#(team A takes ambulance patients team B takes waiting room)

[prince-liest]

My first patient today made me so happy. She's this relatively young woman that I've seen a few times now who came in with this story of really debilitating, recurrent episodes of nausea and vomiting multiple times a week that were getting in the way of work and life and leaving her collapsed in the shower for hours a day. She had irritable bowel syndrome listed in her diagnoses, and was tearful for most of her first visit because she was so tired, stressed, and had basically been told repeatedly that she just had to lose weight. I was like, cool, weight can definitely be a goal for your long-term health but right now I'm more concerned about your immediate quality of life.

She's also had migraines with aura since she was a kid, worse the past few years.

Now, don't get me wrong: I did a thorough work-up to make sure that the nausea and vomiting weren't from some other underlying pathology. Thyroid, ultrasound, the words. Results were all pretty much perfect.

Anyway, started her on sumatriptan as an abortive medication for the migraines, it helped partially but not fully, so I nixed the sumatriptan and started her on daily venlafaxine as a preventative and stacked Nurtec on top as an abortive medication and she came back looking happy for the first time I've ever seen her. Like, every single other visit she's ended up crying in the office, not even out of active upset but just because she was so stressed and tearful at baseline. Also, guess what? No more debilitating nausea and vomiting.

I've started several people on antidepressants and one of the things I've been realizing fairly swiftly is that more than half the time I'm starting people on them, they do have depressive or anxious symptoms...but the main thing I'm gunning for is actually either migraines or chronic pain. And I get two birds with one stone: improved pain, and improved mood because, well, antidepressant, but also because not being in pain makes people happier.

Antidepressants woooooo

[shelbystales]

Best Aid - Part Four

Modern Tommy Shelby x Reader - Masterlist

Previous parts: 1 - 2 - 3

Summary: you are a young doctor in Birmingham. After a crazy incident, Thomas Shelby shows up at your hospital. You don’t know much about the man everyone seems to fear, but you definitely will.

Warning: swearing, cardiac arrest

A/N: I got carried away with medical stuff... sorry. Hope you guys like it? I am not a doctor, but i am a vet, so... i sort of know a few things but i don't know how accurate they are when we take it to human medicine. Comment and interact, tell me what you think! it means a looot thank you very much. Tell me if you ant me to tone down the medical stuff.

English is my second language so I apologize in advance for the grammar mistakes.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

The next night you were ready to start your shift again. You spent your entire day on a call with your insurance, trying to get some support. After a few frustrating hours all they said was “we are working on it”. 

Working on it my ass. Theses people never want to be helpful.  

You threw your bag on your locker and sat down on the long bench in the locker room. 

“you ok?” Jeremy asked suspiciously

“yeah, just had a frustrating morning. spent almost four hours of my free time talking to my insurance, to get no fucking where” you answered taking your clothes off and putting your navy blue scrubs. 

“At least you got a fuck last night?” he asked animated while he did the same, but his scrubs were light gray, as all the other nurses. 

“i wish” you sighed

“what? what happened, i thought i did a pretty good job as a cupid” he smirked checking himself on the mirror 

“yea… don’t fucking throw me under the bus again. We are supposed to be a team” you scolded him

“we are. you needed a little push! What did you do to scare the man off?” 

“Nothing! Mom needed me” you answered and he nodded “we did share a kiss though…”

he dropped his mouth and made a squeaky noise you didn't know humans were capable of. 

“What! Why didn't you lead with that?!” he said excitedly, “tell me everything. Now.”

You were early. your shift was suppose to start in 30 minutes, so you had time to tell him what happened last night. he seemed more excited than you about it. 

“Was the kiss good?” he asked 

“so fucking god” you daydreamed

“Did you text him after you kicked him off your house?” 

“I didn't kick him off. I had to be with my mom!” you answered annoyed

“Potato, potato. Did you?”

“yes, told him i was home”

“Did he text you back?” he asked excited, waiting like a dog would for a bone

“no… Dead silence from him” you said and the glow on his eyes slowly faded away. 

“If he ghosts you I swear to god…” he stopped talking as he was thinking “i would do nothing. Sorry girl, I Wouldn’t cross him” 

“thanks. nice to know i have your support” you mocked standing up

“Oh, my support you have. always… but not a bodyguard though…” he followed you 

To be honest, you felt a little anxious about it all. A little paranoid even. After what he told you last night… was someone out to get you? And to be honest why wouldn’t he just text you back? That's not a nice thing to do. Has he never heard of emotional responsibility? maybe he is busy… too busy to text “good stay safe” ? bullshit that takes five seconds

You focused on your shift, but it was all slow for now. The hospital was still a bit hectic. after the bomb the hospital gas line was damaged and a wing had to be interdicted. Due to that, the ambulences were taking pacients to other hospitals.

Currently there are three patients in the emergency room. One broke his pulse after skating, the other two had stomach bugs. Mostly tonight is being based on small emergencies, people are coming in, getting fixed and going home. After doing your rounds and checking on everyone, you told Jeremy and Lauren you would go to the break room and study a bit. 

Walking inside you got distracted by your phone and decided to text your brother to see how your mom was doing. 

“hey, big bro. How is mom?” 

not a few minutes later he texted back

“She is ok. keeps forgetting why her hand has a curative”

“good. i have the weekend off, i can be with her” 

“I think she would like that” 

“I will see if the insurance gets me a car or money to get a new one. If things work out I will pick her up. If they don't, can you drop her off?” 

“sure sis. Are they going to cover anything?”

“I am not sure. i feel like they’re stalling” 

“Shit. they are sharks, they don’t care. Want any help?” you smiled, he always wants to take care of you. 

“No, thanks. i can sort it out”

“okay. see you saturday”

“see ya”

After the last text, you opened your instagram to kill time. Avoiding the book in front of you. The urge to look for Tommy was strong, and you got frustrated when you saw his account was private.

“Shit” you whispered.

Turning off your phone, you opened the book on medical trauma you had just bought. The thing they don’t tell you in med school is that after you graduate and you go through residency, you think the study is past behind… but you’re wrong. We constantly have to keep studying. To keep learning the best ways to save a life. 

Midway through the first chapter you heard commotion outside and a few seconds later you heard the feared code.

 “CODE BLUE” a nurse yelled over and over

You threw everything that was on your hand on the table, including your phone and ran. 

As you arrived, you saw an elder man laying on one of the beds in the emergency room. 

“His name is Patrick, he just came in after feeling a burning sensation on his chest. Arrived conscious but collapsed right after” Jeremy announced as soon as you arrived. Lauren, the older nurse, was assisting the resident on duty to intubate the man.  

Looking around you saw all the hands available and smiled. A good thing about calm shifts is that you have a lot of people ready to assist. There was a resident wearing the light blue scrubs of the residents, but you couldn't remember her name. Besides her, there were five other nurses, you didn’t remember most of their names either… but again, you were new and the people on shifts usually changed a lot. The only ones who were always with you were Jeremy and Lauren. You looked quickly on their scrubs, trying to read the names embroidered on their shirts as you spoke to them.

“Ok guys, let's start the first round of reanimation. Let’s hope we can bring Patrick back as fast as possible” you said calmly, partially climbing on the bed and starting chest massage. In stressing moments like this, it’s important to maintain yourself calm. You’re the doctor, the one that everyone will listen to, freak out and everyone does as well.

“All good Lauren?” you asked and she nodded confirming that the intubation was done and she was in charge of venting “good job, Rebecca” you praised the resident, learning her name five seconds ago. She gave you a confident smile. Residents are usually crushed everyday all day, a gentle word goes a long way some times.

“What is his weight?” You asked

“96 quilos” Jeremy said 

“push 9.6 ml of adrenaline” you said “keep three syringes ready. Time it”. Jeremy nodded as he administered the drug. The resuscitation dose was slightly higher than the normal dose. The good thing about always having the same team is that you usually know how each one worked and the synchrony was natural.

Usually we do reanimation rounds that last 3 minutes each. Assessing the response of the patient after every administration. 

“Adrenaline in. Timer starting” Jeremy informed

“Where's the defibrillation cart?!!” you yelled annoyed because no one had got it yet. A nurse ran to get it as you continued the chest compressions.  

You stopped with the compressions to quickly look at the monitor. He still had no rhythm, but his saturation was good, meaning he was getting enough oxygen. You saw a little atrial rhythm on the monitor, which meant he probably could get shocked, and that made you excited. But you could be wrong, you’re not a cardiologist.

“Who 's next?” you asked, feeling your arm cramping. The resident quickly walked to your side and took over the chest massage when you stopped.

You stretched your arms a little while you looked at Jeremy's phone. 2 minutes and 17 seconds had passed. Usually it takes a few minutes, but it could take hours . 

The nurse came back with the reanimation cart and you told the resident to stop while you put the defibrillation pads on the patient chest. The defibrillation machine at the hospital was one of the best on the market and it checked the rhythm by itself and informed if the patient could be shocked.

The machine soon started to talk with its robotic voice “assessing heart rythym” as we wait, no compressions can be done, so the machine has to work quickly. Unfortunately a few seconds later it said “non shockable rhythm. Proceed with chest compression”

People are misled by all those hospital tv shows and think you only have to get the defibrillator and yell ‘clear’ and done, the patient is saved... but that's usually not true. Sometimes it's not possible to use it, and it’s frustrating. The defibrillator is not magical, but it usually works well. To be able to use it you need a certain vibration from the heart, either a ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia. Basically the machine stops the heart from beating, as a sort of “rebooting” system, hoping to get the heart beating properly again, that's why you need to be certain about the vibration so that it can be successfully rebooted.

“Okay, it’s not shockable. Let's continue compressions and hope that changes. We continue with protocol, we finish five rounds and we try the machine again. Let’s start a new round” you ordered around and Jeremy nodded pushing adrenaline again. 

Next round you were up on compressions again. Checking the monitor before starting you saw a few signs that you could probably use other drugs to help.

“Lets also add a dose of atropine Jeremy”, atropine is great, but if used in cases that are asystolic rhythm it could kill.

After two more rounds you tried the defibrillation machine again and this time it said “shockable rhythm. Charging”. You continued the chest massage while it charged, feeling a bit more hopeful. “charging complete. step aside. shock in five seconds” and it began the countdown. 

We watched the shock and the response on the monitor. 

“No pulse” Rebecca said

You sighed “starting new round” and another nurse took over the chest massage

No one tells you how exhausting it is to go through all these procedures. Emotionally and physically. But you tried everything to bring this man back. They tell you not to, but you always imagine who’s is waiting for them at home, who would miss him if he’s gone.

You looked around and saw through the glass door that separated the ER from the front desk an elder woman crying as she hugged a man in a suit, both looking your way. Looking closer you realized it was Tommy. you frowned and gave your attention back to the man whose life you were trying to save.

You don't know who thought it would be a good idea to have a glass door there.

“Someone take the family outside, we don't need to take care of another heart attack” you said and a nurse ran outside. 

You looked over his file, trying to get some extra information that could be helpful. You found nothing.

You took the reanimation paper from Lauren, since she was on vent duty, she was also responsible for writing what was done on every round. 

5 rounds done, one shock and now more 4 rounds. “Next dose of epinephrine we substitute with vasopressin” You told Jeremy and he nodded. Sometimes we do that to improve de arterial pressure because that medicine causes de vases to compress and by consequence, the arterial pressure goes up.

After doing two more rounds you put the machine to work and readjusted the shock to a higher dose. The machine started counting down again and after the shock we finally had a pulse. Rebecca and the nurses cheered and you sighed relieved. 

“Let’s start post resuscitation care” you said and everyone started walking around and doing their part.

“Good job” Jeremy whispered on your shoulder.

Once his heartbeat was stable you walked outside and looked for the woman you saw earlier. She was sitting on a bench outside with the nurse that left earlier. She was giving her water and calming the lady down. Tommy was next to them, he was having a smoke.

when she saw you, you could see the desperation on her eyes 

“Oh please tell me my patrick is ok” she cried

You smiled “what’s your name?” 

“Catherine” she answered holding the tears

“Okay, Catherine, your husband is recovering. We were able to bring him back” you smiled as she soundly breathed in and out, clearly relieved

“Thank god!” She said relieved, hand on top of her chest

“We will keep him overnight to take proper care of him, ok?” you said after you crunched in front of her feeling your legs hurt as you did. You just needed to put them up and get a long nap. She nodded and you continued “we will do some tests, to check his heart, to try and understand why this happened. ok?” she nodded again. you were talking slowly and calmly, trying your best to give her comfort and not scare her more “tomorrow a cardiologist will talk to him and he will get the best care. Now he is still asleep, and he can take some time to recover. I know it’s hard but could you tell me what happened right before he felt ill?” she nodded and started talking, like every good grandma she told you every detail. What you hoped to be a 5 minutes story became a 20 minutes one. Nothing very useful came from it, all you learned was that it probably was due to a random heart attack, not stress related and not labored related.

After she was done you took her to her husband and surprisingly, he was awake but still a little confused. A normal state after resuscitation. You told her it would take him some time to be properly conscious and she nodded

“Thank you so much, dear” she hugged you “thank you for saving my Patrick’s life”

“You are very welcome. Would you want us to call anyone?” You asked, worried for her

“Already did, sweetie. My children will be here shortly” she informed you, then she sat on the chair next to him and took a crochet project from her bag and started to crochet. 

Adorable.

Walking outside, you decided to face the man who’s face you wanted to kiss and slap at the same time.

 “What are you doing here?” You asked Tommy going back outside

“Came to see you” he said with half a smile

“Oh really?” you raised your eyebrow “just like that? out of the blue”

“Want me to leave?” he asked frowning as he threw the cigarette he was smoking on the floor and stepped on it. 

“Do you really want to know the answer?” 

“Are you mad at me?” he asked, frowning harder

“I don't know, am I?” you asked

“Clearly. What did I do wrong?” he asked 

You breathed deeply and looked up at the starly sky.

“Nothing. It 's stupid. I am just tired… i’m sorry” you said breathing deeply

“eh, I saw you in there. You were impressive. Sexy…” he said, his hand reaching your forearm and his thumb lightly caressing it. 

“What are you doing here, Thomas ?” you asked again, this time allowing your voice tone to show your tiredness. 

“You’re not enough reason?” he asked one of his brows slightly raised and you denied 

“I don’t believe it” you admitted

“Alright. Since you’re my doctor, I think I should be honest. I had a lightly vertigo today. And, I also wanted to see you. So, I am getting two things done at the same time” he said with pride and you frowned

“What were you doing? I told you to rest” you asked

“Yeah, and I told you. I’ll rest when I'm dead…” he said, picking at the bridge of his nose as he broke contact with your skin. 

“If you keep up, it will be faster than you expect” you said

“Optimistic, good” he mocked

“Since it’s an easy night, why don’t you come in and let me take a look at what is going on inside that head of yours” you said and he smiled

“You wouldn’t like to know” he said and came a step closer to you and whispered in your ear “unless you're ok with public sex” 

You slapped his chest lightly pushing him and his smug smile away from you.

“You’re clearly deranged” you said and walked inside the hospital

“I am, please fix me doc” he said ironically, making you roll your eyes and chuckle

Before taking him to CT, to have a headscan you checked his reflexes and stitches, everything looked ok.

“What is he doing here?” Jeremy asked when you went to the computer in the small reception inside the trauma center to apply Tommy to the CT scan. 

“He had vertigo today” you answered

“Vertigo? You told him that he could have some dizziness, right? Signs of light concussion?” he asked

“Yes, i did” you answered

“Oh, I see. he came for you” Jeremy said surprised “but why are you going with it? Just send him home, you’ll find nothing on CT… unless… you want him here” he smiled mischievously.

“Fuck off, i’m not in a good mood” you said and he raised his arms as if he had a gun pointed at him

“You know what's a good thing to improve a bad mood?” he asked with a smile and you looked at him “sex” he mouthed it dramatically

“That’s it, you’re fired” you said and he laughed. 

“You wish” he smiled and walked away.

You walked back to Tommy and told him he was next and led him to the room where the machine was. 

“Lay down” you said as he sat on the bed that rolled into the big donut “you will hear a loud noise and -”

“I know the drill, i remember” he interrupted you 

“Ok, then lay down, please” 

“Are there any cameras here?” he asked and you frowned

“I don’t know and stop it. I am not having sex with you” you said

“Why not? I’ll take good care of you” he reached for you but you stepped back

“Is that all you want? Am I risking my fucking life by staying close to you just because you want to fuck me?” You asked bluntly

“No, your life is at risk because you saved mine. Sex won’t change anything” he said naturally, as if the words that left his lips were normal to him.

“Why didn’t you text me?” you blurted out

“Oh, so that's what this is all about?” he chuckled 

“Yeah, it’s stupid. I know, but at the same time it isn't! And can you blame me? You ask if I am up in the middle of the night. You come to my place, tell me my car was bombed on purpose and that people around you are dying, then i let my gard down because I am fucking terrified! We fucking kiss and god knows what we would have done if my brother hadn’t called me when he did. All i expected was a short message, something to show the you didn’t just want to fuck me. Would you have texted me if we did? Would you be here if we did? Will i fucking die?!” you let it all out 

As you talked you could see his expression change, from “we are just having fun” to “this is serious talk”.

he clicked his tongue and left his mouth half open as if he was thinking

“I will you do my best so that doesn’t happen” he said after swallowing harshly

“Will that be enough?” you asked and he shrugged

“How can I know? I hope so” he said 

“Great. Thanks… You seem like a very hopeful guy” you said mockingly

“Y/n, I didn’t think I needed to text anything” he admitted

Of course he didn’t. He’s a player and he doesn’t care. And that’s fine, you hardly know him but it’s a sign, he’s not showing interest. He could’ve asked how your mom was doing. How you were doing. But no. Not even a thumbs up emoji after you told him you were home.

You turned off the machine. “There's no need for this exam. You’re fine. Free to go. And do me a favor, Thomas… Stay away. I don’t need this crap”

He stayed motionless as you walked outside.

what a fucking great day, you thought

Want to get tagged? Click here

taglist:

@deanlovescassie @hellstears @randomfanfics02 @literishdegree99 @watersquirtpewpewboomm @hellstears @rito4ka @alexxavicry @atomicsoulcollecto @Violet_19999 @lyarr24 @woofgocows @milkshakelol @knowledgefulbutterfly @Watercolorskyy @redhead7799 @star017 @watercolorskyy y @stuckinmylittlebubble e @bat-luna-cat @lyarr24 @babaohhhriley @scullys—alienpussy @kassieesworld @deepangelstudentsworld @batgurl42 @starlitjellyfish @velenzia @lyarr24 @Sweetiecake180 @musicsweetie21 @lostgirl219 @slaypussypop-21 @nyenye

[spencers-renaissance]

Honeysuckle

Summary: The BAU decide to head out for a picnic one summer afternoon, but they’re soon rudely interrupted by a bee sting and anaphylactic shock. Seeing Spencer carted off in an ambulance is not exactly how they expected the day to go.

