Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Chimaera ❯ Chapter 63 ( Chapter 63 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the G'boys, I just borrow them from time to time to play with and return them a whole lot happier, ne?

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Yaoi, Lemon, sap, angst, Male Pregnancy, medical themes, WAFF, humor.

Pairings: 1x2x1

Archive: http://gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com

http://sweetlysour.net.

http://adultfanfiction.net

http://www.theforsakenwk.com

Many thanks to Ryouga and Yami_Tai for the beta. Also thanks to Yami_Tai for the title of this fic.

Notes: Set partially during the series but main bulk after the war. EW didn't take place. The Eve wars are finished and the peace retained. The pilots have all gone their own ways, Heero and Duo have made a life together both working for Preventer when Duo's world is turned upside down as his unknown past comes back to haunt him.

Dedication: To Velena who gave me the plot bunny for this little gem.

Status: In progress.

~ Indicates flashbacks ~

/ thoughts /

"Chimaera"

October. 2003 ShenLong

Chapter 63

The officers placed their patient carefully in the back of the ambulance, Heero and Sally climbing in to travel with Duo. Once the gurney was secure, the officers hopped back into the front and started the vehicle up. Seconds later the lights and siren were once more engaged and the ambulance was on its way through the dark night.

Checking that Duo was comfortable for the moment, Sally had the ambulance officer pass her through the hand set so that she could contact the Preventer hospital.

"Preventer hospital base."

"Base, this is Doctor Po. Request to speak with Nurse Brown immediately."

"Please wait one moment, Doctor Po."

Sally waited while the base operator obviously paged the nurse, she didn't have to wait long.

"Doctor Po, Brown here. How is the patient?"

"Ah, Margaret. Inbound with a suspected PA. Status unsure at present. Please see that the necessary equipment is ready to confirm diagnosis and treat accordingly. Our ETA is..." Sally glanced at the officer who held up seven fingers. "...Seven minutes. Meet us at the main emergency entrance."

"Consider it done. Base out."

Sally handed the small hand set back and turned to her patient. She quickly opened up a small cabinet in the ambulance's interior and removed a plastic bag filled with clear liquid. Hanging it on a convenient hook above where Duo was lying she wasted no time in setting up a line and then raising one of Duo's veins. The needle slipped in easily and the line was attached and taped into place. Sally adjusted the small wheel on the plastic line until she was happy with the flow rate then checked Duo's vitals once again, writing them down on a piece of paper attached to a clipboard.

Whilst all this was going on, Heero sat opposite, his eyes never leaving his lover's face. Duo's skin was pale, his eyes closed and breathing shallow. Heero wasn't sure of all the details Sally had given him earlier as to this placental abruption thing, but he knew it was serious.

He also blamed himself.

His mind began to chase itself, running in circles as he thought about what had happened. If only he hadn't been told of the impending mission he wouldn't have called Quatre and Trowa to come and stay. If only he hadn't called the other two then he and Duo wouldn't have had their argument. If only they hadn't had their argument then they wouldn't have been making up and Duo wouldn't be lying here now, in pain, with the threat of losing their baby hanging over them.

If only...

Two of the saddest words in the known dictionary especially when used together.

How Heero wished he could turn back time.

A gentle press of a hand to his arm pulled him from his morose thoughts and self berating. He looked up into Sally's blue gray eyes.

"Heero, making love isn't what caused this so stop beating yourself over the head. It wasn't your fault."

"Then what did cause it?"

Sally sighed. "I'm not completely sure. Usually this sort of thing occurs when the mother over does things, lifting heavy weights, putting undue stress on the abdominal muscles; those are the most common causes, amongst others."

"Duo doesn't lift anything heavy though, I won't let him. After the scare with the nursery he's been very cooperative and asks for help when he needs it. I know he wouldn't have done anything like that behind my back, he wants this baby as much as I do and there is no way he would put the child at risk." Heero frowned as he tried to think of anything that Duo may have done to have caused this problem.

"You can't think of anything else, Heero? Anything at all?"

Heero shook his head.

"Okay. When did Duo first notice the pain?"

"I,… I don't know. The first I knew about it was after we had made love. I was as gentle as I could be, Sally. I didn't penetrate very far and took it slow like you recommended. After..." Heero swallowed. "Afterwards when I went through to the bathroom to clean up and get a cloth to clean Duo off I noticed blood on myself, then Duo screamed and I ran back out. You saw the blood on the sheets, that's when he started screaming and first told me that his stomach hurt. If he was in pain at any time before that, I didn't know about it, he never said anything."

