CHAPTER 31

Finn awoke in a white room. Well, it was actually just big, concrete bricks painted white. He felt strange; sluggish and slow and dizzy and everything else. He blinked a couple of times to try and clear some of the haze out of his eyes, then slowly turned his head to the side to see where exactly he was. For some reason, his brain wasn't acting as quickly as it normally did. Was anyone else here with him?

"Oh my god! You're awake!" A pleasant female voice came from just below where he was looking. He lifted his head up slightly and saw an elderly lady furiously writing something on a clipboard chart.

"Am I dead?" He asked without preamble. If he was, he was definitely going to suggest a much more pleasant welcome into the afterlife; a bed in a white concrete room wasn't cutting it for him, and he was usually pretty relaxed about that kind of stuff.

The elderly lady laughed a bit, which highlighted the laugh lines along her face, and then shook her head. "You're in the Freeman Hospital Surgical Recovery Room. You came close, I'm not going to lie."

"How did I get here?" Finn groaned and let his head fall back into the pillow behind him, a touch of nausea coming to him as his temples flared in pain when he shifted himself. "Fuck, this hurts."

The nurse shook her head and retrieved a needle from the table beside him. "Language, my young friend. Never a need for that word."

Finn grumbled and swore inside his mind. The nurse had complete control over his well-being, though, so he kept his thoughts to himself.

He watched as she approached with the needle, but then (much to his relief) she suddenly turned towards his I.V. and used that line for the injection. "I thought, given your size, we'd need a stronger dosage than normal. Let's see if Demerol can take care of your discomfort, shall we?"

Finn nodded a bit, then settled back down and anxiously waited for the painkiller to work. He had been given Demerol when he had injured his back and it had worked wonders for him. He felt the drug quickly work through his body and make him feel extremely tired in the process. The nurse then walked out into the waiting room, where his family was still waiting. The Glee club had all gone home for the night, leaving Neve, Sarah, Mr. Schue and Carole as the only ones in the room. They all jumped to their feet when the doctor walked in.

"His surgery went well. He just woke up now, actually. We confirmed there's no further spinal damage from the fall and he didn't break any bones, which is somewhat of a miracle. He's one tough cookie."

Everyone smiled, relieved.

"That he is." Carole said. "So can we see him now?"

"Yeah, sure. We had to perform a craniectomy, which is an extremely high risk surgery with almost a third mortality rate but he seemed to pull through okay. The swelling in his brain went down so that's great. Please follow me and please stay calm and soft. There's always a small chance of amnesia and we don't want to aggravate his brain in its current state."

"Wait… he could have forgotten about us?" Neve asked, suddenly extremely frightened. The doctor smiled kindly at her.

"It's a very unlikely chance, and even if he does have amnesia, it's most likely temporary. He'll be up and about in no time."

They finally arrived at the surgery recovery room. The doctor slowly entered, and they saw Finn lying on the hospital bed. Everyone smiled widely at him when they walked in.

"Hey, Finn." Carole said, softly.

"Mom?" Finn said, groaning in pain quietly as he tried to sit up. The doctor gently pushed him back down on the bed.

"Stay still." The doctor ordered. Finn nodded and looked around the room.

"Um… how did I get here?" Finn muttered. The doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, you don't remember?" The doctor asked. Finn shook his head and then cried out in pain.

"Ahhh…" He groaned as his head started to throb.

"Finn, you got in a fight with Sam. He pushed you down three flights of stairs in McKinley." Mr. Schue asked. Finn's face was filled with confusion.

"Sam? McKinley? Huh?" Finn asked, before noticing Mr. Schue for the first time. "Wait, who the hell are you?"

Everyone in the room's jaw dropped. The nurse took over at this point.

"Um… Finn… do you not know who these people are?" He asked. Finn shook his head.

"Nah, I know my sisters and my mom. I just don't know who that guy is." Finn said. The doctor slowly nodded, slowly trying to gauge the situation.

"Okay… what's the last thing you remember?" The doctor asked. Finn thought for a moment.

"Living in Boston. Getting black-out drunk. Getting into a fight. Waking up with a wicked hangover." Finn replied. Everyone's eyes widened in alarm.

"Wait… so you don't remember Emily?" Sarah asked.

"Who's Emily?" Finn responded.

"Oh my god…" Carole murmured. The doctor stayed calm.

"OK, Finn, I think you might have some amnesia, buddy." The doctor said. "You've lost all memories since around July-August. We're in early February right now. You're in your senior year of high school. You live in a city called Lima, Ohio."

Finn slowly shook his head.

"No, I know that. I remember general information like that. Just like I know that I had back surgery over the Christmas break and I'm back on the racing circuit; and that I am competing in my High School show choir. But I don't remember specific things." He explained. "Like I know I am in my school's Glee Club, but I don't remember any rehearsals or anything. And I don't remember people either."

The doctor nodded again.

"OK, that's reassuring. That means that your amnesia is probably temporary."

"I'm sorry. Probably?" Neve asked, trembling slightly. The doctor looked down and sighed.

