After the very stressful birthday they had, the following morning found them going back to the hospital; damn jobs. But the money always helps. Ayumi had gone to her daughter's apartment and gotten her things for work as well as a clean pair of scrubs. Kagome didn't really like the color that she had gotten, but she thanked her all the same. Inuyasha had gotten up and did his morning routine of working out while Kagome got ready. Kagome had made a small breakfast for them and brewed some coffee. They filled some thermoses and they left for the hospital.

As soon as they walked in the door, it was complete chaos! Every bed was filled and they heard a three car pile-up was coming in. They quickly stashed their belongings in their lockers and made their way to the charts. It seemed that everyone came in was sick with the same thing; looked like the flu was here early… Then the accident came in; thank Kami that all of them had minor injuries. But all of them still needed to be seen and discharged.

It was close to two in the afternoon and they were still coming in. As soon as one patient would leave another one took its place. Kagome felt like screaming. She looked over at the charts that needed attending to and she sighed. "One patient at a time; one patient at a time…" She kept saying in the back of her mind; trying to calm herself down. But then she could feel herself losing to her anxiety. She used her breathing techniques and they weren't working. Looking around seeing neither doctors nor nurses, she stood up on shaky legs. Feeling a wave of nausea and dizziness hit her all at once, she leaned up against the wall. Catching her breath and her balance she walked slowly towards the doctor's lounge. As she continued walking she felt lightheaded and fell up against the wall to catch herself. 'If I can get to the lounge I can get some juice and a protein bar. Then I can take another anxiety pill… I need… to get…there…' Steadying herself she pushed herself up from the wall. She didn't care who saw her anymore, she just needed to get there. Ten more feet… She finally reached the door. Punching in the code she turned the knob and entered the lounge. And that's all she remembered…

"Okay Mr. Shu, can you tell me when the pain started?"

Inuyasha listened to his patient explain with gasping breathes that his chest pain started just hours ago and he became very short of breath. He also noted that his heart rate was faster than the average adult. He sighed.

"I'm going to order a dose of nitro-glycerin and have a cardiac workup done. Also I'm going to order a Cat Scan of your chest to check for anything wrong. Usually with these types of symptoms to come on as quickly as they did is troublesome. You should be heading over there within the next few minutes. We have to start an IV for your test so Vicky will be in shortly. Also for your test, I need you not to eat or drink anything until you come back from radiology. I'm going to start you on some IV blood thinners and something for pain. Are you allergic to anything?"

Hearing his patient tell him that he was allergic to penicillin and codeine, he marked those down. He stood up and patted the man's leg. "I'll come back and check on you shortly."

"Thank you Dr. Tashio…" the patient gasped and smiled slightly; knowing he was in good hands.

He left the patient's room with his chart. Sighing he looked down at his watch. It was almost two-thirty. Everyone was running around doing something. There were so many patients in fact that management had to call in extra bodies. He walked back up to the nurse's station and called over his patient's nurse. "Vicky, I need you to go start an 18 gauge IV on Mr. Shu in room 33. Also get him started on a cardiac panel and get me a consent form for me to fill out for CT."

"Yes Sir." She went to the supply closet with everything she needed; grabbing a free lab tech on her way she made her way to the patient's room.

Inuyasha sat down at his computer and brought up his patient's chart. He ordered a chest CT for ruling out PE's, chest x-ray, EKG, CBC, BMP, Blood O2 levels, nitro-glycerin and low dose aspirin to get started with. He made sure to put in his notes that the chest CT was to be done first. He sent the orders and leaned back in his chair. Rubbing his eyes all the wanted to do was rest for a few minutes.

"Dr Tashio? Here is the consent form you asked for."

He looked up to see Vicky looking at him with a piece of paper in her hands. He took it and signed his name to the form making him solely responsible for his patient to have the Cat Scan. "Thanks Vicky."

"You're welcome Dr. Tashio. I was only able to get a 20 gauge in him. I still think CT can do their test with that size…"

Inuyasha nodded. "They can. Just let me know when the results get in. Hopefully we should have some results within the hour."

