Begin The Procedure, OC/Canon fic, Chapter 10
Author's note: Goodness, can't believe this is the 10th chapter already @A@;; Anyway, amideadn0w rightly pointed out that I didn't have much romance as of yet... I guess I got distracted by my other plot. |DD I don't think I did too well with romance in this chapter (or hints of it), but hopefully the next chapter will be better as the characters get to know each other outside of the hospital. :D I hope you enjoy it everyone... and that it's not too bad OTL
Chapter 10: Losing Faith
The mood around Caduceus the next day was one of intense gloom. At first, Nicole didn’t understand it. Why was everyone so down when they’d saved the patient yesterday? Surely that should be cause to celebrate. But everywhere she looked, people were downcast and refusing to meet her, or each others’, eyes.
Then the emergency meeting was called. This only added to Nicole’s confusion, but she assumed it was just some minor thing - maybe they’d had another one of the notes from those mystery people. But when they all filed into the meeting room - and she was sitting between Markus and Dr. Cromwell this time - that hope was dashed as soon as the director began talking.
“Those of you involved with the Socordia case - the first one - I have unfortunate news.” the director began, her grey eyes sympathetic instead of serious this time. “Our patient, Eileen Williams, sadly passed away late last night.”
There was great surprise on the face of everyone present at first, and then it turned to sadness. A lot of the researchers were looking at each other in confusion, and Victor was just looking irritated. Cynthia’s expression was completely unreadable, as was Dr. Cromwell’s, and Isabella looked stunned. Beside her, Markus just looked as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.
“The cause was more than likely the poison I’m told Socordia makes in the body. It’s highly toxic, and can cause the organs to shut down. In the end, it’s likely that the poison affected her heart and caused her to go into cardiac arrest.” Irene Quatro paused for a few moments, allowing everyone present to absorb that information. “But Dr. Everett and Dr. Tsuji did try their best to revive her. And all of you tried your best to save her.”
People gave each other nervous, guilty looks, and shifted uncomfortably. Deaths were so uncommon at Caduceus that everyone found it hard to deal with them, even those that were used to that kind of thing in their previous job.
“I’m sorry I had to call you all together for such dreadful news, but I thought that as members of Caduceus, you had a right to know. You may go now, thank you.”
Everyone slowly stood up, and they all began discussing the situation loudly to each other.
“A-Are you okay, Dr. Vaughn?” Nicole asked Markus as they made their way out.
“I’ll recover.” he said calmly, shrugging.
“Dr. Vaughn... You know, if you need help, there are people all around you who are there for you, okay?” For a couple of moments she stopped, fiddling with some of her black hair as she tried to think of what to say next. “And even if I’m in a completely different department, you can always talk to me. Plus, you’ve got your friends, Dr. Blaylock and Elena, as well! Just... don’t give up.”
“You can call me Markus, you know.” he interrupted her.
She gave him a look.
“I call you Nicole all the time. It’s fair that you get to use my first name as well.”
“Thank you, D - Markus.”
“And thank you. I know you’re doing your best. I know it wasn’t anyone’s fault. But it just bugs me that I was the one who found out what she had but we couldn’t cure her. Even with my power, I couldn’t save her life.” He let out a sigh and scratched his head, his expression frustrated.
“But that was Socordia’s fault, not yours!” she protested, beginning to feel a bit frustrated herself. “As long as you can save other patients with what you learnt from that operation, she didn’t die for nothing!”
Before she could say anything else, Elena and Valerie came over to the two of them.
“Are you all right, Markus? You didn’t look so good in there.” Valerie began, looking just as worried as Elena.
“Dr. Vaughn, we just want you to know that you did your best with the patient, and we’re glad we could help you.” Elena added.
“Thank you, you two.” Markus replied. Then he turned to Nicole. “And Nicole?”
She blinked, a bit startled. “Yes?”
“What you said... You ARE right. I promise, I’ll do my best.”
“I-It was nothing, really! All I did was point out what I thought...”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way, you know. It’s better than dwelling on it.” Markus gave her one of his usual slightly sarcastic smiles, and she took that as a good sign. “I’ve got operations to do, so I’ll see you later.”
“Bye... Markus.” she said, as the group of people split up and headed different directions.
“He’s handsome, isn’t he?” Isabella piped up from beside Nicole, making her jump.
“Isabella, you were listening in?!” she almost shrieked at the other woman, whose only response was to smile gently.
“You don’t want Dr. Cromwell to start questioning you next, do you?”
Nicole shook her head, embarrassed. “Not particularly... But what did you mean?”
Isabella sighed in a sort of I-give-up way. “Nicole, why else would you be trying to comfort him if you weren’t worried about him in some way? He’s a nice guy - friendly, good-looking, maybe he can be a bit sarcastic and blunt sometimes, but he’s otherwise a good person. Plus, he let you call him by his first name.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Nicole protested, blushing and refusing to look at Isabella.
“Valerie’s the other person who calls him ‘Markus’ instead of Dr. Vaughn, and they’re friends. Surely that means at least he wants to be friends with you.” she responded. “Honestly, I have to wonder if you understand these things sometimes.”
“What are you two talking about?” Dr. Cromwell interrupted.
“Nothing!” they said almost at the same time.
He looked suspicious, but said nothing. “Come on, we have things to do. Let’s head back up to the lab.”
“Yes sir!”
In the meantime, Valerie, Markus, and Elena were beginning work on their first patient - a simple procedure, which thankfully enough wasn’t SIN-related. The patient just needed a few benign tumours removed from his stomach, which was easy enough.
