Behavioural Crises

“Gerard’s out, right?”

“Yep, just kicked him out.” Bob nodded proudly.

Mikey sighed. Sometimes he wished Gerard didn’t have to leave during working hours. Because god damn it, almost all of Gerard's patients loved him more than Mikey did himself. Especially annoying kids. Mikey sighed again.

Bob looked up from his clipboard. “What? That nine-year-old?”

Mikey nodded. “Jacqueline said she is not taking any meds unless Dr. Way is there.” He mocked the little girl’s emphasis when she spoke to him about a minute ago.

“But you are Dr. Way.” Bob said amused.

“Not funny.”

“Sorry. Take this, I’ll see what I can do.” Bob handed Mikey his clipboard and walked towards Jacqueline’s room.

Bob was surprisingly good with kids, or even teenagers. When Mikey first saw Bob walked through the children’s sick room door with his long lab coat, he thought he would soon see kids running out of the room, yelling for their mothers. But turned out Mikey had been completely wrong, which was not a surprise because he sucked at reading people. The kids loved him. Maybe not as much as they loved his brother, but the point was that, they loved him.

Mikey saw Bob walking out of Jacqueline’s room with a full-blown grin a few minutes later. He wondered if he was the only one who was not good with kids in this hospital.

“Am I the only one who sucked at dealing with kids?” Mikey asked, his head thrown back.

“Toro sucked with kids.” Bob pointed out.

Mikey handed him his clipboard and shook his head. “But he’s a great deal with teenagers.”

“That comes with his music taste.” Oh yeah, Mikey almost forgot. Ray’s a guitar freak.

“So that makes me the only one.” Mikey sulked with his lips pouted out.

Bob thought for a while. “You have your talents. God’s kinda fair.”

“Since when do you believe in god?”

“Since now. Now go back to work.”

Mikey wasn’t contented. He wanted to know how do people like Bob and Gerard deal with kids. He liked kids, he just didn’t know what to do with them when they are all bitchy and stuff, which was how kids normally behave in hospitals. “What did you tell her?”

Bob looked up from his clipboard once again. “I told her I’m a good friend of Dr. Way's. And if she take her meds like a good girl, I’ll tell him to spend more time with her.”

Mikey stared at Bob in disbelieve. “White lies.”

Everyone in the hospital knew that was impossible. Even if Gerard wanted to spend more time with his patients, he just didn’t have that amount of time. That guy is already working seventy-two hours a day. Bob nodded sympathetically. “It’s a hospital. But I’ll tell him if I remember.”

“But he’s my brother.”

“Then you’ll have to shout it out from the mountain top.”

“That’s pathetic.”

“Never quite made it to the popular side of high school, have you?” Bob did not look at Mikey. He knew very well what Mikey was like when he was in high school.

“I was the Gerard Way’s little brother.”

“That’s already half way to popular land.”

Mikey smirked bitterly. He had always been Gerard Way’s little brother. No one had ever noticed the relation between Mikey Way and Gerard Way through out their middle/high school years, regardless how weird their last name was. It was until that big mouth Kathy realized that they share the same mother on Mikey’s tenth grade parent’s day, and then the news spread over the school like a virus. Mikey never had a problem finding seats at the canteen from then on. Jocks did not dare to tease him nor his friends, girls even wanted to date him. Mikey was quite popular, all thanks to his blood relation with Gerard Way. All these memories only reminded Mikey of how lame high school life actually was for him.

But all in all, Mikey enjoyed his high school years. Mikey was glad that his brother wasn’t popular because he was a jock or something but because he was really nice to others. Of course, also handsome and talented, from what he recalled the things the girls in his class had said about his brother. On Mikey’s graduation day, Gerard asked Mikey if he had ever hated him for changing his high school life. Mikey almost laughed in his brother’s face. His high school life changed completely because he was Gerard Way’s brother. But he was still the old Mikey Way. He still hung out with the same friends, he still never said hi to Gerard in school corridors. He was still Mikey Way, only with a different life, a better life.

Mikey’s thought was interrupted by Bob’s merciless smack on the head. He yelped and covered his head with both his heads. “What?!”

“You do realize that we’re pretty busy people, do you?” Bob patted Mikey’s head and walked away.

Mikey’s gaze was glued to the back of Bob’s head until the blonde disappeared around the corner. He almost forgot why he liked Bob the great blonde doctor.

*

“I – ”

The sound of Gerard's pager echoed sharply through the coffee shop. Why is someone paging me? Gerard frowned. He fought back a painful smirk when his eyes caught sight of the clock hung above a lavender painting.

3 : 32 p.m.

He got out of the hospital fifteen minutes later than usual. His pager beeped again. His break was over. Gerard glanced down on to his hands. He was standing, his TIME on the right and latte on the left, awkward enough. Why now?

He did not dare to imagine how foolish he looked.

“I – ” Shit.

“It’s ok.” The man smiled and gave Gerard an assuring nod.

Gerard took the hint and dashed out of the coffee shop. He had been wanting to talk to that guy for over three months, and when he had finally mustered enough courage to do so, someone at work just had to ruin it for him. Gerard whipped his pager out of his pocket as he paced quickly back to the hospital. He stared at his Commtech Wireless 6120 Pager in frustration. Just, why? Gerard pressed the button with a green rectangle, the message appeared on the screen.

