The sound of the miraculous baby cry along with her mother's wail of pain filled the whole Emergency Operating Room. I panted in relief because by the sound of the baby's cry, he was ready to come out so premature birth isn't going to harm him. He's a strong infant, not one to give up too easily.

The obstetrician specialist arrived not too long ago when the final contractions on the abused mother had started. I let her take over with the baby from there, I worked on the bruises. (Adding up to twenty-one).

Maremi and Sakura watched with complete interest while Liam and Fletcher looked so uncomfortable it's not even funny. You can't see their face but you can tell by their horrid eyes as they watched the miracle of life.

I silently smiled to myself, at least the I got goofballs instead of cocky idiots.

Dr. Sims, the midwife, and Dr. Gilbert, the gynecologist, smiled up at the mother as they carried the baby boy out. A few nurse scrambled to cut the cord and take the baby out of the room to be taken care of separately.

In normal circumstances, I would've been the one to deliver the child but since both Dr. Sims and Dr. Gilbert were present along with a lot of other eyes, I took care of the injuries. I was never a fan of child birth and only did it if I really, really had to.

It's the only process that I would hesitate on.

"Sakura, I want you to follow the nurse and learn how to care for the baby," I instructed.

My old friend nodded softly and left the room.

"Liam, is it?" Dr. Sims turned to the intern. "Can you come here and point a few things out?"

Liam's face became snow pale at the request. He opened his mouth to reply but I cleared my throat. His fearful eyes met mines before scrambling over to the midwife.

"Maremi and Fletcher," I instructed the last interns. "Take care of the wounds and if she wakes up, don't let her see Fletcher anywhere near her. You keep in her line of view, Maremi."

"Understood."

My job here is done.

~~~~~~~~

It wasn't my most impressive procedure but I'm not complaining. It was calming and the two specialist took care of their job quite well. The observing doctors left unimpressed, too.

I'm more worried about the woman's mental state after she wakes up, though. I grabbed her patient profile I received from the front desk nurse on my way back to my office and sat down on my computer chair. Opening the profile, I read the notes the ambulance were able to record upon their arrival to get her.

Her name is Taylor Hinton.

I bit my thumb nail as my eyes scanned the English notes. Says here that the cops arrived on time to stop the husband from kicking and stomping her stomach in attempt to cause a miscarriage.

I flipped the page and continued reading on:

The baby is his but since he's probably gonna be in jail for attempt on manslaughter, his brother will step in and be the father for the son for the time being. Which makes me wonder, there was nobody in the house beside the husband and Taylor around the time the cops were called. It wasn't the neighbors because they were all at work.

The husband was drunk when the incident happened. He wasn't home for the whole night. He just appeared out of nowhere, broke the door in, and started snapping crap at his tired wife then proceeded to the beating. Taylor's soul mate is known to be quite a calm and collective man with no record of complete rational behavior. He's only influenced and can be influenced very badly. And this time, he just went way too far.

I shut the folder and sat back. I know anybody's state could change in a snap but it makes no sense. Taylor's husband is a loving man, grew up in a caring family, had what he wanted, went to school, graduated, a lawyer and he was always very well mannered. Then why in the world would he suddenly burst through the front door and try to kill his own son?

Did someone feed him false enough information to cause him to go on a bull of a rampage? Someone...perhaps jealous of him?

Hold up, how come there's all this information about the accident in a hospital profile. I flipped back to the cover of the black folder and groaned.

We got the investigator copy...

~~~~~~~~

That evening, I went up to the woman's room to check on her current health status. She's still asleep and the nurse taking care of her told me she needed it for the time being. So I wondered, with my hand behind my back, to the nursery to see the baby boy.

Dr. Sims was there, putting the baby boy down when I entered. She glanced at me with a small smile and tucked the baby in. I watched as the newly born baby boy twitched once twice with his eyes shut and laying still, his small chest raising and falling.

The midwife shooed me outside with a few hand gestures. I backed up without a word. Once the door was shut, she let out a breath.

"Sorry, the little guy is just... pushy?" Dr. Sims giggled. "Adorable nonetheless."

"I'll bet," I smiled. "Thank you for coming to my rescue, Dr. Sims."

She looked at me, "You can call me Skylar. That way, we're friends."

"Then you can call me Hinata," I said.

Skylar was a beautiful, typical American woman with soft honey blonde hair and green eyes. Along with her pretty pointed face, an amazing personality.

"Good because we already have another Dr. Lee," she stretched her arm behind her back. "Anyway, I'll keep an eye on the baby and his mother."

"I don't have to worry then," I admitted.

"You never did, Hinata," the midwife gave my arm a little punch. "Like you, I put all my patients first. Unlike that Kabuto who only cares about what he thinks is 'morally right', she sighed. "He might be the Uzumaki's legend but he's also responsible for most of the deaths that happen in our hospitals because he refuses to treat his patients if they don't have the basics."

I replied, "So steer clear of him."

"Or pick fights with him everytime you see him," she shrugged. "It's always so enjoyable watching him argue an inhumane topic. The president is always involved somehow and sides with anybody but Kabuto."

"I see."

"Anyway, enough about that sour of a topic," she suddenly turned to me, her green eyes sparkling with joy. "There's that masquerade ball tonight for all the hospital staff. Are you coming?"

"I wasn't invited," I admitted. "And besides, it's my first night and I'm planning on being the overnight doctor."

Skylar pouted, "But it's almost a requirement all doctors went!"

"The hospital would be shut down then," I giggled. "I'll stay behind and help the hospital function while the rest of you party."

Skylar opened her mouth to argue but was interrupted by a familiar male voice that always made me feel at ease, "But you've been invited, Puppy."

We both directed our attention down the hall to where a tall, well-built man walked toward us; adjusting his tie on the way.

I've never been so happy to see him. But me being me, I'm not letting him know that. It'd only make his ego bigger.

The midwife nearly growled at his appearance. I looked at her, completely confused.

"Do you know Van?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Annoyingest living being to have ever walked the Earth."

You know what? It's going to be a little fun hurting this guy's ego, "You don't like him, too? Good, here I thought I was the only one suffering."

Van was close enough to hear my retort about him to my new friend. Skylar looked at me, mischief flooded her eyes as she gave me a giant goofy smile, "I understand you completely! It must be destiny, Hinata that we have found each other! It is destiny, that we both believe he is the annoyingest person on Earth."

The man raised an eyebrow, "And here I thought I was walking to mature doctors. Annoyingest, Sky? What are you, five?!"

"Ha but you just said it, didn't you?" she chuckled. "And here I thought you were a mature twenty-four year old man who could speak fluent English."

Van rolled his eye at Skylar's comment. I had to laugh it off a bit. Man, don't I love her.

"Before you two can continue on adjusting the thousand year old English language," his eyes left Skylar and softened when they met mines, "Puppy, you have to go to the masquerade party. President orders, nobody dares argue."

I crossed my arms, "But me."

"Hey now, don't be difficult," he replied.

"I'm not being difficult," I shrugged. "I don't want to go; that's final."

"Final? There's no way anybody could change your mind?"

"Correct."

He sighed, "Alright then."

Before I could ever react, the whole world was upside down. Literally! Van grabbed my legs and threw me over his shoulder like I'm a sack of potatoes! The nerve of this guy... seriously!

"Van!" I shrieked, drawing more unwanted attention. "Put me down!"

"Good day to you, Skylar," he saluted with his other arm. "Puppy, you're coming with me!"

"I'm only saying this once Van," I punched at his face. "Put me down!"

He only chuckled, "I'm not one of your interns. I actually don't have to listen to you."