I don't own Loonatics Unleashed

Enjoy!


A part of Duck knew that he shouldn't have disappeared from the team the way that he did. Another part of him argued that it was none of their business to know of his whereabouts. Even if he had been with the team for a full week, they were complete strangers to him. He didn't have the same formality as Rev and Tech did or Lexi, Ace, and Slam.

During the week, he had left at around the same hour, knowing the time when visitors were allowed to be with the patients, and he had stayed until the doctor or one of the nurses told him that he had to leave. Every single day he wished for a miracle that Miranda would be awake. Would it be selfish of him if he wound up disappointed every time he saw her asleep? He knew how much she was suffering but he hated going through that himself. It was torture not being able to hear her voice or waking up every morning and not having her to his side. Maybe he was losing it a little. He even caught himself dialing her number just so he could see her hologram appear under the voicemail and hear her voice. He couldn't help but deem it to be a ridiculous thing to do, but it put his mind ease knowing that she was in there somewhere, just fighting to wake up.

Wasn't it in some fairytales that the princess would be in deep sleep and the prince would kiss her and she would wake up? Any girl would find that romantic, but he knew that if he was to do that, he would get punched in the arm and hear Miranda complain about how cheesy of a gesture it was. He let out a sigh, knowing that he couldn't do much but to just be there for her. He looked over at the clock that hung on the wall, knowing that he had to start heading back soon. "See you tomorrow, Rookie," he said as he was about to walk out of the room.

There was an involuntary flinch on her fingers. Her head moved from side to side as her eyes slowly began to flutter open. That was strange. Just a minute ago, she heard a familiar voice and now that voice was gone. Why was she in this bed? Why was there a breathing tube down her throat? What was that rapid beating? She tried to muster as much strength as she could but to no avail. She noticed a person running towards her but she couldn't see whom it was. The rapid heart monitor must have alerted that person to tend to her. Though she still didn't know what happened that bought her here.

Duck's feet skidded to a halt when he heard the heart monitor rapidly beeping. He whipped around and noticed Miranda slowly moving her head from side to side. Was he…was he dreaming right now? He rubbed his eyes to make sure that this was real. "Oh my God…" he said in a whisper before he ran towards the hospital bed and grabbed a hold of her hand, "Miranda?"

She saw a blurry object grabbing a hold of her hand. She let out a faint whimper in fear of what this object was doing to her.

She's responding, thank God she's responding! That voice sounded very familiar to her but she couldn't place it exactly on who it was. If she could only see a face then she'd be able to make the determination.

The hand clung onto hers as if he was clinging for dear life and it was quite strong. Then another hand gently caressed over her head. It all felt very familiar to her. She wanted to raise her arm and grab this being's hand but she couldn't do it. It required the strength that she didn't have.

"The patient is responding!" a frantic male voice said as he came barreling into the room and almost crashed into Duck.

"Hey!" Duck yelled as he was pulled back.

A group of nurses gathered around the bedside and tended over to Miranda as Duck tried to see what they are. He wanted to jump in and help her but he couldn't barrel between the nurses. He knew that he'd get kicked out.

Her whole body felt numb coming out of whatever condition she was stuck in. She felt the sensation of hands roaming about her arms as they tried to untangle her from the tubes that weaved around her like a spiderweb. Whatever these people were doing, she had to put her trust in them and not resist their help.

"Please sir, go by the waiting room," one of the nurses urged him.

Duck felt that this was her only chance and he shouldn't let his selfishness ruin it. Giving her bedside one last look, he slowly walked out of the suite and allowed the doctors to do the remainder of their work. The moment he sat down on the chair, he couldn't help but feel elated. After so many weeks of constantly hoping that she would wake up, she had finally awoken. He was glad that he went with his decision to continue to have her on the ventilator, feeling that she would respond sooner or later. He knew that she would. She was too tough to left herself succumb to it.

Duck didn't know how much time passed until one of doctors that had tended to Miranda walked by. There was a smile upon her lips as she walked over to Duck. "The patient is still recovering but awake," she said to him.

Duck perked up when she said that. "Can I go see her?" he asked.

"I wouldn't recommend it right away," the doctor said to him, "give her a couple of days to recuperate with her surroundings. After patients come out of a coma, they may have trouble remembering things."

Duck blinked when she said that. "Like what? Like me?" he asked her.

"That I can't answer," the doctor said to her, "it depends how she responds to your presence."

"Oh, I am sure that she will respond just fine. She'd be practically jumping in my arms," Duck said, "who can forget the mighty and handsome Duck? Danger Duck, to be precise."

The doctor looked at him up and down as if he was a patient that she considered admitting to the hospital. At least he felt confident in his significant other that she would be getting better. "So, I see," the doctor cordially chuckled at the duck before her. "Be sure to look out for our phone call. We will reach out when she's ready to be discharged."

The moment that the doctor walked away from the waiting room; Duck wanted to jump for joy. No more suffering from the both of them and he would be able to take her back home. He just hoped that the day that Miranda would be discharged would be soon enough. The only issues that remained was that he was going to have to sneak out and try to see her without anyone knowing.

Why the urge to keep his girlfriend a secret? The only argument that Duck had about that was that he didn't want to mix personal life with business. Little did he know was that it depended what type of business one was in and superhero business didn't have the luxury of that. Sometimes, one had to compromise.

Still feeling good about the splendid news, Duck headed out of the hospital and took his time walking towards the headquarters. The moment that he arrived, he walked into the elevator and patiently waited for the elevator to arrive on the 134th floor of the Tower. Why did he feel like there was going to be something unpleasant waiting for him the moment he walked in? No matter. He had a good reason to disappear and he was glad that he did. The moment that the elevator dinged and the door opened, he expected to be in the living room with the rest of the teammates angrily demanding where he was. However, the living room was empty.

Phew Duck thought as he ran the back of his hand across his forehead and felt another huge weight being lifted off his shoulder. Maybe this might be a good idea to go back to bed and pretend that he had been there this whole time. Unless…one of them was nosy enough to investigate his room. He hoped that wasn't the case, otherwise he was going to have to put triple locks.