White Smoke [Micheal and Gabriel]

How did Gabriel end up at this tall mansion? It's bricks seemed a tinted gold and everything else about it screamed wealth. It made his clinic seem like a beach shack. He sat on the edge of the waterfountain and saw that it started to snow once again. Bored he grabed a cigarrette and the lighter in his pocket and started to smoke. He remembered when he used to smoke like this much more often, but now since he moved he hadn't really felt the need too. Gabe had to admit that it was weird that he smoked, even though he was a doctor. Because his life was layed out for by his parents he tried it at a young age to rebel. Then once he got his freedom he really wasn't sure if he should quit or not. This didn't mean he hated his parents, no he loved them like any kid would. He just didn't like the way he really turned out.

Michael was enjoying his break as usual. Until it started snowing. Little kids were running out of their houses screaming with joy. He gave a weak grin as he walked. He remembered when he was a kid. Nothing like those kids lives. His was just plain boring. But atleast got food, a home, and other important needs.

As he walked up these stairs for no imparrent reason he could smell smoke. No, come on does he have to be all super hero for the day? He wanted to enjoy his break for goddes sake. He walked a bit faster until he saw Gabriel just sitting on the fountain. Eh, atleast there wasn't fire.

He walked towards the doctor and took a seat next to him. "Hey, what brought you here?" He asked. The Mansion was a big sight to see. especially if tourists were here they would be taking pictures of this house for sure.

There were kids playing in the snow happily nearby. It was easy for Gabriel to hear them and he smiled pityfully. He was too smart as a child for the other children, so he didn't really have friends until he reached college. Part of him wished his parents would've encouraged him to be a normal child then.

The next thing he knew Micheal showed up out of nowhere. He must had been thinking pretty hard to let that happen. "I just was walking and I ended up here of all place," he explained. Normally he wouldn't walk around so aimlessly, but he had a lot to think about lately so it sort of just happened. "What about you?"

"I just wandered here too," Michael lied. He didn't want to complain about smoking, its the chemicals fault in that thing. what he hated was that people can die or develop an illness like cancer. That was a long term thing and it took many operations. or thats what he heard. He never performed an operation doing with cancer. It just seemed to stressfull with all the patients family members begging to cure him/her. well that did include other operations but cancer was very emotional.

"Anything new happened?" He asked. He was wondering if he had any patients in danger of some sort or just catch up on some things. Sure he entered on these islands somewhere around late summer but he felt like a citizen here now.

"You okay?" Gabriel asked. He had a feeling something was bothering Micheal. The way Micheal sounded was like many of his patients that'd try to hide something from him. Watching the white trail of smoke come up from his cigarrette, Gabe had a pretty good idea of what was bothering Micheal. So he let the bud fall to the ground and he stoped it out.

"Nothing in particular," Gabriel said. Lately only people with colds would come in and bother him at work, otherwise no one else really did. Not that he didn't mind the quiteness at his office once again. He really enjoyed it as a matter of fact. "You?"

"Oh no I'm fine," Michael said. He didn't blame him, but it was nice for him to ask. Oh well. He just can't some things about those little ciggarettes. They're small and deadly. Good thing he never started. Or else he'll be doomed.
"Tough operations and emergencies. It's pretty hectic there," He said. The emergencies were a lot worse, he knew what to do but it was so stressful when they just barge in and just go immediatly to the ER. He loved his job, you never seem to get bored but determined. That was the main feeling in every hospital. He wasn't a paramedic like his father but an emergency surgeon. Pretty similiar in some ways.

"That's what you get for being a surgeon," laughed Gabriel. It was probably intern life all over again for Micheal. Saving lives constantly, but he had more planned operations than emergencies most likely. Afterall, they did live in the country so there wasn't too many people to get hurt or sick. "You should've been a diagnostician like me if you didn't want that much of a hectic life," Gabrieal chuckled.

Michael chuckled also. "Well, I love my job. I always get through things though," He explained. It's true, he loved his job. It's that sometimes he can get a little stressed about things. It was all about saving ones life. Contacting the family was the hardest, so he usually lets one of the nurses do that. He was sort of suprised that in the country, there are still emergencies like ones in the city. He wasn't suprised with illnesses but the kind of emergencies he's getting were pretty amazing.

