Henry felt like it had been several hours since he had sat down in the chair beside his wife's hospital bed, waiting for her to wake up. In reality he had only been sitting here for less than two hours. He had let his tears run dry as he tried to purge himself of some of the guilt and fear that had been consuming him since he had gotten the call from Conrad. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he dialed Stevie.

"Dad, have you heard anything? How is mom?"

"It's alright. She's going to be alright. She's out of surgery and I'm just waiting for her to wake up."

"So, she's fine? I mean what was the surgery for? Are they going to send her home soon then?"

Henry could hear the uncertainty and disbelief in his daughter's voice. She was too smart and could sense he had not told her everything. "Mom will be fine but it's going to take some time before she's back to herself. We probably won't be leaving here for a few days. She was hurt pretty badly. The surgery went well. They stopped the bleeding but she had a couple broken ribs, a broken arm and some bad burns on her legs."

"Mom…"

Henry heard her voice break with the news and he wished he didn't have more to tell her. "I know honey. But the doctors say everything will heal. She took a bad hit to the head too but she doesn't have any swelling to her brain and they are optimistic that she shouldn't have any permanent effects from it."

"So, she will have effects though?"

"The concussion is severe. She may have trouble speaking clearly, be nauseous, have headaches, that kind of thing."

"Wow. Ok."

"Look honey, I know this is a lot to take in. Trust me, she'll be alright. "

"Should I tell Ali and Jas?"

"Yeah, of course, just try not to scare them. She's hurt but nothing life threatening. She just needs time."

"Alright."

Henry heard the sadness and worry in his oldest child's voice. "How are you guys doing?"

"Oh, ya know, eating junk and trying to distract ourselves. Blake said he'd come by in the morning with breakfast for us and check in."

"Good. That's good. Hey, it's going to be alright."

"Yeah, you've said."

"I just want you to believe it. Mom might have a bit of a road ahead of her but she's strong."

"Yeah, I know. Call us when she's awake?"

"I will. I love you. Tell Ali and Jas too."

"Love you."

Henry ended the call and sighed heavily. His eyes were tired from crying. He was glad Blake would be stopping by. He had become like an extension to the family to them all. Henry thought the poor guy needed a raise for all the stuff he'd put up with and done for Elizabeth and their family. Henry focused once more on Elizabeth's pale face. Things had changed so fast. He almost couldn't process it. He had come so close to loosing her. A part of him still worried that he would. The trauma to her body was extensive. He was grateful it hadn't been worse of course, but her recovery was going to be a hard road physically. He wasn't even sure what her mental healing would look like, but after Iran, he was scared for her. This event was surely not going to be good for her PTSD.

It was another half hour before Elizabeth showed signs of waking up. Henry jolted out of a light sleep when he felt Elizabeth's fingers move against his. He gently squeezed her fingers and taking his other hand, stroked her cheek lightly. "Hey, babe it's time to wake up." He felt her fingers once again move in his grasp. "That's it babe, come back to me." Henry watched as Elizabeth's head slightly lulled toward his hand. Her eyebrows slowly drew together and he worried she was in pain. "It's alright babe. I'm here." He watched her carefully and again gave her hand a soft squeeze. Her fingers curled a bit around his but were weak. A few more minutes passed with Elizabeth slightly moving her head. Henry continuing his soft reassurances to help her back to consciousness. At last Henry saw her eyelids begin to flutter and finally open. "There you are. Hi, beautiful," Henry whispered. Elizabeth's eyes were unfocused and she slowly looked around with clear uncertainty. She attempted to move her body as if to sit up but a groan escaped her and she quickly stopped moving. "Whoa, take it slow. It's alright," Henry tried to calm her as he saw her chest begin to rise and fall more quickly. He saw the clear pain on her face and said, "Elizabeth look at me, it's alright." Henry stroked her hair and squeezed her hand. Her blue eyes jumped to his face but instead of seeing relief that he was there, he saw confusion and fear. Without warning she jerked her hand away from his. Her voice was panicked and weak as she said, "Where 'm I? wha's going on?"

"Hey, it's alright. You're in the hospital," Henry said slowly as he placed his hand on her cheek, trying to get her to look at him. "You were hurt but…"

"Don't touch me!" her voice was quiet but firm.

Henry drew back in shock as she shifted her head away from him. The movement had obviously caused her pain as she moaned and closed her eyes tightly, her breathing becoming labored. His worry intensified. "Babe I need you to try to calm down."

"I'm not… your babe," Elizabeth panted, "Who are you? Why am I here?" She groaned again in pain and clear frustration as she tried to move but was unable to do so fully.

Henry's eyes went wide at her words. Did she really not know him? He was snapped back to reality as a monitor began beeping loudly. His focus snapped back to his wife who was now in the full throws of a panic attack. Her chest heaved as she tried to gulp down air. Her body shook with the effort and tears slid down her cheeks. He wanted to comfort her but the minute he took her hand she pulled it away in distress. "Elizabeth…" before he could do anything two nurses and a doctor rushed into the room and a pushed him aside.

