First off, I am so sorry to keep you waiting so long. I promise I have not abandoned this fic. I just have been very busy raising 5 kiddos. I don't get much time to indulge in creative writing. I can't promise how often I'll update but I plan on doing much more with this and have a few ideas brewing. I'm also open to ideas from readers if you have any! Please review! I probably won't respond but please know that I do appreciate it so much and it truly is a joy to read your reviews. Hope you enjoy this little bit. Thanks for sticking with me.

Henry held Elizabeth's hand as the doctor went over her various injuries. He could see the confusion and panic increasing with each explanation. When she had woken up, she had immediately cried out in pain and quickly shut her eyes tight. They had to dim the lights in the room considerably before Elizabeth had agreed to open her eyes again. The doctor had gotten her a cold compress for her head and after half an hour Elizabeth was finally past the worst of her headache. The doctor had explained to them both the symptoms to expect from her concussion and had moved on to cover her broken arm, cracked ribs, and now was explaining the damage done to her legs. Henry rubbed the back of Elizabeth's hand to reassure himself as much as her. He wasn't looking forward to this part any more than she was. The blanket was pulled back to reveal her calves and ankles wrapped in a light gauze.

"The burns are severe but not as damaging as they could have been. They are mostly concentrated from the ankles and up the calf. You do have blisters of varying degrees. This injury will require the most work on your part to care for. Burns can be tricky, "the doctor informed them.

The doctor then proceeded to slowly lift Elizabeth's left leg and unwrap it. Henry felt her tense and saw the pain on her face. When the final gauze pulled free of her skin she let out a hiss. "I'm sorry. Unfortunately, burns can be very painful. As you can see, there is extensive blistering. The bigger blisters may scar but I am hopeful that the small ones will be unnoticable when healed."

Henry glanced at Elizabeth. She was staring at her legs as if in a trance, clearly overwhelmed. He swallowed the bile that rose in his throat at the sight of his wife's red, wet looking, sensitive skin. "What um, what should we do for her?"

"Well, with second degree burns as severe as this you'll want to avoid ice. But a cool compress will help with pain, just make sure it's not too cold." He was slowly wrapping her legs in fresh gauze. Despite the man's gentle movements, Henry felt Elizabeth's grip on his fingers tighten. The doctor continued, "You will need to change the dressings every couple of days or when they get wet. You can shower, but no soaking in a tub. If the water hitting your skin is too painful you can shower with the dressings on and then change them. Just use mild soap and water to keep the wounds clean. And of course you'll want to avoid the water being hot."

Henry nodded his understanding, beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed himself. Elizabeth had yet to really respond or react. He was starting to worry. She looked utterly lost as she stared at her legs as if not really seeing them. Before he could question her the doctor continued, "You'll want to keep the coverings loose. We want airflow but we also want to protect the skin from infection and rubbing on clothing. Don't wrap it too tight. You may experience slight bleeding and blisters may break when you change the dressing. This is normal. Just try to be gentle. We don't want to break the blisters if we don't have to."

Henry nodded again, "Thank you. What about infection?"

"We gave your wife a round of antibiotics when she arrived. I don't suspect she'll need anything else. As long as you are careful not to damage the skin further and keep it clean it should heal just fine. You will of course check in with your physician back home and they can help if you have questions or any complications arise."

"Alright," Henry said. He again looked to his wife, saying softly, "Are you alright babe?"

It was a few seconds before she looked up at him, her eyes dull, and with a slight smirk she scoffed softly, "No on ill be writing any arcles about how sessy my legs are enmore."

Henry smirked back at her and squeezed her hand. He wasn't sure if she was joking to try to lighten the mood or if she was actually feeling insecure and trying to deflect. Most likely the latter. He wanted to comfort and reassure her but not with the doctor standing witness. He simply bent and kissed her on the head. She sighed and he knew she was feeling frustrated and tired. She proved him correct when she cut through the silence in a voice louder than she had used thus far. "Way can't I talk nomle?"

The doctor gave her a sad smile and responded calmly, "As I mentioned earlier, your concussion is severe. While you don't have any bleeding of the brain, you still sustained quite a blow to the head. There is slight swelling. The position of that blow affected the part of your brain that controls speech. The good news is that all of our scans show no permanent damage. You are already speaking more clearly than you were a few hours ago when you first woke up. I imagine that in as little as a couple days you will be speaking normally again. I know it is frustrating and can be difficult. There is not much to be done however but wait."

Henry saw his wifes brow furrow and she bit her lip. He could tell she was emotionally spent and was doing her best to swallow her tears. "Just give yourself time to heal," Henry offered. "I can understand you just fine. You don't need to worry about that."

