Pride & Humility

XVII

"What?" she whispered, her body wobbling until she sat back down. Silent tears fell from her eyes, and Elizabeth abruptly stood up.

"Doctor, a word," Elizabeth said.

At the doctor's nod, Elizabeth and him moved to quietly discuss.

"I'll take care of the bills," Elizabeth softly said, "forward them to my lab."

The doctor inclined his head at that, accepting this.

"If he hasn't awoken in a week, discuss Trial Zip-Zap with Mrs. Hughes," Elizabeth went on.

The doctor's brow furrowed. Zip-Zap had been a mutation off Zippy that had an interesting jump-start effect on the human brain. It hadn't been tested much on living humans, but—

"That could overstress him," the doctor warned.

"You and I both know the longer he's in that coma, the less chance of him ever waking up there is," she snapped. "I'll take care of Gracia if you're worried about a lawsuit."

"I'm worried you're jumping the gun too early, ma'am," he explained. "I know he's your friend, and you were the first on the scene, but—"

"But nothing. He's my patient, too—"

"Ma'am," the doctor quietly interjected. "Give him time to heal, and give yourself time to calm."

Elizabeth bit on her tongue hard enough it hurt. She swallowed back her retort, trying not to get angry at the doctor.

'He's right. I'm too emotional right now.'

She didn't trust herself not to say anything rude, so she simply turned on her heel and headed back over to Selim. He wordlessly lifted up his right arm and Elizabeth curled herself into his side, squeezing her eyes to try and block out everything but her and Selim.

Selim's shadows gently pressed against her back, staying hidden from sight but present enough for Elizabeth to feel them and find comfort in them. Selim rested his right hand over her eyes, blocking out the light that had peeked through her shut eyelids and placing her in total darkness.

There, she rested for another two hours.

Then along came Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye.

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Selim pinched her nose when they came, and she tiredly looked up to find that Colonel Mustang and his second in command Hawkeye had taken a seat on the opposite bench.

Hawkeye remained composed, a perfect poker face accompanying her proper posture. Mustang, on the other hand, was visibly distressed. There was a dark look in his eyes, as he leaned over, placing his elbows on his knees, and folded his hands together.

Elizabeth slowly sat up from her seat as the doctor came back and said, "We've moved Hughes to a private room, and he is okay to see visitors now."

"Is he awake?" Gracia immediately asked, standing up from her seat in a lurch.

The doctor smiled apologetically. "No, ma'am, but I'm sure he would still love the company."

Gracia did not hesitate in dashing past the doctor to rush into the room set up for Maes behind him. Elizabeth was a bit more slow in reacting, her body stiff from dozing on that uncomfortable bench.

Mustang softly spoke, "Elizabeth... before you go in, would you be able to tell me what happened?"

She glanced over at Selim, her dear friend's expression perfectly matching that of a sleepy child. He rubbed at his eyes in a cute manner.