A/N: So… I decided on this idea! I've been considering this story several weeks ago, and I chose this one. The reason why I was so hesitant is because it's placed in a hospital, and all of the medical stuff and how it works… I have no idea. So I had to do some research, but you know, the Internet doesn't always have the most reliable information… So if you're a person who knows the medical field extensively, and you're like: that's not the way it works, then I'm sorry! Call it inexperience from youth! I hope you like it though!

Ch. 1

Even if she didn't open her eyes, she could practically feel how the room she was in was blindingly white and sterile. This wasn't her room; her bedroom was a dirty grey. True, there was white furniture, but it wasn't white to this extent, to the point where she could tell before she had even opened her eyes…

Her eyes fluttered open, but she immediately squeezed them shut in pain; it hurt. It hurt a lot. Spots were dancing underneath her eyelids, her head was pounding, and she couldn't hear very clearly. In the few seconds that she had opened her eyes, everything had seemed blurry and fuzzy and sounded muffled. And then she realized something incredibly important and nerve-wracking; she couldn't feel her legs. As if they had been cut away. Why couldn't she feel them? She tried to wiggle her toes or move one of her legs, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't feel any sensation past her waist.

Her hearing became clearer and heard a deep voice say, "How has she been?"

"She's yet to regain consciousness. You don't think that she's in a…. A coma, do you?" this time, it was a woman's voice.

"I don't think she is, but… With the level of her accident…. It's not impossible. But we have to hope for the best, don't we?"

She tried to groan, to make some sort of sound, but her throat was dry. Instead, she settled for raising her hand sluggishly and resting it above her eyes so that she could open them at least a little. The conversation between the man and the woman stopped and there was a silence until she could barely make out through the cotton in her ears, "Miss Corabelle?"

By that time, she had adjusted enough to the light to remove her hand from her eyes slightly and she stared at the speaker's shirt. It hurt her head too much to look up all of the way to the person's face, who was apparently a doctor, seeing from the ID card she could kind of make out, along with the stereotypical white coat.

"Miss Corabelle, how are you feeling?" the gentle voice brought her back to reality, and the thirst scratching at her throat returned.

Her hand shot out to the bedside table and moved around, obviously searching for something. The physician set down his clipboard and poured a glass of water for the patient and promptly slid an arm underneath her back. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he helped her sit up; she leaned on him because of the abrupt rush of nausea and dizziness from moving so abruptly. With trembling hands, she accepted the glass from the man and drank thirstily; how long had it been since her mouth and throat had had moisture? As a result from her sudden greed, she choked on the water and began to cough; the mere action of coughing tired her and made her head hurt even more. The person she was leaning on lightly patted her on the back, as if they were handling something delicate and fragile.

When the water had passed through her throat and she had been quenched, she asked in a croaky voice, "Where am I?"

"You're at the Royal Pendragon Medical Center. Do you remember anything, Miss Corabelle? How many fingers am I holding?"

She squinted her eyes and replied after some concentration, "…. 4."

"Very good."

"Why am I in the hospital?" she had yet to look at the face of the person she was heavily leaning on.

"… You were in a severe car accident 3 days ago."

She finally stared into the man's violet eyes with slight puzzlement. Car accident? She didn't remember being in a- Oh. The sound of tires squealing, the sensation of spinning around, and then making impact came back to her in a flood and she began to panic. The calm beeping in the background increased as her heart began to pick up its pace.

"Miss Corabelle. Miss Corabelle, I want you to focus on me. Focus. On me." she looked towards the doctor, struggling to control her anxiety. The raven-haired man said in a soothing voice, "My name is Lelouch Lamperouge. I'm the doctor that's been put in charge of you; I'm your doctor. And I'm 27 years old. My birthday is December 5th. Can you tell me when your birthday is?" he already knew nearly everything about her identity from the papers he had been given when the woman had been rushed into the hospital three days ago, but he knew that she was feeling great alarm from the sudden recollection of the accident. So he had to distract her with simple questions, or risk worsening her already-perilous condition. Lelouch waited patiently until she replied, "I'm… I'm 26 years old…"

"And your birthday?" he inquired not unkindly.

"…. February 5th."

