Noin felt as though she had been struck. "I'm sorry," she softly spoke into the secure line, "could you repeat that?"
On the other end, Une closed her eyes. It had been difficult enough to say the first time, why must she repeat it? "We have found and retrieved him," she explained, "but he was seriously wounded. It appears to our medical staff that he has been in a coma for quite some time, but he is in stable condition currently. We are currently running tests to try to assess possible levels of brain function. I cannot confirm anything more than that at this time."
The pilot swallowed hard. The news that Zechs had been found was wonderful and terrible all at once. "Do you know when he will wake up?" she asked.
Silence met her.
Noin tightened her grip on the phone. "Une?" she tried again. "Do you know when he will wake up?" When again there was no response, Noin felt her stomach drop. "He is going to, isn't he?"
"I cannot confirm anything more at this time," Une repeated. What more could she say? They had no other information yet, and Une refused to give anyone false hope. If things were fine, she would say so. If things were dire, she would say that as well. But tests were still being run. Possibilities were still being considered. She was charted to be the first to know as soon as anything was confirmed, but as of that moment there was only uncertainty.
"Damn it, don't give me that!" the new mother hollered. "Tell me what you think!"
"I think I'm not a medical expert," Une quickly and firmly answered. "I think that we have only had a very brief amount of time to analyze our situation. I think that after all these years you should know me well enough to know that I would tell you if we had something, and that the reason I am not telling you anything is that there isn't anything to tell. I will keep you in the loop, Noin. Trust me, I will."
With a nod Noin lowered the phone from her ear and handed it off to Hilde. There was simply too much racing through her mind for her to stay rational during that conversation any longer. She needed to sit. She needed to think. She needed to give her overtaxed mind and body a chance to catch up with everything that had been happening over the past months. She was vaguely aware of Hilde's voice in the room, and that there was a lengthy, if not well worded, conversation happening. But there was no way for her to focus. If only her challenge had been a battle, a fight of some kind. No matter how hard the wars had been, she had maintained her ability to consider her options and next steps. Everything over the past weeks, though, had been new and foreign to her. She had never developed skills for such a thing.
When all was said and done Hilde closed the phone and slid it into her pocket. One glance at her friend told her that Noin was in no mood for anything, not even a calm discussion. So the younger woman simply sat down calmly in her chair and contemplated what their next move should be. There would be plenty of time to discuss it later.
Days turned in to weeks, and soon enough it was time for the young boy's first round of surgery. Noin had still not had the heart to give him a proper name, in spite of the fact that it would not have to be permanent. Even at the urging of the child's doctors, she simply could not bring herself to do it. It still felt somehow wrong to her. It almost felt like she would be betraying Zechs. She would be betraying his attachment to the child. She would be abandoning hope that he would be there to help her come up with a proper name. She would be claiming that her lover would never wake up. While Noin knew in her mind that none of that was real, her heart would not stop shouting at her. So Baby Boy lay in his incubator, still nameless as they prepared him for his work.
Noin quietly reached in and placed a finger in the child's small hand. She smiled as his tiny fingers wrapped around her. Her son was still small for his age, but he was far more alert than she would have guessed, and he reacted well to her. It was yet to not leave her with a sense of awe and wonder as the babe gripped her. And when he would open his eyes and gaze around and it would seem he was looking right into her, well those moments were amazing.
From behind her, Hilde smiled. "He's going to be fine," she assured.
"I know," Noin agreed. True enough, the prognosis was excellent. While any surgery had its inherent risks, Baby Boy was showing remarkable strength, all things considered. His doctors were confident that he would come through with flying colors, and that soon enough he would be well enough to travel. "Thank you, by the way."
"Don't worry about it," Hilde replied, her smile a gentle glow. The younger pilot and the little boy had matching blood types, and she had donated her blood for the surgery, an easy enough gift for her to give. Noin also had matching blood, but Hilde had insisted. Noin was still recovering from her pregnancy, and giving blood was not recommended at that time. It was a simple solution. "Besides, the little guy is totally worth it." And I didn't lose so much that I couldn't shoot straight she mentally added.
Baby Boy gazed around the room, seemingly studying everything that was going on around him. He was a quiet baby, crying less than many of the others around him. His patience was almost unnatural, but it was something his mother was hardly complaining about. As he observed his surroundings, his eyes still only at half mast, he stuck his tongue out several times. It was something of a tradition for the child when he was in what was dubbed his contemplation mode.
All too soon the nurses had finished what they could with Noin there. It was heartbreaking to watch the child taken away for such a dramatic event, but Noin stood strong. No amount of anxiety would help her little boy in any way, and the doctors had assured her that the surgery would hold minimal risks, all things considered. As he was wheeled away, Hilde gave her friend a reassuring pat on the back. "He's going to be fine," she promised once more. "Absolutely fine."
