Back again with part 2! Hope you enjoy it - there's likely to be a delay between this chapter and the next, as I need to come up with some ideas that aren't too ridiculous. I'd like to clearly state that I am not a medical professional in any way, so please be lenient with me!
Those of you who read Fifty Caliber Cat will recognize my favorite recurring OC, Caval'Yurie Violet! I've decided she'll appear in most of my works that need an OC, so keep your eyes peeled.
As always, thanks to all who read, review, follow, and favorite!
As Weiss was about to pull out her scroll and hack her way into the lab, footsteps alerted her to an approaching presence. The nurse that had given her directions came up beside her, smirking. "So, trying to get into Radiology?"
"I. . . Yes," Weiss trailed off, her blood going cold. Had she been found out?
"Might be hard to do without your keycard."
Shit!
Weiss looked up at her, the woman's tone of voice making it sound like she knew some great secret. Or in this case, that she knew Weiss wasn't supposed to be here. Instead, the woman winked at her.
"I realized you weren't wearing your ID tags after I sent you up here, did you lose your cards?"
Thinking quickly, Weiss responded, "Oh, oh no. I can't believe it!" To make her acting more convincing she ran her hands over her pockets and around her neck, as if she were looking for the nonexistent missing cards. "I can't believe it, I'm so stupid." She sniffled, internally smiling in triumph when worry flashed over the woman's face.
"It's okay! Don't worry, it happens all the time!" Much to Weiss's chagrin the woman proceeded to place a hand on her back, rubbing vigorously up and down. "I can't tell you how many times I've lost mine! Just try to find it after work, alright?"
With that the woman swiped her ID across the lock, tugging the door to the lab open. "I know we're not supposed to do this, but I'll make an exception for you. You should get a lanyard when you have the chance, it makes keeping track of your keys much easier!"
"I'll do that, thank you," Weiss responded quietly, stunned into near silence by her luck.
"Maybe I'll see you around," the woman waved, allowing the door to close as Weiss entered the lab. "Oh! My name's Yurie by the way, it's nice to meet you!"
Unable to think of an alias in time, Weiss merely called, "nice to meet you too!" as the door shut. Judging by the woman's smile though, she wasn't disappointed.
Weiss returned to the task at hand, her eyes wandering over the Radiology lab. It seemed to be empty, although she didn't want to count on it staying that way. If she were seen here, the real staff would know she was a fake.
Ruby's x-rays are going to be some of the most recent ones, she decided, ignoring rows of large filing cabinets in favor of approaching a desk. On its surface rested large stacks of x-rays, printed onto partially translucent sheets. It took Weiss a moment to realize the white wall was actually glass, from behind which white light poured; the wall was obviously meant to have x-rays mounted on it so they could be seen clearly.
Weiss sat down at the desk with a huff, stopping just short of grabbing the stack of x-ray sheets. Her fingers nearly touching them, she pulled her arm away and stood up quickly. Stupid stupid stupid, she chided, having nearly wiped her fingerprints all over the x-ray sheets. If evidence of her crime was found, they'd be sure to find her prints, which would be troublesome. Sure, her lawyer Arslan would keep any real trouble away, but it was easier to avoid the problem in the first place.
To that end Weiss paced the lab until she found what she was looking for: a box of sterile latex gloves. She pulled them on one at a time, hoping the thin material would be enough to at least render her prints unreadable, if not completely preventing them from existing.
Back at the desk, she began thumbing through the x-rays, frowning when she realized that none of them had patient names on them, instead each was identified by a timestamp and serial number. "I can't get into the database to see which serial number corresponds to Ruby's x-rays," she muttered under her breath, holding up sheet after sheet to the illuminated wall. "I'll have to make an assumption about which ones are hers based on the timestamp. . ."
She knew the date Ruby had checked in, which made her job much easier. With that information alone she was able to sift a large stack of sheets out of her pile, placing them to the side, sure to carefully array them so they'd be in the same order that she'd found them - it took a great deal of mental strain to resist organizing the pile. The stack containing Ruby's x-rays grew steadily smaller, until she was left with fewer than ten sheets.
Here comes the hard part. With only a few left to choose from, she had to estimate the exact time that Ruby got her x-rays. Knowing that Ruby had checked in at about two in the morning, she removed three more x-rays that were before that time. Three more sheets were removed that had a timestamp of after six in the morning, bringing the count down to three.
It was then that a scribbled note caught her eye. A single word, followed by a memo - the contents of which threatened to make Weiss sick on the spot.
