Woke Up One Morning... Part 37
"Actually, his name is Heero Yuy-Maxwell... and I would be his husband."
Time... basically stops as soon as those words leave my mouth. More stunned gasps fill the air and any quiet conversations that were going around come to an abrupt stop.
Quatre is the first to break the silence beside me as he breathes, "H-husband?"
"You're... married?" Sally whispers as her paling skin reflects the bright orange of her scrubs.
Turning away from their shocked and almost hurt looks, I duck my head and remove the gold band that I slipped into the pocket of my scrub pants. More sharp gasps come out as I slip the ring on my finger.
His own eyes widening, the doctor clears his throat to regain his composure. Clearly, he was not expecting his patient to be married to another man. Regaining his professionalism, he gives a kind smile and nods, "Very well, Mister Yuy-Maxwell. I can give you information on your husband privately if you would follow me."
I shake my head, "Actually, I'm would prefer being given the news here. Everyone here is family to Heero and I."
At my other side, Relena's surprise over the announcement of my marriage to Heero quickly fades as she smiles warmly at me when our eyes meet. Reaching out, she wraps her hands around mine and squeezes it in both appreciation and support.
With a deep breath, I turn my head back to focus on the doctor and prepare myself for whatever news he has to offer. My heart begins to race in my chest again.
"Very well," the man smirks. For just a brief second, my anxiety fades at that smile. He wouldn't be smiling if he was about to tell me something bad... right? "Your husband is a very remarkable and lucky young man," he states.
Releasing the breath that I had been holding in a deep sigh, my knees go weak. Trowa quickly moves to my free side to support me by wrapping an arm around my shoulder before I collapse. My eyes fill with relieved tears as I whimper, "Oh, thank God."
The doctor shakes his head and informs, "It took a while to stop some internal bleeding and clear his lungs. His spleen had to be removed, but we were able to do that as a laparoscopic procedure. [1] He also suffered several cracked ribs that we had to tape and needed three blood transfusions. However, I expect that he will make a full recovery over these next few days."
Raising a hand, he adds, "We will need to keep him here for observation to be absolutely certain there is no brain swelling as he did suffer a bit of head trauma. However, for now I see nothing more than a concussion that he suffered from that. It's also hospital policy that we keep a patient who has had their spleen removed under our watch for a couple of days."
All around, shoulders are sagging in relief with quiet sighs that echo my own. Bowing my head, I manage in a broken voice, "Thank you so much for everything, doctor." A fresh sting of tears comes on as I bite my lip and ask, "C-can we see him?"
With a small grin, he replies, "For tonight, I would feel better if your husband was not overwhelmed with too many visitors right away. He has yet to regain consciousness and so he has no idea what has happened at your office. Too much information and too many faces may be too much for him to deal with right away.
"However, considering the circumstances, you are more than welcome to stay the night with him. I will be checking if he is settled in his room and will return to take you there when he is ready. At a time like this, the standard rules of visiting hours and such no longer apply."
Nodding again, I whisper a tiny, "Thank you." Graciously taking his leave, the doctor turns on his heels and steps from the waiting room.
As relieved as I am over the news, I hold my reaction in as more families begin to filter in with anxious faces as they await the news of their own loved ones. Recognizing the new arrivals, Lady Une walks towards them to offer her quiet words of sympathy and understanding.
My heart sinks at the sight of them, all of their eyes misty, knowing the grief that they are going through with the not knowing. All throughout this hospital and so many others around, the waiting rooms are going to be filled with concerned souls like this throughout the night. And not all of them are going to be receiving good news.
Sensing my hesitance to discuss Heero in the presence of the families standing by, Wufei steps ahead of me and gestures with his head for us to head out into the hall. Lady Une, however, remains back with the loved ones of her other fallen agents. I follow Chang's lead along with the others, mentally preparing myself for the drilling of questions that is sure to come.
The second we are out of the room, Chang turns to face me with a wide-eyed expression. "You and Yuy are married?" he presses quietly. "How the hell long has that been the case?"
I smile sheepishly and shrug, "Um... a little over three months now." Trowa, Quatre, Sally And Relena's jaws all drop at that announcement. I can see the gears in their heads turning to think back to what was going on 'a little over three months' ago.
