FMA: The Real World (Part 3)

[dante]

"We're fine, thank you," Dante answered with a polite smile. That was far from the truth, though: her hyper daughter was driving her insane and that silly program the children were watching was giving her a headache.

Standing up, she walked over to the crib and placed Dahlia inside it. Dahlia was too captivated by the talking hedgehogs on television to even noticed. She continued watching attentively, smiling or giggling whenever one of the characters did something funny.

"I'd hate to be a bother, Riza, but would you mind keeping an eye on Dahlia, too?" Dante asked, looking over her shoulder at the blonde. "I have some work to take care of, and I think I'll gouge my eyes out if I have to watch this awful show with them for one more minute."

Meanwhile, at the hospital, an effeminate figure appeared at the entrance to the waiting room. A bandage was covering his right cheek, and anyone could tell from looking at him that he was in a murderous mood. "Miss Perelli? Doctor Marco is ready to see you now," he called out.

[silverviper2134]

Arden, starting to get bored with the program playing on TV, began to play with her Manic toy. She pulled on his arms and pinched at the spikes on his back, babbling happily as she did so.

Hearing the man call her name, Martel stood up and walked over to the man with Nikolai sleeping in her arms. As she did, she took a step back. He looked like someone you wouldn't want to be near.

[dante]

Eltana noticed her apprehension, but said nothing about it. Instead, he turned away from Martel and headed toward the elevators.

"My associate Grio told me about your little problem," he began casually, checking the clipboard he was holding as he walked. "This has been going on for how long?"

[silverviper2134]

Martel hesitantly followed him into the elevator. At his question, she had to think for a little. "About three months, I guess" she told him, once she had a pretty good idea of when her son's oversleeping and lack of appetite had begun.

[dante]

"Three months?" Eltana looked at her like she was one of the dumbest people on the face of the earth. "And you're just bringing him in now? How very irresponsible of you."

He clicked his tongue in disapproval and scribbed a note on his clipboard, then pressed the button for the fourth floor. "Three months is a long time, you know. Don't be surprised if there's nothing we can do for the boy."

[silverviper2134]

"Well, it wasn't this bad three months ago. He was just sleeping more and was eating a little bit less. Like maybe three-quarters of what he normally ate".

Martel glared at the man, and probably would have kicked him in the groin, had it not been for the fact that Nikolai had begun to cry. She instantly put her attention to trying to comfort her son. As the elevator doors opened, she stepped outside and was trying to think of where she should go to wait for Marco.

[dante]

Eltana narrowed his eyes when Nikolai began to cry. But he tried to ignore it, instead focusing on reading over the information the hospital had on Martel and the twins.

"But the symptoms were still present," Eltana countered caustically as he circled something on the clipboard, then started scribbling down another note. "From what I'm reading here, they are both premature. Knowing this, you weren't alarmed when your son started showing this irregular behavior?"

[silverviper2134]

"Not really. I did take him to see Marco about two months ago, and he told me that there wasn't anything to worry about" she told him, walking down the halls, trying to find a room where she could wait for the doctor to show up.

[dante]

"...I see," Eltana said, sounding disappointed as he scratched out a few notes on the sheet. "Well then, have a good day," he bid an insincere farewell as he strolled down the other end of the hallway.

[silverviper2134]

Martel rolled her eyes at the man as he left, but continued down the hallway. She passed by the room where Dr. Rafe-Kenist was examining Kyle. 'Maybe he knows where Marco is' she thought, knocking on the open door.

[dante]

Grio, who had been looking over the papers John and Alice filled out while Rafe-Kenist was examining Kyle, stood up and answered the door. He blinked in surprise when he saw the person on the other side. "Oh hello, Martel! Nice to see you again. You're looking for Marco, right?"

[silverviper2134]

"Hey...." Martel began, before realizing she never learned Grio's name. "Yeah. I'm here to talk to him about what's wrong with Nikolai and I came up here with this real fuckwad" she muttered, looking at the retreating Eltana from the corner of her eyes. Nikolai had fallen back to sleep, with a toy model of the Titanic that Martel had brought him to chew on in his mouth.

