(D/C – I bid you all welcome to the third chapter in the special Directors Edition of "Forever Green Socks Of Love", titled "Rekindling Love". Out of all the stories in this series, this one was the hardest to edit, so I hope you like it! Once again, wherever you see "D/C" expect to hear or read my thoughts and feelings about a certain line or a certain scene. Now that that’s out of the way, lets gets down to it!)Rekindling Love
(D/C – When I first started this chapter back in 1999 or 2000, I forget which, I knew that I had to flip the script and make this one really dramatic while still keeping that undertone of humor. Now this scene at Ken and Yolei’s house was all part of a rewrite that I did in ’01. I thought that it helped start the story well, and I still think it starts the story well, so I decided to keep it in, and change a few things!)
"Just breath sweetie…it’s almost over…" Ken whispered in her ear as Yolei’s eyes squinted in discomfort.
The midwife shook her furrowed brow, sighing as she finished her 10th exam since she was called. She glanced up at the wall clock, counting off the hours since then. "Okay. It’s been over 12 hours since your water broke, and you’re still at 5 centimeters. The baby’s head is very high--"
"So we just keep pressing on at it?" Yolei sighed, breathing deeply as she set her legs down. "Just keep going with the labor?"
"No." The midwife replied, slowly gathering her materials together. "The risk of infection is too great both to you and the baby, and the umbilical cord may be twisted around the baby. We need to get you to the hospital right away."
"No…" Yolei sobbed, looking up at Ken. "No…I wanted to have a natural home birthing with no medication. I didn’t want to go in the hospital..."
"Isn't there anything else you can do, Ann?" Ken asked, rubbing a hand through his dark hair. "Can’t we just wait and see if she progresses further?"
"I know how you both feel, but the risk of infection is too great at this point, and I don’t carry the antibiotics with me. They’re only available at the hospital through an IV drip." The midwife explained, patting her on the back. "Now, please get yourself together and let’s get to the hospital."
Yolei put her hands to her face and sobbed. "Why…why…"
"It’s going to be alright, dear," Ken whispered in her ear, as he helped her up from the bed. "We’re gonna meet our new baby very soon, just in a different way, that’s all."
"All right," Yolei sighed, slowly padding to the bathroom. "I’ll go slip on a nightshirt and straighten myself up and I’ll be ready in a minute…"
"Don’t worry about getting too dressed up," The midwife said as the door closed behind her. "We’re just going to the hospital, not a formal dinner."
"Oh, God, I’ll go let the others know what’s going on." Ken sighed, as he walked to the living room. "They’ve been camped out here all night."
* * *
(D/C – This is an all new scene I’m incorporating here! In the original story, I physically wrote that things went from bad to worse, but for this version I decided to let actions speak louder. That’s what my main goal is in writing: let the words tell the story! I don’t need to tell you that things are gonna get worse: the words can tell you that!)
"You just couldn’t come out the normal way, could you?" Yolei sighed to her unborn child as she pulled her favorite purple nightgown out the bathroom closet. "Well, at least now I’ll get the chance to see what’s been kicking and punching me for the past nine months."
As she lifted her hands to slip the shirt on, a sharp pain shoot through her abdomen. She sat down on the edge of the tub and started to gently massage her stomach. "Still giving mommy a hard time, aren’t we?" She hissed through gritted teeth.
This pain was dissimilar from the last series of contractions she had experienced that night. Before, she would have described them as very bad cramps, but this time it’s more like a tearing and rupturing sensation along with the cramps.
She slowly stood up from the tub as the contraction subsided, and suddenly, she began to feel dizzy and light headed. "Must have stood up too fast." Yolei sighed as she pulled the nightgown over her head and down her round, heavy belly, pulling down by her knees.
As she adjusted the gown by her legs, she looked down at the place where she sat by the tub.
There was a fist-sized splotch of bright red blood pooled up on the white marble tub, slowly dripping down off the sides to the floor.
"What the…" she wailed as she fell to the floor and felt in her birth canal. She looked at her hand in horror at the bright red blood staining her fingers. "Hel-"
Just as she was about to scream out, another ripping contraction spiked through her body. She lost all trains of thought as she curled up on the floor, her blood staining the white tiles. "Someone help me! Please, someone help me!"
Ken and the midwife rushed in the door. "Oh, God no!" Ken cried. "Call an ambulance! Please somebody, call an ambulance!"
* * *(D/C – Okay, now originally I had the scene where the good Dr. McKnight was fast asleep when he got the call from the hospital, but I opted to move that scene to the end of "The Light Of Hope". I see now that it was a great idea; it gives me a chance to keep the action moving and to keep the story flowing at a good pace! )"They’re en route now." The receptionist said, hanging up the phone. "ETA: Two minutes."
"Okay. Lets get C-Section room one ready, and page the neonatal team." Dr. Miles said, pulling her dreadlocks to the back of her head into a ponytail and tying it together with a rubber band as she walked to the elevator.
"We’ll be bringing her right up from the ER, so tell the team to goose it." Dr. McKnight said, "I don’t want to waste no time when we get her up here."