“Really, Val, I’m fine.” Markus said for the fifteenth time, removing yet another tumour and placing a synthetic membrane over the spot it was in. “I’ve got to just get on with it. I was shocked, sure, but...” he sighed. “...If I don’t keep going, other patients will be in danger.”
“That’s true. But we’re not just colleagues, we’re friends, Markus. You can always talk to us.” Valerie’s tone was sincere. “I hope you know that.”
“Nicole said that too.” he commented, not looking up from his work.
“Did she?”
“Yeah. ‘There are people all around you if you need help’ or something along those lines.”
“Huh. Well you did look pretty gloomy earlier. No offence.” Valerie said as she applied gel to the membrane. “Looks like we’re almost finished here, anyway. Are there many more, Elena?”
“No, only a couple, Dr. Blaylock.”
“Okay. Let’s finish up here then, Markus.”
“I’m on it.” he replied, his tone lacking some of the usual enthusiasm. Together they removed the few remaining tumours and put down the membranes, and once they were done covering them with gel, Valerie sutured and bandaged the incision.
“Nice work, everybody.” Elena said brightly.
“Thanks. We’ve got another operation to do next, don’t we?”
“Yes, but it should be easy enough. It’s a patient with Avaritia, immature form, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble.”
“Let’s get to it then.”
The rest of that morning was spent rushing between little tasks and minor operations, and they were all kept so busy that they didn’t have much time to think about anything else. The research team was similar, spending time working either on the Stigma medication or on Socordia medication just in case.
Isabella and Cynthia were doing their best to encourage the team, and Victor was just complaining about them all needing to “get off their damn asses and cheer up”, or something along those lines. Nicole just got on with it, though she couldn’t help thinking about whether Markus and the others were getting on okay or not.
Eventually, everyone decided to stop temporarily for a break. There was only so long everyone could keep going before their concentration wavered, and they were all relieved to be able to escape the lab for a short while.
“Things are going okay, huh?” Isabella commented to no-one in particular, looking relatively cheerful.
“Yeah, I guess.” Nicole sighed as they walked along the main floor. “At least we can have some time to ourselves.”
“I’ll be back in a second.” Isabella stated, before rushing ahead. Nicole just stared after her, entirely confused. What was she up to this time?
She got her answer when Isabella returned with Markus and Valerie. “I just spotted them and thought I’d bring them over.” Isabella said innocently, before turning to face the two of them. “How have the operations been, you two?”
“It hasn’t been too bad. Mostly we’ve had easy cases, so I can’t complain.” Valerie smiled.
“Yeah. I’d like something that’s actually challenging.” Markus joked.
“If we get something challenging you’ll just complain about how difficult it is!”
“Ignoring a certain someone’s biased opinion... How about you two? How’s the research department getting on?”
“It’s okay. We’re still going over the data from the virus strains so far, so that’s keeping everyone busy, right?” Isabella said, nudging Nicole.
“Yeah, it’s mostly stuff like that. Not really all that interesting.”
“I’m sure it’s not as boring as you say.” Markus replied, chuckling a little. “I mean, data-handling can’t be all that fun, but finding the solution you need has to be interesting, right?”
“That’s my favourite thing about research!” Nicole grinned, practically lighting up with excitement. “It’s not just the things you learn from it, it’s the fact that you can come up with a result that helps other people so much! And not just people near you, people all over!”
“That’s pretty much how I feel about surgery. It’s saving life, and it’s not only saving the patient. It’s saving the people the patient cares about too - family and friends, for example. You’re preventing them from being hurt by anything happening to the patient.”
“I didn’t think of it like that...” Nicole replied thoughtfully. “But you’re right, they are kind of similar.”
“Where’s Elena, by the way?” Isabella asked them. “I didn’t see her with you two.”
“She’s talking to some of the other nurses, I think.” Valerie said and laughed a bit. “She’s not always with us, you know!”
“I know that.” Isabella smiled. “I was just wondering since you three are together a lot of the time. No harm in asking.”
The three of them spent the rest of the time talking about whatever came to mind, but it was mostly random chatter. Eventually, Isabella informed them that she and Nicole had to head back to the research department.
Nicole looked startled at that at first, but she turned to the two doctors. “When’s your next free day?”
“Tomorrow. Why?” Valerie asked her.
“I have a free day tomorrow and I wanted to go visit Greenwood, just see how everyone was doing... and I wondered if you wanted to come with? I mean, we can do other stuff as well, we could visit your hospital too for a start, but I just wanted to show you guys Greenwood as well as see my friends back there!” Nicole babbled. “I-I mean... You don’t have to... I just thought I’d ask...”
“No problem! It’s not like we really have anything planned. Well, I don’t anyway. What about you, Markus?”
Markus shook his head. “I haven’t got anything in mind.”
“Y-You guys can invite Elena as well if you want, I don’t mind.” Nicole added softly.
“Thank you. I think we will, if you’re sure that’s okay.”
“Of course.” She caught sight of Isabella out of the corner of her eye. The brunette woman’s hazel eyes were glinting with curiosity. “I’d better go, see you later!” Then she ran off to catch up with Isabella.
“See you!” Valerie called after her, getting a small wave in response.
“I didn’t think you were going to do that.” Isabella stated as the two headed back.
“Do what? All I did was ask if they wanted to come with me...”
“You still got pretty embarrassed about the whole thing.” she teased, grinning. “And you weren’t looking at either of them while you said it.”