Wufei is the first to come up with it as his jaw clenched in thought loosens and his eyes widen again. "The Rosmond case in Vegas?!" he shouts both in excitement that he came up with the even first as well as disbelief that we've been keeping our secret from that far back.
Swallowing nervously, I only manage a nod. "Oh my God," Sally breaths with a short laugh of amusement.
That hurt returning to his face, Quatre frowns deeply, "But why... why didn't you tell us?"
Like a chastised child, I toe my foot in the floor and lower my head. "Well, we kind of did," I mumble. "At least Heero did when you asked how the trip was." His eyes narrowing a bit, my blond friend is not allowing me to go on without an explanation for that comment. Meeting his gaze, I take a deep breath and quote my husband, shrugging, "We got the bad guy, went out celebrating and woke up married... Nothing too eventful."
It only takes a second for that line to sink in as exactly what Heero had said in the back of Quat's limo when we all met up the first time after our Vegas mission. My Arab's friend's blues widen with a stunned gasp along with Trowa and 'Fei. Both 'Lena and Sally look as though they could be knocked over by a feather right now.
After a long, uncomfortable silence, it's Trowa who breaks it as his head falls back with an explosive round of laughter I have never head from him. "Son of a bitch!" he snickers when he regains a bit of his composure. "He did tell us that. We just didn't take it seriously," he states while shaking his head.
"We... wanted to see if we were going to actually try to make it work before we told anyone since the whole marriage wasn't planned," I rush in explanation. "I mean, shit, we weren't even dating at the time we went out to celebrate catching Rosmond!" With all of their eyes on me, I frown, "I swear we never meant to hurt anyone by not coming forward about the whole thing. We were just kind of testing it out as we went along."
Relena smiles warmly and chuckles, "You know... crazy as it was with how it all happened... it actually makes sense for the two of you." And just like that, all of the surprise and other emotions fade from my friends' faces as they grin and nod in agreement.
I blink in my own turn to be taken aback and open my mouth to ask what the hell that was supposed to mean when I hear a stretcher roll around the corner behind me and a familiar voice yells, "Hey, you!"
Turning, my eyes widen at finding Olle on the stretcher in his bloodied, green jumpsuit. His eyes open as far as they can go with a wild look in them, he laughs madly at me as he is wheeled past, "I told you he would find us! Krutza's dead along with a lot of the others you brought in!"
As he raises his stitched-up hand, he makes a gesture of scissors cutting as he keeps his crazed eyes on me as the worried nurses at either side of his stretcher push him on. "The puppet master's cutting the strings! Snip, snip, snip!" As he is taken around another corner and out of sight, his chilling laugh continues to echo through the halls, sending a shiver up my spine as my stomach churns.
He had warned us. And I had heeded his warning, but my hunch was misdirected. If only I had thought of the possibility of headquarters being in danger... but no one ever dared attack there before!
My train of thought is interrupted by the sight of the doctor returning. Smiling to me, he nods, "I can take you to Agent Wing's room, now." And I'm about to jump out of my skin in anticipation of that.
Turning to the others, I hand Trowa my house keys and insist, "I won't stand for all of you that flew in here getting hotel rooms for the night. You're all more than welcome to crash at our place. You know where it is." Relena and Quatre grin and respond with their quiet thanks
As he pockets the keys, my Latin friend offers, "I'll make up a bag of a change of clothes for you that I'll bring first thing tomorrow morning when I relieve you for a while. We can all take shifts keeping an eye on Heero until he's out of here."
I do feel a lot better with that idea. With my husband out of commission for a few days, I'll feel a hell of a lot better knowing there is someone here all the time to keep an eye out for him. My guard was let down once. I'm not about to let that happen again.
Embraces and pecked kisses from the girls are exchanged as we all say our 'good night's' before the group heads off down the hall.
Judging by their expression as they head out and their soft whispering amongst themselves as they leave, I can tell the discussion over whole 'marriage' topic is far from over. Right now just happens to not be the time or place for it.
Quickly returning to the waiting room, I reunite with Lady Une and kiss her cheek as she sits with the families gathered around with a little girl sitting in her lap. Flashing me a tiny, sad smile, she waves me off as I gather up my uniform and hurry back to the doctor's side.
