OMG I am so0o0o sorry it has taken my so long to update! My computer has been messed up, and I had to re-install everything…and with Spring Break I got preoccupied… Thank you to my loyal reviewers, who kept pressuring me to update! I am back because of you!

Chapter 10

Nicole took an instinctive step forward, closer to the bed and the fragile Jess within it. Nicole shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She chalked up the last thing she heard, that crazy heart-wrenching thing, to her nerves and lack of sleep. Surely Jess hadn't forgotten them…had she? Nicole shook her head again, and searched Jess' eyes for any sign of recognition. Nicole refused to even consider that Jess had finally returned as a mere shell of who she once was. Jess hadn't fought so hard to live, and Nicole hadn't fought so hard to find her, just to watch Jess loose everything that made her…Jess. She had lost so much to Jared Hart; part of her innocence, many weeks of her life, and Nicole would be damned if she was going to let Hart claim Jess' memories, too.

Much to Nicole's dismay and utter horror, there was nothing in Jess' eyes at all. No spark of recognition, of life, or even shock or horror regarding the ordeal she had just been thorough. All Nicole got from those eyes was confusion and wonder.

"Who are you? Where am I? What happened to me?" Jess sounded frantic, desperately turning her head to avoid Nicole's searching gazes. She scrambled up as far as she could go without crying out. It was obvious that seeing Nicole at the foot of the bed, being so close to a…stranger…was petrifying Jess.

The last sentence came out barely louder than a whisper, but Nicole heard it nonetheless. More than heard it, she felt it. Those ten words, uttered by a foreign Jess, were like a stab to Nicole's heart. Everything Jess had accomplished as an agent, everything they had been through as a team and even as friends…simply forgotten. Wiped from her memory by the damaging hands of a vengeful convict, and left to lie at the bottom of that waterfall Nicole had faced mere hours ago. Nicole felt like she had when Jess had first been kidnapped; helpless, and afraid to her very core. They had Jess back, but all they had were her outer coverings. The true and precious Jess, her memories and her very personality and soul, were stripped away.

Silent tears fell from Nicole's eyes as she turned to face the window, the wall, anything but Jess. It was true, horribly and terrifyingly true. Jess, her partner and best friend Jess, didn't remember anything. Not Nicole, not her own name, not even the traumatic ordeal that had plagued her life for the past month and almost killed her. Jess was empty of memories, devoid of everything that made her Jess. It was Jared Hart's last kick in the teeth…he had taken from the world what might truly have been Jess' last few weeks. She was alive, in body, but her soul and her mind seemed to be in tatters and not quite acquainted with each other.

"What is going on? Please, please tell me something. Anything." It was that last plea that made Nicole turn around and wipe the tears from her eyes. No matter what had happened to her memory, she was still technically Jess, and still a victim. Even if she didn't remember it, Nicole did. And Nicole figured she would remember every agonizing minute of waiting, of worrying, until her dying day.

Nicole heard Jess cry out as she tried to sit up. Her mouth wrenched in torment and she sank back on to the pillows, suffering from agony from both her body and psyche. Jess' eyes darted over every square inch of the hospital room, alerted by every beep and whirl of the machine and every noise Nicole made. She was truly lost, and Nicole's heart went out to her.

"Your name is Jess, Jessica Mastriani. My name is Nicole Scott." Nicole said slowly, advancing on Jess as she spoke. She looked for any sign of acknowledgement, but all she saw was grim acceptance. "WE work for the FBI together, on the missing person's task force. Things got…rough on the last case and you suffered the brunt of it." Nicole tried to limit what she gave Jess, not wanted to overload her system too quickly and secretly hoping she might remember some details on her own. Doctors always say that it isn't good to tell the…the amnesiac tic patient everything; it helps them to work at remembering on their own.

Jess didn't seem to notice Nicole's ploy. She simply nodded thoughtfully and frowned, obviously thinking. "Is this," Jess forced out, gesticulating to her many accumulated bruises, bandages, and the assortment of machines hooked up to her, "why I lost my memory?"