“I don’t think I’d have managed to ask if I was...” Nicole mumbled.
“Well, they still agreed. That’s the main thing, isn’t it?”
“True.”
The two of them headed back towards the research department, and the whole way back neither of them said anything, Nicole because she didn’t want to, and Isabella because she was waiting for Nicole to talk.
The day passed relatively slowly in the research department as all they really had to do was work on various papers, check out data from experiments, and other typical things. Nicole was quite bored, but she did her best to hide it. She was also a bit nervous because of the plan she’d made with the others, and she didn’t want to talk to Isabella because she was sure she’d just end up getting embarrassed.
How childish. She was an adult and still getting embarrassed over being teased. Isabella was just playing around, wasn’t she? But if that was true, why did Nicole feel so awkward when Isabella said Markus wanted to be friends, and why did it make her blush when Isabella had made that comment about him being good-looking? She sighed loudly.
“I just don’t want to think of this kind of thing right now.” she muttered to herself, but it didn’t stop her wondering about these thoughts while she was working.
In the surgical department, everyone was hard at work treating their patients as always. Dr. Tsuji had just finished up a complicated operation with the assistance of Dr. Everett where the patient had come close to dying multiple times. Luckily, working together the two had managed to save his life.
“Good job in there, Kanae.” Dr. Everett commented, grinning widely.
“Thank you. You did an admirable job yourself, Dr. Everett.” Kanae replied, giving him a small smile in return. “I don’t know if I could have saved him alone.”
“You’re a talented doctor, I’m sure you’d have done fine without me. But saving his life... kind of makes up for yesterday a bit, huh?”
“A little. As long as we can keep saving patients, especially SIN patients, we’re learning the lessons that woman taught us. We were just unfortunate. Next time, we will save the patient.”
“Suppose that’s one way to think of it.” the big man replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Anyway, we’d better head along now, we’ve got other things to do.”
“That’s true. The next operation is soon after all.”
Markus, Valerie, and Elena had also finished working on a complicated patient - a young girl with a bad case of appendicitis. They were just lucky she’d been brought in when she had - if it had been any later, the procedure would have been far trickier to complete.
“Geez, that was a nightmare. I’m just glad she’s okay now.” Markus sighed with relief as he sutured the incision. “The inflammation was pretty bad, but it should go down soon enough. And thanks for using the Healing Touch back there, Val, it was looking pretty bad for a while.”
“No problem. You didn’t really seem to need it though, and we were doing just fine. Right, Elena?” Valerie answered, turning her head to look at the woman walking beside her.
“Yeah, I thought you did fine, Dr. Vaughn!”
“Really?” He looked up from bandaging the incision and grinned at them. “I was so nervous towards the end that I could barely stand it.”
“Liar, you didn’t look scared at all!” Valerie replied, her expression teasing. “The whole time you were only thinking about the patient!”
“Am I that obvious, Val? Anyway, after a while I’ve learned to shut off my fear, at least while I’m working. I don’t want to make any mistakes.”
“Of course you’re that obvious. We’ve been working together for years, Markus. I think I know a bit about you by now.”
“That’s it.” Markus said suddenly. “Operation complete.”
“Good. We have a couple more to be getting on with as well, don’t we?” Valerie stated, brushing some of her short hair out of her eyes.
“Yeah, we’d better go. The next one’s in number four, isn’t it, Elena?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The three of them left the operating room and began walking along the corridor towards the lift, but before they could get any further, Nicole came rushing up to them.
“I-Isabella sent me... to fetch you guys...!” she managed to gasp, trying desperately to explain the problem to them. “Another Socordia patient... came in... and the other doctors are all operating... Plus all the SIN cases are assigned to you and this department...”
“It’s okay.” Valerie replied, remaining as calm as she could. “You brought the medicine, right?”
Nicole nodded, showing her the containers filled with coloured liquid. “Yeah, red, blue, and yellow. I wouldn’t forget them since it’s Socordia.”
“Where’s the patient now?”
“In the operating room, number eight...”
“So, just along the corridor.” Valerie said.
“Yeah, we figured we’d better get the patient ready as soon as possible.” Nicole confirmed, looking serious. “So come with me. He’s stable, but we don’t know how long that’s going to last.”
“Markus, Elena and I can do this operation alone if you’re still worried about... this morning.” Valerie said tactfully, watching Markus to see his reaction.
“It’s okay, Val. I can do it.” he replied, his expression calm but almost unreadable. “If I don’t do this, I... I just... No. I failed to save the last patient, but I will NOT let anyone else die.”
“Markus, you can do it! We’re all on your side!”
“Yeah, the last patient was unfortunate, but you can save this man!” Elena chipped in, her attitude determined.
“... All I can say is I believe in you, Markus.” Nicole said, smiling. “And so does everyone else. We know you’ll do your best in there.”
Markus smiled a little himself. Seeming to cheer up somewhat, his expression turned to determination, and he looked as if he was feeling confident. “Thank you everyone. Let’s go and begin the operation.”
The four of them headed towards number eight, anxious to start. Markus noted with relief that Isabella had been kind enough to set out all the equipment they needed.
“You guys won’t think I’m rude for wanting to skip the briefing in this case, will you?” he asked, half-jokingly.
“No, this is more important.” Nicole replied. “We know where the Socordia is, anyway. In the stomach, same as usual.”
“Right. Let’s begin then. This time, I’m going to make sure this patient will be fine.”