He keeps up a steady pace as he leads, which I am sure is due to how busy he and his staff are this evening. While there are not many new patients arriving, the ones that they have are certainly more than enough to keep them on their toes.
Looking over his shoulder, the kind man explains, "We are going to keep the room separated with a curtain in case we end up needing the second bed for another... if there is another." I try not to dwell on that word 'if,' and nod in response.
Finally, we arrive to the closed door of 'Patient Room 29' as the sign beside it reads. Taking a deep breath, I stay right behind the doctor when he steps inside. In the first half of the room is the empty hospital bed, ready and waiting for the next person that needs it.
A lump appears in my throat when I hear the steady beeping of a heart monitor on the other side of the curtain that is dividing the room.
Pausing before the drape, my guide holds out an arm and says quietly, "I will take my leave now. When your husband wakes, please contact out nursing staff immediately as we have to run some basic tests to be certain all is well with the head injury."
Not willing to trust my voice, I can only nod in appreciation. Lightly patting my shoulder, he walks back out into the hall and closes the door behind him, leaving me to stare at the curtain as I summon up my strength. Slowly raising a shaking hand while holding my uniform close to me with the other, I pull the drape aside enough to step into the other half of the room.
The second I lay my eyes on the bed before me, a choked whimper escapes my chest. Nearly as pale as the light blue hospital gown he is laying in, Heero sleeps with a thin oxygen tube hooked inside of his nose. A long slab of gauze covers over the gash that went from his temple to his jaw line and his left eye is beginning to bruise a mixture of purple and yellow shades.
Even with the peaceful look on his face, the steady rise and fall of his chest and the normal pulsing from the heart monitor beside him, it's still such a... damned hard thing to see him like this.
Whimpering, I drop my uniform and hurry to the chair at his left side... the one side where he's not hooked up to something; be it an IV or a monitor.
As I reach out to hold his cut up hand, I note the gold band that the good doctor was kind enough to return to his finger. "Hey, baby," I breathe brokenly as tears roll down my face. Swallowing past my constricting throat, I blurt out, "It's been a pretty... bad day. Thank you for not leaving me."
It's all officially too much for me to take right now. Giving into the urge to cry, I lean over and wrap my arm around his shoulders carefully while bury my head into his shoulder. I just sob and shake for a while as I listen to that steady rhythm of beating and breathing.
* * * * * *
Somehow, I managed to drift off. I realize that now as I'm coming to. My shoulders and back are stiff from half laying over the bed that Heero is still sleeping soundly in. I, on the other hand, have had anything but a peaceful rest.
Images of Maxwell Church burning and crumbling before me plagued me. I can still smell the smoke and feel the flames, only to realize that those are things I only recently experienced as well. And I wish to hell that they were both just nightmares and never actually happened.
Peering through the half-opened blinds of the window in the wall across the bed, I can tell it's still pretty late by how dark it is. Carefully pushing myself up, I groan at the feel of my aching muscles that were overworked today. Sighing quietly, I watch my husband for a while and run a hand through his bangs.
Much as I hate to leave his side at all, nature is screaming right now. I could really go for a coffee and maybe something to eat, too. Heero could be waking at any time now and I want to be alert when that happens.
"I'll be right back," I whisper as I lean forward again to kiss 'Ro's cheek. Squeezing his hand that I had never let go of since arriving in this room, I reluctantly get to my feet and make my way through the small opening I've left in the curtain.
Just as I had expected, the bed in the other half of the room remains neatly made. And empty. Whatever survivors there were to be found after the blast have most likely already been found after all of this time.
The bed is just another unsettling reminder of that.
Shaking my head, I walk quickly for the door and head out of the room to breathe again.
* * * * * *
With a much happier bladder after a visit to the facilities, I make my way to the cafeteria using the signs around. Every waiting room that I pass is filled with people that have spent the night, curled up on the chairs or the floor to be as close to their loved ones as they can.
At the nurse's station, sheets of paper with the names of those that they have been able to identify as agents in their care are hung on the walls. There are a couple of people standing by for updates to those lists, their eyes red and a harsh look of reality setting in.
