"What?" Nick screamed. Dr. Edwards quickly gestured him to be quiet. "She thinks it's 2003?" He now spoke in a forceful whisper.
"Is she going to be okay? Will she recover?" Greg asked, horrified.
"I can't say anything definitive yet. Not until we run more tests." She responded.
"Does she remember anything from the accident?" Nick asked.
"She doesn't seem to have any knowledge as to why she's here."
"Well, did you tell her? She must be freaking out." Greg asked
"The antibiotics have made her very transient. I'd imagine she's going to be in and out for a couple more days. Currently we have very little knowledge of the patient's mental state, and I don't feel safe giving her a lot to process so soon." She then turned to face Nick. "Mr. Stokes, I ask you again to please return back to bed. We haven't finished examining you."
"My name is Nicholas Jeffery Stokes. It's 2012. The President of the United States is Barack Obama and I'm fine, thank you."
"You were in a traumatic accident. If you want to take care of yourself - "
Nick raised his voice. "I don't care about myself. I care about her." He then corrected himself and lowered his voice. "Besides the car impacted the passengers side. It didn't even hit me."
"Suit yourself." Said Dr. Edwards, reluctantly.
"Is there anything we can do to help her?" Greg asked.
"Actually there is something. To determine the cause of the memory loss, I'm going to need her detailed medical history. We don't know how much she remembers and her account isn't reliable enough so it's in her best interest to have a family member present to - "
"Wait, wait." Nick interrupted. "The cause of the memory loss? Isn't it just amnesia? We see it all the time in victims of car accidents."
"You're right. It's most likely retrograde amnesia but we can't begin treatment for it without ruling out all other possibilities. Brain tumor, Alzheimer's, dementia." She looked down at her clipboard. "It says here that her next of kin is a Dr. Gilbert Grissom. Is he here?"
"No." Nick shook his head. "We didn't want to call him until we talked to you. Look, it's gonna take a while to get him down here."
"I'm confused." Dr. Edwards said. "Isn't he her - "
"Husband," Greg interrupted. "Yeah, but they don't live together. He lives abroad," He turned to Nick. "Peru, right?"
"Dude, I don't know. She never tells me anything."
"Well," Dr. Edwards interjected. "Get him down here. Please. I want to commence treatment as soon as possible."
She walked away, leaving the men standing in the hospital hallway with their hands at their sides.
Greg looked at the ground. "You want to call him?"
"No." Nick shook his head and patted Greg on the shoulder. "You go ahead. Besides I was in a traumatic accident. "
Greg took a deep breath and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