A quick incision and the stomach was revealed. The diverticula popped up - blue, yellow, and red - and Markus looked at Elena.
“Would you mind getting the ultrasound for me?”
“No problem at all, Dr. Vaughn!” Elena replied, and within moments the Socordia’s position in the organ was shown.
“So this is it, huh?” Markus commented. “We’re lucky there’s no poison.” He made an incision over Socordia, which appeared, and then he cut it open. “The first one was blue, right, Nicole?”
Nicole nodded. “Yes, inject the blue Socordia first!”
Once the blue Socordia were gone, and the blue diverticula with them, Elena gave the patient an injection of the stabiliser. The yellow Socordia followed suit, and the red was gone soon after.
“The chiral reaction is definitely weakening!” Elena informed everybody. “I’ll start looking for the Socordia body again.”
As she was looking for the Socordia, the diverticula reappeared - first yellow, then red, then blue. When Elena found the virus again, Markus cut it out and cut it open.
“Okay, here we go.” he said, mostly to himself. “Yellow first.”
An injection of the medication to the Socordia did away with them, and the red and blue miniatures met a similar fate. As they were beginning to vanish, Elena gave the patient another shot of stabiliser in case. Filled with anxiety, everyone turned to look at Elena, who turned to look at the Chiron wavelength detector.
“The chiral reaction is negative!” she announced, which made Valerie let out a sigh of relief.
“Wait, this isn’t over yet. If this is anything like the last patient, Socordia has one last attempt left in it.” Markus said gravely. “Let’s wait a few moments before we close him up.”
A few minutes went by, and then just like before the patient’s vitals began to drop.
“I’ll keep him stable - ” Valerie began, but Markus interrupted.
“Val, do you mind if I do something really selfish? Please don’t step in. I want to handle this by myself. Elena, can you keep the stabiliser on hand?”
“Yes, Dr. Vaughn.”
“Markus, what are you planning? What if the patient dies?!” Valerie nearly yelled at him.
“If it gets that serious, help me. But I want to save this man with my own hands.” He shot her a serious look. “You all said you trusted me. Please trust me.”
The women exchanged nervous looks, but they all nodded.
“We’ll trust you, Markus.” Valerie said, stepping back a little.
“You can do it, Dr. Vaughn!” Elena added in her best encouraging voice.
“Do your best!” Nicole chipped in.
Markus drew the star shape and invoked his Healing Touch, and then quickly began cutting out the pockets of poison as Elena indicated them on the ultrasound. Valerie watched him, tensely, just in case she had to step in herself.
Nicole was just out-and-out nervous. Doing something like this was completely crazy! No surgeon she could think of would even attempt such a thing! Still, she had meant it when she’d said she’d believed in him. Somehow, she just felt he’d be able to do this.
Elena kept the patient’s vitals up when it was needed, and soon enough all the poison had been cut out. Valerie drained it and she and Markus took turns suturing the cuts that had been made, and then that was it. Markus’s Healing Touch stopped and Valerie finished up.
“Sorry... That was kind of arrogant of me...” he muttered, staring at the ceiling. “I felt I had to prove I could save him.”
“He’s still alive, Markus. And his vitals are stable.” Valerie stated. “Right Elena?”
“Yes, his vitals are back up to healthy levels and he seems perfectly fine, unlike the previous patient, whose vitals didn’t rise once we were done.” Elena confirmed. “We’ll all take good care of him.”
“Good. Thank you everyone.” Markus replied. “I really appreciate the fact that you all stuck by me... Even though I did something reckless like that.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it, okay?” Nicole said, feeling a lot calmer now that the operation was over. “You saved him. He’ll be fine. And you managed to operate on a patient with the same disease as the one that died. If that had been me, I wouldn’t have been able to operate at all. That was... really brave.” She smiled at him. “It sounds stupid, but I really did trust you to save his life.”
“See, even Nicole agrees!” Valerie grinned. “And she hasn’t even worked with you as long as Elena and I have!”
“I suppose that’s a good sign, huh?” Markus chuckled. “Let’s go, it’s getting pretty late. Do we have any more operations this evening?”
“A couple, but they shouldn’t be too challenging.” Elena replied.
“Okay. Nicole, I’ve got a question.”
“What is it?” she asked, blinking in surprise.
“Tomorrow, when do you want to meet?”
“Well, we can meet here at Caduceus in the morning, about... 9-ish? Since we don’t have work.”
“Sounds good to me.” Valerie said cheerfully, looking at Markus and Elena. “You two?”
“That should be fine for me as well, Dr. Blaylock.”
“And I’ve got no problem with that either.” Markus said. “So we’ll see you then. And once again, thanks for trusting me with that patient.”
Nicole smiled. “It’s no problem, Dr. Vaughn.”
“You can call me Markus. Remember?”
“Markus.” she corrected herself, going a bit red.
“We’ll see you later, Nicole!” Valerie said, as the group headed out of the operating theatre.
“Yeah... I’ll see you!” Nicole answered when she split off from the group and headed in the other direction. When she arrived back at the research department, Isabella immediately headed over to see her.
“Nicole, how did it go?” she asked.
“Um, fine...” Nicole replied, wondering what all this was about.
“Did you do your best to support everybody?”
“Of course I did. I even told Markus I believed in him when he said he wanted to save the patient by himself, near the end.” She went red with embarrassment. “But that’s nothing to do with anything, okay?! Friends support each other like that!”
Isabella nodded, giving her a teasing smile. “Okay. Have fun tomorrow, by the way.”
