The Doctor's Heart

A Scare

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"RIZA!"

.....

Alice at times, hated her job. Every job has it's ups and downs. In her's there was the potential to loose mothers and children. Alice had excepted that fact, she choose that specialty. Alice helped deliver babies and give them, life saving surgeries. She had a friend come to her to remove her uterus and breasts when a test told her that she might have cancer. Alice had to tell a happy couple that their baby was dead before it even had the chance to live life and that they need to complete at stillbirth. So, much heartache and loss in her field of speciality. This was one of those times.

Alice's heart almost stopped when she saw the nurses roll Riza down the hallway on the gurney, heading to an operation room. Her heart almost stopped again when she discovered why Riza collapsed. The surgery was fairly easy. A minimally invasive surgery, thanks to a new technique developed at Faith Hall. However, it could have been devastating if Riza hadn't been near an hospital. Or if she was at sea without another skilled and capable surgeon on hand, Alice knew she wouldn't have survived. Alice completed her emergency surgery then had admit her friend into the hospital as a patient. "Damn." She growled. Alice stared through the glass at the mass of pirates surrounding the sleeping trauma surgeon. A ton of colorful flowers and get well soon cards surrounded Riza in her bed, mostly from the hospital staff between doctors and nurses.

"How is she?" The man asked.

Alice castes a sideways look at Mark. "Stable." She answered with a long sigh. "A simple surgery, Riza should be back on her feet in a couple of days."

"That's good." Mark nodded. "I suppose I shouldn't ask how bad Riza could've been?"

"No, you shouldn't." Alice muttered, looking at the now stirring woman. "She's waking up, let's go." Alice entered the room with confidence and a clipboard with Mark trailing behind her. "Alright, everyone but the captain and the vice captain can leave. I need to discuss the procedure with my patient and visiting hours are over."

A chorus of whines echoed amongst the pirates and Alice quirked an eyebrow at their childish nature. She looked at Shanks and Benn, who nodded. Shanks didn't say anything but had this dark look on his face. "Everyone head back to the ship, you can see Riza and Johnny, tomorrow." Benn ordered. The pirate filed out of the room and Mark closed the door on their way out.

"Alice?" Riza asked, her eyes blinked, owlishly at the surgeon. "What happened?"

"You had internal bleeding in your abdomen. You probably had been for several days without any symptoms. I stopped the bleeding with a simple procedure. You should be on your feet in four to five days." Alice took a breath and stepped to where she was standing at the foot of Riza's bed. She hated the words coming out of her mouth. "I believe that it was a clot that ruptured from your last surgery, one that we didn't find during the procedure. The colt didn't appear on any of our scans and you never would have noticed the clot, even with the proper equipment."

Riza stared at Alice with wide eyes, full of sympathy and understanding the woman's words. "I understand, Alice. Thank you." She murmured, softly.

"Understand what?" Shanks interjected. A sharp, fierce gaze landed on Alice and she fought to take a step back at the sheer intensity of his gaze. Alice had to remind herself that this man who sat before her was a pirate and not the carefree guy that she had met and drank with earlier.

"Shanks." Riza said, a hand curled around her recently operated abdomen. Shanks' gaze shifted to Riza and the sharpened hardness in his eyes eased. "What Alice is telling me is that I was lucky because I was close to a speciality surgeon of her caliber..."