A flurry of activity happened in a matter of minutes. The nurses scrambled around silencing the machines and trying to calm Elizabeth's breathing. The doctor gave instructions involving fluids and other medications. Henry watched helplessly as the nurse tried to keep Elizabeth from moving and tried to explain to her the situation. His heart lurched with each shaky breath she took and each pained expression she made. The confusion on her face didn't clear and when it became clear that they were not going to get Elizabeth calm with just words, the doctor instructed the nurse to give her morphine. Within seconds Henry watched his wife's body still its weak attempts of movement and saw her eyes droop closed. Her breathing settled and everyone in the room seemed to give a collective sigh of relief. Everyone that is except Henry. His own blood pressure was running high and he immediately asked, "What happened? I don't understand. She acted like she had no idea who I was! Is that normal?"

The doctor wrote something down in the chart and instructed the nurses to slow the flow of morphine over the next two hours. He then turned to Henry. "Does she often suffer panic attacks?"

Henry shook his head no and said, "She has had one. It was after a trip to Iran….she's been able to keep it under control since then but…She didn't know me!"

"I know you're upset. Her reaction must have been a shock." The doctor sighed, "We didn't expect this but it is also not uncommon for someone who is coming out of anesthesia and has had head trauma. "

"What do you mean? Why doesn't she remember me?" Henry felt like the floor was falling out from under him.

"Most likely its an effect from the anesthesia. Some patients experience some temporary memory slips when they are coming out of it. Combine that with her concussion and it makes for a very confused patient. It was clear she wasn't processing what was going on and became scared when she couldn't remember where she was or how she got here."

"So, the memory loss is just temporary?" Henry pleaded.

"Yes, in fact it should only be a few hours or a day at most before she remembers you. You are in her long-term memory, which isn't normally affected with the type of head injury she sustained. I am confident it has more to do with the anesthesia than the head trauma."

Henry felt a bit of relief from this and took a breath to try to calm his pounding heart. The doctor continued, "However, her clear confusion and lack of understand about what happened to her may last much longer."

"What do you mean?"

"I would not be surprised if the Secretary has post-traumatic amnesia."

"Elizabeth. Please call her Elizabeth," Henry said.

"Of course. This type of amnesia means that the patient has no memory of the event that caused their injury. This can last for a few days or several months. In her case, because we have seen no swelling or bleeding, she may begin to remember after just a few days. Maybe even hours. We will monitor her closely."

"It's going to make her PTSD worse, isn't it?" Henry asked sadly.

"She will most likely suffer the symptoms of that more often. At least for a little while," the doctor admitted. "Now, I gave her morphine which should wear off in a couple hours. Hopefully, when she wakes up again, she will be more capable of remaining calm."

"Will she recognize me by then?"

"I believe so, though there isn't any sure way of knowing. I am sorry. But she is doing well all things considered."

"Thank you." The doctor left and the room was once again quiet. Henry ran a hand through his hair and sank into the chair beside the bed. He had never considered that she wouldn't know him. All those years together and he had just watched his wife become terrified of his presence. The look of fear on her face as he had tried to comfort her was burned into his mind. His intimate touch had literally sent her into a panic. He attempted to remind himself that the doctor had told him it was temporary. Just a side effect of the meds. His brain couldn't fathom a life where she didn't want him or know him. He was desperate to talk to her. He pulled out his phone and wondered if he should call Will to try to see what he thought about it. He should probably be notified that his sister had been in an accident. Henry felt exhausted and, in that moment, he couldn't bring himself to make the call. He noticed he had a voicemail. His eyes watered knowing it was from Elizabeth. He pressed the button and held the phone to his ear desperate to hear her voice. When the message ended, he dropped the phone into his lap and let tears roll down his face. He had just heard his wife's last words before their world had been turned upside down. The sound of her pleading declarations of love for him stung. She had been reaching out to him in worry and love and he had simply silenced her call. What if he had lost her? What if her memory was damaged for good? That message would be the last time he would hear her voice say those wonderful words, 'I love you'. The thought crushed him all over again. He wouldn't tell anyone about this, about her forgetting him. Not unless it didn't resolve itself. He clung to the doctors' reassurances. This pain, this loss, was his to bare alone. She was laying right next to him and yet she suddenly felt miles away. He was afraid to hold her hand even knowing she was unconscious. He didn't want to bring her more fear or pain. Settling back, he whispered, "I'll be here for you. Always." There was nothing to do but wait again. He wasn't sure he wanted to be there when she woke up the second time around. He wasn't sure he could handle her pushing him away again. But Henry was no coward and his love for her glued him to his chair. Whatever came, he would be there for her. Even if he had to fight for her all over again.

I have tried to meet some of your requests for memory loss but I'll admit it's hard to do it in a realistic way. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to your thoughts. Thanks for reading. I'm considering doing this little bit from Elizabeth's perspective but don't want to overkill it so let me know what you think.