AN: Thank you all who reviewed my last chapter. It means a lot to know that this much people like my story and tka the time to let me know this. It really helped me to write this chapter... Enjoy!

Chapter 21

Charlie lay motionless on his bed, his arms placed next to him, both pierced by an IV. His curls seemed untidy and his face appeared pale, nearly white, but his chest was moving up and down and that was all that mattered after all.

Alan pushed Don closer to Charlie's bed and then walked over to his other side, sitting down in the chair, gently placing his hand on Charlie's as if he was afraid that when he would touch him too rough, he would be in pain or simply disappear.

But to Don, his father appeared brave. Stretching out his arm and touching his little brother seemed too difficult to do. Why was this difficult to do? Don swallowed heavily and then took in a deep breath, calming himself down as he told himself that everything was going to be alright.

Slowly, he took Charlie's hand in his and he felt the warmth radiating from his skin. He didn't know whether it was caused because Charlie had a fever or if he simply had cold hands. But Alan didn't seem to notice, so Don figured it was the last.

"Charlie," Alan asked, placing his other hand over his curls, slowly pushing them aside from his face, "can you hear me?"

Don only watched Charlie to see if there was any reaction. Nothing happened.

"Hey, buddy," Don said, his voice soft, "good to see you again. It's okay for you to wake up now," he faintly smiled, "Christian is not going to hurt you anymore."

Only then Don thought about the fact that Charlie would have no idea who Christian was, what all happened after he had supposedly died. He didn't know how much Don had suffered and he would make sure Charlie would never find out either. He would only feel guilty about it in the end and Don didn't want that to happen.

"Just..." Don took in another deep breath as he watched Charlie lay motionless, "open your eyes for me."

Again, nothing. Don laughed inside himself. Had he really expected Charlie to just do as he asked? That would have been a little silly of him to think.

"I'll wait for you," he then said, "I'm not going anywhere before you open your eyes."

Alan smiled at his oldest son as he leaned back in his chair. He made sure though that he was still able to touch Charlie.

A few minutes were spent in silence. The only sound heard was that of the machine beeping behind Charlie, monitoring his heartbeat. And then slight movement.

Don straightened his back and moved closer to Charlie. Alan had seen in too and gently squeezed Charlie's hand.

"Son," Alan asked, "can you hear me?"

Charlie only answered with some eye movement. He opened his lips and slowly breathed out.

This was it, Don thought, this was all or nothing, moment of truth. What would Charlie say or wouldn't he be able to talk at all?

"Buddy?" Don encouraged him to open his eyes.

"Don?"

Never had Alan and Don been so happy to hear his voice. It was weak, yes, but it was there. Charlie had spoken and he had recognized Don's voice.

"Hey, you." Don smiled at his little brother who was now opening his eyes slightly. The bright sunlight seemed to bug him as he quickly closed them again. Alan jump up from his chair and closed the blinds, throwing the room into a grey shadow.

"It's okay," Alan said as he went standing next to Charlie's bed again, "you can open your eyes again."

Charlie did so, shifting his gaze between Don and Alan. He seemed confused as he now tried to figure out where he was or what that feeling in his arms were. He lifted them up to see the cause and tried to pull the IV's out just when Don stopped him.

"It's okay, you're in a hospital," he explained, "you were in a pretty bad condition."

Charlie looked in his eyes, a frown covering his face, not understanding what Don was talking about.

"You were shot, remember?" Alan asked, too seeing how lost Charlie was right now.

"But it's okay," Don reassured his little brother, "if you don't remember, it will come back to you."

"I should get a doctor." Alan told Don before turning to Charlie again, "I'll be right back."

Charlie licked his lips and turned to Don again.

"I'm..." he pressed his lips together as he was trying to find the right word, "I'm..." he took in a deep frustrated breath and licked his lips again. "Water." he simply said then.

"You're thirsty?" Don asked, realizing that was the word Charlie had been looking for. He hadn't know what word to use for expressing that, Don thought a little shocked.

"Yes." Charlie sighed, letting his gaze drop as he felt ashamed.

