Chapter 282

"I believe the nightmares started" said Sax to Sonia outside in the hall.

"Yes, God she was so terrified"

"It's to be expected Sonia, but of course, you know that. They will have some degree of PTSD, especially Tegan. I have spoken to the chief of psychiatry. She'll be coming over to have a talk to Tegan later today if she's okay with that. She's already having sessions with Sara and as soon as Kate can talk again we'll get her some help as well. Oh and, we also have the investigators pestering me to interview Tegan"

"Okay, I'd like her to form a trust relationship with this doctor before any investigator comes near her" said Sonia.

"Yeah, I promise" smiled Sax.

"Why only now? The nightmares I mean" asked Sonia.

"She's been on some pretty potent drugs that usually sends patients into a deep, dreamless sleep. In a way I guess this is good. It's a pretty inevitable step actually"

"Yeah… I guess" said Sonia sadly.

-0-

Later that day Sax excitedly told the girls that Kate was being moved back into their room. Tegan looked super excited and Sara looked petrified.

"Is she awake?" asked Tegan.

"She's been in and out of it for the last 24 hours. She still has the breathing tube so there hasn't been a lot of communication but she is much better"

"Thank you" Tegan smiled weakly.

Sax subconsciously put her hand on Tegan's thigh and patted as she studied her chart.

Tegan looked down at her leg a bit perplexed.

Suddenly Sax yanked her hand away. "Sorry" she mumbled and left the room in a hurry.

A few minutes later a sleeping Kate was wheeled into the room.

Tegan and Sara both stayed still and quiet.

"Hey Sar… it's going to be okay" said Tegan.

"Hold on to the ones you know will love you" said Sara, deep in thought.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing" Sara mumbled.

"Sar… those are lyrics from a song I wrote in 2007" said Tegan frowning.

"Really?" said Sara looking taken aback.

"Do you know the tune Sar?" said Tegan excitedly.

"Um… Sara started humming Call it Off"

"No… but that's another song from that album"

"Album? We had a real album, like in the stores?"

"Um… yeah we had quite a few Sar"

"How many?"

Before Tegan could answer Alex said that Kate's waking up.

"Push me closer… I need to see her" said Tegan. Sara pretended to fall asleep again.

"Kate! Buddy" said Tegan as loud as possible.

Kate blinked hard a couple of times. She licked her lips, surprised not to feel a tube. Something was blowing air into her though. She vaguely remembered something about a tach. She tried to touch it to check if its there.

"Hey, no touch Doc" said Sax smiling.

"Hi Sis. Everything's okay. We're all right here with you" said Alex looking super relieved.

Kate looked at her parents and Alex all beaming.

"Love you" she mouthed. No sound came out because of the tube in her throat but they knew what she was saying.

"We love you too honey. We love you so much. You're going to be okay" said Kate's mom.

"Sara" Kate mouthed.

"Sorry sweetie what?" said John. It was quite weird to see her mouth move but no air escape over her vocal chords and lips to whisper.

"Sara" she mouthed again.

"Sara's right here next to you. She's okay, so is Tegan" said Alex.

Kate visibly relaxed.

"Sara" she mouthed again.

"Sweetie, Sara's sleeping right now. You can see her soon okay"

Sara wasn't sleeping, she heard everything going on next behind the curtain. She was scared. She didn't want to face this woman who obviously cared for her that she couldn't remember. What would she say? What would she do? She didn't think her acting skills were up for it today.

"Can I see her?" Tegan asked.

A few minutes later a team very carefully moved Tegan's bed and all her monitors and IV pumps and stands over to Kate.

"Kate… hey bud" Tegan smiled. She still looked weak and pale but the sight of Kate, awake definitely pepped her up a bit.

Kate smiled and weakly gave Tegan a thumbs up.

"How you doing wackhead?" Tegan joked. Kate put up her hand and gave the "average" sign.

"The doctors say you're going to be alright" said Tegan and softly patted Kate's arm.