/
The doctor scribbled something on his chart as he began his inspection of the unconscious man before him. He was on the second string of the medical team keeping a watchful eye on the former Prince of Sanc, and for good reason. He was one of the very few to actively voice his opinion that they were wasting time and resources on their patient. In his own opinion, which was a very valid one, the likelihood of Zechs ever waking up, let alone making a full recovery, were slim to nonexistent. Putting their best and brightest on what could very likely be a hopeless cause seemed like a poor idea to him. His mentioning of such a thing had gotten him severely reprimanded by the commander and nearly got him removed altogether from the case, but he was still one of the best in the field. Une would not sacrifice such a mind over an opinion, so long as the doctor kept with his assigned task. He was, however, relegated to the backup team.
"No change," the doctor sighed before putting the chart down. "Big surprise." He began going through his routine of checking vital signs and reflexes, hardly surprised when nothing seemed to be any different than it had been before. It was just as he had claimed when Zechs had first arrived: they could keep him stable well enough, but anything further was unlikely. Another notation was made. "This is not what I signed on for," he grumbled. The routine continued.
With an annoyed look on his face, he looked down at the face of the unconscious man. "Are you feeling any better?" he quietly mocked.
The man flinched.
The doctor's eyes grew wide. Was that a direct response? Was that even possible? "Can you hear me in there, sir? Can you understand what I am saying?" he asked.
Another small flinch, and an increased blip on the monitor tracking brain waves.
"Oh, God," the doctor muttered. Wasting no further time he reached into his pocket and pressed a button on his pager, signaling that he needed assistance immediately. Doctors and nurses rushed in, each one knowing exactly what they were to do within a few seconds of arriving.
Against all odds, it seemed that their patient was actually on the verge of waking up.
/
Trowa picked up the receiver after only a single ring of the emergency phone. He politely greeted the caller, and the remainder of the conversation was spent with him gently using phrases such as "I understand" and "I see". No true information was being given away on his end. None at all.
It was almost enough to drive Duo to violence. "For crying out loud, you damn mime!" he shouted. "What the hell is going on?"
The green eyed pilot ignored his comrade until the conversation was fully completed and he had hung up. "That was Une," he calmly began.
"Of course it was!" Duo cried. "No one else has the connection to that line. Now spill, what's going on?"
Trowa ignored his friend's outburst. "The medical team just contacted her," he went on. "It would appear that Zechs is starting to show an increased level of response to stimuli. They believe that this is a solid sign that he is on his way toward regaining consciousness."
"When will we know for sure?" Heero coolly asked.
"It's unclear," Trowa answered honestly. "It could be anywhere from a few hours to a few more weeks, depending on several factors that we won't know details about for a while. She said we would be kept in the loop."
"Probably because she knows Maxwell will camp out on her desk an harass her continuously if she doesn't," Wufei commented.
Duo spared a second to shoot his friend a dirty look. "You know, I would be so offended by that right now if it weren't completely true." He turned back to Trowa. "So what's the next step? What do we do now? Is she going to tell the girls? Is the kid okay? Can we go get them? Now?"
The one visible green eye rolled. "She will contact them, yes," he evenly explained. "That will be when she will hear how the surgery went. We will be given information of our next move after that."
"Calm down," Heero counseled the braided man.
While Duo normally displayed more energy and eagerness than his cohorts, most of it was an act out of personal preference. But since Hilde had been gone, and even more so since he had found out exactly where she was, he had developed a certain level of anxiousness that was not nearly as controlled as he would have liked. He knew that everything would turn out, and that everything would eventually end up just as it should be, but until then he would remain a little jumpier than usual. "No promises," he muttered in response to Heero's words.
/
Hilde had stepped away a bit to field the phone call from Une. It was difficult to keep from grinning as she heard of the progress Zechs was beginning to show. They were not in a position where she would be able to tell Noin of the news, and she did not wish to bring the woman any more anxiety by implying that there was, in fact, major news. Noin had enough on her mind at the moment. Good news, while always appreciated, would have to wait for a more appropriate moment.
To Noin it felt like an eternity before one of the surgeons emerged. "Ma'am," he greeted, smiling confidently at her, "everything went just fine. We repaired what we could for now, and your son came through with flying colors. He'll need to grow more before anything more can be done, but this should be enough to allow transportation to other colonies, or even planetside, should you desire, in a few weeks. He's a strong boy, ma'am. He's going to be just fine."
"Thank you," Noin graciously responded. "Can I see him?"
"We're going to take him back to the NICU," the doctor explained. "It's standard procedure to keep a patient like this under close observation for several days. And he will likely be asleep for another couple of hours. But he should be situated in ten to fifteen minutes, and you'll be able to see him then. We'll send someone to let you know as soon as he's ready for a visit from his mother."
Again Noin thanked him as he turned to leave. Once more alone with Hilde, she let out a sigh of relief. "I've got to admit," she said, "that I am so thankful that the hard part for now is done. I know we'll have a few more rounds of this down the road, but for right now we can relax."
"And it means that soon enough we can go home," Hilde mentioned, a soft smile on her face.
It was true. Within a matter of a few weeks Noin would be able to hold her son in her arms, board a shuttle, and fly back to the place she knew as home. And she would be able to stay by Zech's side as he recovered, something she remained confident he would do. That moment seemed so close to her then. Soon, so painfully, achingly soon, they could finally be the family that she knew they were meant to be.