Chapter 27

Gasping for breath, Maggie woke, as if emerging from a horrifying nightmare. Her throat was dry, and her eyes wouldn't open. Feeling like she was in danger, vaguely remembering the attack, she thrashed in her bed. Almost as soon as she began, strong arms forced her back down against her pillow.

"Petia, Grace, are they okay? Where are they? Where am I?" The effort to wheeze those words caused Maggie a great deal of pain, inducing yet another gasp from her lungs when she finished. The hands that helped to put her against the pillow released her for a moment and returned with a glass of water, which was gently brought to her lips. Forgetting her situation for a moment, Maggie wondered how a person with such strength could also possess the ability to be so gentle with her.

"You shouldn't be talking," a voice answered as she slurped water. Maggie knew who it was at once, it was the same man that rescued her from the ward, the one that had condemned her patients to die and saved her own life with a single word.

Pulling away from the glass, though she desperately wanted to finish the water, she fought to speak again. "I don't care, I need to know where Petia and Grace are, they were on the same ward where you found me. If you answer me, I promise to stop talking, please."

"Grace is a bit beat up, she has a broken leg and a concussion, but she'll survive. And, I would love to tell you about Petia, but we didn't find anyone with that name."

Maggie panicked for a moment, and then realized her mistake; of course the name Petia wouldn't have appeared anywhere. "She's Petunia, Petunia Clark. Please, tell me you found her. She was stuck, I tried to get to her when the second blast hit."

The voice took a deep breath. A slow answer was never good, Maggie wrung her blanket in her hands, waiting for what she knew was coming, bad news. "She suffered severe injuries to the head, she was standing near to the wall where the blast came through, and debris from the hospital landed on her pretty hard. She's in a coma right now, and we're not hopeful of her recovery. I'm sorry."

Maggie let her head fall against her pillow, looking away from where the voice came from. Silently, she allowed tears to fall for Petia, her friend. Her friend who would have been far away from that hospital had it not been for her ridiculous search for Grey, a man she had only met once in her life. How could she have been so selfish? Now Petia could be gone forever, and for what?

"Excuse me, Maggie," the voice interrupted. "Is there anything else I can do for you before I continue on my rounds?"

"There is one more thing. Could you tell me why I can't see?" she whispered. Perhaps she hoped that the man wouldn't be able to hear her, and therefore wouldn't be able to answer, but she was not so lucky.

"You were struck in the head with some shrapnel from the explosion. It hit fairly close to your eyes. When we found you, your eyes were swollen shut, bloodied and bruised, we've been keeping a salve on them, but they are tightly bandaged so you won't be tempted to open them too soon. The salve is very potent, and if it gets into your eyes, you could to blind permanently. We also don't want you to open the wounds again. We have every hope that you'll regain full sight in both eyes, of course with the swelling, we were unable to do a complete examination."

Maggie's voice trembled as she gave her response. "Thank you…I'm sorry, what is your name?"

"I am Doctor Jack Benedict, and I believe you promised to stop talking when I answered your questions about Grace and Petia."

Though Maggie couldn't see him, she thought she heard a smile in his voice as she spoke. "Well thank you, Dr. Benedict, for telling me the truth, and for saving my life."

"You're welcome, Miss Lawton. Now, I'll be back to check on you later. If I hear you've spoken to anyone else, you'll be in a great deal of trouble. You're throat was also injured in the siege; you must be quiet for a bit so it can heal properly. If you don't give it the opportunity to heal, you're likely to need surgery."

"May I have the rest of that water please?" she croaked, hoping not to get into too much trouble for her request.

The doctor laughed softly, and she heard him seat himself beside her once again. He brought the glass to her lips and she drank her fill. When the glass was empty, he carefully patted her lips dry. Brushing a hair from her forehead once again, she heard his heavy footsteps leave her side. With nothing else to occupy herself with, she allowed herself to fall back into a deep sleep, hoping it would be easier to wake next time.

Unfortunately, sleep was only able to keep Maggie occupied for part of her day. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep herself in slumber for more than a few hours at a time. Then, she spent her days with nothing to do. Without being able to see, she felt bored with no hope of entertainment. She must have been placed on a fairly critical ward, as she couldn't even hear the other patients banter back and forth like they had on the wards in her own hospital.

It was strange, being in a hospital without being required to do any work. Hours came and went without a bossy head nurse telling her she was going to be late for her rounds, or forcing an unpleasant breakfast down her throat. Even the gown they had her in was comfortable compared to her old uniform, which she was sure had been thrown away by now.

"Mags, Mags, are you awake?" Gracie's voice came from her bedside, a welcomed interruption to the silence. The sounds of her friend's voice made her tears erupt once again.

