Disclaimer: OF COURSE, I don't own Gundam Wing or instead of you guys suing me, I'd be suing you. I also don't the song "Bed of Roses" by Mindless Self Indulgence.

AN: Catherine is abroad, traveling with her husband in this story because frankly she always ends up being an extra character to me.

Thank you again Duchess D for being the first reviewer on my new chapter and to all who will follow her great example! Also tell me of anymore spelling mistakes cause I beta my own work. OK on with the story!

' ' are Thoughts

Italics are Past events

Italics in bold are Song lyrics

Bed of Roses

Chapter 3: "God Save the Queen"

"Hey it's alright my life has always been a sad emotion
Don't feel sorry for me."

Relena immediately lifted her head at the sound of the door opening. She made the move to rise and Heero gently allowed her to do so, keeping her still in his warm embrace and rising with her. She looked up at the doctors with her expressive turquoise gaze, expectant of any news, good or bad.

Just as Relena rose, all the rest of the eleven guests followed suit, but only Relena and Heero, Sally, Quatre, and Lady Une came much closer, Lady Une gently placing Mariemaia in her wheelchair and bringing her forward.

The first of the two doctors looked to be older and more distinguished. He had a full pepper-and-salt beard, with matching clear gray eyes that seemed to find a point of reason no matter what. His younger companion looked to be free of grays, but much distinguished. His hazel eyes scanned the group around him and his softer gaze commanded quiet and a feeling of wanting to give the young man a chance to speak, in a way very similar to Quatre.

"I'm assuming you're all friends or family of Miss Catalonia?" spoke the first doctor with the gray eyes.

"Yes, I'm the adoptive mother of the young girl asleep here's cousin, Miss Catalonia," Une began, stepping around Mariemaia to shake the doctors' hands. Relena smoothed her clothing and cleared away her tears as best she could, introducing herself and Quatre and Sally introduced themselves briefly, all very recognizable to the two doctors. Heero merely nodded to the doctors indicating for them to start speaking after the bearded doctor introduced himself as Dr. Sterling, his English accent revealing his parentage, and the younger doctor stating his name as Dr. Cadan of Turkish decent, the pair both neurosurgeons. The younger of the two was surprisingly the one to beginning relaying the current situation to them.

"The patient, Miss Dorothy Catalonia, was placed under general anesthesia to repair a collapsed lung and that procedure was performed by a separate thoracic surgeon of hospital who specializes in that type of injury.

A separate orthopedic surgeon of the hospital performed the operation on the long bone in Miss Catalonia's right shin, called the tibia, which was broken in two places and her badly fractured ankle. She had two broken ribs on her right side which we have dealt with accordingly by the same surgeon, a broken right arm repaired by the orthopedic surgeon, and her right hand which was also broken was repaired by a specialized hand surgeon. She also merely sprained her left wrist.

"Most of the damaged seemed to be sustained to her right side, and fortunately Miss Catalonia was wearing her seatbelt. However, the speed at which she was accelerating and considering it was a head on collision with a solid object like a tree, she sustained some neurological damage.

Miss Catalonia has suffered from a serious case of whiplash. This is caused by a sudden acceleration and deceleration and her brain was rocked backwards and forwards where it bumped the much harder cranium.

She is categorized as having a traumatic brain injury. She arrived to us of course unconscious, and has been determined to be in a coma. The next twenty-four hours for Miss Catalonia will be most important. Her responses to certain tests she has and will undergo will help us determine the outcome after this brain injury.

We have used the Glasgow Coma Scale. It was developed to measure the depth or quality of a brain injury. It will give us some idea of what treatment Miss Catalonia will require and helps us also plan the first immediate course of action. The scale is from 3 to 15. She scored an 8 which is expected since that score is usually associated with the comatose state.

We do not know yet if she will die, which only occurs to 27 percent of patients with a score of 8-10, but 68 percent will have a moderate disability or good to complete recovery. However, we are almost certain she will not die, but please remember this is not an exact science.

Since Miss Catalonia is only 20 years of age her chances of recovery are improved dramatically post-coma. We're not sure yet just how long Miss Catalonia may remain unconscious. Even if she is unconscious for two weeks she still has the chance of making a moderate to good recovery.

Luckily her coma was not caused by any loss of oxygen which would most likely bring about some type of permanent brain damage after five minutes. We will perform a few scans, such as a CAT scan and MRI that look at the structure of her brain and an EEG, SPECT, and PET scan that examine the function of the brain; all of these tests are designed to help us see the extent of injury to her brain.

