Maes' Best Friend
Gracia can feel her heart stuck in her throat when she opens the door to the hospital room. The last time she saw Roy, she hit him for killing a woman who is very clearly alive in the hallway and told him to stay away from her family. Now he is in a bad enough condition to warrant a private room in an overflowing hospital right after the most chaotic day anyone in Central can remember, and Gracia feels completely inadequate with her empty hands. Because she only came here out of obligation, for Maes, and didn't expect to be here more than a few minutes. She isn't even sure how to look Roy in the eyes now.
"Uncle Roy!" Elicia exclaims, delighted, and rushes inside the room. Gracia isn't even sure how she remembers Roy. Elicia is very young, and Gracia removed all the pictures where he appears after Maria's funeral, exchanging them for others because she couldn't bear to see the face of such a murderer…
"Elicia?" Roy asks in surprise, raising his head before glancing down… but not looking at Elicia. He reaches out a tentative hand, as if testing the air, and Gracia is suddenly hit by a horrible realization.
He can't see.
"Roy?" Gracia asks in a faint voice.
Roy withdraws his hand as if burned. Elicia is trying to climb on the bed, but she is too short to manage it.
"Gracia," Roy greets her in a pleasant, if neutral, voice. Gracia knows of that voice, Maes used to call it Roy's politician voice, and she is once again reminded of her own words.
"Stay away from my family."
Nodding resolutely to herself, Gracia closes the door and walks to the bed. As she approaches, she takes in Roy's appearance. He's wearing a thin hospital gown that makes him look thin, noticeably thinner than the last time Gracia saw him without his bulky uniform, and there are large dark circles under his eyes. His hands, now folded on his lap, are bandaged, and the exact location of the bandages gives Gracia a chilling idea of the wounds they're covering.
Gracia reaches the bed and bends down to pick Elicia up. Roy looks genuinely surprised when she places Elicia on the bed next to him. He turns to look at Gracia, but his unseeing eyes don't meet Gracia's.
Gracia wants to cry.
"I saw Maria Ross outside," she says instead.
"I heard she wasn't injured during the fight," Roy replies softly.
Before Gracia can say anything (apologize, ask what happened), Elicia asks why Roy is in the hospital. Roy tells her he got into a fight with a mean guy before distracting her by asking if she's done anything fun lately, and Gracia sits down on the visitor's chair to watch her daughter crawl on Maes' best friend's lap to tell him all about her latest discovery at the park.
This is the first time in months that Gracia feels like something is as it should be.