Chapter 48 – The Family Doctor

She stared blankly at the marble floor, never taking notice to the patients that walked in and out, leaving and greeting their families, until she was the only one left in the waiting room. The nurse had noticed her from the start and, after being told about the situation, did her best to calm her down. Tea was given some coffee to drink (which she barely took a sip of before it turned cold), a blanket to keep warm with, and the nurse even asked if there was anything she could turn on, such as the television or radio, to keep her mind occupied. Tea had simply shaken her head no, thanking the woman for her kindness, before returning her gaze back to the floor.

It seemed to her as if eternity had passed since Seto was taken in, and yet there was still no word on what was going on. For all she knew, Seto could be—

"No!" she thought, narrowing her eyes as tears, for what seemed like the millionth time, began to surface. "He's NOT dead! He can't die! There's no way somebody like him can just die like that, protecting an innocent child from people we don't even know! He won't die! He's strong…too strong to just give up on life."

Sitting her chair, she slowly glanced over to the doorway, noting how nobody had entered in quite some time, only to be surprised by the view of night outside. "How long have I been here?" she thought as she looked down at her watch. It was seven at night…she had been sitting in this chair, staring at the same tile floor, thinking the same exact thoughts for three hours. "What's taking them so long?!" she wondered, eyes wide in shock and realization. "What's going on? Is he still in surgery? Is he okay? Is he just resting in some room, or is he…?"

As she thought this rather depressing thought, she heard a nearby door open to see a familiar face. "Dr. Kelan!" she exclaimed, standing up and running up to him. "What are you doing here?"

The doctor blinked in surprise before letting a small smile cross his face. "I'm here taking care of patients," he answered. "It's my job, you know?"

Tea blushed at her question and shook her head. "Sorry…I just have a lot on my mind."

"Your boyfriend, I presume?" Tea's head shot up like a bullet.

"I-Is he okay?" she stuttered, feeling her body begin to shake in worry and anxiety.

"Do you want to see him?" Dr. Kelan asked, making Tea's heart leap out of her chest.

"YES!" she shouted, grinning widely. "Does this mean he's okay?"

"Well…he's not awake," the doctor warned, bringing Tea's jubilation to a halt. "But he will be fine. We managed to get all the bullets out of his body, but he lost a rather large amount of blood as you can imagine. We've ascertained that he's not in a coma, however it will take him a good while to recover from his injuries."

Even though the news sounded bad, to Tea it was a miracle. "He's alive. That's all I needed to know. He's alive…and he'll be okay. Dr. Kelan wouldn't lie to me, would he?"

"Come on, I'll take you in the back to see him," Dr. Kelan stated, smiling at her before heading back through the doorway he had just come out of. Tea trailed right behind him, noticing several doctors walk by as they took a right down a large hallway. "I take it you've been sitting in that waiting room since he first arrived here?"

"Yeah… The secretary out there was nice enough to offer me something to drink as well as a blanket, but I wasn't really thinking about my health at that point."

"I couldn't imagine you were. I'm just happy to know that you care about him this much. When I first met you, I didn't know how far along the relationship really was." Stopping in front of a large window, he pointed inside and stated, "There he is."

Tea turned and gasped at the sight of him. His entire torso was covered in bandages, yet there was no breathing mask on his face, and he looked more alive than he had when they first strapped him onto the stretcher. "S-So h-he'll be okay?" Tea asked once more, pressing her hands against the window.

"He will be fine," the doctor stated sternly. "All he has to do is heal. I was actually shocked, to be perfectly honest, at how well he reacted to the surgery. We had to carefully remove all the bullets out of his back, which is generally a difficult procedure, yet he never once went into a critical state." Smirking over at her, he jokingly said, "Maybe he had somebody to live for here…"

"Hey, he always had Mokuba," Tea countered, blushing at the doctor's words.

"True, true…"

A moment of silence lasted between the two, Tea staring at Seto and Dr. Kelan glancing between the two, when a sudden noise made both of them jump in surprise. Tea quickly took her cell phone out of her pocket and frowned at the caller ID. Answering it, she said, "This is Tea."

"TEA!" Mokuba shouted into the phone. "What the heck!? What happened!? Jade told me something big happened at the orphanage and that Seto was taken to the hospital and now I don't know if he's alright or not do you know if he's—"

"Mokuba, calm down," Tea interrupted, surprised that the boy hadn't run out of air during his outburst. "Seto is fine. I… I'll explain what happened to you later. I'll come over and visit once I'm done here."

"So… Seto's alright?"

"Yes. At least that's what Dr. Kelan stated."

"Dr. Kelan's there?!"

"Yeah. I'm standing right next to him. Do you want to talk to him?" The doctor's eyebrows raised as Tea handed the phone over to him. He quickly took it and placed it next to his ear.

"This is Dr. Kelan….. Oh, Mokuba. It's you… No, no. Your brother suffered some fatal injuries, but don't worry…. Yes, he'll be fine, I assure you….." Tea soon tuned out their conversation and noticed the doctor begin pacing. Figuring he was busy trying to calm down the younger Kaiba brother, she grasped the cold doorknob and slowly opened the door, walking into the room that the older Kaiba brother now rested in.

