"Can you wiggle your toes for me?"

Seth wiggled with all of his might, relieved to see his toes responding. Everything seemed to be in good working order. But he felt weak and lightheaded, even from his head being slightly inclined on the bed.

Dr. Singh smiled at him. "That's great. Now, I'm going to ask you some more questions. We're really going to start with the basics just to make sure everything's okay. And I'm going to make some notes. All right?"

"Sure."

Seth wasn't quite sure what was going on but he didn't want to let on how nervous he was. What was wrong with him? What was he doing here?

A pair of familiar faces burst into the room. "Oh, honey! Thank God!" Kirsten exclaimed, swooping down on him to embrace him tightly and kiss his cheek. He normally wouldn't allow such behaviour, but he supposed this occasion didn't fall into the normal category. He found himself hugging her back.

His father was next. A big hug and a murmuring of, "How are you doing, kiddo? It's good to see you awake."

Dr. Singh stood back patiently and waited for his parents to calm down. "You're just in time, Mr. and Mrs. Cohen. I'm about to ask your son some questions." He turned to Seth again. "Okay, here we go. What's your name?"

"Seth Cohen."

"Do you remember what happened to you?"

"I...no. Was I sick?"

"No. You were in a boating accident and injured your head. You've been in a coma for a little while. Do you remember the accident at all?"

Seth felt his palms beginning to sweat. Something was terribly wrong here. They were heading towards some scary revelation and he did not want to go there.

"Seth? Do you remember that?" Dr. Singh repeated.

"No."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Uh..." He strained his brain, trying desperately to recall something. Everything was so fuzzy. "Oh, yeah! I remember going to Disneyland. I threw up after the roller coaster." He looked to his parents for confirmation. They just stared back at him with worried expressions. "Am I making that up?" he asked. "I mean, we were there, right?"

"Yeah, we were there," Sandy replied.

"How old were you then?" Dr. Singh pressed on.

"Twelve, I think."

"And how old are you now?"

Good question. Seth realized he didn't know the answer. God, he really was messed up. "Um, thirteen?" he guessed. His gaze slid to his parents. Judging by their horrified expressions, that was the wrong answer. "Fourteen?"

Instead of confirming whether his wild guesses were right or wrong, Dr. Singh inquired, "Is that the last memory you have? Going to Disneyland?"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know. What the hell is wrong with me? So how old am I?" His voice was rising but he couldn't help it. He was freaking himself out here.

"Okay, Seth, let's try to stay calm. It's not uncommon to have some memory loss with head injuries. We'll take this one step at a time." Dr. Singh placed his pen back in the pocket of his lab coat. "I think that's enough for now. You need to get some rest and we'll try to get some food into you. How does chicken broth sound?"

"Excellent," Seth replied, not bothering to hide the sarcasm.

Dr. Singh outstretched one arm towards his parents. "If I could speak to one of you for a moment..."

"I'll stay with Seth," Kirsten said, as Sandy and the doctor retreated to the hallway. She reached out to smooth back his hair. "You need a haircut."

"Forget the hair, Mom. How old am I?" he demanded.

She paused, seeming to stretch out the suspense to eternity. "Seventeen."

"Say what?" he yelped. He hadn't expected that. Not at all. Holy cripes.

"Don't worry. The memory loss is probably temporary. It'll come back to you soon. I'm just glad you're all right. We were so worried..."

"Mom, you're rambling," Seth cut in. That was usually his father's territory.

She gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Other than...not remembering everything, do you feel okay?"

He shrugged. "I guess so." He couldn't seem to get past the memory thing. "There's just this weird...blank in my head. Empty space. I can't explain it. It's kind of...scary, actually."

She placed an arm around him. "I know. I can't even imagine. But we'll get through this together. Just concentrate on getting your strength back. Then we can go home and maybe that will help."

He perked up at that thought. "Yeah, maybe being in my own room will help. Do we still live in Newport?"

She chuckled. "I'm afraid so. Not that much has..." Her voice trailed off, as she suddenly looked pensive.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

His mother couldn't lie to save her life. "You were going to say, not much has changed. But obviously something has. So spill it."

"We'll talk about it later."

Her voice was firm and had that 'end of discussion' tone to it. He could never win against that one, so he reluctantly dropped the subject. With curiosity, he looked down at his seventeen-year- old body. His legs were definitely longer. Holding up his hand, his gaze travelled down the length of his arm. Jeez, he could definitely use some pumping up with the muscles. He obviously hadn't spent his teenage years doing anything useful like working out. Wait a minute...

"How long was I in this coma?" he asked.

"About two weeks."

"Oh." For a moment, he'd thought maybe he'd been out of it for a few years and that would explain his scrawniness. No such luck. So he'd really lost five years worth of memories. Charming. "Do you have a mirror? I want to see what I look like. God, I hope I don't have acne."

She laughed and reached into her purse, handing him her compact. He perused his image closely. His skin was good, thankfully. A bit on the pale side. Long eyelashes. Even longer hair. "I look like a girl."

"You do not!" she protested. But she was laughing at him.

"I do too. How could you let me grow my hair this long?"

"Well, I haven't seen you in a month," she stated defensively. Her eyes widened, as if she'd let something slip that she hadn't meant to.

He was puzzled by that remark. "What, like I was at camp or something?" Hold on, seventeen-year-old guys didn't go to camp, did they?

She sighed and rubbed his shoulder. "We've got a lot of catching up to do, honey."

A/N: Once again, wow, thanks for the reviews! They really make my day. Keep reading and I'll keep writing. That's the deal :-)