Work Text:
“G-Gosalyn?"
Something was seriously wrong the moment the Thunderquack landed at Duckburg General Hospital’s roof. As he took her carefully from the back seat to get out of the plane, he noticed the terrible heat radiating from her little body, as well as the fact that she wasn’t responding to his words... And as he looked for her pulse, he realized, horrified, that it was very, very faint, just like an imperceptible and almost insignificant pounding coming from a body that was slowly fading into his arms.
He wasted no time closing the plane, but instead rushed through the rooftop door, squeezing Gosalyn against his chest, ignoring the “Hey, what are you doing?! Stop!" of a security guard who tried to intercept him at the bottom of the stairs. He didn’t want to stop to explain, he just had to find a doctor, nurse, whoever, to help him... His mind was racing, his heart was pounding to his throat and his ears were buzzing...
The brave and daring duck knight, the Terror that Flaps in the Night… Was scared. Fucking scared.
The walk down that hallway to the lower floors felt like an eternity.
“Please someone help me! Please! I need help!" Drake started screaming at the top of his voice, hoping someone would hear him. Please, someone to hear it, someone to see it, someone to come…
Gosalyn still didn't respond or react, and Drake knew he couldn't move her too much or shake her no matter how much he wanted to… Most likely her now weakened heart wouldn't bear it.
He came to a floor where you could tell that it was crowded with people. All the chairs were occupied by adults, children and elders, some awake and others dozing, or making sounds of aches and pains; Nurses and doctors went from one place to another, taking notes, giving orders, and handing out papers or medications. There was a chaos of different sounds and voices, conversations, cries and complaints, all under the neat environment with a strong smell of antiseptic alcohol, but also sickness, pain and death... Of course, since it was December 22, and unfortunately, the Hospitals used to be very crowded at this time, either due to accidents, assaults, suicide attempts... Or because of hypothermia, especially in the case of homeless people who couldn’t find a place to protect themselves from the cold.
Why was Gosalyn was outside in the cold in the first place? Shouldn't her parents be looking for her?
"Miss, please, I need help!" The hero had to yell to get someone's attention, this time a snowy owl who scowled at him.
"She will have to line up to be checked at triage, like everyone else."
"We don't have time; she could die if she doesn't get help!!" Darkwing yelled, losing his composure. "She has hypothermia and she is unconscious, please...!"
The doctor sighed before placing two fingers against Gosalyn's neck, then her eyes widened before checking to her inert wrist... Then she turned to a group of doctors behind a reception table. “Folks here, case of a child with mild hypothermia, potentially severe, 45/120 pulse!" After several doctors took the young girl from the hero's arms (For an absurd instant, Drake resisted releasing her…) and placed her on a stretcher, she looked at Darkwing. "Since when she’s like this? Are you related to her?"
"About almost half hour ago, she was conscious but for a moment, then she fell asleep." Drake answered her and then lowered the brim of his hat, covering his eyes. “And no, I’m not. I found her while I was on patrol."
"What's her name?"
"Gosalyn."
"Gosalyn what?" The owl asked him impatiently.
Drake hesitated, he had no idea what her last name was. (Would she even have one?) He couldn't lie. "…I don’t know."
"... Anyway, I need you to come with me to fill out the admission papers, don't worry, she will be attended, Mr. Gizmoduck."
"It's Darkwing" The masked hero replied although this time not with an annoyed tone when he’s (again) mistaken for the rolling tin hero... As he walked down a corridor to start filling the pile of papers, his eyes didn’t leave the Gosalyn's haggard face in the distance behind a greenish curtain, heard the mixed voices of the doctors, including "I need the dialysis machine on the third floor but now!", as large scissors cut her wet clothes, leaving her naked, fragile and vulnerable like a very sick newborn, before being covered by thick blankets and carried to another room with double doors, where the words "Emergency Room" glowed a piercing and harrowing red.
The next few minutes were blurry: They made him fill out form after form, something he did with his brain stunned and feeling his hand move on its own. Drake bit his beak before answering the nurse's question if he had any idea where the girl came from or who her parents or legal guardians would be… No, he hadn’t the faintest idea, which made the owl raise an eyebrow; In other words, it could be that she had run away from home ("Sometimes children are like that, they don't want to listen to their parents or they didn't get the toy they wanted and they say they are leaving home...", she said when she received the papers back and typing on the computer) or even a real homeless girl.