There was also an absence of swelling to the brain and the brain stem was spared which is all very very good. There has also not been any hemorrhaging but we'll continue to monitor that just in case.

OK well, let's go to the tests we did perform. The response criteria involve eye opening, motor responses, and verbal responses and eye opening was the first test graded on a 4-point scale.

Miss Catalonia opened her eyes in response to painful stimuli--,", at that sentence, both Quatre's and Relena's eyes filled with tears, but only Relena's fell with Heero quietly brushing them away. Lady Une yet again reverted to her stiff, at attention stance taking in all the information with a blank, pale face. Sally seemed to understand all that was said and her face showed relief at some parts so most of the news appeared to be good.

Dr. Cadan continued, "Which is a score of 2. Next we performed a motor response test, which is graded on a 6-point scale. Miss Catalonia pulled her body away from painful pressure purposely and appropriately (Don't as me what that means!), a score of 4. However, we are not sure if she suffered any temporary paralysis in her legs or elsewhere.

The final test was the verbal response test. She scored a 2 on a 5 point scale. She makes sounds but sounds that are not exactly understandable, such as a grunting noise for example."

At that there was a slight lift of the tension in the room as everyone's eyes immediately glanced briefly at Heero as he was infamous for his grunting responses. Duo grinned slightly, realizing he had a new joke on Heero.

"From her responses we moved on to another rating system called the Rancho Los Amigos Levels of Cognitive Functioning. It's more helpful in measuring a patient's level of awareness and interaction with their environment.

Miss Catalonia is a Level III, or Localized Response. She can move her eyes to look at specific people and objects, but due to her injury she can't necessarily turn her head in the direction of a loud voice or noise. She can however follow a simple command like squeezing a person's hand.

You all can really help Dorothy on her road to recovery and it's a good thing to see she has so many people here that care about her. Talk as if she can hear you when you are close. Always speak directly to her about simple things and reassure her often. Explain any events or noises around you and her and explain what happened and where she is.

At this time we wouldn't want you to touch her too much, as she has some cuts that we want to be sure first have a low chance of infection, but you can touch or stroke her gently and hold her hand. You can ever play some music she may like next time you visit if you so please," he finished smiling.

Luckily all of Dorothy's friends were soldiers and we're very good at taking and remembering orders. Everyone seemed to have listened and absorbed at least most if not all of the information but they were sure if one didn't either the medical mind of Sally's would or the political memorization of Relena would come in handy.

Finally Dr. Sterling spoke. "Well, my colleague has really told you all that can be known and you should know at this time. You can come in to see her now but she is most likely asleep. There are IVs of course in her arms and there is no need to be alarmed as they are only food, water, medicine, and antibiotics. Please don't wake her as rest is of top priority at this time. Be careful with her injuries and please abstain from touching medical equipment."

He sounded like a voice off of a loud speaker recording. Heero snorted, "We aren't children." Dr. Sterling looked at him and most of the others briefly seeing as all around still looked as young as when they were 15. However after looking into their eyes he could all see they were much much wiser than their years let on.

"Of course, of course. This first visit may have to be a bit short, but you can come see her tomorrow without question for a much longer time period. At this time, only three in at a time in accordance to her condition. Oh, any questions?"

None moved to speak so both doctors nodded, Dr. Cadan smiling broadly, and moving to stroll away with his partner and his entourage of nurses. "Alright, then I'll leave you all to your visit. My two nurses here will remain to make everything is OK. Oh and remember folks," he said, smiling even more broadly, "love will save the day."

And when the doctor's were within a decent distance away, the eleven friends moved to speak.

"Man oh man, who would of thought," Duo began, speaking for them all as he shook his head in bewilderment, one hand unconsciously moving behind his head, "God save the queen."

Hilde had stopped crying, relieved at finally knowing something. "I wonder how that crazy old woman is doing," Hilde growled as they'd found out the woman who'd darted out in front of Dorothy had been and was still perfectly fine.

Trowa made a face and spoke surprisingly. "She'll get what she deserves, we'll guarantee that." Quatre nodded, letting his eyes scan everyone's faces. "Well I'm hoping I could go in to see her first," he began hesitantly, as his face flushed, "but, you know--" "Sure Quatre, no problem," Duo said, speaking for all of them. Quatre smiled a thank you and soon it was agreed upon he'd go in with Heero and Relena first. At first Quatre said he'd give his spot to Lady Une, buy Lady had calmly said no, saying she'd like to go in with Mariemaia if so and Heero would need to go in with Relena.

