Not much surprised Marcone, however the tall graceful woman who had just walked in reduced him to numb silence as she bent over the unresponsive body on the bed. He just couldn't figure out why one of the fae had simply wandered into the hospital, much less this room.
"Poor child." Her voice was soft and musical but it's beauty passed unremarked in the anger that followed her comment. He couldn't help her, he had never failed before and it was hard for him to accept that something's couldn't be willed true. Not even The Shroud had helped, nor had prayer. Not that he had expected it to, men like Marcone didn't believe in God, or if they did didn't believe that He'd give a damn about them, he just couldn't bear to leave anything untried. The woman reached out towards the girl and his heart stopped. No! Thousands of stories of faries abducting children flashed through his head. They couldn't have her! He reached out, tried to at least, but he couldn't move. Only briefly though, in a competition of wills only fools and Harry Dresden went up against him. He grabbed the woman's arm and pulled one of his many knives out of a sleeve.
"Don't touch her." His voice was cold, this voice had caused grown men to wet their pants in the basic and correct belief that they weren't going to live long enough to be embarrassed by it.
"I wasn't going to hurt her." The woman slipped immediately into 'nurse comforting upset parent' mode. She apparently hadn't noticed the knife or the unmistakable threat in Marcone's voice.
"She's mine, fae. You can't have her."In any other man that tone would have been a snarl. In Marcone it was something infinitely scarier. The woman's eyes widened.
"You have the Sight?" The girl was instantly forgotten, a fact that made Marcone as close to happy as he ever was.
"A touch." He still hadn't let go of her arm, he didn't usually deal with threats by leaving them alive. Her eyes narrowed.
"What is this girl to you?" he heard the undertone in her voice, the subtle magic trying to convince him the girl was nothing, to go away, and forgot himself enough to growl.
"Stay out of my head." It was a statement. It wasn't even threatening.
"I'm only trying to help her." The woman finally seemed to realize that the person she was dealing with was about as far from a normal human as it was possible to get.
Marcone hesitated and his grip relaxed. The woman used this as an opportunity to reclaim her hand."It wouldn't do her any good just to be moved." His voice was flat and hopeless.
"I wasn't going to take her anywhere." The woman looked annoyed. "I was just going to heal her. Before I was so rudely interrupted." She glared frostily. Marcone didn't even bother to return it.
"Can you?" his voice was hungry but guarded. It wasn't possible, nothing had worked and this fae would randomly walk in and make it all better? Every logical bone in his body screamed in rejection of the idea, but they were drowned out by his memories of the almost-miracles he'd seen Dresden perform.
"I wouldn't be here if I couldn't." She drew her self up in the very picture of affronted dignity.
"Then do." He sat down and stared at her the same way a hungry tiger might stare at a human draped in steaks. If this worked he needed to have Dresden killed. He made a mental note.
She stared at him like she could hear what he was thinking. That is to say, like she wanted to run screaming out of the room. Then she gave her self a shake and bent over the body on the bed. There were no dramatic flashes of light, the girl didn't even sit up suddenly, but her hand twitched. That was more reaction than he'd seen from her in the ten long years he'd fought to bring her back. He rushed to the bed then paused, the only speech he'd ever had trouble planning was for this specific moment and now it was to late. Marcone felt like life had slipped it's leash and he didn't like it, but he liked the fact that the girl was waking up.
"Hello child." The woman spoke softly "You've been asleep a long time."
"Where am I?" The girls inflections carried a trace of the small child she'd never grown out of. "Where's Daddy?" Marcone's heart clenched. It was a day of unfamiliar emotions.
"Daddy's not here." he summoned every ounce of the cold business man he had always been before.
"Then I want Mommy!" Her voice went up a couple octaves.
"Mommy's not here either." can't feel anything, sort it out, ignore the emotions, they only get in the way.
"When are they coming?" It was a disturbing thing seeing the lost little girl in the teenagers face. the elf woman started to reach for the girl and he gestured her away. This would hurt her but it needed to be done.
"Your Daddy's not ever coming, and your mom probably won't either." Cold, he needed that now, he couldn't afford feel anything so he wouldn't.
"No!" The word burst out in a scream. "Your lying! You're a bad man!" she collapsed into sobs.
"Yes, I know." He considered comforting her but knew he didn't stand a chance of doing it well. He turned to leave and saw the fae woman draw her into a comforting hug. He felt a completely foreign emotion now, probably because he had sat his hormones down at puberty and gave them a stern talking to. Nothing defied Marcone when he gave it a stern talking to. He shook his head, he'd already planned what he would do if the girl ever woke up and now it was time to put it into motion. He moved to the front desk.
"The patient I was visiting woke up." The nurse about jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice.
"I-uh-what? Who were you visiting?" She scrabbled for some semblance of professionalism.
"The Jane Doe in 204." He was the perfect mildly concerned visitor.
"What?" The look on her face could have been next to the word surprised in a dictionary. To her credit however she immediately bustled off to go take care of things, Marcone followed.
If this was a movie this scene would be filled with snapshots of bustling doctors and nurses one really confused coma patient and Marcone looking for the woman who'd healed her. It would end with one of the doctors taking Marcone by the arm and leading him out which would be when the sound would come back.
"Sir, I appreciate that you are a very private person," None of the doctors knew who exactly Marcone was, but they all knew that something unspecified and unpleasant had happened to the last employee who tried to find out. "However, I am aware that you visited the girl in there quite often, and as it seems she has no parents, I'm afraid I must ask, if you intend…" Marcone cut him off.
"I will be adopting her of course." the doctor swallowed hard.
"Wonderful. There aren't many people like you left sir, I'll admit that I had my hopes for you." he fell into his professional smile with ease. "If you would come with me we can just get the paperwork started. I wouldn't be surprised if it's all sorted before she can be released."
"Of course. We wouldn't want any hint of nefarious goings on to taint this fine hospital." Marcone's smile would have made sharks whimper in fear, and the doctor swallowed again.
"This way then sir." He walked towards his office, Marcone at his side.