_____________________.
Message from: Bob

Mr. Hockins - Code Blue
_____________________

All the thoughts about the incident happened in the coffee shop two minutes ago vanished into the very back of Gerard’s mind.

Must be gastrointestinal perforation. Gerard huffed. Who the hell was the main surgeon? Keith better hope it’s not gastrointestinal perforation, because if it is, it’s just gonna make Gerard start another fifteen minutes of rambling. And god knows how much Gerard hated to ramble in front of younger doctors. It made him felt like a grandma.

Bob’s cell phone rang three minutes after he had sent his message to Gerard. “Tested white blood cells?” The elder one didn’t greet.

“Half an hour ago, as high as a kite.”

“Damn it. I’m coming.”

“Nurse said he threw up a couple of times this morning and the pain that made you gave him 20cc to ease seemed to be abdominal pain. He almost cried when he tried to get out of bed on his own ten minutes ago.”

“Why is he even trying to get out of bed on his own? Where are the nurses?”

“No idea, but will tell him not to next time.”

“You better. Ever done CT after the surgery?”

“There wasn't any thing that required that kind of attention. Better hurry anyway, I’ll be in room 3.” Bob didn’t bother to say bye either.

Gerard hurried through the main entrance and pressed for the elevator frantically. Quick, quick, quick. Mr. Hockins had early colorectal cancer and a colonoscopy was performed yesterday, it was also planned to remove the polyp in process. But seemed that he had somehow managed to get a gastrointestinal perforation, which is a rare case.

Gastrointestinal perforation is a complete penetration of the wall of the stomach, small intestine or large bowel, resulting in intestinal contents flowing into the abdominal cavity. It is life threatening and requires immediate major surgery for repair. And that’s why Gerard was in such a hurry. He hoped Bob was doing alright.

*

John Cazifield paced along the bleach white corridors of his hospital in an early morning. Everyone seemed to be in a daze. No one even bothered to greet the department director as he walked past. The old man didn’t mind. It was a Monday.

Cazifield knocked on Gerard’s door and waited for a response. He knew Gerard was in there. The nurses said he hadn’t stepped out of his room since he last walked in about eight hours ago. Cazifield heard movements inside. The door opened slightly and a pair of blood shoot eyes appeared between the gape. He sighed when he noticed the lights inside the room were all still on.

“Good morning, Dr. Way. Do you need a few minutes to apply your eyeliner and make-up first, or you can just come out like this?” The huge grin on Cazifield’s face didn’t suit him.

“Good morning, John.” Gerard ignored the obvious stab at his machismo and greeted politely.

“Care to join us at the floor counter for a little announcement?”

“Why? What happened?” Gerard asked, slowly closing the door behind him.

“No! No- I’ll close that for you. We don’t have time for you to close it sixteen times before you think it felt right. No offence, let’s go now.” Sometimes it wasn’t just the grin that didn’t suit him.

Gerard closed his eyes and tried not to imagine how the force Cazifield had applied on to closing that door was uneven. Even the sound sounded uneven. But Gerard thought it was still better than letting him close the door. Cazifield slipped an arm around Gerard's shoulder and lead him through the corridor.

“Don’t wore yourself out too early, kid.” The director squeezed Gerard’s shoulder. “I’m retiring in ten years. You’ll have to learn to take care of yourself.”

“John, do you hear yourself talk?”

“Yes, I do. But ten years is not an unimaginable period of time. I can almost see my life on the Alaska cruise.” Gerard smiled.

“I understand.” He did. He almost wished he didn’t.

“But do you really want to?” He heard Cazifield sighed.

Gerard saw Mikey, Bob, Ray, Keith, Mark and a couple of other doctors had already gathered around the floor info counter.

“It’s not just about me. It’s about the hospital and the few young doctors I care about. If it was only me, I think I’m retiring in three years, not ten. And,” Cazifield exhaled deeply, “it’s been more than thirty years after all.”

Gerard nodded sympathetically and walk towards Bob in silence.

“Hey.” Bob handed him a cup of steaming hot Starbucks coffee. The smell of the hot liquid opened up all of Gerard’s senses. “Coffee cures Monday sickness.”

Gerard gladly accepted the drink and sipped at it like it was a Christmas present he had been wanting for so long. Mikey, who was standing opposite to the two, smiled.

“All of you must be wondering why have I gathered all of you in this gorgeous Monday morning.” Cazifield clapped his hands together. The huge grin was back on the old man’s face.

“As you all must have already notice, this hospital is facing a serious shortage of manpower, especially for doctors. Which leads me to believe that’s the reason why Dr. Way was paged back to the hospital during break last week.”

“Cazifield, I thought we’ve been through this. My break was over.” Gerard interrupted.

“Shut up. You’re not the one to talk. And that’s not what I heard from the nurses.”

Gerard leaned back and rolled his eyes. Stupid nurses. All the nurses ever did was stand around and look at the doctors do their work. Is that what the hospital is paying them for? Observe what the doctors are doing?