“W-We’re not doing anything weird, Isabella!” she protested, but before she could say anything more, Isabella had already left to finish up her work. Sometimes the research department just seemed like it could easily be an awkward place to work.
Next chapter
Previous chapter
Chapter 10: Losing Faith
The mood around Caduceus the next day was one of intense gloom. At first, Nicole didn’t understand it. Why was everyone so down when they’d saved the patient yesterday? Surely that should be cause to celebrate. But everywhere she looked, people were downcast and refusing to meet her, or each others’, eyes.
Then the emergency meeting was called. This only added to Nicole’s confusion, but she assumed it was just some minor thing - maybe they’d had another one of the notes from those mystery people. But when they all filed into the meeting room - and she was sitting between Markus and Dr. Cromwell this time - that hope was dashed as soon as the director began talking.
“Those of you involved with the Socordia case - the first one - I have unfortunate news.” the director began, her grey eyes sympathetic instead of serious this time. “Our patient, Eileen Williams, sadly passed away late last night.”
There was great surprise on the face of everyone present at first, and then it turned to sadness. A lot of the researchers were looking at each other in confusion, and Victor was just looking irritated. Cynthia’s expression was completely unreadable, as was Dr. Cromwell’s, and Isabella looked stunned. Beside her, Markus just looked as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.
“The cause was more than likely the poison I’m told Socordia makes in the body. It’s highly toxic, and can cause the organs to shut down. In the end, it’s likely that the poison affected her heart and caused her to go into cardiac arrest.” Irene Quatro paused for a few moments, allowing everyone present to absorb that information. “But Dr. Everett and Dr. Tsuji did try their best to revive her. And all of you tried your best to save her.”
People gave each other nervous, guilty looks, and shifted uncomfortably. Deaths were so uncommon at Caduceus that everyone found it hard to deal with them, even those that were used to that kind of thing in their previous job.
“I’m sorry I had to call you all together for such dreadful news, but I thought that as members of Caduceus, you had a right to know. You may go now, thank you.”
Everyone slowly stood up, and they all began discussing the situation loudly to each other.
“A-Are you okay, Dr. Vaughn?” Nicole asked Markus as they made their way out.
“I’ll recover.” he said calmly, shrugging.
“Dr. Vaughn... You know, if you need help, there are people all around you who are there for you, okay?” For a couple of moments she stopped, fiddling with some of her black hair as she tried to think of what to say next. “And even if I’m in a completely different department, you can always talk to me. Plus, you’ve got your friends, Dr. Blaylock and Elena, as well! Just... don’t give up.”
“You can call me Markus, you know.” he interrupted her.
She gave him a look.
“I call you Nicole all the time. It’s fair that you get to use my first name as well.”
“Thank you, D - Markus.”
“And thank you. I know you’re doing your best. I know it wasn’t anyone’s fault. But it just bugs me that I was the one who found out what she had but we couldn’t cure her. Even with my power, I couldn’t save her life.” He let out a sigh and scratched his head, his expression frustrated.
“But that was Socordia’s fault, not yours!” she protested, beginning to feel a bit frustrated herself. “As long as you can save other patients with what you learnt from that operation, she didn’t die for nothing!”
Before she could say anything else, Elena and Valerie came over to the two of them.
“Are you all right, Markus? You didn’t look so good in there.” Valerie began, looking just as worried as Elena.
“Dr. Vaughn, we just want you to know that you did your best with the patient, and we’re glad we could help you.” Elena added.
“Thank you, you two.” Markus replied. Then he turned to Nicole. “And Nicole?”
She blinked, a bit startled. “Yes?”
“What you said... You ARE right. I promise, I’ll do my best.”
“I-It was nothing, really! All I did was point out what I thought...”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way, you know. It’s better than dwelling on it.” Markus gave her one of his usual slightly sarcastic smiles, and she took that as a good sign. “I’ve got operations to do, so I’ll see you later.”
“Bye... Markus.” she said, as the group of people split up and headed different directions.
“He’s handsome, isn’t he?” Isabella piped up from beside Nicole, making her jump.
“Isabella, you were listening in?!” she almost shrieked at the other woman, whose only response was to smile gently.
“You don’t want Dr. Cromwell to start questioning you next, do you?”
Nicole shook her head, embarrassed. “Not particularly... But what did you mean?”
Isabella sighed in a sort of I-give-up way. “Nicole, why else would you be trying to comfort him if you weren’t worried about him in some way? He’s a nice guy - friendly, good-looking, maybe he can be a bit sarcastic and blunt sometimes, but he’s otherwise a good person. Plus, he let you call him by his first name.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Nicole protested, blushing and refusing to look at Isabella.
“Valerie’s the other person who calls him ‘Markus’ instead of Dr. Vaughn, and they’re friends. Surely that means at least he wants to be friends with you.” she responded. “Honestly, I have to wonder if you understand these things sometimes.”
“What are you two talking about?” Dr. Cromwell interrupted.
“Nothing!” they said almost at the same time.
He looked suspicious, but said nothing. “Come on, we have things to do. Let’s head back up to the lab.”
“Yes sir!”
In the meantime, Valerie, Markus, and Elena were beginning work on their first patient - a simple procedure, which thankfully enough wasn’t SIN-related. The patient just needed a few benign tumours removed from his stomach, which was easy enough.