As Relena, Heero, and Quatre allowed the two nurses to lead them inside, the remaining eight slowly returned to their now cold seats. Milliardo still sat on the opposite side of the seats to the others but this time Noin braved the elements and took a seat next to Milliardo; well technically, she left one seat's space between them, not quite that brave yet.

Sally and Wufei, Duo and Hilde, both began to quietly speak to one another and Lady Une seemed to be thinking once again. Noin at first did not speak then finally turning to Milliardo she began to speak.

"Did you get all that?" she asked, looking at him fully.

"Yeah, most of it. The parts that described what she was able to do now especially and what we could do for her," he responded, his face flickering into what could be sadness? Guilt?

Noin nodded. "We'll all do the best we can to help her. I have to return to work with Une, Sally, and Wufei, but I'm hoping to come visit later on in the evening," she said, obviously giving him an invitation.

He finally nodded after a brief pause, and still looking through his bangs at seemingly nothing he said, "I guess I'll come along." Noin smiled, satisfied.

"Hey while they're in there visiting, want to go get something from the cafeteria? We'll be back in no time and I just realized I'm starving," Duo said, his stomach growling as he spoke. Noin looked to Milliardo involuntarily and Duo caught the exchange. "I'm not hungry, but thank you Duo," Milliardo said, looking at him and offering a stiff smile.

Duo nodded and looked to Noin and the others. "How about you guys?" The others agreed. As the rest walked towards the elevator Noin stayed behind for a moment, hesitating, and then went off, quietly deciding she'd bring him back something anyway.

The interior of the hospital room was relatively dark. The nurse explained it away as there being a sensitivity to light for many patients that have suffered some type of brain injury other than it now being evening hours.

Quatre's face had yet again become pallid, his eyes large and revealing a fierce compassion and sadness. Relena moved forward slowly with Heero and took a seat beside the hospital bed with him following suit and Quatre not far behind. She hesitantly took the left hand of the extensively bandaged girl, remembering that her wrist was sprained.

"Hey there Dorothy, how are you doing girl?" she began, her voice quiet and hoarse from crying. Dorothy was asleep and looked as pale as death. Relena wouldn't have believed she was even alive if it hadn't been from the steady beep of the monitors, and she shivered at the though.

Heero silently gazed at Dorothy, letting his eyes examine the damage. Her chest looked to be bandaged, as the gently slope of her chest looked compressed. Her waist and stomach were securely wrapped, her right arm, entire right leg, and right hand all in casts, her left wrist merely wrapped to prevent her from bending it. Her face looked puffy and swollen in certain spots, discoloration apparent upon the normally smooth, pale skin.

Her blond hair looked to be pulled back and hung limply off to one side off of the bed. Her eyes were closed and her face looked strangely serene even with her body covered in various lacerations and wounds. Heero had a strangely poetic thought of her being some type of arch angel recovering from battle in all her glory.

Quatre stood to place one hand on Dorothy's shoulder, his hand hesitantly moving to caress her cheek. "Hey, it's Quatre, the most misguided out of all the Gundam pilots," he grinned a bit in amusement, quoting her.

Both Relena and Quatre continued to speak to her briefly about how they had felt when they got the news and how worried they had been but how they were all ready to give her all the love and care she needed.

Heero put his hand over Relena's and Relena looked at him briefly, understanding and moving her own hand away. Heero took Dorothy's cool hand into his, and squeezed very gently in reassurance. "You'll get through this. This is a battle, and you love war, so win this and prove me...right," he said quietly, then released her hand and settled back into his chair.

After Relena and Quatre spoke of more serious matters involving their work and schedules with Heero half listening, all three decided they should give the others the chance to visit. Relena softly kissed Dorothy's forehead and walked quietly out with Heero beside her, the nurses in tow. Quatre remained behind a few precious moments and away from prying eyes, leaned down to kiss her cheek and forehead before walking out.

Sterling: English-"Genuine", "Valued"

Cadan: Turkish- "Sincerely"

Rancho Los Amigos: The Friends Farm (No idea why it was given that name)

I want to get out at least two or three more chapters this weekend. If you all have any suggestions at all, feel free to let me know in your--dun dun dun!--Reviews! Review my pretties -cackles-.

Angel of Mirth