She nodded at went back to duties. He sighed again. Taking up another chart to review he started working on discharging an elderly woman with a sprained ankle. "Hara, Mrs. Toranodda in room 12 is ready to be discharged. I've written some prescriptions for pain…"

Hara, a young nurse came over and took the chart from him and smiled. "I'm sure she's glad to be going home. Even with a minor injury like that, she's been here for hours…"

He sighed. "Tell her I apologize for any delays."

Hara smiled. "She knows already. She's a very understanding lady… She told me she was a NICU nurse for many years…"

He laughed and sighed relieved. If only all of his patients knew how busy an ER could get. "I'm sure the old bird knows Kaede…"

Hara laughed. "Actually both of them were in school together!"

Inuyasha laughed again. "Well, tell her thank you for understanding and to keep off that ankle and ice it for no more than thirty minutes at a time"

"Will do Doc!" She walked away to carry out his orders.

Inuyasha looked around and saw that some of his patients were thinning out. He smiled. He got up to check on triage.

He walked up the front of the ER and saw a couple of people waiting. He nudged one of the nurses and got her attention. "How are things Eri?"

She looked up and smiled. "Well I'm not going to say anything… But right now, the only thing checking in is a 'boil on butt.'"

Inuyasha smiled. "Well looks like one of the PA's can get that one. Thanks again Eri"

He walked out of triage decided to go the long way back to the nurse's station. As he walked by the lounge he noticed something out of place; something that didn't smell right. He walked up to the lounge door, punched in the code and opened. He was suddenly immersed in Kagome's sweet cherry blossom and vanilla scent but also he had a gut feeling something was wrong. He opened it fully and called out for her. "Kagome…?" Nothing.

He went in saw his mate-to-be on the floor, passed out cold. He ran to her side. "Kagome?!" He shook her, she didn't move. He got up and opened the door. "Eri! Get down here now!"

He went back into the lounge and picked Kagome up carefully, noticing a small pool of blood under her head. 'Shit!'

"Dr Tashio?! What's going… Oh Kami! What happened?!" She asked help while she opened the door wide for him to pass with his precious cargo.

"I don't know! I just walked in and found her like this! Run to the nurse's station and get Miroku and Vicky. Is there a patient in room one?!"

"N-no! There isn't!"

"Meet me there!" He said running towards the trauma room. He made it there before anyone else. He gently laid her down on the gurney. "Kagome!? Kagome baby wake up!" he said shaking her. "Come on wake up!" He heard Miroku, Vicky and Eri run in all in shock.

He suddenly turned from worried boyfriend to skilled doctor. "I need vitals, EKG, labs, IV's in both arms and a beside glucose! Once we get her stabilized we can get her to CT! She hit her head when she passed out!"

Miroku and Vicky went to go get everything he needed, Eri was strapping tourniquets on one of her arms to start her IV's and Hara came in and started taking vitals. Inuyasha started up the EKG machine, pulling leads off the machine and placing them in the appropriate spots on Kagome's body. Next he put a nasal cannula on her nose give some oxygen.

"Blood pressure is 175 over 95; pulse ox is at 92%; pulse is at 120!" Hara called to Vicky who was now back with the bags of sodium chloride for the IV's, starting to chart everything that went on.

"Shit! Where the fuck is that glucose meter?!"

Miroku ran in with the meter, "Here Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha took the needle from the meter and got it ready. "Alcohol swab!" He took her small hand in his and swabbed one of her fingers, taking the needle and pricked it, letting her blood bead onto it. "Miroku give me that damn thing!"

"Here; up and running." With much steadier hands than he thought he had, he let the strip touch her blood and it beeped when it had enough. He gave it back to Miroku and waited. Taking her finger into his mouth he licked it to make it stop bleeding; he did it instinctively and didn't take notice of the other's in the room. They looked on shocked at the intimate act; as little as it was. The glucose meter went off and Miroku gasped, "This can't be right?!"

"What?!"

"It gave me an error! Either the strip was defective or… or her levels are too low for the meter to measure it!"

"FUCK! Get me a glucagon shot now!" Eri ran out of the room to get the shot, Vicky took note. Then he started to see something he wished he'd never see…

"She's seizing!" He immediately jumped on her flailing body, trying to hold her head as steady as he could while trying to hold down her body with his heavier one. "Someone hold her arms down! We don't want to lose those IV's! MIROKU! Where the hell is the glucagon?!"

