Febuwhump Day 13: Won't Regain Consciousness
Word Count: 429
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: K/G
Characters: Maes Hughes, Gracia Hughes, Elicia Hughes, Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye
Warning: N/A
Summary: Hughes is alive, but Gracia has no idea if he'll ever wake up again.
Notes: It's technically a Hughes lives story, but, well, he's still not with them.
Won't Regain Consciousness
It was a miracle he lived, or at least that's what the doctors told Gracia. He should have been dead. If the bullet had gone just a little bit in either direction, if he hadn't obviously been ducking or moving when he was shot, if Colonel Mustang had taken longer to realize that something was wrong and told the operator to put a trace on the call, then Maes Hughes would be dead, and Gracia would be dressed in black and at a funeral.
Instead, she as at the hospital, looking down at her husband as he laid in the bed. There were all sorts of things hooked up to him. Oxygen, blood, antibiotics. A blood pressure cuff was on the end of the bed and so was a stethoscope. Other tools of the trades, ones that Gracia recognized, were stationed around the room.
She may not have finished her nursing degree, but she had come close, and she still remembered what she had learned.
Gracia looked Maes over with a critical eye. He was pale, but at least his nails weren't blue. His body was still circulating blood and doing it fairly well. The paleness probably came from having lost so much blood. His breathing was a little harsh, but it was regular, and at a good rate. His lungs were probably working properly, then. The harshness could have come, again, from the blood loss. She had looked at his eyes earlier. His pupils were even and reactive, which meant no immediate brain damage, at least.
But he wouldn't wake up.
Gracia reached over and took Maes's hand. It didn't hold hers back. She curled her fingers around his. They didn't return the motion. She took her other hand, and folded it around his, folding his fingers down and pressing his hand between hers. There was no reaction.
"Please wake up," she said softly, whispering it out. "Please, Maes. Wake up. We need you."
Just like all of the other times, he didn't respond. He hadn't responded when she had first seen him. He hadn't responded to Roy coming in. He hadn't even responded to Elysia, and he always responded to her. She understood that he was in a coma. She understood what that meant. But it didn't mean that she wasn't going to try to get him to respond.
Gracia squeezed his hand and, with a sigh, put it down. She couldn't stay long. She had to go pick up Elysia.
"I'll be back, Maes. Until you wake up, I'll be back as often as I can."