5. Chapter 5

AN: So I decided not to keep you all hanging too long with last chapter's cliff hanger - though I'm not sure you'll be too happy with the answers. I just want to remind everyone of two things - I'm not a doctor, first of all. But second - all of my stories have a happy ending, even if it takes a while to get there, so if you stick it out, I think you'll be pleased.

The whole family was quiet as Dr. Gonzales examined Mirabel.

"Her vitals are good," He commented, before starting to check her reflexes and pulling her eyelids back. "Did she hit her head at all?" He asked.

Agustín shrugged. "We don't know." He admitted. "She definitely could have hit her head when the house fell."

"Casita threw everyone out of the house when it was falling." Bruno pointed out. "At least, it threw me and Dolores out."

"Yes, but Mirabel was trying to be a hero and rescue the candle." Camilo spoke for the first time in a while, shooting a glare at Abuela as he did so. Abuela who hadn't said a word since Mirabel had gone down, didn't respond.

"We tried to get to her, but Casita wouldn't let us." Julieta admitted.

"And by the time we could get to her, she had disappeared." Pepa finished.

"She ran off. We found her." Dolores heard herself say. "Her and I - we ran into each other. But I didn't see her hit her head, I swear."

Dr. Gonzales had continued to examine Mirabel as they spoke, and now he was feeling all around her head with his hands. He grimaced, and it wasn't missed by anyone.

"What?" Julieta asked, her voice high pitched with concern.

"It appears she did hit her head." He said quietly. "I'm concerned she's entered into a coma."

"A coma?" Dolores wasn't familiar with the term. "What's a coma?"

"A coma can be caused by different things." The doctor explained. "Including a head injury. When someone is in a coma, they are unable to be awoken by external stimuli." He saw that most of them were staring at him blankly, not understanding. "It means that we couldn't wake her up just by talking to her or shaking her."

"When will she wake up?" Isabela asked. It appeared that Isa did care for her sister after all, even if she did seem to hate her just a few hours ago. If the situation wasn't so serious, Dolores would be tearing into her prima for how she treated Mirabel, but she couldn't bring herself to do so, seeing how broken Isa looked at the moment.

Dr. Gonzales hesitated. "It's hard to say." He admitted.

"But she will wake up, right?" Dolores asked. He wouldn't meet her eyes. "No. She will wake up, right?"

"It's hard to say." He admitted. "I've not dealt with patients in a coma very often." He glanced at Julieta but didn't comment. "I don't have as much experience with them as do some other ailments. But, hopefully, she will wake up." He told them.

It took a minute for it to process, but Julieta burst into tears a moment later.

"You're saying you don't have experience with comas because I would normally be able to treat them." She said. "That's what you're saying, right? That it's an injury, which I could heal, if I had my powers."

He hesitated. "It's not always the case of course, but… in this case, I suspect the coma is caused by a head injury, which you generally would have been able to heal."

Julieta, turned, only to find Bruno right there. "Easy, hermana," He murmured, taking her into his arms. "Your daughter is a fighter, always has been." He looked up at the doctor. "You have had people come out of comas, right?"

Dolores had never heard her Tío sound that insistent and assertive, but she was glad to see that that side of him existed.

The doctor nodded frantically. "It has happened." He agreed.

Pepa came up to Julieta and Bruno, adding herself to the hug. "Bruno is right. Mira is so strong. If anyone is going to come back from this, it will be her."

Dolores had been silently crying the whole time. She couldn't deal with this… her prima… she should have noticed. She should have realized something was wrong with her before now.

"Easy, mija." Her Papa's voice was in her ear again, turning her to him. "I need you to breathe, Dolores." He instructed, and she followed his example, taking deep breaths.

"So what do we do now?" Luisa asked. She had been quiet up until now, and her voice was shaking even as she asked.

"I'd like to take her to my office. We can set her up in one of the rooms so I can monitor her. I will set her up with an IV to keep her hydrated and nourished. I live just upstairs, and I keep a room downstairs for myself when I have to have an overnight patient. And you are welcome to stay with her - though I cannot have all of you at once. Two or three at a time, please." He cautioned.

