Two- The Hospital

Bellevue Hospital

Friday, February 9th 10:00 am

Detectivez Benson and Stabler walked into the hospital and went over to the reception desk. There was a lady typing on the computer, completely ignoring the detectives standing there in front of her. They waited for the receptionist to serve them but she just continued to type, so finally, slightly impatient, Benson rested her hand on the desk and spoke up.

"Hello, I'm Detective Benson. This is my partner Detective Stabler. We are here to see a patient that was dropped off about…" Benson glanced at her watch. "Fourteen hours ago."

The women look up at them and eyed them carefully. "Well, I'm going to need their name."

The two detectives looked at one another, and then Stabler said. "We don't have the patient's name but I…"

"Don't worry I've got you covered, Detective," a male doctor said, coming up to them. "I'm Dr. Fisher. I am in charge of your suspect, that you arrested yesterday."

"No, no he isn't under arrest there was a misunderstanding" Benson tried to clear up this up; arresting someone by accident was a terrible thing to do, and even though it was a common occurrence, the guilt never got any easier.

The doctor flicked through his files, frowned, and then finally said, "Well that may be the case, but I think this man is going to need police action."

"Why?" Stabler asked.

"I'll take you to see him, and then we can discuss his situation."

The two detectives followed the doctor to the elevator, while he began explaining the problem. "The patient has sustained some very serious injuries. Broken ribs, punctured lung, small fractures, and a bad head injury. It looks like he was severely beaten on more than on one occasion, and also he is malnourished."

Stabler was scribbling down everything Fisher was saying on his notepad. "Did you ever find out what the patient's name is?"

"No. And the patient cannot remember."

Both detectives stared at him.

"He can't remember, what does that mean?" Benson demanded.

"His head injury has caused amnesia. He does not remember anything about himself."

The elevator doors opened, and they followed Dr. Fisher down the hall, stopping outside a room with the number 346 painted onto the door.

Dr. Fisher leaned on the wall for a moment. "He is in fair condition, but please do not agitate him with your questions." He opened the door and let the detectives into the room, before leaving them so he could check on another patient.

Benson and Stabler walked quietly into the room.

The man they had arrested was lying in the bed, a distinctly blank expression fixed on his bruised face. He faced them when he heard the door close. He was wearing a white hospital gown, and they could see bandages underneath. He had an IV running down his right arm filled with some clear fluid.

"Hello, I'm Detective Benson and this is my partner, Detective Stabler."

The patient look at the two people standing in his room, he remembered the detectives from the police station...yes, they were the ones who had questioned him. "I told you before I didn't rob an old lady! You've got the wrong guy!" He did not want to go back to prison!

Stabler stepped forward and said "We're not here for that, those charges against you have been dropped. We made a mistake. We're here to see what happened to you."

The patient stared at the two detectives, clearly unsure of if he could trust them or not.

"Let's simplify things for you. I'll ask you a question and you try and answer it" Benson said, sensing confusion in the man and wanting to help him.

"All right."

"What's your name?"

"Apparently the doctor hasn't discussed my condition with you."

Benson moved closer to the bed and crossed her arms over her chest. "There was a mention of it, I just wanted to check..."

He looked at the detective intensely. "I'm not making this up! I don't remember anything. Not my name, family, what I do, how old am." They could never understand what not remembering anything was like!

"Do you remember how you became injured?" Benson pressed.

He looked down and took a deep breath. "The only thing I remember is I was held in a room by a whole bunch of men. They hit and beat me. Then I was dragged back to my room and left there for hours. If I was lucky I was given food."

Stable stopped writing in the note book and asked, "So are you saying you were held prisoner by someone?"

"That's what I'm saying."

Benson and Stabler looked at each other. That look exchanged so many words.

"What else do you remember?" Stabler asked.

The patient closed his eyes and lay quietly. He was trying to remember what had happened to him, but all he could see was darkness, a man without a face, and all he could recall was the pain. He shook his head, "I'm sorry, it's hard, I can't really think right now."

"Take your time just try to relax."

A stabbing pain shot through his head.

He was lying on a table. A man wearing white was standing over him, he had a oxygen mask in his hand. "Just relax you're going to be here a long time." The man the mask down on his face, then everything went black.

The patient was holding his head, trying and failing to block out the pain that was splitting his head open. He could hear the female cop speaking to him, and he tried to focus on her words instead of his...memory? He removed his hands from his head and tried to catch his breath. Detective Benson was sitting on the side of his bed, and her hand on his shoulder. She was trying to calm him down.

"I'm sorry...we pushed you too hard," Benson whispered.

"No, I'm fine, I just had a pain in my head, I'll be all right," He murmured, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

At that moment, Dr. Fisher walked into the room and surveyed the situation in front of him. The male cop was in the corner writing in his notebook, and the female cop was sitting on the patient's bed, saying comforting words to him.

"Detectives, I'm going to have to ask you to leave so my patient can get some rest." Dr. Fisher said.

Stabler closed his notepad and placed it in his jacket. "All right. Give us a minute and we will be right out."

The doctor nodded and stepped out of the room. Benson took out a notepad of her own and handed it to the patient. "I want you to write down everything you remember; then when we come back you can give us more information."

Benson stood and began to follow her partner out the door, but then she stopped and turn back towards the patient.

"We haven't figured out a name to call you by, in the mean time."

The patient looked at the detective and said, "Call me 743481609."

Please review. I really want to hear what you guys think.