Chapter 3 -Normal POV
Ed walked through the hospital at a quick pace. He knew where he was headed and nothing would deter him from reaching his destination. Ed's younger brother was just a few paces behind them. Ed expected to see Parker standing outside his sister's door, and as they turned a corner, he wasn't disappointed. Parker stood leaning against the hospital wall. He was still in his SRU uniform, which told Ed that that his boss hadn't gone home since he came to the hospital last night.
Ed Lane clearly recalled the call from the ambulance being patched through to Parker. Emmett had called 911 when he found his sister lying in an awkward position at the bottom of the stairs. When he couldn't wake her up, he started to become frantic. Gwen must have tripped and fallen down the stairs as she was carrying a load of laundry.
"Boss, she awake?"
"Eddie…yeah, she's awake."
Ed noticed the slight hesitation in Parker's voice.
"What? What's going on?"
"Eddie…she doesn't remember…"
"What? What are you talking about - she doesn't remember. Like amnesia? She doesn't remember anything?"
"No, she remembers everything up until about 10 months ago."
Roy looked at Ed and then at Parker. "So she doesn't remember any of us?" he asked.
Parker nodded his head, but kept his gaze on Ed.
Being Ed, he wouldn't accept the word 'doesn't'. "Have you seen her yet, boss? Maybe she just needs to see you and she'll remember you?"
"Ed…she looked at me and didn't even recognize me. She asked me why I was at her bedside when she woke up."
"Is she awake now?" Ed asked.
"Yes. She's awake."
"Well, why the hell aren't you in there talking to her?"
"Eddie…"
"Greg, this is what we do. We find that connection." Ed paused as he looked at Parker. The man was hurting. "Greg, she's your wife. She loves you. So what if she doesn't remember right now? You've got to talk to her. Roy and I will wait here."
"We will?" Roy asked.
Ed just gave him a look.
"Fine, yeah, we'll stay here. Good idea. Sorry, correction, great idea," Roy mumbled.
Parker walked slowly towards Gwen's room. As he entered, Parker found his wife laughing with his brother-in-law. Gwen stopped laughing when she caught sight of him though and tensed up.
"Hi. Do you think it would be okay if I stayed for a bit?" Parker asked.
Emmett walked over and slapped Greg on the shoulder. "C'mon in Parker." Emmett looked at his sister who had gone very quiet and very still. "Yup. No tension in this room. None whatsoever."
Gwen glared at her brother.
"Well, I'm just going to let you two lovebirds talk and stuff," Emmett said as he left the room.
Parker just stared at his wife. He didn't want to get too close to her as he wanted her to feel as comfortable as possible.
Gwen took a breath in and looked down for a few second, indicating that she was uncomfortable with the situation and Parker couldn't blame her. Waking up and finding out you had a husband couldn't be easy.
"Hi…," was all Gwen said.
Parker gave a reassuring half smile. "Hi." He paused. "Did you need me to get you anything?"
"No. Um, Parker? Emmett says that you're my…husband."
Parker nodded his head. "Yes, Gwendolyn, I am."
Gwen looked a little surprised. "You call me Gwendolyn?"
Parker smiled wide this time. "I do. I've always loved that name. The first time I called you by that name, well, you said that you loved the way your name sounded when it came out of my mouth."
Gwen nodded her head. Parker saw that she was processing things, and that he would have to go slow. He was good at slow.
"They are going to release me in a few hours. I guess since I am a doctor I get to go home…Do you live with me? No, wait, that's stupid. Of course you would live with me. You're my husband. We live together. Oh God, we probably sleep in the same bed, and, well, there's always that thing that happens in bed…" Gwen knew she was blushing. She could feel her body heat up. She hadn't blushed in a long time, but just thinking about the sex she must have had with your husband, well it was enough to make anyone blush; even if she couldn't remember any of it, Parker did, and that embarrassed her. He had seen her naked.
Parker was surprised that his wife was blushing at the thought of sex. Gwendolyn loved sex, even more than he did.
"Gwendolyn. We live together. You moved in to my house, our house, but you still kept your house as Alfred lives there– "
"Oh God, Al. Is he okay? I mean, you didn't tell him that I was in the hospital did you?"
"Of course I did. He's your best friend."
"Did you call him and let him know that I'm alright?"
Parker nodded his head. "I did. I let your brother's know too. They are here waiting outside."
"Shane is waiting outside with Emmett?"
Parker hesitated. "No, Shane's working and will come by after work. Sweetheart, it's Ed and Roy that are outside." The endearment had slipped out, but since he used it so often, he couldn't stop calling Gwen 'sweetheart'.
"I don't want to see them," Gwen blurted out.
Parker pursed his lips at the outburst.
"It's not like that. I mean…I don't remember them and I don't want the first time I see them to be in the hospital with me as a patient. Could you…could you tell them that I'm fine and maybe I could see them at your home later on. I really want to meet them."
Parker noticed the 'your home' bit and not 'our' home, but didn't comment on it.
"Sure, I'll let them know."
Gwen nodded.
"Parker…do you think we could order some pizza tonight for dinner? I'm a little hungry."
If Greg Parker was asked to run a training course in under 1 minute flat, hearing that one question asked of him by his wife would have made all the difference in the world. She was willing to go home with him, and with that little bit of information gleamed, Parker knew that he had made some progress.