"Got it! Someone hold her thigh still!" Inuyasha put more of his weight on top of her and saw Vicky and Eri both come help stabilize her thigh. He watched Miroku stab her with the needle and injected the medicine. He continued to restrain her till her body went lax.

"VITALS!" he roared.

"Blood pressure 160 over 85; pulse ox is at 96%; pulse rate is at 95… I think she's stabilizing…"

"Get me another bedside glucose!"

He saw Miroku come up to Kagome's hand and prick her finger again. Placing her blood on the test strip and waiting for it to beep was the longest minute that Inuyasha waited for anything; it seemed like an eternity!

Hearing it beep he waited on baited breath. "Well?!"

Miroku sighed with a slight smile. "It's up to 42… She still has a long way to go…"

He looked down at her face and saw her eyes fluttering. Hearing her groan he called, "Kagome?"

She turned unfocused eyes to him and looked at him weirdly. She sighed and closed her eyes again. He sighed, carefully removed his body from hers and stood on shaky legs; grabbing hold of the bars on her gurney for some stability. "Keep her on fluids for now and check her blood glucose in a few minutes. Check her vitals every five minutes for the next thirty minutes, then every fifteen after that. Get her undressed and give her a foley… I'll be back in a few minutes to check on her." With that he left the three nurses in charge. Miroku followed after him.

Inuyasha fled to one of the rooms on the back hall; one of the ones he knew was sound proof. He went in and slammed the door. He banged the back of his head on the closed door and slid down to sit on the cold floor. He could feel the adrenaline start to go away and now all that was left was despair. He let his tears fall freely. Holding his head in his hands, he sobbed. He did this to her; if he had done everything properly, they wouldn't be in this situation. She wouldn't be lying in a room, hooked up to these machines, slowly dying.

He felt more than heard the door knock. He scooted away from the door and he heard whoever it was come in. Smelling who it was, he was glad and livid at the same time. "So, Miroku called eh?"

He older man sighed. "This is my ER after all…"

Inuyasha looked up at his mentor and fought tears. He could cry by himself, but not in front of anyone; it showed weakness.

"Kaito, I fucked up; I fucked up everything!"

He looked at his protégé with sadness. He hated to see anyone he knew and loved in this much agony. He sighed again. Placing a comforting hand on the young hanyou's shoulder he looked him straight in the eye. "You and Kagome are both on medical leave until further notice. You both are some of the greatest doctors I have ever had under my belt. Even though this was your mate-to-be you showed great knowledge and restraint on your part… I could not have been more proud of you Inuyasha…"

Inuyasha let a tear leak out. He knew what Kaito said was sincere and other than his parents, he was the only other person alive to ever say that he was proud of him. He was also thankful for him understanding how dire the situation was. "Thank you…"

The older doctor patted his shoulder, smiling. "Come let us go check on your mate…"

Inuyasha was helped up by his mentor, wavering slightly as he stood on shaky legs. Kaito was worried but he didn't show it. Inuyasha stood there for a minute, got himself together and they both walked into Kagome's room. She was undressed of her scrubs and was dressed in a hospital gown, a catheter was placed and her vitals were still improving. He whined as he saw her all hooked up. Kaito patted his shoulder once again. "I'm taking over your other patients for the day. Anything you need to catch me up on?"

Inuyasha took one last look at his mate and showed the older doctor all of the patients he still had, told him his action plans for each of them and what he had already done.

Kaito was, once again, so proud of his protégé; he taught him so well. "I will take it from here. I'll order a head CT on Kagome and get you a suture kit to close up her wound."

Inuyasha nodded his head and went back into her room. He sat in a chair beside her bed and waited for radiology. He looked at his watch and scoffed at it; it was only a little after three…

Kagome's head CT came back normal; except for the large hematoma on the outside of her skull where her head hit the floor in the lounge. After she returned from radiology, Inuyasha cleaned and sutured her scalp. Now he waited for her to wake. Miroku or Kaito, he didn't know which, maybe both of them, called his and her family. Toga and Izy were there first followed very closely behind Ayumi.

"What happened?!" Ayumi had never seen her daughter this sick before. She looked at Inuyasha for answers.