"When?" Agustín asked. "When do you want to move her?"

"Now, preferably." He said. "I can go to town and get some donkeys and a cart, and we can transfer her-"

"No." Luisa moved to her sister, and knelt down, picking her up in her arms. "I got her." She stated.

"Luisa, you don't have your strength anymore-" Abuela spoke for the first time, but Luisa shot her such a vicious glare that she fell silent.

"I don't have magical strength anymore," She admitted. "But I'm still strong. I will carry my hermana. Doc, lead the way." She was holding Mirabel without strain.

"Let us all go to the village." Abuela spoke again, quietly. "The Reverend has offered us the church for as long as we need as a place to stay since Casita is no more. And it is not far from Dr. Gonzales, so it will be easy for everyone to check on Mirabel."

No one commented, but everyone moved, and they formed a silent, solemn procession to take Mirabel into the village.

Luisa didn't falter the whole walk, but when they arrived at the doctor's home and office, everyone seemed to realize at once that they couldn't all stay with Mirabel.

Thankfully, Julieta had a clearer head by the time they were there, and she took charge.

"Luisa, Dolores, and I will get Mirabel settled." She announced. "The rest of you will start getting the church set up as our home for the foreseeable future."

"But-" Isabela started, but Julieta shook her head.

"We will have to take turns sitting with your sister. You heard Dr. Gonzales. Only two or three of us at a time."

"Why should Dolores get to go instead of me? I'm her sister." Isabela snapped back.

"Yes, but Dolores has acted much more like one recently than you have." Julieta's patience was obviously worn thin. It was late, and it had been a long day. "You will go with the rest of the family as I said. Myself or Agustín will be with Mirabel at all times, when one of you leaves, we will tell you who to send over to see her. This is not a debate. Dolores, come sobrina."

Felix gave her kiss on the head and a little push forwards, and Dolores followed Julieta and Luisa inside. Dr. Gonzales led them to a back room, where he had a bed set up and exactly three chairs in the room, likely meant to enforce the rule on the number of visitors.

Luisa gently set Mirabel down, and Julieta and Dr. Gonzales got busy getting her situated with pillows and blankets. Dolores watched, somewhat fascinated, as Dr. Gonzales placed a needle into her arm, connecting her to some fluid, that he explained was an IV and would help keep her healthy since she couldn't eat or drink.

"I'm going to go upstairs, give you all some privacy. Please don't hesitate to get me if something is wrong." He said quietly.

"Gracias, Nilo." Julieta said quietly as the doctor made to make his leave, and it occurred to Dolores for the first time that Julieta had probably worked a lot with him in the past, considering her gift.

Now that she was settled, Dolores moved forward and smoothed the hair out of Mirabel's face. There was a strange blankness to her expression, not one that would normally appear during sleep, and it was disconcerting.

"It's my fault." Luisa said from behind her, and Dolores and Julieta both whirled to look at her.

"No, mija, it isn't your fault. It isn't anybody's fault." Julieta soothed, stepping over to her middle daughter and holding her.

"I'm supposed to protect the family, I'm supposed to keep everyone safe." Luisa was breaking down. "I couldn't do that, I couldn't protect her."

"Your hermana is stubborn." Julieta soothed. "She was going after that candle and nobody was going to be able to stop her. Mirabel would be furious that you are blaming yourself."

"Yeah," Dolores said, though she made note that this was the second time she had heard mention of Mirabel going after the candle, and she still wasn't sure what it meant, but now was the time to ask. "Mirabel is the most forgiving person, like, ever. So even if it was your fault, which it's not, she would never want you to be blaming yourself."

Luisa looked at Dolores, her eyes filled with tears. "You've been spending time with her recently. You've been looking out for her?" She asked.

Wordlessly, Dolores nodded.

"Thank you." Luisa whispered. "I'm glad that someone was."

It wasn't long before Luisa stood up. "I should probably go help them all get settled," She said reluctantly. "And I'm sure someone else wants to come see her."

