Guilt’s Cost: Part XX

Trust

The next morning, Dr. Arlin gave Tseng a thorough evaluation, seeing exactly what the result of his attack had been. After a barrage of tests, she sat next to Tseng to discuss her plan.

"Tseng, you are going to be fine, I don’t think you need surgery for your heart, yet." She said, folding his chart in her lap.

"So when can I get back to work?" With his job being his first love, Tseng was anxious to get back in the saddle.

"Oh no you don’t!" Dr. Arlin folded her arms across her chest. "We’ve been friends for a long time, right?"

Tseng nodded. She had saved his life and that of his agents countless times over the years.

"So you know that I am aware how important your business is to you, correct?" She leaned forward.

Again he nodded.

"Therefore you’ll know that I am dead serious when I say that you need to take some time off and rest." She reached out and touched his hand.

Tseng looked disappointed. "How long are we talking?"

"Three weeks." She said flatly.

"One." He replied.

"This isn’t negotiable, Tseng." She frowned at him. "If you come under too much stress too soon your next attack may very well kill you."

"One week off." Tseng stated again.

Knowing that he wasn’t going to give up, she shortened his sentence. "Fine, how about two?"

He narrowed his eyes, and thought for a second. "Fine, two."

"Here’s the catch." Dr. Arlin had saved the worst for last. "I want this to be a real vacation for you, therefore you will leave the base."

Tseng’s expression fell. "Leave? And where would you have me go?"

"I don’t really care, preferably as far from here as possible." She rose from her seat. "You need to stay here for observation for a few more days, but after I release you from this hospital, you are to leave, and I don’t want to see you back until those two weeks are up. Not one day sooner."

Tseng rolled his eyes. "I didn’t become boss so that I could be ordered around."

"Your life is on the line here, Tseng." She hooked his chart back to the end of the bed. "Why don’t you go home for awhile?"

Tseng did still have some relatives living in Wutai, and decided that it might not be such a bad thing. "Maybe I will."

"Good." She seemed pleased with his agreement. "Now, if you don’t mind, I need to go check on Vincent."

She neared Vincent’s bed and was surprised to see him awake. She was even more surprised when he sat up. "You shouldn’t do that! Lay back down right now!"

Vincent looked at her slightly confused. "Why? It doesn’t hurt."

Dr. Arlin knew that there was no way he should be able to move like he just had that soon after his surgery. She watched in amazement as Vincent pulled the dressing away from his chest; exposing what appeared to be a completely healed incision line.

He held the bandage out to her with his claw. "You want this back?"

She came closer, examining where the incision should have been. All that remained as evidence was the tags of the sutures she had placed the night before standing out against the black of the reptile skin. "This isn’t possible…we opened your chest up last night! You can’t be this healed already!"

He grew annoyed at the bandage binding his right arm and shoulder and began to tear at it with his cybernetic arm. "You guys really tied me up."

She couldn’t even bring herself to protest as he freed his arm. There was no way she could accept his having healed so quickly. Once Vincent tossed the second bandage to the ground, he stretched out his right arm, smiling as he realized he still had full use of it.

Tifa walked into the room, back from having finished her breakfast. She had brought back a carton of orange juice for Vincent, but once she saw him sitting there, apparently healed, she dropped the box unconsciously to the floor. "Vincent?"

He smiled at her. "Morning, Tifa. Spilled your juice."

She bent down and picked up the leaking carton, carrying it with her as she made her way to his side. "What’s going on? What happened to your injuries?"

Dr. Arlin looked at Tifa. "That’s what I’d like to know."

Vincent cocked his head, attempting to see the tube that still protruded from the side of his chest. "Hey Doc, mind getting this?"

Dr. Arlin went and retrieved some suture scissors. She then came to Vincent’s side and examined the chest tube. It had quit draining completely, and she saw no reason why she couldn’t remove it, although theoretically it was still too early.

She snipped the sutures holding it in and prepared to pull it out. "All right, this is going to hurt."

Vincent looked over at Tifa with panicked eyes. She at once came to him and held his hand.

Seeing that he was holding onto Tifa for dear life, she slipped out the tube in one fluid motion.

Vincent closed his eyes as she did this, quelshing the urge to scream. After a few moments, the pain faded and he looked over to where it had been.

Dr. Arlin hated to inform Vincent that she would have to close the wound. "Okay, I need to put just a few sutures in the skin there so you don’t get air in your chest."

Vincent shook his head. "No, I want Tifa to do it."

The doctor looked at Tifa over the rim of her glasses. "Tifa, I’m not inclined to argue with Mr. Valentine, so if you can suture, you are more than welcome to do it."

Tifa remembered the time seven years before when she had sutured a laceration on Vincent’s head after he had fought with Cid, and had been pushed by him into a wall. That had been the last time she had put sutures in anyone. She figured it would come back to her soon enough, and if it would make Vincent feel better, she couldn’t refuse. "Sure, I’d love to."