“Really, Val, I’m fine.” Markus said for the fifteenth time, removing yet another tumour and placing a synthetic membrane over the spot it was in. “I’ve got to just get on with it. I was shocked, sure, but...” he sighed. “...If I don’t keep going, other patients will be in danger.”
“That’s true. But we’re not just colleagues, we’re friends, Markus. You can always talk to us.” Valerie’s tone was sincere. “I hope you know that.”
“Nicole said that too.” he commented, not looking up from his work.
“Did she?”
“Yeah. ‘There are people all around you if you need help’ or something along those lines.”
“Huh. Well you did look pretty gloomy earlier. No offence.” Valerie said as she applied gel to the membrane. “Looks like we’re almost finished here, anyway. Are there many more, Elena?”
“No, only a couple, Dr. Blaylock.”
“Okay. Let’s finish up here then, Markus.”
“I’m on it.” he replied, his tone lacking some of the usual enthusiasm. Together they removed the few remaining tumours and put down the membranes, and once they were done covering them with gel, Valerie sutured and bandaged the incision.
“Nice work, everybody.” Elena said brightly.
“Thanks. We’ve got another operation to do next, don’t we?”
“Yes, but it should be easy enough. It’s a patient with Avaritia, immature form, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble.”
“Let’s get to it then.”
The rest of that morning was spent rushing between little tasks and minor operations, and they were all kept so busy that they didn’t have much time to think about anything else. The research team was similar, spending time working either on the Stigma medication or on Socordia medication just in case.
Isabella and Cynthia were doing their best to encourage the team, and Victor was just complaining about them all needing to “get off their damn asses and cheer up”, or something along those lines. Nicole just got on with it, though she couldn’t help thinking about whether Markus and the others were getting on okay or not.
Eventually, everyone decided to stop temporarily for a break. There was only so long everyone could keep going before their concentration wavered, and they were all relieved to be able to escape the lab for a short while.
“Things are going okay, huh?” Isabella commented to no-one in particular, looking relatively cheerful.
“Yeah, I guess.” Nicole sighed as they walked along the main floor. “At least we can have some time to ourselves.”
“I’ll be back in a second.” Isabella stated, before rushing ahead. Nicole just stared after her, entirely confused. What was she up to this time?
She got her answer when Isabella returned with Markus and Valerie. “I just spotted them and thought I’d bring them over.” Isabella said innocently, before turning to face the two of them. “How have the operations been, you two?”
“It hasn’t been too bad. Mostly we’ve had easy cases, so I can’t complain.” Valerie smiled.
“Yeah. I’d like something that’s actually challenging.” Markus joked.
“If we get something challenging you’ll just complain about how difficult it is!”
“Ignoring a certain someone’s biased opinion... How about you two? How’s the research department getting on?”
“It’s okay. We’re still going over the data from the virus strains so far, so that’s keeping everyone busy, right?” Isabella said, nudging Nicole.
“Yeah, it’s mostly stuff like that. Not really all that interesting.”
“I’m sure it’s not as boring as you say.” Markus replied, chuckling a little. “I mean, data-handling can’t be all that fun, but finding the solution you need has to be interesting, right?”
“That’s my favourite thing about research!” Nicole grinned, practically lighting up with excitement. “It’s not just the things you learn from it, it’s the fact that you can come up with a result that helps other people so much! And not just people near you, people all over!”
“That’s pretty much how I feel about surgery. It’s saving life, and it’s not only saving the patient. It’s saving the people the patient cares about too - family and friends, for example. You’re preventing them from being hurt by anything happening to the patient.”
“I didn’t think of it like that...” Nicole replied thoughtfully. “But you’re right, they are kind of similar.”
“Where’s Elena, by the way?” Isabella asked them. “I didn’t see her with you two.”
“She’s talking to some of the other nurses, I think.” Valerie said and laughed a bit. “She’s not always with us, you know!”
“I know that.” Isabella smiled. “I was just wondering since you three are together a lot of the time. No harm in asking.”
The three of them spent the rest of the time talking about whatever came to mind, but it was mostly random chatter. Eventually, Isabella informed them that she and Nicole had to head back to the research department.
Nicole looked startled at that at first, but she turned to the two doctors. “When’s your next free day?”
“Tomorrow. Why?” Valerie asked her.
“I have a free day tomorrow and I wanted to go visit Greenwood, just see how everyone was doing... and I wondered if you wanted to come with? I mean, we can do other stuff as well, we could visit your hospital too for a start, but I just wanted to show you guys Greenwood as well as see my friends back there!” Nicole babbled. “I-I mean... You don’t have to... I just thought I’d ask...”
“No problem! It’s not like we really have anything planned. Well, I don’t anyway. What about you, Markus?”
Markus shook his head. “I haven’t got anything in mind.”
“Y-You guys can invite Elena as well if you want, I don’t mind.” Nicole added softly.
“Thank you. I think we will, if you’re sure that’s okay.”
“Of course.” She caught sight of Isabella out of the corner of her eye. The brunette woman’s hazel eyes were glinting with curiosity. “I’d better go, see you later!” Then she ran off to catch up with Isabella.
“See you!” Valerie called after her, getting a small wave in response.
“I didn’t think you were going to do that.” Isabella stated as the two headed back.
“Do what? All I did was ask if they wanted to come with me...”
“You still got pretty embarrassed about the whole thing.” she teased, grinning. “And you weren’t looking at either of them while you said it.”
“I don’t think I’d have managed to ask if I was...” Nicole mumbled.
“Well, they still agreed. That’s the main thing, isn’t it?”
“True.”