"Will do." The receptionist said, picking up the telephone as the two doctors stepped in the elevator. "Neonatal team to C-Section room one, stat. Repeat: Neonatal teams to C-Section room one, stat." She paged over the intercom.
"So, what do you think?" Dr. McKnight asked, snapping on a pair of rubber gloves on his dark fingers. "Placental abruption?"
"Premature detachment of the placenta from the womb? Oh yeah. Sounds like it." Dr. Miles said, snapping on her gloves. "This can get nasty. I’ve seen about 5 of them during my residency at EKL. Lost one baby. Tie my gown?" she asked, turning around.
"90% average. Can’t argue with that." Dr. McKnight said, tying her gown tightly. "Tie me?" he asked, turning around.
"Actually it’s 80%. Math was never your best subject, was it?" she replied, tying his strings.
(D/C – A bit of playful come-on between the two characters. These two characters in the first edition were just really good friends, but for the directors cut, I decided to light a bit of a flame between the two of them, just to create a nice side story!)
"Geeze, try to give a girl the benefit of the doubt!" Dr. McKnight said, rolling his eyes. "Last time I try to cut you a break."
"Call a spade a spade and a duce a duce." Dr. Miles said, sighing as the lift started slowing down. "Don’t change the facts or sugar coat on my behalf. Thanks anyway."
"Noted." Dr. McKnight said, nodding.
"Ground Floor: Emergency Department" the digitized voice announced in the cab.
The elevator doors opened up into a massive waiting room with scattered people sitting around in chairs. Some were watching late night TV, others were in the commissary getting snacks from the vending machines, and some were just sitting silently, waiting for their turn to see the triage doctor.
"OB-GYN to Trauma Room One. OB-GYN to Trauma Room One." A voice called from the PA system.
"Unless you know something I don’t, that’s us!" Dr. McKnight said, as he jogged towards the double doors that lead to the trauma rooms.
"Your sense of humor hasn’t changed one drop since high school, you do know that, right?" Dr. Miles said, pounding the button on the wall, allowing the doors to spread open.
* * *
(D/C – I am an avid ER fan, so when I was writing this part of the story, I just had to set it in a trauma room as compared to the maternity ward in the original story!)
"Ma’am, you have got to calm down. The thrashing around is only gonna make the bleeding worse!"
"You don’t understand! I have to push my baby out! I have to push my baby out!" Yolei sobbed, arching her back and pounding her fists on the gurney. "If I don’t, it’s going to die! I don’t want my baby to die! I got to get it out! I got to get it out!"
"Ma’am," the nurse pleaded, trying to hold her down. "Please stop pushing. We have to wait until the OB-GYN gets here. If you push, you could hurt your baby."
"Please, darling, calm down," Ken cried, holding her fists. "Please stop, you may be hurting our child."
"What do we got?" Dr. Miles asked, pounding through the doors with Dr. McKnight in tow.
"Oh, God, she must have lost a couple of pints here." Dr. McKnight said, looking at the saturation of blood on the hospital sheets. "Ms. Inoue, please put your legs up, I need to examine you."
Yolei propped her legs in the stirrups as Dr. Miles pulled the ultrasound device over to the bed. "Lets calm mom down, please. Push 10 milligrams of Valium. What do you see, Josh?"
"Ah, the baby is too high up to reach with forceps, and she’s oozing." The African American doctor groaned, shaking his head. "She’s only dilated to about 5 or 6."
"Fetal heart tones are in the low 80’s. I’m showing an abruption on the ultrasound, and a bad one at that. The baby’s tangled all in the cord. "
"Wait, what does that mean?!" Ken burst out. "What’s wrong with my wife and my baby?!"
Dr. Miles started pulling up the handles on the gurney, locking them in position to push it out the door. "It means your baby’s placenta is tearing away from your wife’s womb, and it’s causing heavy bleeding. Added to that, the umbilical cord is heavily tangled and if she were to continue to push, she would, in essence, strangle her baby to death."
"Oh my God…" Yolei groaned groggily, tears streaming from her eyes. "My baby could--?"
"Don’t worry, we’re not gonna let that happen. We’re going to do an emergency c-section and get the baby out as soon as possible." Dr. McKnight explained as they wheeled her to the gurney elevator. "The second we get you in the room, it’s gonna take thirty seconds to prep you, and then thirty more seconds from skin to baby."
(D/C – Looks like all those years of watching "Chicago Hope" and "ER" finally paid off!)
"Someone call the blood bank, please!" Dr. Miles called, looking at the BP indicator. "Get me 4 units."
"My friends are getting their blood tested now to see who’s the best donor." Ken sighed, helping the doctor's push his wife's bed down the hall. "They saw how much blood she lost and wanted to donate."
"Good." Dr. Knight said, nodding to Dr. McKnight, "We need it."
* * *
(D/C – This had to have been the hardest part of this story to edit for the director’s edition! When I read it to review, I knew I hated how I set it up, but the question that shot through my mind was "How do I change it to make it seem likely? Inevitably I decided to slightly alter my original idea to make it sound better! I’m crossing my fingers and my toes on this one!)