R. Rose, patient 23476B has been diagnosed with stage three Gastric Cancer - please keep this x-ray for indexing.
When the sheet fell from her fingers, Weiss realized she was shaking uncontrollably. Ruby, my darling Ruby has cancer? "No!" she yelled, slamming her fists onto the desk. A pair of teardrops landed on the sinister x-ray. "No, I refuse to believe this is possible. She's fine, I'm sure of it."
Mustering her courage, Weiss lifted the x-ray to the illuminated wall, the teardrops running down its length. Her hand shot up to her mouth as a large section of white became visible, a hideous mixture of splotches and tendrils snaking through the center of the x-ray, covering the general area of the stomach. "Oh Christ!" She slammed the x-ray back into the table, tears freely running down her cheeks, collecting where her hand met her skin. "No no no, not Ruby, please not Ruby!"
Forcing her breathing to come back under her control, Weiss practically shot from the desk, taking the x-ray with her. The door to the lab blasted open under the force of her push, the handle slamming into the wall before swinging shut with a bang. Weiss was already down the hall, storming her way toward Ruby's room.
Reconstructing a map in her brain as best she could, Weiss navigated her way to the central elevator, using the time to wipe her tears away. With it came a good deal of makeup, but at this point she was past caring. No, Weiss was furious; a little smudged makeup and tear stains would only serve to make her appearance all the more angry.
She was out of the elevator before the doors opened fully, halfway down the hall by the time the closed behind her. Dead ahead waited Ruby's room, the grey door impassively blocking her path.
She entered Ruby's room without knocking, throwing the door open. She stopped in surprise when she noticed Velvet directly ahead, speaking amicably to none other than Yurie, the nurse that had guided Weiss to the Radiology lab. They both turned as they heard Weiss enter, followed by Ruby leaning into view from her bed, smiling.
"Ah there she is," Velvet laughed at the same time Ruby called out to her.
"Weiss! I missed you!"
Weiss was effectively stunned into silence. "I. . . What's going on?!" Velvet and Yurie exchanged a glance, Yurie's smirk returning.
"I could ask you the same thing," Velvet answered. "What're you doing wandering around in that outfit, and why does it look like you've been crying?"
Weiss closed her mouth, which had been hanging open in shock. "You know why I'm here," she growled, "I had my suspicions at first, but I never actually believed you would lie to me! To us!"
"Weiss?" Ruby's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Weiss, what's going on?"
"Weiss has been-" Velvet stopped as she was cut off.
"The hospital is lying to us Ruby! What did they tell you about your stomach?"
"They said it was just a stomach ulcer?" Ruby replied, her statement more a question. Velvet tried to interject once again.
"Weiss, I don't know what you're doing, but the-"
"Be quiet!" Weiss hissed, crossing over to take Ruby's hand. "Ruby dearest, the hospital lied to us because they don't want to anger me. I'm the most powerful woman in the world, and they don't want to disappoint me."
Ruby's face paled, her hand gripping Weiss's tightly. "Weiss, please don't tell me you-"
"They lied Ruby, they tried to cover it up!" Tears began running down her face, dripping onto her scrubs. "You- you have stomach cancer Ruby. I'm. . . I'm so sorry."
"Stomach cancer?!" both Velvet and Yurie shouted out in unison, "Weiss, what the hell are you talking about?" Velvet continued, "All she has is a stomach ulcer!"
Weiss turned on her heel, wiping away her tears with her sleeve. "Is that so? Then how do you explain THIS!" She brandished her hand, displaying the x-ray for the occupants of the room to see. "This is what they were trying to hide, Ruby, this is the truth."
To her credit, Ruby looked more confused by this recent development than anything, her eyebrows raised. "Whaaat?"
Upon seeing the x-ray, Velvet slammed a palm into her face, the resounding smack echoing through the room.
"Weiss, you go that from Radiology, didn't you."
"Ha! So you admit it! This is Ruby's real x-ray!"
"I admit nothing," Velvet sighed, striding to the end of Ruby's bed. Reaching into a basket affixed to the end, she pulled up a binder stuffed to bursting with medical papers. From within, she pulled an x-ray, displaying it. "This is Ruby's actual x-ray. What you have is somebody else's."
Ruby's x-ray was much more regular, the only alarming part a small white dot near the bottom of Ruby's stomach.
"This is Ruby's x-ray," Velvet repeated. "Here's the stomach ulcer, and here's her medical ID." She pointed out each item in turn. Then, as an afterthought, she turned to the bedside computer and typed the ID in, which displayed a name on the screen. Ruby Rose. From the bed, Ruby breathed a sigh of relief.
