After a surgery performed with, what all inside the Operating Room would describe as astonishing, if not extraordinary precision, finesse, and skill, Rei was beyond exhausted.
Still, he walked to find the baby's parents.
He explained everything.
About how the baby's condition was stable, about how their son was currently on life support, and about there, truly, wasn't anything more that could be done now.
"It all depends on him now." Rei told them.
The words felt strange coming out of his mouth.
A sentence he wasn't used to uttering.
A sentence he used to dislike a lot.
The mother, so thankful that she cried and cried.
The father, on the verge of tears, couldn't find the words to express the level of gratitude he felt towards his son's savior.
Rei excused himself and left the room.
The next second, James followed.
"Thank you!" He shouted. "I can't thank you enough, doctor. I'm... I'm so sorry about my attitude. About the things I said. About the way I acted. I'm... Thank you. Thank you so much."
The surgeon's lips parted.
But before he could say a word,
"Sir, Mister Liam is waiting for you in his office."
'The chief, huh?' Rei massaged his tired eyes.
"Take care of your family."
"Thank you!"
The surgeon left.
...
It was only hours later that the parents could see their son.
The mother, Emma, wanted to do so earlier, but James and the nurses wouldn't let her.
So fragile.
So small.
He breathed through a tube with great difficulty.
The two watched over their son silently.
"He's fighting."
Emma nodded.
With wide eyes, they watched.
Somewhere between astonishment and shock.
They were now parents.
A human being in front of them.
Their son.
A human being that was half her, and half him.
Noticing her husband's teary eyes,
"You're going to be a great father." Emma declared.
For the first time in a dozen years, James cried.
And she watched him cry.
It was the first time she saw her husband doing so.
Emma was glad to see him like that.
"That'll leave a mark." James said as he chuckled and wiped his tears.
"Yeah. The scar probably will stay for a long time..."
"It's... Proof that he fought. That he wanted to live." He fought back his tears as valiantly as he could.
"They say scars are badges of honor, huh?"
"He should... Never be ashamed of that mark."
Emma nodded as she turned her gaze back to her son.
The latter's condition wasn't anything to feel relieved about, but they were hopeful.
"Never be ashamed of that... Mark..." James muttered.
And then it hit her.
"No." Emma turned back towards her husband
"No, what?"
"I said no."
"What are you talking about?"
"We're not calling him Mark."
James' eyes went back to his newly born son.
"It's a good name-"
"I said no."
"Do you have better ideas?"
"He... Came too early for me to get good ones. I was about to start a list of potential names, you know?"
James chuckled.
"Let's put Mark at the top of that list."
"Hell no. He might have a mark on his chest but..." James looked at her with his eyebrows raised. "BUT, naming him Mark is just..."
"Just what?"
"Well, you're making it sound like he is the mark. That's just wrong."
"I don't know... I like it."
***
On the other side of the hospital, a long discussion had taken place.
Many, many subjects were touched up. Morals, ethics, medicine, and what it meant to be a doctor to name a few.
And the result yielded by that discussion was,
"You're fired."
It was to be expected.
Rei's decision was both selfish and egotistical.
A surgeon ignoring the chain of command wasn't something that could be afforded.
Not in the well-oiled machine that was the hospital.
Only a dozen minutes later, Rei stood outside that hospital.
He slowly raised his left hand, flicked his lighter, and lit the cigarette pressed between his lips.
"A doctor smoking... You hypocrites! You should be ashamed!" An old woman shouted as she passed by.
Rei simply chuckled.
He wasn't a doctor anymore.
Rei raised his gaze and stretched his back.
Exhausted.
Rei walked towards the street and took a left turn.
A route he was used to taking after work.
A route he was used to taking ever since his wife left him.
With no one to come home to, there wasn't much to do.
A couple of minutes later, Rei stood in front of it.
The place he went to at the end of, practically, every shift.
The Sailor'sRefuge. Rei's favorite bar.
For him, there was nothing quite like an Irish Whiskey on the rocks after a long day.
Rei stood in front of its entry, and, after a couple of seconds, confusion overtook him.
With his wife gone, a large chunk of his life had gone up in smoke.
Only two things kept him going.
And he had now lost of the two.
Rei lay his back next to the bar's entrance.
He raised his gaze to the sky, and couldn't help but hide his eyes.
It was incredibly sunny.
A clear blue sky.
It was only 4pm.
Rei had lost his job.
His pride.
His way of life.
His reason for living.
Yet, an Irish Whiskey on the rocks did not seem that appealing at the moment.
Rei was truly surprised.
For the first time in a very long time, he walked away from The Sailor's Refuge without even taking a sip.
For the first time in a very long time, he wandered the streets aimlessly.
'Huh... There was a park this close?' Rei asked himself.
He hadn't walked for a long time, yet it was an area he wasn't familiar with at all.
He had no idea how he had even arrived there.
Children were running around.
Adults, probably their parents, were yelling at them to slow down, to be careful, or to come back to them.
Rei took a seat on a green bench.
It was a sunny day.
A beautiful day.
"Would've been a good day to be born..." He whispered.
Being born on such a nice day could have been considered a good omen.
A good omen for the newly born Mark.
Unfortunately, it was a bad day to require both a Surgeon with years of experience and three Assistant Surgeons.
In the time it took to save that baby...
Mark had lived, and three people had died.
This, of course, was something his parents neither had nor would ever come to learn.
