Too Much

Soooo….. I realize I haven’t updated in forever which I apologize for but I am not going to give up on the story.


Chapter 13 – Stomach Pumping Anyone?

Seto peered down at Joey’s limp body, completely defeated. Kaiba couldn’t deny that he was feeling something towards Joey anymore. He didn’t know what it was or why he felt it, but all he knew was that this was the first person he felt like he cared for other than Mokuba. This, of course, frightened and confused Seto, which caused him to push Joey away with his cruelness just to prove to himself that he had no effect on him. But that approach failed so now all he could do was help him.

They stayed like that for a while before Kaiba came to. He suddenly recalled that this would be a very peculiar scene for anyone walking by to see. Kaiba peered around him, suddenly aware of his surroundings as he heard footsteps approach. He stood up quickly and dusted himself off, leaving Joey alone on the cold ground. He mustered his most defiant look as Roland walked onto the scene. He simply looked down at Joey, shocked for a moment, then at Seto, awaiting some sort of explanation.

“He was attempting to leave the property so I came here and stopped him,” Kaiba spoke a little quicker than usual, anxious to explain why he and Joey were caught in such an awkward situation.

“So you did this to him because he was trying to leave?” Roland gasped, as he looked again at Joey.

Kaiba stood confused for a moment before realizing Roland had just gotten here and had not witnessed the scene from before. Feeling he didn’t want to explain himself, he stated simply, “He was like that before.”

Roland shook his head, unbelieving and fed up with Seto’s antics.

“Sir, I am always there to offer you advice, whether you want it or not, but in this case, this boy really needs urgent medical care.” Roland stated flatly to Seto.

Seto looked down at Joey’s lifeless form again and realized how right he was. Usually Kaiba believed he always had the best sense of judgment and knew what to do but in this instance, he felt like he was lost. With all that had happened with Joey and the confusing feelings he was forcing himself to feel, he failed to fully consider what danger Joey might be in.

“Right, call an ambulance immediately.” Seto demanded before adding coldly, “Make sure they are discreet about it, I can’t have reporters flooding my gates if they hear an ambulance.”

All three of them waited awkwardly after Roland made the proper arrangements. Seto shifted from one foot to another while looking down, trying his best to avert his eyes away from the disaster he created that laid lifeless on the damp ground. Kaiba didn’t have any set plan and didn’t know what was going to happen next, which was quite out of character for him.

A few minutes later Seto was brought out of his daze by the distant sound of sirens that rang louder as they approached. Moments later, an ambulance rushed down the driveway, sirens now silent as Roland had requested. Roland walked briskly to the halted vehicle to direct them to Joey. The paramedics rushed towards Joey’s body, a stretcher in tow.

Kaiba watched as they transferred Joey’s limp body onto a stretcher and strapped him on. Kaiba just stood grounded, watching the scene play out in front of him unable to look away. It forced Kaiba to realize that it was far more serious than he would have liked to have thought. Joey had little reaction to the whole situation. His head just lolled back and forth from the transfer and did not protest or fight when paramedics checked his breathing and strapped and oxygen mask around his mouth to help his shallow breaths. They lifted the stretcher to full height and wheeled Joey away, back to the ambulance. They were rushing off as quick as they had come. Kaiba stood and watched, still planted in the same spot as they lifted the stretcher into the back of the ambulance and closed the door. The ambulance drove away quickly leaving Kaiba staring at the spot where it was. He was completely at a lost for a few moments until he realized what he needed to do. Before it fully registered Seto had already jumped into one of his many cars and brought the engine to life. He tore out of his drive way and down the street. It took him only minutes to get to the hospital, having sped the whole way and running a few red lights. Kaiba parked quickly and ran through the glass doors to the entrance of the hospital. He approached the front reception.

“There’s a patient named Joey Wheeler here, he should have been admitted only a little while ago. I need to see him.” Kaiba said quickly, out of breath and sounding a little desperate, unlike his usual self.

The woman turned to her computer and after a moment back to Seto.
“I’m sorry sir but you will have to wait to see him, he is being treated at the moment,” the receptionist answered calmly.

“That’s not good enough! I need to see him now!” Kaiba fumed while slamming his fist down on the counter, the thud causing others around him to jump and stare. The woman did not flinch as she continued unaffected, “I’m sorry but that is not possible without jeopardizing his health. The waiting room is to your right where you are welcome to stay until you are permitted to visit him.”

Seto gave the woman one last glare before seating himself in one of the waiting room chairs where he decided to wait.

