Connor (age 29, October, 15 years in the future, San Diego)
It had been three weeks since the accident. As I sat in his hospital room holding his hand I thought about all the things he was missing. The kids and I had been in several nights a week to have dinner in his room since he was moved out of ICU. The kids had even started doing their homework in this room. The only one who didn't understand was Kourtney. When I brought her in she would just lie in the bed next to him. The brain swelling was gone and the doctors had no idea why he hadn't woken up by now. His primary care doctor said I should prepare myself for the fact that he may never wake up but I refused to give up hope. I hoped he would come back to me and our kids.
"I need you to come back to us Jude. You know you missed Kourtney's birthday party. She missed you so much. I know you were looking forward to it so much. Sam is failing science without you there to help him. you know that was never my strongest subject. The paperwork came through to adopt Misty today. We just need you to wake up so we can officially make her an Adams Foster. Oh and I have other good news. Marianna is pregnant, so that means the IVF worked and I'll have a biological child of my own like you have Colleen," I trailed off as the nurse came in.
"No kids today?" Alyssa asked.
"No the older ones had other things to do and I left Kourtney with my stepmom," I answered.
"She seems to have a really hard time seeing him like this," Alyssa said as she adjusted Jude's IV.
"Yeah when we got her as a foster child she was the only survivor of a house fire. So I'm sure this brings back memories," I explained. "Jude actually saved her life."
"Wow that explains the bond she seems to have with him."
"Yeah," I sighed. It was a bond I would never have with her. She had only been two so I wasn't sure how much she actually remembered but with a traumatic experience like that I guess you always remembered. Even if it was just subconsciously.
I watched her checking vitals and leave the room. Once she was gone I sighed again. I had things I needed to do but life seemed to have no meaning without Jude in it. I went through the motions but my heart wasn't in anything. It was always here in this hospital room. I listened to the heart monitor telling me Jude's heart was still beating. Yesterday the doctor had done a brain activity scan and his brain activity was normal. He had months of physical therapy ahead of him once he woke up. For his back and learning to use the prostatic leg they would eventually fit him for. Everything was healing like it was supposed to but he just wasn't waking up.
I did something then I hadn't done yet. I remembered when I had been shot in the foot how Jude laid in the hospital bed with me. I put the rail down and moved him over a little bit. As I crawled in next to him I thought about how much easier this had been when we were thirteen and not grown men, but I needed to be beside him. I put my hand on his chest and felt his chest rise and fall for a few minutes. Then I stroked him hair and kiss his forehead. As I did that his pulse quickened a little. Tears slid down my face as I thought about what the doctors were saying. They didn't understand what this man meant to me. He was my best friend. The only man I had ever loved and if he left me for good I wasn't sure how my life would go on.
Then he stirred beside me. The moment was subtle a first and I was sure I imagined it. His hand moved up and touched my face to wipe away the tears streaming down my face and I jumped almost failing from the bed. I sat up and looked at him as his eyes flutter on and he looked at me. I just stared at him. It was so good to see his eyes focused on me that I didn't want to ruin the moment by calling the nurse, even though I knew I should.
"I love you," Jude said hoarsely.
It was so good to hear him say it. Those were words I was beginning to accept I may never hear again. I hit the call button but never broke eye contact. I didn't say anything as Alyssa came into the room. She looked at me.
"Did you need something?" she asked me.
"He's awake," was all I managed to say.
She looked over at him and I could see by the smile on her face I hadn't imagined it. He was really awake. I sighed in relief because no matter what happened now I knew he was going to make it. It wouldn't be easy but we would face it together.
"My leg hurts," Jude choked out his voice still hoarse.
Alyssa went to examine his left leg and massage it and he said, "No the right one."
I looked at Alyssa confused as she showed him there was no right leg to be in pain. It was gone just below the knee.
"What your experiencing is called phantom limb pain. It's very common when you lose a limb the way you did," Alyssa explained.
"What happened to my leg?" he asked.
"You don't remember?" I asked.
"No, the last thing I remember is going to a house fire and then I woke up here," he said.
"Okay that is okay if you don't remember. It was a very traumatic thing and sometimes we block those out," Alyssa said as she pulled the covers back up. "I'm going to call the doctor and let him know you're awake."
Jude nodded and we both watched her leave. I sat back down on the bed beside him and he reached for my hand. His eyes closed for a few seconds and then he opened them again. He looked confused and I could tell he had something he wanted to ask. Then what he said confused even me.
"Connor, what happened to my leg?"
"Don't you remember what the nurse just told you?" I asked.
"No," he answered.
"It was burned very badly and they had to amputate it, Jude," I explained to him again.
He looked lost for a minute and I couldn't tell why. Our gaze was interrupted when the doctor came into the room. I got up and stood at the foot of the bed as the doctor examined Jude. I wondered why he had asked me that when he knew what Alyssa had said.
"What happened to my leg?" he asked again, this time to the doctor.
"I've already told him and so did Alyssa," I told the doctor.
"Jude, do you remember my name?" the doctor asked him. "I told you when I first came in."
"No," Jude answered.
"Jude your leg was burned beyond repair and we had to amputate it below the knee," the doctor explained to Jude again.
"Can you sit up for me?" the doctor asked him.
I watched as Jude sat up with the doctors help. Our eyes locked for a minute and then he looked down at his leg as if he was seeing it for the first time. It had healed good and they had removed the stitches two days ago leaving behind a nasty looking scar. He looked up at the doctor who was helping him lay back down with the same confused look on his face he had given me a few minutes ago.
"Where's my leg?" he asked again.
The doctor explained it to him again and then turned to me. "Can we speak outside?"
I nodded and followed him. Once we were outside the room he spoke.
"I want to perform some more tests to be sure, but I think Jude is suffering from short term memory loss. He can remember everything before the accident but nothing after. He can't hold on to any new memories. I believe it may have been caused from lack of oxygen when he was in the house fire," the doctor explained.
I just nodded. "Will he recover from this?"
"He can and there are strategies we can try to help him recover his short term memory. It will require extensive rehab on top of all the rehab for his back and leg. If I am right, we will have talk about finding a rehab facility that can deal with all the help he needs."
I just nodded. This was all too much to take in. Now not only did we have to deal with Jude learning to walk again he had a brain injury that may or may not be permanent. I was scared to death because this was so much added expense and I had no idea how we were going to make it on just my teacher's salary.
A/N: Poor Jude and Connor! No one said it was going to be easy. Good news is Jude's awake. This story has come to an end but continues in Shattered. Shattered is mostly from Sam's and Misty's point of view. There will be some Connor and Jude as well as Max, who is Sam's friend and love interest and Sutton, who is Misty's crush and a nurse working for the family. Be sure to look for it on my page.