism" he sighed "look, I need to know if Hinata's behavior has changed recently. Anything that would catch your eye as abnormal"
"I don't know. Nothing" Naruto shrugged "she would wake up in the middle of the night out of the blue, but…don't everybody?"
"How long has it been going on?"
"I don't know…a week or two. You think it's relevant?"
"Good question. I think it might be" Sasuke threw a glance at Hinata's pale face "her heart rate was slowly increasing and when it would spike harder, she would even wake up"
"But where did that come from? These things happen because of stress. And she wasn't in any stressful situations"
"I know. That's what makes me think it's something deeper. A heart problem. We'll know more after an angiogram"
"But…if her heart's beating too fast…" Naruto widened his eyes at Sasuke.
"I know. But…if we won't see what's inside her heart, this could lead to her heart stopping"
Silence.
Man, that's akward! Having your own friend as a patient's family sucks. And especially when he's a doctor and knows all the possible risks and pains and all the stuff families shouldn't know about. No matter that, I have to save her. No matter what. People like her do not deserve to die before watching their children even being born.
"Do what you need" Naruto finally said and turned back to ICU "I know you can make it"
"Thanks" Sasuke said shortly and walked away from him.
-x-
2 hours later…
Sakura walked into the hospital and headed straight to the elevators.
I hope she's alright. Damn! There was absolutely nothing wrong with her yesterday. What happened? And how? Did she get hurt or something? I wanna know and now.
Sakura walked out of the elevator and headed straight to Sasuke's office. She found him there: worried till his bone marrow.
"Hey" she said silently "how is it going?"
"Not exactly the way I would want" he answered, looking straight at the whiteboard in front of him.
"How is she?"
"Worse" Sasuke sighed "when she woke up, she had pains all over her body that were coming out of the blue. I have no idea what this is. And I can't just tell that to Naruto"
"Hey, you're not giving up on this, are you?" Sakura closed to him and put her hand on his shoulder, leaning her chin on it "you're going to make it, right?"
"I wish I could say yes" Sasuke said in a whisper.
At that moment, Karin walked in with a paper in her hand.
"Are those results of the angiogram?" Sasuke asked instantly. Sakura took a step away from him.
"You can forget about that" Karin stated, brushing her red hair from the forehead. Sasuke took the paper and his eyes widened.
"Is this…for real?" he asked.
"Oh yeah. I double-checked"
"Holy crap" Sasuke cursed.
"What's wrong? Is she getting worse?" Sakura instantly asked.
"In a way that's called 'we're gonna watch her die'" Sasuke explained, biting the nail of his little finger while looking and re-looking at the paper.
"Why? Is she allergic?"
"Worse" Sasuke stated and looked straight into Sakura's eyes "she's pregnant"
Sakura was left mouth opened. All three stood in silence for a while, not really knowing what to do.
"Will you…tell Naruto?" Karin finally broke the akward moment.
"Forget it. I need to speak with Hinata first" Sasuke stated "from now on, it's her call"
"But Naruto has a right to know as well" Sakura frowned at Sasuke "maybe he will freak out for a while, but…he's a doctor too"
"I know, but we will only let him know if Hinata agrees. Things are getting a little complicated. We need to get consent for the angiogram and Naruto will never sign it under these circumstances"
"But, the angiogram can damage the baby, maybe even risk a miscarrying it and never having children again"
"Technically, it's only fetus" Sasuke retorted and turned around to leave.
"You can't just force her into procedure like this!" Karin objected.
"Says who?" Sasuke stopped at the mid-door "Sakura, go and get Naruto lost for a while. Karin, go prepare the room for the angiogram. Let's hope Shikamaru and Temari won't be late for the party" and he left.
"He's impossible" Karin sighed.
"Is he always so reckless with his patients?" Sakura asked.
"Well…usually. But I didn't expect him to be this reckless on this one" she sighed again "guess…I'll be going. I hope Tsunade won't find out about this little stunt"
-x-
Sasuke sat in front of sleeping HInata for already a half an hour, looking to her tense, pale face. Hope you're ready for this. Just hang in there. Naruto needs you. The woman started moving and slowly opened her lavender eyes.
"Hey" she whispered weakly "how come you're here?"
"I'm your doctor. You're my patient" Sasuke shrugged "where else would I be?"
"That's not…like you" Hinata smiled sadly "what's wrong with me?"
"I wish I knew" Sasuke leaned forward in the chair "you probably have a heart problem, which I cannot confirm without an angiogram"
"Why wouldn't you just do it?"
"Your heart rate is very high, which makes it more difficult and dangerous to do. And there's something else" Sasuke looked straight at her eyes. Hinata looked back at him and bit her lower lip.
"Is it bad?"
"In your situation…yeah. You're pregnant"
Silence.
Damn! Why is every time I announce that a woman is pregnant, the akward silence follows? Is it a part of some ritual or something? I don't get this at all. But maybe I'll just leave this to psychologists to write majors about.
"But…that's not possible" Hinata whispered, tears pearling down her cheeks "I…I was on birth control pills and…"
"They're never one hundred percent safe. And one unplanned night without a condom can change…everything" Sasuke sighed mutedly "if the angiogram is successful, both, you and that little life inside of you will live…that is, if there's something wrong with your heart"
"How dangerous?" Hinata breathed out in teary, suffocating voice.