"Hmm..." Sally frowned. "Something set this off, some form of stress."

Heero's ears pricked up at the mention of stress. "Umm.. We did have an argument earlier today."

"Oh?"

Heero picked at his fingernails. "I came home to tell Duo that I have to go away for a few days on an assignment as you know. I didn't want him being left by himself so I arranged for Trowa and Quatre to come and stay."

"And I take it he objected?" Sally sighed. She was all too familiar with the independent, stubborn streak the ex pilots all had. She'd encountered it a few times with Wufei. Certainly made for interesting dates though. "Go on," she encouraged.

"He was rather upset that I'd asked them without consulting him first."

"That's understandable. I'd be a little pissed too."

Heero glared, Sally shrugged her shoulders.

"We had... words," continued Heero.

Sally could picture those 'words' in her imagination.

"I tried to apologize but he yelled at me to leave him alone and ran from the mansion. I didn't follow at first, thought I would give him time to..."

"Whoa, back up there, Heero," Sally interrupted.

"Nani?"

"You said he ran from the mansion? Do you mean ran as in literally?"

"Hai, he did. I don't know of any way of running other than putting each foot in front of the other with speed," Heero said, a touch of sarcasm in his voice. Why would he have said that Duo had run if he'd only walked or jogged?

"That could be it."

Heero looked up. "It? Explain."

"Look, as you know, Duo's female parts aren't fully formed as such, they do have some distortions. Given the position they reside in and how they fit into his inner anatomy they aren't fully stable. The uterus is slightly deformed and really doesn't have anything to hold it securely in place. Normally that wouldn't matter but now that Duo is pregnant the growing baby will influence his inner organs and positioning."

"Excuse me, Sally but do you think you could explain in more... 'human' terms?"

"Sorry, Heero. Just imagine for example a balloon. The balloon represents Duo's uterus, the blow up end is attached to a small, say hose pipe. Now when the balloon is deflated it can quite happily sit there next to the hose pipe and flop around without becoming unduly stressed."

"Hai, I follow."

"Now take that same balloon and fill it half full with air. It will still bounce around but the pressure is greater. Imagine that there is water and a coin say inside the balloon. If you move the hose pipe around the balloon is going to move too and along with it the water and the coin. With nothing other than the attachment point to keep the balloon steady the movement inside is going to get quite violent."

"Aaa."

"See what I mean?"

"Basically you're saying that the running that Duo did caused the uterus to move around inside and consequently the baby as well. With the baby attached to the placenta via the umbilical cord the extra stress on trying to stabilize the child and uterus could cause the placenta to pull away from the uterine wall."

"Something along those lines, Heero, although I can't be a hundred percent sure. Sometimes the placenta will just start to pull away for no evident reason but in Duo's case and given all the history and things we do know I'd say the running certainly didn't help the situation any. It may not have directly caused it but it wouldn't have helped."

"Fuck! I can be such and insensitive bastard." Heero held his head in his hands, biting back tears as he mentally flogged himself for his stupidity.

"No, Heero. You didn't cause this. Until I've done my tests we won't know what caused it, that's assuming anything physical did cause it." The words were meant to comfort but Sally knew regardless of what she said, Heero would continue to blame himself. They didn't get a chance to converse any further as the ambulance officer stuck his head through the small partition to announce their imminent arrival at the Preventer hospital.

***

Once Nurse Brown had received Sally's ETA and suspected diagnosis, she immediately went to work. Treatment room one was cleared and the necessary equipment brought in. Freshly sterilized instruments were laid out on a tray, supplies of drugs double checked and the ultra sound machine brought in. The head of the staff that operated and maintained the large scanning machine usually used for MRI scans and the like, although off shift, was informed that the machine may be 'hijacked' should the need arise. Although curious as to what was going on, the head of staff knew better than to ask questions and merely handed over the pass key.

Doctor G had been roused from his quarters and was busy at the computer terminal bringing up all the data he had managed to acquire in relation to hermaphrodites and their body make up, as well as Duo's records in relation to his physical make up. Everything was on standby, ultra sound pictures, print outs of Duo's internal organs and diagrams of his unusual 'extras'. There was nothing more to do now than wait for the arrival of the ambulance.