Tags: whump, angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, hurt spencer, friendship, medical conditions, severe allergic reactions

Pairing: Derek Morgan x Spencer Reid 

Word Count: 2.3k

Masterlist // Read on AO3 // Bad Things Happen Bingo

Spencer had initially been wary of Penelope’s invitation to picnic in Meridian Hill Park one beautiful summer afternoon — he burned way too easily and didn’t like exposing himself to insects more than absolutely necessary — but as soon as she’d mentioned Derek was going, he’d given in. He wasn’t about to turn down an afternoon spent in the sun with his best friends and boyfriend. It was a rare day off for the team: one not even spent hanging by their phone expecting to be called in any minute, so they were all insistent on making the most of it. 

He’s the last one to arrive, spotting the others sat in the shade of an oak tree, already laughing as they get stuck into their first drinks of the afternoon. Despite his initial hesitations, as soon as he feels the sun on his face and sees his friends he’s immediately glad he turned up and he hurries over to join the rest of the team, his own contributions to the picnic in hand. 

“Pretty boy!” Derek shouts, grinning widely as he jumps up from his lazy position on the blanket to wrap Spencer in a hug, before pulling back slightly to kiss him. He can already tell he’s a little tipsy, and although Spencer doesn’t drink he has nothing against everyone else letting their hair down and having fun; God knows they deserve it. 

His relationship with Derek is only a few months old, and he still relishes every moment he gets to spend wrapped up in his arms.

“Hey guys.” His words are muffled slightly by Derek’s shoulder as his boyfriend is reluctant to let him go, but as soon as he’s released, he turns to match everyone’s wide grins. 

“Did you bring the strawberries?” Emily asks, levelling him with a faux-stern look that she can’t maintain for long, melting back into her relaxed smile soon enough.

“Of course.” He takes a seat on the picnic blanket only to be immediately wrapped into a side hug by Penelope. He hugs back before beginning to unpack his bag.

“What about the icing sugar?” she asks, and her stern glare isn’t fake at all: Spencer knows how seriously Penelope takes a) organisation, and b) sweet treats.

“Who do you take me for?” he laughs, retrieving the fruit and sugar from his bag and taking a swig of the cool lemonade he’d packed in his thermos. 

Sometimes he wishes he could go back in time and show lonely, teenage Spencer pictures of days like these. One day, he’ll be twenty six, working at his dream job, and spending his days off in the warmth of the East Coast sun one Sunday afternoon surrounded by his best friends, kissed by his boyfriend at every opportunity. They’ve never asked him to be anything other than exactly who he is, inviting them into their group and doting on him relentlessly, loving him just as much as he loves them. 

It’s a luxury you only appreciate when you’ve known the loneliness of summer: when the hum of the AC is the only sound in your stuffy, humid dorm room, and you’re researching the effects of methane on winter weather patterns as you long for cold weather again, because then at least then you don’t have to listen to the excited shouts of friends outside anymore, then it’s acceptable to isolate yourself inside with only yourself and books for company.

He shakes himself out of his miserable recollections and reminds himself to be in the present. Emily has her head in Penelope’s lap as they discuss which incarnation of Doctor Who is the best while JJ and Derek discuss the new jogging park opening up across the border in Virginia. He knows which conversation is more suited to his interests and immediately goes up to bat for the Seventh Doctor, which manages to engage him in a spirited debate with both women. 

Soon, though, they find themselves all discussing their workplace embarrassments and recalling the funniest moments from over the last few years, and Spencer loses himself in the heat of the afternoon and the warmth of his friendships. He’s gorged himself on all the strawberries and sandwiches he could stomach, and as the afternoon stretches longer and evening approaches he lies down on the blanket and rests his head in Derek’s lap, mirroring Penelope and Emily. His eyes flutter closed as his full belly and heat of the sun tire him out, and Derek’s fingers thread themselves through Spencer’s long hair, a light and welcome touch. 

The haze of his friends still chatting around him as he dozes comfortably is interrupted, however, when he feels a sharp pinch on his wrist and seconds later, he’s fighting for breath. He launches upright, wheezing as he claws at his chest, trying desperately to fill his lungs with enough air. 

“Spencer? Oh my God, Spencer, what’s wrong?” Penelope cries, immediately by his side as she looks him over frantically, not knowing what’s happening. 

“Derek, call an ambulance,” JJ directs, taking charge as she rushes to Spencer’s side as well. “He’s in anaphylactic shock. Spencer, listen to me, do you have your epi-pen with you?”

Her words manage to get through the panicked haze and light-headedness as he can’t get enough oxygen. He can feel his face swelling and his heart racing, but he’s still coherent enough to point to his bag. 

“He didn’t eat anything, though,” Emily says, panicked and confused as she watches her friend have a medical crisis while she’s powerless to help. 

“He’s allergic to bees,” JJ says, keeping calm as she prepares the epi-pen and administers it to Spencer’s thigh. “One must have stung him for some reason.”

“There!” Penelope points to the bee sting on Spencer’s wrist and JJ lunges for her bag, rummaging until she finds her credit card which she uses to carefully slide under the stinger and remove it, preventing any more venom from flowing into Spencer’s system.

It’s clear after a few minutes that the epi-pen hasn’t worked: Spencer still feels like he can’t catch his breath and the world is fading slowly as his heart beats out of control and his organs can’t get enough oxygen. 

He feels himself be moved gently by various hands as JJ directs the others until he’s leaning up as comfortably as possible against Derek’s chest as Penelope elevates his legs to keep blood flowing to his vital organs. 

“It’s okay, Spencer,” JJ says loudly, right in front of his face. It’s blurry and out of focus and he can feel himself losing consciousness fast. “The ambulance is on its way.” 

It’s the last thing he hears before he collapses completely as he passes out. 

⭐️

It’s dark outside when Spencer finally wakes up. His bed is warm and comfortable and he lets himself listen to the somewhat comfortable steady beeps of the heart monitor and movement of staff and patients around the ward before finally opening his eyes to scan his room. 

Derek’s sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair right next to his bed, sketching what Spencer can only guess are plans for the property he’s just taken on, an empty jello cup balancing on the armrest of his chair. 

“Sandwiches and strawberries not fill you up?” he asks, voice croaky as he cracks an eye open. He can’t help but smile, too. He has the best boyfriend and the best friends anyone could ever hope for.

Derek’s head snaps up as he hears Spencer’s voice, setting his notebook and jello aside to grab for Spencer’s hand. “You are something else,” he chuckles. “Your first thought when coming round from a medical disaster is an observation of my eating patterns.” He shakes his head fondly. “ But you know I can’t pass up a tub of jello.”

“That’s true. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you say no when it’s offered.”

“You’re one to talk, pretty boy.” 

They lapse into short silence, accompanied only by the quiet beeps of the machines. “Sorry I scared you,” he whispers eventually, feeling guilt wrap itself around his stomach. 

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not your fault.” Derek looks sincere as he holds Spencer’s hand tighter, careful of the IV in his wrist. “The doctors… they said it was a severe attack, which is probably why the first epi-pen didn’t work. They’re monitoring you overnight to make sure there was no damage to your kidneys, I think. I’ll go find a doctor to tell them you’re awake.”

He moves to get out of his seat, but Spencer pulls him back down, as well as he can when he’s still feeling weak. “No, just… don’t leave,” he asks, his voice coming out a little too pleading for his liking. “Stay.”

The idea of being alone right now twists his stomach; the idea of being without Derek so desperately scary. 

“Okay, okay, baby,” Derek relents, sitting back down and running a soothing hand through his tangled hair, Spencer’s eyes fluttering closed at the contact. “I won’t go anywhere if you don’t want me to.” Instead, he presses the button for the nurse. 

“Where are the others?” Spencer dares to ask after a few seconds of quiet. 

“The nurses weren’t too happy with four people in here,” Derek chuckles. “I’ve been updating them by text; I’ll tell them you’re awake in a minute. JJ saved your life, you know. None of us had any clue what was happening but she was the only one who kept calm and the only one who got us through those awful minutes waiting for the ambulance to show up.”

“I know,” he whispers. “I told her I was allergic to bee stings years ago. It was just an off-hand comment, it never feels like that big a deal… this is only the third time this has ever happened. I guess I don’t feel the need to bring it up.”

“Well that off-hand comment saved your life, pretty boy.” Derek squeezes his eyes closed for a second, and when he opens them the emotion written on his face is heart-wrenching. “God, I can’t believe I could’ve lost you. There were a good few minutes there when I didn’t think you were gonna make it and after… Tobias… I was just so scared.”

Spencer’s stomach clenches at that, imagining the roles reversed is terrifying just as a hypothetical. He can’t even begin to imagine how Derek felt. He reaches a hand out to touch Derek’s face gently, squeezing his hand with the other. “But you didn’t lose me,” he murmurs. “I’m here, I’m  okay.” 

“Yeah.” His voice is barely a whisper as his eyes close again. “Is it bad that I kind of want bees to go extinct now?” he asks with a wet chuckle a few moments later.

“Derek!” Spencer laughs weakly, acting scandalised. “Bees are fundamental to the global ecosystem. Civilisation would effectively collapse if bees went extinct, it’s definitely not worth eradicating bees for the sake of me avoiding the rarity of anaphylactic shock, not according to the laws of proportionality. It’s actually frightening how fast the bee population is depleting though… did you know that there are only about 2.5 million honey-producing hives left in the US? That’s down from 4.5 million in 1980 and the loss has largely been attributed to colony collapse disorder—”

“Ah, Doctor Reid, you’re awake.” A smiling nurse bustles through the door and comes to check his vitals, fiddling with one of his IVs before taking a step back. “How’s your breathing? Is the nasal cannula okay or would you prefer a full mask?”

“The cannula’s good,” he says, smiling politely. Really, he just wants to get back to telling Derek all the bee facts he can recall. He has some really good ones itching to be let out. “I’m breathing fine, just feel a little weak still.”

“Good. Your vitals all look stable, so a doctor will be round in the morning to talk you through your treatment and medication. Is that okay?” 

“That’s fine, thank you,” Spencer nods, and she gives them one last smile before leaving the room and sliding the door shut quietly behind her.

“I should bring her back in,” Derek chuckles as the nurse leaves the room. “She missed out on your bee lecture. Fascinating stuff.”

“Shut up,” Spencer huffs, sinking back against the pillows. “You don’t deserve to hear my bee facts.”

“No,” Derek protests, grinning widely. “I’m joking, baby, carry on. You were telling me about colony collapse disorder.”

Spencer knows that, of course — he does have an eidetic memory after all — but it makes him smile that Derek remembers exactly where he was in his spiel. Maybe Penelope’s onto something when she says that Derek is “whipped” for him. (It had taken at least fifteen minutes for Spencer to fully understand what she meant by that, mostly because he kept asking about the etymology, history, and statistical usage of the word and she kept rolling her eyes, which he would then insist was not an answer.)

“Colony collapse disorder is depressing,” Spencer sighs, feeling quite tired all of a sudden. “I don’t feel like explaining it.”

“It doesn’t sound great.” Derek goes back to threading his fingers through Spencer’s hair. “Why don’t you tell me your favourite three bee facts, and then you can go back to sleep”

Spencer hums, giving it a bit of thought before replying. “Scientists trained bees to score goals in bee soccer in return for a sugary treat, which is especially interesting because they have brains the size of a poppy seed. They communicate with one another by wiggling their butts. It’s like their own language, they tell their nestmates where to go to get the best food. Bees also live in loads of different places, not just in the countryside. My favourite place they live is in marshes and wetlands, because I love insects that live in watery areas.”

“I’d pay to watch bees play soccer,” Derek laughs quietly. “You’re so smart, baby, I’m so proud of you.”

Spencer sighs happily. “Love you,” he murmurs, eyes closing against the exhaustion. 

“I love you more.”

Spencer isn’t awake long enough to argue with him.

taglist: @criminalmindsvibez @strippersenseii @hotchgans @suburban--gothic @takeyourleap-of-faith 

[p-artsypants]

Arcadia or Bust (15) Area 49-B

(Ao3) (FF.net)

Well...it’s been a minute (over a year). How y’all doin? 

So, I finally got down to watching Wizards and it was just as amazing as I thought it would be! And I got to see my boy!!! My Jim!! And Claire!! Ahhh!!!

For the purpose of this fanfic, I won’t be changing the background I gave Morgana. In this story, the events of Wizards never happened. Nor the events of the end of 3 Below. I already wrote the start of the new school year, jumping passed the timeline of both of those seasons. Though, I might be cherry picking information from both (like Douxie and how much Toby and Eli know about Krel and Aja.)

I hope that makes sense, and thank you! 

I’m dedicating this chapter to @nattikay, because she said she wanted some positive Troll Jim content, and I wanted to get this to you sooner for it!

--

Previously on Arcadia or Bust:

Jim, Claire, Blinky, and Merlin came back to Arcadia, only to find that James Lake Sr. had turned up. Merlin gained favor with the party by turning the man into a pig temporarily. Jim went back to school in a glamour mask, only to be exposed as a troll by Steve, who punched him in the face. Now that everyone knows what he looks like and who he is, Jim continues school as a Troll. He’s been recruited for the football team too. 

Everything would have been great...except James Lake Sr. left a bag of cocaine on top of a trash can, as a drop zone, only for Jim to find it and go on a drug fueled rage across town. Now unconscious, Jim must face the consequences... 

—

When Jim awoke, he was bouncing slightly in the back of a van. Not an ambulance, a van. He groaned to wakefulness. 

“Oh, you’re finally awake.” Spoke a voice. 

Peeling his dry eyes open, he looked around the plain, armored vehicle to find himself surrounded by men in uniform with thick helmets and guns. 

He wanted to ask what was going on, only he was muzzled, and strapped to some kind of plank. If he tried really hard, he could probably break free, but he was still exhausted. 

And he wasn’t sure how trolls fared against gunshots. 

“You’re being escorted to a secure facility where you can’t hurt anyone ever again, you disgusting beast.” 

Oh, that wasn’t good. He’d hurt someone? 

So that dream was real? 

Where was he? Where was mom? Claire? Toby? Did they know where he was? 

“...mmm...” 

“I’ll unlock your muzzle for one minute. Make it quick.” 

A switch clicked and Jim felt his jaw relax ever so slightly. Just enough to talk. 

“Does my mom know where I am? What happened?” 

“Do you think we care about some mother of a beast?” 

Jim swallowed, feeling heat rising to his cheeks from anger and embarrassment. “Dr. Barbara Lake. At the Arcadia Oaks hospital. Please...she’ll worry about me.” 

Someone else spoke. “She was there when we took you. You were unconscious. She knows.” 

Well. She knew. She’d tell Claire, and Toby, and Blinky...but now what? Behave? 

Was he under arrest then? Was he going to have a trial? 

What the hell happened??

—

24 hours previously. 

They did everything they could. Now it was just up to Jim to pull through. His heart rate was down, and his stomach had been pumped of the excess cocaine he hadn’t already thrown up. 

Barbara was on the clock, so she couldn’t just sit and wait. Though, that might have been a blessing. It was agony just waiting. Watching his chest rise and fall with great effort. 

It was supposed to be a tense, quiet waiting game. 

But that all changed with the soldiers that stormed in in full riot gear. 

“Hands in the air!” 

Several men entered the room, and immediately secured Claire, Toby, and Strickler. 

“What’s going on?!” Demanded Claire. 

An African American woman, only in uniform and not full gear, strolled into the room, head held high. 

She stopped right at the end of Jim’s bed, raking her eyes over his prone form. “So this is the menace. I didn’t think they hospitalized beasts.” 

Barbara stormed into the room. “What are you doing?! Who are you?! Get away from my son!” 

The woman just turned and held her gaze. “Colonel Kublitz. I’ll be taking your patient into my custody.” 

“No!” Barbara argued, shouldering passed her. “We’ve been talking to the police! This is all a big misunderstanding! Jim was poisoned! And he can’t be moved! He’s unstable!”

The woman was not dissuaded. “Amazing that you’d be so protective of something that tore up your town, terrorized your neighbors, virtually held your city hostage. Why would you try to save that?” 

Barbara snarled at her. “He’s my son!” 

“I suppose he gets the blue skin and horns from his father? I know a troll when I see one. Last time, I missed them all. I’m not missing this one. He’s coming with me.” 

“And I’m telling you, I will not discharge him!” 

“I don’t need you to.” She snapped her fingers. “Bring in the board.” 

“You don’t have the authority!” 

“You’ll find that I do.” 

“You can’t take him! He’s not a monster!” Claire shouted. 

“This doesn’t concern you, little girl.” 

“It actually does! That’s my boyfriend! And I’m not going to let you take him!” 

The woman shook her head. “Please people, I can only be so disgusted.” She nodded to the men standing by Claire, Toby, and Walter. “Escort them out.” 

“You can’t do this!” Toby shouted as he was shoved forward. 

Out in the hall, they watched in horror as the soldiers wheeled in what looked like a dolly with a flat metal back, with thick straps that wrapped around. 

Barbara was pushed out of the room a moment later. 

“You can’t do this! Stop! Stop! You’ll kill him!” 

“All the better.” Said Colonel Kublitz. “Then we can stop having these apocalypses.”

“Jim stopped Gunmar! He’s a hero!” Claire cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He’s our protector!” 

The Colonel ignored them, and put her focus back on the room. 

A few moments later, Jim was wheeled out, strapped down by the arms, legs, pelvis, chest, and neck. A horrible muzzle, like the kind Hannibal Lector was forced to wear, covered his face. 

“No!!” Claire shrieked. “You’re killing him! Let him go! Let him go!” 

But the Colonel had enough talking and directed her men, and Jim, out. 

“We can’t let them leave!” Cried Toby, “we have to help him!”

“There’s nothing we can do right now,” said Walter. “They have guns and authority. We’ll find a way to help Jim. Somehow.” 

“Do you think my mom could do anything?” Asked Claire. 

“Local government rarely has anything to do with the federal, let alone the army. But it’s worth a try.” 

“I’ll call Ophelia.” Said Barbara. 

“No, Mrs. Lake,” interrupted Claire. “I’ll handle it. You’re still on the clock.” 

Barbara sighed, and brushed her hair back. “I suppose I am. Thank you, Claire.”

—

The next day at school, the student body was slightly shaken. Rumors had spread, and evidence of Jim’s rage still remained, like the doors ripped off the hinges. 

Most students gave Toby and Claire a wide berth. 

Darci came running the second she spotted them. “So what happened? Where’s Jim? Dad said they weren’t going to arrest him. Is he still in the hospital?” 

Claire frowned hard, lines pulling at the corners of her lips. “They took him. Some soldiers from the army or CIA or FBI. I don’t know. They muzzled him and...” she started crying. 

Darci and Toby were there to comfort her immediately. 

“I don’t know where they took him! I don’t even know where to start! It’s like...Area 51 stuff. I might—we might never see him again!” 

“Excuse me?” A voice cut in. “I’m very sorry, but I couldn’t help but hearing your distressed cries. You said the Troll Jim has been taken to a secret government facility?” 

Claire looked up to the newcomers, sibling students she had shared plenty of classes with, but she blanked on the names. “I’m sorry, what’s your name again?” 

“My name is Krel.” Said the boy. 

“And I’m Aja,” the girl answered. “It’s okay, in all the end of the world craziness, my name slipped your mind. It happens! But, anyways, if I’m correct, I believe Jim may have been taken to Area 49-B. My brother and I have experience breaking in. Of course, we’ll need a different plan from last time...” 