The doctor brought Tifa over a small suturing tray and walked out of the room, to go record her medical findings on Vincent. "I’ll be back."

Tifa examined the instruments given to her for a moment, as Vincent laid down on his side so she could get to the wound. She picked up the small syringe of lidocaine and prepared to inject the area with it. "All right, I’m going to numb it. You ready?"

"Yeah." Vincent sighed reluctantly.

She drove the needle into his skin, making certain to use enough so Vincent wouldn’t feel anything. Tifa felt bad as he grunted quietly from the burn of the lidocaine, but within a few seconds, he could no longer feel anything.

Tifa put the syringe down, and readied to scrub the area. "You doing okay, Vincent?"

He looked briefly back at her. "Yeah, done yet?"

She smiled at him. "No, I haven’t started. Lay down."

Vincent quietly obeyed, looking forward again. Tseng was laying right in his line of sight, and he realized his brother was awake. "Hey Tseng."

Tseng waved back. "Hey yourself. Getting sutures again?"

"Yup." Vincent grinned. He had forgotten how much he had missed his brother over all those years. "Doing okay?"

Tseng nodded. "I think I’ll live. I see you completely healed overnight. I’m impressed."

Vincent raised his eyebrows. His remarkable recovery didn’t seem that remarkable to him. He had become accustomed to his miraculous ability to heal, but realized that it was probably a shock to those around him. "It would seem that there was one perk to Hojo’s meddling."

Vincent wasn’t aware that his ability to heal so quickly was a result of the demon within him, otherwise he certainly wouldn’t joke about it.

With Vincent’s back to her, Tifa noticed that the area of reptilian skin had seemed to have grown a little, now wrapping around to his back slightly, right above the waist of the boxers he was in. She didn’t say anything, not wanting to upset him. The truth of it was that every time Chaos took control of Vincent’s body, more of his flesh became that of the demon, and less human.

As she sewed him, she came to realize exactly how significant it was that he had asked her to do it. After all the fear that he had displayed the day before, she knew that his trust for her must be deep. Tifa was fairly certain that if she hadn’t been there, this wound would not have gotten sutured shut. She was genuinely touched by this, knowing this was his way of asking her to take care of him from now on. If he could put aside his phobia of medical procedures for Tifa, he must truly love her.

Tifa put down her needle holders and suture. "All right, you lived."

Vincent sat up, looking at his chest, and the tags of the sutures that protruded from his healed incision. "Uh, can you get rid of these?"

Tifa smiled, and picked up the suture scissors from her pack. "Yeah."

She bent down before him and started removing the tiny strings one at a time. Vincent had some inappropriate thought as she hovered so close to him, and had to start fighting the urge to become aroused.

Tifa felt the sudden air of tension descend upon him and she smiled to herself, knowing what the problem was. Just to make it more difficult for him she reached down with one hand and gave his metallic thigh a small tickle.

"Tifa!" Vincent reprimanded under his breath. "You’re not helping! Tseng’s right over there in case you forgot."

She smiled at him as she pulled out the last suture from his chest. Jokingly, she winked over at Tseng. "Oh, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind."

Vincent wasn’t able to bite his tongue quick enough, and an off color comment escaped. "Yeah, you wouldn’t bother him or turn him on, but I don’t want him to get off on watching me."

Tseng perked up. He may have been getting old, but his hearing was exceptional. "Vincent! That was not appropriate."

Vincent cringed, knowing that his brother was sensitive about his sexuality.

Dr. Arlin choose that moment to walk back into the room, breaking the awkward silence. She came over and examined Tifa’s work, before giving an approving nod. "Very good, dear."

Tifa beamed with pride. "Thanks, Cloud always said I…"

The doctor waited for Tifa to finish her sentence, but she didn’t. "What was that?"

Tifa hung her head; her unintentional mention of Cloud had hit her hard. "Nothing, never mind."

The doctor clearly saw Tifa’s sadness, and decided not to hold back her good news. "Well, I just got off the phone with some of the doctors I work with topside."

Tifa perked back up. "Oh?"

"Yes." The doctor smiled. "They agree with me that your implant can be removed with a minimal risk to you. In light of Vincent’s recovery, I think you can have the procedure done as soon as you would like."

Tifa clapped her hands together, and looked brightly at Vincent. "Oh, did you hear that? They can get it out!"

Vincent reached out and grasped her hand, also pleased at this news. "So when do you want to do it, Tifa?"

"Today!" Tifa squeaked in excitement.

The doctor shook her head. "Tifa, you’ve eaten this morning, haven’t you?"

She cocked her head to the side, realizing that she would have to be fasted before surgery. "Oh, yeah, I did."

Dr. Arlin shrugged. "Well don’t forget and do that again tomorrow morning, or we won’t be able to do it."

Tifa again bubbled with glee. "Vincent! I’m getting rid of the bug tomorrow!"

He smiled at her, hiding his concern over her going under anesthesia. "Good, then we can travel together as we please."