Kaiba looked around the room that he shared with a few other occupants. Every moment he looked around the more uncomfortable he became which didn’t help his already irritated mood. The pale blue walls, the generic chairs, the dirty floor, it creeped him out. What was worse was the people he was surrounded by. They all looked so pathetic in Seto’s opinion. Outwardly showing their desperation for anyone to see, it was pitiful. Kaiba always put on the appearance of wellbeing, whether fake or not. Image was everything to Kaiba.

Kaiba didn’t fit in at all. He sat up straighter and adjusted his suit collar while peering around shiftily at the others. Being surrounded by weak people bothered him. It was probably so irritating for him seeing as he rarely ever had to sit in a hospital. The times he did were all associated with bad memories which he would rather forget. Kaiba started drumming his fingertips on the arm rest to his chair impatiently before realizing how dirty it probably was and stopped immediately. His leg started bouncing up and down and he let out a huge sigh. Little things seemed to bother him immensely at this point. He heard someone talking lowly on the other side of the room. The constant low muttering was slowly boring into his head, causing him to turn his head in the other direction. He gave another big sigh and looked down at his watched, causing him to internally groan. Only five minutes had passed by this point. He started to wonder why he was even here.

Joey.

He knew that much. He felt better about the whole situation now that Joey was away. He assumed if he distanced himself from Joey it would also lessen the feeling of guilt that radiated off of him.

Kaiba couldn’t take the wait any longer. Seto Kaiba didn’t wait for anything. Especially not for that mutt. He had to see him now. He rose out of his chair he had only occupied for a little while and gave the receptionist a quick glance to make sure she was occupied before darting down a random hallway on the other side of the waiting room. A plan was beginning to form in his head, and he preferred doing anything rather than waiting in that damn room a second longer. Kaiba walked down the long hallway, not having any idea where he was going. He opened a plain door to a small room and peered inside, only to disappointedly find cleaning supplies. He closed it quickly and continued to walk. The next door he opened seemed to house an assortment of broken equipment. Seto grunted as he closed it as well. He continued down the hall only to find it ended with another set of doors. He opened them very slowly and looked down another hallway which appeared to be lead to patient’s rooms. To the right he spied a door with the words “Authorized Personnel Only” written on the door. Kaiba let himself smile as he slowly made it to the door and opened it and closed it quickly behind him. He turned around and found what he was looking for. Around the room was an assortment of different medical equipment and supplies. There were I.V. poles, oxygen tanks, and personal supplies. To the right of the room was shelves filled with folded hospital scrubs. He quickly made his way to the shelves the looked through the sizes until his found a set that looked like they would fit.

He gave a huge sigh and closed his eyes as he thought about what he was going to do. He shook his head in disbelief and quickly stripped out of his suit and folded it neatly. He hid it under a pile of scrubs to the far right so he would remember where he left them and quickly pulled the blue scrubs over his head. After he was finished dressing he looked down at himself. His shoes didn’t match at all but they would have to do. He turned to leave but something hanging on the wall caught his eye. Stethoscopes. He walked back and wrapped one around his neck.

Perhaps now he would look like a more convincing doctor. As he thought this he realized how crazy his plan was and how many things could go wrong. He questioned why he was doing something so out of character in the first place. He thought about Joey’s lifeless form and how it was his fault he was like that. Maybe it was because he felt so bad that he couldn’t stand to be away from him at a time like this. Or maybe it was because he felt obligated to set things straight with Joey and he didn’t want to waste any more time on him so he wanted to see him now. Seto decided it must be the second explanation. He exited the room and walked the way he came. The first objective of his plan was implicated.

Onto phase 2: Find Joey.

Seto headed back down the hallways the way he came. He quickly walked through the waiting room while looking straight ahead, not daring to look around. Seto found the emergency room doors just beyond the receptionist’s desk and pushed them open. Nurses and doctors were walking in and out of rooms carrying an assortment of medical equipment. The whole scene was pretty chaotic which Seto appreciated seeing as he was hoping he would go more unnoticed. He was pleased as he looked at the other doctors and found that he blended in pretty well in comparison, except for the fact they were all at least 15 years older than him. Seto started to casually look in rooms to find which one Joey was in. Each room he walked by housed a multitude of different injured people, but none of them were Joey. Seto started to doubt the entire plan, fearing he might not be there at all. On the other side of the ER he noticed the rooms were a lot larger. He peered in the first one and saw they were far more equipped with medical equipment than the others, which were more for observatory purposes. There were multiple nurses surrounding the patient so Seto could not tell whether it was Joey or not. As one shifted Seto was able to see blond hair. Seto opened the door and rushed to the side of the bed to verify that Joey was in fact lying there. He was still unconscious and shirtless due to the wires on his chest that connected him to a heart monitor. This revealed the extent of the injuries that covered Joey’s body and sent Seto into shock for a moment, seeing as he knew what he did to him that night. They had also inserted a tube down his throat connected to a mechanical ventilator to ensure he kept breathing.