The two of them headed back towards the research department, and the whole way back neither of them said anything, Nicole because she didn’t want to, and Isabella because she was waiting for Nicole to talk.
The day passed relatively slowly in the research department as all they really had to do was work on various papers, check out data from experiments, and other typical things. Nicole was quite bored, but she did her best to hide it. She was also a bit nervous because of the plan she’d made with the others, and she didn’t want to talk to Isabella because she was sure she’d just end up getting embarrassed.
How childish. She was an adult and still getting embarrassed over being teased. Isabella was just playing around, wasn’t she? But if that was true, why did Nicole feel so awkward when Isabella said Markus wanted to be friends, and why did it make her blush when Isabella had made that comment about him being good-looking? She sighed loudly.
“I just don’t want to think of this kind of thing right now.” she muttered to herself, but it didn’t stop her wondering about these thoughts while she was working.
In the surgical department, everyone was hard at work treating their patients as always. Dr. Tsuji had just finished up a complicated operation with the assistance of Dr. Everett where the patient had come close to dying multiple times. Luckily, working together the two had managed to save his life.
“Good job in there, Kanae.” Dr. Everett commented, grinning widely.
“Thank you. You did an admirable job yourself, Dr. Everett.” Kanae replied, giving him a small smile in return. “I don’t know if I could have saved him alone.”
“You’re a talented doctor, I’m sure you’d have done fine without me. But saving his life... kind of makes up for yesterday a bit, huh?”
“A little. As long as we can keep saving patients, especially SIN patients, we’re learning the lessons that woman taught us. We were just unfortunate. Next time, we will save the patient.”
“Suppose that’s one way to think of it.” the big man replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Anyway, we’d better head along now, we’ve got other things to do.”
“That’s true. The next operation is soon after all.”
Markus, Valerie, and Elena had also finished working on a complicated patient - a young girl with a bad case of appendicitis. They were just lucky she’d been brought in when she had - if it had been any later, the procedure would have been far trickier to complete.
“Geez, that was a nightmare. I’m just glad she’s okay now.” Markus sighed with relief as he sutured the incision. “The inflammation was pretty bad, but it should go down soon enough. And thanks for using the Healing Touch back there, Val, it was looking pretty bad for a while.”
“No problem. You didn’t really seem to need it though, and we were doing just fine. Right, Elena?” Valerie answered, turning her head to look at the woman walking beside her.
“Yeah, I thought you did fine, Dr. Vaughn!”
“Really?” He looked up from bandaging the incision and grinned at them. “I was so nervous towards the end that I could barely stand it.”
“Liar, you didn’t look scared at all!” Valerie replied, her expression teasing. “The whole time you were only thinking about the patient!”
“Am I that obvious, Val? Anyway, after a while I’ve learned to shut off my fear, at least while I’m working. I don’t want to make any mistakes.”
“Of course you’re that obvious. We’ve been working together for years, Markus. I think I know a bit about you by now.”
“That’s it.” Markus said suddenly. “Operation complete.”
“Good. We have a couple more to be getting on with as well, don’t we?” Valerie stated, brushing some of her short hair out of her eyes.
“Yeah, we’d better go. The next one’s in number four, isn’t it, Elena?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The three of them left the operating room and began walking along the corridor towards the lift, but before they could get any further, Nicole came rushing up to them.
“I-Isabella sent me... to fetch you guys...!” she managed to gasp, trying desperately to explain the problem to them. “Another Socordia patient... came in... and the other doctors are all operating... Plus all the SIN cases are assigned to you and this department...”
“It’s okay.” Valerie replied, remaining as calm as she could. “You brought the medicine, right?”
Nicole nodded, showing her the containers filled with coloured liquid. “Yeah, red, blue, and yellow. I wouldn’t forget them since it’s Socordia.”
“Where’s the patient now?”
“In the operating room, number eight...”
“So, just along the corridor.” Valerie said.
“Yeah, we figured we’d better get the patient ready as soon as possible.” Nicole confirmed, looking serious. “So come with me. He’s stable, but we don’t know how long that’s going to last.”
“Markus, Elena and I can do this operation alone if you’re still worried about... this morning.” Valerie said tactfully, watching Markus to see his reaction.
“It’s okay, Val. I can do it.” he replied, his expression calm but almost unreadable. “If I don’t do this, I... I just... No. I failed to save the last patient, but I will NOT let anyone else die.”
“Markus, you can do it! We’re all on your side!”
“Yeah, the last patient was unfortunate, but you can save this man!” Elena chipped in, her attitude determined.
“... All I can say is I believe in you, Markus.” Nicole said, smiling. “And so does everyone else. We know you’ll do your best in there.”
Markus smiled a little himself. Seeming to cheer up somewhat, his expression turned to determination, and he looked as if he was feeling confident. “Thank you everyone. Let’s go and begin the operation.”
The four of them headed towards number eight, anxious to start. Markus noted with relief that Isabella had been kind enough to set out all the equipment they needed.
“You guys won’t think I’m rude for wanting to skip the briefing in this case, will you?” he asked, half-jokingly.
“No, this is more important.” Nicole replied. “We know where the Socordia is, anyway. In the stomach, same as usual.”
“Right. Let’s begin then. This time, I’m going to make sure this patient will be fine.”
A quick incision and the stomach was revealed. The diverticula popped up - blue, yellow, and red - and Markus looked at Elena.
“Would you mind getting the ultrasound for me?”
“No problem at all, Dr. Vaughn!” Elena replied, and within moments the Socordia’s position in the organ was shown.
