Chapter 6:
The only time Nick left the room was when Greg went in to see how she was doing. Hailey had made it through the night and the nurse was now in the room checking her over. She saw Nick sitting in the chair staring at Hailey. "It's been proven that patients are more likely to pull through if someone talks to them." She spoke up.
Nick sighed. "I wouldn't know what to say."
"Sing her favorite song, or you could even read her a magazine." She tried to help. She finished checking her vitals and left the room. Nick sat for a minute and sang the first song that came to mind.
So she said what's the problem baby
What's the problem I don't know
Well maybe I'm in love (love)
Think about it every time
I think about it
Can't stop thinking 'bout it
How much longer will it take to cure this
Just to cure it cause I can't ignore it if it's love (love)
Makes me wanna turn around and face me but I don't know nothing 'bout love
Come on, come on
Turn a little faster
Come on, come on
The world will follow after
Come on, come on
Cause everybody's after love
So I said I'm a snowball running
Running down into the spring that's coming all this love
Melting under blue skies
Belting out sunlight
Shimmering love
Well baby I surrender
To the strawberry ice cream
Never ever end of all this love
Well I didn't mean to do it
But there's no escaping your love
These lines of lightning
Mean we're never alone, Never alone, no, no
Come on, Come on
Move a little closer
Come on, Come on
I want to hear you whisper
Come on, Come on
Settle down inside my love
Come on, come on
Jump a little higher
Come on, come on
If you feel a little lighter
Come on, come on
We were once
Upon a time in love
We're accidentally in love
Accidentally in love
Accidentally
I'm in Love, I'm in Love,
I'm in Love, I'm in Love,
I'm in Love, I'm in Love,
Accidentally
Come on, come on
Spin a little tighter
Come on, come on
And the world's a little brighter
Come on, come on
Just get yourself inside her
Love ...I'm in love
He finished the song with tears threatening to fall, remembering when they first went started going out she would hum all down the hall. He finally asked her what song it was and he had memorized it from listening to it so much.
He took a magazine from the waiting room and began with the first page. Every time he would turn a page he would look up, half expecting to see her looking back at him or laughing at the article he was reading.
Nick had only stopped reading when he fell asleep. He quickly woke up thinking that he missed something but looked over to her and saw that she was the same way he left her. Grissom had come to stay with her for a while, needing time with her, so Nick went home and showered and changed. He had also brought back every magazine that he could find about music, knowing that was the only thing that interested her. He decided against the whole singing thing and the only books the news stand had were romance novels, and he would rather sing then read about throbbing members.
He returned and Grissom left for the lab. He sat down and placed the stack of magazines on the side table. He looked at his watch. She had been stable for forty hours now. He picked up the first magazine reading from front to back.
Half way through the stack he pulled a people magazine with Jessica Martin on the cover. "Jessica got married again. To her seventh husband." He started. He got halfway through an article about Tom Havalin and his new movie when he saw the slightest movement of her fingers. He lifted her hand into his. "C'mon baby, do it again." He felt nothing. He thought that maybe he was just seeing things. He looked at the magazine hanging from his hand and read more about Tom. A few more words and he felt her move in his hand. At that moment a nurse came in to check the vitals. "She moved her hand." He told the nurse. The nurse ran out to get the doctor, who came in and moved Nick aside. Nick was pushed to the waiting room, waiting to hear what the doctors had to say about Hailey.
Twenty minutes later Grissom now joined Nick. The doctor walked out of the room and approached them as they stood. "Ms. Hayes is coming around. She's still a little groggy however, and once she is fully alert, we are going to have to run some tests." The doctor informed.
"Can we see her."
"I can let you both in but she might not be up to handling more than one person, in which case I will ask one of you to leave."
The three of them walked into the room as the doctor told everyone else to leave. Nick and Grissom walked over to each side of Hailey.
Hailey slightly opened her eyes, still under the effects of the concussion. She felt like crap, and she probably looked like it too.
"Hey." She heard a voice coming from her left.
Nick looked at her as she looked back, taking her hand. "Hey." He repeated.
She took her hand away looking very confused. She looked at Nick, then at Grissom, then to the doctor at the foot of the bed. She looked down like she was trying very hard to think of something. Nick took her hand again, and she quickly pulled it away holding it close to her.
The doctor was picking up the signs very quickly. "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you both to leave." She said.
"What's wrong with her." Nick said looking down at Hailey.
"Look, I don't know what your problem is, I'm not the one trying to touch someone I don't know." Hailey said, appalled that a stranger would touch her then say that she had a problem.
It was then Nick figured out what happened. "No, you have to remember me."
"Nick, she can't" Grissom said. He pushed Nick out of the room, to try and stop him from pushing her.
Hailey watched as the two men left, and the doctor closed the door. She walked over to the bed and took the seat next to Hailey. "Do you remember those two men?" The Doctor asked.
Hailey looked at her. She had a major headache and after hearing someone say she had a problem, she wasn't in the mood to answer stupid questions. "Apparently not."
"I'm sorry, I know that you're probably not in the mood for this, but I need to run a few tests on you."
Hailey sighed. "Fine, do whatever. Just don't let that psychopath back in here."
The doctor ran the tests and went back out to the waiting room. "She has amnesia."
"We figured that." Grissom said. He was hurt that Hailey didn't remember but he didn't want to freak her out and make her scared.
"She's also paralyzed from the waist down." They both stood there shocked. "There is a possibility that with physical therapy she may be able to walk again, however the chance is very small."
