A/N- Hey thanks for the good reviews. Wow I have had more hits on this story, then my others. Not as many reviews, but more hits. Well here is the next big mountain that our characters must climb. Hope you enjoy!
-Addison's ICU room-
Derek stepped out of the bathroom feeling refreshed. He had finally gotten some sleep and a hot shower. Now all he needed was a good meal, and he highly doubted he could get one at the hospital. As he put his dirty clothes into his suite case and pushed it underneath the chair he noticed Addison starting to wake. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. "Good morning." He said as he leaned over to kiss her head. As he did he felt her stiffen and pull away from him. Derek looked into her eyes, not understanding the problem.
"Who are you?" she asked with fear.
Derek froze. His worst fear had come true. But he didn't understand. She had remembered him last night, they had talked, and they had kissed. He couldn't believe it. "Addison it's me, Derek. Don't you remember me?"
She slowly shook her head. "No."
- Main Information Desk-
"Ma'am I'm sorry you can't speak to Dr. Sheppard. He is unavailable right now."
"Please, I need to speak to him. I'm not a patient, I'm his mother-in-law." she said flustered.
Just at that moment Derek came walking down the hall and saw them standing there. "Nancy, Bill!"
The man and woman turned to look at who called their names. "Derek, thank goodness." The older lady enveloped him in a motherly hug. "We thought we would never get out of JFK Airport."
"How are you son?" Bill asked as he stepped forward to give Derek a hug.
'How am I? I am horrible. My own wife doesn't remember who I am.' Derek thought to himself. "I am doing okay." He looked around for Addison's younger brother John, but didn't see him. "Did John come with you?"
"Yes dear, he just went to get us some coffee."
As if on cue a tall, skinny, blonde haired young man came walking hurriedly down the corridor with three cups of steaming coffee. "Here you go mom." he said handing her the coffee. "Hey Derek how are you?"
Derek couldn't understand why everyone kept asking him how he was, and then he reminded himself that they were just being considerate. "I am okay." He stood silent for a second, unsure of how to proceed with the conversation that needed to happen. "Follow me, we need to talk." The group walked to an abandoned lounge, and they all took a seat at the table. "I didn't tell you over the phone what happened to Addi, because I didn't want you to worry more than you were already going to." He sighed and stared at his clammy hands.
"Go ahead son, we can handle it." Bill said confidently.
Derek nodded. "Addison was hit by a car." At this revelation Nancy gasped and began to tear up. Bill put his arms around her and pulled her closer. John just sat stunned. "She has a broken leg, pelvis, and two ribs. She also had a lacerated liver, and some stitches. When she was brought in she was unconscious and had been until last night." Her parents sighed relieved to hear that she was awake and not dead. "I talked to her for a just a few minutes last night, and then she went back to sleep." He took a deep breath trying to compose himself. "This morning when she awoke I... she ... she has amnesia. To what extent we don't know, but she didn't remember me."
"But how can that be? You just said you talked to her last night, but this morning she doesn't remember you." John said with anger in his voice.
"We don't really know. We have a specialist coming in from Boston. He should be here by the end of the day." Derek looked at the people he loved. They looked like he felt; confused, scared, angry, sad, every emotion one could feel. "I can take you to see her if you like."
Addison's parents simply nodded and stood up. They followed in silence to the ICU room where their baby girl lay scared and confused. As they stood outside her door they slowly took deep breaths. "We're ready." Derek nodded and opened the door. As the couple walked in Addison turned to look at them.
Her eyes light up with joy. "Mom, Dad I'm so glad you are here!" Her parents ran to her side and engulfed her with gentle hugs. John stayed back with Derek. Addison looked over and smiled. "Well are you too cool to hug your big sis?"
John smiled with relief. "No way." With that he ran to her and gave her the biggest hug he could.
