Someone has to be the bearer of bad news...

[palace_sean]

"Palace, may I help you please?" Famke said in a pleasant tone.

"Hello, this is Susan King calling from Balize General hospital. I need to speak to Orlando Bloom Csokas, please."

"One moment, I'll transfer you." Famke said and hit the button for Prince Christian's office.

"Office of the Crown. How may I help you?"

"Hello, this is Susan King calling from Balize General hospital. I need to speak to Orlando Bloom Csokas, please."

"Hold please."

"Your Highness, I have a call from Balize General for His Highness, Prince Orlando?"

"Put it through."

“Connecting you now."

"This is His Royal Highness, how may I help you?"

"Hello sir- I have you listed as the contact person for Harry Sinclair, is that correct?"

Harry? Shit! Christian sat up straighter. "Yes, that's correct. Is something wrong?"

"He's been admitted to the hospital along with an Elijah Wood, who lists Harry as his contact. Sir, you should come to the hospital as soon as is possible."

Fortunately, he thought later, Christian had already swung into 'business' mode and the news, while it made his heart sink, didn't adversely effect his thought processes. He reacted swiftly, putting on his most imperious voice and demanding, "What else can you tell me?"

"Let's see... Elijah Wood... admitted with a concussion and various bruises, still unconscious. Harry Sinclair admitted with a stab wound to the abdomen, in surgery now. That's all the information I have, sir, they'll be able to tell you more when you get here."

"Right. Thank you." Christian hung up the phone and ran a shaky hand through his hair. Think! Okay. Orlando was out of reach, that he knew. He'd spoken to his little brother yesterday and Orlando had mentioned going diving off the coast, being out of range. So, scratch contacting Orlando for now. He got to his feet, hands reaching automatically for his jacket. At the door, his fingers wrapping around the handle, he stopped. What the fuck had happened? How'd Harry get stabbed, for chrissake? Marcus was still at his desk and looked up in concern.

"Everything all right, sir?" he asked.

Christian shook his head. "I'm out. Cancel everything." He turned to Lucius. "Where's my father?" he demanded.

Lucius pursed his lips, but complied. "In his rooms I believe, Sire." he said officiously.

"Thanks." Christian nodded and left, hurrying out into the hall and knocking on Marton's door. "Dad?" He swung the door open.

Marton woke instantly. Alerted by the tone of Christian's voice he sat up abruptly, muffling the curse that came from the jolt to his still aching head. He sat on the side of the bed, resting his head in his hands. "What is it?" he asked, his voice muffled.

"Harry's in hospital. They just called. Something about his being stabbed. I think we should . . ."

Marton's head shot up and this time he ignored the pain stabbing at his temples. Teach you to drink when you're unwell, he berated himself viciously. He was already slipping his feet into his shoes, synapses firing. "Organize a car." he told his son. "I'll be there in a minute. Oh, and get Vin." Christian nodded and shot out the door.

Marton grabbed his jacket, checking for com unit and keycard in the pockets and finding both. He headed for the door and then stopped, pulling out the com and pressing buttons. "Sean?"

"Yeah. Marton?" Sean sounded surprised.

"Yes. Listen. Something's happened to Harry. I don't have any details other than he's in the hospital, along with his assistant. Elijah? Christian and I are on our way there now. If you want to come, meet us downstairs."

Sean was silent for a second as the shock hit him and then he rallied. "Umm.. Right. I'll be there." He shut off the com and shot to his feet, heading straight out. In the outer office he stopped and looked at Dom. "I have to go out. Cancel anything and everything, right?" A thought occurred and he gave Dom a sympathetic look. "Elijah's your friend, right?" Dom nodded, his eyes widening. "He's in the hospital, mate. Dunno much more than that. He and Harry have been admitted. I'm on me way there now, going down with Marton and Christian." He stopped for a second. "Anyone else should know?" Dom looked stricken and Sean thought fast. "You get yourself a temp, then follow us there, okay?"

Dom's thoughts seemed to stop spinning long enough for him to get out, "Karl."

Sean considered. "Yep. Okay. I'll leave an authority for him." He squeezed Dom's shoulder. "Be all right." he told him. "Get on it." Dom nodded and headed for his desk and Sean shot out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christian threw down the elderly magazine in disgust and settled for watching his father pace. Sean was hunched up on the couch opposite, trying to play a game of Snakes on his com but his curses indicated his lack of concentration. It felt as if they'd been sitting here forever and he'd long ago lost track of how much time had passed since the three of them had been settled in this private lounge to wait. And wait. And wait. Christian blew his fringe off his forehead in frustration. All they knew now was little more than they'd known in the first place. Harry had been stabbed n the abdomen and was in surgery, the outcome of which was uncertain. He'd lost a lot of blood.

The door to the lounge opened and he looked up without much hope, as did Marton and Sean, suspecting another offer of coffee and sandwiches and surprised to find an actual doctor standing there in bloodstained scrubs. Marton drew himself up and approached.

