What Means the Most

Chapter 1

"Yes, Moira, I know I'm late and I'm terribly sorry!" Charles said over the phone, walking as fast as he could. "Could you hold them there for just a few more minutes? Just a few minutes, I promise! I'm crossing the street right now and I'm literally looking at the building! I'm here! I'm basically right he--"

That was the last thing Charles remembered from that day. The rest was darkness.

~*~

When he reopened his eyes the light stung them. He closed them again and let out a moan. His whole body was hurting him. He forced himself to open his eyes again so he could see where he was, to make some sense of this whole thing.

He was in a hospital room. What happened this morning!? Moira! The clients! He looked around for his phone. He had to call her at once and let her know what happened. But what had happened?

He wanted to get up, get dressed, get out of here. He could not.

"I can't--" he whispered to himself. "I can't feel my legs!" he said, panicking a bit now. "I can't feel my legs!" he repeated louder.

Okay, he admitted defeat. It was time he rang for the nurse.

~*~

"You were in an accident, Mr. Xavier." she explained to him again, after telling him in which hospital he was and who were the doctors who admitted him. As if that was more important to him than why his bloody legs were numb! "You got hit by a car."

"I get this." Charles said, getting more and more frustrated. "But why, tell me please, can't I feel my bloody legs?" he was trying really hard to keep his cool.

"Please, relax, Mr. Xavier." the nurse said once again, talking to him as if he were a child.

"Don't tell me to relax, tell me about my legs!" he insisted, not shouting yet but sounding persistent.

"I will just give you this..."

"No! I don't want any drugs, just tell me about my lee-- oh..." he relaxed his head back down on the pillows, his vision getting blurred.

"It will help you sleep." he heard the nurse say as he was drifting. "The doctors need to run a few tests first and then..."

He could not hear what happens then because he was practically knocked out by the sleeping drug she injected in him.

~*~

"Are you feeling better now, Mr. Xavier? Ready to talk?"

Charles sighed with a nod. He was sitting up in his hospital bed now and this time it was a doctor talking to him. The nurse was probably too scared he might use the word 'bloody' again, Heaven forbid.

"Now can I please know more about my condition?" Charles asked. "I'm already late for a very important meeting."

"When was the meeting?" the doctor asked.

"The morning I got hit by a bloody car? You sedated me so I take it I slept the whole day. Which means I missed it! Just perfect." he threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"Mr. Xavier," the doctor started, "You were hit by a car two weeks ago. You were in a coma ever since. You woke up yesterday afternoon, at 4:35, and your blood pressure levels were getting dangerous for your health so we had to put you back to sleep to calm you down."

He waited a moment to allow Charles to take all this information in.

"I slept for two weeks?" Charles repeated.

The doctor nodded.

"But I am alright now, right? I almost don't feel that much pain..."

"... because of the painkillers." the doctor supplied helpfully.