"Look, with head injuries, there's never a guarantee. Anything can happen…"

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A week later, Finn was finally discharged from the hospital and allowed to go back to school. Normally, he longed for a week off school but now that he spent a whole week confined in the cell of the hospital, he was dying to get back in public. During his week in the hospital, he had been put through countless tests, scans and examinations by the doctors before they finally cleared him to be back in public. He still had amnesia, but he was starting to remember certain events, even if he couldn't remember everything. The doctors anyways said that he might remember floods of information, triggered by people, places or actions.

Throughout the course of the week, he had also been visited by people who were apparently his friends. He met his 'friends' from his high school Glee club, a guy called Josh who he apparently used to be close with from racing, as well as a man called Mr. William Schuester who was the Glee club coach and supposedly his friend and mentor. One of the most frustrating things about having amnesia was that he had no way to support and confirm anything that he was told. For all he knew, every word he was told by everyone but his family was a lie.

Finn walked into school on Monday, and surprisingly, he knew where he was going. It was like everything he had done repeatedly (driving, walking through school, singing, etc.) was still in his memory. He knew exactly where to go to make it to the choir room, but because it was only 6:30 am and Glee started at 7, nobody was there yet. Finn knocked on the door to Mr. Schue's office and he was let in.

"Hey, Finn. How are you feeling?" Mr. Schue asked, letting him in. Finn shrugged. He had gotten to know Mr. Schue very well over the past week as he was the only person, other than Josh and his family, who visited him every day.

"Ok, I guess. It's kind of annoying to not remember everything. It's like I'm a new student."

"Well, let's pretend that's the case." Mr. Schue suggested. "We shouldn't expect anything more of you than we would every other new student. Now, how about a welcome back drink?" Mr. Schue asked, taking out two beers from the fridge and handing one to Finn. Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Beer? At school? Look, I'm all for it but isn't that like… illegal?"

Mr. Schue chuckled.

"Maybe. But you almost died. You can do whatever the hell you like. Now, let's have a drink. Celebrate you coming back from the dead."

"Hey! I was never dead! You remember that!" Finn exclaimed. Mr. Schue laughed and the two of them drank their drinks. As they spent time together and were both at ease, Finn was starting to recollect some foggy memories.

"Hey, Mr. Schue?" Finn asked.

"Yeah? What's up, buddy?"

"Did you happen to give me a guitar in December?" Finn asked. Mr. Schue's face broke out into a huge grin.

"YES! I did! You remember that?" He asked. Finn shrugged.

"Faintly." Finn replied. "It's kind of foggy but that's a start, I guess."

Mr. Schue nodded and smiled widely.

"Damn right, it's a start." Mr. Schue replied, and the two of them dumped the empty beer bottles in the garbage, before walking into the choir room for the start of Glee rehearsal…

As the New Directions started to file into the room, all of them saw Finn and ran over to him. Finn only knew who they were from the time they came and visited him in the hospital, not from any prior memories. After they all welcomed him back, Mr. Schue walked to the front of the room to begin the lesson.

"All right, guys! I've got good news, bad news and some more good news." he announced. "First of all, good news… as you can see, Finn's back with us. He might have a couple of memory issues, but he's here and that's all that matters."

Everyone cheered and patted Finn on the back. Finn raised a hand.

"Thanks, but guys, can I just ask one thing? I just told Mr. Schue I don't remember any specific memories, nor do I know anything about you guys other than you told me in the hospital so please… just treat me like a new kid, okay? Please don't put extra pressure on me to remember anything because it honestly won't help. The doctor said that regaining memories will take time, if ever. But I guess it will be fun to get to know everyone for the first time again."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

"Cool." Mr. Schue said. "My next point… some more good news. I just received word from Figgins that Sam and Quinn have both been expelled, with Sam now in juvie." Mr. Schue announced. Finn realised something.

"Oh, Sam's the guy who kicked my ass, right?" Finn asked. Everyone laughed.

"No. Correction… you kicked his ass. He got mad and came at you from behind and pushed you over the railing." Puck remarked. Finn nodded.

"Right, that makes more sense." Finn chuckled. Mr. Schue nodded.

"OK. Now the bad news. Because of Sam and Quinn leaving, we now only have 11 members in the Glee club - one less than we need for Regionals - and we might even be another person down, what with Emily taking another day away because… you know."

Everyone turned to look at Finn, who was completely oblivious. He noticed them staring and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Then he remembered something else. "Wait… who is this Emily girl? My sister mentioned her name to me briefly while I was in the hospital, but I never met her in person."

Everyone looked at each other, nervously. They didn't know what to say exactly. After all, none of them could even begin to describe the special relationship Finn and Emily had. Mr. Schue decided to take a crack at it.

"You and Emily… you dated. You two met while you were in physical rehab over Christmas break. She moved to Lima in early January, and you guys started dating shortly after. Sam… he kept trying to sabotage your relationship and eventually succeeded a week ago."

Understanding dawned on Finn.

"Oh. Is that why I kicked his ass?" Finn asked, confused. Everyone nodded, slowly.

"OK, enough news." Mr. Schue said. "Let's get started!"