Lifting her hand from her bed, Maggie nodded. Grace grasped her hand immediately and held on tightly. "I'm awake."

"Sorry, it's so hard to tell with those bandages on your eyes. I've been allowed out of my bed in this wheel chair for the first time today, but every time I had a nurse push me by, Dr. Benedict has been with you, or you seemed to be sleeping. I just couldn't wait any longer!"

"I don't remember Dr. Benedict stopping by again." Maggie said quietly, not recalling any more visits from her savior.

"Oh yes, he's beside your bed an awful lot for being a busy doctor. I wish you could see him, he's very good looking!"

Maggie sighed, "Please Grace, I've far more to worry about than a handsome doctor who is probably only making sure I don't die of complications. Petia is in a coma, our hospital has been destroyed, I can't see, and I hurt so much I can barely move."

"I'm sorry Mags, I know the situation is grim, but I was just trying to make you smile. Truth is, I was so frightened that you were going to die, I've been crying for five days straight. I got knocked out after the first blast, and as I came to, I saw you screaming, looking for Petia. Then the second blast hit and I watched as you just…fell over, and you were just, just…lying there! I couldn't help you because of the stupid piece of wall that crushed my leg, I couldn't do anything for either of you!" Tears wound around Grace's voice as she told the story. Maggie wished she could give her a hug, but it was still far too painful to move.

"Gracie, will you tell me what's wrong with me?" Maggie asked when her friend seemed to be done with her tears. "The doctor explained why I can't see, but he didn't tell me why it hurts so much to move."

"Here, I'll check your chart," Grace sniffled.

Maggie heard the commotion that went along with Grace moving to the end of the bed. She heard the pages shuffling, followed by a heavy sigh. "You have a nasty concussion and stitches above your eyebrow. Your left clavicle is broken, as are two of your ribs. And your back and ankle are strained, according to this. It also mentions that they've been unable to examine your eyes fully as they didn't want to open the wounds that had developed from the shrapnel."

"No wonder I feel so awful! I must look a mess! I'd probably feel much better about this situation if I didn't know there was a handsome doctor looking after me."

Grace snorted in response. "You look fine, just kind of, mummyish. It really could be in style though, you pull it of so well!"

"I have a feeling that Dr. Benedict is just coming to check on me because I'm his patient, not because he wants to date me once I've been spun out of all of these bandages." Maggie added, allowing a quick giggle, which had her gasping for air it hurt so badly. When she finally gained control of herself, she asked Gracie one more question. "What's going on with you?"

"Broke my leg in three places, and my left wrist. I have a few bruises here and there, oh and I had a concussion but that's cleared up now."

"I'm sorry," Maggie sighed, "it's all my fault." She felt as though she was crying but the tears had no where to go, being quickly absorbed by her thick bandages. She took deep breaths, trying to keep the sobs from racking her broken ribs. "You and Petia would have never been in that hospital if it weren't for me, and now…"

"Maggie, enough. I'll let you have your cry over it, but it wasn't your fault. You didn't ask us to come, we volunteered. We knew moving closer to the battlefield was dangerous, we came anyway."

"She's so young, Gracie, so young. What if she doesn't make it?"

Grace grasped her hand again and held onto it tightly, but before she could speak, someone interrupted. "Excuse me. I believe I told you to rest your voice."

"That was days ago!" Maggie protested. "Do you know how hard it is to stay silent for so long? Especially when your friend comes to speak to you and gives you the first real entertainment since learning about being injured?"

"Entertainment? You're going to risk surgery over some entertainment?" Dr. Benedict said in a condescending tone.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't for entertainment. Grace was filling me in on what had happened. I promise she did most of the talking, I don't even feel strained. I have realized that laughing is off limits though."

"Alright, perhaps asking you to stay completely silent is unreasonable. But please use your voice with caution. It sounds much better than it did the other day." His tone was filled with compassion. "I know you're a nurse, and I know that being unable to see is hard, but you must follow my directions. I want you to get better, it's my job to help you get better."

"Okay, Dr. Benedict, I'll try."

"And Grace, you can't be encouraging her to talk either. I know you don't want to have your wheel chair privileges taken away."

"No, Doctor. I'll do my best to follow your orders."

"Good. I'll be back to check on you later Maggie. Just listen for a little while, you've had more than enough talking for one day."

Though she couldn't see it, Maggie was sure she heard a smile in Dr. Benedict's words. Perhaps he wasn't trying to make her life miserable and truly wanted her to get well. For now, she would follow his orders.

So sorry for the delay! It has been an incredibly busy year! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, more to come soon :)