“Wait wait wait...you know where Jim is?” 

“Most likely,” Krel corrected. “It’s the closest government facility that specializes in the paranormal and extraterrestrial.” 

“And...you and your sister have broken out of it?” 

“Into it...and then back out.” 

“Why?” 

Krel scratched the back of his head. “We Uh...needed something.” 

Toby patted Claire’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Claire, they’re cool. They’ve got secret underground knowledge, like Jim. You know?” 

Claire, quick as she was, made a little nod of understanding. 

These two siblings weren’t what they seemed. 

“The lightning in a bottle!” Claire snapped her fingers. “I’m sorry, I totally forgot about that.” 

“Like I said, end of the world stuff.” Aja shrugged. “We had our own problems to take care of.” 

“Of course, we still do,” shrugged Krel. “But we understand the importance of helping friends when we can.” 

“Well, I appreciate it. And I’m sure Jim will too. Why don’t you guys come with us after school? My mom works in local government and she said she was coming up with a plan. We could use someone with insider knowledge.” 

“Lively!” 

“How dangerous is this place?” Asked Darci. “What kind of stuff are they going to do to Jim?” 

“If he’s lucky, they’ll cage him and observe him.” Said Aja. 

“But, they did try to dissect me, so that’s on the table too.” 

“Oh Jim...” Claire got misty-eyed again. 

“Now, now, no reason to cry!” Krel interrupted. “Area 49-B is mostly about extraterrestrial research. Jim might just be held there...for safety. Yes, for safety. That’s what we can hope for.” 

The way he said it didn’t instill Claire with confidence.

—

Jim remained in and out of consciousness for several hours, fighting nausea, and confusion. When he was conscious, it was all a blur of technology and bright lights. Needles poked at his skin, and he felt the coldness of metal under him.

Several hours later, when he was coherent, he awoke to find himself strapped to a table, naked, and surrounded by several specimens floating in jars and canisters. Slowly, he became aware of the researchers around the room, in yellow hazmat suits. They looked foreign and alien. All of this was drowned out by the bright light shining down on him from above. 

It was like a strange nightmare. 

“Jim Lake Jr.” Said a woman’s voice. 

“That’s me.” He croaked. 

“Who’s Jim Lake Sr.? Another monster?” 

Jim scoffed. “In a way, but he’s entirely human, if you were wondering.” He flexed his cold hands, willing circulation back into them. “What happened?”

“According to our reports, you decided it was perfectly acceptable to ingest a kilogram of cocaine, and go on a rampage through your town.”

Jim’s throat felt dry, and his nausea came back in full force. “I did what?”

The woman held up a tablet, and showed him a video. It was a compilation of security footage from around the city. In each one, his rampaging form tore through the area, upheaving cars, sidewalks, and light posts. Anything in his way. Then towards the end, he saw himself carrying Claire over his shoulder roughly. She screamed out in pain. 

“I…I didn’t…that’s not me.”

“It is you.” The woman snarled. “You hurt all those people, terrorized a whole city. And they tried to protect you, acting like you were one of them. But you’re not. You’re a beast. And that’s all you’ll ever be. No matter what you think.” 

Jim stared at the tablet as the footage started over. It was him, but it…wasn’t. This Jim was erratic, chaotic, and cruel. It made sense why this woman and her team would believe he was a beast if this is what they saw. So now what? He had to convince them that he wasn’t actually that bad? They had video evidence. 

This was all his father’s fault. That had to have been his cocaine on the trash can. 

There had to be a way to convince them that this was a horrible misunderstanding and that he was a victim of circumstance. 

That could take a while.

—

After school, Aja and Krel went with Claire and Toby back to her house to share their knowledge of the government base with Ophelia. 

But what they found there instead was startling, to say the least. 

It was all hands on deck. Blinky, Barbara, Ophelia, Xavier, and even NotEnrique were hard at work making signs and banners. 

“Um, mom?” Claire asked upon entry. 

“Oh Claire! I didn’t even hear you walk in!” 

“What’s going on?”

“We’re campaigning!” Barbara said with gusto. 

“Campaigning?” 

Ophelia held up a sign that said ‘Free Jim Lake Jr.’ on it. “For Jim’s release!”

“What?”

“If there’s one thing the government hates, it’s attention and protests! So we’re going to get the whole town in on it. I have some contacts at the news station too! It’s going to blow up!” 

Claire frowned. “Wait, I thought you went through all that effort to hide the trolls, why would we risk exposing them now?”

“Oh Claire, we’re not exposing the trolls, we’re campaigning the release of a boy that looks different.”

Claire crossed her arms, skeptical, but not in denial. “Go on…” 

“Think about it. Jim’s not a prisoner that’s in jail. There was no trial. No arrest. He was given no rights and kidnapped by the government. This kind of stuff shouldn’t happen in the US.”

“But how do we convince the town that Jim really isn’t a monster? He did do a lot of damage. I know we convinced the city not to press charges as long as Jim helps clean up…but what about all the cars he flipped?”

“That’s where you come in!” 

“Me?!” 

“My apologies, Lady Claire,” Said Blinky. “That would be my doing.” 

“What did you do?”

“I simply explained to your mother that your skills in magic have improved to the point where you were able to restore our truck to a near perfect condition after that accident we had.” 

Ophelia continued. “And I’m going to pretend to not be angry that you didn't tell us you were in a serious car accident on your way back from New Jersey. Blinky said you almost died!” 

“But I didn’t!” Claire held up her hands in defense. “See? All good! Magic and all that…” 

“So, you can restore the cars that were totaled?” Asked her father. 

“Well, maybe…? It might take a little time. Using that much magic is exhausting.” 

Barbara rested a hand on her arm. “Anything you can do to sway the town that Jim isn’t a monster will help. If we have to do a fundraiser to pay for damages, we can do that too. Anything to get the town on our side.” 

“I’m willing to try!” Claire assured. 

“So I guess we’re not needed?” Asked Aja. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Ophelia, approaching them. “As you can see, we’re in a state of chaos here. Are you friends of Jim and Claire’s?”

“Naturally!” Said Aja. “I’m Aja, and this is my little brother Krel.” 

“It’s very nice to meet you, I’m councilwoman Nuñez. Please, if you’re willing to help, we’ll certainly take it.” 

“Well,” said Krel. “We were here to offer a different sort of help…” 

Ophelia raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“What my little brother means,” Aja stated, elbowing him out of the way. “We have some information on the government facility that Jim was taken too. Area 49-B. Mostly used for research into the extraterrestrial and paranormal, but I suppose that could extend to Jim and the trolls.” She rubbed her hands together nervously. “We…had to recover some equipment from the facility. Which required breaking and entering…” 

Ophelia leveled a look at them both. “Is any of this so-called equipment dangerous to the city? Do I need to be concerned?”

“No no no!” Krel waved his hands around. “Well, it’s mostly safe. Unless there’s a malfunction. But even then, that’s a small possibility…”

“Krel…” Aja bit. 

“What? I’m just being honest with the woman!” 

“It’s okay guys, you can trust Mrs. Nuñez.” Said Toby. “She knows all about Jim and the Trollmarket.”  

“I mean, next thing you know, you’re going to tell us to trust everyone in Arcadia.” Joked Krel. 

“I’m working my way there.” 

“Fine,” said Aja. “We’re not...from earth. We're in hiding from our home planet. We’ve come to take sanctuary here.” 

“And we need to repair our ship before we can leave.” Added Krel. 

“Aliens.” Said Ophelia, with the blankest expression and tone. 

“Uh, we prefer the term extraterrestrials.” 

Ophelia just sighed. “Trolls. Wizards. Aliens. What’s next? Gnomes?” 

“Oh, there’s been gnomes,” answered Toby.

“Goblins?”

“So many goblins.”

“Okay, so space invaders.” Ophelia threw up her hands. “I guess we’re just that town now, huh? Great. Wonderful.” 

Barbara smoothly took over the situation. “What can you tell us about the facility?”

“Well, for starters, it’s very hard to get into. 10 foot cement walls, blast doors, motion sensor laser guns, the last time we broke in, we had to fake an alien sighting to lure out some guards, stole their uniforms, and snuck in disguised. And we had our AIs monitoring our every move through security cameras and luring personal outside with tacos.” 

“Hmm…sounds dangerous. How did you sneak out?” 

“We…didn’t.” Aja laughed awkwardly. “We kind of busted a giant extraterrestrial arthropod out to cover our escape. We were only lucky that that woman saw us in our real forms and not these human projections. No doubt, she’s hunting for us anyways.” 

“A jailbreak won’t work anyways,” stated Claire. “They took Jim from Arcadia. If we broke him out, he wouldn’t be able to return here, cause they’ll just take him again.” 

“The woman in charge is Colonel Kublitz, and she’s really mean.”

“So I gathered from her visit in the hospital.” Said Barbara with a scowl. 

“Then the campaign is our only hope,” confirmed Ophelia. “If we can’t break him out, and we can’t appeal to the Colonel’s heart, then we put pressure on her superiors to let him out.” 

“But first, we need to get the town on our side. Which means clean up duty.”

—

“Has anyone seen Jim? I need a library card, and I was hoping to borrow his.” This was said by Merlin, who waltzed into the Lake house as soon as they returned from the campaign meeting.

“What?” Asked Claire. “You mean you didn’t hear?”

“If I had heard any news about Jim, do you think I’d be asking?” He put his arms on his hips. “I don’t have one of your cellphones, I’m not ‘in the loop’ as you like to say.” 

Toby answered, “Jim’s been kidnapped by the government and taken to a secret facility to be experimented on!” 

Merlin blinked once, twice, and scratched his chin. “Well, that’s not good.”

“No, it’s really not!” 

“So are you going to help us save him?” Asked Claire. “It’s your magic that got him into this mess in the first place!” 

“Oh, so sorry for trying to make sure your boyfriend stayed alive. I won’t do it again,” he rolled his eyes. “But yes, I’ll help rescue Jim. What is it that you need? Dimension door? A portal to get him out? Or perhaps some fire power down the front door?” 

“No, we need you to help fix the damage Jim did to the town.” 

“You want me to what?! Do I look like a janitor to you?!”

“Come on man, it’s all part of the plan!” Said Toby, “We’re going to get the whole town on our side, and then we’re going to campaign and make a big stink about him being taken! It’ll give them a bunch of unwanted attention, and they’ll have to listen to us!”

“Oh yes, I’m certain that’s exactly what’s going to happen…and not mass execution.” 

“This is the 21st century, the government isn’t going to execute an entire town.” 

“Oh, they don’t do that anymore? Pity. Anyways, I suppose I can help reverse the damage Jim caused…what damage would that be, exactly?”

“James Butthead Sr. left a bag of cocaine out where Jim could find it and he ate it and went into a drug fueled rage, where he flipped over cars and light poles and scared the bejebus out of everyone.” Toby stated. “The police agreed not to arrest him, because of the circumstances, as long as he agrees to clean up the town…but then the army came in and yada yada yada, Bob’s your uncle.” 

“What? When did this happen?” 

“Just yesterday.”

“How did I miss it?”

“You were probably at McDonalds.” 

The man frowned, “I hate that I’ve become predictable. Alright, I’ll get to work doing street repairs first thing in the morning. Until then…does anyone have a library card I could use?”

—

Maybe they’d let him go on good behavior, he wondered. Jim followed every direction to a T, and regarded every scientist or personnel politely. Yes sir, no sir, yes ma’am, no ma’am. Please and thank you. Every ounce of humanity he could muster, he demonstrated. 

In return, he’d been poked and prodded. Blood, urine, sweat, spit and all manner of bodily fluids had been extracted and examined. He had run on a treadmill for hours until he collapsed. He had gone without food and water for the last two days. 

They were treating him like anything but human. 

He was just happy they weren’t using UV lights yet. 

“How are you feeling?” One of the researchers asked. 

“Hungry, tired.” He panted from his table.

“What do you eat?”

“Anything…do you have any socks?” 

“You’ll have to wait a bit longer for food. Until the Colonel gives the okay.” 

“And how much longer will that be?”

“She’ll be here soon, why don’t you ask her yourself?” 

Jim really hated interacting with the Colonel. Most of the personnel were indifferent to him. Some of the researchers actually spoke to him, but most just treated him like he wasn’t even there. The Colonel though, she was cruel. She belittled him, humiliated him, reminded him of the actions that had put him in here. 

She made him feel like an animal, more than anything else after his transformation had. 

“Why is she so much meaner than everyone else on this base?” He asked rhetorically. 

“She’s scared of you.” Said the researcher, not looking at him. “And you’ll never be free as long as she is.” 

Great. Awesome. Just what he wanted to hear. Oh well. He’d just have to up his politeness. Maybe he could convince them to let him cook or something. That could work.

Soon enough, the Colonel arrived, tablet under her arm and a sneer on her lips. “James Lake Jr.”

“That’s me,” he rolled his eyes. He’d been through this every time she’d come to see him. 

“Junior at Arcadia Oaks High School. Nearly perfect GPA up until last year where you got a large stint of absences. Starred in the drama production of Romeo and Juliet. This is you?”

“Yes! I’ve gone to the Arcadia Oaks school district since Kindergarten!” 

“Except Jim Lake Jr. looks like this,” she held up last year’s school photo, with the old him. The human him. The him that didn’t flip cars and trash towns. 

“That was me a few months ago.” 

“This doesn’t look anything like you.” 

“It doesn’t? Not the eyes? Face shape?”

“What I don’t understand is that your DNA samples came back, and they had some commonality to Jim Lake Jr.’s DNA, about half. So, what happened?”

Jim kept a wary eye on her, thinking his answer through. He had been asked something similar by a police chief several states away. Then, the truth hasn’t been too hard to confess, they were far from home and they had treated him like a person. 

A criminal, but a person. And they apologized afterwards. 

But this woman...there was no mercy in her eyes. 

“Well? Are you going to give me answers? Or am I going to have to force them out of you?” 

Would she even believe the truth? 

“Magic.” Jim provided, as a start. 

The Colonel was unimpressed, and growing impatient. 

So he elaborated, carefully, “this amulet,” he gestured to the stone embedded into his chest. “Was created by Merlin the wizard of Arthurian legend. It chose me to be the protector of man and troll.” 

All of the Colonel’s attention was quickly on the amulet, as she studied it. “Protect from what?” 

“Gunmar, mostly...how much do you know about the tornado in Arcadia?” 

“I know that it wasn’t a natural tornado. I know that your town was upheaved by trolls from deep underground, and that when it all went away, the town shut it down tight. There’s only a few amateur videos of the incident.” 

“That was Gunmar. He led an army of evil trolls that wanted to blot out the sun. It was my job to stop him...but I wasn’t exactly a star athlete...so, Merlin turned me into a half troll.” 

Turning this entire exchange, the Colonel never once looked away from the amulet. “I see...and what happened to Gunmar?”

“I stopped him. I killed him. And killing him destroyed his army. Everything is safe now.” He managed to smile. “Now that you know I’m not all that bad, would you ease up a bit? That last incident was an accident...I didn’t know it was cocaine, I just thought it was trash!” 

“Silence.” 

Jim bit his lip, waiting for the Colonel to make up her mind. 

“I want to study this amulet in more detail.” 

“Well, you can look all you like, but it’s embedded in my chest.” 

“That’s never stopped me before.” She turned to the researcher nearby. “Get me some gloves and some forceps.” 

Immediately, Jim started to squirm and pull at his restraints. Forget politeness, she wasn’t getting anywhere near him with forceps! The restraints groaned as he pulled on them, tearing the welding apart. 

“Sedate him!” The Colonel ordered. 

He tried to resist, he really did, but the mask held over his face made him weak. It didn’t completely put him under, but it did make his head a little foggy and his limbs not cooperate. 

“Just sit still, it’ll all be over soon.” The woman’s voice could have been soothing, if it didn’t hold such malicious intent. 

Jim felt the pull on his chest as the cold metal forceps tried to pry the amulet free. 

Of course, Jim had a stroke of genius. “For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!” 

It didn’t release him from his binding, but the armor forced the woman away from him, and added extra support over the amulet’s edges. 

And as an added bonus, he summoned his helmet and visor, which pushed the anesthesia mask away from his face. 

Now to just get free! 

The researchers had all gone from the room when he started to glow, but the Colonel stayed behind, unable to tear her gaze away. 

“Fascinating...” 

Hopped up on adrenaline and rage, Jim gave a final heave to his bindings and broke free. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Said Colonel Kublitz. 

“Leaving, preferably. Look, I told you what you wanted to know, I let you poke and prod me for days without water. But I’m done. I’m going home.” 

“And then what?” She asked. “You think we won’t come after you again? Hell, you think you can break out of here?” 

“I can try.” He rolled his shoulders and summoned daylight. “And maybe if I make a good enough of an impression, you’ll find it not worth it to try to get me back.” 

“Try if you can, but now that I know exactly what that amulet is capable of, I’m not letting you leave with it!” 

Thankfully, Jim had a spectacular response time, and darted out of the way at the first sign of the gun, or laser. Whatever that thing was. 

She fired beam after beam, only for Jim to dance out of the way, swiftly and gracefully. He dove behind other specimens and lab equipment, but the Colonel seemed to have little regard for them. Glass tanks exploded, making the floor slippery and sending glass everywhere. 

Before Jim could even reach the door, the room was already surrounded with armed men, all armed with lasers. 

“Give up, Beast! There’s nowhere to run!” 

“I’m not a beast!” Jim shouted back, with a roar. Looking up, he found a large vent in the ceiling. That very well could be his way out. 

But as he jumped to grab for his hold, a beam connected. Bolts of electricity crashed into him over and over in waves, flowing from his horns to his toes, making him convulse violently and unwillingly. He collapsed on the floor in a writhing mess. 

“Don’t touch him yet, the current is still in his armor.” 

Jim felt it too, passing through his very body like he was made of metal. 

Then it all stopped, and he laid exhausted on the floor. He blamed it on his hunger, his thirst, his restlessness. This was a battle not won. 

“Now then, where were we?” 

The electrocution left him too tired to fight, and just awake enough to feel all the pain. 

“You know, a blast at that voltage would have killed a normal human.” She said. “Guess you can be thankful for that, huh?” 

Jim could only let out a weak groan, before his armor faded away. The hands that grabbed him hurt, even just from the residual shock. He was placed back onto a table, and strapped in again. He had no strength to fight. 

“Alright, let’s try this again.”

They didn’t even sedate him, just tore into the flesh of his chest to remove the amulet. 

“Scalpel isn’t going to work, I need a chisel.” 

He could feel the tool cracking into his chest, one knock at a time, carving away. It hurt, oh it hurt, and he cried out in pain. 

And then it was over, and he felt so hollow inside, so empty. 

The Colonel held up the amulet in the light, bits of him still clinging to it. “There now, that wasn’t too bad was it?” 

Jim was unable to answer, his body trembling in pain and shock. His breaths were erratic and shuttering. 

“Clean this up, and then find out what the secret is. I want that armor for myself!”

[news-update-covid-19-usa]

NEWS UPDATE USA !!! A Missouri couple says they dragged their feet on getting the Covid-19 vaccine. Then they got sick

Louie Michael and his wife, Pattie Bunch, were both hospitalized last month with Covid-19 in Springfield, Missouri.