“Hey! Who are you?”

Seto jumped as he turned to the nurse who addressed him. She was old and overweight nurse who wore a scowl on her face. Seto hadn’t thought this far ahead and hadn’t come up with a good viable story. It was unlike him but with all that had happened he wasn’t thinking clearly. Seto stared at the woman’s gnarled face for another second, racking his brain for a story, or at least a name he could give her while growing more annoyed that this woman would talk to him like that.

“Aren’t you one of those students from the med school who’ve been training with us?”

Seto turned his head quickly to the other nurse who spoke to him and answered promptly.

“Yes.” Seto answered curtly, feeling disgruntled and uninterested in elaborating to make a more believable story.

“Well you shouldn’t come in here without your identification badge.” The old woman grunted.

Seto was infuriated at the woman. How dare she speak to him like that. Before he had long to brew over it, the other nurse began talking to him.

“Have you ever seen a gastric lavage procedure performed before?”

“No.” Seto answered darkly.

“Well this patient overdosed on narcotic medication so we have to clear out the stomach to remove the drugs and he needed to be intubated so he doesn’t choke when we do the procedure.” The nurse said looking down at his chart.

The doctor entered the room and they started the procedure immediately. Seto didn’t want to watch but was unable to look away as they set Joey on his left side and inserted another tube into his mouth until it reached his stomach where they proceeded to pump his stomach. Joey didn’t move as this was being done, being completely unconscious and unable to do anything. Seto was horrified and refused to look at the contents of Joey’s stomach. The procedure only lasted a few minutes before they removed the tube.

The nurse turned to Seto and noticed his shocked face drained of all color. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”

“What’s going to happen now?” Seto suddenly asked, his voice coming out weaker than he would have liked.

“He needs further medical treatment and urine and blood tests need to be done to check whether any damage has been done to his organs. He also needs to be kept for at least 24 hours for observation so he’ll be moved upstairs.” She said while she cleaned up the equipment used for the procedure.

“He’ll probably also need a psychiatric assessment as well.” She said as an afterthought. Seto cringed at the thought of it.

“He was here just a few days ago for his nasal fracture.” She continued. “And now it’s clear that was not the only injuries he was harboring.” She sighed as she was finishing up. “It’s terrible what people do to each other.”

Seto shifted uncomfortably as he was reminded of how he broke Joey’s nose and started to resent the nurse beside him as well.

He didn’t want to see Joey anymore. Not like this. He wouldn’t admit it but he knew he was traumatized after watching what just happened. Seto quickly went back they way he came and went back into the supply cupboard to change. He made it back into the waiting room without any difficulties where he was determined this time to stay and wait. After he saw what Joey just went through the prospect of waiting to see him really didn’t seem that bad anymore. It dawned on Seto how much he really hated drugs and while he waited he thought about the awful nature addiction was. He decided in the end that he was going to help Joey no matter what and make him quit his addiction.

Seto didn’t know how long he waited in that room but now it passed all too fast. He was so deep in thought about what he had watched that night that he didn’t notice anything around him until he was finally permitted to see him. Joey was now upstairs in one of the wards. The receptionist relayed this information and Seto made his way to the second floor on stiff legs from sitting for such a long time. When he finally reached Joey’s room he was very reluctant to enter. He felt like he needed to see him more than anything but he also wanted to leave and try and forget everything that had happened. He was feeling so guilty he didn’t want to see him. In all truth he knew he was being a coward which bothered him among other things. He grudgingly opened the door to Joey’s room and walked up to the bed looking at the floor the entire way. When he reached the bed he looked up at Joey. He was in a hospital gown now and was no longer attached to the ventilator. He looked clean now. All the dirt on his face was cleaned off and the wound on his head had been bandaged. His nose had been re-bandaged as well. He appeared to be sleeping peacefully, though he’d been unconscious all night so it was no change.

Seto felt sick looking at him. He felt so miserable and guilty he could hardly stand to look at him but he didn’t dare turn away either. All he could do was stand and stare down at him, guilt washing over him in waves, the undertow threatening to take him under to a place where he couldn’t return from.

“I’m so sorry,” Seto whispered, even though he knew Joey couldn’t hear him. Or at least that’s what he thought.

Joey opened his eyes slowly, his face spiteful and scorned.

“You did this to me.” Joey whispered in a course voice, throat still sore from all the tubes that had been down it earlier.

Seto just stood there in shock.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seto’s still kind of a douche bag… it happens. I wanted to edit more… but I’m super impatient.