"But- but then, who is R. Rose?" Weiss sputtered, holding up her stolen x-ray again, indicating the memo. Velvet took the sheet, examining the words scrawled on its surface. "If not Ruby, then who?"
"This is Resident Rose," Velvet answered, "as in 'resident in a hospital.' Rose is her first name. Telling you her last name would be breaking confidentiality, but I can tell you that it's definitely not Ruby."
"But. . . But that doesn't make sense!" Weiss yelled. "That's so confusing! Why use her first name?"
Velvet merely shrugged, handing the x-ray to Yurie, "It's not confusing to us. You don't work here, so why should it make sense to you? By the way, do you know why Yurie is here?" As Weiss opened her mouth, Velvet answered her own question. "She's here because she saw you sneaking around and came to tell me."
Weiss turned on Yurie, fists balled. "You recognized me?"
"Of course, how could I not? You're Weiss Schnee, it'd be bad if I didn't recognize the hospital's namesake." Yurie laughed, tucking the x-ray into a file folder.
"But I was so careful to remain undetected!" Weiss pouted, "I even put on latex gloves to hide my fingerprints!"
"The hospital staff knew it was you the second you walked in," Velvet said. "While the outfit turned some heads, it was only when you started acting like you were new here that the staff got suspicious."
"Also, latex gloves don't cover fingerprints," Yurie added as an aside.
"Wait. . ." Weiss trailed off, dumbstruck. "So. . . you're telling me that I broke into my own hospital to steal the incorrect medical records that correspond to the wrong Rose. . . all for nothing? I was wrong the whole time?"
Velvet and Yurie exchanged a glance before shrugging. "Pretty much."
A hand snaked back into hers, Ruby intertwining their fingers together. "It's all okay Weiss, you don't need to worry anymore," she said softly, pulling Weiss closer so that she was sitting on the bed. Still in shock, Weiss felt tears beginning to well in her eyes. "I'm going to be alright, Ruby promised.
The dam finally broke, and Weiss buried her face in Ruby's shirt, bawling. "Ruby!" she choked out, "I was so worried! I thought I was going to lose you, that I'd been betrayed by everyone!"
"Shhh, Shhh," Ruby whispered, stroking her hair and rubbing her back, "It's all okay, I'm alright. I love you."
"I love you too Ruby!" she gasped out, "I couldn't bear the thought of losing you!"
She cried for another ten minutes, Ruby joining in shortly after she began. They clutched at each other, holding their loved ones tight and refusing to let go. Velvet and Yurie watched fondly from the edge of the room, forgotten as far as Weiss and Ruby were concerned.
Eventually, Weiss got up and cleaned her face in the sink, washing away the tears and stained makeup. After sitting back down on the bed, she addressed the medical staff in the room. "I admit, I may have jumped the gun there," Weiss apologized, looking at the floor before meeting Velvet and Yurie's eyes in turn. "I shouldn't have been so drastic, I know I caused you trouble. And as you two are medical professionals, I'm sorry. I should've trusted you more."
"You should have," Velvet agreed. Then, her expression softened, "But I forgive you. I don't know what it's like to be the richest person in Remnant; I'm sure that somewhere deep down you had a rational basis for fearing the worst. And I know you only had the best intentions in mind."
Yurie laughed in agreement, beginning to walk out. "I've never seen this much devotion between a couple," she commented, waving as she left. "The offer for coffee is still on the table, by the way. I'll take you and Ruby out sometime."
"I'd like that," Weiss managed to say before Yurie was gone.
"Well, I'll leave you two to it then," Velvet said, gathering her medical binder and tucking it under her arm, "I've got other patients to take care of. With any luck, Ruby should be out by tomorrow."
With those words the door closed, leaving Weiss and Ruby alone on the hospital bed. "You know," Ruby began, "I think we spend too much time in the hospital."
Weiss laughed, her throat still constricted from her tears, "We should think about permanently renting out a room."
"Oh geez," Ruby groaned, "the last thing we need is encouragement."
Weiss swung her legs onto the bed, cuddling up next to her wife. "I'm just glad you're okay," she admitted, holding her close. "I'm not leaving you until you're safely back home, okay?"
"Okay," Ruby laughed, "I won't be going anywhere!" And then, slightly softer as her eyes drifted closed, "I love you Weiss. Thanks for always protecting me."
"I know you don't need it as much as I like to pretend you do, but you're welcome. I love you too, Ruby."