Through A Child's Eyes (1/3)
TITLE: Through A Child's Eyes
AUTHOR: redblonde7
RECIPIENT: maiyeng
GENRE: Romance/Fluff/Humour
PAIRING(S): USUK, implied/mentioned China/Korea
RATINGS/WARNINGS: 12, warnings for medical illnesses, procedures etc
SUMMARY: Prompt was Doctor!Alfred x Nurse!Arthur. In this Arthur is teased about Alfred and gets embarrassed.
NOTES: Lots. Mostly to explain medical things. Will have a list of things at the end. I know I'm cutting it close by posting it on the 24th but at least I'll be on time.
Thanks to my beta readers edelweiss123 and flowing_rein. Yes, I have two because I was so paranoid about this medical stuff not making sense to anyone but me. So lots of thanks to them.
And I know that you asked for no nyotalia maiyeng, but fem!France is literally in and out (and canon France is still there) because they are not enough Hetalia characters for patients and will only be mentioned briefly.
And I have been a student nurse at a general children's ward in England so anything mentioned here will be based on that except much, much smaller scale. Medical and Hetalia notes will be at the end.
In the children's ward at the Royal Greater London Hospital, things were just starting. The nurses had started their day shifts over an hour ago, and the ward was all decorated for Christmas. And at the moment, everyone was happy. As the nurses all gathered in the Drugs bay, Arthur should have known that this would not last.
"So, you're coming out on Friday then?" Feliks asked Arthur as he held a syringe with an ampoule of liquid up to his eye line so he could see the level of liquid in the syringe.
"Of course. I heard that Elizabeta is renting out a room and is going to have an open bar," Arthur replied, drawing up some water into an oral syringe.
"I don't know where you get your rumours from, but I need that information," Feliks said, deadly serious. Their conversation was interrupted by Feliciano coming into the Pharmacy with Lili, his student nurse, following closely at his heels.
"Hey guys, who are the antibiotics for?" Feliciano asked as he picked up the bottle of paracetamol in front of Arthur and shaking it. He put it in front of Lili, who looked petrified. "You can draw this up; I'll check it after you're done. Take your time." Leaving Lili with the drug chart, the syringe and the paracetamol, he turned back to Arthur and Feliks.
"Raivis is in cubicle 3. He's getting IVs for the next five days," Feliks said, concentrating on the level of medicine in his syringe.
"Little Isabelle is going home with this amoxicillin," Arthur answered, pushing the water into the bottle with the powdered amoxicillin. Lili fiddled with the syringe but Feliciano was completely oblivious to her desperate looks. "Have you at least shown Lili how to calculate paracetamol?" Arthur asked Feliciano who blinked at him in honest surprise.
"Oh no, sorry, Lili," Feliciano said to a very relieved looking Lili and started to explain how to calculate the correct dose. Arthur nodded, even though Feliciano was paying no attention and went back to mixing the suspension together. He shook the bottle hard, just as Feliks finished drawing up the IV antibiotics for Raivis.
"Could you check this, please?" Feliks asked and Arthur nodded, shaking the bottle absently as he checked the dosage and drug that Feliks had prepared.
"Oh my gosh," Feliks murmured and Arthur looked up to see him and Feliciano peering through the window of the Pharmacy's door. "I forgot that the new doctors were arriving today. And look, Alfred's back as well!" Arthur felt himself stiffen and focused on checking Feliks' work, knowing that his cheeks were flaming red.
"Who's Alfred?" Lili asked in a confused tone. She had finished drawing up the paracetamol and was watching her mentor and his co-workers act like eight-year-olds.
"Feliciano, I think you need to check Lili's work now that she's finished," Arthur said sternly, still not looking up.
"Oh, Arthur, are you still trying to act all proper?" Feliks asked in delight as Feliciano giggled next to him. He had checked Lili's drug and had signed for it, now he was just waiting for Arthur or Feliks to sign for it.
"I'm not trying to act proper," Arthur retorted, signing his initials on the drug chart.
"Oh Lili, you poor thing, you totally don't know. Well, Alfred is basically built like Adonis or a supermodel or something. Every single nurse in this place literally sighs with pleasure when Alfred smiles at them, but it's like stiff and proper Arthur here who has caught his eye!" Feliks sounded too delighted for the conversation and Arthur took great satisfaction in handing the drug chart back, all signed, which meant that Feliks had to leave. Now.
"It's so cute Lili, Alfred is always smiling whenever Arthur's around and Arthur keeps going red whenever he hears about Alfred!" Feliciano's voice was ear-splitting to Arthur's ears and he could feel everyone turn and examine his cheeks, making them even redder than they were before.
"Check this, please," Arthur asked, purposely not acknowledging their topic of conversation. Feliks, cackling to himself, checked Arthur's drug before scrawling his signature on it. Arthur left the Drugs bay, ignoring his flaming cheeks and the sounds of laughter coming from behind him. He walked to the bay where Isabelle was staying, studiously ignoring the medical trolley that the doctors took around with them when they were doing ward rounds. He knew that Alfred was inside one of the cubicles with the other doctors and he was trying to avoid thinking about it.