If a pair of eyes should meet mine, I just offer a small smile and nod before walking on. Whatever appetite I had before is pretty much gone as I step into the cafeteria. Still, I force myself to go to the large vending machines to pick out a sandwich to eat simply because I have to.
Following my selection up with a cup of coffee, I fix it with a little cream and sugar and scan the benches around. Here and there, a few people-agents and family to the victims alike- sit and talk quietly amongst themselves. Theories are forming, but no one really has any clue what the hell happened earlier. Everyone is still in a state of shell-shock over the whole thing.
Hell, I'm still trying to deal with it all, myself.
Then, I spot a familiar someone sitting alone at the far back of the room as I head in that direction. It took me a second for me to recognize Lady Une in a simple pair of blue jeans and a rather plain, red sweater. The protective part of me is glad she's had the chance to get home for a little while. It's not a surprise to me at all that she is back here, doing what she can.
A hot cup of tea sits before the Commander as she just stares out into space with an expression of complete loss that shakes me. Between that look and the sling holding her right arm up, I've never seen her looks so... small.
Biting my lip, I walk around the table to set my things down and greet with a quiet, "Hey, Ma." Her head snapping up as she gasps in surprise at being pulled from her thoughts, my heart breaks at seeing the tears in her brown eyes.
Quickly reaching up to wipe the wet traces away as I sit across from her, she greets just as softly, "Duo." Sniffling, she forces her composure back. "How is Heero? Had he woken yet?" she asks, the concern shining through.
"Not yet," I answer. Snickering, I shrug, "But knowing him, he's just doing this to build up the anticipation." My little joke does earn a little chuckle from the Commander before she lowers her head when her eyes well up again.
Taking a deep breath, she stares at her cup of tea and sighs, "The numbers and names of the agents lost have been coming in for the last hour." I swallow roughly and wait as she gets her strength to inform, "So far, there are just over eighty deaths. Among them are Bryant... Penelope..." She pauses again before whimpering, "Adam and more than half of his team..."
Oh, God. Every one of those names was a hard hit to take after having worked so closely with all of them. And I know that there will be others... many others that will be just as hard to take. That knot in my throat comes back as I turn away to fend off the tears.
"It's all my fault," Une breathes and I snap my head back at her, eyes wide. Shaking her head, she wipes at her eyes and frowns deeply, "I shouldn't have gone after so many and drawn so much attention. None of this would have ever happened if I was just more careful."
Reaching over, I her free hand and fix her with a stern glare as her own eyes widen in surprise. "You know, I was about to start blaming myself for all of this, too," I admit. "I had a bad feeling this morning and my hunch was misdirected. I started to think that if I was at headquarters, maybe I would have figured out what was going on."
Lady Une pulls her bottom lip in as I lean forward and tell her, "But then I thought about what Heero would have said to me if he heard me say something like that. I was wrong to blame myself, just like you're wrong for doing it. Nothing that anyone of us did would have changed what happened. We just did what we had to with what we had to go on."
My eyes narrow further and I hiss, "Ivanov is the only person solely responsible for this. He wanted to send a message to scare us off. He would have done that whether it was today or later. And that fucking son of a bitch is not going to get away with what he did. Right?"
The clouds of guilt and loss clear away from those reddened brown eyes across from me to be replaced by a firm resolve as they glare. "Right," Une nods firmly, her tone back to being strong and commanding. Squeezing my hand, the corner of her mouth curls up in a menacing smirk that promise a thousand hells for Ivanov whenever their paths cross.
Of course there will be grieving through this process. But more than anything, those of us still here and fighting are going to galvanize stronger and more bound than ever to finish this.
And there is a very long line of others waiting for that same opportunity along with myself.
For Ivanov's sake, he had better be enjoying himself for what he's done now. Because has no idea how badly he fucked himself this day.
TBC...
[1] Laparoscopic surgery, also called minimal evasive surgery (MIS), band-aid surgery, keyhole surgery, or pinhole surgery is a modern surgical technique in which operations in the abdomen are performed through small incisions (usually 0.5-1.5cm) as compared to larger incisions needed in traditional surgical procedures. As so described medically.
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