"He’s O-Negative; a universal donor." The lab tech said, holding up the results. "None of the others had her exact blood type."
"All right, who’s the lucky soul?" the nurse asked, peering outside into the waiting room.
"Guy with the goggles and spiked hair outside." The tech replied, setting up the equipment. "I remember him; cried like a baby before I even opened the wrapper on the alcohol prep pad."
"You do realize that there are two guys out there with goggles and spiked hair out there, don’t you?"
"The shorter of the two. The youngest," The tech replied, looking at the name on the chart. "Motamiya".
(D/C – I know, I really hacked through that last name. But I think I did pretty good, considering! Now, the rest of this section is almost the same as in the 1999 edition.)
"I can’t believe that out of all of us, Davis was the closest match." Tai whispered as they watched on. "If that ain’t irony, I don’t know what is."
"I know," Mimi whispered, as she held a sleeping Koumiko in her arms. "Kind of funny when you think of it; all these years Yolei knocked the blood out of Davis, now he’s willingly giving it to her!"
"Shhhhhh.." Tai hissed. "I think she's starting."
"Now just hold still sir." The nurse said, holding the alcohol pad in her hand. "This is just the alcohol pad. It’s going to be cool."
"O-o-okay." Davis stammered as a drop of sweat slid down his forehead. He flinched as the cool pad touched his skin. "Gee, that didn’t hurt at all!" He exclaimed as the nurse finished wiping his forearm. "So, am I done?"
"Oh, no indeed!" The nurse said, reaching for the needle. "That’s only half the battle! Here is the other half!"
"Oh, mercy…" Davis whimpered as the nurse lined up the sharp metal tube along a vein in his arm.
"Don’t worry sweet, I hardly ever miss my mark…" She said, slowly easing the needle along his arm.
"Wait a minute! Hardly eve---GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
* * *
(D/C – I only wrote two c-section stories in this series: this one and the one in the last chapter. I think it’s easier to write normal birth scenes than c-sections, don’t ask me why. I find that kind of odd because myself and a couple of members of my family were born by c-section, so I should be the expert. Go figure!)
"So, you want to cut, or shall I?" Dr. McKnight said, as he furiously scrubbed his hands.
"You take this one." Dr. Miles said, rinsing the orange soap froth from her hands. "My track record doesn’t qualify me for this one."
"So what, you lost one." Dr. McKnight said, frankly, shaking the excess water off his hands. "It doesn’t make you a bad doctor. It makes you a human doctor."
"Yeah, well…"
"She’s out like a light." The anestiologist announced through the PA in the scrub room. "Everything’s ready in here. Mom’s BP is slowly dropping, and fetal heart tones are in the 70’s."
"We’re on our way now." Dr. McKnight announced as he turned off the water, holding his dripping hands in the air.
"Ready?"
"As I’ll ever be." Dr. Miles said, sighing.
"Let’s roll." He said, bumping into the door that led to the operating room. Dr. Miles followed behind him.
"Belly is prepped. Dad’s waiting outside," The nurse said, tying the two doctor’s masks over their face. "Do you want him to come in?"
"No." Dr. Miles said, slipping her hand into a pair of gloves a nurse held open. "This is going to be really bloody, and we don’t need any distractions while we’re working."
(D/C – I’m the type of person who likes to read long, descriptive stories! I remember reading one story where a character was telling his lover [and no that wasn’t any typo; it was an MPREG] that he was pregnant in one paragraph, and in the next paragraph, he had a baby in his hands! No pregnancy, no birth, nothing. I like stories that have dialogue and explain things in detail!)
"All right. Here we go. Just as we planned." Dr. McKnight said, walking to one side of the surgical table. "Thirty seconds from skin to baby. Are you ready, Tab?" he asked, looking at the doctor on the other side of the table.
"Sure, lets roll with it." Dr. Miles said, nodding. "I'll keep on top of the suction."
"All right then, lets get started," Dr. McKnight said. "Scalpel." He ordered.
The nurse passed him the stainless steel knife. Dr. McKnight shifted a little as he took the knife in his hand, and positioned it just below Yolei’s rounded belly button.
"What are you waiting for?" Dr. Miles asked, looking at him puzzled.
Without a word, Dr. McKnight pulled the knife away from her belly and passed the handle end to Dr. Miles. "Thirty seconds from skin to baby." He said, arching his eyebrows.
Dr. Miles looked at him as though he were kidding. "I can’t do this."
"Fetal heart tones are down to 50!" A nurse called out from the head of the table.
"I’ll keep the field clear for you." Dr. McKnight said, taking the suction device from her. "Thirty seconds."
"I swear, I’ll kill you for this." Dr. Miles said, taking the scalpel and making her incision along the lower part of Yolei’s abdomen. She let out a sigh as she finished the incision. "Well, here we go."
"Uterus is tense with blood." Dr. McKnight noted, noticing how distended her organs looked as compared to how it was before the surgery. "Did that blood get here yet?"
"O-Neg. is sitting on ice, ready on your command." One nurse said.
(D/C – I know that some surgical nurses don’t use terms like "ready on your command", but I wanted to add a bit of a Star Trek theme to it with the "command" thing. Besides, it sounds really cool!)
