Disclaimer: I don't think I really need to say this again but...I don't own Gundam Wing.
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Lady Meko: Thanks for the review. Well I hope your pondering goes well. I'm glad to hear that this story is actually making people think. Enjoy the next chapter.
Chapter 8:Questions
Perventer Hospital
Hilde had been waiting for over three hours since they had taken the girl and Duo to the hospital. She could still feel the sweat forming on her forehead as she waited to hear news from the doctor on her friend's condition.
Last night she had thought originally Duo was having one of his nightmares. She remembered how on occasion she would find him wandering around, sleep walking in his room. Each time she had to wake him up and reassure him the wars were over and he wouldn't have to fight anymore. But since this attack she distinctly recalled him mumbling something to her while he cried. She'll have to ask Heero later.
Quatre had come as soon as he could, after Hilde had called him; since Wufei had to leave for a late shift.
'Heero was right Duo's in more danger than we thought, I hope he's okay!' Sighing heavily Quatre walked over to a shocked Hilde and sat next to her allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder.
"It's okay he only broke his leg, they'll have him fixed up. He'll be more awake than the rest of us when we see him, you'll see." Hilde sniffled in response.
It was no wonder she didn't believe a word he had just said. As soon as they had reached the hospital and gave the girl to the doctors, Duo had collapsed instantly.
"I don't know Quatre, he's been acting really strange these past few weeks," Hilde sniffled.
Quatre looked up and watched the wall a moment. She was right Duo was getting more and more anxious over the past weeks. Sometimes he was almost too alert and on several occasions it had been very strange to watch his friend fidget more than he usually did. "Don't worry if there's something wrong they'll find it."
"I'm not so sure." Hilde Sighed and looked up,"Quatre, he hid it from me for over two months. The only way I noticed was when he wouldn't eat at dinner, and he loveto eat." Hilde sighed heavily as if she had been holding her breath. "He took an hour and a half to eat last night." Quatre looked at her and moved so he could look her in the eye.
"He ate before he left to go home, but I'm guessing that was what three or four hours right?" Hilde nodded and sniffled again. "Can you tell me anything else he's been doing that's odd?"
Hilde sat up "Why? Do you know what it is?"
Quatre shook his head sadly. He wished he did. "No, but I want to know exactly what he's been up to lately. And it would help you more to get it out in the open."
"Uh… Okay. Like I said when I first noticed, he stopped eating at dinner. Then I heard him screaming in his sleep as if he was being torn apart. Several times he lashed out at me in a rage, that's really not like him," Hilde shuddered remembering the look on his face, especially his eyes. "I've seen him glare people down for next to no reason. Over all he's been acting less and less like himself, and more like Heero." Hilde looked as if she was about to cry.
"Well, we'll have to talk to him about it. I could get the doctors to run a few tests but I doubt they'll find anything. I have a feeling this had something to do with the attack." Quatre answered looking down and feeling at a loss for words. It was all very strange. He knew about the assassin being in the area, but this sounded very different from the one he knew. 'It just wasn't her style to outright attack a target, she was more like Heero. There must have been a reason for this.'
Hilde nodded and rested her head back down on Quatre's shoulder.
By the time Heero had arrived Hilde was sound asleep next to Quatre, who was about to do the same. A lot had happened in only a few hours for all of them, it was no surprise that the both of them were this tired.
"I heard what happened. Any news?" Heero asked sounding a little concerned for his friend.
Yawning Quatre shook his head and placed Hilde on the couch, so he could walk around a bit. "No, I'm a little worried though!" Heero's eyes narrowed. "Hilde said Duo's been acting a bit odd over the past few months."
"I noticed, he looked really tired the last time I saw him. What do you think it is?"
"Not a clue, what ever it is, it happens when we're not around or to busy to notice."
Heero tapped his arm and looked at the ceiling for a moment. "How long has he been with that girlfriend of his?"
"The blonde?" Heero nodded. It was a bit strange for Heero to mention her. "A year I think. I have to admit I really don't like her." To Quatre she seemed to bring out the worst in him. She acted as if she had control over everyone, and after the wars it really wasn't a comforting thought.
"…"
Heero took his coat off, wandered over to Hilde and placed it over her. "Me neither! Did you call her?" He was seriously hoping Quatre didn't.
