Title: The Forest

Chapter: 11

Scotty awoke sometime later in the evening. His phone was ringing and he wasn't usually a deep sleeper anyway. Fumbling for a moment he answered it.

"Hello," he said.

"Scotty, its Nick," Vera's voice said. "I'm at the hospital."

Scotty's heart caught in his throat. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"You're going to want to get down here right away," Vera said.

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes," said Scotty as he hung up the phone.

Please god! Please god, don't let her die! Please! He prayed silently. He hoped to god that Lilly wasn't dying and if she was he prayed to god that it didn't happen before he had the chance to say goodbye.

He shoved his shoes on and headed out the door.

"What happened?" Scotty asked as he came speeding into the hospital. Stillman and Vera were standing outside the ICU, there faces void of emotion. "What happened? Where is she?"

"Scotty," Stillman began.

"Please god! Just tell me what happened?"

A pause hung in the air between the three men.

"She woke up," Stillman said.

"What?" Scotty asked in amazement. "She's awake?"

"She started responding to stimuli about a half hour ago," Stillman said. "That's when they called us."

"I have to see her," Scotty insisted.

"Valens, wait," Vera said.

"What? I've been waiting for this for a month!" Scotty said. "Excuse me."

He pushed past his colleagues and into Lilly's room. The doctors had removed he ventilator and replaced it with a simple nasal catheter. Her heart monitor was still there but for some reason the sound seemed like distant background noise. She looked so peaceful now, her hair wasn't the same length it had been when she was shot but it had grown back in an unflattering bob around her face. He could imagine that she would be happy to cut it back into her usual messy, low maintenance style once it grew out long enough. Reaching out a hand he touched her sleeping form.

In response to his touch, her eyelids fluttered open slowly. "Hey Lil," Scotty said as he waited for her eyes to focus. The doctors had dimmed the lights so that she wouldn't wake up to a bright flash. Her eyes focused on him but had a look to them like she was forgetting something. Like she was trying to place who he was. "Lil?" he asked. Her face scaring him. The look in her eyes didn't change.

"Doctor?" Scotty questioned to the man in the white coat that was reviewing Lilly's chart. "Why is she looking at me like this?"

"She might have amnesia. It's common with head injuries, but we can't say for certain because she can't move or speak," the doctor.

"What?" Scotty asked in disbelief. He looked back to Lilly's conscious form on the bed. "Can she hear us?"

"She can," said the doctor. "She was blinking in response to some voices about twenty minutes ago. But she can't communicate anything beyond that."

"Can I stay with her for a little bit?" Scotty asked.

"The neurologist will be up in a little while to take her for a head CT, you can stay with her until then," said the doctor.

"Thank you," Scotty said as he turned back to Lilly. Bittersweet tears sprang to his eyes. "Oh my god Lilly!" He bent down and kissed her on her lightly on her forehead. "Don't do that to me again. I thought that I lost you." Lilly continued to look at him perplexed. "Listen Lilly. Blink once if you can understand what I'm saying."

Scotty waited for a minute and watched her eyes carefully. It took a moment but she blinked. "We're going to have to come up with a form of communication. When I ask you a question blink once for yes and twice for no. Does that sound okay to you?"

Lilly blinked again. "Okay," Scotty said. "Everything will be fine. We aren't going to let you go through this alone. You'll be fine."

TBC