Chapter 10: The Doctor Who Stands Vigil
Some say that silence is the sharpest and deadliest knife. However, the slow and solemn beeps from an electrocardiogram machine is arguably worse. The measured beeps are patient and steady, signaling no sign of change. However, it has the possibility of sending anyone nearby into full panic if the slow and solemn beeps suddenly increase in a rapid pace. Therefore, the slow and solemn beeps are both a source of frustration and comfort. A status isn't improving, but at least it isn't getting worse.
Two figures walk out of a medical room in a cave deep underground. The door is open, ensuring the ability to quickly travel inside the room in case of the worst. Inside of the room is a young boy and a young girl. The boy lies on a bed, asleep for the foreseeable future. The young girl sits on a chair next to the bed, asleep yet still showing hints of distress. Both look worse for wear: the boy with bruises and cuts and bandages littered across his body while the girl has bags under her eyes and tear stains running down her cheeks.
"Four broken ribs, a fractured wrist along with a fractured femur, several lacerations, most shallow but some which were deep, a punctured lung as a result of the broken ribs, and thankfully a minor spinal cord injury. Everything is relatively easy to treat—at least, for me. Yet what I am worried about…"
"Leslie."
Leslie Thompkins met the eyes of a distraught father. In all her years of knowing him, Bruce Wayne has always attempted to hide his strongest emotions behind a mask of steel. She has grown skilled at being able to see through that mask. She doesn't need to apply those skills right now because Bruce is making no effort to construct a carefully crafted wall to hide his grief. It is obvious he is too tired to do so.
The doctor decided to be blunt. "He has swelling in his brain. I exhausted all other options, but the inflammation was going to cut off oxygen in various parts of the brain. By reducing the electrical activity of the brain and slowing its metabolism, I can minimize the inflammation. So, I had to put him into an induced coma.
"I would have preferred to use Precedex, but because we only had Propofol in our inventory, I have less control regarding his arousability. Once his brain becomes less swollen, I can take him off the sedative, but I'm not taking him off Fentanyl until the remainder of his injuries are healed. Even if I stop the Propofol, he won't wake until the Fentanyl is out of his system." Leslie paused, yet resolutely continued with the diagnosis.
"There's damage to the brain, yet I won't know the extent of that damage until he wakes up. Theoretically, once the swelling goes down and I feel comfortable in reducing the dosage of painkillers significantly, he will be able to wake up. But the extent of his internal bleeding, the overall blood lost, and the unknown brain damage… Bruce, he's in a coma and there are too many unknowns for me to determine when he's going to wake up."
Bruce was patient in his response. "You said when."
Leslie hesitated. "I did."
"Elaborate."
She decided to be forgiving towards him for being short with her.
"Like I said, I can't predict when he'll wake up. I don't want to give false hope so maybe I shouldn't have said that. But Bruce, if anyone can recover from this traumatic of an injury, it would be Dick."
"And no guesses for when he'll wake up?"
Leslie regretfully shook her head.
Bruce sighed. The man was still in his battered and stained Batman-suit, not allowing himself the chance to change from it. Now though, the sight of the dark red staining his suit makes him desperately want to get out of it.
"Then we'll wait."
The sentence was simple, yet Leslie heard the hefty weight behind it.
Bruce and Leslie gazed into the room one last time before Bruce swiftly turned his back to it and began to walk deeper into the cave. Leslie's next words stopped him before he got too far.
"So that's Allison?"
Bruce remained where he stood.
Leslie smiled at the sight of the girl and boy inside of the room crowded with medical machines.
"She seems like a good friend."
Unbeknownst to the doctor, Bruce's tense facial expression softened. She did see his shoulders relax, however.
Leslie didn't expect a response. She was mildly surprised when she received one.
"Yes, she is."
Bruce walked off, leaving Leslie to stand vigil over the two children under her watch. She's never been silent with her disapproval regarding Dick risking his safety by going out to fight crime in the city. But she knows this is far from the time for her to start that everlasting argument. Besides, she's aware of the strength the two kids possess.
They can get through this. They just have to wait.
A short chapter before the behemoth of the next chapter. I am very excited for the next one, and I hope you guys are too. Also, I did a ton of research regarding induced comas and the arousability of it, so most of it is (I think) accurate. I love how fanfiction is responsible for accidentally learning about some random type of knowledge like brain injuries.
In other news, I am cross-posting this on AO3 under the same username. It may take some time to catch up on there. However, for both AO3 and this website, I am editing the earlier chapters. I was a lot younger when I made them all, and they kinda need some work. First chapter has been edited on this site, nothing big has changed however.