Chapter 8: Six Hours
It takes six hours.
Six hours, thirteen minutes.
Six hours, thirteen minutes and five seconds.
Hank dreams about it for years afterwards, his mind analysing every moment and every decision he made that day, over and over and over.
On one hand the details are a blur, when his attention is focused on Charles, trying to keep the telepath from going into shock as the others stand around them, mute in stunned disbelief.
On the other hand every second of that afternoon on the beach, all six hours, thirteen minutes and five seconds that it takes to get the radio fixed feels like a lifetime. Every salvaged part, every burnt wire, every bit of debris and wreckage and gas and fire is too slow, that's not what I need, it's taking too long, I need to get Charles to the hospital, why doesn't anyone come...
Alex and Sean help as they can, moving silently as they sort through the submarine for usable parts.
Moira holds Charles in her arms, a steady, unwavering presence as she murmurs soft words of comfort in the telepath's ear.
Charles says nothing, his energy and focus consumed entirely on keeping himself conscious and aware.
It takes too long to fix the radio.
It takes too long for Moira to convince her contacts to send help.
(They agree finally, when Charles tells Moira to lie. That all the mutants left are injured and can be taken easily into custody).
They are surrounded by guns, until Charles grits his teeth and moves his hand to his temple and then they are escorted gently, politely onto the waiting helicopters.
There's no chatter on the ride to the hospital and though the pilot does answer his hails, the soldiers and medics sit glumly and stare straight ahead.
The hospital staff descends on Charles immediately, the CIA and military presence enough at least to cut through any bureaucratic red tape.
He's gone for a long time.
Fifteen hours, twenty minutes and eighteen seconds.
And when the doctor asks to speak with a family member, Sean almost cries.
(Hank is not in the room. Charles can't make others not 'see' his blue form when he's unconscious after all).
Moira insists and so the doctor tells them the news.
And Hank wonders if it would have made any difference at all, if only he'd been faster, smarter, better. Taken less than six hours, thirteen minutes and five seconds to fix the radio.
He wonders, for years after, if Charles thinks the same thing.