The air became extremely thick as she gradually made it to the side of the bed. She could hear his breathing, making her smile and sit down on the edge of the bed, before placing her hand on his, which rested in his lap. Grasping it tightly, she whispered, "You're going to be okay. Just…wake up soon, okay?" She didn't expect a reaction, but it was still slightly depressing when none came. Letting go of his hand, she reached up to caress his cheek, which was slightly cold. She brushed several strands of his hair out of his face only for them to fall back over his eyes. Chuckling, she thought aloud, "You're stubborn even when you're out cold."

"What are you doing in here?" Dr. Kelan suddenly asked jokingly, making Tea spin around to see him enter the room. "Nah, it's okay. I figured you would want in here eventually. I just wanted to see how long it took you to ask."

"Sorry," she whispered, returning her attention to Seto.

"Don't be. It's perfectly natural that you want to see him, especially after something as tragic as this. Here…" Reaching out, Tea took the phone from his hand and placed it back in her pocket. "That boy was obviously worried sick about his brother. I'm glad I could clear up the situation with him, even though I don't know what happened…and if you could, would you explain to me?"

"Explain what?" Tea asked.

"Why my favorite patient came in with four bullets in his back."

"Four?!"

"Yes; there were four bullets lodged in his back." Tea's heart sank; she thought he was only shot once. Not that it made it any better, but still… "Well? What happened?"

Noticing the change of tone in the doctor's voice, Tea cleared her throat and said, "We… Jade called and informed us that a car chase was occurring and that it was heading in the direction of the orphanage after she left to get something to eat. We've been moving and packing boxes over the past couple of days, and today was supposed to basically be our last day before the kids move to the new orphanage. Both Seto and I went outside to get the kids back in. The kids were just walking back, and we didn't push them along since we didn't want to make them scared of the situation, when the same car that caused his last injury slowly came by. Seto…ran in front of Lilith and protected her as the driver began shooting at the orphanage." She noticed the doctor's eyes widen considerably at this. "Lilith was fine, but he… Seto suffered for her."

Letting out a long sigh, Dr. Kelan slowly walked over to the bedside and placed a hand on his Seto's shoulder. "I see…" he whispered. "Thank you for telling me. That clears up an awful lot."

"At least he'll be alright. That's all I care about."

"Now you two can relate." Tea blinked and glanced up at the doctor. "You both have seen what bullets can do."

Tea let out a long sigh before shaking her head. "Seto will survive…hopefully."

"He will," Dr. Kelan interrupted. "I'll make sure of it."

"Yeah, but… I mean, it's not the same. I know Seto is in good hands. But…Sophie…"

"Did he ever tell you what happened to Sophie?" Instead of answering, Tea simply nodded her head. "I guess it isn't the same, but still… It won't be easy to forget."

"Nothing this tragic ever is. We just have to live with it."

Dr. Kelan chuckled and looked over at her. "You really are nothing like Seto. You understand that you have to keep pushing forward, keep moving on in life, no matter what hardships befall you. Seto… It took an awful lot for him to learn that lesson. But I can't blame him. With all the hardships he's had, it would be difficult to keep getting up and pressing on. But who knows? Maybe you'll be able to teach him that lesson." Tea smiled before accidentally letting a yawn escape through her lips. "Tired?"

"Just a little, even though it's not that late."

"You should probably get some rest. I'm sure sitting in that waiting room for three hours didn't do much for you."

"Yeah… I guess. Though I do have one question for you." The doctor's eyebrow quirked at this, making her chuckle. "When did you start considering Seto your 'favorite' patient?"

Dr. Kelan laughed and shook his head. "Oh, it's a long story… The main thing was that I knew what Gozaburo did to him, and I helped him out through it. I knew what would happen if I revealed this fact, so it was our little secret, I guess you could call it. As I said before, I have been the Kaiba family's doctor for twenty years now. I knew Gozaburo wasn't the friendliest man, and when Seto and Mokuba showed up, I became rather curious. It was only later that I found out the man had been beaten by a child at a game of chess, his forte in life, and I knew that Seto was a remarkably bright kid. He and I became good friends; I tended to his wounds every time Gozaburo harmed him, and in return, he promised to keep pushing on. I don't mean to sound conceited, but Seto told me after the whole episode with Sophie that he looked up to me as a father rather than Gozaburo, and that if it hadn't been for me, he probably wouldn't have gone on with the torture he had to endure any longer."

"Wow…"

"He's a good kid," Dr. Kelan concluded. "And I admit that at times I think of him as my own child, since I basically took care of him like a father would." Tea slowly nodded in understanding before yawning once again. "What, did I bore you?" he asked jokingly.

"No, no!" she exclaimed, waving her hands back and forth. "I'm just really exhausted, is all. But thank you for telling me that. I think I should head home now anyway. I need to call Jade up and inform her on Seto's condition."

"Tell her he'll be fine," Dr. Kelan instructed. "And if you could, visit Mokuba before heading home and calm him down. I'm sure he's still distraught over Seto."

"No problem." Standing up, Tea shook the doctor's hand and smiled. "Thank you for taking care of him once again."

"It's my job, Tea," he replied. "And it is no trouble whatsoever."

Letting go of his hand, Tea nodded once more before walking out of the room, down the hallway, and into the waiting room before pulling her phone out. "Alright. First I'll call Jade, and then I'll head home and calm down Mokuba. Geez…and I thought I was already exhausted…" Smirking, she thought, "It's better delivering good news than bad news…so I can't complain."