“So this is it, huh?” Markus commented. “We’re lucky there’s no poison.” He made an incision over Socordia, which appeared, and then he cut it open. “The first one was blue, right, Nicole?”
Nicole nodded. “Yes, inject the blue Socordia first!”
Once the blue Socordia were gone, and the blue diverticula with them, Elena gave the patient an injection of the stabiliser. The yellow Socordia followed suit, and the red was gone soon after.
“The chiral reaction is definitely weakening!” Elena informed everybody. “I’ll start looking for the Socordia body again.”
As she was looking for the Socordia, the diverticula reappeared - first yellow, then red, then blue. When Elena found the virus again, Markus cut it out and cut it open.
“Okay, here we go.” he said, mostly to himself. “Yellow first.”
An injection of the medication to the Socordia did away with them, and the red and blue miniatures met a similar fate. As they were beginning to vanish, Elena gave the patient another shot of stabiliser in case. Filled with anxiety, everyone turned to look at Elena, who turned to look at the Chiron wavelength detector.
“The chiral reaction is negative!” she announced, which made Valerie let out a sigh of relief.
“Wait, this isn’t over yet. If this is anything like the last patient, Socordia has one last attempt left in it.” Markus said gravely. “Let’s wait a few moments before we close him up.”
A few minutes went by, and then just like before the patient’s vitals began to drop.
“I’ll keep him stable - ” Valerie began, but Markus interrupted.
“Val, do you mind if I do something really selfish? Please don’t step in. I want to handle this by myself. Elena, can you keep the stabiliser on hand?”
“Yes, Dr. Vaughn.”
“Markus, what are you planning? What if the patient dies?!” Valerie nearly yelled at him.
“If it gets that serious, help me. But I want to save this man with my own hands.” He shot her a serious look. “You all said you trusted me. Please trust me.”
The women exchanged nervous looks, but they all nodded.
“We’ll trust you, Markus.” Valerie said, stepping back a little.
“You can do it, Dr. Vaughn!” Elena added in her best encouraging voice.
“Do your best!” Nicole chipped in.
Markus drew the star shape and invoked his Healing Touch, and then quickly began cutting out the pockets of poison as Elena indicated them on the ultrasound. Valerie watched him, tensely, just in case she had to step in herself.
Nicole was just out-and-out nervous. Doing something like this was completely crazy! No surgeon she could think of would even attempt such a thing! Still, she had meant it when she’d said she’d believed in him. Somehow, she just felt he’d be able to do this.
Elena kept the patient’s vitals up when it was needed, and soon enough all the poison had been cut out. Valerie drained it and she and Markus took turns suturing the cuts that had been made, and then that was it. Markus’s Healing Touch stopped and Valerie finished up.
“Sorry... That was kind of arrogant of me...” he muttered, staring at the ceiling. “I felt I had to prove I could save him.”
“He’s still alive, Markus. And his vitals are stable.” Valerie stated. “Right Elena?”
“Yes, his vitals are back up to healthy levels and he seems perfectly fine, unlike the previous patient, whose vitals didn’t rise once we were done.” Elena confirmed. “We’ll all take good care of him.”
“Good. Thank you everyone.” Markus replied. “I really appreciate the fact that you all stuck by me... Even though I did something reckless like that.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it, okay?” Nicole said, feeling a lot calmer now that the operation was over. “You saved him. He’ll be fine. And you managed to operate on a patient with the same disease as the one that died. If that had been me, I wouldn’t have been able to operate at all. That was... really brave.” She smiled at him. “It sounds stupid, but I really did trust you to save his life.”
“See, even Nicole agrees!” Valerie grinned. “And she hasn’t even worked with you as long as Elena and I have!”
“I suppose that’s a good sign, huh?” Markus chuckled. “Let’s go, it’s getting pretty late. Do we have any more operations this evening?”
“A couple, but they shouldn’t be too challenging.” Elena replied.
“Okay. Nicole, I’ve got a question.”
“What is it?” she asked, blinking in surprise.
“Tomorrow, when do you want to meet?”
“Well, we can meet here at Caduceus in the morning, about... 9-ish? Since we don’t have work.”
“Sounds good to me.” Valerie said cheerfully, looking at Markus and Elena. “You two?”
“That should be fine for me as well, Dr. Blaylock.”
“And I’ve got no problem with that either.” Markus said. “So we’ll see you then. And once again, thanks for trusting me with that patient.”
Nicole smiled. “It’s no problem, Dr. Vaughn.”
“You can call me Markus. Remember?”
“Markus.” she corrected herself, going a bit red.
“We’ll see you later, Nicole!” Valerie said, as the group headed out of the operating theatre.
“Yeah... I’ll see you!” Nicole answered when she split off from the group and headed in the other direction. When she arrived back at the research department, Isabella immediately headed over to see her.
“Nicole, how did it go?” she asked.
“Um, fine...” Nicole replied, wondering what all this was about.
“Did you do your best to support everybody?”
“Of course I did. I even told Markus I believed in him when he said he wanted to save the patient by himself, near the end.” She went red with embarrassment. “But that’s nothing to do with anything, okay?! Friends support each other like that!”
Isabella nodded, giving her a teasing smile. “Okay. Have fun tomorrow, by the way.”
“W-We’re not doing anything weird, Isabella!” she protested, but before she could say anything more, Isabella had already left to finish up her work. Sometimes the research department just seemed like it could easily be an awkward place to work.
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