Waking Up Again

There was noise... beep, beep, beep.

It was difficult to open his eyes, but he did despite not knowing why. He didn't think about it. He just did it.

Closing them rapidly, he couldn't keep them open.

It was more comfortable not to.

Then the memories surfaced as he thought of his beautiful wife, his best friend, his team, and all of those people who meant so much to him. Some of the visions were things that he regretted, like treating Neal as nothing more than a tool until he nearly got himself killed protecting him, not remembering his beautiful wife, and pushing away his team.

Hoping they were bad dreams, he pushed himself to open his eyes, to reassure himself that everything was okay.

The sight of a hospital greeted him which told him that things weren't okay, but he didn't know if this was a result of his fall while his consultant had disappeared or the beating he'd gotten in the elevator at the bureau.

He hoped it was the fall because that would mean that everything else had just been a bad dream, a product of his imagination while he'd been unconscious.

Looking around as his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw that he was in a room with a large curtain down the middle. Then his eyes dropped to the figure sleeping by his side.

She was his angel, his Hon, his beautiful wife.

He didn't need a sign to know who she was.

While he was watching her, Elizabeth shifted as she woke up from her nap.

As she started to move, he tried to reach out to her, but finding his arm in a cast hinted that he might be waking up from the beating, not the fall. But he didn't remember his arm being hurt in either instance so it was still a tossup as to which incident had landed him here.

"Hey, Hon, my angel," he should probably add that to his conversations with her. After all, she was his saving angel, the love of his life, and she needed to be reminded of that, especially when he was particularly spending too many late nights at the office.

Popping up, she quickly brushed her fallen hair out of her face and looked at him. "Peter?"

"I don't need a sign to tell me how special you are, but it certainly helped me in asking you out that first time." He smiled at the memory and decided that he'd really like some good Italian as soon as the doctors allowed it.

Crying, Elizabeth leaned onto his bed and took his hand in hers. "You remember?"

Nodding slightly, he thought it might not be a good idea depending on what injuries he'd acquired. "I do... but," he wasn't sure how to ask his question. If he'd only dreamed of Neal's injuries then it might confuse her, but if he hadn't... "Where's Neal?"

Her expression fell which wasn't a good indication. "He's here, you're sharing a room. Don't you remember what happened?"

Sighing as he turned toward the curtain, he realized that it was separating him from his friend. "I hoped it was just a bad dream. Can you open the curtain?"

Getting up, she caught the material and drug it along the rails until there was no longer separation and he could see Neal.

The man was still covered with a breathing mask, a collection of tubes and wires, and his body was as still as it had been.

There was no sign of activity or life, just a body with machines helping him stay alive.

Feeling sick, he was upset to remember all of the things that the kid had put him through, all of those late nights chasing him, but also, all of the good things, like those late-night chats that had formed their friendship. "He hasn't woken up yet, has he?"

Resuming her seat by his side, Elizabeth picked up his hand. "No, he's still holding on, but the doctors haven't been able to get him to improve. They said it's like he's waiting for something, but what, they have no idea. It could be some point in his recovery and then his body will wake up, or it could be something else. They're doing what they can, but they aren't encouraging us to get our hopes up."

What if Neal was waiting for him to remember?

The man had been patiently keeping his distance while also loyally supporting him no matter how many times he'd kicked him down. Could he be taking a break waiting for things to improve before he'd get back into the fray?

It sounded ludicrous, but Neal never went the normal route.

"I wish I could reach out to him," maybe then he could call his friend home.

"Not yet, the doctors will want to evaluate your injuries first. Do you remember what happened this time?" Elizabeth put her hand on the side of his face to turn his attention back to her.

It wasn't hard; he still wanted to drink her in, to see her messy hair, her red-rimmed eyes with the bloodshot lines, and her blue eyes spilling tears down to her shaky smile. Trying his other hand, he managed to reach up and wipe a few of those tears away.

"The beginning of it, but I have no idea how things ended. I was distracted by writing my reports on what had happened to Neal so I wasn't paying enough attention when the guy came racing down the hall and bodily slammed me into the elevator. Then he said he blamed me for him and his brother getting arrested before he landed in on me. If I'd have had my head more in the game I might have been able to defend myself some, but he pretty much just walloped on me until I lost consciousness." It wasn't pleasant to admit that he'd failed, but he was grateful that the attack had restored his memories.

Sobbing a little, Elizabeth didn't like the description of what had happened, but then she kissed his hand as a reminder that he'd ultimately survived it. "You were in rough shape by the time they were able to take control of the elevator and force it open. The man wouldn't stop beating you so they were forced to shoot him. Then when they checked you out, you were covered in blood and had several injuries."

Wincing, he hoped it would be resolved more peacefully than that, but he was grateful that the agents had been able to prevent the man from killing him. "How bad is it?"

Listing off the extensive bruising that covered most of his torso front and back, Elizabeth then had more serious injuries to recount. "You have a broken arm, a concussion, and they had to do emergency surgery to remove your spleen before it could rupture since he'd kicked it enough times. They almost lost you on the table..." her tears took over and she leaned down against his side unable to hold them at bay any longer.

She was holding his good hand and his other was uselessly hanging limp in the cast so he was helpless to provide any comfort physically. Instead, he could only croon whatever words came to mind and wait for her to calm down.

When she'd gotten control again, she took a few moments to clean herself up killing the tissue box by his bedside.

"Hey, I'm going to be alright, Hon," he squeezed her hand as she took his in hers again.

Although he'd managed a few minutes of coherent conversation, he didn't think that was going to last much longer as he could feel his injuries making their presence known while he longed for the darkness of sleep again.

"The staff will help you get comfortable again," Elizabeth kissed his hand and within a few minutes a nurse showed up.

She started a basic conversation, but he wasn't able to focus on it so she did what she needed to, adjusted his meds, and then left the room again.

As he drifted off, he looked at his wife so that her face would be the last thing he'd see until he woke up again.

Thank you, everyone, for reading, commenting/reviewing, leaving kudos, and choosing to favorite :D

Alrighty, we had our adventures for my sister's birthday now, and hopefully, life will settle down on that front for a while... my mom's and my birthday isn't for a month ;) Unless anything unforeseen comes up, there shouldn't be any interruptions for a while again.