It was quiet in the staff room, except for the occasional sob from Amanda, her eyes puffy from crying, and the soft footsteps of Steve as he paced the room. Jack was staring out of the window at the buildings surrounding General Hospital, lost in thought. It had been four hours since they had found Jesse and he had been quickly rushed to surgery, Mark insisting that he assisted. Apart from the paperweight that had been covered in Jesse's blood, Steve and his team had been unable to find any incriminating fingerprints. The main difficulties being that the attacker had obviously been wearing gloves, hence the lack of prints on the weapon, but also Amanda's office was used so often and was not only covered in her prints but also with other doctors', nurses' and even police officers' that had ever entered the autopsy room.

After a little while Mark finally walked into the staff room, wiping his brow as he sat wearily down onto a chair opposite Amanda.

"Mark" Amanda said hoarsely, gripping the arms of her chair "How is he?"

Steve had stopped pacing when his father had entered the room and he now stared at his dad, waiting for his answer. Jack walked up behind Amanda and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Well it was a bit touch and go" Mark said, his voice sounded tired, "His heart stopped at one point and we had to use the defibrillators. I thought for a moment that he was going to…" Mark took a deep breath and continued, "We managed to stabilise him. He was very badly beaten, 3 ribs had been broken and there were cuts on his chest and arms that needed to be stitched up. The injury to his head was the worse, we stitched that up too but we can't be sure of the damage an injury like may have caused yet. We're still waiting for him to wake up" Mark finished looking down at his hands; hands that had worked tirelessly to save his friend.

A tear rolled down Amanda's cheek and Jack felt her tremble under his hand.

"ARGH!" Steve yelled suddenly, kicking a chair to the floor in his anger, "When I find the son of a bitch who did this I'm going to…"

But Steve was interrupted by a nurse who had just walked through the door. She looked frightened as she stared from Steve to the toppled over chair.

"Vicky, what is it?" Mark asked, snapping Vicky out of her stupor.

"Oh, yes, you asked to hear any news about Jesse?"

"Yes?" Mark, Amanda, Jack and Steve said in unison.

"He's awake."


The group walked through the door of room 202 and Amanda gasped in horror. Jesse's arms were covered in black and blue bruises and several cuts gleamed red against his pale skin and they knew the bruises continued down his blanket covered body. His chest was wrapped in white bandage and his blond hair spilled over the top of a bandage wound around his forehead. There were also bruises to his face, and his lip was cut and swollen.

'He looks so small' Jack thought as he followed the others to stand around Jesse's bed. 'How could I have yelled at him the way I had?'

"How are you feeling?" Amanda asked with a gentle smile.

"Like I've been hit by a bus" Jesse groaned, wincing in pain as he tried to sit up. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure" Mark said.

"Who am I?"


Amanda gasped and Steve stood with his mouth open in shock.

"Jesse" Mark said hoarsely, "Your name is Jesse Travis. You're a doctor here at Community General Hospital." Mark watched sadly as Jesse tried to process this information.

"I'm a doctor?" Jesse asked surprised. "But what happened to me?" he glanced down at his battered body.

"You were attacked" Steve managed to say calmly, "Do you know who did this to you?"

"I was attacked?" Jesse said quietly, "Why? What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything honey," Amanda said tearfully.

"Jesse can't you remember anything about the attack?" Steve persisted.

"I…" Jesse tried to think back, a frown playing across his features, his eyes revealing his struggle to remember. He unconsciously lifted a hand towards his forehead, his fingers brushing against the bandage covering the cut. "I can't…..it's just all black. I can't remember anything." Mark could see the terror building up behind those blue eyes.

"It's OK Jesse, don't worry. This is just a side effect from the injury sustained to your head. You'll remember soon enough. You just need to rest now; I'll get the nurse to give you something to help you sleep."

Jesse looked up into Mark's kind face and felt reassured. "Thank you, ummm…"

"Mark. My name is Mark and this is my son Steve and our friends Amanda and Jack. We are all here for you Jesse, you can trust us."

"OK" Jesse said with a small smile as he took in each of their faces, "Thanks."

"We'll see you soon, OK Jesse," Amanda said squeezing his hand, "Get some rest."

"And if you remember anything Jesse, anything at all, let me know," Steve said, "Day or night."

A nurse came in carrying a glass of water and a small cup containing two tablets.

"Here you go dear. These will help you sleep," she said handing Jesse the pills. Jesse swallowed them down with the water and after a few minutes he began to feel tired. Mark and the others watched as Jesse drifted off to sleep and then they made their way out of the room. Mark left the room first and bumped into Allday who had been standing just outside the door.

"Ooof, sorry" Mark said.

"That's OK, Dr. Sloane isn't it?" Allday asked smiling, "How is he?"

"He's doing well, his injuries are severe but he'll survive."

"I can't believe anyone would want to hurt him," Allday said faking concern, "Has he said who it was?"

"No, he can't remember a thing" Steve said angrily, he felt frustrated that he couldn't do anything to help. Jesse was his only lead on who the attacker was.

"Oh dear" Allday said and Mark thought he saw Allday's shoulders relax a little, "That is bad news. He is such a good person too. He helped me out when I moved down here, showed me around the ER. Hopefully they'll catch whoever did this to him."

"Yeah" Steve said, "I can guarantee you I will find the bastard who did this to him" Steve snarled as he stomped down the corridor towards Mark's office.

"Sorry" Mark said, "It's been a long day and I think we're all a bit stressed and tired."

"Yeah" Allday said, "Of course. I hope he recovers soon."

Mark nodded and he, Amanda and Jack followed after Steve.

Allday watched as they disappeared around the corner and then took a look inside room 202 at Jesse's sleeping form. He needed to get rid of Jesse before he remembered anything, and turning on his heel he walked away, already planning his next move.