"Okay, mi amor." Julieta tugged her much taller daughter down into her arms. "See if Antonio is still awake and if Pepa will let him come, and if not, send Camilo over."

Dolores has eventually settled herself at the foot of the bed, and was bent over, resting her head at Mirabel's feet.

Once Luisa was gone, Julieta spoke again.

"Dolores, sobrina. I owe you so much. Thank you for looking after Mirabel."

"She's so easy to love." Dolores said with an awkward shrug from her position.

"That she is," Julieta agreed. "But you've been making time for her, taking care of her the past few days in a way that we have all failed to do, myself included. Even with everything that has happened, it's been the happiest I've seen her in a long time."

"Tía, she's going to wake up, right?" Dolores felt a flood of emotions overwhelm her all at once, and she turned to Julieta in a panic. "She has to. She has to wake up. I just started proving to her that I love her, she has to wake up." Even as she felt bad for dumping her panic onto her already overwhelmed aunt, Dolores couldn't help her reaction.

"Shh, Dolores." Julieta moved to her and pulled Dolores to her, running her fingers gently through her hair, which had always helped to sooth Dolores, and wasn't failing now. "I - I can't promise that she'll wake up." She whispered. "But I know better than to bet against Mirabel. She's a fighter, and you know it."

Dolores had long ago had her faith in adults eradicated - hearing them say one thing to your face and another thing behind closed doors tended to do that. So she appreciated the honesty that Julieta was giving her - appreciated that she wasn't promising something that she had no control over.

They heard the door open then, and not a minute later, Antonio was rushing into the room.

"Easy, sobrino." Julieta soothed, releasing Dolores to go pick up Antonio.

"Can I sit with her?" Antonio asked, turning his pleading eyes up to Julieta.

No one had every said no to those eyes, and Julieta was not about to succeed. She set him on the bed, and showed him how to be careful of the IV she was hooked up to. Antonio nodded solemnly, and then carefully hugged Mirabel to him, whispering to her as if they were still roommates in the nursery. Dolores had heard them more than once have late night conversations until Antonio fell asleep. There had been a few middle of the night conversations she had heard when she'd been unable to avoid leaving the quiet of her own room for the bathroom, and had heard them discussing nightmares.

It didn't take long for Antonio to fall asleep on the bed, and after a little while, Dolores stood up.

"I should take him back," She said regretfully. She wasn't ready to leave her prima's side, but Antonio was her brother. She should take him back.

Julieta smiled gently at her. "You should both get some sleep. I know you want to stay with Mirabel as much as possible, but I'm afraid it may take some time for her to heal and wake up. We all need to take care of ourselves."

"You need to too." Dolores said pointedly.

"Yes, Agustín and I will trade off." She agreed. "And if there is ever a time that both of us are unable to be here, you are my first choice as an alternative for one of us."

Dolores was startled by that show of trust from her Tía. "Gracias. I want to be here as much as possible." She said quietly, not knowing how else to respond. She gently untangled Antonio from Mirabel, and picked him up. He didn't stir - once Antonio was out, he was out. "Who should I send over now?"

"Hmm… Send Camilo, he's going to need to get some sleep soon, so he should come next. And either one of your parents or Bruno. They can fight amongst themselves."

"What about Tío Agustín?" She asked.

"Your Tío is going to come sit with her so I can freshen up later, but we decided that I will generally take the night shift since I have a little more medical knowledge, and he will take the day shift, when Dr. Gonzales is around to assist if there's an issue. He and I have already discussed it."

"And you don't want me to send Isabela?" Dolores was startled to find that Julieta had not allowed her oldest daughter into the room yet.

"I love all of my children, Dolores." She mused quietly. "But I think - I think that my eldest needs to ponder why I've not called her over yet. She has played a significant role in the events that unfolded tonight. While I'm not angry with her, she needs some time to think and consider the natural consequences of her own actions. So no, and if she asks you, you tell her that I gave specific instructions on who to send."

"Yes, Tía Julieta," Dolores nodded, shifting Antonio. "You can count on me."

"I know that, Dolores." She smiled slightly. "I know that."

AN: Thank you all for the love this story has gotten so far!