PART THREE

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Duo walked slowly into the room. He cringed at the sight of Hilde, unconscious on the hospital bed, wired up to machines her life depended on. She had IVs stuck into her hands, and wires stuck to her, leading to machines that monitored her heart rate and her brain waves. A transparent mask was over her face, with a hose leading to the respirator.

"Hilde..." Duo whispered. He never imagined he'd see her like this, barely hanging onto life. She'd always been so vibrant and full of life. Now she was pale and passive.

"Is there anything you can do?" Duo asked Sally.

Sally shrugged. "We've taken care of everything else, the surgery and everything. The coma's the only thing."

Duo sighed and closed his eyes.

"There is one thing we can do," Sally continued. "to get her out of the coma."

Duo opened his eyes and turned to her, but Sally held her hand up and shook her head. She bit her bottom lip. She hated seeing all the hope drain from his violet eyes as his hope diminished. "It doesn't always work," she said, remembering why she was glad she wasn't a full time military doctor any more. "But there is a drug I can inject her with that may bring her back." "Try it," Duo commanded firmly.

"But Duo..."

"What?"

"I don't know anything about her, like what she's allergic to, so if it turns out she is allergic to this, she could go into shock..."

All the color drained from Duo's face. He didn't know if she was allergic to anything either. He realized just how little he knew about her. He wished he'd taken the time.

"And there could be side-effects. Or it could just do nothing."

Duo didn't know what to do. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either they risked things from the drug, or Hilde stayed in the coma until she died...

"I think we should risk it," he decided finally.

"Are you sure Duo?" Sally asked.

"No. But it's the only thing we can do right now."

Sally nodded. She walked over to the counter and picked up a syringe. She left the room and came back five minutes later with a small vial filled with a transparent liquid. She loaded the syringe.

Duo prayed harder than he'd ever prayed as Sally injected the syringe into the IV. They waited. "It'll take a few minutes for it to get into her system," Sally said.

Sally and Duo waited in silence for a half an hour. Nothing happened. Hilde's brain waves and heart rate remained the same.

"I don't think anything's gonna happen," Sally said.

"Can you give her more?"

Sally shook her head. "Not for a while. It's not affecting the coma, but if she gets too much of it, it could be lethal."

"Isn't there anything else you can do?"

"Well, we could take take her off life support. It might be enough of a shock to bring her back. Or she could die."

"Have you ever done it before?"

Sally shook her head.

"Do you know anyone who has?"

Sally nodded.

"Has it worked?"

"No."

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TO BE CONTINUED...

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Okay, I admit that part was a little like that one episode of The Drew Carey Show but don't kill me!!!

So, what do you think? If I get a lot of reviews, I'll post the next part. But if I don't get many, than obviously not enough people are interested, so I won't post the rest.