Matt waited for the phone to be answered by someone at his investigations firm and finally he heard a woman's voice greeting him.

Chris.

"Hey it's me Houston, I'm calling from…I'm not sure where," he said, "I've been in an accident."

The news clearly shocked his receptionist.

"Oh my god, are you all right?"

"A little banged up but doing better," Matt said, "I've been in the hospital for a few days."

"So that's why you haven't been answering your cell," Chris said, "I'll tell Murray and your uncle. He's coming back from Toronto."

Matt paused.

"What's Uncle Roy doing up there?"

"Oh he's just tying up a few loose ends on a case," Chris said, "I'll be sure to tell him what happened. What's the name of the hospital?"

"I'm not sure…," Matt said, looking around, "Let me see…Oh it's St. Miriam's General Hospital."

"Where's that?"

"I don't know. Somewhere a couple hours out of San Francisco but I'm not sure. I'm having some memory loss."

"Oh…okay. I'll call your uncle."

"What about C.J., can I talk to her?"

A longer pause greeted his question.

"Chris…"

"Oh sorry but Matt, isn't she with you?"

Matt felt confusion fill him once again.

"No…No she's not, what do you mean?"

Chris paused again and Matt wondered if she was choosing her words carefully.

"You were both taking a vacation after finishing that case," Chris said, "You said you'd be back to L.A. in a couple of weeks."

That didn't make any sense to Matt. If that were the case, then where was she? No one even seemed to know who she was at the hospital.

"I guess I don't remember that part. I haven't seen her at all since I've been here and no one's mentioned her to me."

Chris remained silent and Matt knew she didn't know how to respond to that.

"Look, I'm sure I can clear it all up," he said, "But if you could call Uncle Roy for me, I'd…"

"I'll do it right away Matt."

She hung up to do just that and Matt just stared at his own phone. If C.J. had been up here with him, then what had happened to her? Then his blood chilled when it hit him, had she been in the car with him when it crashed?

His heart shifted deeply inside of him and everything grew still around him, until all he could hear was his heart beating.

C.J. the one constant in his life, his best friend couldn't be dead. They would have told him wouldn't they if that had happened?

Dr. Lewis came in at that moment to check on his patient.

"Hi there, I heard you took a stroll out in the wing."

Matt looked up at him.

"Where's C.J., I haven't heard anything about her."

Dr. Lewis furrowed his brow.

"Who's…is that your wife?"

Matt shook his head.

"She's a friend…she was with me."

Dr. Lewis worked his jaw and then shook his head.

"You were found alone in the car by paramedics. There wasn't anyone else."

Matt sunk his head in his hands, sweat breaking out on the back of his neck.

"That can't be. She was with me but she's not here," he said, "Why isn't she here?"

Dr. Lewis saw his agitation and put his hand on Matt's shoulder.

"It's all right, you must just be confused. No one's reported seeing any woman with you in the crash so she couldn't have been with you."

Matt's mind swam with so many possibilities. He didn't even know where to begin but he needed some answers because the alternative…no he just couldn't believe that she could be gone.

"You're still going to need some rest," Dr. Lewis said, "That might help your memories to return."

Matt just looked at him not finding the words to respond. His mind was focused on his best friend and what had happened to her. The doctor started to leave then turned around.

"We do have some of the items that were on your person and inside the car," he said, "I can have the nurse bring them to you with some paperwork to sign."

Matt just nodded and watched the doctor leave. Hopefully the inventory of items would provide some clues to tell him that he'd been alone inside the car and that C.J. had just been elsewhere and hadn't heard what happened to him. He clung onto that hope because if she had been in the car, they would have surely found her.

Yes, she just had to be out there somewhere not knowing what had happened to him, trying to find out why he had never returned.

C.J. followed Sr. Natalie in the office to meet with Sr. Agnes, to ask about using the phone. The older nun sat at her desk in more formal attire, suited to working in an office.

"How may I help you," she asked.

C.J. took a deep breath, taking in the simple décor of the office that included paintings of Christ and what looked like Mary Magdalene on the wall.

"I'd like to call someone to tell them about Houston…my husband."

Agnes nodded slightly, her eyes grave.

"Yes I heard that he had been killed. I'm so sorry for your loss. Yes of course you can use the phone."

C.J. sat on an empty chair and the nun handed her the phone. She concentrated on the number pad pressing in a phone number. She thought she'd call Chris or someone at Houston Investigation. Had they been informed about what had happened to Matt already? If they hadn't been, then she'd have to steel herself to tell them.

"Houston Investigations, this is Chris speaking."

Then the words flowed out of C.J.

"Oh god, I can't believe I'm talking to you…"

"C.J. is that you are you okay," Chris said, "We just got the phone call."

C.J.'s heart chilled.

"You already got the news?"

Chris paused on her end.