"I'm suprised by the kind of emergencies I'm getting," He said.

"I bet it's full of action," said Gabriel remembering the good ol' intern days. He liked the feeling of it, but he was too lazy to commit to all of the hours and late nights. The closest thing he had to it was clinic duty, which sometimes was as painful as pulling teeth. For when he was working in clinic duty that's when he delt with emergencies that people were too stupid enough to not go to the hospital in the next town over.

"Really?" Garbriel said perking up an eyebrow. "Tell me."

"Yea,"Michael replied. The city was tough, especially with all these people coming in with some minor emergencies but still need to be done. He remembered those days of city life. also medical school and college. Okay maybe he was getting a bit too far in his life but sure enough he didn't like the city that much and needed to move on.

"Like, steal beams piercing their stomachs or abdomens. That's really uncommon in this area. Only poles I see are the lampposts," He explained. He was suprised by these things and always wondered why these happen here. But there was no time to ask and he would usually forget after he was done with the procedure and then remember when he does the same thing again.

"That must mean you hardly deal with anything fatal," Gabriel said rubbing the whiskers on his chin. True, they did live in the country now so that was expected to happen. The closest thing a doctor could experience to the live in a city hospital here was if a farmer hurt himself with a hoe, axe, or sickle. Not that Gabriel wished this would happen to anyone, no, not at all. Things like that were a pain to deal with. "Sometime I should assist you in an operation or something," Gabriel said. "I think it'd be pretty fun."

Michael nodded. He thought the country was more peaceful than the city, of course there would be emergencies but he never expected some random pole to pierce someone's stomach in the country. Oh well, might as well prepare or it.

Gabriel mentioned something about assisting him in some operation. True, some nurses and co-ops were off sometimes and he, himself was off sometimes also. "Really? Sometimes the nurses and co-ops are usually off. I could use another hand," He said. Well he was a doctor too and the other day he did say he help out another surgeon before. He wouldn't let some other random person who had no medical experience help him. That would be a disaster.

He remembered one day there was only one nurse that could help him out, that was his newbie days. He also became good friends with that nurse.

"I haven't had to operate on someone since the Rosalia Virus," Gabriel admitted. "I guess I sort of miss the O.R. a bit." He lightly chuckled thinking of the times he was needed to operate on people even though he was supposed to exam people and diagnose them instead. It'd be nice to experience the feeling of saving someone's life on the table once again, even if he was only assisting. That didn't mean the surgery wouldn't be interesting. The last time he assisted someone, they were a doctor that didn't have a name to go by, just a prison number. That last time was also on his son though.

Michael chuckled slightly, "Well, I can understand that," He said. The Rosalia Virus could of spread to other states instead of just Portland. But well now it's prevented which is great. Just no more lock down alarms then. He hated those, just living in the hospital was like living in a cell. He had enough of those.
"But still I'm suprised by what kind of emergencies I get here," He brought up. He could understand something like falling off a cliff, cause there was one in Mineral Town or accidentaly cutting themselves. Oh well, it was his job and he wanted to do it.

"Being a doctor is full of surprises," Gabriel said remembering all sorts of weird things that happened in the ER. There was no telling what people would do to themselves or try to hide so they can work. If people were more careful their conditions wouldn't be as bad as the ended up being. Some cases weren't the fault of the patient or humans around them though. "Once there was a wasp stuck in a patients ear and he was allergic to them--that was a pain to get out. Luckliy the endoscopic specalist solved it though."

It was true there can be full of suprises that you can never think of. Life was full of amazing things, that's worth living for. Just some people didn't understand the meaning of medicine. To put away people's suffering. His father taught him that, that was another reason why Michael became a doctor. Also to save his family member. It was too late though.

"Geez that's horrible,"

Michael exclaimed with his eyes widened. True bugs can just move into your ear and destroy your hearing, but he never dealt with that before.

"I had a child patient who accidently swallowed a penny, It was dangerous for the child but luckily we got it out," He explained. It was great the parents were watching the child at the time and immediatly rushed the child to the hospital. Although, sometimes you have to watch their every action.

