Pokémon Homecoming | A Galar Fanfiction

Chapter 90: Processing

Abbey wanted to stay. So did Hop. Everyone who loved Leon did. Asdza gently asked them to return the next day, one at a time and two hours apart.

Leon was asleep when Abbey arrived. She had permission to pinch him, to see if he responded to pain, but it was three days until he did. His eyes were agitated. The best news they had so far came a week later: that he set off an alarm trying to rip the cannula from his hand. No-one dared talk too much. Speech seemed to irritate him, but that too was an improvement, because it meant he understood he couldn't respond. His eyes began to follow Hop and Abbey when they moved. He wouldn't respond to anyone else, except Charizard, whose hand he managed to hold and even squeeze. Asdza allowed it to stay in a basket by his bed. There was no way of knowing yet if he remembered what happened.

Sometimes it seemed he was perpetually angry with his visitors. Abbey found Jasmine crying on the curb after hours of Leon simply refusing to open his eyes. He wouldn't open them for her, either. As frustrating as it was, it made those painfully slow improvements so much more rewarding; like when Abbey gently placed his hand on her stomach and he managed to weakly stroke her stretched skin. She and Hop prayed beside Jasmine every night. It reminded her of her childhood, before her dad left, when he took her to communal prayers. Back then, she prayed he would return. Now she prayed her own child wouldn't grow up without a father.

One evening, just over three weeks since Leon awoke, Abbey jogged back from the gas station. Even though he was 'asleep' earlier, she burst in excitedly anyway. She was startled to find him sitting up. His feeding tubes were gone. Charizard was helping him eat mashed potato. She backed off, afraid he might feel humiliated and shout, but he didn't. Asdza hovered behind her.

'He's done so well today. He even managed a few sentences in speech therapy. Why don't you try talking to him?'

She tentatively sat in the chair beside his bed. 'Man, it's so hot out there. At least it's cool in here, innit?'

He watched her, but didn't attempt to speak. She didn't say much else until he finished his dinner. Asdza encouraged him to try passing her his plate. He dropped it.

'Don't beat yourself up,' Abbey tried to say brightly, without sounding patronising, 'I'm dropping things all over the place with this belly throwing me off balance. And I'm not even in the third trimester yet. Can't imagine how clumsy I'll be then.'

His eyes were on her stomach. She smiled. That meant he understood, even if only vaguely, what she was saying.

'Hey, you know the lads I'm training? Who applied to open a Steel-type Gym? They've been accepted! They're going to run Orre's seventh Gym! I'm really excited!'

Maybe that was too much. His eyes wandered. She noticed soft ties on his wrists and ankles. He kept trying to pull the remaining tubes out... and, she discovered when she left him asleep that he kicked Hop that afternoon.

Charizard helped around the hospital, delivering mail and pushing beds and wheelchairs, to keep fit. It played outside with another patient's Linoone. Though it preferred to spend time with Leon, it wasn't immune to feeling hurt when he lashed out. He was yet to speak to Abbey, Hop or Jasmine. He had, however, told both Charizard and Elias to 'fuck off' and continued to intermittently turn away from everyone.

His speech therapist, Zoga, occasionally invited them to sessions. Abbey was anxious when her turn came. For the first time, she was gone for a few days, helping Michael and his students at Gateon Colosseum. It was a much needed break, but it heightened her nerves. Zoga said he improved dramatically and she wasn't sure if she would prefer being told to fuck off over silence or not. He said nothing, as usual, when she entered.