"No, but I should!" Quatre stated, as he turned to walk to the pay phone; only to have Heero grab his arm firmly.
"Don't! I want to see what she'll do next when she hears this on her own. How's Hilde taking it?"
"Not so well, she's worried and overtired." Quatre looked over to Heero 'What is he thinking?'
"Can you tell me exactly what she told you about what happened?" If he could just get to the bottom of the attack it would save him more time. And he may be able to save both the girl and Duo.
Quatre nodded in response. "From what I was told he was attacked by a girl. Hilde told me that from what he had said she was acting similar to you. I have no clue what that is supposed to mean though…." Quatre had told Heero as much about the attack as he could, including the injuries.
Heero looked more closely at Quatre and nodded. "Once they got her here and to the emergency room Duo had collapsed. Hilde thinks it's something to do with his behaviour but it could also be from loss of blood."
"I doubt it was though! I've seen him with worse than a broken leg and a gash." Which was true. Heero had saved Duo from the cells he'd been thrown in only to have to face the young man and his injuries. On several occasions Duo would be completely pummelled and should have been unable to walk, but he still managed it.
After waiting a few more hours Quatre had dosed off. Heero watched them both hoping, like they were that it was just from his wounds. 'I seriously doubt this has anything to do with the cuts she gave him, they may have been severe but not that severe. Duo is as good at holding pain back as any of us. He wouldn't wither like that. It must be that girl he's with. I need to talk to her once this is done.'
Time passed still and no word. Hilde had woken up and was about to start crying again, when a doctor in surgical garb came over to tell them the news.
"Miss Schbeiker?"
"Yes" Hilde croaked trying her best to stay standing.
The doctor smiled and held his hand out "My name is Doctor Michaels, I'm Duo's doctor. It's nice to meet you." Hilde looked more closely at him in disbelief. He was a tall thin young man with brown hair. From what she can tell he reminded her a lot of the guy she was dating. "Duo will be fine. But he's very lucky to have gotten away with what he did. He's resting right now but he gave us quite the scare."
Hilde held her breath. "What do you mean?" Something was off with this guy.
"We had to restrain him while we were treating the injuries on his back." Both Quatre and Heero looked at each other. That was definitely not something Duo would have done. Heero knew full well that Duo would have cooperated.
"Can we see him?" Hilde half sobbed.
"Yes of course; this way, follow me."
Once they had reached the room Duo was in they noticed he was wide-awake. Heero stayed in back and watched as Hilde came in and hugged Duo, nearly to death as Quatre patted him on the shoulder.
"Ack! Hilde let go I can't breath!" Hilde let go and for a moment it looked as if she was about to cry. "Hey Hilde don't get upset I'm right here, see I'm still alive." He said as he winced back the pain in both his back and his leg.
Hilde sighed and asked him what seemed to be four or five times if he was okay, and each time Duo would assure her that he will be fine. Inwardly however, he wasn't feeling well at all.
Once they had finished stitching his back and casting his leg, the pain seemed to disappear for short periods of time. Once his friends had come in the pain had come back and he was actually happy to have it back, he felt more alive with the pain than without it.
'I need to get this all figured out, first I lose my appetite and then the nightmares and now I don't feel pain as much as I should. I bet that girl knows what's going on…or maybe Heero does.' Duo looked back to Hilde, and smiled. She still looked as if she was about to cry at him.
"I'm so glad your okay." Hilde half sobbed.
Duo smiled and then snorted.
"What is it?" Quatre asked concerned.
"I have to stay here for a week and a bit….I hate hospitals!" Duo made a disgusted face, that rivalled any of the looks of disgust he had ever made and crossed his arms to pout.
"It can't be that bad. You get food at your beck and call!" Hilde laughed but Duo made no response and instead continued to pout.
"Duo! Tell me about what happened" Heero wasted no time in getting to the bottom of what happened.
"Uh sure Heero! What do you need to know?" Duo looked worried now.
"Tell me what the girl looked like."
Duo frowned as if deep in thought and then smiled broadly. "Aside from the cuts, gashes and bruises I gave her she looked pretty damn good!"