Don stood up, slowly as he still needed to think about his shoulder. There stood a can of water and a glass on the table next to the closet so Don poured it full and then gave it to Charlie. He didn't seem to have any trouble holding it or bringing it to his lips, so those functions were okay.

Just when Charlie gave Don back the glass, Alan came back in, followed by doctor Baker.

"Hello," he greeted Charlie, "my name is doctor Benjamin Baker and I am the one that took care of you for the last couple of days and I must say that it's good to see you awake. How do you feel?"

Charlie seemed to think about his question for a few seconds.

"I feel..." again, he struggled to find to right word, "my mind is...numbers are everywhere and they don't make sense." he eventually said.

"But that's normal." Alan said, "there are always numbers in his head."

Baker looked questionably at Alan.

"He's a math genius." Alan then explained.

"I see," Baker smiled before turning back to Charlie, "but they don't make sense now. They make you..."

"They make me..." Charlie sighed, balling his hand into a fist.

"You're confused?" Don asked as he tried to help find Charlie for the right word.

"Yes, that's it. I'm confused." Charlie looked happy to have found that one word, "why am I here? What happened?"

"I'll let your family explain that to you, in the meantime, a specialist is coming who would like to do some more tests." Baker told them.

"Tests?" Charlie asked, wanting to know everything that was happening to him.

"We need to know the full extent of the possible brain damage, Charlie, you have been dead for 8.20 minutes to be correctly." Baker said with the most caution he could find within himself. He had only been around here for 3 years, but he already knew that some people didn't take that news too well.

"That is...not something I was aware of." Charlie said as he again could not seem to find the word he wanted to use. A short knock on the door alerted all the men of the newcomer. The specialist Baker had been talking about stood there. She seemed pleased to be here and Don could tell that she enjoyed her work. She had short blond hair and dark blue eyes, making her more fit to be a model than a doctor.

"My name is doctor Anna Daniels, I will be taking some more tests. Did doctor Baker inform you of those?"

Charlie only nodded, making Daniels smile.

"Can I talk to you both, please?" Baker then asked, wanting to give Daniels space to work with Charlie do to the tests. Don and Alan followed him and watched Charlie watch them with suspicious eyes. He knew something was off and Don wished he could explain it to him, if only he knew what was going on.

"Charlie seems to have difficulty with finding words, did he have difficulty with something else as well?" Baker asked as soon as Alan closed the door behind him.

"He doesn't remember what happened, but that's normal, right, people who have gone through a trauma often forget about it during the first few days." Don said, thinking about all the cases he had worked on and thinking about all the people who had had post-traumatic stress.

"Anything else?" Baker asked.

"Why don't you ask Charlie this?" Don answered him with a question, not understanding why Baker wanted to question them in stead of talking to Charlie himself.

"Because patients often lie about the condition they are in, not wanting to acknowledge that something might be wrong."

"He couldn't think of the word 'thirsty', he wanted to tell me, but he just couldn't think of it. But he was able to drink on his own." Don now answered Baker's question, knowing that Charlie would indeed never admit that something was wrong. He was supposed to be a genius after all and now he couldn't even think of the most simplest words.

"That's good, it means his muscular movements are alright and that his brain still has full control over his upper body."

"But the words..." Alan said, telling exactly what was on Don's mind. They both wanted to know what was going on.

"It seems that there is some damage to the part of his brains where his vocabulary lay," Baker explained, "tests will have to show us whether it is permanent or not and how far the consequences reach."

"Are you telling us that Charlie might stay like this forever?" Don asked, shock filling his eyes.

"Yes," the doctor sighed.

"And the numbers?" Alan was now the one to ask.

"He said they confused him, it might stay that way forever." the doctor announced, making Alan and Don fall into a silence.

AN: For me, it was difficult to portray Charlie IC as I don't know how a person acts after have woken up from a coma and learning that something is wrong. I hope I did a good job, though. I researched some of Charlie's condition and looked up what could all be wrong with a person after waking up from a coma and having been dead for about ten minutes.

So let me know what you thought about this chapter and I'll try and post the next chapter as soon as possible...