"Just in time," Dr. Miles announced. "I'm just about to make the last incision into the uterus. It’s tight with blood; so lets get two units loaded up and started right now, cause her pressure is going to drop like a stone. Neonatal team, stand by."
"We’re ready here."
Dr. Miles made one long incision along the lower side of Yolei’s uterus. Almost as soon as the sharp knife touched the mass of muscle, a volume of blood burst from within the womb.
Alarms began blaring as Dr. McKnight attempted to suction up the blood so Dr. Miles could see. "Gosh, look at all this. This is more than half her volume!"
"Blood pressure dropping fast!" Dr. Miles said, setting the scalpel aside and digging both hands in Yolei’s abdomen. "I’m going for the baby."
"Squeeze that blood through the IV! She’s loosing it as fast as we can give it to her!" Dr. McKnight ordered a nurse as he suctioned. "I’m keeping the field clear for you."
"Okay, I got it!" Dr. Miles announced, pulling out a small, bluish grapefruit sized head out of the womb. "Scissors to Dr. McKnight! Josh, cut the cord around the neck so I can untangle and pull him out the rest of the way."
The nurse handed him a pair of long nosed scissors. Dr. McKnight carefully worked the piece of stainless steel between the baby’s neck and cord, and quickly cut through the tight, thick mass of veins. "Cord cut!" he announced, removing the remainder of the cord.
"All right, here we go." Dr. Miles said, pulling the shoulders, abdomen, waist, and finally legs out of Yolei’s body and out on the blue sheet, suctioning out the mouth and nose. "He had the cord tied all about him; around his legs, his body, his arms and around his neck."
"He’s blue!" Dr. McKnight announced handing the baby off to the neonatologists whom stood waiting. "All yours."
"We got it from here, good job you two." The doctor said, as he and his team began working on the tiny newborn. "Lets get some oxygen started here."
"Heart rate is coming up, 89." One of the neonatal nurses said. "Come on little guy, cry for me."
Almost on cue, the newborn began to cough, sputter, and let loose with a loud, ear piercing cry, looking quite uncomfortable in his new, cold surroundings.
"Now, that’s the sound we want to hear." The neonatal doctor said, laughing. "There you go little guy."
"How’s he doing?" Dr. McKnight asked, turning his head towards the baby warmer. "I’m hearing beautiful music over there!"
"He looks like he’s gonna be just fine!" The other doctor said, giving thumbs up, as they loaded the newborn into the portable incubator. "But we’re still going to keep him in the ICU for a couple of hours just to be sure! Then, we’ll move him to the well baby wing."
"All right, see you there. Thanks!" Dr. McKnight called as they wheeled the incubator down the hallway. "Now, lets deliver the placenta before she bleeds out. I got the suction."
"Sounds like a plan to me. Let’s load up the last unit of O-Neg. to catch up." Dr. Miles said, pulling the remainder of the cord out the womb. "Oh, and Josh?"
"Hmm?" Dr. McKnight hummed, massaging the mass of muscle where the baby was housed.
"Thank you."
"Mmm-Hmm…" He hummed, keeping his eyes on his hands. "You just owe me. One-thousand bucks in small, unmarked bills will be quite sufficient."
"I was thinking along the lines of lunch…or breakfast by the time we finish up here."
"Well, that’ll work too." Dr. McKnight said, his eyes twinkling in an unmistakable smile as he set the remainder of the umbilical cord and afterbirth in a metallic container. "Take that down to the blood bank and lets get the cord blood."
"Sure thing, doctor." The nurse said, covering the bowl with a blue towel and walking out the door.
* * *
(D/C – Now, when I was reading this scene for review, I saw that I had the right idea, but I just had it executed wrong. I had a lot of great lines, but just not quite as organized as I feel I had wanted. So, more or less, these lines are straight from the original story, just with a few lines of added dialogue!)
"There was a lot of bleeding, as you know," Dr. McKnight said. "The placenta tore away from her uterine lining prematurely, causing a lack of blood and oxygen flow to the baby, but we got him out and stopped the bleeding; she's going to be just fine."
"Him…you mean--" Ken said, his voice cracking.
"Oh yeah!" Dr. McKnight groaned, smacking his forehead. "I’m so sorry! Yeah, yeah, it’s a boy! Perfectly healthy, as far as I can see, but just as a precaution, they’re gonna keep him up in the Pediatric I.C.U for an hour or two just to check him out."
"You know, that blood your friends gave really came in handy." Dr. Miles said, "We had to use all 5 pints that you donated."
"I can’t take the credit for that," Ken said, rubbing a hand through his hair. "A friend of mine donated all five pints."
"Gee whiz!" the two doctors exclaimed. "That must be a great friend! Five is the maximum amount we can take from one person! We would really like to meet him!"
(D/C – I know "Gee whiz" is a little immature for two doctors to say, but people in my family much older than these two doctors use that term on a daily basis! And besides, who said that this was a mature story? Ha ha ha!)
"He’s asleep on the waiting room couch downstairs." Ken said, pushing through the double doors. "The nurse told him he could sack out there to regain his strength."
