The doctor kept a stoic expression as he examined the young man’s body, not letting on exactly what he thought.  Besides, there was a reason amputation wasn’t a rushed affair in the medical world when it came to frostbite.  The true damage wasn’t so easily seen, apparently dead flesh able to recover, seemingly fine flesh dying months later.  It was always a gamble.  While he hoped that Charlie’s body would somehow be able to bounce back and nothing would have to be lost, even someone like Lawson couldn’t be that optimistic.  Even still, when he looked to Charlie, he smiled.<br/><br/>“Very good.  You have a fighting spirit; that’s going to help you a considerable deal,” he shared.  “The months ahead will call for that, along with a good deal of patience.  It’s not uncommon for the extent of the damage to not be known for as long as six months.  That’s not to say it will definitely look worse than this.  What you think is dead might yet recover.  However, it goes both ways; what you think is fine might not be.  We will take it slow, continue treatments as everything progresses, and do what we need to keep you comfortable in the meanwhile.”<br/><br/>Meanwhile, Val was just outside, listening and thinking.  Six months, huh?  Half a year…  That was a lot of waiting around, not doing much.  Being still and having patience was one thing, but to not even know if there was a body part needing to be removed until then…  Valentin wouldn’t have dealt well with that.  But he couldn’t hear screaming or crying, Charlie not really complaining about the numbness and tingling, merely describing it.  That wasn’t a normal reaction.<br/><br/>Val then thought of the scars all over the smaller man’s body.  Charlie was strong, because he’d been forced to be.  If demon possession had been in his past, then having a lot of strength would’ve been the only way for him to survive.  That was why this new horror wasn’t causing screams or panic, wasn’t it?  It wasn’t so much shock as passive acceptance of more torture. It wasn’t even because of the misfortunes of homeless life so much as it was the inevitable reaction of a victim who had been plagued for years by something much worse.  Val had no doubt that the scars Charlie had on the inside were just as bad as those he wore on his skin.<br/><br/>“Bernard is preparing something,” he said as he pushed the door open.  The sight of Charlie’s blackened flesh made his heart sink.  It wasn’t just his hands, then.  It really looked like one whole leg needed to come off.  But he tried to keep in mind what he’d overheard the doctor say, that they had to wait and see what the real damage was before they went making any decisive cuts.  “It doesn’t look so bad,” he lied.  “Lawson will have you up and running in no time.”