"What about her memory?" Nick asked.
"Every case is different. Sometimes the patient will come out of it, and sometimes they don't. The best we can do is try to trigger her memory, see if we can get her to remember little by little." The doctor left and the two men had no idea what to do.
"No matter what, the last thing we do is give up." Grissom stated the obvious.
Hailey sat in the room, unable to move since she couldn't control her legs. She pushed herself up and looked around. She looked on the side table and saw a stack of magazines. She picked one up and began reading. She got bored with it and put it back on the table. "What do they expect me to do, sit here and twiddle my thumbs?" She pressed the nurse call button, and within minutes a male nurse came in.
"Are you ok?"
"Quite frankly, I'm bored." She said obviously. The nurse laughed a bit.
"If you'd like I could help you into your chair and we could go for a walk."
Seeing that there was nothing else to do, he lifted her and placed her in the wheel chair. He walked around to push but she stopped him. "Thanks but I can do it from here." She said.
"Ok." He nodded as he opened the door and let her out, and she began wheeling down the hall.
Nick went to call out to her, but Grissom held him back. "Remember, we have to take baby steps." It was killing him to sit there and do nothing but he knew that Grissom was right even though it was killing him inside as well.
Hailey wheeled down the hall, and down another hall. It was a rather big hospital, but she was glad not to be in a bed. She heard music coming from one of the rooms as she wheeled by. She thought nothing of it but when she got two doors down she thought it was vaguely familiar. She rolled back, and saw a kid no more then twelve sitting in a bed with the stereo on. He looked up when he saw someone standing in the doorway. "Sorry, I didn't realize it was that loud." He said turning down the music.
"No. It just sounded a little familiar." She said.
"You can come in if you want. I don't get many visitors, it's nice to have company." He said hopeful that she would stay. She looked at the kid in front of her. He had on plaid pajamas, and he had blue eyes and a bald head. But most of all, he looked just as bored as she was. She rolled over to the bedside. "My names Noah." He said.
"I think they were calling me Hailey, which seems alright I guess." She said nodding her head. The little boy laughed at her, and she smiled seeing him laugh.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Ok, I think they said that I was in some kind of accident and now I can't move my legs. I can't really remember much either." She said.
"Oh." the boy took a breath and played with the ears on his stuffed rabbit. "My cancer came back." He said sadly.
Hailey tried to think of something to get him happy again. "What was that song you were playing?"
The boy perked up again. "Oh that was AC/DC. They're an old band, but my dad loves them, and it reminds me of him. That song is one of my favorites though, it's called If You Want Blood."
She smiled at the boy. It was obvious that he didn't get much visitors and he was quite the little chatterbox. "They sound cool."
"Yeah." He nodded eagerly.
"So what do you do for fun around here?" She asked.
"There's not much to do around here. There's the tv lounge, and that's about it."
Hailey looked suspiciously at him. "A young boy like you doesn't reek any havoc?" she gave a pish-posh look, "I don't believe it." She said.
The little boy laughed again. "I'm not really suppose to leave my room." He said.
A nurse came into the room. "Noah, it's time for you to go to your session." She said.
"Ok." He then turned to Hailey. "You'll come back to visit, won't you?" He asked, again with the big eyes.
"Of corse handsome." She said as she wheeled out and went to explore.
She found the tv room and saw that not many people were there. There were a few people playing cards, and a few more playing ping pong. Seeing that there was nothing there she rolled back around and wound up back at her room. A nurse entered after her. "Ms. Hayes, I've been looking for you. Are you up to meeting with the doctor?"
There wasn't much to do, "Sure." she said as she wheeled behind the nurse, refusing to be pushed.
She went through a door, and the nurse closed the door behind her. "Hello Hailey, My name is Doctor Julia Bernard, but feel free to call me Julia." She said shaking Hailey's hand.
"Yo." Hailey said.
"All we are going to do today is go through some pictures. I need to test where your memory stands."
Hailey sat back and watched as the first card came up. "That's a duck." Hailey said referring to the picture. Julia flipped to the next one. "cherries." She said. This was ridiculous. "Clown." Hailey was getting very impatient with this crap. "Look lady, I'm sure you're a real nice person and all, but this is getting a little tedious. I know what these things are. Why don't you tell me who those people were in my room, or why I can't remember who I am. I know what a fucking duck is." She said blatantly.
"I'm sorry Hailey, but I don't know how much you remember, and what you don't. It seems like you're suffering from selective memory loss."
"Wonderful, how do we get it back?" She wanted to know.
"You may have to start all over, but you may get it back from something triggering it." Julia said.
"Great, well it's been real nice Doc. Call me when you can help." Hailey said pissed off that she didn't know anything around her.
She rolled out the door as the nurse walked her back to her room. "Is there a library here?" Hailey asked.
"Yeah, down on the third floor. Would you like to go?"
"Please." They got into the elevator and went to the third floor. They got to the library and the nurse left. Hailey strolled over to the card catalog. She wrote down the books she wanted and went off to find them. She pulled them off the shelf and took them to a table where she could read them.
'Selective memory.' She read. 'When a person can not remember certain events occurring in a set time.' she read further. 'Person may regain memories by a given object, sound, smell, touch, or taste.'she needed something to help her remember. 'I bet those two guys can help.' She rolled over and put the books back. She picked up a book that looked like interesting reading and checked it out.
Hailey went back to her room and the nurse helped her back into the bed. She read a few chapters in the book and then fell asleep.