An ambulance first had rushed her, with respiratory failure, to an emergency room one day; he was admitted the next night. "You may not make it through the night," she recalls a physician telling her. Michael remembers the doctor asking him about possible intubation: "Do you want us to fight for you? Do you want us to do anything we can to save your life?" Bunch, now recovery at home, says she felt helpless. "You have no control." Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths are rising again in Missouri, with the federal government deploying a Covid-19 surge team to provide public health support. The state's health department estimates that more than 70% of the virus in the state is the more infectious -- possibly more dangerous -- Delta variant. That variant, first identified in India, accounted for 51.7% of all new Covid-19 infections in the country over the two weeks that ended Saturday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated. State health officials push vaccination efforts Robert Knodell, acting director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, on Friday acknowledged significant outbreaks of the Delta variant in north-central Missouri and a similar surge in southwest Missouri. Vaccination, Knodell told reporters, "is now, and remains the number one most effective mitigation step that every Missourian age 12 and over can take to protect themselves, to protect their families, and their neighbors." Dr. George Turabelidze, a state epidemiologist, said Missouri had "vulnerable hot spots" where not enough people were vaccinated and warned the state is "heading towards widespread infection with Delta."

Over the past week, Missouri's Covid-19 caseload was second highest in the country, with 15.5 new cases per 100,000 people daily, or 108 cases per 100,000 people over seven days, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Arkansas had the highest rate at 15.7 new cases per 100,000 people each day, the data showed. At Springfield's Mercy Hospital, the rapid spike in hospitalizations left administrators scrambling to borrow ventilators from other hospitals. At the city's CoxHealth hospital system, 90% of coronavirus patients had the Delta variant. "We are seeing a tremendous increase in the number of Covid patients in our emergency department over the past several weeks," said Dr. Howard Jarvis, medical director of the emergency department at CoxHealth. He added, "We are going to get worse over the next couple weeks. Certainly people are out doing a lot more things. I think there's a lot of people that have less concern about the virus. Now we don't have a very high percentage in this area of people who are vaccinated." Breeding grounds for more deadly Covid-19 variants Missouri is not alone. More than 9 million people live in 173 US counties with Covid-19 case rates at or more than 100 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days and with vaccination rates lower than 40%, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said at a White House briefing on Thursday. More than 90% of those counties also have a vaccination coverage of less than 40%, according to Walensky.

"Many of these counties are also the same locations where the Delta variant represents the large majority of circulating virus," Walensky said. "Low vaccination rates in these counties, coupled with high case rates -- and lax mitigation policies that do not protect those who are unvaccinated from disease -- will certainly, and sadly, lead to more unnecessary suffering, hospitalizations and potentially deaths." In fact, a new data analysis has identified clusters of unvaccinated people, most of them in the southern United States, who are vulnerable to surges in Covid-19 cases and could become breeding grounds for even more deadly variants. The analysis by Georgetown University researchers identified 30 clusters of counties with low vaccination rates and significant population sizes. The five most significant clusters cover large swaths of the southeastern US and a smaller portion in the Midwest. The clusters are largely in parts of eight states -- from Georgia to Texas and southern Missouri. About one-third of Americans have not received a Covid-19 shot. About 39% of Greene County residents fully vaccinated Katie Towns, acting director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, said the county -- population about 300,000 -- had 240 Covid-19 cases just on Wednesday and 17 deaths in the last two weeks. About 39% of its residents are fully vaccinated, according to health department website. "We're not a huge community," she said of the 240 cases. "That's a really large number and we haven't seen these numbers since we had a surge back in December and January." About 56% of adults in Missouri have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose and 39.4% of residents are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data. In Taney County, where the southwestern Ozark city of Branson is a huge tourist draw, about 25% of its roughly 56,000 residents are vaccinated. "It runs the gamut," Lisa Marshall, director of the Taney County Health Department, said of the hesitancy to the vaccine. "Maybe they just want to wait and see or ... it's not quite ready yet. Maybe they're just not someone that vaccinates. We've also heard a little bit of concern over how quickly the vaccine was developed." Overall, data shows that Covid-19 is expected to swell in less vaccinated communities, especially as the Delta variant continue to spread in those areas. In Missouri, a federal surge team deployed there is to include an epidemiologist, research assistants, a health communication specialist, contact tracers and others who will help with vaccination and outreach, according to the health department. The teams include members of CDC, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency "We have a CDC representative helping us with ... investigating the (Delta) variant and its presence here in our community," Towns said. "But we just have ... one representative right now. We'll gladly accept the additional resources."

At the 500-bed CoxHealth hospital system, Jarvis said nearly all of the new Covid-19 admissions have been unvaccinated younger patients. "This is going to keep happening," he said of the latest surge in cases. "It may peak here and then it's going to spread to other places. If we don't get enough vaccinated there's going to be another variant that's probably worse. It's just that's the way viruses work." Couple, sick with Covid-19, holds hands in the ICU In Rogersville, Louie Michael said he and wife Pattie Bunch, a nurse, had been "dragging our feet" since the spring about getting a Covid-19 vaccine. In mid-June, Bunch got sick. "It felt like a bomb dropped on me," said Bunch, who is still recovering less than a month later. "I just wasn't feeling good at all. And I thought, 'Oh, no.'" An ambulance rushed her to the hospital with respiratory failure on June 17. The next night, Michael, an entertainer, had to be rushed to the same emergency room in Springfield. A nurse eventually put them in the same ICU room, where Michael took a snapshot of them holding hands. "We didn't know how it was going to turn out," said Michael, who along with Bunch urges people to get vaccinated. "We didn't know if we'd get to go back home." "Or see our kids again, or our family or grandson," she said. "It could have just ended that night," said Michael, who has been with Bunch for 30 years. "It made me mad. I didn't want it to end that way. It's not supposed to end that way ... and unfortunately, it's ending for a lot of people that way."

https://dzone.com/articles/hd-velozes-amp-furiosos-9-assistir-fast-amp-furiou https://dzone.com/articles/hd1080p-assistir-velozes-amp-furiosos-9-dublado-on https://dzone.com/articles/vem-hd-assistir-invocacao-do-mal-3-a-ordem-do-demo https://dzone.com/articles/asisstir-invocacao-do-mal-3-a-ordem-do-demonio-onl https://dzone.com/articles/assistir-hd-invocacao-do-mal-3-a-ordem-do-demonio https://dzone.com/articles/vem-hd-assistir-mortal-kombat-2021-filme-completo https://dzone.com/articles/vem-hd-assistir-mortal-kombat-filme-completo-dubla https://dzone.com/articles/vem-hd-assistir-um-lugar-silencioso-parte-ii-2021 https://dzone.com/articles/ver-filme-um-lugar-silencioso-parte-ii-2021-online https://dzone.com/articles/vem-hd-assistir-cruella-2021-filme-completo-online https://dzone.com/articles/ver-filme-cruella-2021-online-assistir-filme-cruel https://dzone.com/articles/assistir-demon-slayer-o-trem-infinito-filme-comple https://dzone.com/articles/vem-hd-assistir-demon-slayer-o-trem-infinito-2021 https://dzone.com/articles/onde-assistir-a-guerra-do-amanha-2021-filme-comple https://dzone.com/articles/vem-hd-assistir-viuva-negra-2021-filme-completo-gr https://muckrack.com/fanny-cyntiaa/bio https://minimore.com/b/lVZXr/1

[browneyedmissy]

There She Goes

Pairing: Rafael Aveiro x Casey Valentine

Summary: They lived in two different worlds but Rafael still had hope- until he didn't.

Author's Note: I started this when OH came back a few weeks ago and I was thinking about why Rafael and Casey broke up. This story contains some adult themes and comes with a reader's discretion advised.

Playlist: There She Goes by The La's, Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams, Boys of Summer by Don Henley

-

Part I

The day he met Casey Valentine, his heart skipped faster.

It was a job the entire team would take about for days afterwards. A burning building, no firefighters in sight- but hearing the voice from inside and the worry from the woman's coworkers, Rafael had known he couldn't just sit around and wait. Every moment he waited was another moment that the woman inside of the building didn't have.

And it had been a hard week. Once, they had gotten there too late and once the patient had died en route. He knew they had tried their best and there was not more he could do but he still mourned them in the recesses of his heart.

So when he had stared down that building, he felt a burst of adrenaline as he busted through to find her. Her name was Dolores and she clung onto him as they made it outside and to the ambulance. It was then that Rafael had noticed her protruding stomach.

Please, let her make it. He begged to no one in particular as they started heading towards the hospital. He reached out to hold her hand and his heart sank when she fell into unconsciousness and her grip weakened.

They arrived at the hospital and two new doctors he hadn't seen before came out. They asked about the situation and one of them looked at him curiously when he had mentioned he himself went in to find her.

"What about the firefighters?" She asked. "Where were they?"

"We beat them there." He shrugged. "I heard her screaming from the building and all of her other coworkers had made it out… I couldn't leave her."

The doctor blinked at him before giving him a smile. "Well, I'll do my best to make sure that we treat her. My name's Casey Valentine by the way."

"Rafael Aveiro." He followed her inside, eyes following Dolores. "I hope she and her baby will be alright. I kinda need a win this week to be completely honest."

"You and me both." Casey laughed, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "This is my first week and it's been so much harder than I thought. And I already knew it was going to be challenging."

"Well, I hope we both get a win then." Rafael grinned.

His radio went off, startling them both. He listened to the call before turning back to the doctor.

"Maybe I'll see you around?" He asked, suddenly feeling shy.

"Yeah, I hope so soon." She said with a smile before she realized the implication of her words. "Not that I hope you guys have an emergency! Umm, I'm going to go check on Dolores. I'll see you later, Rafael."

Rafael watched her leave, her ponytail swishing behind her. Just as he was about to turn to leave, he met her eyes as she turned to give him one last look. She bit her lip and gave him a little wave before turning the corner.

-

When Casey and his friends arrived at dinner, he wondered if he was in over his head.

They were all kind people but her friends had all gone to top of the line universities with the prestige of becoming a doctor. He had gone to community college nearby so that he could be at home with his family. He couldn't leave when his tio- his mother's brother had passed so unexpectedly.

And he loved his community. They took care of him when he was a child and he wanted to take of them as adults.

Her friends were about saving the world. Looking to revolutionizing medicine. He admired them greatly but they seemed to be in different worlds and he wasn't quite sure how he fit.

"Do you really have an early day tomorrow, Rafael?" Casey asked quietly as they stood at the train station.

He hesitated. "No, I just… Casey, you and your friends are fancy Ivy League doctors. I'm from a different world than that."

"I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Nah, you didn't Case. You know, I've lived here my entire life and I'm always going to be the working class of this city. I love my community and I'm happy with where my life is."

He took her in, her pretty green dress bringing out the warmth in her eyes.

"Do you- I mean, would you like to come see where I live?" He asked, feeling heat in his cheeks when she tilted her head at the question. "I promised my grandmother I'd visit her more and…"

"I'd love to." She said with a dazzling grin. She ran over to her friends, pointing in his direction before waving goodbye to them before coming back and linking her arm with his. "Let's go."

-

His grandmother adored her.

She said Casey was a good listener and made you feel important when you talked to her. She always made eye contact and had a sweet laugh.

Linda as well, she had said in Portugese. Beautiful.

They went outside later, chatting to his friends and strolling the street. With her hands warm in his, he had taught her the dances he had learned as a child and held her close as they had danced.

When he leaned in to kiss her, he was certain she could hear his heart thump.

Part II

Teresa Martinez was one of the kindest women he had ever met.

He could still remember the first day he had met her at the hospital and she had pretended to be a nurse, sitting at the desk. The other doctors had laughed and told him she liked the attention of the young staff in particular because they reminded her fondly of her grandchildren.

So when she was able to leave the hospital, he was thrilled for her.

"I'm really happy for you, Mrs. Martinez." He said as he hugged her goodbye.

"Goodbye, my niento." She said, kissing him on her cheek. "Take care of Doctor Valentine. She's a wonderful girl."

"Don't I know it." He said, grinning at Casey.

"I will send you and your vovo a postcard. And I will visit the two of you when I get back and tell you all about my adventures."

So when he had stepped into the hospital, a few weeks after she left, he knew something was wrong. Everyone was somber and he frowned, looking around for Casey.

He had almost given up when she turned the corner and literally ran into him. He caught her and was startled to see tears running down her face.

"Casey, what happened?"

"Not here." She muttered, looking around wildly. "Here..."

She pulled him towards a door and they went into the on call room. He sat on the bed as she paced back and forth.

"Teresa Martinez is dead." She spluttered. Rafael felt a bit in his stomach. His vovo had shown him the card she had sent from Bueno Aires last week. "We- I gave her experimental medicine and she passed away."

"Casey..."

"And Dr. Banjeri is dying. Raf, I haven't told you. But he's been in treatment at this hospital and we don't know what's wrong with him. Dr. Ramsey and I have been trying to diagnose him but it might be too late and Ethan- he just quit and left. I don't know what to do anymore because nothing I do is helpful anymore."

He reached out his arms and Casey wrapped her arms around his neck, letting her tears reemerge.

"Casey, I'm sorry." He muttered as she clung tight to him. "What can I do?"

She pulled back, scanning his face before she leaned in and pressed her lips against his desperately.

"Distract me. Please." She whispered.

He groaned as he felt her hands tugging his shirt up and over his head and her breath hitched as she looked at him.

"Dolores was right, you are a hunk." She said as she took him in appreciatively. He felt his cheeks flush as she placed a hand on his chest. "I see why she nicknamed you Superman."

"The nerd in me wants to make so many jokes right now but I can't think of any of them." He whispered into her neck. He reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it off.

"I'm guessing you're a boob guy?" She asked breathlessly as he began pressing kisses along her collarbone.

"Mostly a Casey guy. But yes, I do appreciate them. Especially yours." He grinned as he pulled her into his lap. "I'll admit I've thought about them before."

Casey leaned in to kiss him again and he ran his hands down the warm skin of her back. His body felt on fire as she started grinding her hips down and he brought a hand up to her hair.

"What else have you thought about?" She asked breathlessly.

He grinned as he moved her back down against the bed. He began kissing his way down, revelling in the softness of her skin.

"Kissing every part of you. You're absolutely beautiful, Casey.

He paused at her waistband and she gave him a nod as she lifted her hips, allowing him to pull off her pants. He pressed kiss to her thighs as he eased two fingers in, watching as Casey bit back a moan.

"Shh, we can't be too loud." He said, passing her a pillow. She looked down at him with the begin of a protest on her lips when his mouth joined his hands and she pressed her cry into the pillow.

"Rafael, I-" She whispered. "Ohhhh."

Her hips rocked and twisted around him as she reached her peak and he held her legs down lightly as her tremors subside.

"Feeling better?" He asked.

"Funny how an orgasm can that to you." She grinned as she pulled him up to kiss her. She began to reach for his belt when he stopped her.

"That was for you. To make you feel better. I'm not a doctor but this was my prescription to you."

"I should prescribe oral sex more often then." Casey laughed as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

-

Rafael had always wanted to put good in the world. He had watched his uncle put everything he had back towards his community and when he had passed, the community felt the loss. Rafael couldn't have that, he had decided.

His body felt heavy as he opened his eyes, squinting at his surroundings. The last thing he could remember was passing the little girl in the tunnels out of the way.

"Raf, you're okay." A soft voice whispered. He heart skipped a beat and turned his head to see Casey, backlit by the soft hospital light. Her dark hair was plaited into a messy braid and she looked completely exhausted. "Thank goodness."

"Casey." He squinted as he recognized the hospital walls and winced as he tried to sit up. "What happened?"

She shook her head as tears began to stream down her face. He reached out his hand and she clasped it with both of hers as if she were afraid he would disappear otherwise.

"I thought you were dead, Raf." She replied hoarsely. "You came in, so still and I couldn't move."

"I performed surgery on you. With Bryce and Dr. Harper, we were short-staffed." Casey said, lightly touching at his abdomen. "I was standing there when they brought you in and we didn't have enough people. I was wrist deep in you."

Rafael chortled. "How intimate."

"Can you-" Casey trailed off before looking at him again. "I wouldn't ever ask you to stop. But can you… can you be more careful?"

He mulled her question, looking up at the ceiling. They laid there in silence before he finally gave the thoughts in his head spoken words."

"Did I ever tell you about my uncle, coração?" She nodded her head, burying herself into his shoulder. "I adored the man, Case. He was selfless and caring and he did all he could to help people. He came back to where he grew up to make sure that other people got the support he did. He got us the field trips, the busses, anything we needed."

"You never told me about what happened to him."

"Brain aneurysm. It was sudden. He was on his way to deliver books to the local shelter and that was it." He said through a heavy voice. His cheeks were wet and he felt Casey squeeze his hand. "You know, I stopped believing in God a little after that. I still go to church with my vova every once in a while but I couldn't understand why my uncle of all people would be taken away."

"He would be proud of you, you know." She mumbled. "You are so kindhearted and giving and you saved that girl. Sometimes I wish you weren't so brave and selfless but then you wouldn't be you."

"Thanks, Casey."

The steady sound of her heartbeat and warmth of her against him lulled him to sleep.

Part III

He groaned as he felt an arm wrap around his middle and the press of a warm body against his back. He could hear her uneven breathing and he stilled as he felt something wet as she pressed her face into him.

"Casey?" He murmured. "Coração, what's wrong?"

"I had a dream." She whispered back. "That day of the triage. I couldn't save you."

He felt his stomach drop. It had been three months since the tunnel collapse and they had penciled in as many dates as they could between their busy schedules. Some nights, he would just go over to Casey's and fall asleep, wrapped closely around her.

He drew her in closer as he felt her trembling in his arms. One hand went up to stroke her head in a comforting gesture.

"It's hard to think that might happen. I know it's your job and I know you will do everything in your power to save people. I just… whenever an ambulance comes in, I'm terrified you're going to be on the gurney."

"I'm here, Casey, I'm here."

Her kisses began as the need for confirmation that he was still alive as his arm moved around to bring him tight to her as comfort. Her hands reached underneath to slip his boxers down and he groaned as she sank down, rolling her hips.

"Casey." He whispered as he placed his hands on her hips, his eyes rolling back as he moved his hips to meet hers.

She took in a sharp breath on a particularly deep thrust and he muttered words in Portugese as he pressed his fingers where they were joined as she shuddered around him.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead as he listened to the steady rise and fall of her breath.

"I'm afraid of losing you, Raf." She finally muttered into him. "I've had that dream a few times and you always come in, still and unconscious on that gurney."

"Have you told anyone else about this yet?"

"I've been meaning to. Haven't had the time." She shook her head and sighed. "It's selfish. But I wish you would stop putting yourself in danger."

"It's not selfish, Casey. You and I are in a relationship and we're involved in each other's lives." He said quietly, thinking over his options. Before he could voice them, Casey interrupted his thought.

"I can't ask you to give up your career. Not when you love it so much. And there's a reason they're all nicknamed you Superman. I can't fault you for that compassion of yours when it's why I adore you in the first place. I just don't know what to do when I have those dreams and you're not here."

He didn't have a response to her, so he just held her the rest of the night until exhaustion finally won.