All unnecessary staff had been sent to other areas of the hospital. It was imperative that Duo's condition be kept secret. Given it was mid evening there wasn't a lot of staff on duty anyway. The night shift had not long come on and the hospital tended to run on minimal staff in the evenings. In one way it was a blessing. Aside from Nurse Brown there were only two other nurses on shift, three orderlies, the ambulance base officer and the duty receptionist. In the hospital itself only four patients were present.

Double checking everything for the third time, Nurse Brown was relieved to hear the sound of the ambulance's sirens drawing near. With one last flick of her eye over the room she smoothed down the front of her uniform, took a deep breath and steeled herself for the task ahead. She headed for the main emergency entrance and beat the ambulance by five seconds.

The vehicle pulled to a stop and the engine, lights and sirens were cut. Immediately the officers climbed out and went to the back doors, opening them and preparing to remove the gurney and their patient. Sally had unhooked the saline bag and held it aloft whilst Duo was removed from the interior of the ambulance. Heero let Sally move first and then grabbing both Sally's bag and his duffle he followed.

The small wheels unfolded and the gurney was pushed inside. Nurse Brown grabbed the chart and scanned over it, her brows knitting as she read the doctor's notes and results of blood pressure, temperature, heart and breathing rates. "Through to T1," she barked to the officers who nodded and wheeled the patient to the room the nurse had said. Once inside they carefully lifted Duo from the gurney to the bed and took their leave. Heero stopped them at the door to express his thanks. The ambulance officers shrugged it off, saying it was all part of the service and that they hoped that whatever was wrong could be fixed.

So did Heero.

He entered the small treatment room and was pushed into a chair against the wall. "Sit there for the moment, Mr. Yuy. We need to work here and you will be in the way. Don't worry, we will take good care of Mr. Maxwell."

Heero looked up into the kind eyes of the nurse and nodded. He couldn't find his voice at the moment. Every where around him sat medical equipment, and frankly, it scared the living shit out of him. He'd never liked hospitals and knew that Duo didn't care much for them either; but this was different. This time they were here to try and save their child's life.

Once Heero was sitting down out of the way but close enough to be reassured that his partner was doing okay, Nurse Brown swung into action. While Sally scrubbed and put on surgical gloves Nurse Brown gently removed Duo's briefs, keeping the young man's modesty in tact by covering him with a small green cloth. The gauze pad was also removed and a fresh one put in place. The used gauze was dropped into a kidney dish to evaluate how much blood loss had occurred. The betadine followed and Duo was carefully cleaned in preparation for the examination.

Doctor G arrived just as Sally was ready to start her investigations. Nurse Brown rolled the ultra sound machine over to the examination bed whilst Doctor G and Sally eased Duo onto his back. Duo's belly was slicked with gel as the machine powered up and Nurse Brown handed the sound head over to Sally who immediately pressed it to Duo's abdomen. The screen flickered as the images came up. Carefully maneuvering the sound head around, Sally located the uterus and its precious contents.

Meanwhile, Nurse Brown fetched a fetal monitor and strapped it to Duo's belly, out of the way of the area Sally was checking. Once in place she turned to the small machine that the monitors cables were attached to and switched it on. The sound of a rapid heartbeat filled the room and the nurse quickly noted down the numbers appearing on the LCD screen.

At the sound of the racing heartbeat, Heero looked up, concern in his face.

"It's a fetal monitor, Mr. Yuy," said Nurse Brown. "It's letting us listen to the baby's heartbeat and keep an eye on the child's vital signs."

"And?" Heero questioned. He wanted more information, the not knowing was getting to him.

"The heart rate is a little faster than we would like, but it isn't extreme."

"Meaning?"

"The baby is experiencing a little distress but not a significant amount."

"And Duo?"

"Not sure yet, Heero," replied Sally as she moved the sound head around. "I can see the baby and although the heart rate is higher than normal, it doesn't appear to be in any immediate danger. Now I need to try and find the placenta and see if my diagnosis is correct..."

"There," said G suddenly. "Move back just a fraction."

Sally concentrated hard, moving the sound head slightly back and finding the placenta.

"That's the edge of the placenta there, now, see if you can follow it around," ordered G, his eyes glued to the monitor.

Sally did as G asked, slowly progressing across Duo's lower belly, following the bumpy outline of the placenta.

"Hold it." G squinted at the screen. "I think that's it."

