Chapter 7
The group turned to a tall woman standing there with a long white lab coat. Her straight black hair fell down her back to fall softly at her waist.
"Young man?" Duo asked incredulously. "You can’t be much older then I am, Mrs…"
"Malloy. Dr. Ara Malloy."
Sophia looked at the doctor. "You’re here about Quatre."
"Very perceptive. You’d be the one who screamed at our receptionist, correct?"
Sophia nodded her head yes, causing Dr. Malloy to laugh.
"She’s an annoying bitch, isn’t she?"
Sophia smiled in agreement as she stood up. The two shook hands warmly.
"How is Quatre?"
Dr. Malloy gestured to a chair next to Heero. Sophia sat in it, and Duo jumped off the counter to stand behind her.
"Mr. Winner," Dr. Malloy began, "had an extremely severe case of frostbite. Was he outside for very long?"
Trowa cleared his throat. "Yes."
"How long."
The pilots looked at each other. Heero suddenly started blinking rapidly in Sophia’s direction.
/What the fuck is he doing…wait a sec---Morse code./
Sophia nodded slightly at Heero and turned to Dr. Malloy. "I’d say around seven hours."
Dr. Malloy raised an eyebrow.
"Mighty long time to be left in the cold, wouldn’t you say?"
No one in the room moved. Trowa stood up and went to stand behind Heero as Wufei began fingering his sword.
"What are you implying?" Heero growled, bracing himself in his chair.
Dr. Malloy didn’t flinch. "I’m not implying anything. I’m just trying to get a medical point of view on the reason and causes of the frostbite. I also came in here to tell you about Quatre."
She paused as the group visibly relaxed, and then turned to another page in her clipboard.
"Quatre has suffered serious frostbite to the area between his right ear and chin from eye to neck, and his entire nose. It was too serious to treat with just antibiotics, so I sent him into surgery to have his skin grafted. He just now got out of surgery and is recovering nicely. I’ll send up a nurse to show you all to him in a few minutes. If you have any questions, please page me."
Dr. Malloy stood up and walked to the door. Suddenly, she turned back around, staring at Heero.
"By the way, I can read Morse code. Your ‘mission’ must have been really important if you would let your friend freeze."
And with that she strode out of the room leaving 5 shocked and unmoving pilots to stare blankly at the door. ***************************************************************************
Sophia smiled as she moved her chair closer to Quatre’s bed, taking his IV-laden hand in hers.
"Hey, ya look pretty good for a mummy."
A muffled laugh and a rolling of the eyes came from under a massive amount of bandages on the blond.
She stroked his hair with her free hand. Gently, she leaned over and placed a kiss on the bandage where it covered his lips. Sophia paused to straighten his blankets and turned to the other boys.
"Let’s go and let him rest. We’ve been here long enough." She paused to rub her tired eyes. "Plus, I’m sure Lady Une is just dying to see us."