Four hours later Carol found Jess sleeping with her head on her husband's arm. Poor thing. Carol frowned from the doorway. They were such a young couple with so much ahead of them. Surely the universe wouldn't pull them apart like this, not now. Jess and Bernard had both been such a big help when Carol first married Scott. For starters not only had her step-daughter helped convince her to make the big move in the first place, she had been so accommodating when it came to adjusting from Chicago life style to the life at the Pole. Having experienced the change herself, Jess knew all the things that made Carol homesick and she had quick remedies for most of them. Bernard had also been great at teaching the Mrs. Claus what would be expected of her in her new role. He had taught her tricks to remember most of the elves names and even given her a very detailed map of the North Pole in case she ever happened to wonder out of the main Town Square. All of that aside, these two were her family now and she had come to love the pair like her own son and daughter.
Only one year into being a mother Carol certainly hadn't expected a tragedy like this. Curtis, Abby, Quintin, Judy and some of the other elves that were closest to the family had assigned themselves a rotation to stand guard by the Sick Bay door in case news or a development occurred. No one really knew what to do or how to react. The others also backed up Curtis' claim that Bernard had never been sick in his whole career let alone seriously injured. Scott and Carol went back and forth on whether Laura and Neil should be called. In the end they decided to leave it up to Jessica, which was why Carol had come to the Sick Bay in the first place.
Scott had returned to Jess and Bernard's house soon after his daughter fell asleep. She had stubbornly refused to eat anything or leave her husband's side, so Scott promised that he and Carol would take care of the kids. He waited till she drifted off before seeking advice from his wife. Carol then reminded him that Dr. Hismus may have some news about Bernard's condition in a few hours so they should just let Jess sleep.
It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon when the Doctor called Scott and Carol saying he in fact had some news. So Carol asked the doctor to give her a few minutes head start to rouse her step-daughter before meeting them all at the Clinic to go over the results. That's why Carol found herself leaning on the doorframe, frowning sympathetically at her family. She wished so badly that she could just let Jessica sleep. There would be no bad test results in her dreams, no more tragedy, no husbands falling off of roofs. Of course there were no good test results in Jess' dreams either. There would be no way for Bernard to get better if they didn't at least find out what was wrong with him first. So Carol made her way to her step-daughter and gently shook her away.
"Hmmm?" Jess grumbled as she blinked her eyes open.
"Jessica, the doctor's going to be in soon to go over Bernard's test results. We figured you'd want to be awake." Carol explained softly.
"Mmmm yeah." Jess agreed softly as she rubbed her sore neck. "Where are my kids?" She asked once she'd become more alert.
"Judy wanted to stay with them." Carol explained.
"That's good." Jess nodded. "They like Judy."
"Ah good, Miss Jessica you're awake!" Dr. Hismus noted cheerily as he entered the room with Santa.
"Hey Princess." Scott greeted his daughter as he joined she and Carol by the bedside.
"Don't look so glum everyone." The doctor commanded as he started hanging X-rays on an unlit board that hung on the wall. "These test results are not nearly as grim as you fear." With that bold statement Dr. Hismus flicked a switch and the X-rays were illuminated. "I feel pretty confident in say that none of Mr. Bernard's injuries are life threatening." Carol, Scott and Jess each breathed sighs of relief. This was the result they were hoping for, but not expecting.
"Unfortunately, he is still in a great deal of pain, which is probably why he hasn't awoken since his fall. As you'll notice here," The doctor pointed to a bone near the shoulder on Bernard's X-Ray. "Bernard sustained a clavicle fracture, mostly likely he tried to brace himself on his should when he fell out in the snow. We can fix that with a simply sling. Now he's also fractured three of his ribs. As I said though, this is not life threatening, and none of the breaks endanger his lungs in any way."
"So he's going to be fine?" Scott questioned.
"Don't get me wrong Santa, Bernard is going to be in a lot of pain. I will have to set his arm for the sling which will hurt a great deal. And those ribs will not be fun for him to repair either. He also suffered a minor concussion from the fall. It is going to be a painful recovery. But as I said, I'm confident our Head Elf will survive." Dr. Hismus concluded his diagnosis.
"He's going to be..." Happy tears began to spill out and Jess couldn't control them any longer. Bernard wasn't going to die. He was going to be just fine. "Oh thank you Doc!" She wept before flinging her arms around the Dr. Hismus' neck. This set off a chain reaction as both Carol and Scott began to tear up themselves.
Several tearful minutes later, everyone's eyes were dried. Scott and Carol left so that the doctor could perform all task necessary to start Bernard's healing. The Doctor assured his patient's wife that Bernard would most likely "wake up" After a few more hours; once the pain in his head and clavicle reduced. Still she insisted she would not leave his side until her husband's eyes were open. This meant it was up to Carol and Scott to pass the good news along to everyone else.