-

They need me to go to a benefit for Edenbrook. Casey's text came back with a sad face at the end. Something to do with the diagnostics team. Put on something nice and come with me! I'll put something pretty on for you for you.

He arrived at her apartment that night with a bouquet of flowers from the farmer's market. Casey had to keep rescheduling him because of her work and he felt like it had been ages since he had seen her. He caught glimpses of her at work and they were able to have lunch once in a while but it had been a little strained since their conversation about his job.

The moment she walked into the living room, Rafael thought he might have to call one of his friends because his heart might have stopped.

Casey smiled at him sheepishly as he tried to pick his jaw off the floor. She wore a black wrap dress with a high slit up her leg, her long hair pulled in a side ponytail.

She looked like the world was hers for the taking. And honestly, it was.

"You look gorgeous." He grinned, handing her the flowers.

They walked hand in hand to the hotel that the benefit was being held at and Rafael couldn't contain his grin. He took a breath in as he looked around the room.

"You could fit my entire house in this dining room." He muttered as he followed Casey to the table. They ate, making polite small talk with the people at their table from different hospitals. They were clearly more interested in what Casey had to say- which he had expected.

"This girl you got here is one of a kind. She's going places and going to make a big name for herself." One of the doctors grinned at him.

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing." He agreed as the band began to play. He looked at Casey, sticking out his hand. "Would you like to dance?"

She nodded as they made their way to the dance floor and she let out a sigh, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I'm glad you're here with me." She muttered loud enough for him to hear. "You make these functions better."

"You're doing great, Casey. You're charismatic, people adore you." He reassured. "I adore you."

"You feel like home to me."

She pulled back a little and he gazed down at her. He felt words rising in his throat to see her looking at him, eyes bright and-

"Casey, I lo-"

"Dr. Valentine." A voice interrupted wearily. "I need your help."

Casey and Rafael turned to see Ethan Ramsey with an irritated expression on his face. Casey dropped her arms, frowning as she took a step away from Rafael.

"Dr. Ramsey, what-"

"The insurance companies want to speak with the new member of the diagnostic team." Casey's boss replied exacerbated. "Very insistent that they meet you."

"Oh." She bit her lip, looking between Rafael and Ethan. "Raf, I'm sorry, I-"

"It's your job Casey, I'll be fine." He shrugged as Casey reached to tug on the necklace around her neck. She always did that when she was nervous, he noted. "I'll wait for you at the table."

"Okay. I'll be right back." Casey shot him an apologetic smile before following Ethan to the table to mingle. He watched her as she smiled, tilting her head, observing that all the people at the table were charmed by her.

He felt a little strange standing there as Casey talked to the group. He didn't quite fit into this world and he had known that when they had both met. But she needed to be in it to succeed. Their tablemate was right- she was going to go places and he wasn't quite sure he was going to be able to do that with her.

They walked in silence back hours later after the benefit, doubt and insecurity storming in his head.

"Raf, did you hear me?"

He blinked and looked at Casey, realizing she had said something to him.

"I asked if you wanted to get a cab ride home with me. And if you wanted to stay with me tonight."

He furrowed his brow, hesitating as he spoke.

"I'll take the cab with you to your house but I think I'm going to go home tonight. I'm feeling kind of tired."

"Oh."

Her dejected tone made his heart ache.

"Is this not working?" She said in a whisper. "Raf- I… I hate that we don't get to see each other and finally when we both had time I had to go to this. And I know it makes you uneasy being around that kind of extravagance…"

"Casey, that's always going to be part of your world." He said gently. "You are going to revolutionize your field. We all see it, you're amazing."

"I know, I just… I don't know." She sighed, wringing her hands. "It's a lot to have all of these things right now. I'm trying to make everything work but I get overwhelmed. And I miss you."

"I miss you too." He said hoarsely as she wrapped her arms around him. "Casey, I try to save people. And you're going to save the world. I- I think we should break this off so you can achieve that."

She looked up at him, tears silently streaming down her face.

"I don't want that."

"Neither do I. But… I think it might be the best. I'll walk you home."

After he said goodbye to her at her apartment, he was quite sure his heart was split in two.

Part IV

The day Sora came back to town was a strange day for him.

She was his childhood sweetheart, his first crush. He still thought about Casey's laugh and her dimples when Sora smiled, but he shoved them down deep.

Their relationship was easy and they fell back into it as if they were still in high school. She visited his vovo with her and sat at the table, laughing as they all made dinner together.

His vovo asked him about the pretty doctor once and he just shrugged, not willing to open up that wound quite yet.

The first time he and Sora ran into Casey was unplanned and hurt like a ton of bricks. She was out with Bryce at the farmer's market, arm in arm when she spotted them.

"Oh, hi Rafael!" She said with a bright smile. Her eyes flickered down to their clasped hands and he willed himself to not let go of Sora's hand. "I don't think I've met you before, I'm Casey Valentine and this is Bryce Lahela. We work at Edenbrook Hospital."

"I'm Sora, Raf's girlfriend."

Rafael hated himself for trying to see if Casey's reaction would change at all. She didn't though and instead just carried on a conversation with her, Bryce chiming in every once in a while.

"Well, we should get going." Casey said. Rafael blinked, realizing he had missed the entire conversation. "It was nice to meet you, Sora. Rafael, we'll see you around."

Bryce and Casey left, and Sora remarked cheerfully that they seemed like nice people.

"Yeah." He said absently in return.

-

He loved his job.

He loved helping people.

The possibility seeing Casey made his heart ache.

He had broken up with Sora a week after they had ran into Casey. He had been honest that he had been seeing her- was probably in love with her and he couldn't give Sora what she deserved. She had looked at him with a pitying smile.

"You know, Raf, it would be easier to hate you if you weren't so damn good." Sora said when they broke up.

He hadn't seen Casey much since. According to Sienna, she had been super busy between all of her duties this year and he couldn't help but feel pride hearing all of the amazing things that she was doing.

"Rafael. Hello." She said in surprise. She looked around as if someone would have a task for her to do so she could leave. She was too polite in these situations, he remarked, thinking about the benefit dinner.

"Hi, Casey." He said. "Umm…"

"How are you?" They both asked laughing when they spoke at the same time.

"I'm sorry." Casey mumbled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "This is really hard for me."

"Yeah, uh, me too." He said, resisting the urge to reach out to touch her. "Actually though, how are you?"

"Aurora moved in. I like having her as a roommate. Umm, Sienna and Danny are still shy around each other even though they've been dating for a month. You know. Same old stuff. How is Sora?"

"We broke up. Wasn't the same as before and we're just different people." He shrugged. She nodded absently.

"What you saw at the farmer's market… I- Bryce and I… we've been on a few dates. He's very kind to me. I don't know why I'm telling you this." She admitted.

"I'm glad to hear it, Casey. I hope you two are happy." He said instead. "You deserve to be happy."

She met his eyes, as if she was searching for an answer. He fought the urge to reach out to her, to take her in his arms and longed for that night when they had danced and kissed under the stars at his house.

"Okay. Well. I'm going to go. I'll see you around, Rafael." Casey said as she walked towards the hallway and he was struck with the memory of their first meeting.

This time, however, she didn't look back.

-

[kk095]

Workload

I felt creative in the past day or two and came up with this. It may need some additional tweaking, but I hope everyone likes the story! Also, I received a lot of positive feedback on my last story. I greatly appreciate that! 🙂

****

There's a common saying that goes “if you find a career you really like, you'll never have to work a day in your life.” For most people, the idea of this sounds fictitious, but it was a reality for Stephanie. Stephanie Crawford was a graduate of the prestigious Brown university, and went on to become a successful lawyer, specializing in corporate law and civil litigation. Being a lawyer was Stephanie's passion, willfully devoting large sums of time to her career, foregoing the opportunity to experience other life milestones such as marriage and children; Stephanie is someone that could be labeled a “workaholic.”

Even though Stephanie worked around the clock, her looks never suffered as a result of her high stress, high pressure job. Stephanie was a 37 year old white woman with brown hair that was slightly past her shoulders with angled bangs. She had blue eyes, a semi tan complexion, was 5'4, and had a slim build. Stephanie had a very classy, sophisticated appearance and had a refined demeanor.

This particular case started long before Stephanie was brought to our emergency department. Stephanie was at the office after normal business hours working on her latest case. The case involved something known as “frustration of purpose”, a scenario where contractual obligations become impossible for both parties to satisfy because of unforeseen circumstances. These scenarios can be quite messy and complicated, but Stephanie was always up for the task.

Stephanie was sorting through paperwork, working on her computer, eating take out dinner, and was the only person at the office. Stephanie was at work for almost 12 hours at that point, and she barely slept the night before. The 37 year old decided to call it a night and head home. Little did she know, the drive home would be anything but routine.

The roads were relatively empty at that time in the evening. It had rained earlier in the day, so the roads were still a bit wet. On the way home, Stephanie was focusing on everything except driving. She took a turn a little too fast and slipped on a wet spot, losing control of her car and crashing it into a utility pole on the side of the road, wrecking her brand new BMW.

Everything happened so fast. Her chest hit the steering wheel milliseconds before the airbag deployed, with the airbag smacking her in the face, sending her back quickly. The lap portion of her seatbelt tightened up, pressing exceptionally hard on her abdomen. The windshield cracked, sending a handful of small glass shards flying towards Stephanie, causing lacerations to her face and neck.

Stephanie wasn't in any pain immediately, but had some minor breathing difficulties. She was in a frenzied state due to a sudden rush of adrenaline and endorphins. Believe it or not, she reached for her cell phone and called 911 for herself.

EMS responded to the scene of the accident within a few minutes of her 911 call. The driver's side door had to be cut off by the fire department since it wouldn't open and Stephanie was in a confined space, unable to move.

The extraction took somewhat long. The fire department had to set up several types of mechanical equipment so they were able to remove the door from the mangled, black BMW. A feeling of nervousness consumed Stephanie while the mechanical device started crunching and pulling at her car door. The scene became very loud as a result, causing sensory overload to a minor degree. Stephanie was holding back tears, but kept her composure. “I'm ok. Everything's going to be just fine” Stephanie kept thinking to herself, unaware that she would be in the hospital morgue in just a little while.

Once the door was removed, paramedics placed a c-collar on her. Stephanie's seatbelt was cut, and she was carefully wiggled out of the confined space she was trapped in, and placed onto a backboard. Paramedics carried the backboard over to a stretcher, where they placed Stephanie. She was wheeled into the ambulance, and rushed to the nearest hospital.

During the ambulance ride, paramedics set up 2 large bore IVs and hung normal saline. Stephanie's top was cut off by the medics, exposing her toned body and black bra. She was set up on a heart monitor; her vitals were: BP 92/68, heart rate 124bpm with a thready pulse, and her oxygen saturation was at 95%. Stephanie complained of shortness of breath, so the paramedics placed a nasal cannula to help with breathing difficulties. Further along into transport, she began to complain of soreness in her chest, and she started to feel some stinging from lacerations on her face and neck. Stephanie was given a dose of lidocaine to take the edge off of the pain she was experiencing.

Approximately 7 minutes later, Stephanie arrived at the hospital. She was experiencing increased pain levels upon arrival at the emergency department, wincing and groaning, trying her very best to fight through the intensifying pain.

Stephanie was now in the trauma bay. She laid on the table, staring up at the blinding overhead light. She felt a nurse at the other end of the bed removing her shoes and the rest of her clothes while more people entered the room. Stephanie became more apprehensive, wondering what was coming next. She started feeling vulnerable for the first time in awhile due to her lack of control over her current situation; all she could do was wait.

The trauma team was finally fully assembled and began ordering tests and beginning their initial examination of the injured lawyer. The attending physician ordered trauma labs, a chest x ray, an echocardiogram, an abdominal ultrasound, and made sure that blood products were on standby.

The chest x ray showed a moderate pneumothorax on the right side with left sided tracheal deviation. There was some bruising and redness on the middle of her chest from the steering wheel injury. A nurse snipped off Stephanie's black bra, putting her b cup breasts on display. The echocardiogram revealed a myocardial contusion with fluid in the pericardium. The abdominal ultrasound showed minor, non specific bleeding that was likely to heal on its own, but worthy of monitoring. The main concerns were the collapsed lung and activity within the pericardium.

Stephanie's symptoms continued getting worse. She began complaining of heart palpitations and feeling cold in the seconds following the tests. Her blood pressure was still low, her heart rate was up in the 130s, and her o2 levels were dropping. Stephanie was visibly uncomfortable, writhing in pain. A nurse told the attractive lawyer to stay still and remain calm.

The trauma team was greatly concerned over Stephanie's deterioration. They had to urgently place a chest tube, and didn't have time to sedate their patient. A round of pain medications were pushed intravenously, and the procedure commenced. A 1inch incision was made in between her ribs on the right side. Stephanie moaned, feeling the scalpel's every move. Stephanie shouted and cried out in pain while the chest tube was being shoved into the small incision site.

All of the air that was trapped inside of Stephanie's chest cavity was blasted through the tube, and out of her body. Although her breathing improved a bit, Stephanie was still in pain and her vital signs weren't improving. Stephanie was breathing rapidly and appeared distressed. The attending physician was concerned about her worsening condition and wanted to make sure her airway wasn't lost, so it was decided that Stephanie would be intubated. Rapid sequence orotracheal intubation was performed. Stephanie was now unconscious from the intubation sedatives, with the metal blade of the laryngoscope leaning on the roof of her mouth, while a 7.0 ET tube was being navigated into her airway. Once the breathing tube was in place, a blue tube holder was connected to secure the tube.

Following the intubation, the trauma team decided to perform a pericardiocentesis to remove some of the excess fluid in their patient's pericardium. A fine needle was placed through the skin at the infrasternal angle in a subxiphoid approach, meaning the needle was navigated under the sternum and left ribcage, into the lining of the heart. After an echocardiogram confirmed correct placement, a small catheter was attached to the needle, which was connected to a collection bag. At first, a small amount of blood and pericardial fluid was aspirated. Seemingly out of nowhere, a large amount of bright red, arterial blood rushed into the catheter's collection bag. “what the hell?” thought the attending physician. “page cardio. She didn't cut the aorta because she would've died already, but whatever's going on in there is pretty serious.” Ordered the attending physician with a sense of urgency.

Stephanie's condition was much worse by the time the cardiothoracic surgeon arrived. Her blood pressure was dangerously low, and distant heart sounds were heard through the stethoscope. The cardiothoracic surgeon ordered a repeat echo and hung 2 units of blood products from the rapid infuser.

Before the repeat echocardiogram could be performed, Stephanie became pulseless. The pericardiocentesis catheter was carefully removed, with chest compressions commencing immediately afterwards. The lawyer's chest was pumped robustly while the defibrillator paddles were being gelled and charged. The paddles were charged to 250j and pressed up against Stephanie's bare chest. Once everyone backed away, shock #1 was delivered. Stephanie's torso rose upwards, arching her back for a brief moment before returning to her previous position. The heart monitors showed V-Fib, so a round of drugs and cycle of compressions were performed during the handful of seconds it took for the defibrillator to recharge.

The paddles were charged to 300j and placed back onto Stephanie's chest, releasing a stronger current of electricity. Stephanie's body jolted violently on the table. Her arms tensed up and her head lolled to the side, with the monitors still chirping in the background.

Shock #2 did nothing to better the situation, so a 3rd shock at 360j was delivered moments later. The 37 year old's body flopped on the table. Her feet jumped into the air an inch or so above the table and crashed back down, showing off the prominent wrinkles in her soft soles.

Defibrillator shock #3 also didn't improve the situation. The next round of intravenous drugs were pushed and CPR was resumed while the trauma team thought about their next move. One of the nurses delivered strong, rapid compressions onto the attorney's chest. Her belly bounced outward and her breasts shook from the vibrations created from the compressions.

Another 2 and a half minutes of chest compressions and another defibrillator shock weren't enough to bring back Stephanie. The situation was growing more and more desperate by the second, and the trauma team needed to make a move. Stephanie had an injury inside her chest cavity, and likely to her heart, so the trauma team elected to access her chest cavity by performing a clamshell thoracotomy. Betadine was quickly splashed all over Stephanie's chest with harsh chest compressions still ongoing. A large incision was made extending across the entire 5th intercostal space, underneath both breasts, and through the sternum. CPR continued while the underlying tissue in Stephanie's chest was incised further. The next step was to separate the sternum to make room for the rib spreaders. A Gigli saw was used to divide the sternum horizontally. The manual wire saw was placed around each side of her sternum, and the cutting began. The saw worked its way through the sternum, with the cardiothoracic surgeon pushing with all their strength. The saw made short work of the solid bone in the sternum. The rib spreaders were placed on each side of her chest, and her chest was cracked open shortly after.

Stephanie's frantically twitching heart was revealed upon opening of the chest. A vascular clamp was placed on the aorta near her diaphragm and internal massage began. A 2nd round of drugs were pushed while the cardiothoracic surgeon made an incision into the pericardium. Blood squirted out of the incision area, with copious amounts of blood following. The surgeon couldn't locate the source of the bleeding. The surgeon wanted to perform a pericardial window right there in the ER due to the dire circumstances. With the monitors showing V-Fib, it was decided that an internal shock should be delivered beforehand.

The Zoll 8011 internal paddles were charged to 20j and placed around each side of the fluttering organ. A jolt of electricity was released directly into Stephanie's heart, causing her torso to flop on the table. The internal shock regained a faint heartbeat.

The cardiothoracic surgeon began performing a pericardial window. This is a procedure where a section of the pericardium is removed to allow excess blood and fluid to be drained, giving the heart an adequate amount of space to pump effectively.

The pericardial window was met with blood squirting out of the pericardium. Stephanie's pulse was lost again as more and more blood seeped out of the opening. More blood products were hung and direct cardiac massage was restarted. The cardiothoracic surgeon extended their incision in the pericardium in an attempt to locate the source of hemorrhaging.

Hemopericardium was discovered by the surgeon's continued efforts, but that still didn't explain where the bleeding originated. V-Fib appeared on the monitor again, so the surgeon's investigation was paused so an internal shock could be delivered. The internal paddles were placed back around her twitching heart, and a 30j shock was delivered once everyone backed away. A dull, wet thunk was heard, accompanied by her torso jolting quickly and sharply. This shock couldn't convert the beautiful patient out of V-Fib, so another shock was delivered immediately afterwards. Stephanie converted to PEA after this shock, so internal compressions were resumed while the next round of IV drugs were given.

Stephanie's heart was being squeezed by the attending ER physician, trying to force it back to life. The surgeon continued probing around inside Stephanie's chest cavity. The ventricles and atria were intact, the SVC and aorta were also intact. That only meant 1 thing: a coronary artery laceration. Coronary artery lacerations are exceedingly rare, but that doesn't mean they don't happen.

The cardiothoracic surgeon located the left coronary artery. Surprisingly, it was still intact. Stephanie was back in V-Fib so another unsuccessful internal shock was delivered. After the shock, the surgeon continued looking around. Finally, the surgeon located the bleeder. The right coronary artery was severed completely in half and ripped off of the myocardium. The heart muscle in that section of the myocardium was already dead upon discovery. Due to the catastrophic nature of this injury, the trauma team abruptly ceased resuscitation efforts, calling time of death at 11:04pm while Stephanie was still in V-Fib.