"Worst case scenario: you won't be able to have children ever"
Silence again. Hinata rose her hand slowly and covered her tearful eyes with it. She stayed like that for a while, then lowered her head back to her side and looked at Sasuke.
"Does Naruto know?"
"Not yet. But we are obliged to inform him. Not that he doesn't know about dangers of angiogram for pregnant women"
"He'll freak out, won't he?" Hinata smiled sadly, closing her eyes "he'd always chicken out I there's something might be wrong with me. Always taking the safest possible course" she sighed heavily "do the angiogram. Let me sign the consent form. Tell Naruto when I'm in the procedure room"
"Alright" Sasuke nodded and stood up "don't forget to live on. He needs you" he said before leaving.
I know, Sasuke, I know…how he needs me.
-x-
"He can't be serious" Temari stated, when she and Karin were washing their hands, preparing for the angiogram "he can't just talk her into this"
"How long you were working with the infamous ass, Sasuke Uchiha?" Karin asked in rhetorical manner "not only will he talk her into this, I won't be surprised he'd talk her into open heart surgery with baby in her womb" both women sighed.
"Does Tsunade know?" Temari asked when they entered the procedure room, where Shikamaru was working on monitors.
"Hopefully not. If everything goes well, she won't even need to know" Karin shrugged. The door opened again and four nurses brought in Hinata, lying in bed. They put her on procedure desk and one of them came to Shikamaru.
"Doctor Nara, we were informed that neither the patient's family nor Doctor Tsunade knows anything about this"
"Then make things stay that way as along as possible" Shikamaru warned her "we don't need scandals around here. But stay on alert"
"Yes, Doctor Nara" and she left along with the rest. Temari prepared for the procedure.
"Ready?" she asked to Hinata.
"I guess so" she answered in a weak voice.
"We can't sedate you on this, but we did put you on sedative, to decrease your heart rate as much as possible" she explained calmly "when I'm going to insert the catheter through your thigh's artery, you might feel a little pinch, but after that, no pain is expected, maybe just a little pulling sensation, ok?"
"Ok"
"Let's start" Temari sighed and exchanged looks with her colleagues: they both nodded.
"Sedating the insertion area and…inserting the catheter"
"Don't forget to breathe" Shikamaru warned Temari and removed sweat from her forehead.
"Thanks. Moving on through the pancreas area and moving up"
"Still ok?" Karin checked Hinata's pulse.
"So far" the woman whispered.
"Good. If you have problem talking, don't worry. It's the sedatives we gave you before the procedure" Hinata nodded and closed her eyes.
"Reached the lungs and going up to the heart"
"Here comes the big moment" Karin noted and fixed her look at the monitor, showing Hinata's arteries, dyed in darker color.
Suddenly, the life-monitoring equipment gone off, beeping and showing heart rate going down.
"What did you do?" Shikamaru looked at Temari.
"Nothing. I didn't even entered the heart"
"You must've done something!" Sasuke's voice flew through the room as he walked in.
"My chest…hurts" Hinata breathed out. Sasuke touched her neck, checking for pulse. His eyes then almost fell out of their orbs.
"Wow. You have…no pulse and you're still talking. That's one way to keep on living as I asked"
"Uchiha, get serious!" Shikamaru yelled at him, already doing respiration on her heart.
"Hinata, cough. And keep doing that. Push blood to your brain"
"Will…I…die…?" she asked between coughing.
"Good question. I already began to doubt that" within those words Hinata passed out. Karin put an airbag on her mouth and began pumping air.
"We need to put her on by pass if we can't restart her heart" Temari said, looking at the monitor.
"If we do, the thing that's killing her heart will be in her brain"
"So you just want us to keep her on respiration until you figure this out, or what?" Sasuke thought for a while.
"Yeah, that should work" he shrugged and walked out of the room.
"He's not serious, right?" Temari kept looking at the door, which was still swaying in and out.
"Oh I think he is" Karin said, still pumping the air.
"We gotta keep her here" Shikamaru said, still pushing her heart up and down "go get some staff"
"Right" Temari ran out of the room.
"What about the fetus?" Karin instantly asked.
"That" Shikamaru answered shortly "is a very good question"
--
A/N: So…cliffhanger again. Well, I think I might be getting used to that :DDDD I suppose I should explain many of the terms here…well, angiogram is like…using dye to see abnormalities in arteries and veins and even capillary, especially in organs. It's done through a contraption, kinda similar to x-ray, but it can show everything on the spot. What else…I think we all know what tachycardia is…oh well, it's increased heart rate. Hmmm….what else…myocardium thrombosis happens when heart's muscles are damaged by other causes like…neurological or lung diseases. Hypotension…how can I put this…it's when heart muscle intensity is decreased…causes…well, it's even a longer story, wait for other chapter :DDDDD ok, thanks for reviews, really, I was impressed how people are still reading, even with my rushed and incomplete writing "stile"…again, all flames to my employer :DDDD really, thank you very much ;)))