Everyone in the room groaned except Dr Michaels who laughed. "Looks like he'll be better in no time at all."
Duo had told Heero all he could about his attacker. Heero though didn't even seem surprised a bit. Actually Duo got the feeling Heero knew who she was and what she was after. But as he tried to coax the information from his stoic friend. He got the distinct feeling Heero wanted him to do this on his own.
"Common Heero. Tell me why you're not surprised." Duo looked his friend in the eyes trying as best he could to get the information he felt he needed.
"…." Heero turned and left the room.
"Arggghhh I had a feeling you would do this…FINE! Well I'll have to do some digging myself then," He growled it was about time someone told him what was going on.
"Don't worry about it" Quatre smiled. "Once you can move around I'm sure we can go see how she's doing." Duo looked over to Quatre with concern stricken across his face. He had nearly forgotten about her.
"How is she? Where is she?" He asked facing Dr. Michaels.
"Don't worry about her, she'll be fine. She's in roomeight, but please I have to be there if you want to see her."
That last comment made no sense to Duo at all. Why would the doctor have to be there? 'Okay that made no sense. She can't be awake, so why does he have to be there? Whatever I'll go there whether he likes it or not. I need to see just how much damage I had done to her.' Duo yawned and groaned. Just yawning was taking its toll on his tired body.
"I think he's had enough for a bit, lets let him rest." Michaels said, as he ushered both of Duo's friends out the door and shut it quietly behind him. "Duo's injuries aren't bad but he's mentally fatigued. He needs as much rest as he can get right now."
Hilde nodded but Quatre just stared at the doctor. "You know something don't you?"
In the hallway, Dr Michaels looked at them both and smiled. "Come with me. There's something you need to see."
Michaels lead them down a few doors over to a room numbered eight. Hilde froze and looked at the doctor. "Why are we going here? Isn't this the room where the…"
"Yes it is, but I think you need to see this before he does." Dr Michaels opened the door as softly as he could.
Stepping in Hilde now saw the damage Duo had done to the girl. Her body was pretty much bruised blue from head to toe. She now saw that the girl had perfectly white hair, something she had never seen before. As she looked more closely she could see that the doctors had cut it, and it now lay matted on her head and shoved up so the bandage covered the wound on the side of her head.
The whole sight was one to stop anyone in their steps and yet she was still alive. Her arms were both bandaged: one from the injury Duo had given her, and the other just above theelbow. Although Hilde tried to remember if Duo had done something there, she didn't remember seeing anything wrong with her other arm at the time.
The bandage around her neck told Hilde that the girl was probably going to live. They had managed to cover it but with every breath the bloodstain would grow slowly on the bandages. But the worst was her breathing, and her overall condition. Every breath was assisted by the machine next to her, causing a sickening squeak with each intake of breath. Her form was slender but almost too thin for her to be alive. Hilde now understood when Duo told her about what it was like not eating enough food when he was younger and living on the streets.
Moving towards her apprehensively Hilde sat a distance away and watched as Dr Michaels picked up the clipboard. "How are you feeling?" He asked as he flipped through the pages. Why he was talking to someone who obviously couldn't hear was totally oblivious to Hilde.
"Why ask her when she won't respond?"
Dr Michaels smiled and looked up at the girl lying in the hospital bed. "I found that it helps the coma patients wake up. You never know she may actually hear you!" He looked at Hilde. "Think of it as if you were sleeping, your brain is still working, so why can't your senses work at a lower level." He now looked back at the girl. "I've learned from her that it's true, but to a point."
Hilde couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Wait you know her?"
"Sure! She comes in here with injuries worse than this at times. On several occasions she came in flat lining. It used to bug me, at first but she's my best patient."
"Do you know when she'll be out of here?" Quatre asked finally joining the conversation.
Michaels looked at Quatre and for a moment a smile crossed his face. "I'd give her until around lunch, before Duo wakes up." Dr Michaels sighed heavily and moved to the girl's side. "She never gets visitors, and I really don't think a hospital is very safe for her anyways."
At first Qautre stared but from what he had heard about the attack it didn't surprise him bit. Looking over to Hilde he realized she didn't quite catch what he meant. So he decided not to ask him how she could heal that fast, he only needed to look at Heero for the answer to that. It was obvious the girl had had similar training.
