TITLE: I Hear You

AUTHOR: Clairisant

CLASSIFICATION: AJ/Other

FEEDBACK: Would love to hear both good and bad feedback but please try to be kind and constructive. Clairisant

Chapter 1

Admiral AJ Chegwidden had just been rescued from his ejection over the George Washington National Forrest. Meredith Cavanaugh met him at the hospital and as he was rolled down the hall he heard someone say, 'I'm not dying. Please believe me.' He felt sorry for the woman he thought might be in denial.

He was examined and against his wishes was admitted. Once he was in his room AJ tried to convince Meredith to go home. She argued that she wanted to stay with him, but AJ insisted that she go. Reluctantly she agreed to leave insisting that she would be back first thing in the morning.

After he was alone AJ settled into a very narrow twin bed. It was hard to get used to when he had a king sized bed at home, but his muscles were so sore that he would hardly be moving around much. Just as he was about to fall asleep he heard the voice that he'd heard when he first came in, 'Please listen to me! I'm not dying. Why will no one hear me?'

AJ wondered the same thing. Why was no one listening to this poor woman? His room must be very close to hers for him to be able to hear her so clearly. As he dozed off he hoped that someone was going to help her.

In the middle of the night he once again heard the voice he had earlier. 'Why will no one listen to me? Can anyone at all hear me?'

He was tired of no one taking care of this woman so he maneuvered himself out of bed and got to his feet. The pain from his injuries was intense but so was his desire to see why no one was helping this woman. Once in the hall he turned right which was where the voice seemed to be coming from and he looked into the room right next door to his, but it was empty. AJ was sure the voice had come from nearby. Maybe it was from across the hall but it seemed like that would be far for him to hear. Pushing open the closed door he found a woman attached to tubes, wires, and machines. She seemed to be asleep. So how could she have been calling out the way she had? Maybe she had just fallen asleep since she'd called out, after all he had taken a while getting here. Oh well, time to get back to his own bed.

He turned towards the door and heard, 'Wait! Please don't leave!'

AJ tried to swing around but with his injuries all he could manage was a show turn only to find her eyes were once again alone. For the first time he spoke to her, he said, "Sleep well, I'll try and come back and see you tomorrow."

'No, please don't go!' he heard from her even though her eyes never opened and the weirdest thing was her lips didn't move!

Trying to see if he could figure out what was going on he tried to keep her talking, "My name is AJ Chegwidden. What is yours?"

'Amica Jazz,' she told him, again her eyes didn't open or her lips move. How did she do that?

Just then a nurse entered the room behind him, "Admiral Chegwidden! What are you doing in here? We've been looking for you!"

"I heard her calling out and no one seemed to be responding to her distress. So I came to see what I could do."

"Heard who call out?" the nurse asked.

"Her," AJ said indicating the woman in the bed. "She told me her name was Amica Jazz."

"That's not possible," the nurse informed him.

"Why is that?" AJ wanted to know.

"Because Captain Jazz is in a coma. She has been since 9/11. There is no way she spoke to you. We brought her up here from storage…I mean long term care, because her vitals have been fluxuating wildly and there is more staff up here to care for her."

"Then why haven't they been responding to her calls? I have heard her call out for help at least three times and once I was here in her room she talked to me…even though her lips never moved…"

The nurse looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "Admiral did you suffer a head injury as well as your ribs and back?"

To be continued…