"Mr. Sinclair is going to be fine," the doctor opened, without any preliminaries. "The surgery was performed successfully, and if everything goes as it should, he should recover completely."

The sense of relief in the room was palpable. Christian saw Sean's shoulders sag and watched him wipe his hands across his face. When he looked up, Christian gave him an encouraging smile and got one in return. Marton was questioning the doctor. "What else should we know?" he was asking.

"He was brought into the emergency room unconscious, with a single stab wound to the left of the diaphragm, along with massive blood loss, which led us to the correct conclusion that his spleen had been damaged, and he was rushed to surgery. An attempt was made to save the spleen, but the damage was too extensive, so it was removed. That's not the end of the world- you can live without a spleen. Our priority other then that since he was admitted to the ER was to replace the blood he'd lost- there was a bit of a scare in the ambulance on the way here with his blood pressure dropping dramatically, but they were able to stabilize him.

"We weren't able to do a laparoscopic surgery, so the scar from the operation is quite a bit larger then the wound made by the knife itself - about five inches across. This was due to the amount of damage done by the knife- from the wounds left behind, we believe it was inserted and then twisted before being removed again, requiring a much more invasive operation to close the internal injuries. The internal injuries have all been laser sealed, and he was lucky in that the spleen was the only organ affected- the stomach and kidney are fine."

"But he's all right now?" That was Sean who had gotten to his feet and was standing beside Marton. "Can we see him?"

The doctor turned to Sean and smiled. "He's being moved to recovery right now, and yes, you can see him. He's receiving one last blood transfusion, and he's also receiving IV antibiotics to prevent a post operative bacterial infection, which are fairly common following surgeries like this, so don't be surprised if he does contract one in the next day or two. He'll need to be hospitalized and in bed for around a week, another week before he's really mobile, then another before he's mostly back to normal."

"As normal as Harry ever gets." Christian patted Sean on the shoulder as he came up behind him and Sean smiled back and managed a laugh. Marton smiled and said to the doctor, "We'd like to see him if we may." in a tone that brooked no argument and they were led along the hall to a set of swinging doors with Vin and Lawrence trailing steadily behind. Christian almost asked where Sala was, then remembered his father ordering the big man to stay downstairs in Reception and head off any press who might have got wind of what was going on. The doctor, or surgeon rather, was telling his father that Harry was in a private room in Recovery and would be moved upstairs to a ward the following day.

"He's been given a stimulant, so he should be awake. They're just checking his neural responses to make sure there wasn't any damage to his heart or brain from the blood loss. After that, we'll be sedating him for a couple of days while he recovers from the worst of the damage." The doctor stopped them just outside a room and gestured for them to wait while he went inside, coming back out a few moments later with a smile. "You can go on in now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry made a face as the nurse walked away with the water again- he needed more then a sip every five minutes for fucks sake- his throat was killing him, and he was tired of answering questions to the overly cheerful woman standing beside his bed.

"Okay, sweetie, just a few more. Can you tell me who the king is?" she asked, not turning as the door opened behind her.

Harry squinted towards the door, raising his IV-free hand to point. "That one." he rasped, managing a small grin.

"Nothing wrong with his eyesight anyway." Marton smiled at the nurse who backed away and curtsied as he approached. "S'all right." he told her with a wave of his hand. "We're just visitors. Tell us when to back off if you need to." The nurse smiled but shook her head. "I'm done." she told them and left. Marton looked down at Harry, Christian standing beside him and Sean on the other side. "What have you gone and done now?" he asked with gentle good humor.

Harry smiled fuzzily, the painkillers slowing his responses. "Dint do nuttin. And Sean, I don't have the ... the papers on me, but it was 80/20 split male-female fer intake, right, not t'other way 'round? Harry slowly cocked his head to the side and focused on Sean. "Because that would be a lot of women."

Sean leaned in and stroked a hand across Harry's forehead. "Yeah, that's right mate." He looked up at Marton. "Not gonna get much in the way of straight answers out of him right now."

Marton agreed. "Expected as much." he said. "Christian and I will head back to Palace shortly. I'd rather stay, but it can't be helped." He looked at Harry, who was still smiling at him. "Can we get you anything, Harry?" he asked, keeping it simple.

Harry's forehead creased. "Orlando."

Marton looked sideways at Christian who cleared his throat. "Harry. Orlando's away, remember? We can't contact . . ."

Harry cut back in, not even listening to what Christian had said. "Don't tell him." he said softly, his voice still rough.

"Don't . . ." Christian looked to Marton for guidance but Marton was already leaning in close, hand on Harry's shoulder. "We won't." he promised. Harry nodded, his eyes starting to flutter closed. "Christian and I are going." Marton whispered to Sean. "You're going to stay." It wasn't even a question and Sean just drew up a chair and sat down, nodding a goodbye to the pair as they silently withdrew and taking Harry's free hand to hold.

Harry squeezed Sean's hand lightly, turning his head on the pillow to face him. "Tired." he murmured, giving up the battle to keep his eyes open and relaxing, falling asleep almost instantly.