Elizabeth took a deep breath. Of course Henry understood her. He always did. Half the time they didn't need words to communicate. But what about everyone else around her? She was exhausted but was unwilling to give into it until all her questions were answered. She was trying to keep her breathing under control. Her chest felt increasingly tight as her injuries were laid bare before her. Every pain now explained and identified. Her legs were aching from being moved and touched, her head was starting to pulse, and her ribs ached with each breath she took. The fact that every time she opened her mouth to speak her words came out wrong, was both worrying and frustrating! She had always been an excellent communicator. She thrived on debate and wit and getting the last word. Now, she felt like even basic sentences were beyond her. She didn't even really want to try. She clung to the hope that it would improve quickly but a part of her worried, what if she never fully got her speech back? She couldn't do her job if she couldn't even speak properly! She swallowed and shoved those thoughts aside. She was angry and it showed in the way she asked, "Wha bou my memmy? Mem..mem...ry?" Damn that word was hard to say. She wasn't sure if she wanted to cry or throw something. Henry wanted to make her sleep. He wanted to force her to stop and rest. He could see her walls already going up and it worried him. She was hurting physically and emotionally but she was already trying to bury it. Below the exhaustion and hurt, he could see her determination to get the answers she was seeking and knew it wouldn't do any good to try to get in her way. He squeezed her hand again and felt her weakly squeeze back. The doctor replied, "It is very common for patients with head trauma to not remember the event that injured them. It is common to forget the entire day leading up to the event. It is also common for those memories to return. In the next few days your memories will probably come back. Usually, this happens slowly and piece by piece. It can be difficult, so I'd encourage you to talk to someone about things as you begin to remember. It will be particularly important that you are open about what you are feeling considering your past experience with PTSD. You should know that it is likely for those symptoms to resurface to some degree."

Elizabeth tensed. She nodded but didn't make eye contact with anyone. Her eyes were glued to her lap. She suddenly lost all her fight. The anger had seeped away. She was still worried about a great many things but she felt almost numb. She wanted to close her eyes and forget all of it. Part of her hoped she'd never remember what happened, but a bigger part knew she needed the truth. She tried to figure out the shortest way to ask what she wanted. Quietly she said, "Isss okay t' te me?" There was silence for a moment and she continued to look at her lap, knowing that the doctor was trying to understand what she was asking. It made her crawl inside herself even more.

Henry saved the poor man by saying, "It's alright if I tell her what happened right? Being who she is, I don't think we have the luxury of waiting until she remembers before she finds out."

"Oh, of course. Yes. There is no reason not to explain what happened. It may even help her in remembering it," the doctor assured them. Henry nodded. He wasn't sure he wanted her to remember. It was a selfish thought. But he also wanted to spare her the agony of remembering what had to have been a very scary situation. He was still unsure what she did remember and what she didn't. They needed to talk, but he would have to wait.

"I'll leave you to rest now. The pain meds I just put in your IV will help you relax and hopefully you can sleep peacefully for a while," the doctor said.

"Thank you," Henry said as he shook the man's hand. "When do you think she can return to the United States?"

"Well, I'd like to keep you here for one more day, just to be sure there are no other complications from the head injury that pop up. She's still on a catheter so I'd like to remove that soon and see how she is getting up. There will be more instructions on how to help her with that before you go. I also want to make sure you get more rest. Assuming everything looks good, I see no reason we can't discharge you the day after tomorrow."

Henry nodded and watched the man exit. He turned back to Elizabeth and saw her staring at the ceiling. He approached slowly and pushing back the hair from her forehead kissed her brow softly. "You'll be alright babe. I promise."

Elizabeth couldn't keep the tear from falling down her cheek. She felt Henry gently wipe it away. "Wa penned?"

Henry gave her a smile but shook his head no, saying, "Not right now." He saw her glare at him and he quickly continued, "I promise to tell you but you have had a long couple of hours. You are exhausted. Sleep babe. There's been too much information thrown at you already. Rest for a while. I'll be here with you. I'll tell you everything after you sleep." He bent and kissed her cheek lightly, wiping away a few more tears from her cheek. "I love you. You don't need to worry." Elizabeth closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. Her body was beginning to loosen as the medication started to dull her pain. She wanted to tell Henry she loved him but she couldn't find the energy and simply hummed in reply before drifting off into a deep sleep.

Henry watched her succumb to sleep. Her face finally relaxed. He sighed heavily. The coming conversation, hell, the coming days were going to be rough. He hoped he would know what to do and say to help her. He was tired too but before he could lay down in the recliner he had a phone call to make. He stepped out of the room and dialed. "Hey Will...