Derek dismissed himself and quietly left the room. He sat in the hall watching through the glass the loving family celebrate the life of their loved one. He smiled thinking about his "adopted family". When he had met Addison's parents they had immediately accepted him as part of their family. Bill became like a loving father to him, and every Christmas they would go hunting and catch up on what had happened in each other's life over the year. Nancy was always warm and loving. She would always try to fatten him up during the holidays. Then there was young John. At first John didn't like Derek, because he didn't think that he deserved Addi, but over time he grew to care for and respect Derek. They became like true brothers. Derek began to remember all the Christmases he had spent with the Montgomery family. All the warm memories began to fill him with a tingling sensation. Oh, how he missed those days. Maybe he could them back? But how could he do that if his wife didn't even remember him? Derek stood up quickly. He had to stop thinking like that. He just wanted to stop thinking at all.
-Surgery Board-
"Derek what are you doing?" The chief came up behind him and crossed his arms to prove that he was upset.
"Trying to find a surgery to get in on." he said nonchalantly.
"No, you are not going to operate."
"I beg to differ sir, but yes I am."
"Derek I understand why you are doing this." He said tenderly.
Derek turned to face him. "I don't think you do Chief."
"You're doing it to forget." The Chief looked down at his feet then back at Derek. "I can't imagine how hard it is to cope with the fact that your wife can't remember who you are, but operating on someone won't make it better. Now, Dr. Roberts should be here soon to see Addison, why don't you go and sit with her."
"But sir..."
"You are not going to operate. Not today, I am sorry."
Derek nodded and turned to go back to someone who never knew him.
-Addison's ICU Room-
The specialist, Dr. Roberts, had arrived about an hour ago. He examined Addison and asked her many questions. Derek and her family decided to wait in the ICU waiting room instead of the cafeteria. As they sat talking ligtly about this and that Dr. Roberts finally emerged from Addison's room. He sat down across from them and folded his hands. "Well I can't really explain why she was okay last night, but not this morning. We don't know what caused it. It is not unheard of, but not extremely common either. The good news is that she doesn't have complete amnesia. She remembers everything up to her going to college. She does know that she is an adult, and a doctor, but how she got there is a mystery. Everyone that appeared in her life during that time has been forgotten." He reposistioned himself in the seatso that he was closer to the family."Since she has partial memory there is a good possibility that she will eventually regain all of her memory. The only thing you can do is to be patient. It might help if you could takeher somewhere that she loved, show her pictures, and tell her stories of her life. These usually help my patients remember. Just so you know there is always the possibility that she will never remember." He looked at the family who was trying to absorb everything. "She is free to go home whenever the hospital releases her. I am sorry, this is never easy to handle." With that he stood up and left. They all sat there for a minute, then Nancy stood up.
"Well, we need to go check into our hotel, so we are going to go say goodnight to Addi, then head on over. We left our number in her room." She said to Derek.
"Okay. Thanks, and I will see you guys tomorrow." He gave them each a hug and followed them to Addi's room. They said their goodbyes and left the young couple alone.
Derek sat down next to Addison. She gave him a small smile, and stared at him. "What?" He asked her curiously.
"Nothing, it's just that I have a feeling like we knew each other, in an intimate way. Did we date?"
He smiled a little smile. "No, we..." he sighed "We were married."
Her eyes grew big. "For how long?"
"Eleven years."
She closed her eyes and laid her head back. Slowly tears trickled down her soft cheeks. "I was married for eleven years and I can't remember one thing from that time." Slowly she began to sob.
Derek went to sit next to her, and pulled her to him. "It's okay. It will just take time."
She pulled back and looked at him through her tears. "That's the thing; time. I don't remember hardly any of it. I have all these images in my head, but they are in no semblance of order. I have all these feelings, most of them for you, but I don't know why I have them. I just don't understand why all of this is happening to me! Why me? Why now? I just want to know." Through all this she had been crying, but now she broke down.
Derek pulled her to him and held her tight. Tears slid down his cheeks and landed on her soft hair. "I just want to understand why." she cried into his chest. He sighed and held her tighter. "Me too." He whispered. "Me too."
A/N- I know it is sad, but this is a sad story. There will be some cute, romantic, and even funny parts coming up. I hope you enjoy, and remember; review, review, review.