He looked longingly to her prone form; waiting for any sign that she was waking. Her blood sugar was still low but it was steadily coming up. He had ordered an intravenous dextrose solution about an hour ago. "Her sugar got too low…" He said matter-of-factly.

Ayumi sighed. Walking over to her daughter's side she moved some of her bangs that fell over her eyes. "I have told her many times to keep something with her! Even in her pocket! Why she never listens to me I have no idea!"

Inuyasha sighed again; this time on the edge of tears. "That's the thing though. We had lunch one hour before all this started… Her body either burned all of the sugar off that quickly or…" He looked to his parents, knowing what was really going on. "Or something else…"

"What do you mean something else?! What's wrong with my daughter?!" Ayumi was close to hysterics.

Toga then stepped up; knowing his son couldn't explain it well at the moment. "Ayumi how about us three go out and talk. Let's leave the pups alone for a few…"

Ayumi looked to the three on them in awe and confusion. "O-okay?"

Inuyasha heard them leave and rested he head on her bed. He felt so drained. Maybe this was his adrenaline running out or, maybe he was starting to succumb as well…

Kagome was starting to wake into her surroundings. She felt heavy and had a monster of a headache. Groaning she tried to open her eyes immediately being blinded by very bright light. She tried again, successful this time. Looking around she saw she was in an ER room and a whole bunch of beeping machines all around her. Confused she looked down and saw all of the IV's and tubes. She started pulling at them but none of them gave way, she was so tired. Then she heard someone come in; she looked at him confused for a minute. She saw him rush to her and hold her hands down. Why was he doing this? What was wrong with her?!

"Kagome stop! You're going to hurt yourself!" Inuyasha looking into her blue eyes hoping she would understand. Her eyes said it all though; she was still half way out of it. So he spoke to her like any other patient coming out of a diabetic coma…"Kagome calm down! You are in the hospital and you are very sick and we're trying to help you!"

She stopped trying to get away from him and actually looked at this person holding her down. She looked up and saw something familiar. Doggie ears? Who had doggie ears? She thought about it and whispered, "Inuyasha?"

He sighed; finally she was coming around. "Yeah baby; it's me…" he said rubbing her hand with his thumb as she still held her down.

She looked at him and smiled a little. Then she felt something horrible. It felt like her head was splitting open. Closing her eyes tightly, she groaned.

"Are you in pain?" She heard him whisper. She shook her head slightly telling him.

He pushed the nurse's button on the wall. "How can I help you?"

"This is Dr. Tashio, I need a 4mg dose of morphine in room one please."

"You got it doc" he sighed. 'Hara? What is she still doing here?'

He went back to Kagome's side; running his hands through her hair trying to get her to calm down. She was breathing heavily trying to control the pain she was having. Groaning again, she started to cry; nothing was helping. "Inu…" she cried pitifully.

Inuyasha was still running his fingers through her hair trying to give her the comfort she needed; it sickened him to no end that he couldn't help her more. He looked up as Hara came in with a syringe and vial. "You want to administer it? Or should I?"

He sighed. "I'll do it…"

He pulled the medicine from the syringe and put it in one of her lines. He injected a small amount waiting for a few minutes before the rest to be administered. He knew some nurses didn't care about giving their patients more of a headache by administering the entire amount of morphine at one time; but not him. He injected it properly; small amounts over a span of five minutes. He looked down and saw Kagome relax. She sighed deeply; so did he.

Hara watched him administer the morphine; one, because it was a narcotic and she needed to witness it and two because she couldn't look away. She saw something in him that she thought she would never see again…was it love and affection she saw in his eyes? For Kagome whom he met only a few months ago? She smiled; finally, he was with someone that made him feel whole. "Hmm?" She missed a question from him.

"I asked why you were still here? Your shift ended an hour ago…"

She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I was needed here… Call me if you need anything."

He nodded and she left. Inuyasha looked down at Kagome's prone form; she was still awake. He sat beside her and took one of her hands into his. She opened her eyes and sighed. "Feel better?"

She nodded her head. Licking her dry lips she spoke. "Inu? What happened?"

He sighed; he really did not want to relive one of the most frightening things of his life, but she had to know… "What was the last thing you remember?"