"Why is itnot safe?" Quatre was starting to understand why Heero was concerned for her.
"There are many people who would want to get rid of her or to take her out of here. That's why she's under my care." Looking up he smiled. "She's pretty funny when she's healthy, the problem is she takes her work too seriously and often forgets about the consequences. Actually I can't help but feel she wants to die when she shows up like this."
"What a horrible way to live." Hilde stated as she looked down in pity for the girl. "But it won't change how I feel about her trying to kill my bestfriend." The doctor looked up, and for a moment he seemed so weary.
"It's a shame you feel that way, she was doing what it took to survive. You really have no right to say such things until you know her reasons. And trust me she's the nicest person I've met, once she trusts you."
Hilde snorted and watched as he placed a thermometer in her mouth. "How can I do that? She tried to kill my bestfriend. I really doubt that Duo would forgive her either!"
"Oh really! I bet he would if he saw her. I think your forgetting who he is for a moment here. Duo is as kind hearted as Mr Winner there."
"Just call me Quatre." Quatre jumped in.
"Quatre, thank you!" He said turning to Hilde."Just look at her for a minute. How would you feel to be like this? I don't think you could last. I've seen hundreds of people come in here looking better than this and they usually don't make it through the night. All I ask is, you forgive her enough that you don't try to hurt her. It's the last thing she needs." Pulling the thermometer out of her mouth Dr. Michaels scribbled the data on the sheet. "That's all I want you to do, I want you to think about how Duo and the girl in front of you would feel."
Hilde let out a long breath and took a good look at the patient in front of her. After watching her breathing Hilde noticed the straps around her arms, wrists and ankles.
"Why the hell does she have restraints?" Hilde asked as she stood up and took a closer look.
"She can't handle needles and she likes to run away, so I need her to stay here until I can release her, and not worry about getting her back within a day."
Hilde sighed. This was all too much. Nothing seemed to make any sense. The young woman, Duo's behaviour, and even Heero's actions. All this really made her wish she and Duo were back on L2 at the scrap yard.
Dr Michaels looked at Hilde and cocked his head to the side. "You're both very tired, go home and get some rest I'll tell Duo you'll be back before the evening.
Qautre nodded and helped a tired Hilde to her feet. Rest was all they could get to help their friend, Dr. Michaels was right, and right now Duo needed as much help as he could get. "Common Hilde, I'll take you to my place until Duo is released, you'll feel safer there." All Hilde could do is nod in response. Everything seemed to get even more confusing. 'I don't know how much more of this Hilde could take, I'll have to watch over them both now. I doubt Wufei and Trowa will have time when it comes down to it.'
After they had left the room and returned to the waiting area Dr Michaels handed Hilde Duo's things and a sheet with Howard's home number. "First I want you to call him for me and tell him to get a hold of me as soon as possible. Can you do that?" Hilde nodded. "Good because I seriously doubt that girl will be here for another day."
"What's going on?" Quatre asked getting really confused, the whole situation was just getting weirder by the minute.
"Right now it's best you stay out of it. There's too much going on here that even I can't place in order." Hilde nodded slowly and smiled.
"Thank you so much."
"Not a problem, if Duo's condition changes I'll give you a call, but right now I want you both to get some rest. You'll need it in the morning if you're going to see Duo."
Confused by just what he meant, they both left the hospital and headed for home. As they neared the apartment Hilde shared with Duo Quatre couldn't help but feel uneasy about leaving her there alone.
"Are you sure I can stay with you tonight, I don't want to be a hassle?"
"No it's fine, besidesmy home issoo big I sometimes get lonely in there myself, and I don't think Duo would forgive me if you got hurt now."
"Yeah you're right. Thanks Quatre." Hilde smiled as she sat back and fell asleep in the seat.
Quatre smiled and thought about what will come next. 'It looks like Duo won't be seeing just what he did to her. I think it for the best, he might forget about it.' Qautre sighed and looked out the window of the limo as it drove them home. He really doubted that Duo would forget; it's not like him. 'Get better fast Duo we'll need you pretty soon.'
TBC...
A/N: Poor Duo! Well from here on the story begins to change from the old one so watcyh closely it's about to pick up!.
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