"Geez," Gabriel said shaking his head. "Didn't his parents teach him that you only put food in your mouth? Kids these days. For some odd reason I have the feeling that the world is getting stupider." He was one to talk for he taught his son nothing and his son knew nothing about him. If only he could re-live the past. Then he'd be the father Joshua deserved to have. It was too late now though, way to late for him to do anything about it. Now he had a new life far away from his son and probably would never see him again.

"I was thinking about that too, but they reported them seeing the child swallowing the penny. I get nervous on these situations," He explained thinking about that operation. If he had a kid and saw the moment he or she was trying to swallow a penny, he would run to the rescue and grab the penny out of his or her hand. The child he operated on was only a three year old, very delicate procedure. True toddlers can swallow things your not supposed too.

"That's why they ban tiny toys for three year olds. They should of also banned coins for toddlers also,"

Why would a three year old need money? They're not even old enough to have any, probably just to buy candy or something. Their parents could just buy it for them, like truffles or something. He wouldn't reccomend sweets to children though at such a young age while they could be eating healthy and grow up to be a long living person. That's what he would always say to kids to cheer them up or make healthy habits.

"It should be common sense," Gabriel admitted shruging his shoulders. In his mind the world was getting stupider, especially the whole hot dog thing he read about. Parents should know to cut their kid's food into tiny pieces. They should also teach them not to run while eating. It was sad that even fourteen year olds chocked on hot dogs regularly. "It's sad because a lot of the time the kid is so scared and confused at what's going on, I must ask you why you operated for a penny though. Most people would just give him prune juice to make it go through their system faster. Was it a dangerous penny or something?"

"The parents were crazy, they just wanted their son operated, or else they'll sue us," Michael said, chuckling a little bit. Those parents were just insane, they could of just let him drink juice but they let the sons fears go up higher. You could tell three year olds were scared of hospitals or doctor's offices but when they get older they usually get used to it. But he disliked those parents.

Plus, he didn't want the hospital sued for not wanting their child to drink some juice. Juice is healthy, why not let the poor kid drink it? He remembered a good friend of his, a nurse, just yelling at them. Ok that wasn't her job but then she just stomped her way to the OR. Sometimes he thought that was funny.

Gabriel shook is head. Some parents were really over protective of children, a little too much for his liking. Something like that could have been handled in about twenty four hours with a few glasses of prune juice. The younger the patient the more dangerous operations were, well up until around sixteen years old or so. Then operations would start being more dagerous once they become rather old and frail. "If I was a better father I would have done the juice thing myself," Gabriel said. "It's sad that no one could talk some sense into them."

Michael felt bad for Gabriel sometimes, he knew he used to be a parent and got into a divorce. Sometimes he wished there were second chances. But once you do something, its gonna be in your mind for the rest of your life. He patted Gabriel on the back.

"Thinking about it isn't going to help, life doesn't always have second chances,"

He explained. He had never been a father himself before but he could tell he was dissapointed in this situation. Life isn't fair to everyone, some people have a good life at first then it falls apart. Or someone's life is bad then it gets even better. Michael's life was average. Guess that's okay.

"I'm well aware of that," admitted Gabriel somberly. There was nothing he could do about it though. The past was the past and now was now. Nothing else and nothing more.

"Let's talk about something else," Gabriel said trying to change the direction of the conversation to get away from somber thoughts and such. "We normally talk about being doctors, so why not try something new like..." There was a pause for Gabriel didn't know what quite to talk about. "Hmm, I can't put my finger on what I was thinking a second ago," he chuckled a bit at himself.

Michael agreed about changing the subject, is was getting a little sad. He was also a little sad that he couldn't save his family member, the past was the past. That's why he reviews things in advance, so he can be successful.

"We always forget things, that's another thing what's unfair about life. Being at work on time is usually a thing I forget,"

He said chuckling a little bit. One of his nurses would yell at him for being three minutes late, emergencies don't really happen in the morning. But usually scheduled things are. Mistakes and forgetting are what makes us human.

"Nice, I didn't picture you as a guy that'd let himself be late to work with your track record," Gabriel said enjoying their unusual conversation. "For all I know you could be a horrible cook like me that orders take-out every day," he laughed amused by the thought. It's true that Gabriel wasn't the best cook. Once he tried making eggs at work with a beaker. To sum things up let's just say the beaker exploded.