The monitors were shut off and the ambu bag was detached from the ET tube. The room was eerily silent as some people were exiting the room, while others were beginning postmortem care. Stephanie's heart fired off its last few dysfunctional, erratic bits of electrical activity while the nurses worked. Finally, a cover was placed over Stephanie's lifeless body, leaving her feet exposed. A nurse filled out a toe tag that read:

Name: Crawford, Stephanie

Date of birth: 1/12/1982

Date of death: 4/27/2019

TOD: 23:04

COD: Blunt coronary artery rupture

The toe tag was placed on the big toe of Stephanie's left foot after it was filled out. The tag dangled in front of the silky wrinkles of her soles while she was wheeled off to the hospital morgue, only an hour after her accident.

[starkatana]

Ageless

It’s been a few years since you’ve seen your best friend, Touya Todoroki. You are a paramedic and he is a pro-hero, just both living busy lives. There’s been an incident and you have been called to the scene. There you see Touya has been injured, but you still have a job that needs to be done.

Angst and Fluff

Touya Todoroki/Dabi x Reader

AU:

Dabi is a Todoroki.

Touya never became a villain Dabi, but is a pro-hero.

Happy Todoroki Family.

You also have a healing quirk.

Based off the Song: Ageless - The Home Team

You and a team of paramedics were ordered to work on the field at a devastation site scene. Some Pro-Heroes and Villains were in a fight, ruining buildings and getting civilians caught in the crossfire. Your orders, create first aid stations, help those in need, and help where you can.

You were in charge. Arriving at the scene there were police officers, firefighters, and volunteers, cleaning and helping civilians out. You immediately start directing paramedics where to go. While you and a few others set up first aid stations.

It was at that moment, between the chaos of people demanding your help, wondering where to go, or what they can do to help. It was a free second, where you just so happened to turn around and saw him on a gurney. The sirens and the yelling around you went mute as your brain hyper-focused on him and the paramedics around him.

“Pro-Hero Dabi. Name-”

“Touya Todoroki.” You instinctively run up to their side. And trying to quickly look him over, you tell them everything you know about him. “Quirk: Cremation. Blood type: B negative. Age: 25. Affiliation: Endeavor Hero Agency. His suit helps regulate his body temperature and is compression material. Without it, his body is incompatible to his fire quirk.”

“You know each other?”

“Too well.” Touya managed. “Long time no see, y/n.”

You cry as you run alongside the gurney. “Too long, but please don’t talk and try not to move.”

“If I die. I’m haunting you first.”

The floodgates opened. “Shut up. You’re gonna live.” You smile through the tears.

Touya gives you a weak smile and goes for your hand. You give it a small squeeze.

You arrive at the ambulance and instinctively you try to get on.

“Y/n, you have to step away now.” Another paramedic ordered.

You stop in your tracks and nod. Both knowing full well, you are too involved to be on his case. You let them load him into the ambulance without you.

He tries to sit up to see you, but the paramedics tell him to lie back down.

“Y/n!”

“You’ll be fine, Touya!” you cried, “I’ll see you soon.”

And the ambulance shut their doors and drove off. You knew you couldn’t work on his case. You knew this is what you had to do. If you had gone your feelings would have gotten in the way.

After high school, you guys stayed in touch all throughout your college years, while he focused on becoming a hero. It was after all of that when you guys were unable to see each other. You were working at the hospital. He was doing hero things, being famous, and making guest appearances. Your schedules just couldn’t line up to meet with each other. Then when you had plans to meet with each other, one of you had an emergency to deal with.

Until now that is.

You pushed Touya out of your mind. You also had a job to do. It was a long day out in the field as you healed people, bandaged them up, did check-ups, and filled out paperwork. By the end of it all, everything you could do with what you had and the time given was done. You and your team picked up your stations and made your way back to the hospital.

Once you were there, you sent everyone home, you filled out some paperwork, and before calling it a night you had to find out if Touya was here. You changed out of your work uniform you went to the front desk.

“Hey, Celia.”

“Hey, how was the field?”

“Just another exciting day on the job.”

“Well go home and get some rest. We both know you earned it.”

“I will I just need to know, did we get a patient under the name of Todoroki today?”

“Y/n?”

You turn around and immediately Rei Todoroki wraps you in a hug.

“It’s been so long.” She hugs you. “C’mon, Touya can’t wait to see you.”

You smile. You wish Celia a good night as you follow Rei to Touya’s room.

“How have you been?”

“Lovely dear,” Rei responds. “I’d be lovelier if I heard from you more.”

“I’m sorry.” You let out a defeated sigh. “Time has been getting the better of me.”

“Well there’s no need to apologize, we just have to make up for lost time.” She puts your arm around you and gives you a side squeeze. “I’m so happy you seem to be doing so well. Everyone’s going to be so excited to see you.”

Walking into the hospital room, the entire Todoroki family was there. And your eyes lit up, it had been so long since you had last seen them all.

“Yumi! Sho! Nats!” you hug each of them in that order.

“It’s so good to see you, y/n.” Enji greeted giving you a hug as well.

“Please continue to ignore the injured person in bed.”

“How are you Touya?”

“We all miss seeing y/n around dear.”

You smile at Rei, “I’m sorry I don’t visit more often.”

“I’m just giving Touya some grief dear.”

“Besides my emotional abuse from my own mother, I just have a broken rib and some bruising.”

“Ah, so no hero work for at least a month.” You pointed out.

“Yeah gives Touya some time to learn how to do paperwork.” Enji laughed.

“He still can’t do paperwork?”

“He doesn’t do much.”

Touya rolls his eyes, “Oh haha.”

“Okay everyone, enough about me catch me up what's going on? Shoto you’re so big what the heck happened.”

The last time you saw the Todorokis was at your college graduation. Shoto was 12. Now he is 15 and is a freshman at UA. He’s in the hero course and preparing for the sports festival coming up.

“Natsuo you haven’t changed at all if anything your hair just keeps getting spikier.”

Natsuo is now 19 and a freshman in college. You had really inspired him as a kid with your healing quirk. Right now he’s studying medical welfare in school. And thanks to all of your tutoring, he learned a lot of good habits on how to push him to learn more.

“And Yumi, I saw on Face Page, congrats on getting engaged to bird boy!”

“Thanks, y/n.”

“Let’s see the ring!”

You and Fuyumi have always been close like sisters. Fuyumi is a school teacher now and her fiancé bird boy, Hawks, is working with Touya and Enji at the Endeavor Hero Agency. You’ll never forget the time Fuyumi was scared about dating him and now look at where they are.

“Man I’m the worst. I’m so sorry that I haven’t seen you guys in ages.”

“You can make it up to me by going to the sports festival.” Sho beamed.

“It’s a deal.”

“We still love you, y/n.” Rei said, “You’re always welcome over.”

“But as much as I love catching up, we still have class tomorrow,” Fuyumi said gesturing at Shoto and Natsuo.

“We also have to go to work tomorrow, Rei.”

Rei sighed, “we’re going to get so much paperwork and fan mail for Touya.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Just feel better soon dear.”

“Well, the next time we see each other will be soon and definitely at the UA sports festival.”

Everyone agrees, say their good-byes, and eventually makes there way out leaving you alone with Touya. You sit next to his bed while the TV plays in the background.

“How do your arms feel?”

“Sore, but they’ll heal in a few days.”

“Here.”

You take a seat next to him in bed and taking one arm and you slowly rub your hands up and down his arm to heal his skin. Followed by the other arm. Just like you used to back in high school when you were quirk training.

“How does this feel?”

“Much better.”

You smile at him and with one hand on each arm; you follow his arms up, activating your healing quirk, going along his shoulders and then at the top of his chest, where all of his dark spots are.

“You treat all your patients like his?”

“Only my favorite ones.” You wink.

He lifts his face to meet yours. His piercing turquoise eyes staring into your soul. Even though it’s only been two years, it felt like so much time to change. Yet he was still your Touya. He still dyes his white hair red. His ears were still pierced in all sorts of places. There’s a scar on his right nostril from the time he got his nose pierced to get a reaction besides love from his parents. They loved it because they loved him; he quickly got rid of it when he accidentally pulled it out while in the shower.

Your heart skips a beat. You hold his face in your hands continually using your quirk to take away any of his pain caused by his fire quirk. He looks at you with those half-lid eyes. He holds your hand in place on his cheek and brings up his other hand to hold your cheek. Your face flares up.

“I don’t want to lose you again.”

“Touya.”

“I don’t want the next time we meet again is because I’m injured. I missed you and I’m sorry I should’ve done this sooner.” And slowly but gently goes in for a kiss and you return the passion.

The kiss was long and filled all of your senses. His kiss was so soft and filled you with a warmth you couldn’t describe. He took your breath away. You didn’t want the kiss to end, but it couldn’t last forever. He continued to rest his hand on your cheek but placed his forehead against yours.

“I’ve always been yours.” He sighs. “I’ve been thinking about you so much and how much I don’t want to be away from you anymore.”

“Toys.” You purse your lips as tears welled in your eyes.

“You've been nothing but the best thing on my mind.” He smiles at you. “You can’t mistake attraction. You’re everything I’ve been missing, y/n. I love you.”

“Goddammit, Touya.” You face the ceiling to stop yourself from crying but the tears fall out anyway. “I’ve cried too much today.”

He wipes your tears away, “I’m sorry.”

You shake your head. “Don’t be because I love you too.”

He pulls you in for a hug. “We’re fools.”

“Yes, but what matters now is that we can decide what happens next in our lives.”

“I don’t care as long as you’re always in mine.”

“Always.”

You pull out of the hug to look at him again. You have no words, but you’re overflowing with happiness and smiles.

“You must be tired,” he tries to scoot over, “you can sleep next to me if you want.”

“Touya, you’re a patient in the hospital I work at. I’m not going to be caught in bed with a patient.”

“Stupid rules.”

“I will sit next to you though.”

“I guess I’ll take what I can get.”

You take a seat in the chair next to his bed, hold his hand, and feel your body relax.

“Hey, y/n?”

“Hm?” you answer trying not to fall asleep.

“Do you still only date guys that you’ve at least been on a date with?”

You shift so you face Touya and not the TV.

“Why?”

“I think you know why.” He pushes your hair out of your face. And gives you a soft smile.

“I just want to hear you say it.”

“Well, I want to know if you want to go on a date with me? Or if I can just ask you out without being rejected. I want to do this right.”

“Yes.”

“Which?”

“Whichever you want.”

“Both.”

“Yes.” You hum contently.

“Good night, y/n.”

“Sleep tight.”

You wake up the next morning before Touya. You go freshen up in the bathroom when Fuyumi and Hawks come into the room.

“Hey, guys.”

“Hey y/n.” she gives you a hug, “you remember hawks.”

“Bird boy!” you give him a hug too, “it’s good to see you again.”

He gives you a big grin, “you too.”

“So,” Fuyumi begins, “Are you guys dating yet?”

You don’t say anything you just smile and feel your face go red.

“Let me just say, it’s about time you guys.”

[lavendermenaceart]

Broken Pieces||Chapter 11||

Warnings: Hospitals, vomiting, blood, IV needles, drug addiction is mentioned, just a general warning.

Tag List: @stilinskis-banshee , @captainreid , @ultrarebelheart , @cynbx, @rawritsmolly 

Chapter 1||Chapter 2||Chapter 3||Chapter 4||Chapter 5|| Chapter 6||Chapter 7||Chapter 8||Chapter 9|| Chapter 10||

“Alright, thank you for your time.” Another door shut behind Spencer and Emily as yet another neighbor knew and saw nothing. The fear pulsed through him, turning quickly into anger as he drove his fist into the brick wall of the building once they made it outside.

    Emily looked shocked, her eyes widened and eyebrows shot up. Sure, you had snapped at her before, but she had never seen you so angry you resorted to physical violence. Your intelligence was your weapon. Her face took on a calmer and kinder expression as she reached for Spencer’s shoulder.

    Spencer jerked away, raising his hands. As he turned and walked a few steps away, he pressed his palms to his eyes as the pressure built behind them along with his frustrations. He could normally come up with 100 statistics, 1,000 precise facts, but right now he couldn’t think of anything except how hopeless he felt. They had no physical evidence, no witnesses, they barely had a profile.

    Emily was about to re-approach when she felt her phone ringing in her pocket. The Caller I.D was for Hotch so she didn’t even hesitate to pick up.

    “Do you have anything?” Her tone was serious and flat. Spencer turned to watch her expressions during the phone call.

    Her eyes widened in reaction to whatever the person on the other end of the line was saying.

    “Text me the details, we’ll all be heading over right now. Thank you.” He didn’t know whether to dare let himself hope or if he should let the dread overtake him. That one sentence could mean so many things. Were they going to a crime scene to find a body, a hospital to find you fine and healthy, a hospital to watch you die?

    “Police were called by a young boy. He said his mother ‘Stole a lady and she’s very sick.’ Hotch sent the address for the hospital to me.” Emily was trying to keep a brave face and an even tone. ‘Very sick’ from a child wasn’t promising, especially in their line of work.

    Spencer felt like his legs were going to give out from underneath him. Since as long as he could remember, there was a constant barrier between his emotions and himself. That barrier was fitting to burst as conflicting emotions landed blow after blow on his walls. Fear for your health, Anger that he couldn’t find you sooner, worthlessness because he could have prevented this if he had just stayed the night with you when you asked, Hope that you were okay and healthy as possible and if not that, at the very least alive.

    “Spencer, come on. I know it’s a lot, but she needs you.” Emily’s voice brought him back from his short break from the control he usual held over himself. He nodded, at a lost for words for once in his life as they both jogged towards the SUV, Derek and Alex following after leaving a nearby shop.

    “We go the call and info. Everything going to be alright, Pretty boy, okay?” Morgan had his serious eyebrows on, Alex agreeing from somewhere behind both of the male agents.

    “There will be hell to pay if it isn’t.” Emily added after they had all settled into the dark car.

Not even the jolting of the ambulance ride had woken you, but you were jolted awake when you felt a horrible pain right in the middle of your chest.

    ‘Oh god, i’m having a heart attack. I'm going to die.’ You wanted to sob but all the sensations were keeping you from thinking too much on your thoughts and feelings. Another jolt of pressure and pain. You heard the groan pass your lips before you really felt it. Your eyes fluttered open, burning under the bright white lights.

    “Ma’am, Ma’am are you with us?” One voice came from above you.

    Another from in front of you. “Patient is starting to show signs of responsiveness.”

    You couldn’t bring yourself to speak, your throat destroyed from all the force and acid of the past…...however long it had been since you had entered hell. You just grunted before you felt a dry-heave spasm through your torso.

    “We’re gonna need Ativan, Zofran-” The nurse or doctors or whosoever’s voice faded out as your eyes rolled back in your head again before you closed them. The pain and discomfort made you want to beg for death, or at least their strongest pain medications.

    “We’re going to need and X-ray to see how bad the damage is so we can decide the best course of action.” You just wanted to pass out again. Their voices and all the lights and sounds were grating on your ears and just made your nausea worse if you were being honest.

    “Alright, I’m going to be giving you medication for muscle spasms, nausea, and pain, alright? You’re most likely going to need a blood transfusion, also. Do you know your blood type?”

    ‘Ohmygod please stop talking to me please just give me drugs and blood, holy shit.’ Those were the only real thoughts you were having at the moment. “B….plus.” Was all you could really manage.

    “Alright, thank you. We need B plus, ASAP.”

    “On it!”

    For the reminder of your time awake and feeling, you zoned out. It was all you could do to try to escape the pain while you waited for the medications to kick in. You were alive. In a hospital. Surely, you would be seeing Spencer soon? What if he didn’t even know that you were missing? What if he didn’t even care? You could hear your heart rate rising as new tears mingled with the old dried ones on your cheeks. Soon, you were too high to even be bothered with emotions.

    In that moment, you understood. You felt close to what Spencer felt. You understood why he would choose this over you. Those were your last thoughts before the radiologist entered your room.

    You stirred, more comfortable than you had felt in the past few days. Your pain was probably at a 3 or 4 instead of an outrageous 11. Something...didn’t feel right. You felt too light. Something was missing. What was missing?

    ‘Oh my god.’ Was all that your drug addled brain could come up with once you finally had the muscle strength to lift your head and look down. Where your right leg once was, there was now just sunken blanket.

    “Y/N oh my god.” You turned your head, confused to hear a voice other than your own.

    There was Spencer, standing up from the uncomfortable hospital chair, tears in his beautiful eyes. Seeing him when you thought you were never going to see him again, you didn’t care about your stupid leg. You lost 3/4ths of your right leg, but you were still alive to see that beautiful grin splay across his face as he took the one long step to bend over and hold your face in his.

You were both nose to nose, your breath intermingling. There were no real words that could be said in this moment. All the fear, anger, and hopelessness was resolved in this moment. You were filled with the love and determination Spencer always made you feel, but now more so than ever. Finally, after neither of you could decide on any words to speak, your lips crashed together.

Your lips were chapped and clumsy due to all the medication and lack of water, but Spencer didn’t show any kind of deterioration in his passion. The increasing rate of your heart could be heard through your heart monitor as you wrapped your arms around his neck, letting out a soft moan against his lips.

Spencer pulled away, kissing your nose before pressing his forehead to yours.

“I’m not great with being emotional, but god, I was so scared. I don’t think I have ever felt so afraid in my life as when I first saw your apartment.” You could hear the strain of tears in his voice. Your vision was a little blurry but you could see his eyes shining as he spoke. “I’m so sorry. I should have stayed like you asked, I should have paid more attention to your body language. I should have-”

“Spencer, Spencer stop.” You moved one hand from behind his neck to his chest. You weren’t sure you could articulate how you felt precisely, since you were high on all kinds of narcotics. but you couldn’t listen to him blame himself. “None of this is your fault. If it’s anyone’s, it’s mine. I didn’t take the threats seriously until she was at my door. Look, it’s okay. I’m okay. I’m not in one piece, but that’s fine because I’m alive with you by my side.”

You giggled at your own joke, letting him know it was fine to laugh with you. When he smiled and let out a short breathy chuckle, it filled you with more joy than you had felt in a long time. Spencer excused himself for a moment so he could call the team and let them know you were awake and okay enough to talk. For the first time in a while you felt like everything was going to be okay.

“Did you know in the United States alone, there are over 500 amputations a day? And over 185,000 every year.” It was dinner time at the hospital, and it had been a few days. Spencer and yourself were snacking on some jello and watching Animal Planet on the hospital T.V.

Hearing him spewing facts was so relieving. For the past few days, he had rarely been talking about anything other than how much he loved you and how sorry he was. You tried not to look surprised, but instead nodded your head and chuckled.

“And I’m one of them!” You glanced over at him, smiling. “It’s nice to know I’m not alone.”

“Far from it.” The gorgeous nerd reached over and patted your remaining thigh.

“Alright, love birds! Here comes the daily delivery.” Garcia’s bright and cheery voice rang through the door as she waddled in on bright blue high heels, her blush perfectly highlighting her cheeks as she grinned, holding 3 vases with mixed bouquets and 7 different cards and 2 balloons.

