Frank didn't wake again until the next day. To their delight, this time he looked directly at them, or rather, squinted.

"Frank!" said Monica, who noticed first.

Frank looked at the four of them, seeming confused. "W-where…?"

Everyone smiled in relief. His question had been the softest whisper, but at least he was able to ask it.

"You're in the hospital, Frank," Alex said, putting a comforting hand on his arm. "Your head injury was worse then everyone thought."

Frank frowned, not saying a word.

"Frank?" said Jake, in concern.

They got no answer, as Frank closed his eyes tight, in obvious pain.

"Oh, crap!" said Alex, realizing that no one had hit the call button for the doctor. As she reached to do so, the doctor came in.

"He's awake!" she told him.

The doctor hurried closer, and frowned to see his patient's pained expression. Going over to the locked cabinet, he took out a bottle and a syringe, and injected something into the IV.

Everyone watched as Frank's face slowly relaxed, as the medicine took effect. He sighed, but didn't reopen his eyes.

"Mr. Donovan?" said the doc. "Can you tell us your first name?"

Frank opened his eyes, and looked at them. He frowned, not answering.

"Frank?" Cody said, when he didn't answer. Realizing what he'd done, he covered his mouth with both hands, making a face as if to say, 'oops!'

Monica shook her head at him, while Alex sighed. Jake tried not to laugh at Cody's no-brainer.

"Do…I…know you?" they heard.

In shock, they all looked down at Frank, to see him blinking up at them, still looking confused.

"You don't know who we are?!" Jake asked, incredulous.

Frank looked at them for a minute longer, before closing his eyes. "No…"

Everyone looked to the doctor, with anguished expressions.

"Amnesia?" Monica whispered, shaking her head in denial.

The doctor sighed. "I'm gonna run some tests; an EEG and CAT scan. If you'll wait in the waiting room, I'll come tell you when we're done."

Everyone nodded, nervously, and filed out the door. Once in the waiting room, none of them could sit, as they waited for word.

"I can't believe this…" said Alex, as she paced. "I…I can't believe it! This kind of thing only happens on TV!"

"Calm down, Alex," said Jake.

"Calm down?" she repeated, throwing her hands up into the air.

"Yeah," said Jake, grabbing her and holding her still. "Frank is gonna need our help, and we can't do that if we're losing our minds over here!"

Alex sighed. Shaking her head, she abruptly plopped down onto the couch with a sniff.

Monica went over and sat next to her when it became obvious that Alex was fighting back tears.

"Poor Frank," she said.

Monica nodded, fighting tears herself.

"Come on, girls," said Cody. "Maybe he doesn't have amnesia. He could still be disoriented, or it could even be the medicine."

"True," Monica admitted.

They sat there for a while, waiting. Finally the doctor came back out, and they all jumped to their feet.

The doctor held up his hand, to prevent them from bombarding him with questions. "We did the tests," he said. "On the CAT scan, we looked for light colored spots to indicate where the hematoma had collected enough to put pressure on the brain. We found a few, one being over his memory center."

Everyone gasped.

"But, the spot was only on the left side of his brain. Both sides of the brain have memory centers. When he's finally totally coherent, we may find that he remembers some things, just not everything."

"Will his brain heal?" Monica asked. "Or is it permanent damage?"

The doctor nodded. "It can heal; again, thanks to the skull fracture. The blood had somewhere to go, rather then sitting there making the damage worse and worse."

The team nodded, in relief.

"You said you found a 'few' spots," said Alex, nervously.

The doctor nodded again. "Yes…" he said, and paused. "The others were over areas that control motor function."

"WHAT?!" they all exploded.

"Are you saying he won't be able to use his arms or legs or something?" Cody sputtered.

"Hematomas usually occur in certain areas within the skull. Motor function is commonly affected in survivors, but they can be re-taught to walk, or recover use of an affected arm with physical therapy."

No one said anything, as they realized that Frank would have a lot of hospital visits to look forward to in the nearby future.

"Is he back in his room?" Jake asked, breaking the silence. "Can we go in again?"

"He's asleep," the doctor said, nodding.

They all walked down the hall quietly, again entering Frank's room. He was sleeping, as the doctor had said, and they all looked down at him, silently.

"How will Frank handle this?" said Alex. "He's so used to being in control of everything."

The others sighed, or shook their heads in dismay.

"I wish you'd been able to locate his mother, Cody," said Monica.

Cody spread his hands as if to say, 'I tried.' While Frank had still been in his coma, he had gone crazy trying to find Alanur Bay Donovan, but she was nowhere to be found.

"I wish there was a way to notify his grandfather," Cody said. "But how do you get a message to someone who lives in the middle of the desert?"

"Maybe when Frank's not so out-of-it anymore, he'll remember his mother, and know where she is," said Jake, optimistically.

"Hope so," said Alex.

********************

The next day, Frank woke up before anyone else did. He opened his eyes, and looked around at the people asleep on cots and on the bed next to his.

Turning his aching head slowly, he looked at them with a frown. These people never leave…do I really know them? He mind was a total blank, he literally had no idea whether he did or not, and it scared him. What happened to me? He tried to think, but it was as if some invisible force was preventing him. Try as he might, there was nothing there. He sighed, feeling uncomfortable, and tried to shift his position. When his body didn't obey him, a stab of fear hit his stomach. Oh, God, no! I'm...I'm…he couldn't think of the word.

*beep beep beep beep*

The UC team jumped when a nurse ran into the room, and over to Frank.

"What?!" Jake shouted, the first to awaken. "What happened?!"

They all dove off the beds, in frenzied concern.

"Shh!" the nurse said to them, relieved that Frank's dramatically increased heart rate wasn't due to a medical problem. "Don't excite him, he's upset enough."

Frank answered them before anyone could ask. "I…can't move," he whispered.

"Calm down, Mr. Donovan," said the doctor's voice, behind them. "You aren't paralyzed."

Then why can't I move? The words popped into his head, but when he tried to say them nothing came out.

"You had brain surgery, Mr. Donovan," the doctor continued, coming further into the room. "Do you remember why?"

Frank just stared at him. "N-no," he finally said, seeming as if he'd had to force the word out.

The doctor frowned, at that. "You were hit on the head with a crowbar, which caused a subdural hematoma."

Frank blinked and furrowed his eyebrows, as if he was trying to figure out what that was.

The doctor was being vague on purpose; trying to gauge the severity of Frank's memory loss and mental capacity. "Internal bleeding within the skull," he explained. "You received a skull fracture that fortunately allowed some of the blood to exit the confined space, protecting your brain from becoming damaged too badly."

Frank still had a confused look, but it faded away when he closed his eyes, quickly tired out.

"Frank?" said Alex, hoping he hadn't fallen asleep, wanting him to be awake enough for them to finally get to talk to him.

He slowly opened his eyes when she touched his arm, and looked at her questioningly, blinking sleepily.

"Your name is 'Frank'," she said, thinking he might not realize that. "We're your friends."

So that's why they won't leave. Frank smiled a little, and closed his eyes again.