"That's all? She will be alright? Can I see her?"
"Yes, I don't know and no." The owl replied in an annoyed tone, without even looking at him.
Darkwing suppressed the urge to scream. The images of Gosalyn huddled almost motionless under the bench, of how she trembled when he had pulled her out, her weak voice asking him not to leave... All of them were embedded in his retina, repeating themselves over and over again, feeling just as horrible as the first time.
He looked around, noting that there were many children, some awake and others curled up in chairs or on the shoulders of an adult, but none were alone. Gosalyn was alone, he had found her completely alone... A terrible shudder went through him brutally: What if he hadn't found her in time? What if he hadn't even decided to go out on patrol tonight? What if…?
No, don't think about it, he told himself sternly. Don’t think about that. She was awake when he found her. She is alive, she will be fine, she will be fine... But even so, the same images came back to his mind, haunting him with infinite 'What if...'
It was a horrible pressure and a fire on his chest, his hands were sweating. Drake wished he could do something, moving, maybe get closer to potential fans, keep filling papers... But there was no villain to fight, there was no an evildoer to exchange bad puns with and then kick his butt... The enemy was within him, consuming him with the fear and uncertainty of the long hours that were coming imminently. He felt so helpless, so useless...
"Don’t go…"
Her voice. Her little hand trying to reach for him under the mess of his cape and the blanket. Her green eyes filled with fear and anguish.
Drake turned his back on the owl and headed for the lonely hall where the double doors were. There he found a plastic chair where he sat.
He’ll wait, he’ll wait for whatever it takes. No matter it would be five, ten, twenty-four or forty-eight hours, even more. He will wait there as a faithful guardian dog before any sign, any indication that would confirm that Gosalyn would be out of danger, that he would see her conscious and speaking normally, so that she could clarify once and for all where she came from and what the hell had happened.
It was what he had to do. Not as a Duckburg hero, but because he had promised to her.
He pulled out his phone and called his partner on speed dial. He answered right away.
"Drake! Are you okay?! You haven't checked in in two hours!"
"I'm fine, LP. Forgive me for worrying you. " Drake said quietly, although there was no one in the hall at the time. Superhero stuff and secret identities. "I found a girl in a park while I was patrolling... She wasn’t good at all, she had hypothermia."
"Oh dear, poor girl! Are you in the hospital now?"
“Yes, they are already treating her in Emergencies, now I’m waiting for them to tell me how is she. I... I'm not leaving here, LP. I'll wait for whatever it takes, Gosalyn, the girl, she asked me to stay… I'm sorry, I don't think I can accompany you to light the menorah."
“Of course, stay there until they let you see her. And don't worry, honey, this is more important. Everything will be fine."
"I don't know, LP, her pulse was very weak, she was unconscious, she had a high fever..." Drake murmured feeling that his voice was beginning to break... "I had thought of patrolling the north zone and not there, I couldn’t have seen her and she, she maybe could… "
"Drake."
The duck knight was silent, feeling his throat clench and an invisible hand twist his gut. Launchpad's sweet voice, sure and reassuring, continued:
“Don't think about what could have happened, love, that doesn't matter anymore. You found her and you took her to the hospital, you saved her. Gosalyn will be fine, she’s in good hands; Come, let's do the Refuá Shlemá (1) for her, okay? "
Still with the feeling of uncertainty flaming in his chest, Drake smiled. Even in the darkest hour, Launchpad would always be there for him. Always.
"Darkwing Duck?"
Drake woke up with a huff, leaping out of the plastic chair. A thief, a terrorist, a powerful supervillain with death lasers?! He blinked quickly to see an elderly beaver in front of him carrying a clipboard.
…Heavens, how long had it been?
"You are the one who brought little Gosalyn, right?"
"Yes, it's me!" Drake exclaimed, giving the doctor an intense look of anguish. The beaver’s face didn’t express anything bad... But not good either. "Is she alright?!"
