Chapter 8
The young man with wavy brown hair walks into the hospital room. He smiles as he sees Serenity sitting up in bed. She looks at him shyly. He can see that there is a lot of confusion in her eyes.
"Do you know who I am?" He asks as he walks over to the chair that sits beside the bed. He sits down and watches her carefully.
"I," she begins and then stops. She slowly shakes her head.
He frowns at her. He is puzzled by the hesitation that she is showing in talking to him. "Do you know who you are?" He asks another question.
"I," she begins and then stops again. She slowly shakes her head in answer to another of his questions.
"No wonder you look so scared, Sere." He says as he stands up. He walks over to the bed and sits on the edge and takes her hand in his. "My name is Nephrite. I have three friends that would love to come meet you. They have been worried about you as much as I have been." He sees the look of panic that appears on her face. "Don't worry. They are not with me today." He reassures her.
"Nephrite," she whispers.
"For now, we will go with your name as Serenity." He smiles at her. "Do you remember what happened?"
A faint memory flashes in her mind, but vanishes as quickly as it appeared. She shakes her head no.
"We'll work on your memory when you get stronger." He smiles at her and pats her hand that is in his hand. Now, for some good news, I spoke with your doctor, and he says that you can come home with me in a couple of days. That is as long as you continue to improve."
He watches as she gives a small nod.
"Sere, do you know how long that you have been here?" She looks at him and shakes her head. Nephrite sighs. He had hoped that she would remember something of what happened or how long ago it was. "We have a lot to work on. You have been her for four months."
He sees the look of shock on her face. He pulls her close and holds her as if she were a lost child. "We will work through this all, Sere. All of us."
He feels her nod her head and then he can feel his shirt get slightly damp. He feels her shudder and knows that she is crying. He holds her close and tries to comfort her. He holds her for a long time. When he finally feels her body quit shuddering, he knows that she has stopped crying. He lays her back in the bed and sees that she is sound asleep.
"Sleep well, Princess." He whispers to her. He pulls up her covers and turns and walks from the room. At the door, he turns and looks back at her. "I wish I knew what happened." He whispers.