Kate was obviously very frustrated, unable to communicate back.

"Kate I'm going to take out the vent and plug it so you can speak for a few seconds" said Sax. Kate nodded eagerly. Sax pulled off the tube going into the trach in Kate's neck and put a gloved finger over the end after deflating the balloon at the end. This allowed air to be redirected over the vocal chords.

"What happened… to you" Kate whispered, her eyes droopy. Sax connected the tube to an ambubag and gave Kate a few breaths.

"Um… well, clutz that I am… I went to look for help… and I feel down some fucking cliff… I shit you not" said Tegan laughing weakly.

Kate looked shocked. Sax removed the bag again.

"You okay?" Kate whispered.

"Well, apparently I was like a frozen popsicle when they finally found me. Then I got a little… a bout of pneumonia and"

Sax interrupted when Kate's heart monitor started beeping faster. "Relax, she's okay now. We've got this"

"Oh and check it out… broke my arm in like three places, fucked up a few ribs, bruised my lungs and some things in there… severed a ligament in my knee and oh yes, dislocated a shoulder" said Tegan shrugging.

"Fuck" mouthed Kate looking pale.

"I'm okay… turns out Denver has some pretty okay medics and docs. And Sax was here"

Kate mentioned for Sax to block the tube again. Sax did as instructed.

"You saved our lives" Kate whispered.

"We all saved your lives… team effort" Tegan smiled.

Kate shook her head. "You did" she whispered and smiled.

"Yeah yeah… whatever. I'm just glad we're all okay… ish" said Tegan.

"Sara" Kate whispered.

"Bud… Sara… she's okay but… she has amnesia"

Kate looked horrified. She tried to breathe but struggled against the ambubag. "Okay Kate hang on I'm getting you back on vent" said Sax.

"Kate calm down, breathe with the vent" said Sax gently.

Kate tried her best to calm herself down but her heart rate was still sky high.

"We're working on it Kate. We've got some excellent neurologists on the case. Just give her time okay" said Sax.

Kate made a motion with her hand indicating she wanted to talk to Sara.

"When you're both awake again, alright"

Kate looked exhausted but indicated that she wanted to write. Sax obliged and gave her a pen. She put her hand on the paper.

Kate slowly and crudely started writing.

"Jeez that Doctor's handwriting coming out here" Sax laughed trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"What else?" Kate wrote.

"I'll be honest with you but I want you to stay calm. We have everything under control okay" said Sax. Kate nodded. She trusted Sax impeccably.

"As you know, Sara's leg was badly broken. Tegan did a good job realigning the leg. If she didn't, I think Sara would have lost it with the amount of time you were out there. She also had a slow brain bleed and…" before Sax could continue she looked up at Kate's monitors going haywire.

"Relax for me… relax… it's okay…. that's it, just try and relax" said Sax slowly.

"They evacuated the brain bleed no problem… a couple of days later Sara developed a fat embolism" Kate looked completely distraught now.

"Kate it's okay… shhhhh... she's okay" said Tegan sounding upset herself.

"Sara's condition was very critical for a while there but she made it through. She had us extremely worried there for a couple of days. Sara was in a coma. When she woke up, she had some memory problems. Sara thinks its 1999" said Sax.

Kate shook her head and was now crying. Thoughts raced through Kate's mind. What the fuck did they mean she thinks its 1999? Does she remember me? Does she remember Amelia? Does she know I love her?

"I don't like this, we shouldn't be upsetting her" said John protectively.

"You know she'll resent us if we don't tell her Dr Morgan" said Sax.

Kate made the OK sign with her thumb and forefinger.

"I need you to try and relax now alright. We have this under control. Just relax" said Sax. Without asking she injected something into Kate's IV line. Seconds later Kate was out before she could ask about her own injuries.

A/N: Yay! Kate's out of isolation and doing okay! Just because I don't ask every time for reviews doesn't mean you shouldn't send them. Please send me some comments. I love hearing from you!