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Lucius sat stone faced in the hard plastic chair that was located in the hospital waiting room. He was not used to being in any hospital for reasons outside of business and this was a Muggle hospital, making the uneasy husband even more worried . There could be no simple remedy to heal his wife’s injuries and there was no way to get her to St. Mungos as Apparating with an unconscious person was very risky. Being forced to do nothing only increased Lucius’ agitation. The frustrated man looked down at his hands which were covered in the now dried blood of his wife. Lucius stared at his hands in a shocked state of awe. In all his years of torturing Muggles and Mudbloods, the Death Eater had never literally gotten a drop of blood on his hands. He was always at a safe distance in his methods of torturing and now the sight of someone’s blood on his hands was a jarring thought. The fact that it was his wife’s blood made the feeling in the pit of his stomach only worsen.
“She is nothing to you, Lucius. Get over this. Why are you still here waiting?” the man talked to himself. He glanced up at the clock and saw that it was almost eight o’clock. It has been close to two hours that Lucius had been sitting in the room without a word from any of the doctors. “I do not care if she is dead. She deserves to be dead for this!” The male Malfoy hit his fist against the wall in an out of character moment. Deep inside, Lucius knew why he was still here but he would never let himself outwardly express those feelings. It would be unbecoming for a Malfoy to act on such feelings. “I was an idiot all those years ago to let feelings like that rule my life,” Lucius hissed as he got some strange looks from another man who had just entered the waiting room. “What do you think you are looking at?” Lucius hissed through his teeth before storming out of the waiting room. Lucius did not know what to do with himself, he was helplessly lost. No magic could be used to get him out of this horrible situation. The man paced about the corridors of the hospital, waiting for any word. “Those lousy, good-for-nothing Muggles, they have found the perfect way to torture me… Keeping me in the dark.” Lucius paused when found himself outside the hospital.
Rain was now pouring down from the sky and it took only a moment for Lucius to be completely drenched, looking very much like a drowned rat. He looked at the blood that was running off his hands, and it made the man feel as if his wife was slipping away from him. “No more blood on my hands,” Lucius murmured in astonishment as he headed back into the hospital. He was stopped almost immediately by one of the doctors.
“Mr. Malfoy, we have been looking for you. We have news on your wife’s condition,” the young doctor addressed the obviously distressed looking Lucius.
“What is it?” he asked in a short, snappy tone, pulling soaked hair out from his eyes and flipping it back in order to look the doctor in the face.
“She is out of surgery,“ the doctor started off slowly. “But there was extensive trauma to the head. It is too early to tell if your wife will recover.” The doctor paused for another long moment, before continuing. “There was also severe injury to her abdominal region and we had to deliver the baby. The man paused again. There was obvious distress in the voice and composure of the man. He did not know how to word what would come next. “Things do not look good for your daughter. Under most conditions, babies born at twenty-three weeks gestation do not hold a high survival rate, and the injures sustained in the accident make the chance for survival even lower. We will know more when we can evaluate the extent of the complications from the accident. Currently, she is being set up in NICU. Once she is set up there and evaluated, we will let you in to see her. I must warn you, she is very small and she will be hooked up to many machines. You will be able see your wife once she is moved out of recovery and moved to ICU.” The doctor looked over at Lucius, unable to determine his reaction to any of the news. “Do you have any questions I could answer for you?” he asked, hoping that would get the man to talk.
The new father did not know what to make of all this information. The one thing that registered clearly was that he had a daughter. Worry and fear began to seep in as Lucius began to process the rest of the doctor’s words. Things definitely did not look good for the small child and they were not much better for his wife. “I will find you if I need anything.”
With that said, Lucius wandered away from the doctor exiting the hospital once again. His thoughts were completely on the small child that was born way too early. Regret was seeping in as he recalled the argument he had with Narcissa over the child, and it was that argument that caused her to run into the street and be hit by that lorry. “Stop it,” Lucius berated himself aloud. “Malfoys do not feel regret. She is to blame for this. You did nothing wrong.” He hoped saying the words aloud would change the feelings inside, but it was not working.
Another thought dawned on Lucius… Draco. How was he going to break this news to his son? The child who was alive and well. The child who was off at school. The boy always favoured his mother. Lucius was uncertain of the best way to break the news to the boy. After another hour of wandering, Lucius managed to sit and write a letter to Draco, explaining the situation, and carefully leaving out any part about the baby. After sending the letter via owl, Lucius headed back into the hospital. Finding himself near the NICU, Lucius looked though the glass of the room and saw a team of doctors working over one of the small incubators. From their movements and expressions, Lucius could tell they were trying to save the child. Then Lucius caught a glimpse of the card on the incubator. It was pink, with the name Malfoy scrawled on it. This was his daughter they were fighting to save. His heart fell into his stomach as he watched, almost entranced, as they worked feverishly, watching for a sign that they had been successful.
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