[dante]

Grio glanced down the hallway and saw Eltana scolding a female intern to the point of tears. "That's Eltana, the resident sadist," he grumbled. "Don't pay him any mind. Anyway, Marco is in room 402 - just down the hallway."

[silverviper2134]

"Thanks." Martel said, heading into the room that Grio told her about. Once she was inside, she handed Nikolai to Marco, taking the door out of his mouth.

"Let's see what's wrong here" Marco muttered, taking out a needle and taking a small blood sample from Nikolai's stomach. The boy flinched but stayed asleep as the blood was given to a nurse to analyze.

Bandit had snuck out of Martel and Dante's room and was trying to snff out Yoki. Going to Lust's dorm, she yipped excitedly and began to paw at the door.

[dante]

Yoki opened the door and looked down at Bandit, a scowl on his ugly face. "Shoo, you detestable canine! I'm busy," he commanded.

[silverviper2134]

In response, Bandit snapped playfully at Yoki's feet. She squeezed into the room and grabbed a bra that Yoki had left on the bed. With the undergarment into her mouth, the dog ran downstairs.

A few minutes later the nurse came back with the results of Nikolai's blood sample. Marco read what it said to Martel.

"Apparently, your son has a very low mitochondria count due to a form of bacterial infection. Mitochondria are organs inside of cells that allow the cell to process food into energy. So, with a lower mitochondria count, little Nikolai has to sleep so that his organs have enough energy to do there jobs."

Martel nodded, realizing what had probably caused the problem Nikolai had. She was going to kill Dante when she got home.

Marco handed Martel a small bottle and a few needles. They the bottle was full of a medication that would give Nikolai the nutrients he needed as well as kill the bacteria that was making him so sick. She had to administer the medicine by injection every four hours or so. Nodding, she picked up Nikolai and went to the first floor of the hospital where Shaun White gave her a ride home.

[dante]

Yoki could hardly believe his eyes when Bandit snatched the bra and scampered out of the room. Regaining his senses, he ran after the pup. "Come back here, you little demon!" he shrieked.

Dante had left her daughter in the care of Riza a while ago, and was now sitting on her chair in the living room, holding a playstation controller in her hands and staring at the screen intently.

"How utterly annoying," she hissed as she smashed on the square button, watching as one of her characters sliced into the gigantic manwoman sorceress on the screen. "Feel my wrath, you transvestite."

[silverviper2134]

Bandit simply kept running, specifically to Dante in the living room. The small pup placed the lingerine by Dante's feet, wagging her tail. She made a small bark, then went silent.

Martel came into the house, and frowned when she saw what Dante was playing. "What the hell is that?" she asked her roommate, placing three of the needles onto a nearby table. She shifted Nikolai a little so that she could fill the remaining needle with the clear liquid and injected it into the young child's stomach, as she was instructed. She quickly went into the bathroom, placing the bottle and most of the needles into the medicine cabinet. The used needle, she would have to sterilize later. She then went back into the living room, Nikolai still in her arms.

[dante]

"Final Fantasy VIII," Dante answered hastily as she continued mashing buttons on the controller. The gigantic horned sorceress on the screen then summoned a powerful earthquake, wiping out her three characters instantly.

Dante snarled in anger and dropped the controller at her at her feet. Looking down, she saw Bandit and the bra she had taken from Lust's room. "What are you doing with this?" she wondered, picking it up and examining it. "I hope this isn't one of mine."

Yoki stopped at the door and backed out slowly. "Damnit, too late," he cursed under his breath.

When Martel came back into the room, Dante was putting the system away. "So, how did it go?" she inquired, wrapping up the cords and putting them in the drawer under the television.

[silverviper2134]

"Well, I finally figured out what was wrong with him" Martel answered as she shifted Nikolai in her arms slightly. "Apparently he has some kind of infection that's killing parts of his cells that he needs to have the energy to survive."

Bandit yipped and looked happily in Yoki's direction.