The Long Road: Chapter 4b

[lothinielflowermaiden]

 

Two days later, there was still very little change in Norway's condition. He was able to stay awake for slightly longer periods of time, but not by much. The rest of the family was beginning to regret the decision to not take him to a hospital. However, at the same time, they were worried about what might happen if Norway's government learned about his suicide attempt. And the couple times they had tried to raise the topic with him, Norway had always refused to be taken to a hospital. He continued to insist that he didn't want anyone to know.

By evening of the third day, though, the rest of the family basically overruled his objections and took him to the nearest hospital. They were becoming too worried that the condition Norway had already been in was hampering his ability to recover from his injury.

Like the previous time they had taken him to the hospital, the rest of the family was left to wait while Norway was being examined. Like the previous time, the wait seemed much longer to them then it was in reality. Sweden and Finland sat down together on one of the benches in the waiting room. Denmark paced the length of the waiting room, and a couple times seemed to be considering whether threatening someone would make them be given the information sooner. Iceland had sat down on another bench, a little ways away from the rest of the family, and was trying desperately to hide just how worried he was.

Although the wait seemed interminable, they were probably waiting for an hour at the most, before a doctor came out to speak to them. "I think we should go to another room, before I tell you anything," he said. "Some of what I have to say is best discussed in private."

The rest of the family found that a little worrying, but they saw no real cause to protest, and so they followed the doctor to a smaller room. This room wasn't an office; instead it seemed to be a room that had been set up for meetings like this.

"I know who he really is, and I am assuming that is why you didn't bring him in sooner," the doctor said. "I can't pretend to know everything that has been going on, but based on the condition that Haldor is in, you should have brought him in months ago. If he was human, he probably wouldn't even be alive at this point." Although the doctor's words were accusing, it was hard to tell from his tone whether he was really accusing them.

"We have been trying to help him," Finland said. "Something happened, a couple of weeks ago, that worsened his condition. We're not sure what triggered this, but since it happened, we haven't been able to get through to him. Everything we've tried has failed, and he just gets farther away with us with every day that passes."

"Well, I might as well tell you that the government was informed after Haldor was brought in. We needed to make sure that there hadn't been some kind of national emergency that may have caused his condition. According to them, nothing out of the ordinary has happened, and they have not known where he was since the middle of July. I imagine they will be sending someone to question all of you further. After all, Haldor is very important to all of us, and we are very concerned by the condition he has ended up in."

"Will he be all right?" That question was on all of their minds, and had been every since the revelation during Scandia's visit.

"Hopefully," the doctor replied. "We will see to it that he is given the best care available from this point forward. After all, we cannot afford to lose him. For the time being, I cannot give you any definite information about Haldor's condition. Someone from the government will be by in the morning to speak to you, and they will authorize how much you can be told."

"Can we see him?" This time, Iceland was the one to ask the question. Having already been dismissed by the rest of the family, he could recognize the fact that they were all about to be dismissed. However, as he was still unwilling to be separated from Norway, he hoped that he was wrong about what was about to happen.

"Not tonight," the doctor replied. "He's too weak for visitors right now."

That dismissal was clear enough for all of them to recognize, but they decided it could wait until morning. After all, in the morning, they would have to speak to someone from the government anyway, and maybe after that, they could get permission to see Norway. And maybe he really was too weak for visitors.

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It wasn't just one government official that showed up the next morning. Several arrived, at the earliest possible "reasonable hour" in the morning. Most of these officials were busy meeting with the doctors. It was a lower level official that was delegated to the job of meeting with the rest of the Nordics. This meeting took place in the same room where the conversation from the night before had taken place.

"We're trying to figure out how Haldor ended up in this condition," the government official said, getting right down to business.

"We don't know. We didn't even know where he was for five months."

The government official looked at a folder that was in front of him. "Yes, we know that you were looking for him shortly after he took a leave of absence. You did find him before last night, though, didn't you?" Once again he looked through the papers in front of him. "According to the doctors, his wound had been treated. Do you know how he came to be injured?"

"Not for sure. We weren't in the room with him when it happened, but we think he did that to himself. He had locked himself in his room for several days before the injury occurred, so there was no one else in the room." They had decided during the night to be truthful with whatever questions the government officials asked them. At first, they had considered hiding the fact that they believed Norway may have attempted suicide, but in the end, they felt it was best that his government know the truth. Or at least as much of the truth as could be told without revealing one specific piece of information.

"Hmm. We had suspected as much, based on what the doctors told us," the government official said. "We hoped we were wrong about that, though." Once again, he looked through the papers in front of him. He seemed to be putting off saying something. He asked a couple of questions, but the answers were not very enlightening. There was only so much that could be revealed without bringing up the revelation that had come out of Scandia's visit, and they suspected that Norway would not want his government to learn his secret. After finding out as much as possible about the situation, the government official made one final note on the papers, and then looked up at them. "We will handle the situation from here. We do not require the assistance of other countries."

"Haldor is part of our family. We can't just abandon him."

"You don't get any choice in the matter," the government official said. "We will deny you permission to visit him. After all, we need to make sure that he recovers, and being with all of you has not helped him to recover. So now, it is time to try a different method." He closed his folder, clearly considering the conversation to be at an end.

They could see that for the time being, there wasn't much point in arguing, but none of them had any intention of abandoning Norway. They had come too close to losing him to be willing to take that chance. At the same time, though, they all had their responsibilities, so could they really justify staying there when they might not even be able see Norway. For the rest of the day at least, they all stayed in or near the hospital, as they weren't quite ready to accept being sent away. However, no one spoke to them after they had finished answering all the questions.

There were times during the long day, when they wondered whether or not Norway was really all right. What if his condition was worse than they had believed it was when they brought him in? What if that was what they weren't being told?

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Author's notes:

The hospital issue: Back in chapter two, I mentioned something about there being another reason why the rest of the family was reluctant to take Norway to a hospital. In chapter two, while they were in another country, it was because they would have to hide who he was. This time, they took him a hospital in his own country, which immediately led to the government being informed that he was there. Basically, because of how important the nation personifications are, if they are brought to a hospital anywhere in their own country, their government is automatically informed, just in case there is some unknown national emergency. The same thing might happen in another country as well, if they didn't hide their identity.

When to expect the next chapter: This chapter was the last completed chapter I had. I am about halfway through chapter five, but is been giving me a lot of trouble. I ended up having to scrap most of my first draft, and rewrite the chapter after I changed my mind about something. Since I am halfway through the chapter, I hope to have it finished and posted by a week from tomorrow at the latest. If it is going to be later than that, I will put a note on my profile.

Research issues: I debated putting this as a warning, instead as an author's note, as it's something I'm worried will make people stop liking the story. I am trying to research as much as possible, but since I live in the US, it is difficult for me to find information about how things are done in other countries. So, starting in the next chapter, there might be some things that I will get wrong. I have been doing research, but I can only find information about how these things would be handled in the country I live in. And starting in the next chapter, there might be some medical issues that I will be making up, but those will probably be explained in the story, when the time is right.

I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I don't think there were any questions that I specifically need to address this time, although one reviewer gave me some things to think about for later chapters.