"Ah, yes, that’s always best." Dr. McKnight said, nodding. "Especially after giving that much blood. Sleep is a must, so we’ll just leave him be."
"How long will my wife be under?" Ken asked.
"Actually, she would be awake right about now." Dr. McKnight said, looking at his watch. "You can go see her if you like."
"Excuse me? Dr. Miles?" the nurse from the operating room said, holding a clipboard. "We have some test results that I think you may be interested in."
"Okay, let me see." Dr. Miles said, accepting the clipboard and scanning over it. "Umm, I’m going to the lab. You two go ahead. I’ll catch up."
"Sure thing." Dr. McKnight said, pointing Ken towards the elevators. "We’ll see ya later."
As soon as they were out of earshot, Dr. Miles spun on her heels and faced the nurse. "Are you positive?"
"We ran the test twice. Same results."
Dr. Miles looked at the chart and put her hand to her forehead. "Mercy, mercy me."
* * *
(D/C – In the original story, the only time Koumiko actually had speaking lines was in the last chapter. I made up the excuse that Koumiko would be too young throughout the story to have a speaking role, and that she wasn’t a major character, but the real reason was just a lack of time and access to a computer! Koumiko is just as big a character as anyone else is! So that’s why I decided to give the first born of the stories her own special scene!)
"Uncle, Dai-Dai… Uncle Dai-Dai!"
Davis slowly opened his eyes, squinting his eyes to focus on the small person standing in front of him.
"Hi, uncle Dai-Dai!" Koumiko said with a grin. "Play?"
Davis struggled to sit up on the couch, but his body felt wrung out like a dry sponge. He tried to lift his arm, but it felt as though there were no bones there…just a mass of flesh.
"Oy. Not right now, kid," Davis moaned, slowly closing his eyes again. "The doctor people drained all the blood out of me for Auntie Yolei, and now I’m tired."
"But Uncle Dai-Dai said he was going to play with me…" Koumiko whimpered, tears welling up in her brown eyes. "Uncle Dai-Dai don’t love me anymore?"
"Awww, kid…"Davis groaned, feeling the weight of his socks on his feet as he tried to move them. "All right, all right, I’ll play with you."
"Yay!" Koumiko cheered, wiping the tear from her eyes. "Play, play, play!"
Diverting every grain of his strength into his legs, Davis slowly raised his body up from the couch into a sitting position. "What do you want to play, kid?"
"Hmm…" Koumiko hummed, finger to her lips, eyes squinted, in a thoughtful position.
"That’s Izzy’s daughter, all right." Davis thought to himself.
"Play…pony ride! Pony ride!" Koumiko said, clapping her hands.
"All right. Pony ride…" Davis said, leaning down to the floor and slowly falling on all fours. "Hop on, Koumiko." Davis said, his knees and arms trembling.
"Pony! Pony!" Koumiko cheered, jumping on Davis’ back, carefree. "Go pony go!" She said, kicking Davis in the sides.
Davis groaned loudly with each thump in his stomach. "Have mercy…" He said, feeling his arms and knees slowly give out.
"Go pony!" Koumiko said, kicking him again.
"Oh yeah, let there be no mistake, you’re Mimi’s daughter too." He thought as he extended his arm out to crawl.
"Bouncy, bouncy!" Koumiko laughed, bouncing up and down on Davis’ back. "Go pony go!"
Davis took one small crawl forward, but as soon as he extended his other arm to take another, his back, which was slowly sinking due to Koumiko’s weight and added bouncing, finally collapsed, sending him spread eagle out on the floor, out cold.
"Awww, Uncle Dai-Dai sleepy?" Koumiko cooed in his ear.
"Mmmm…" Davis groaned, slowly nodding his head as he pulled himself back on the couch and lay down again.
"I take care of you!" Koumiko said with a grin. She then picked the blanket up off the floor, and carefully covering him with it, making sure that his whole body was underneath the wool blanket. "Feel better?"
"Yeah, thanks squirt." Davis sighed, slowly closing his eyes. "Good night."
"Night, Uncle Dai-Dai," Koumiko whispered in his ear. "Love you." She said, kissing him on the forehead.
"Love you too…" Davis said, slowly drifting off to sleep.
"I’ll keep everything quiet for you," she whispered, tiptoeing out to the quiet, white hallway. "You sleep now…HEY! UNCLE DAI-DAI IS SLEEPING! BE QUIET!" Koumiko yelled at the top of her small voice.
Davis pulled the blanket over his head and groaned. "Well, she means well."
* * *
"So that’s what caused the bleeding?" Yolei asked, her hands resting on her flat abdomen. "And that was the pain I was feeling."
"Yep. See the placenta is attached to the uterus, and after a baby is born, it usually sheers off and is expelled with the remaining umbilical cord with a few contractions. In your case, the placenta came off while the baby was still using it in the womb, and that’s what started the bleeding." Dr. McKnight explained, leaning against the wall.
"But everything is all right? Is my baby…"
"Oh yeah! Everything is fine!" Dr. McKnight said, holding up his hands. "We had to keep him in the NICU for a few hours just to keep an eye on him, but now he’s in the well baby ward and doing fine."