Nicole nodded and smiled sadly. "The doctor hasn't been in yet, and everyone else is waiting for you to recover outside, so I can't be sure. When he returns, the doctor can give you a formal cause. But in my opinion as an agent, I would say so." Nicole looked at Jess again, and was relieved to see that she was comfortable with Nicole standing at the edge of the bed. Before, she had all but jumped out of bed to avoid Nicole, but now Jess seemed almost…familiar with her, or at least content. Nicole figured that for now, begrudged acceptance or even naive trust was as much as she was going to get. Maybe, once the doctor made his diagnosis, Nicole would know what this new Jess was capable of. As much as it pained Nicole to say it, for now she would just have to watch Jess wallow in her own…emptiness.

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Jess felt salty tears roll down her face, and she wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was the look of torment and loss on the face of the women before her, Nicole. Maybe it was the new knowledge she had recently gained, the knowledge that let Jess know that whatever had happened to her, it had been painful to many people, herself included. Or maybe it was the sense of loss and desolateness that filled her very being and threatened to consume her. Jess knew that she had forgotten so much. She had lost her memories of her parents, her childhood, her friends, her hopes and dreams…Every time Jess really tried to remember, she never got past the hazy fog of colors that seemed to inhabit every corner of her mind. She felt cheated of her life, and she wanted nothing more than to gain it all back. Her biggest problem was that as much as she wanted to remember, she wasn't even sure where to begin. Jess knew nothing about herself except for the few tidbits Nicole had graced her with. And that wasn't enough to bring back the flood of memories she had lost.

Jess, temporarily forgetting her current condition, tried to roll over on her side to avoid the pain stricken eyes of the women Nicole. Jess felt horrible for forgetting, for letting Nicole down by forgetting, for letting herself down by forgetting. And Jess was tired of feeling horrible; she was already sick of it, and she couldn't remember anything before this hour.

As her ribs turned sharply in her chest, Jess let out a guttural groan. The pain was like nothing else she could imagine. It was sharp and seemed to go on and on in a never-ending wave if red hot agony. Her body felt like it was caught on fire, and she was being consumed form the inside out. Her eyes began to cloud over, and her heard began to pump harder against her damaged rib cage, only causing more pain. The pain never seemed to stop.

Jess felt a soothing arm on her shoulder, and even though she knew it had to be Nicole, she was struck with a sudden flash of terror.

A flash of fists, a sharp kick to the chest, and cold feel of metal. Flailing arms and a laugh that went on and on and made her skin crawl with fear.

Jess screamed louder, this time because of the memory and the intense fear that followed it, and jerked away from any physical contact. Her body, surprised by the sudden movement, jolted her ribs again. This last movement hurt even more than the last one, and Jess felt like she was stuck in hell. Her head hurt like hell, her eyes were fuzzy, her chest was on fire and her entire body seemed to vibrate with intense fear and an even more oppressing amount of sheer agony. Jess screamed one last time as the pain seemed to swallow her whole, and then her world went peacefully dark.

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Nicole watched in horror as Jess passed out from the pain, and all the machines in the room began to beep frantically. Nicole, for the second time in her life, was frozen by shock. Lucky for her, swarms of doctors rushed to the scene.

Nicole watched helplessly as the doctors tried to revive Jess. Her heart seemed to stop when she heard to flat-line beeping of the heart monitor.

"She's coding!" someone yelled. Nicole wanted to do something, anything to wake Jess up but she knew all of her efforts were futile. She had done her job by finding Jess and brining her here, and now she had to trust the doctors to do their job and keep her alive.

When the crash cart was rolled in, Nicole felt bile rise in her throat and her head began to swim with dreaded anticipation.

Flatlining. Coding. Crash Cart.

Nicole was afraid, honestly and deeply afraid.

"Charge to 100 jules…"

Sorry, I can't help the cliffhangers. Don't worry, now that my computer is back and running almost perfectly, I should be able to update more regularly. I should have a new chapter up by Saturday…

Thank you to my reviewers who kept me in line! This chapter is for you!