Maxie awoke slowly, wondering where she was. It smelled like the hospital. She started to open her eyes and was greeted by blinding sunlight. She immediately shut them again and groaned.
Mac Scorpio jumped up from his chair. "Maxie?"
"Dad?" she said groggily. "What happened?"
"You had a heart attack. It was a mild one, but Dr. Julian wants to keep you here for a couple days just to keep an eye on you."
Maxie searched her memory. She had a heart attack? Was she fighting with Claudia? Oh yeah, the stupid plan. Lu Lu never showed up. Oh, god! "Spinelli!" she cried out.
"Calm down, sweetheart." Mac sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around her, but she struggled against him.
"Where's Spinelli? Is he--? Please tell me he's okay. Please, please, please…" she kept rambling.
"Honey, you need to focus on getting yourself well. Let the doctors worry about Spinelli."
"I need him," she sobbed. She couldn't hold back the tears.
Mac held her tight and kissed the top of her head. "Okay. Let me go find someone. Do not move from this spot!"
She couldn't if she wanted to. She felt so weak, she could barely sit up. Closing her eyes and laying back, she silently prayed. She needed to see Spinelli's sweet face, to tell him that she was sorry for what happened and that she didn't want anyone but him, not that he would ever want her again after what he saw. She heard footsteps enter the room and opened her eyes.
Leyla was there with Mac. "Leyla, please. Please take me to see him. I need to see him."
The young nurse looked at her with concern. "Maxie, now is not a good time. You need your rest and so does Spinelli. Last night was very hard on him. And he doesn't look like himself right now. Claudia already got upset when she saw him and—"
"CLAUDIA got to see him? Why did Claudia get to see him? She doesn't even deserve to be on the same planet with him!"
"Maxie," Mac soothed. He sat and held her again. "You need to take it easy. Getting upset will only keep you in here longer." Maxie tried to fight him.
"Nooo! I want to see him! Dad, let me go!" She screamed.
"I'll get a sedative," Leyla said as she ran out of the room.
"You can't keep me away from him! I won't let you! I won't!" She kept struggling until Leyla came back in and administered the drug. Within seconds Maxie felt her body floating away. "I love him…" she slurred before drifting back to sleep.
Mac looked at his daughter, his concerned expression morphing into horrified. "Wait. Did she just say she loved Spinelli?"
Leyla smiled and shrugged.
"No-o," Mac groaned.
--
"Hey, Mr. Jackal," Nadine said cheerfully when she came to update Spinelli's charts. He had made it through the night and his body was showing signs of improvement. "It's a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining and the birds are singing. You really should wake up and take a look. It's most glorious, as you would say." Her smile saddened. The usually chipper and chattering young man remained silent. A breathing tube pumped oxygen into his lungs, so he wouldn't be able to talk even if he wanted to. Suddenly his head flinched. "Spinelli?" His eyes were flitting back and forth under his lids. Nadine smoothed her hand ever so slightly down along his scraped and bruised cheek. "You're safe now. Shhh."
Dr. Drake walked in. "How's our patient?"
Nadine pulled her hand away in embarrassment. "He seemed agitated. I think he was having a nightmare."
"Looks like you calmed him down." He smiled at her and she handed him Spinelli's chart.
Suddenly a gurgling sound came from the bed and they turned to see Spinelli staring at them with a pained expression. He appeared to be choking on his breathing tube. He shook his head and clutched at it.
"Hold on, we'll take care of that for you." Nadine pulled his head back and Patrick removed the tube. Spinelli took a deep gasping breath and winced. Nadine touched his chest. "Try to take a slow gentle breath. Like this." She demonstrated and he copied her action, relxing a bit. "There ya go." She smiled at him.
Spinelli stared at her with wide eyes. He glanced over at Patrick who was also smiling.
"Hey, kid. Welcome back. Thank you for proving my spectacular skills as a surgeon once again."
Nadine rolled her eyes and laughed. "We were all very worried about you. Everyone will be so happy to know you're awake."
Spinelli tried to speak, but he could only make a few rasping noises. Nadine leaned closer and he whispered. "Mom-ma."
"Momma?" She shook her head and looked to Patrick for assistance.
He furrowed his brow and motioned her over. "Um. Jason only mentioned a grandmother," Patrick said in a hushed tone. "She's flying in from Tennesee. He's probably a little disoriented right now. I'll check him out."
"Okay." Nadine turned back to Spinelli with a bright smile. "I'm going to go tell everybody the good news." Nadine bounded out of the room, leaving Patrick to examine his patient.
"Are you in any pain?"
Spinelli thought for a moment before shaking his head. He blinked a few times, trying to focus on the doctor's face.
"Good, the meds are doing their job. Blurred vision?" He held up two fingers. "How many?"
Spinelli squinted. "Four," he croaked out and then cleared his throat. He glanced around the room.
"That's to be expected. You took quite a nasty blow to the head. We're going to keep you under observation until the swelling goes away completely. I want to make sure you don't have any other side effects." He noticed a look of fear in the younger man's wide eyes. "Do you know why you're here?"
No response.
"Do you remember leaving the hotel last night? The car?"
"Car?"
"The car that hit you?"
He shook his head, but then appeared to be even more confused. "Do I know you?"
Patrick was taken aback. "Whoa. Sorry. Yeah. I'm Dr. Patrick Drake. We're friends… sort of. Okay, memory loss is not uncommon in these situations. Let's not panic. Tell me what you do remember."
Spinelli was quiet for a moment and then he smiled shyly. Without a hint of Jackal-speak he whispered, "Momma made me a cake. I'm turning ten on Saturday!" He smiled proudly.
Patrick's jaw dropped open. "Time to panic," he mumbled under his breath. "Would you excuse me? I'll be back in a bit." He pointed to the door and then slipped out.
Spinelli closed his eyes again and drifted off to sleep.
--
Nadine walked into the waiting room and found Jason and Sam. "He's awake!"
They turned to her in surprise. "He is? Can we see him?"
"Not just yet. Patrick is examining him. Maybe in a little while."
"Did he seem okay?" Sam asked.
"Was he… you know… himself?" Jason asked, rubbing his head.
"Well, he didn't say much, but he looked better than last night, that's for sure. There's still some swelling in his brain, but Dr. Drake thinks that will go down in a few days." Nadine paused. "Um… Do you know where Spinelli's mother is?"
"He doesn't have one," Jason replied. "He was raised by his grandmother."
"That's weird."
"What?"
"He asked for his mother."
Patrick walked up. "I need to confer with Dr. Winters."
"What happened? I thought he was okay," Nadine worried.
"There's been some memory loss, which is not uncommon. But this is… extreme. He thinks he's still a kid."
Jason shrugged. "So? That's normal for Spinelli."
"No, I mean literally. He told me he was ten years old."
"What? Why would he revert back so far?" Sam asked.
"This is beyond my expertise, folks. I think this has more to do with his emotional state than his physical one. Hopefully Dr. Winters will be able to get to the bottom of it. If you'll excuse me." Patrick walked away leaving Spinelli's friends with one more thing to worry about.