She thought about it. She remembered getting up and stumbling to the lounge; then it got black. "I remember trying to get to the lounge to take some medicine and get some juice. Everything after that is a blur…"

Inuyasha was shocked, but he didn't show it. "Didn't you take the pills this morning?"

She nodded. She looked up into his amber eyes and a few tears leaked out. "I'm sorry…"

He rubbed her cheek. Leaning up he gave her a kiss on the lips that left her breathless. "Don't be; I'm just glad you were here…" He rested his forehead to hers and closed his eyes listening to her. Her heartbeat, her breathing, her scent; she was still with him and he wasn't going to take that for granted anymore.

He sighed again. Leaning up he looked at her seriously. "Look at me baby…" She opened her eyes again; he saw she was getting sleepy. "Dr. Yamamoto put us both on medical leave until further notice… No, don't! It's not up for discussion…" he said when she was about to protest. He sighed. "We need to help ourselves first before we can help others. Don't you think?"

Kagome was flabbergasted to say the least. She had never put herself first, for anything! Now she was being told she had to and it felt so wrong, selfish…. She sighed knowing that was her mate-to-be said was true. She finally nodded. "How long have I been out?"

"About three hours. I've been waiting for you to wake up before we moved you from the ER." He saw her yawn and chuckled. "Go ahead and rest; I'll be here when you wake up…" He kissed her forehead, then her lips. She smiled and closed her eyes.

Inuyasha watched her succumb to the land of dreams. A few minutes later he saw his parents and a very worried looking Ayumi come back into the room. He sighed. He felt so drained. All he wanted to do was sleep, but his mind wouldn't let him. He laid his head ontop of his arms on the side of her bed, resting.

Izy came up to her son and ran her fingers through his hair. He smiled slightly; she always knew how to comfort him. "How are you feeling sweety?"

He shrugged his shoulders, looking up he saw Ayumi start to do the same thing with Kagome. He saw her lean into her hand slightly. He smiled.

Toga watched this scene unfold and it unnerved him. "Inuyasha you do know what this means right?"

Inuyasha nodded. Turning to look at his sire, he asked the question everyone was thinking but was too afraid to voice. "How long do we have?"

Toga sighed and swallowed the large lump in his throat; no, he would not cry in front of his family; especially in front of his son. "Judging by what happened today and with her conditions worsening, I'd say one month; two at the most…"

Long, and technical chapter I know! Gonna give you guys a little insight about the whole ER thing. During a 'code,' when a person is unconscious or in dire need of medical care, the supervising doctor and at least 3 nurses are pulled to that one patient to work on them. The doctor oversees everything, one nurse (usually one with a lot of experience) 'charts' the code. This means that they take a note of everything that is done to the patient; what medicines are administered, every IV that is started, what gauge of needle, what the vitals are, etc…

Needle gauges pretty simple to understand… the smaller the number, the bigger the needle

Normal blood pressure for an adult is 120/80; normal pulse rate is 60 – 100 beat per minute (depending on if the patient is at rest or during exercise); pulse ox (oxygen) = the level of hemoglobin that is in the bloodstream; oxygen attaches to the hemoglobin, therefore, this little thing measures the oxygen in your blood, should be very high 90's or 100 %... during a code, these values can go up or down depending on the situation; Kagome's body was in a state of stress so everything was high, but her pulse ox; low pulse ox can be rectified by giving the person oxygen

Normal blood glucose levels are between 70-100 milligrams/deciliter and sometimes 130mg/dl. Glucose meters can measure as low as 40mg/dl

Now for the stuff that I do! The CT scan that Inuyasha was talking about was a scan to check for PE's or pulmonary embolisms. These are clots that usually form in the legs and when dislodged, can travel to the lungs and cause a blockage. This usually causes someone to have severe onset of shortness of breath, severe chest pain/upper back/ lower back pain. If not treated quickly this problem is fatal. PE's are also a thing to watch out for if the patient has had any recent trauma or surgery. PE's are treated with heavy and potent blood thinners and people are sometimes hospitalized for this condition.

Okay if I forgot anything, and you want to pick my brain, just PM me and I'll try my best to answer them; I am a Xray/ CT Technologist, not a nurse or doctor so I'll answer it to the best of my ability! Thanks for reading! Please read and review!