"And will we still be able to have more children?" Ken asked, setting a hand protectively on her shoulder.
"Well, not right now!" Dr. McKnight said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Gosh, You two don’t waste any time!" he grinned. "Just kidding. Yes, you can still have more children. You can pop ‘em out like rabbits if that’s your hearts desire. Just check with your GYN to get an exact date."
"When can I see him?" Yolei asked with a small smile. "I want to see what put us through all this trouble."
"I’ll call the ward now and have him delivered to you. McKnight said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing. "Under thirty seconds and it’s free—Josh here. Can you please send the Inoue baby to room three-oh-one? Mom’s awake, and would like to meet him. Okay. Thanks."
He turned back to the two parents. "He’s on his way now. Now, as I was saying, you lost a good bit of blood in surgery; five whole pints worth. We had to give you a quick transfusion from the only available donor. All but one of your friends had the blood we needed."
"Really? Who?" Yolei asked, curiously.
"Now everybody in the club getting tipsy, everybody in the club getting tipsy! Now everybody in the club getting tipsy, Everybody in the club getting tipsy!"
(D/C – The next line is in loving memory of my favorite flip-top cell phone, which died two weeks ago in a tragic washing machine accident. Rest in peace my Motorola 120t. 2002-2004. BTW, I never had that cell phone ringer, but I would have liked to!)
Dr. McKnight grinned embarrassed. "My cell phone ringer. Excuse me!" He said, quickly running out the room and flipping open the top. "Josh here. Can you speak up? What’s that sound? Huh? Poke-what?"
* * *
"What were the results from the last test?" she queried the nurse, pouring her 7th cup of coffee.
"The computer is still analyzing the results from the nuclear test." She replied, standing from the computer terminal. "This could be one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in a century--Ooh!" She groaned as she stretched her arms and legs. "You should write up a paper and get the OB department some funds."
"Yeah. Heaven knows we need it." Dr. Miles echoed. "New equipment, bigger delivery rooms--"
Just then, Dr. McKnight stuck his head in the door. "Tab, can you help me with a delivery?" he asked.
"Sure, what’s the problem?" Dr. Miles asked, as she walked towards the door. "Oh, before I forget--" She said, turning back to the nurse. "Can you please send me the results of the test when the computer finishes?"
"Of course." The nurse replied, sitting back down at the terminal. "I’ll bring it myself."
"You’re a saint, you know that!" She called behind her, as the door closed. "A living saint!"
"I know it!" She said, keying in a few commands on the keyboard.
* * *
"Complicated birth?" Dr. Miles asked, as the elevator arrived on their floor. "Long labor? Vacuum extraction, forceps?"
"None of the above." Dr. McKnight said with a deep sigh.
"I get it. You’re just trying to flirt with me on the slick by having me help you with this delivery." She said with a sly smile.
"Oh trust me, if I was trying to flirt with you, it would happen so fast you wouldn’t know what hit you." Dr. McKnight said, confidently. "You heard about the Ketchums right? Ash and Misty?"
"Sure, they’re the world’s best Pocket Monster masters around in the east." Dr. Miles said, thinking back. " Aren’t they expecting?"
"Oh yeah. They’re downstairs now, she’s in heavy labor and the baby’s crowning." Dr. McKnight said, rubbing his eyes exasperatedly. "However, on the way here, daddy dearest was carrying her bag and running along the floor. The floor crew just finished waxing and polishing the floor, and daddy wasn’t wearing his shoes and…"
"Oh my…he didn’t." Dr. Miles said, covering his mouth to hold back the fit of laughter that was raking her body.
"Flat on his back. But that ain’t the worst part. He had his wife’s Pokéballs in the bag and once he hit the floor…they hit the floor…"
"You mean to tell me that…"
"Mm-hmm…all one hundred of ‘em."
"Have mercy, Lord on me."
* * *
(D/C – Now this part of the story really and truly had me petrified when I re-read it for this director’s edition. Do I break my rule of keeping the real world in the real world, and keep the Pokémon out of the story, or do I just roll with it and hope for the best? Nick Meyer, the director of Star Trek II and IV once said "Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise." Why not be both!)
"Bulba! Bulba!"
"Squirtle-squirt-squirt!"
"Chika-chck-chick-chika!"
"Sunflora-flora! Sunflora-flora!"
Dr. McKnight and Dr. Miles looked all around the waiting room in awe when the doors finally opened.
From the ambulance bay outside to the stairwell where the two doctors stood, there was a mass of creatures all making their own individual deafening sounds. The patients in the waiting room were yelling and complaining as the creatures ran across laps and toes and heads in some cases.
"Bulbasaur, return! Starmie, return! Awww, come on guys, get back in your Pokéballs!" an anguished voice called out. "Slowpoke or Slowmo, whichever you are, return! Return! RETURN!"
.
"What on God's sweet green earth is going on here?" Dr. McKnight yelled over the noise towards the voice wall. "This is a hospital, not a Pokémon Clinic!"