Bob turned his head around and stepped back as well. “Sorry.” He whispered lightly beside Gerard’s ear.

“Don’t be! My break was over. Cazifield’s just making a big fuss out of it.” Gerard glared at Cazifield. The man glared back.

“Ok, maybe I’ll say this problem is slowing down my planned retirement. I don’t want to work for another twenty years more before I can retire. My dreams of my retirement did not involve another hospital.” Cazifield earned a few chuckles from the others.

“It involves an Alaska cruise. But anyway, the point is – I got you guys a new doctor!” The man’s voice was filled with excitement.

The others gasped. They’re having a new doctor! From the amount of relief and excitement Gerard got from the news, he realized how much they actually needed another doctor.

The other doctors began to chat. Having another doctor is a big deal. If the new doctor is great – including medical skills and personality – , he can do miracle to this hospital. If he’s a jerk or a dimwitted creature, he’s gonna bring disaster to them. But despite Cazifield’s childishness at some times, Gerard trusted his taste in talents and fine workers.

“Let me introduce you all to our new doctor!” Cazifield held it right there for effect. “Frank Iero!”

A young man appeared from behind the corner. He stepped to a side of Cazifield and grinned. No one dared to talk. All of them just stared at him curiously, picturing the youngster in all kind of difficult hospital situation. It was hard. And with the grin on his face, that came even harder. If they were going to judge people by their appearance, Frank was no doubt not a jerk or a dimwitted creature. But still, no one could picture him in a busy hospital.

Gerard studied the man carefully. Frank was clearly younger than Gerard, but seemed to be older than Keith. Around Mikey’s age, Gerard thought. Frank wasn’t tall. If he was going to hang out with them, he’s definitely going to be the shortest, Gerard mused. He looked quite familiar, though. When Gerard’s eyes met Frank’s, he gasped.

The man at the coffee shop!

“But sadly, Rogan wouldn't let him be in my department, so Iero is going to be under Mark James." Cazifield sighed and a wicked grin plastered on Mark's face.

"Ok, better let you guys get back to work before Gerard starts whining. Iero, I don’t have time to introduce them all to you, but I’m sure you’ll get to know them fast enough. So, take you time. Have fun surviving in hell.” Cazifield waved and left the young doctors alone.

Keith left because his night shift was over and he was dying to go home. But the others stayed behind and gathered around Frank in a small circle. Gerard mumbled an excuse and went back to his office.

Frank hadn’t show up at the coffee shop for a whole week. Gerard thought it was because of his stupid retarded act of trying to talk to him, but now that seemed illogical. He was a stranger at the coffee shop for six months and now he’s our new doctor! Can this world get any more bizarre?

Gerard heard someone calling for him. He picked up his pace. The footsteps came closer and closer, and Gerard was forced to a halt by a grip on his shoulder. “Hey.” Frank’s voice came out breathy.

“Why the rush?”

“I have work to do.” Gerard said blankly.

Frank narrowed his eyes when he saw no further expression shown on Gerard’s face. “You know who I am, right?”

“You’re Frank Iero.”

“No! Remember. Remember me?”

Gerard fell silence. He didn’t want to remember how retarded he looked that day. He got paged back while he was trying to talk to a guy he had been observing for three months! No, please don’t remind me of that.

Frank sighed when he got no answer from the elder doctor. “It’s me. We met at the coffee shop! Don’t tell me you don’t remember.”

Gerard hesitated. Surely he didn’t want to face the retarded thing he did, but telling Frank he didn’t remember him would be too cruel. “Yes, I remember you.” Gerard forced a smile.

Frank’s face lightened up instantly. He grinned so hard that Gerard thought it didn’t even look like a grin anymore. “Yes! I knew it!”

Frank cheered like a small kid. Gerard observed, and was glad he had made the right decision.

“So, are you happy?”

Gerard was stunned. “What?”

“I said are you happy. This was meant to be a surprise.”

“For who?”

“For you!” Frank chuckled.

Gerard was even more confused. “You mean you…changed hospital just for – ”

“No!” Frank denied before Gerard could even finish his sentence. “No, of course not. That’s too cheesy for me. But I’ll admit that’s one of my underlying reason.” Frank winked at Gerard.

“Do you wanna have lunch with me? I have lots of things to tell you.” Frank asked excitedly as they came to Gerard’s office.

Gerard stopped to study Frank. Lots of things to tell me? Despite knowing each others’ existence for almost half a year, they just officially met today. Why was Frank acting like he had known him for a long time?

“I’m not really sure…” Gerard trailed off, hoping for Frank to get the hint.

But Frank was far too excited and hopeful to take any hint Gerard was sending him. “Please? It’ll only take you twenty minutes. Please?”

Gerard thought for a while. “The things is, I don’t usually have lunch.” And that was true. His lunch was usually Bob walking beside him, feeding him bites of a sandwich while he checked the patients room by room.

“My god! Then you must have lunch with me. Having nutritious meal is one main way to keep human body healthy! Ok, no excuses, one o’clock, you’re coming with me.” Gerard arched his brow as the new doctor walked off to one of the patient’s room.

That was weird.