The next morning, Raymond was waiting outside Ryan's room when his parents and Colette arrived. The nurse was in helping Ryan with his morning care. Ryan had been awake, but very passive and lethargic when Raymond left. Now he could hear him occasionally answering the nurse's comments.

"How was the night, Ray?" his father asked.

"Interesting," said Raymond, with a bit of a grimace.

"Wait." said Collette. "Is that...can I hear Ryan TALKING in there?"

"Yeah," said Raymond, grinning now. "He's awake. But last night..." The grin faded as he shook his head, remembering.

"What happened, Raymond?" his mother said, worried now.

"Remember they told us he would probably wake up agitated, and his personality might be different? It was. Admittedly, he was in pain because the IV needle had shifted, but Mam, his language would have made a sailor blush, and he tried to hit me! He doesn't remember being home from the ABC tour at all, and he thought he and Neil had been in a car accident. Why'd he'd be in a Belfast hospital if that was the case I don't know, I guess he's just not really thinking clearly."

Ryan's mother dropped her head. Collette and their father both put an arm around her and they could see she was crying. But then she raised her head and said firmly, "At least he's awake. It's a start."

Raymond gave his mom a hug. "That's what Neil said last night when I told him, that he's awake, he has most of his memory, and he's speaking clearly. It's a lot more than we might have expected."

Raymond suddenly realized that Ryan's voice from inside the room had risen, and he sounded like he was arguing. There was a sudden CRASH and a loud "NO!" from Ryan. "Oh, Lord," said Raymond, "there he goes again." He turned back towards the room door.

His father stopped him. "You go back to the hotel and rest, son. It's my turn." He entered the room and saw Ryan sitting bolt upright in bed, glaring at the nurse. The tray table had been knocked to the floor along with a basin of water that it held. "What happened?"

"I was just about to start bathing him..." the nurse started and Ryan yelled, "I told her to leave me alone! I can do it myself, just let me out of this damned bed and I'll get in the shower myself. I don't need her poking around me!"

Mr. Kelly looked at the nurse. "He knocked the tray over? Are you OK?"

"Yes, just wet," the nurse said. "But I can't let him get up until after the therapists have been in to evaluate him. He's going to have a busy day very shortly and he needs to be ready for it".

Suddenly a pillow came flying at them. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" raged Ryan.

"I'm sorry," said Mr. Kelly, "you're right, Ryan." He turned to the nurse. "Would you leave us alone for a few minutes? Just let my family outside know everything is OK." The nurse nodded and stepped out of the room.

Mr. Kelly fixed a stern eye on his son. "Now what's all this about, Ryan?"

"I told you. I can take care of myself. I don't need some bitch of a woman to bathe me and dress me."

Mr. Kelly raised his eyebrows. This was definitely not the Ryan he knew. He could have seen Ryan being embarrassed by having a strange woman help him, but this anger was unexpected. "Would you rather have a man help you?"

"NO! I don't need help! Let me get up and I'll do it myself!" Ryan started to swing his legs over the edge of the bed and put his feet on the floor - and his legs buckled under him. Fortunately Mr. Kelly had seen this coming and was there to catch him and heave him unceremoniously back up to the bed. Ryan sat there for a moment gaping at him, and then grabbed his head, saying "Dizzy..." Mr. Kelly helped him lie down again.

"Da, what's wrong?" Ryan whispered, looking terrified. "Why don't my legs work? What happened?"