"Yeah!" Dr. Miles agreed. "Do I honestly look like a Nurse Joy to you?!" Before Dr. McKnight parted his lips, she shot him a look that spoke of death and daggers. "Answer that and you’ll be talking in falsetto for the rest of your life, got it?!" she growled.
"Oh yeah. Wasn’t gonna say a word." Dr. McKnight said, snickering nervously. He cleared his throat and looked among the living things for any sign of another human being. "Are you Ash Ketchum?" he yelled over the noise.
"Yeah, that’s me! My wife is over here with the charge nurse! I’m going to try to clear a path for you! Hang on!" Ash called out.
A few seconds later, the room boomed with the sound of the young Pokémon master’s voice shouting "Wooper, return! Squirtle, return! Snorlax, return! Heracross, return!"
After about two minutes, a winding path was cleared leading to the trauma room. "There you go! I’m going to get these guys back in their balls!" Ash called out, "Tell Misty I’m on my way! Mew, return! Mew two, return!"
"This has been one confusing night turned day." Dr. McKnight said, walking along the path. "And I'm supposed to be off today. Explain the logic in that!"
"Don’t even start." Dr. Miles said, shaking her head.
(D/C – This scene is almost exactly as it was in the original version, except with the addition of a few more lines just to make it a little longer! The scene was perfect, but it was just too short for my tastes, so I added length!
The two doctors finally made their way to the delivery room, where inside, Misty was panting on the bed, growling through clenched teeth how she was never going on another honeymoon to a place called 'Fertility Lake' again.
The nurse on duty was busy talking to her while she was writing down her BP on her chart.
"Wouldn't common sense tell you not to go there in the first place, when there are much better, non fertile places you could go; like Australia or something. I remember this one time where I was on one of those zoo tours—"
"What's her status!" Dr. Miles snapped at the nurse, bringing her story to an abrupt close.
"Mom’s BP is stable, fetal heart tones are at 130 and stable, and we’re crowning." The nurse said, handing Dr. Miles her chart. "As I was saying," she continued, "I went to that Australia Zoo place on TV, where I saw this crazy man and his wife handling some of the most dangerous..."
"Will you PLEASE go get Mr. Ketchum, and tell him not to miss the birth of his child, or else you’ll be on permanent vacation!" Dr. McKnight barked to the nurse.
"Gee!" she said huffily, walking out the door. "You didn't have to yell. See, that's what's wrong with the world today, everybody is in such a big hurry nowadays
"You were going to fire her!" Dr. McKnight sighed, calling the nursery on the phone. "Yeah, can we get a baby warmer in Trauma three now, please? Thank you."
"Push down mommy! I haven't got around to it!" Dr. Miles said, slowly guiding the head out. "That's really good! I think daddy is going to miss his child's big entrance, just one more push and we got the head!"
"Here he is!" the nurse said, dragging Ash in with a camcorder in his hand. "Found him outside trying to capture those Poke-what-ca-ma-call-its…"
"Did you get my Starmie?" Misty asked, panting as Ash ran over to her. "You better have gotten my Starmie!"
"I got it, don’t worry! You just worry about pushing our child out." Ash said, holding her hand.
"And here we go! Push down hard, mommy!" Dr. Miles said, as she guided the head out. "All right, just one more—"
"Gahhhh!"
"And the head is out!" Dr. Miles said, suctioning out the mouth and nose. "Now, just pant, pant, pant."
"We still haven’t settled on a name yet!" Ash said, a tear streaming down his cheek.
"Well, you better hurry up and pick one, cause your baby is on the way! One small push, mommy." Dr. Miles said, grabbing a towel. "There we go…just one small push and…"
"Yahhhhhhh!"
Misty was in tears as Dr. Miles handed the baby to her. "Say hello to the world, young lady." She said, clamping off the umbilical cord. "Daddy, do you want to cut the cord?" She asked, handing Ash a pair of scissors.
"Sure, I—" Ash stammered before his legs buckled under his weight, sending him face-first to the floor.
"What happened?" Misty asked, peering over at her husband lay out on the floor.
Dr. McKnight walked over and checked his pulse. "He passed out. Exhaustion, looks like."
"Dr. Miles! Dr. Miles! I have the final results of the final blood tests!" The nurse said, waving a piece of paper in her hands.
"Ok. Let me see!" Dr. Miles said, grabbing the paper and scanning it. "Aw, yeah!" She said, grinning triumphantly. "This is what we want. Perfect! Just what I was hoping for!"
"Care to fill me in?" Dr. McKnight said, after helping Ash into a wheelchair. "What’s that?"
"I’ll tell you upstairs in the lab!" She said, handing Misty’s chart to the nurse "Can you take Ms. Ketchum upstairs to Recovery one for me please?" She asked.
"Sure thing."
"Thank you!" She said, then turned to Dr. McKnight. "If you’ll follow me, please." She said, walking out the door.
* * *
(D/C – This part, bar none, was a thorn in my side! Trying to explain something and make it sound medicinal isn’t easy, no matter who you are! When I reviewed this story for the director’s cut, I had to change the medicine around to make it sound probable and possible! Here goes nothing!)
