AN: the parts between ^^^ are memories/dreams. The story bounced back and forth between the present and the past in the next few chapters. I hope it does not confuse you.
Across town Bobby Hobbes was just sitting down to his own dinner. He did not have much of an appetite but forced himself to eat. He hoped that Mike had gotten Darien to do the same thing. Hobbes always worried about his friends. It was just part of his nature. Darien was the only one who usually justified the worry. He missed having him as a partner. Even after all these months, he had to remind himself as he headed into work in the mornings that he did not need to go by and make sure Darien was up. It was a good thing he always remembered before he went over and started banging on the door. For some reason, Hobbes did not think the new occupants would appreciate the gesture.
Hobbes hoped that Robertson would ask for a trade soon. He would rather work with his dear friend, Agent Jones, than spend another case with his current co-worker. After Darien, he hesitated to call someone else partner even if that was their assigned duty. He had had two others assigned to him during the time after Darien. Both had been reasonably tolerable but they had only been substituting in for a few cases. Robertson was the first of his `permanent new partners' and he could not wait to see the last of him. In the mean time, he would try to be more civil and not let the man push his buttons because he had promised Darien that he would give Robertson a chance. Bobby would do anything for Darien even put up with that loud mouth jerk.
Darien. Hobbes wished there was something he could do to make like easier for his misfortunate friend. Mike's words echoed back to him. `He needs you as a friend but even more than he needs that he needs you to accept him as he is now.' Life was not fair. He knew that but Bobby Hobbes could not remember a time when life had seemed less fair. Darien had tried so hard and turned his life around. All he had wanted was his freedom. Now he was even more trapped than he had been before the gland was removed. Hobbes did not know if he could just accept Darien and overlook the injustice of it all. It just was not right. Darien had been so excited at the prospect of being gland free. Why had things gone so wrong?
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"Something's gone wrong," muttered Hobbes for the thousandth time.
"It's been too long. What could be taking so long?"
"Relax," said Eberts watching the other man pace across the waiting room. The entire wing of the government run hospital had been taken over for the gland removal. The Official was observing the surgery. The Keeper was assisting the Agency's neurosurgeon. Fawkes was, of course, rather busy being operated on which left Eberts to keep Hobbes company. Eberts had spent the past eight hours in the company of the agitated secret agent. Although their relationship had improved over the years, there was still a strain between the two men that did not help during their current circumstances. As the six hour procedure stretched into its eighth hour, all the pills in the world could not have kept Bobby Hobbes from worrying.
"It wasn't supposed to take this long." Hobbes glared at the other man for daring to suggest that he relax when things were obviously not going well for his partner.
"There's probably been a minor setback."
"Minor setback? It's been two hours!"
"I'm sure…"
"Shut up, Eberts. You obviously don't understand the severity of the situation."
"Actually…"
"They are operating on his brain! You may not understand but Bobby Hobbes knows that there are no such things as minor setbacks when you are playing in someone's head. No, my friend, something has gone very wrong."
"Unfortunately, you are correct," came the tired, accented reply from the doorway.Hobbes spun around to see an obviously exhausted Claire leaning up against the wall.
"Is he alive?" Hobbes went straight for the most important question.
"Yes. His vitals are stable. We'll be keeping him in a coma and on life support while his body adapts and we try to break the quicksilver/counteragent dependency. Hopefully there will not be any set backs in that."
"So what went wrong?"
"The gland had branched out further than we expected. We could not detect the changes until we were so far into the removal that it was possible to stop without killing him. We were able to remove the gland but not without damaging a large amount of the surrounding brain tissue. Most of the damage was done to the occipital lobe with a lesser degree to the cerebellum."
"What does that mean?" "The area of the occipital lobe that was the most severely damaged is primarily dedicated to controlling vision. The cerebellum controls some subconscious activities including coordinating movement and maintaining balance."
"What does this mean for Darien?"
"Well we can't know for sure until he wakes up and that's going to be a long time from now. There's a very good chance that he will be permanently blinded. The most common effect from damage to the cerebellum is jerky, uncoordinated movement. It could be rather mild or it could be very severe. I do not know what kind of effects blindness could have on such impairments and I do not care to hazard a guess at this time."
"Can I see him?"
"Of course, Bobby. Right this way."
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