Isabelle was occupied with watching the CBeebies as she ate her breakfast, but her mother looked up as Arthur walked in. Her blonde hair and blue eyes were strikingly similar to that of her half-brother, Francis Bonnefoy, one of the max fax surgeons that the paediatric ward saw regularly. Arthur refused to mention it though, keeping in mind Tino's warning this morning during handover. As much as he disliked Francis Bonnefoy, he would not subject an innocent child and her mother to his dislike.
"Alright, here is the amoxicillin. Isabelle needs to take five millilitres three times a day for five days. It needs to be kept in the fridge and preferably out of reach of any grasping hands if possible. However I know this can be difficult, and it does have a childproof cap just to be safe." Marianne Bonnefoy nodded at Arthur's advice, smiling at him as he handed the medication over.
"I have to say that I find it harder to get into the childproof caps that Isabelle does," Marianne said jokingly and Arthur smiled in appreciation. He knew that feeling, he was always surprised when Peter could get into anything when he was little, even things that Arthur struggled to get into.
"I completely understand. Maybe if they invented some adult-proof caps, children might not be able to get into them." Arthur grinned before handing over another sheet of paper. "This is just a piece of paper telling you about open access, which I think the doctor explained to you, and how long it lasts. Please call if you have any concerns, but please don’t show up on the ward otherwise we have big problems with bed space and we would hate for you to come all the way here and then have to go all the way to another hospital." Marianne nodded and took the sheet of paper from Arthur.
"Thank you so much for what you've done. I can't say that I've enjoyed Isabelle being in hospital, but you and all the nursing staff have made this ordeal much easier." Arthur cursed his fair complexion as he went bright red again.
"It was nothing. Thank you and - I mean this in the nicest possible way - I hope I don't see you here again." Arthur smiled as Marianne laughed, drawing Isabelle to her in a hug. Isabelle strained to stay in sight of the TV screen, just making her mother laugh more.
"I think she's going to miss all the television she gets to watch here," Marianne remarked wryly to Arthur as he washed his hands. Arthur laughed and nodded. He left Marianne and Isabelle to it, leaving the bay. He smiled at Raivis, from cubicle three, as he limped back to his room from the kitchen, clutching a plate of toast. Raivis returned Arthur's smile with a wan one of his own before returning to his room. Arthur slid behind the nurses' station and into the staffroom, not wanting to admit that he was hiding as the doctors came out of cubicle one and moved on towards baby bay with little Isabelle.
"It's not a good idea to hide," Tino remarked as Arthur slid onto one of the chairs, not looking up from the nursing notes he was writing.
"Shut up, Tino," Arthur replied as he poured himself a cup of tea and started to sip it.
"Oh, you've got a new patient coming in. Actually, she will go into a cubicle but you have no more patients, so she's yours. Name's Wendy Thompson, has possible bronchiolitis. Down's Syndrome, ten months old. Has Work of breathing, her SATs is 86%, and reduced feeding."
"So, one of the first bronchs of the year, interesting. At least she's quite a bit older, so hopefully it won't lead to a CPAP, unlike last year."
"That was horrible," Tino said, wincing slightly. Last year, several babies had to be transferred out due to needing CPAP for longer than twenty-four hours or ventilation. "But, yes, hopefully that year was just a fluke with a particularly bad strain of RSV. Anyway, if we get any RSV positive bronchs, we'll make the Baby Bay an RSV positive bay." Arthur nodded. It was sometimes done, but rarely, when there were not enough cubicles for the cases of bronchiolitis that came in. Alfred walked in through the door of the staff room.
"Hi Arthur, hi Tino," he said, managing to surprise them both. Arthur choked on his tea and Tino jolted so badly that he knocked several papers to the floor. Arthur was glad for Tino's reaction, he did not look so stupid now. Alfred looked apologetic and helped Tino to pick up the sheets on the floor.
"Hi Alfred, it's nice to see you back again. How are the new doctors coping?"Tino asked as he took the paper off Alfred with a grateful smile. Alfred sat next to Arthur, who glanced at him once before looking back at Tino and then his tea. He knew if he stared at Alfred, he would blush.
"They're doing okay. Yong Soo's really enthusiastic and Vash has this amazing brain which means that he can pick up this knowledge of some little known disease which only Romolo knows about. And Vash says that he has a sister working here, which caused Yong Soo to say he has a brother, who isn’t actually his brother, that he loves and wants to marry someday, working here as well." After Alfred finished his little speech, he looked at Arthur and Tino with the expectation that they would know who he was talking about. Arthur and Tino stared at him.
"We have no idea who you are talking about," Arthur informed Alfred, who looked thoughtful. Arthur recognised that look. Alfred was going to try and work it out.