"Yes…we heard about the accident," she said, "Matt called us a while ago."

C.J.'s felt an electric shock rip through her.

"What…I thought…he's alive?"

"Of course, he was banged up he said but he was looking for you."

So many thoughts raced through C.J. too many to sort them out what to do, what to say first.

"I'm…I'm safe, I can't say where," she said, "Some men tried to kill us, they ran us off the road I think."

Chris sucked in her breath.

"Matt didn't say anything about that," she said, "but he said he couldn't remember everything."

C.J. felt her body weaken but out of relief so intense it threatened to knock her over. She felt an overwhelming need to see him again, to wrap her arms around and pull him close so she could feel his heart beating against her chest and know for sure.

"Where is he?"

"He wasn't sure when he called. He thought it was St. Miriam's General Hospital."

C.J. had no idea where that was but maybe the nuns could help her find it, so she could rush over to reunite with him.

She thanked Chris and got off the phone, turning to look at Sr. Agnes.

"Thanks…he's at St. Miriam's hospital. Do you know where that is?"

Agnes nodded.

"We can take you there if you'd like but you need to eat some lunch first."

C.J. felt too excited to eat but knew Agnes was right. Then she had another thought, remembering the men who had been sent to kill them. Maybe they had realized Matt was still alive and were at the hospital. She had to go to the hospital to warn him.

But she needed to find the perfect disguise first.

Matt had dozed off a bit after eating what passed for lunch. When he woke up, he stretched and got out to walk over to the window. He looked down a couple floors to the parking lot and saw about a dozen spaces filled. Then his eyes caught a dark colored sedan and outside of it, a man dressed in a suit.

He just stood there and it looked like occasionally he turned his head towards the driver's side window of the car meaning that the guy was not alone. His instincts honed by years spent observing a wide variety of people told him the man seemed to stand out. Then another man got out of the car and reached for a dark object and put it in underneath his shirt.

Definitely up to something, Matt thought and that's when his intuition went into overdrive. His heartbeat quickened, his muscles grew tense and he knew he had to get out of the hospital. He didn't know why but he knew he had to act quickly.

That meant first he had to find something else to wear beside his hospital gown. He knew that he had to find the supply room, somewhere on the floor. So he winced as he pulled out his IV needle and without looking back, he left the hospital room. He looked down the hallway and saw the elevator open and the two men inside of it but they didn't look in his direction as they got out and went to the nurse's station. He hurried and decided to go to the stairwell and try to find clothes on another floor. No one seemed to notice as he looked carefully around before he slipped inside the stairwell after carefully opening the door.

He walked upstairs and after opening the door and finding the corridor empty, he checked doors until he found the right one. After he walked inside and found it empty, he found some scrubs hanging and changed into them. He found a matching hat to put on his head and then left the room to return into the hallway, trying to find his way out of the hospital before anyone noticed he was gone.

And before those men caught up with him, he had to find out what happened to C.J.

The habit itched her skin but C.J. ignored its heaviness as she adjusted her crucifix and walked into the hospital. Sr. Natalie said she would check back with her after stopping at the general store. That gave her plenty of time to find Matt, in fact as she entered the building her pace quickened because she couldn't wait to see him.

But the hospital wasn't familiar to her so she had to ask the information desk to see if she could find out where they had placed him. The harried woman looked up and told her to go to the second floor to the nurse's station so she did that, getting on the elevator.

She got off and talked to the nurse who didn't seem thrown by having a nun asking her these questions. The nurse ran through the list on the computer and told her the number of his room so she headed on down there but then she saw them.

Two men standing outside the room and she stopped, watching them carefully. Her eyes widened as she recognized one of them. She hadn't gotten a good look at them when they'd been by the crashed car but she knew that they must be the two men who had tried to kill them.

And were they trying to finish off Matt?

But then she saw them leave just as quickly and when they passed her, she turned her back and ducked her head. Her heart beat in her throat when they walked by but they didn't notice the nun. After they were out of sight, she walked back to Matt's assigned room and wondered if she'd arrived too late but saw that the bed was empty.

So where had he gone? Did they take him to run some tests or had he left on his own? She had to try to find him. Walking the hallway didn't produce any results so she headed towards the stairwell and then stopped as she heard the men walking below her.

"What are you going to tell the boss," one of them said, "That he disappeared into thin air inside a hospital?"

"He must be here somewhere. We'll find him."

Then it became quiet so she assumed they walked through a door leading to another wing. She decided to head upstairs and when she finally opened the door, she stood face to face with a doctor.

One who even in scrubs and wearing a surgical mask looked awfully familiar.

"Houston…"

His eyes widened as he took in the nun in front of him.

"Hey, C.J. is that you?"

Her eyes burned as she nodded and he took her into his arms and squeezed her to him. She wrapped her own arms around him, not wanting to ever let him go.