Sally also peered at the monitor. "I think you're right. Let's see if we can magnify this up a bit."

Nurse Brown fiddled with the dials on the ultra sound machine and the screen flickered off and then returned, this time the picture was larger and the two doctors were able to see a little more clearly.

"That's definitely it," said Sally quietly. "See here," she pointed to the monitor.

Heero was up and out of his seat, swiftly moving to stand by the machine and see what it was that the doctors had found. He couldn't make head nor tail out of the black and white lines on the screen.

"If you look closely, this is the edge of the placenta," Sally explained as she ran her pen along a darkened line. "So far it looks normal. When we get to here though, it changes. It's definitely a placental abruption." She continued to move the sound head around, determining just how much of the placenta had begun to separate. Every now and then she hit a button and figures came up on the monitor.

Heero continued to observe, frightened to say anything but terrified that his lover was going to lose their baby.

Turning around to face G, Sally conversed with the other doctor for a few moments; Nurse Brown led Heero back to the chair and sat him down again. "Are you all right, Mr. Yuy? Can I get you anything, glass of water maybe?"

Heero looked into the kindly eyes of the nurse. "No, no, thank you. I'll,… I'll be okay."

The nurse rested her hand on the young man's shoulder and squeezed lightly. "It's not easy to sit on the sidelines and watch knowing there is nothing you can do, but rest assured, Doctor Po will do her best and the baby's heart rate and other signs are not as bad as you would think so there is hope."

"Arigato. It isn't easy. I've never felt so helpless in my life." Heero cradled his head in his hands.

Nurse Brown patted him lightly on the back. "I think Doctor Po wants to speak with you."

Heero looked up again to see Sally approaching him, G was back at the bed running the sound head of the machine across Duo again.

"Heero." Sally crouched in front of the Japanese man. "It is what I suspected, a placental abruption. The placenta has started to pull away from the uterine wall, hence the bleeding and the pain in Duo's belly. The measurements that the machine has given us indicate that it isn't as bad as I had feared, about an eighth of the placenta has come away. I'm going to need to do a rectal exam to confirm that there is no other cause for bleeding inside and that the mucus 'plug' that normally blocks the cervix during pregnancy is still in place."

"What does it all mean, Sally? Is Duo going to be all right? Is the baby going to survive?" Pain filled cobalt implored the doctor to tell him what he wanted to hear.

"From what I can tell, the placenta isn't tearing any further, it appears to have stopped. In a normal, female pregnancy this shouldn't interfere with the remainder of the baby's development, in fact most women with this amount of separation usually continue on through the pregnancy and deliver a healthy child."

"But Duo and this pregnancy aren't normal," stated Heero.

"I know that, but so far it seems that all should be okay. I want to do this rectal exam and then we can discuss treatment from there. Heero? I need your permission to perform the exam as Duo is unconscious and cannot give his consent; you're listed as his next of kin so it's your decision."

Heero sat deep in thought for a moment and then looked back at the doctor and nodded. "You have my consent. Please, do whatever it is that's necessary to ensure both Duo's and the baby's safety and survival."

Sally cupped Heero's cheek. "Thank you. You know I will do all that I can. He's a very special person, Heero, as well as a good friend." She smiled and stood up, returning to the examination bed to prep Duo for the rectal exam.

Heero turned away. He couldn't sit there and watch his lover being prodded and poked. It tore at his very soul knowing that he was in some way responsible for Duo being here in the first place. He felt a tug on his arm and looked to see Nurse Brown pulling his arm, urging him to his feet.

"Come on, young man. You look like you could do with a cup of tea," she said and promptly escorted him out of the treatment room, down the hall way and into the staff room where she set about making him that cup of tea.

Heero stood by the small table and watched, his mind not really there. His lover was still in danger, even though they now knew what was wrong it didn't mean that all was going to be well. Why the fuck did he have to call Trowa and Quatre without consulting Duo first? If he'd used his head and not his heart then he wouldn't be in this situation... Duo wouldn't be lying in the treatment room...

A mug of hot tea was pressed into his hands but he couldn't hold it, he was shaking far too much. Before he knew what was happening the mug had been removed and he found himself pressed against the warm, soft bosom of the nurse. Arms held him close, a hand ran gently over the back of his head while he sobbed his fear and anguish into the nurse's uniformed chest.

~ * ~

tbc........