"Elle, can I speak to you privately?" Zed asked as he moved away from Kay's bedside. It had been two days and there was still no change in his condition. Zed was beginning to get seriously concerned.
"Of course," Elle said as she followed him out of the room, leaving Jay at Kay's side rambling on about the fantastic baseball game he had missed on TV the night before.
"How is he doing? Really?" Zed glanced back into the room as he talked, looking at the silent form of his best agent.
"Well, I was hoping that he would be more responsive before now," Elle murmured. She was begining to get really worrried about Kay but she didn't want to share her worries with Zed. He had enough worries of his own right now. Kay was one of his oldest friends. Seeing him like this had to be hard. "It's still very early though, Zed, and Kay experienced a lot of trauma. His body may just need more time to recover."
What about brain damage?" Zed asked. "Have your tests shown what he might be dealing with concerning that?"
"Well, I can't say for sure until he wakes up of course, but he may suffer from a degree of weakness on his right side."
"Like a stroke, you mean?" Zed shook his head, trying to deny this possibility. His grandmother had suffered a stroke a few months before he joined the fledgling MiB and he still remembered how she had suffered, trapped in a bed with her body twisted into a useless form. She had been such a strong woman, had raised him after his parents were killed when he was a child, and then that strength was gone. She just lay there unable to speak, unable to feed herself, unable to manage her most basic bodily function, loosing the dignity all humans should have, her body ravaged by constant pain and sores until the very end. And now Kay was going to.... This just wasn't possible!
"Zed?" Elle said as she reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. She could tell by his expression he must have had a bad experience once, lost someone close to him from a stroke. "Zed, Kay may wake up and be just fine. And even if he does have some problems, there's therapy. He was in fantastic shape before this. He'll bounce back."
Just then Jay came darting out of the room. "Elle, you better get in here now," he said as he grabbed her by the arm and started to drag her in. "I was talking to Kay and he opened his eyes! That means he's better, right?"
"Kay?" Elle whispered as she hurried to his bedside. What Jay had told her was true, Kay's eyes were wide open. Why wasn't he saying anything though? She sat down on the edge of the bed and begin to carefully examine him, frowning as she did.
"Well, how is he?" Zed asked a few minutes later. Kay's eyes had closed again a moment after they had came in, but it had to be a good sign that they had opened at all.
"Well, I can tell you right now that he's coming out of the coma but...."
"But what? He was awake! He's going to be fine!" From Jay's tone, Elle could tell that he didn't want anyone telling him something different, telling him his partner might not recover.
"That's the thing. He wasn't really awake," Elle murmured as she turned to face them. "It was a reflex response. It happens sometimes with patients in comas."
"So he's no better?" Jay murmured. He had been so sure that his partner was back!
"I wouldn't say that. The coma's definately becoming lighter. He's just not out of it yet. That's going to take some more time." Elle smiled a bit at Jay. She knew he had been hoping that Kay would wake up and bounce right out of bed. "Why don't you try talking to him some more? He's going to be able to recognize voices more as he comes out of the coma. I'm sure that he would be glad to know you're here."