“Jeeze. I think I get the message, guys. You really want to me to get out of here.” You reached your arms up, enveloping Penelope in a hug before grabbing the cards as she set the vases down in water free spots were left in the hospital.

All of the cards were from the team except for one. The name you found on the inside surprised you.

Spencer picked up on your surprise and his mind must have been jumping to the worst conclusions because he immediately had his profiler face on. “Who is it from?”

“Do you remember Paula, my friend who kind of stormed out of the hospital after….the, uh, incident.”

“Yeah, Of course.” Spencer leaned over the arm of the bed to read the card over your shoulder. His face fell and you felt yours twist in anger.

“Oh, no, angel. What did she say?” Garcia hurried towards you, looking down at the card before you ripped it into pieces.

“Told you so.” Spencer read off from his photographic memory, his lips dragging down at the corners in a frown.

“What a bitch.” Garcia turned towards you. “No offense.”

“None fucking taken. If she comes up here I will personally kick her ass.” You felt Spencer’s hand on your shoulder and Penelope was shaking her head.

“Don’t waste your energy, hun. You have a group of badass FBI agents to take care of her if she tries to bother either of you.” Garcia pulled up a chair next to your bedside, taking your hand in hers. “I mean, you could absolutely take care of her yourself, but It would probably hinder the healing process.”

Garcia had been such an angel this entire time. Of course she sobbed like a baby once she first laid eyes on your leg, or lack thereof, but now you were all bantering and joking about it easily.

“You’re an angel you know that? Does the team know that? Spencer, do you know that?” You looked between the two, Garcia flapping her hand flamboyantly like she was trying to shoo you away.

“Oh, stop.”

“Yes, The team is extremely aware of how much of a blessing Garcia is.” You all laughed and for the first time since being kidnapped, you felt relatively normal. It was easy banter for the rest of the night, other members of the team entering the room to chat and wish you the best. Hotch surprised you with your own wheelchair and you nearly cried. You hadn’t been thinking ahead that far, and admittedly neither had Spencer. You were both just enjoying the fact that you were alive and in the same room for the first time in days.

You were so thankful for these humans in your life. If you had been going through this alone, in all honesty you would be dead. You were so privileged to know them and to have met them. You were going to make sure they knew that and that they felt appreciated for the rest of the time you were in their lives. For now, though, everyone but Spencer was hugging you and telling you to rest and the medication was making you pretty sleepy.

You fell asleep holding Spencer’s hand over the railing of your bed, the sounds of Animal Planet in the background.

[serpent-jugheadjones]

Dog Days - Part 1

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Pairing: Jughead Jones x Doctor!Reader

Description: Riverdale is facing dark times. Jughead has to choose between two paths. Will Y/N affect his decision?

Warnings: Fred’s current situation in the season finale and alcohol. Spoiler alert if you haven’t watched season 2 trailers yet.

Word count: 3038

A/N: These trailers are killing me with anticipation. I know Archie was the one to take Fred to the hospital, but that doesn’t make sense to me, so I wrote as if he arrived in an ambulance. Had to make the reader sort of a genius since I wanted it to be legal and not to big of an age gap.

GSW stands for Gun Shot Wound, BPR for Beats Per Minute and Breaths Per Minute, BP for Blood Pressure, OR for Operating Room, Y/L/C/H for Your Length and Color Hair, Y/B/M/D for Your Birth Date and Month. My EMS report may be completely wrong for a real one so if you are a doctor feel free to correct me.

I know I was supposed to post a new part for the Partner Revealed, but I couldn’t help write this one. Hope you forgive me!

Five seconds is as much time as the doctors have to breath in and out to clear their minds before the EMT pulls out the gurney and behind it comes a ginger boy, with a red stained cast and varsity jacket. “Robbery gone wrong at Pop’s. Patient Fred Andrews, male, GSW to the abdomen, no exit wound, patient is unconscious, pulse 66 bpr, BP 140 over 80, respirations at 19 bpm. ETA 6 minutes after call, we have an 18 gauge IV and controlled bleeding.” In 30 seconds the paramedic gives them the report already taking the man to the closest trauma room available. “Is my dad gonna be ok?”, the boy asks desperately standing at the edge of the door where his father lays motionless. “We’ll do everything we can.”, Y/N answers him calmly. “Nurse. Take ...” She looks at the boy waiting for his name. “Archie.”, he replies. “Archie to the waiting room please.” She rushes in to check Fred’s wound. “I need an X-ray and two bags of O-. Page Dr. Stone and book OR 2.”, the ER doctor instructs Y/N.

Jughead, Betty and Veronica arrive at the hospital not too long after Fred is taken into surgery. They spot Archie in a chair at the reception, looking helpless and unbalanced. His expression softens at the sight of his friends running to hug him all at once. Jug’s arms around them all, staying like that for a short while before they rest. “What happened?”, Jughead asks tenderly, sitting down next to his friend. “We were at Pop’s. I was in the bathroom and heard noises, when I came out, there was this man, wearing this hood, with a gun at Pop Tate and then he pointed it at my dad and fired. Then he ... “, an incredibly distressed Archie answers. “Then he what?” His girlfriend looks hopeless. “He ran.”, he finishes his sentence distractedly. Jug reckons Arch could be keeping something from them by the way he spoke.

This is the worst possible time for Jughead to be worrying about his relationship with Betty. However, so much has happened in less than 24 hours that he barely had time to process it. They left the Jubilee in awe, ready to show how much they love each other. Instead, what could have been a perfect night was spent arguing over a family issue. It drove him mad how much of a hypocrite his girlfriend can be. He almost wanted to take back what he confessed to her earlier.

When Jug got the call from Archie, he was still wearing the source of the problem. Betty had to remind him that showing up at the hospital with a Serpents’ jacket right after his best friend’s dad had just been shot wasn’t a smart idea. He knew that. Nevertheless, he was being torn apart. That snake embroidery was always a reason for confrontations with his father. In spite of that, the second his fingers touched the cold material and he first slid it on, Jughead felt at peace, safe. Like he finally belonged and ultimately understood his dad.

His girlfriend, if he can still call her that, is accommodated next to an incredibly tense Veronica, not even looking at his direction. Right now there’s nothing he can do to fix that, and, quite honestly, he doesn’t know if it’s worth trying. What he can and wants to do is help his ‘brother’ in any and every way he can. “Arch. Can we talk privately?” He points at the empty hallway and the red-haired boy follows him. “What is it, Jug?”, he asks, still looking at the reception, just in case someone comes out with some information. “For a moment, it looked like you were about to say something, about the hood guy, and reconsidered.”, Jughead states. “Really?” Archie fails at sounding convincing, certainly because he’s too tired to properly pretend. “Part of what makes you so endearing is your utter lack of a poker face.”, Jughead tells him in a sensible way. Archie stares at him wonderingly. “You have to stop taking the weight of the world by yourself, pal. You are not alone, Archie.” He shows himself with both hands from top to bottom in a very dramatic way, then the waiting room full of his friends and their parents. Jug knows he’s not one to say, as he for months lived inside the school’s storage closet instead of asking for help. Though, after his father was wrongfully arrested, it was all of them together who made it right and he started to rethink his ways. There’s nothing he wants more than to make that happen for his friend.

Archie takes his time to answer. “What if this wasn’t just a random thief? I know Clifford wasn’t happy with my dad working at the Drive-In land. He did everything in his power to stop the construction. What if Mr. Blossom ACTUALLY did everything to terminate it?”, he blurts out without barely breathing between words, releasing some of his build up stress as he tells out loud the theory that’s been keeping his mind unsettled. “He was a powerful man, no denying that. Still, I doubt Cliff could be doing anything from the grave. Although, if you’re telling me it looked staged, then it’s paramount we find out who’s pulling the strings.” Jughead assures him that he has his back, no matter what. Before they can elaborate an opinion, Sheriff Keller arrives to question Archibald. They all give them privacy. Jug figured this would be a good time to talk to Betty, yet she ignores him calling out for her and leaves to the cafeteria with Ronnie.

After long tedious, yet uneasy waiting hours, the surgeon and nurses come out of the hallway. Archie immediately stands up and the man signs with his hand he’ll soon speak to them. First he stops at the reception desk in the waiting room, giving Fred’s chart and further instructions to a girl who looks too young to be in scrubs, in Jug’s opinion. She removes her bouffant cap to reveal a Y/L/H/C and makes eye contact with Jughead, who looks away quickly, embarrassed, feeling his face get warm and red. Reason tells him it’s immoral to blush from looking at a girl he doesn’t even know while having a girlfriend - and being at the hospital with his best friend’s dad just out of surgery makes it ten times worse. Truth is he just can’t help it.

The man introduces himself as Dr. Stone, the general surgeon who operated on Mr. Andrews. He calmly and rationally explains they managed to remove the bullet and cease the bleeding. Then he tells Archie his dad is being taken to the ICU and he’ll soon be able to see him. Despite that, Fred’s still intubated and they don’t know how long it will be until he wakes up, considering the bullet hit a vital organ. In his opinion, though, it could’ve been a lot worse. All they heard was ‘He’s alive’. Arch releases a breath he didn’t even know he was holding in. “I’m gonna stay with my dad. Can you let Ronnie know she can go home?”, the ginger boy covered in his own father’s blood cries out. “Sure. Listen, he’s gonna be fine, Archie. I’ll be back tomorrow morning so you can change and rest.” Jughead hugs his friend once more, tighter this time. He’s not big on PDA or physical contact in general, although he truly wants to express how much he cares.

Jughead walks out of the hospital, feeling the icy air cool his face. He closes his eyes, but that doesn’t stop his mind from going a thousand miles per hour. The beanie-clad boy is immensely solaced that Fred is in his way to recovery. Regardless, there is still a long way to go until it’s all put right and the dog days end. After all the hours awake, caffeine is needed. Unfortunately, his usual place for a hit is not an option. He spots a small food truck next to the parking lot. The largest cup they had still doesn’t fit his needs, but it will do. While he’s waiting for his drink, he texts Veronica as Archie asked. Jug recognises the girl sitting in one of the benches. Tiny droplets of water from the drizzle glow red and blue on top of her noteworthy hair when the ambulance lights shine.

He can’t help gazing at the girl who may have just saved Fred’s life. Something about her attracts Jughead like a magnet. “People complain about hospital food. But the coffee... is to die for.”, she remarks ironically, taking a sip from her large travel cup of coffee. Jughead takes a few seconds to realize she spoke to him, as he was standing behind her, confident he was safe from being spotted. He realizes she’s very aware of him staring. “Considering the work hours, that’s essential. Mind if I sit?”, he asks. She shakes her head in agreement and scoots over to give him more space. “Jughead Jones the Third.” He extends her a hand. “Y/N Y/L/N... the first.” She firmly and steadily shakes it.

She doesn’t look mad about him glaring. Intrigued is more like it. “You’re part of the surgical team who operated on Fred Andrews, right?”, he asks. “Technically, I’m not supposed to disclose it to non-family members. But you did see me with Dr. Stone.” She doesn’t break eye contact, and even in the low lighting he can see her beautiful Y/E/C iris, deep like a galaxy, as if a whole universe resided in it. “I just wanted to thank you. You’re part of the reason he’s still alive.” Jughead bites the inside of his cheeks trying to remain composed. “I’m just an intern.” Her words contradict her smile, as if no one has ever appreciated all the effort she puts into saving people’s lives. Y/N’s pager beeps. “Duty calls.” The girl gets up and swallows the rest of her coffee in one sip. “Is that for Fred?”, Jug asks anguished, wondering if something could’ve gone wrong. “I do have other patients, Mr. Jones.”, she replies. “Please. Call me Jughead.”, he says. “See you around, Jughead.”, Y/N speaks louder as she’s already walking away.

“Juggy?” He hears Betty calling out for him seconds after Y/N left, exactly the same way she did back at the trailer. For the first time, that annoys him. Jughead feels he’s being treated like a child and a possession. None of them have the energy to deal with their situation at the moment. She offers him a ride home, which he denies saying he needs to clear his mind. The blonde girl tried to peck his lips but he turns his face and she lands a soft kiss on his cheek. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”, he guarantees and leaves.

He still has the spare key Fred gave him when he moved in. Entering the empty house feels weird. Jughead climbs the stairs to the room he used to share with Archie to pack him some clean clothes and essentials. Practicality dictates he should spend the night there, as he has to talk to Betty before going to the hospital the next morning. On second thought, the place doesn’t feel like home anymore and the silence is driving him mad.

Jug crosses Riverdale’s train tracks towards the south, carrying the northside mess with him inside Archie’s Bulldog football bag. Sunnyside’s sign gives him comfort for the first time in a really long while. He gets inside his dad’s trailer, rests the bag on the kitchen table and throws himself at the couch, dog-tired. Still his brain doesn’t want to fall asleep. He stares at the leather jacket carefully placed at the back of the chair. It has a strong effect on him, like it’s seducing him. He gives in to temptation and puts it on again. Just as the first time, he feels sheltered and powerful. That can only lead him one place at this hour.

The red doors loosely remind him of the ones at Pop’s. If not for the bikes parked in front, he could trick himself. Not that he needs to. Somehow, the Whyte Wyrm feels a lot safer in relation to the chock’lit shoppe now. Usually, he'd feel like a pray walking in the bar filled with snakes to retrieve his drunken father. Now he feels nested, welcomed and comfortable. “Glad to see you again, kid”, the man who gave him the jacket pats his back respectfully. “Truth be told we weren’t sure you would.”, the young guy who held Hot Dog’s leash the previous night confesses, preparing to shoot the pool ball. He pockets the 8, ending the game and retrieving the bet money. “Come on, I’ll buy you your first beer.” Jughead just walks with him to the counter, still silent, taking in every detail of the bar he missed the previous times. The pictures on the wall, neon signs shading the dark room, people having fun, the snakes inside the glass tanks, but most surprising of all, Y/N Y/L/N sitting at the counter.

“Aren’t you a little young to be in a bar?” He’s amazed and a little scared as once again she addresses him facing the other way. “Do you have eyes in your back?” He sits down on the empty stool next to her and the young serpent winks at him with a smirk. Jughead widens his eyes to him, wordlessly telling him to scram. “Surgeon skills, I have to be aware of at least 5 other people in the OR while keeping my eyes on the patient.”, she explains, shifting her stool towards him. “Impressive. And I am.”, he says, sipping his cold beer, still not sure the glory everyone sees in it. “I won’t tell if you won’t.” She shows him her driver's license, Y/B/M/D 2000. “How are you a doctor if you’re still 17?”, he asks. “Skipped high school. I have an eidetic memory, didn’t wanna waste four perfectly good years of a very short life in hell, so I just got my GED and got into Med school.”, she says like it’s not a big deal. “Doctor Strange much?” He wonders if she’ll even get the reference. “Wouldn’t that be awesome?” Y/N bumps the rim of her bottle to Jughead’s.

A couple of beers in and Jughead is already tipsy, although unable to forget the messed-up things that have been happening in a row. “What do you think happened?”, he asks Y/N in relation to the Pop’s shooting. “Robbery gone wrong. I haven’t given it much thought to be honest.” Y/N stands up and grabs Jughead’s hand making him come with her. “How could you not have thought about it?”, he asks, simply letting her guide him. “I’m a doctor, Jughead. I have to think about charts and keeping my patients alive. I leave detecting to the Sheriff.” Y/N rests her beer bottle in the corner of the pool table. “Pardon me if I don’t trust the police.”, he says, still confused as to why they got up. “You’re one of the kids who solved the Jason Blossom murder case, wouldn’t expect anything else.” She starts setting the balls inside the triangle. “Not in the least. Found it quite impressive actually. I’m all for justice. It’s just that I left a 16-hour shift, the only thing I want to do is drink and play.” She grabs two cue sticks and hands one out to Jughead. “Come on. If I win, you buy me a drink; if you win, you buy me a drink.”, she says playfully. “Fair game you got going, huh?” Jug starts chalking his stick to start the game.

Surprisingly, he’s pretty good at it. Not only for his first time playing, but being drunk while doing it. “Dr. Y/N/N. You’re not going easy on our boy here, are you?”, one of the serpents says, leaning on the table. “Are you accusing me of cheating, Franky?”, she tells him. “Maybe you could let him win so we can get out of here.”, the young southsider suggests. The boy places his hands on either side of her, pinning her to the table. Jughead watches furiously but unable to act. He wants to punch him but he’s one of them now and can’t just go around hitting the guys.“In your dreams.” She pushes him away and grabs Jug’s hand once more taking control. As they leave the bar, he realizes how dizzy he is. But Y/N is steady enough to hold him upright.

They walk past the gates of Sunnyside trailer park. Jughead is leaning in Y/N for support. She leads him and herself towards his trailer according to Jug’s direction. After they walk around the same place twice, she declares them lost and Jughead unfit to guide. Half an hour of that wandering through the trailer park passes until they finally arrive at the improvised porch of Y/N’s trailer. She drops an almost unconscious Jughead on her bed, pulling his jacket off with a lot of difficulty, as he wanted to keep it on, covering him with a blanket after untying his shoes. Y/N fills a glass of water and takes some ibuprofen to her bedside desk along with a note instructing Jughead to close the trailer door when he leaves and drop the key in the plant at the bottom of the porch stairs. Y/N watches the boy sleeping in her bed. He looks serene, unlike when he’s awake. She grabs a blanket for herself to sleep in the couch.

[i-growl-growl-growl]

Topp Dogg reaction 1

Anon asked: Topp Dogg reaction (Xero, Sangdo, P-Goon, Nakta and B-Joo) when their Gf and them want to have a last date before they go on tour but their Gf twist their ankle and break their foot but wants to hide it since they have so much fun with their date. /I really hope you get what I mean/ (This is so cringy but I recently broke my foot like that and this would mean a lot to me)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello there. 

I hope you like the final product of your reaction request. 

How is your leg doing? Is it getting better?

I apologize for having two gifs for B-Joo’s reaction, I couldn’t choose between the two so I just left both of them on there.

and, I should really learn how to make gifs because it is so hard to find good gifs of Topp Dogg.

~Savie

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P-Goon: P-Goon had been aching to go on a date with you for a while now and he finally got that wish when HUNUS told him and the rest of Topp Dogg that they’d have a couple days off before going on tour. Although he already had a date in mind for you he thought that you deserved to choose what the date would be since you’d been so patient and understanding with him about being busy due to his career. When he asks what you’d like to do and you reply that you’d like to play a game of football he feels rather surprised asking you “are you sure that’s what you want to do for our date?” but he’ll will go along with it anyway since that’s what you want. 

When you both arrive at the lit up field he leads you down the stadium stairs and begins stretching before the game, “too bad it’s just the two of us” he’d say “I hate to be on the opposite team of you especially since this is our date. You might get mad at me and decide to break up with me when I win.” He’d joke. “Hah, fat chance!” you sing song back at him, well aware of how competitive you are and how he’ll have no chance at winning against you which could’ve been true if it weren’t for the fact that you hadn’t stretched before the game like he had. Once the game begins it’s almost like a brawl between the two of you, each of you running after the other and kicking the ball away from each other with as much force as possible to try and get a score. It’s an equal 2-2 match when the accident happens. 