"What a coincidence. Both of our birthdays are on the 5th." she smiled weakly and he changed the subject with, "You must be tired."

The injured patient nodded slowly so as not to agitate her aching head and the doctor stood up carefully, cautiously laying her down. After pulling the blanket up to her chin, he picked up his clipboard again and knelt down by her bed. He said in a soft voice, "For now, I think it would be best if you just rest. We can discuss your recovery when you're stronger. I'll come back to check on you from time to time, but if you need anything, the nurses come in here frequently, and they're very friendly, so don't be afraid to ask them for anything."

Patting her hand comfortingly, he rose and was about to leave when she called out weakly, "Wait."

"Yes?" the young man turned around.

"Why can't I…. Why can't I feel my legs? What happened to my legs?"

She saw his expression darken and an ominous feeling swept over her.

"Why can I not feel my legs, Doctor…. Dr. Lamperouge?" she repeated with a sinking feeling. He seemed to be thinking to himself, and then, apparently coming to a conclusion, he walked back and sat down in a chair besides her bed. He seemed to be reading something on his clipboard, when he said, "Well… As you probably experienced… The accident left some…. Effects."

"Effects?"

The raven-haired man nodded grimly; if he didn't do this warily, the patient could end up stressed, and then her chance of fully recovering from her head injuries would decrease…. He heaved a sigh internally and began to explain in the gentlest way possible.

. . .

"Hey, what's taking Dr. Lamperouge so long in there? He normally doesn't take that long on his rounds." the nurse glanced towards the private ward that the young physician had entered, probably for the hundredth time in the past two minutes. Her friend merely nagged, "You should concentrate on your paperwork, Shirley, or you'll be behind again."

"It was one time, Kallen." she threw down her pen.

"Patients depend on your paperwork. You shouldn't just leave it alone to daydream about Dr. Lamperouge." reprimanded the redhead.

"I've never daydreamt about him!"

"Really? I thought it was a given. I mean, you did decide to become a nurse right after you found out he was going to be a doctor." mused Nina.

"Not to mention how you made it through nursing school." added Kaguya.

"What about the rest of you? Who would have thought that all of us would work in the same place?" wondered aloud Shirley.

"I know… Who would have thought that we would? I thought after high school we would all part ways, but…." trailed off Kallen wistfully.

"I know why Shirley was able to make it through nursing school! We all know how difficult it was for her, how many times she wanted to give up! How surprised we all were when she got accepted!" declared Milly. She momentarily looked up from the computer monitor to grin impishly while said person protested with an indignant, "Hey!"

"Why? What gave her the power to survive and graduate from nursing school?" questioned a curious Lihua.

"The power… of LOVE!" erupted the blonde. Kallen only shook her head while Kaguya and Lihua began to interrogate the blushing orange-haired woman, who kept denying that she loved the doctor or had ever loved him. Nina ignored the chaotic group as always and kept on typing; the nurses were at it again.

All commotion ceased as the door to the right of the nurses' center opened. Lelouch asked them, "Do any of you have a box of tissues right now?"

"A box of tissues?" repeated Shirley dazedly. She hoped that he hadn't caught any of the conversation she had just been interrupted in. The physician nodded and she was about to say, "I have one!" when Nina simply raised one up in her hand. The tall man with violet eyes thankfully took it from the silent nurse and quickly returned into the depths of the ward that he had yet to come out of and leave.

"…. What do you think they're doing in there?" only Milly had the daring to say out loud what was all on their minds. Lihua questioned, "Who's in there anyways?"

"Um… Hold on. Her record is right here somewhere… Oh, here it is!" Kaguya double-clicked on it, and the file opened quickly. She skimmed down and muttered, "Let's see…." All of the nurses crowded around her and she read out loud, "Cecaniah Corabelle, age 26, DOB Feb. 5th, 2001, marital status single, no parent/guardian information available… Must be an orphan. Nor does she have a primary or reference doctor…. Hmm…. Strange."

"She's pretty." complimented Lihua.

"What an unnatural hair color…." murmured Shirley.

"What kind of person is born with hair that color?" Kallen didn't particularly like it, but she had to admit, she agreed with Lihua's comment.

