At any cost
Chapter 23
Opening: >At any cost< (by wyse)
Just a few moments later, Reeve re-entered the room with the doctor he had called earlier. She was a tall woman with frameless glasses, short brown hair and grey eyes. Putting her heavy medical bag down with a loud thud, she pushed Tifa aside, who had been fretting over Naomi. Then she took a look at the girl on the bed, which was still spilling some blood. "How long has she been like that?" she wanted to know.
Reeve looked at Vincent, since he had been the one who found her.
The tall gunman shifted uncomfortably. "For about at least ten minutes, as far as I know. I don't know when it began, I just found out before I told Reeve immediately."
The doctor just nodded. She sat down on the bed and almost slipped on the fair amount of blood on the floor. With a sigh, she bent down to open her bag. Taking some things she would need out, she looked up. "I need you to leave the room."
"But, Yolanda!" Reeve protested, but he knew it was no good to disobey her orders. She'd know best what to do. So it would be better when they just retreated. "Tifa, Vincent… if you would follow me, please."
Vincent looked at him with wide eyes, but nodded anyway. He just hoped that this doctor could help Naomi. With a last glance at the pale girl, he turned to leave the room, Reeve and Tifa following him.
Once outside, Tifa shut the door gently. "I hope she will be okay," she whispered, on the verge of tears.
Reeve put a hand on her shoulder. "I hope so, too." He turned around when he heard a door creak upstairs. He had hoped that they hadn't woken anyone, but he should have known that this was futile since Vincent had made pretty much noise before, and the door bell ringing hadn't been much help, either. Shortly after, footsteps were heard on the stairs. By the way this person was ascending, Reeve could tell that it as Reno. He sighed inwardly. Just great… more people to freak out at this time of night…
"What's happening here?" the redhead wanted to know. "A gathering?" He stifled a yawn and stepped up in front of Reeve.
The dark haired man just shook his head and motioned that he should be quiet.
Seeing the distress on the other man's face, Reno cocked an eyebrow. He felt that something wasn't quite right here. Vincent was walking in circles, not able to hold his nervousness back completely. Tifa was sitting on the floor, her back leant at the wall, tears streaking down her cheeks. No one said anything, but the air around them bristled with uneasiness. It was just then that he noticed that they were gathered at Naomi's door. "What happened?" he whispered.
At that moment, Tifa couldn't hold it any longer, she just broke into tears. She just couldn't get the image of the bleeding, pale and miserable Naomi out of her mind. She had been shocked to see her like this. Though the girl was a little quiet at times, she was just lovely and fun to be around. There just had to be a way to save her. And she hated to feel so helpless right now. Trying to suppress her sobs, she pulled her knees to her chest, laid her arms around them and buried her face in her arms. Wasn't there anything she could do for Naomi?
Reno gaped for a few seconds when he saw Tifa break down, but then he just shook his head violently before making his way to her side, laying his arms around her slender body, hoping to offer at least a little comfort. He knew that she would have kicked him for that just a few days ago, but now, after they had talked about some things, it was different. Getting no reaction from her, he pulled her close to him, carefully stroking her hair. "Shh…" he whispered.
He looked up at Vincent, who had finally stopped his pacing and gave Tifa a sympathetic look. The redhead raised his eyebrow into a graceful arc, he had never seen the creepy man look like that. In fact, he had never seen him look other than stoic. "What's up?"
The gunman sighed and looked on the ground. "Well…" he started. "How should I put it?"
"Maybe, in an easy way?" Reno suggested. He jerked a little when the door creaked open and a woman he didn't know spoke up. "I will need someone with blood type 0…"
Shaking madly, Tifa raised her head a little. "I have…" she choked out.
"Then, would you please come in?"
The brunette nodded and wriggled out of Reno's arms. Vincent stretched a hand out to help her get up and she accepted it with a grateful look at him. Without saying anything, she entered the room before the door was closed behind her.
Reno sighed in exasperation and banged his head at the wall. "So, would anyone please be kind enough to finally tell me what is going on here?"
Vincent shifted uncomfortably, giving Reeve a pleading look. The man sighed and turned to Reno, still with a worried expression on his face. "Naomi is sick."
"Wha…" The redhead tilted his head and accidentally hit the wall behind him. Cursing under his breath, he rubbed the back of his head and pulled a face. "What do you mean by sick?"
Reeve rolled his eyes. "Sick as in: She's pale, she can't breathe properly and she is spilling blood."
Reno stood up, careful to not hit the wall again. "How can that be?"
Vincent shrugged helplessly. "We don't know ourselves, hopefully, the doctor can help her."
The redhead wanted to shove his hands in his pockets, but wearing just a t-shirt and boxers, that didn't work. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"Apparently not," Reeve retorted, leaning against the banister. "I think, Yolanda called Tifa to give her blood."