"Well, I'll leave you two wondering about Yong Soo's "brother" and Vash's family. I need to go and ring the site nurse," Tino suddenly said, leaving Arthur and Alfred alone in the staffroom. Arthur glared at the door where Tino had just left, before turning back to Alfred. He jumped; Alfred's face seemed a lot closer than it had been a minute ago.
"You look scared, Arthur. I can't be that bad, can I?" Alfred asked with a toothy grin, but at his words, Arthur reclaimed his backbone from where it had curled up into a corner as the fear of humiliation grew too strong.
"Of course not, Alfred. You can’t even scare a child," Arthur said, rolling his eyes and Alfred laughed.
"Who would want to? How have you been? I haven't seen you for ages." Alfred swiped a biscuit from the tin that one of their regular patients, Mei Xiao, had given to them in preparation for Christmas.
"I've had Annual Leave for a while, I had to use it up before Christmas and I decided to take it at a time where not many ask for it. Feliciano has Max to look after so he tries to get school holidays and Elizabeta has Móric at home for this Christmas so she's been trying to get that off."
"How is Elizabeta with Móric?" Alfred asked, seemingly genuinely concerned.
"I think he's doing okay at the moment, his Alzheimer's is progressing but he's so far been okay. Elizabeta is coping, I think, but she seems to be struggling with the idea that she might have to let Móric be taken into a home or hospital if he gets too bad."
"Poor Elizabeta. He may not be her dad but he still raised her." Arthur nodded at Alfred's words and they sat in silence for a moment. Feeling like they needed to get off the topic, Arthur spoke up,
"Are you coming to the Christmas party?" Arthur asked and then clamped his mouth shut. He had not meant to ask that question, or at least, not as bluntly as that. It sounded like he was asking Alfred on a date. Alfred interrupted Arthur's panic.
"I can't, I'm on that day and we don't finish until nine. I won't get there until ten and I think it will be mostly over by then, ‘cause I know that loads of people will have work the next day and everything." Despite the smile Alfred offered him, Arthur can’t help the disappointment rose inside him at the doctor’s words. “Are you?"
"Yes, I'm on a study day here so I'll be able to get ready and leave with Tino who is on a management day, so we can go together. It should be fun." Alfred smiled and Arthur hoped he was not imagining the wistful look on Alfred's face. To break the moment, the door buzzer rang and they both startled. "That's probably my new patient. I'll see you later, Alfred."
"You too, Arthur," Alfred said, smiling his usual, perfect grin as Arthur left the staffroom. Arthur told himself to snap out of it, before letting Wendy in.
Notes
The Royal Greater London Hospital does not exist. The children's ward is also very small compared to normal children's wards. But I made it small for the point of the story.
Drugs bay - also known as the clean utility. A locked room with a key lock where all the drugs and sterile equipment is kept.
Ampoule - the glass containers which are used to draw up the medicine using a syringe and a needle.
Student nurse - is not a registered nurse, is on placement as part of their course. First years will know absolutely nothing.
Paracetamol - general painkiller, the first one anyone uses in the UK for nearly every type of pain. Also known as Calpol.
Drug Chart - all the drugs a patient is prescribed and given are written in this chart.
Antibiotics - medicine that kills bacteria that causes illnesses. Only works for bacteria not viruses.
Amoxicillin - a common type of antibiotic used in children.
Drug Calculation - depending on the child's age and weight, the dose of the drug would have to be calculated.
IV - intravenously. It means that the medicine would go directly into the person's veins and they would get the drug much quicker than any other route. Normally will go into a cannula.
Cannula - Small plastic tube, like a straw that is inserted into a patient's vein and then fixed in place with a butterfly and a sticker. It means that drugs can be put into a patient quickly and it means you don't have to keep on stabbing them to try and find a vein.
New doctors - after medical students qualify as doctors, they go around the different branches of medicine to see what they want to specialise in. This goes on for two years (not 100% sure about that so feel free to correct me) and they change every four months.
Checking drugs - two nurses have to check the dose, the patient, the expiry date of the drug and how much of the drug has been drawn up and then sign for it on the drug chart.
Medical Trolley - where all the confidential medical notes are kept. Doctors pull it around with them on ward round.
Ward Round - doctors go around at least once a day to review all the patients and decide on the plan for that day depending on how they did during the night.
Open Access - a parent can ring the ward if their child still isn't well or they're worried at all for a certain amount of time. It just means they can bypass their GP or A&E.
Work of breathing - when a child is working very hard to breathe and get oxygen to their body cells, it can be a sign that they need help, because soon the child starts to get exhausted and then they deteriorate.
SATs - oxygen saturation of the blood. Normal should be above 95%, 91% and below, they need help.
CPAP - continuous positive airway pressure. A little hat and a mask that is sealed around the baby's nostrils keeps the lungs inflated at least a little bit, so it just reduces the work that the baby has to do. The baby is still breathing for themselves, they're just getting a little extra help.