The beaver sighed. "...I'll be honest with you, Mr. Darkwing: A little over half an hour and we’d have lost her." The hero had to sit down feeling his webbed feet simply fail him suddenly, feeling a polar frost, a frost worse than the one outside the hospital, hit his heart. The beaver gave him a sympathetic smile as he reviewed his notes. “She had a low heart rate that a child her age shouldn’t have and a very high fever, above 100. We had to connect her to a hemodialysis machine to heat her blood quickly, as well as intravenous medications and nutrients, so she is now out of danger, but her prognosis is reserved... But if I may say so, I think she will be alright."
"…Good." That was all Drake could say, because his brain was in chaos and his heart was beating like crazy, assimilating the words and what it meant: She’d be alright, she’d be alright, she’d be alright... He almost had the urge to laugh, until the beaver returned to talk to him.
"However, there are other things I must discuss with you, and I suppose with the police as well."
Drake felt his heart and his stomach sank to his feet. "What's going on?"
“As you may already assume, we have no idea of her last name and she had no identification on her clothes, so we haven’t found a record of her in this hospital, so we don’t have information on her parents or legal guardians... According to the physical examination we did, Gosalyn presents a mild malnutrition, but the worst thing is that she has old marks of bruises and blows under the feathers...” The doctor gave him a hard look, at the same time that Darkwing's blood began to boil. "…It is too early to make assumptions since her origin is still unknown, but I’ve worked a long time with children to recognize a possible sign of child abuse, Mr. Darkwing."
His hands clenched into fists so hard he would hurt himself. Wasn't it enough for Gosalyn to be alone and left to her fate in the snow and about to…? (No, don't think about it, he said to himself) …And now that she has also been hurt by someone?
"...Don't call the police." Darkwing didn’t know when his voice came out, stoic and calm… And at the same time icy as an icicle. Before the beaver's look of surprise, he continued: “This is my investigation and therefore under the jurisdiction of S.H.U.S.H. at this time. Please wait for my superior to contact you and your staff to continue the process."
At the mention of the well-known world intelligence and anti-terrorism organization, the beaver paled before nodding. “…I understand and no problem, Mr. Darkwing. We will wait for the call from them. I suppose you want to… see the patient, right? "
More than anything. He wanted to see her, he needed to see with his own eyes that she was alright, that she was alive… Darkwing nodded and asked him to lead the way to her room.
A small snow-bricked window turned the room into a gray glow. The only sound that was present was the dry beep of a heart monitor, sounding normal… Darkwing's heart sank when he saw Gosalyn, unconscious and alone. She looked so small, so tiny in the narrow bed, her arm connected to an IV needle that carried nutrients. Her eyes were closed, dark circles surrounding it. Her small chest rose and she fell under the hospital gown and thin sheets. On a chair near her was his purple cape, which Drake took and draped over her once more. Drake stared at that face with brown feathers and wavy reddish hair, still damp... He couldn't help but place a hand on her hair and on her cheek with extreme care, as if she was made of glass.
Who was Gosalyn? Where did she come from? Who were her parents or her relatives and why had they not yet come to see how she was? Was she really a homeless girl? Maybe she came from an orphanage, or a foster home? Why had he found her under a park bench, almost at Christmas, and on the verge of dying of hypothermia? It was as if the unknowns came together to give him the painful hypothesis that was becoming, little by little, into a truth:
Something had happened. Something had happened to Gosalyn. Someone had hurt Gosalyn... Drake prayed that the latter wasn’t true, and he still had to check it out from Gosalyn herself before going to handcuff some hands and break some necks, but...
He still had to wait. The beaver had told him that due to the fever and weakness, Gosalyn would remain asleep for several more hours (“I cannot assure you that she wakes up soon, I think it could be in twelve hours, or even more, Mr. Darkwing. You can stay in the room with her, but I strongly ask you not to disturb her sleep and let her wake up on her own.”)
He wondered if it had been someone else who had found her. It was possible that, once she came to her senses and the authorities questioned her, there wouldn’t be a single word of comfort or affection…. His blood felt like lava, it burned for all those words, it burned for her... He couldn't allow that to happen. Drake would make sure that the first face the girl saw when she woke up was friendly, and that she would never have to be in the middle of hell again, whether it was frosty or inside a house where she was having a bad time.
"I’m here... And I won’t leave, Gosalyn." Drake whispered as low as he could, hoping she heard him. "You’re safe now, I promise."
And he waited.