"Villetta was born with hair color like that! And I think she's a very pretty person! There's nothing wrong with hair like that!" defended Milly.

"Villetta's hair is more of a bluish-teal! Her's is…. Is…." the redhead struggled to find the right words.

"Light-blue-silver?" suggested Nina from the side. Kallen snapped her fingers and said, "Exactly! Light-blue-silver!"

"Stop making such a ruckus and get back to work!" scolded a passing doctor. All of the nurses, save for Nina who had never stopped working, apologized and the cluster dissipated as they went back to their respective chairs to continue their paperwork. Milly leaned over to Shirley and whispered, "Don't worry. I'm sure everything will go incredibly well today. You know Lelouch; it's unlikely that he'll fall in love with someone that quickly." Her younger colleague sighed and replied softly, "I hope so…"

. . .

"…. Since we're on this subject, would you like to go over all of your injuries?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll begin with the weaker of-"

"No. Tell me the worst first."

"…. Miss Corabelle, I don't think that would be a wise course of action in regard to your mental and emotional-" Lelouch began, but he was cut off.

"Just tell me…. So I can get it over with." the doctor clenched his teeth; what was the correct choice? Rising, he said, "If you would just excuse me for a second…" and left. The patient closed her eyes; was she half-dead? It certainly felt like it; ironically, in her head, she could feel dread, horror, fear, all sorts of strong negative emotions, and waist-down…. Nothing. At all. As if someone had just sliced her in half. She didn't hear the physician return until he said, "I've brought a box of tissues."

"I won't be needing them." at least some of her personality was coming back.

"…. Just in case."

"Just tell me what happened to my body, Dr. Lamperouge."

"…. Because of the impact… You have an acute spinal cord injury." her face twisted up into puzzlement and he quickly added, "You were very fortunate though, Miss Corabelle, as it hit one of your lower vertebrae. We don't know exactly, but we believe that your spinal cord has only been slightly damaged, so there is a very good chance your nerves can heal. We have all of the doctors and the specialists here to help you get back on your feet and walk around as if nothing happened." he assured her.

"And what else? Where else have I been hurt?" she had taken the news surprisingly and incredibly well. He wasn't quite sure if he should be grateful or if he should see it as strange. Internally shrugging his shoulders, he moved on to answer her next question with, "You broke right arm and fractured your left ankle."

"I see…"

"Those two injures are-"

"Next." again, he was taken aback by how she had taken in all of this… Usually devastating information and accepted it without even blinking once. Or perhaps she was just hiding her true reaction under a mask… He would have to get the psychologists to her quickly… If she were penting up all of that negative emotion…. Lelouch didn't want to even ruminate about the consequences.

"I am under the notion that you also have a concussion. We'll have to get you a CT scan to know for sure, but it's most likely a very minor concussion, so there's no need to worry."

"Is that all?"

"The simplest injuries of them all are the shallow cuts from the small glass shards…"

"So I'm paralyzed waist-down, I broke my right arm and fractured my left ankle, I have a mild concussion, and several cuts from glass shards."

"Yes…"

"…. I see. Well… Thank you for explaining."

"It wasn't any trouble at all. Is there anything else you'd like to ask or talk about?"

She shook her head and the doctor stood up.

"I'll be going then, but please remember, the nurses can be called with the press of that button. Please don't hesitate to ask them any questions or make requests." the raven-haired man stated while gesturing towards a red button on the remote control for the large bed. She simply closed her eyes and the physician left her alone.

Once he closed the door behind him silently, he heaved a sigh; her personality was surfacing, which was a good sign of recovery from shock, but… It wasn't the best personality he had come across. There was nothing he could do though; all he had been told was to heal her, to make her better, and that was what he was going to do, just like every single patient he had been in charge of in the past, and just like he would for every single patient in the future.

Shaking his head, he walked down the brightly lit halls of the hospital hurriedly; he was late for checking on his other charges. Much too late for his comfort.

A/N: In truth, this chapter was supposed to be longer, but I felt like it was either going to be short or long, so I opted for short. And BTW, if you haven't read it already, The Crazy Coup's 21st chapter is up! I hope you like the new story and will support it!