On the way towards hitting your third score you lift your leg to make the final kick when the other gives in and twists itself as you fall to the ground in pain. P-Goon watches you fall and is by your side immediately asking if you’re alright, “Of course” you choke as you massage your hurt leg “it’s just a little sprain, nothing too bad.” P-Goon is relieved, he lifts you up and asks you once more “are you sure you’re alright? we could end the game in a tie and go get a hot chocolate at the coffee shop or something instead.” Your competitive side won’t allow it though so you tell him that you REALLY want to finish this round, which he agrees to hesitantly. 

Once again, you’re almost about to win the game, just a few more feet and you’ll make the final kick  when P-Goon shows up out of no-where and attempts to kick the ball away from you, he manages to kick something but it isn’t the ball. The leg that you have previously sprained once again caves beneath you but the pain is ten-fold that of what it had been before and you cry out as you land on the grassy floor. “Y/N, I’m sooo sorry are you ok?! I didn’t mean to kick you. Oh my god!” P-Goon will apologize profusely, knowing that something bad had happened to your foot, “here let me check how bad it is ok.” You’ll only nod as you bite your lower lip hard from the pain you feel but it’s nothing compared to the jolt that runs through you when he touches the already bruised area of your leg. “Oh my god y/n, I think it’s broken, let’s get you to the hospital.” You don’t want the date to end with you in the hospital, especially since this is your’s and his last date together before he goes on tour but he won’t let you persuade him that you’re ok, especially since he saw how dark the bruise had already been when he went to check on it. “I think my ankle is sprained too” you finally admit when you’re about to reach the hospital “I’m sorry.” “No, don’t be sorry, this happens to people sometimes when they play games like that” he say, momentarily before a chuckle escapes him “especially when the dork playing the game doesn’t stretch beforeha- OW.” You smack him on the chest, “I’m not a dork”, “are to” “am not” “are to” “am not!” “yeah, uh-huh whatever you say dork-OW!”

Sangdo: Sangdo had taken you to the museum to see the new art exhibit that you were so intrigued in going to see before he left on tour. With each painting that you looked at in awe he’d lean down and whisper into your ear “that painting is beautiful but not as beautiful as you.” He’d be so sappy with what he’d say when you’d move on to look at a different painting and you’d smack him away by his chest (playfully) and blush harder than you could ever imagine each time. No matter what the painting was of, and no matter how hard you’d smack his chest for saying something sappy, he’d still do it because he loves you and wants you to know it.

At some point Sangdo heads off to use the restroom while you continue looking at the paintings. While he’s away you decide to head downstairs to see what painting are in store for your eyes there. You pull out your phone and begin texting him about where your going when you suddenly run out of room to walk and miss the first step of the stairs. As your body tumbles to the mid-section of the stairway, your leg twists and bruises with each passing step that it hits on it’s way down. Upon reaching the mid-section you know that your leg is severely screwed up, along with other parts of your body but the extent isn’t fully known until you attempt to stand but find yourself covering your mouth to silence the scream that wants to escape from your mouth instead as you put pressure on the leg that is worst off than your other limbs. People rush to your aid asking if you’re ok and pulling out their phones to call an ambulance but you quickly tell them not to because “I’m ok, it’s just a sprain, I can deal with it.” You didn’t want an ambulance showing up to take you away from the last date you’d have with Sangdo for awhile. Little did you know that Sangdo heard from some people passing by upstairs about a girl that had fallen down the stairs and he knew exactly who it was because of your text.

When Sangdo arrives you play off being alright but even you can tell that he knows something because of the way he looks at you each time you deny that you’re hurt. “If you’re really as ok as you say you are then let’s see you step forward to me” he says as he steps away from you a couple of feet and wait for you there. You know that you’re screwed because you can’t walk in the condition your leg is in, plus he already seems to see passed your lies so you sigh, sagging your shoulders and lowering your gaze sadly, “Ok, I’m not ok” you admit “but I just don’t want our date to end.” Sangdo will walk back up to you and pick you up as gently as he can, bridal style, “thanks for finally telling me the truth” he’d say “I hate it when people lie to me, especially you my love.” After that he’d take you down the stairs and leave the museum, heading in the direction where you could get your leg fixed, “I’m glad we had such an amazing last date. I already miss you and can’t wait to return home from tour to go on more dates with the most beautiful person I know.”

Nakta: You and Nakta had decided to go roller skating as your last date with each other before he left on tour with Topp Dogg. The date was going fantastically with you skating side by side, laughing when the other would fall from pure clumsiness, singing and dancing-skating along when songs you both knew came on- him occasionally joking that the other DJ was good but that he’d be, and was, WAY better-, holding hands and smiling as you went round and round and around the arena countless times, watching the other skaters fall or do tricks or skate along with their s/os like you two were and loving when you passed by a pair of parents who were teaching their young toddlers to skate by holding both their arms high above their heads as they slowly rolled forward. You were both enjoying yourselves and even agreed that this was, surprisingly, one of the best dates you’ve ever had up until just before you two were going to take a break to get some food from the snack stand. 

On your last round around the rink with Nakta before you’d get something to eat someone came around the corner going the opposite direction as everyone else and they swerved in your way, knocking you down as they rolled passed you. Nakta caught you as you fell which you were grateful for but the damage had already been done. You both exited the rink and found an empty table to sit at while he went and ordered the food. While he was away you inspected your leg, feeling the sprain from where your foot had twisted as you fell and, even worse, feeling the pain from the part of the leg where it broke due to the harsh kick from the roller blades that the other person had been wearing as they steadied themselves and continued roller skating after running into you, rather intentionally it seemed. You didn’t want the date to end though so you sucked up the pain as best as you could and hid the information about the injury from Nakta.

After you two had finished eating an extravagant amount of food: nachos, Icees, soft pretzels, pizza slices, and candies galore, you both headed back into the rink. Nakta noticed something was wrong after the eighth round of going around the rink. “What’s wrong y/n? Is everything ok?” he’d asked concerned. You didn’t mean to but once the question was asked you began crying, the pain had gotten to the point that it was unbearable and you were surprised you could still stand, let alone roller skate. Nakta would pull you towards him and whisper sweetly into your ear that everything was ok as he finished the last corner before getting to the exit and taking you out to sit off to the side. As you continued to cry, Nakta would hug you tightly, growing increasingly worried by the minute “y/n you need to tell me what’s wrong, what happened?” You knew you had tried so hard to hide it from Nakta because you didn’t want the date to end but now you couldn’t hide it any longer so you told him about the sprained and broken leg, begging him to take you home or to the hospital because the pain was too much while apologizing for ruining your last date. “It’s ok y/n” he’d reply, “it wasn’t your fault it was the person’s who ran into you fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. Thanks for telling me about your leg, let’s go and get it fixed ok?”

B-Joo: B-Joo hadn’t noticed that something was wrong at first because you had put on a tough facade and acted as if nothing was wrong. Even with a broken foot and twisted ankle you walked (limped) beside him as he continued to lead you around the new mall that you had so desperately wanted to go to with him for months. Not a single complaint was made by you when the incident happened, not to mention that he hadn’t noticed it happen in the first place, so he was completely oblivious to the pain you were in as you continued to walk around with him all over the place. “WOW y/n look! this mall has a lazer tag arena!” he’d says excitedly as he points at one of the larger shops in the area of the mall that you’ve made your way to “let’s do it! Let’s play a round of lazer tag!”

The excited, bouncing around, upbeat B-Joo turns to you with expectant, sparkling eyes curious for your answer about joining in for a round of the game, but that’s when he notices something is wrong. “What’s wrong?” he asks as his smile fades and worry washes over him at the sight of your barely contained pained expression. “B-Joo my leg is hurt”. You don’t want the date to end but you know that you’d never make it passed the front gate of the arena without harming yourself more, you won’t tell him exactly what’s wrong but you hope that his curiosity won’t get the better of him like it usually does and he’ll soon turn around and just lead you to a different store in the mall or better yet to the dining area or to a nearby bench where you could sit for a while. The odds weren’t in your favor that day though because as soon as he hears that you’re hurt his eyes go wide and he looks at you up and down, inspecting you as if he’d find the reason to the injury just by looking at you again and again and he’ll continuously ask what happened and when and how and why. 

As he asked you how your leg got hurt and how hurt it was for the umpteenth time, he wraps his arm around yours and finally leads you to a bench, that’s when he notices just how bad the injury must be since you can hardly pick up your foot to limp around. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?” he asks as you sit down and he kneels to inspect your leg. “I didn’t want our date to end” you cry “it’s our last date before you go on tour and we’d both wanted to come here so bad, I didn’t want to ruin our night together.” When you hold back a cry of agony when he barely touches your injured leg B-Joo stands up, looking down at you sadly. “That’s no reason not to tell me, we did have a good time tonight but that’s over now.. we need to take you to the doctors, you can’t continue walking around like this with an injured leg like that, your health and well-being are more important than a date.” and so you’ll find your way to hospital where your leg will get treated and B-Joo will be by your side at all times, “we can wait until I return from the tour and your leg heals to finish looking through the mall ok?” “OK.”

Xero: HUNUS had sent him a text informing him that he had a photo shoot due tomorrow. Seeing as Topp Dogg’s tour was right around the corner he wondered what was up and found it suspicious that there’d be a photo shoot so soon before the tour but he couldn’t back down from his schedules, even if they would interfere with the date you two had been planning for months now. The text pissed both of you of considering all of your hard planning that was now gone down the drain so you both decided to sit down and sulk for a bit (not too much though) since that would ruin the mood of hanging around each other for the rest of the night. “Hey” you perk up as you both sat on the couch at home “what if I offer to be a helper for the shoot tomorrow? It may not be much of a date but at least we’d still be together right?” Xero just looks at you for a moment before nodding his head, “sure I’ll text HUNUS and tell them you’re coming along with me.”

The next day arrives and you find yourself in complete awe as you and Xero arrive at the building where the photo shoot is taking place, it’s a beautiful skyscraper with balconies on each floor and high arched ceilings with chandeliers the size of swimming pools hanging overhead. There isn’t much time for you to gawk at the beauty of the place however because the moment you arrive in the room where the photo shoot is taking place you’re assigned to be the coffee aid of the day. As Xero makes his way to the camera men and other staff you’re given a long list of specialized coffees, anything from “ Iced, Half Caff, Ristretto, Venti, 4-Pump, Sugar Free, Cinnamon, Dolce Soy Skinny Lattes” to just straight up black coffee that you need to get from several different cafe’s around the city. It’s not the best way you could help, especially in the sense that it’d mean you’re not around Xero like you’d hoped but you guessed it’s better than nothing.

As you finish retrieving the coffees from all the cafes and head back to the building of the photo shoot, a speeding car runs a read light and you find yourself having to scurry across the cross walk before it’s too late. You make it past just in time to feel the breeze of the car as it nearly misses hitting you but, as you get to the side walk in front  of the building, your leg twists from the pace you’d been going at and you find yourself falling to the floor, spilling the cups of coffees, lattes, and mochas all over you. As if that isn’t bad enough, your landing is horrid and you find yourself with not only a sprained leg but a broken one as you feel a bone snap from the hard hit it takes upon landing on the concrete floor of the side walk. You cry as you attempt to pick up the cups of spilled drinks before attempting to stand up and limp your way back into the building. Once inside Xero is there waiting for you, opening up his arms and wrapping himself around you, not caring about your soaked clothes as he hugs you. “I saw what happened” he tells you as you cry on his shoulders “I’m glad you didn’t get hit. I made my way down as soon as I could, I’m sorry I couldn’t get you to while you were out there. Let’s go and get your legs checked then get you all cleaned up.”You only nod your head in response.

~Savie

[prince-liest]

Shoutout to all my night owl friends, because I am NOT made for night shifts,, quq I sleep poorly during the day even though I sleep for longer than I would if it was at night, and I'm consistently pretty zonked out by the last 3 hours of my shift which makes presenting patients to my attendings and putting together a cohesive plan more difficult. Envious of the subcontingent of my senior residents who went, "Wait, you have to do nights on ED in PGY-1???" because apparently very few of them did.

(Silver lining: Both of my ED blocks have only had three night shifts scheduled because as family medicine we do outpatient clinic twice a week during ED blocks and there's not really a good way to schedule more without making literally half of our ED shifts nights. Most of the other specialties have to do like 6-8.)

(Second silver lining is that all of my nights this block are on team B in the ED, which is the team that takes waiting room patients. Team A takes the ambulance patients and is often a lot more stressful.)

[cybernetmanufacturing]

Prevent Physician Burnout with Health IT That Lifts The Burden

EHR can help providers. A lot has been said about how exactly EHR can help everyone in the health care. However, when providers implement EHR the physician productivity and patient satisfaction suddenly drop. The factor often unaccounted for is how the new technology blends with the end users, and the time it takes for the new technology to prove its ROI. We are several years into implementing the EHR systems across the country, but the numerous surveys continue ringing the alarm on the physician burnout that is at an all-times high. EHR and increased computerization are among the top 3 causes of burnout, as reported by the physicians.

HIT Paradox

The study funded by the American Medical Association (AMA) shows how physicians are overloaded with bureaucratic and clerical work that is not related directly to patient care:

“For every hour physicians provide direct clinical face time to patients, nearly 2 additional hours is spent on EHR. Outside office hours, physicians spend another 1 to 2 hours of personal time each night doing additional computer and other clerical work,” according to Annals of Internal Medicine. “During the office day, physicians spent 27% of their total time on direct clinical face time with patients and 49.2% of their time on (electronic health records) and desk work.”

According to the 2016 Medscape Lifestyle report, the burnout among US physicians “has reached a critical level.” The severity of the burnout was measured on the scale of 1 (lowest) to 7 (severe). Most specialties rated the severity of their burnout at 3.85 – 4.74.

The top 3 causes of burnout (again, on the scale of 1 to 7) are:

Too many bureaucratic tasks – 4.84

Spending too many hours at work – 4.14

Increasing computerization – 4.02

A Mayo Clinic NEJM Catalyst Insights Council survey polled clinical leaders and executives on the same issue. 96% of respondents agree that physician burnout is a serious or moderate problem, which remains largely unaddressed inside the organizations. As the top reasons to address the problem, the respondents cite decreased quality of care (63%), the effect on the attitude of the rest of the team (38%), and physician suicide (8%).

Here, again, the top causes of physician burnout are:

Increased clerical burden due to the use of EHR – 62%

Increased productivity requirements/expectation – 51%

Ironically, EHR is the reason the productivity expectations increased. The use of EHR is reported to disrupt the established workflow, forcing the physicians to “carry their workload into off-hours, or “pajama time.”

Why You Should Care

The burnout causes errors and poses a direct threat to the lives and well-being of both physicians and patients. Most likely, the surveys do not reflect the full picture because they are based on volunteer respondents’ answers. What about those who refused to participate? They are likely to avoid the subject of burnout because a) it can raise questions regarding their ability to deliver at their workplace; b) fear of being stigmatized (as any mental issue tends to lead to stigma).

The staff engagement in any new strategy a provider is deploying to cut costs or ensure compliance is fruitless without the physicians’ buy-in.

The physician burnout is a symptom of the loss of enthusiasm for work, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, sense of low personal accomplishment, feelings of cynicism, a decreased level of compassion and involvement with patients and staff.

The domino effect of the physician burnout can and does have a devastating effect on health care. According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ Real Sector Growth, health care has a -0.6% decline in productivity every year.

Physicians with a high level of burnout choose part-time practice, early retirement or leaving for other industries (pharma, insurance) as a way out. With the medical staff shortage on the one hand and the growing population on the other, providers can not afford to lose clinical talent.

Technology IS The Solution When Done Right

HIMSS17 saw a number of sessions featuring success stories of providers using innovative solutions to address the physician burnout and increase productivity.

“Perfecting the Mobile Solution” demoed how Palmetto Health-USC addressed the issue of physician burnout (due to the clerical/EHR documentation overload) by adopting a mobile solution. Relying on a Windows 10 medical tablet with a digitizer stylus, the provider was able to not only improve physician productivity but also alleviate the physician burnout.

Benefits of a medical tablet, as reported by Palmetto executives:

Improved patient-doctor communication, eye to eye contact

Doctors review charts before going into the room → more dedicated visit and saved 2-3 minutes per visit

Faster note completion and triage, ability to take history from patient in the hallway effortlessly

Ability to document anywhere

Improved workday and productivity

Decreased patient wait times

Small technology footprint

No negative impact on workflow

Reduced login times, improved security

Reduced eye fatigue from looking at the tablet

Improved efficiency with dual screen mode

Easy to move with or without cart

Easy to share and clean the device

Benefits of a medical tablet, as reported by physicians:

Provider satisfaction – 71%

Device easy to use 83%

Reduced time spent after work documenting 64%

Faster documentation 46%

Improved access to health records 54%

Improved security of patient records with reduced need to print, secure network, fingerprint access

Improved patient communication and education at bedside 54%

Improved workflow and reduced login times 64%

Reduced transcription costs

Fewer desktops needed

The factors that contributed to the successful implementation of the mobile solution at Palmetto:

Larger screen, digitizer stylus, support for full-size mouse and keyboard

Extended battery life

Corporate shared device (not BYOD)

Dragon dictation support

EHR-ready

Ability to manage/support the devices on-site

User-friendly interface with manageable learning curve (Win 10)

Support for high-quality medical imaging and X-ray image printing

Fast and secure logins with biometric reader/RFID SSO/Smart Card or CAC

A similar experience was reported at the HIMSS17 “Mobile Innovation and Telehealth in Emergency Care” session featuring the outcomes of Emergency Telehealth and Navigation program (ETHAN). The medical tablets running ETHAN used by the ambulance teams help the Houston Fire Department reduce the overload of the very ambulance teams and increase their productivity by 44 minutes (from 83 in regular teams), and reduce the flow of low-acuity patients to the overcrowded ERs.

If the team’s assessment of a patient is that of a low acuity, they initiate a video conference with a remote physician. The latter makes an assessment and offers alternatives to an ambulance ride to the ER. We covered it in detail here.

Conclusion

An EHR-ready Windows medical tablet with RFID SSO, fingerprint, CAC/Smart Card and barcode reader, antimicrobial casing, hot-swap batteries, rugged case, carrying handle and strips does alleviate the physician burnout caused by technology because:

It is easy to use – familiar Windows interface, minimum learning curve. Security is made simple requiring minimum user effort.

It is safe – antimicrobial casing kills the pathogens, IP65 sealed bezels enable cleaning with liquid chemical solutions for ultimate disinfection.

It is reliable – with durable, military-grade battery or hot-swap batteries that let you swap them without powering off the device and losing data.

Another way to reduce the negative effect of technology on physician and nurse burnout is to use maneuverable and lightweight non-powered medical carts with ergonomic medical computers with hot-swap batteries, which provide the full-shift uptime and flexible charging options. This configuration eliminates the nurses’ strain of having to charge the cart or the laptop frequently. It also reduces the cost of IT because our hot-swap batteries are durable unlike those of your regular powered medical carts that need frequent replacements.

P.S. While the AMA and other professional organizations might get busy lobbying to reduce regulations regarding clerical work, the providers and HIT vendors must work towards interoperability and ease of use of their solutions. Check out our Key Takeaways from HIMSS17 here.