Chapter Three

"Ok, Jaime," Allison told her when she and Steve returned from their walk, "Steve will show you some photos, and I'd like you to tell us if you remember anything at all about any of them, or if they make you feel any sort of emotion."

"Alright," Jaime answered, even though she'd really rather look at Steve. She was trying to figure out why she felt such a strong connection to him.

Oscar's Picture. "Don't know," Jaime said, "but he was here right after I woke up."

"That's right," Steve told her. "Here's the next one."

Jaime's parents. "I...don't know."

The Elgins. Jaime shook her head; there was nothing there, either.

Jaime and Steve, ages 5 and 8, on a swingset. "I'm not sure...is that...us?"

"Yes. You remember this?"

"No," she replied. "Educated guess."

"Well, it was a really good educated guess." Steve smiled at her.

Her old house. "Uh-uh," she answered.

"This is the last one," Steve told her, holding up the picture of the airplane (it was the same one) and Steve in full uniform, with a parachute.

Jaime jumped up from the bench as though it was on fire and backed away, trembling violently. "NO! I...don't wanna...look at that!" Steve set the photos on the bench and rushed to comfort her. Jaime threw herself into his waiting arms and completely broke down, sobbing on his shoulder.

"Jaime, what is it?" Allison asked gently. "Do you remember something?"

"No, but I feel really...scared. Threatened. I'm not sure why." She looked at Steve, and as he brushed the tears from her cheeks she felt something she couldn't name that was almost like an actual physical jolt. Jaime's mind had only questions and too many frustrating blanks, but she was suddenly certain that all the answers that mattered, she'd find in Steve's arms, and in his eyes.

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"Tomorrow morning, the real work begins," Allison told Rudy, Michael and Steve at their nightly conference.

"What, exactly, are you gonna do to her?" Steve wanted to know.

"Rudy and Michael will monitor Jaime's physical condition from the next room with a remote monitoring system, Steve, so you and I will be the only ones actually in the room with her. Normally it's just me, but she specifically asked for you and since she'd been so skittish before you got here, I think it's a good idea."

"They've always had a very special connection," Rudy concurred.

"Once I start the pentothal drip, it should only be about 90 seconds before it takes effect. The therapy works in much the same way as hypnosis, but is less frightening for the patient. We'll delve into the subject that upset her so badly today -"

"Her accident," Steve said.

"Right. Now, it may or may not be the actual trigger for her amnesia, but it'll hopefully point us in the right direction. If all goes well, once we've explored any problem areas in her subconscious mind, when she comes out of it, the triggers will be in her conscious memory as well, and not be triggers any longer. Gradually, over the course of a few days or weeks, the rest of her memory should return, since the blocking incident has been dealt with."

"You said ' If all goes well'." Steve said. "What if it doesn't go well? What happens to Jaime then?"

"Unfortunately, in a small percentage of cases, the triggering incident proves to be simply too much to handle, and the patient slips into psychosis."

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