"You think…" Reno sneered. "I don't care what you think, we need to make sure that she's alright!"
"And how?" Vincent demanded. "Do you think we didn't try to help her ourselves? What do you think we called the doctor for?" Normally, he didn't mind Reno much, but right now he was downright annoying. If he kept this attitude any longer, he would have to do something to silence him. And he didn't really care about how he would do it.
The door opened again and Tifa stepped out, looking exhausted. Immediately, Reno rushed over to her. She was swaying a little and the redhead grabbed her arm to support her. She gave him a grateful look.
"Good news?" Reeve asked tentatively.
The brunette nodded. "Naomi is sleeping right now. The doctor was able to stop the bleeding, but since she had lost much blood, I had to give some to her. She said she would have to stay here to make some tests, she can't really say what is wrong with Naomi yet."
Reeve nodded. "That will be fine with me. I think, I should give her the test report Rude found at the ShinRa HQ. Maybe, this will help her to find out."
Tifa smiled faintly. "Yeah… anything to make sure Naomi will be okay."
Agreeing to this, Reno laid his arm around Tifa's waist to keep her on her feet. "Come on, sweetheart, you need some rest."
"Don't call me that," she protested. "And I won't be able to sleep right now."
The redhead sighed. Reeve raised an eyebrow. "I think, I will get a room prepared, for Yolanda. I can't sleep, either. Let's meet up in the kitchen, okay?" With that, he went to one of the unoccupied rooms on this floor to make it livable for the doctor.
Vincent shot a worried glance at the closed door of Naomi's room, then he went downstairs.
Reno ran a hand through his tangled hair and pinched Tifa slightly. Since she was a little weak on her knees for the amount of blood she had given to Naomi, he suppurted her all the way down and into the kitchen. He led her to a chair and didn't let go of her before she'd sat down. He turned to the counter to make some coffee, all too aware of the small scratch that had been there since Tifa had hit him bad enough to make him fly into that. Shivering slightly at the thought of that, he was glad that they had made it up and could probably be friends. He couldn't describe how relieved he had been after hearing that she didn't hate him at all. So there was a chance that she would never hit him again.
He was no stranger to pain, he had been hit, shot and stabbed way too often when he had worked for ShinRa. But that didn't mean that he liked it. If he had the choice, he'd rather avoid it.
After some time, Reeve finally came down into the kitchen, looking tired. It had been a rough night for all of them. He gladly accepted the mug of coffee Reno offered him. "Thanks…" he muttered, brushing a few hairs out of his face. He turned to sit down at the table, looking wearily at the others around him. Vincent was standing at the window, his arms crossed in front of his chest, staring blankly at the open door, but not seeming to see it at all. Tifa sat at the table opposite him, using her folded arms as a pillow, a steaming mug standing in front of her. Reno sat down beside her, giving her a worried look and laying a hand on her back.
Upon his touch she raised her head a little and gave him a weak smile.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
She squinted at him, nodding slightly. "Yeah… just exhausted."
"You sure you don't want to go to bed?"
"I am." She sighed and sat straight up, grabbing her cup and sipping a little of the hot black liquid inside.
Reno shifted into a comfortable position on his chair, still watching her intently. "You look like shit," he finally stated.
"Charming as always," Tifa grinned at him.
The redhead shrugged indifferently. "Just telling you the truth."
When the doctor finally entered the kitchen, everyone looked at her, eager to hear some good news from her. She sighed, sat down at the table and ran a hand through her short dark hair. Nodding when Reeve offered her a cup of coffee, she leant back on her chair and looked at the ceiling. "I couldn't really do much for her," she said quietly, feeling all the anticipating stares on her. "But for now, she will be okay. I gave her some sedatives, so she will be sleeping for some time. I need to get more equipment, since I have to take some tests to be able to tell was is actually wrong with her."
Reeve immediately stood up and left the room. When he returned, he gave the doctor the test report Rude had found at the ShinRa HQ. "Here, hopefully, this will help."
Yolanda nodded and accepted the papers, not taking a glance at them yet. She would read them properly by tomorrow, after getting some decent rest.
"I've got a room prepared for you, if you intend on staying here for now," Reeve said. "And I can arrange to get your equipment by tomorrow."
"Okay…" was the short answer.
For some time no one said anything, feeling too exhausted to have a conversation. Tifa almost fell asleep and ran the risk of falling off her chair. Steadying her, Reno stated grimly that she needed to sleep. The brunette nodded feebly and stood up. Simply ignoring her weak protests, the redhead hoisted her in his arms and carried her upstairs, personally taking care of her really going to bed to rest.
"But, Reno…" Tifa said in an attempt to reason with him, but he firmly shook his head.
"You need to sleep. Do I have to knock you out?" With that, he covered her with her blanket and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