"This is really, really rare!" Dr. McKnight exclaimed, looking up from the microscope. "These look just like…"
"Yep, they are. They’re pure stem cells." Dr. Miles said, nodding.
"But I thought stem cells died off in a matter of hours. We’ve had this blood here since yesterday."
"The O-Negative blood has something to do with it." Dr. Miles said, changing the slides. "I still need to run some more tests, but I think the compounds in the donated blood reacted with compounds in Yolei and the baby’s blood and caused these stem cells to regenerate and thrive.
"I smell a research paper!" Dr. McKnight said, grinning. "You should write this up! This could mean big funding for the maternity ward!"
"I’m not a writer!" Dr. Miles sighed. "Nobody’s gonna want to read my paper."
"Then let me write it! Let’s collaborate!"
"Collaborate?"
"Yeah! We’ll both work on it and research more on it! You can’t just sit on this just because you don’t like the way you write!"
"Yeah! You already did the major research, all you need to do is experiment a little more, document your results, write out a thesis, and let it roll!"
"You really think that it’s going to bring in funding?"
"I do."
"Then lets get with it!" Dr. Miles said with a grin.
* * *
(D/C – As the reader, you have no idea the relief I feel having reached the end of this story! This had to have been one of the most enterprising stories I ever written! So many things I wanted to change, and so little time I had to change them to meet my own personal deadlines! But, we’re almost home free! Now, this part was a complete rewrite of the original!)
"I just can't thank you enough!" Ken said for the millionth time. "You two are life savers!"
"All part of the job." Dr. McKnight said, patting Ken on the back as the front doors slid open to the outside loading bay.
"Boy, it feels good to be outside for once!" Yolei said, taking a deep breath of fresh air, as she carefully stood from the chair, and walked to the waiting car. "Being inside for one week can really drive a person crazy! Isn’t that right, Davis?" Yolei cooed to the bundle in her arms.
"By the way, don't forget to schedule your post-natal appointment." Dr. McKnight said. "And remember what I said; get the green light from your doctor before you try for another one!"
"I will, thanks!" Yolei called out over the soft rumble of the engine. "Bye, and thank you again!"
Dr. McKnight and Dr. Miles waved goodbye to the couple as they pulled out the loading bay and out into the street into their new lives.
Dr. Miles gave a big sigh as she saw them pull off. "Well, after I check on Mrs. Ketchum and baby Kagata, I'm going home."
"I second that." Dr. McKnight replied, pulling out his car keys. "I’ll give you a ride home."
Just then, a young girl walked up the sidewalk leading to the front doors. She was wearing an overcoat, which was odd, because there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was pretty warm out. She looked lost and confused and more than a little overwhelmed.
"Can I help you with something?" Dr. Miles asked, noticing the girl in the overcoat.
"I'm looking for Dr. McKnight and Dr. Miles?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly as the grip on her overcoat tightened.
"That's us."
She sighed, sounding relieved; releasing her coat and letting it fall open. "Can you help me out with this?" she asked, setting a hand on her swollen abdomen barely covered by a small, dirty T-shirt.
"My…well…um…" Dr. McKnight stammered, looking at Dr. Miles.
"I didn't know where else to go," she sobbed. "My parents threw me out on the street when I told them, they think I wanted this to happen!"
"Now, now calm down," Dr. McKnight said, handing her a handkerchief. "Let's go inside and get something to eat. Then you can start at the beginning. I’m told the beginning is the best place to start a story. First of all, what’s your name?"
The girl looked into his eyes, tears welling up in those light brown pools. "June. June Motamiya."
(D/C – And that, thankfully, is that! The end of the marathon! After days and days of pondering, wondering, and contemplating, "Rekindling Love: The Directors Edition" is now complete! I am very proud of the outcome, and I hope you like it too! I’m taking a break for a day or two, then I’m getting right back down to work on Chapter IV; "Love Knows No Yamato" But before I close out, I just want to address a few reviews that I’ve gotten for this story so far:The Crest of Water (sanchezfamily5@netzero.com) – You have no idea how much that means to me! I don't think I've ever received a review like that before! I really appreciate it! Thank you from the bottom of my anime-filled heart! ::hugs::
SoratoL.O.CFan – Man, your reviews always leave me Rollin’ on the ground laughing, cuz! Thanks a lot man! I really appreciate it! Koumimi till we die, man! Koumimi till we die! You may not like the last chapter though, sorry!
LAvos – Sorry that it was a little too slow for you, but like I mentioned before, I like long stories…gives me something to do while waiting for downloads to finish! Don’t worry, though. The next chapter will have more twists than a towel in a locker room!
K9 – Appreciate the review! That’s actually the first time my stories ever got that reaction from someone…"Wow!" It really gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside to know that you really like it! Thank you again!
Lord Patamon – A special thanks to you for giving my story a chance and posting it on your website! It makes me feel proud to think that my story is so good, someone wants to put it on their website! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
And to all you readers out there who have yet to review, thank you too! Keep reading and reviewing! In the meantime, in between time, this is your writer who’s a lover not a fighter KhakiBlueSocks, signing off!)

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