She slowly opened her eyes and saw 3 pairs staring back at her. Nora and Brooks were crying with relief as Derek wiped away tears that formed on his own face. "Where am I?" Casey asked with a shaky and lowly audible voice.

"You're in the hospital, sweetie." Nora informed her.

Casey's eyebrows furrowed in response, "Hospital?" Nora nodded. Bringing her attention over the the man to her left, "Derek?"

Derek just couldn't help but bring a happy smile on his face. She finally woke up for him. The one person he loved so much came back to him. "Yeah, Case. I'm here." He gently grazed her face, "I knew you would come back to me!" he smiled brightly again, trying to wipe away the rest of his tears. He kind of felt embarrassed by them because now there were no reason for his tears to be shown.

Casey's eyebrows arched almost immediately at his words, "Come back to you? Why would I come back to you?" she asked with disgust. Derek's brightly-smiled-face fell at her tone. Casey then turned to the girl to her right. "Who are you? I don't think I know you?" Her eyes expression extreme confusion.

Brooks' face fell as well at her roommate's words, "I'm Brooks, Casey? How can you not know me?" she stifled a sad laugh.

Casey shook her head and brought her attention to Nora, "Mom? Who is she?" she needed to be informed again.

"Casey, that's your roommate, Brooks?" Nora let out worry as she told her daughter, "She was the first one here with you. She told us all that you were here after what happened..."

"Roommate?" Casey laughed nervously. "Why would I need a roommate at home?"

The three of them stared at one another with concern for Casey's newfound behavior. "Brooks, could you call Dr. Martin please?"

"Sure. Sure." Brooks walked away and gave Casey another concerned look before heading out the door.

"Casey, are you sure you don't know her?" Nora wanted to be sure.

"Yeah, Mom," she then looked at Derek. Her face expressing pathetically toward him, "I'm surprised you're here." Casey let out a snort as her tone became much too rude, "Don't you have better things to do?"

Derek frowned as her words started to really hurt him, "Better things to do?" his eyebrows furrowed as he shook his head, "No, Case I've been here too with Brooks. Why wouldn't I be here?"

She shrugged sarcastically, pursing her lips as she began to name all the reason why. "I'm a waste of your time? You say I annoy you. We fight all the time. We don't get along…" Casey stopped as she noticed the pained look on his face. She arched her eyebrows inward and never had she seen him this hurt before. "You okay?" she turned to her Mom, "Mom, Derek doesn't look too well."

Nora shared a pained look for both Derek and Casey. "Casey, sweetie, do you love, Derek?" she asked quietly and she felt a bit awkward to even ask her daughter that question. This was all news to her.

Casey laughed hysterically, "Ew! No! That's hilarious, Mom, but kind of disturbing." She continued to laugh louder but felt the need to settle down as she looked at Derek, who dropped into his chair. There was still that pain written all over his face. It was as if someone just ripped his heart into shreds and that's when the laugh dissolved on Casey's face. "Seriously, what's going on?"

"Sweetie, I don't know yet." Brooks and Dr. Martin came in. Nora let out a sigh of relief as inside she was freaking out. "Dr. Martin. She's awake! But she can't remember certain things? It's starting to terrify me." Nora explained to him; her hands trembling to no end.

"Mrs. Venturi, Ms. Stevens informed us of that. She said that she can't remember prior memories?" he asked Nora.

Nora nodded, "Yes. She remembers me and she remembers Derek, but she has no recollection of Brooks," she pointed to her. Derek cleared his throat and Casey furrowed her brows at his weird behavior toward her. It was as if there was something important about Derek and she had no idea what it was.

"Okay," he nodded to himself, "According to her latest results," he looked over his clipboard, "there was damage to the brain regions of her medial temporal lobes and most importantly her hippocampus."

"What does that mean?" Casey asked.

"Ms. McDonald--"

"Casey," she corrected him.

"Casey, you are suffering from Retrograde Amnesia--"

"What the hell is that?" Derek snapped and Casey managed to give him a chided look.

"It means that Casey, here, can't really recollect certain memories prior to the accident. She can recall something's while she can't recall others."

"So she won't remember any of the things she's forgotten?" Derek asked as if it were really important to him and it was really important to him.

"No, she can recall those forgotten memories, it will just take time. Time varies between all people. But it's also possible she won't remember anything at all." Derek felt like his own life was taken from him. "It's important that she go on her own pace, though. That no one rush her or get frustrated because she can't recall things. It would help, if you all would show her things from before, it'll help her jog her memory faster, but remember let her take her time," he stressed that certain fact out as he informed them.

The four of them looked at Casey who was crying endlessly at this information. She was in a tough situation and she felt like everything was just going wrong for her. Waking up and not remembering things was bad enough but the fact that she may or may not even recall them, was terrible. It was horrifying for Casey because she didn't know what was supposed to happen now and if she'd ever remember what she had forgotten. There were probably important things that happened in her life and now she had no idea what they were. Would those things ever come back?

Nora held onto Casey's hand tighter and she just couldn't imagine what was going on in Casey's mind right now. All she could do was be there to comfort her daughter. "It'll be okay, sweetie."

The Doctor made his way over to Casey's side. "Casey, how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay besides the fact my life is falling apart," she cried out, wiping her tears on the sleeves of her hospital gown.

"Feeling any pain anywhere?" She shook her head. He checked her breathing and she was okay. "Casey, what do you remember?" she was afraid to tell them since she didn't know what she was like now. "Casey, it'll help if I know what you remember exactly."

"Casey, tell the Doctor. It'll help if you tell him, Casey. He has to know." Nora pleaded.

Casey sighed and began to rack her brain with what she remembered. "I'm going to be graduating soon? I got accepted into Princeton…" she buried her face in her hands and she was clearly distraught. "That's all I know! That's the last thing I remember!" she cried out some more while trying to even her short breaths.

"You're about 2 and a half years behind…" Derek muttered to himself. Getting up, he stormed out of the hospital room. As Casey wiped away more of her tears, she began to wonder why Derek was so upset with all this. It was un-like him to actually be worried about her situation or even care about what happened to her.

"And you really don't remember me." Brooks expressed sadly as her eyes got watery. Casey looked at her sadly because she could see how hurt she was but she just couldn't remember her. Trying her hardest to recall a detail about this girl, she couldn't find anything related to her.

Brooks wiped her face with her sleeve while Nora rubbed her back to comfort her too. It was just a very tough day for all of them.

"Mrs. Venturi, I'm going to give Casey some medication. I'm also going to refer her to a specialist. One who could help her with memory remembering strategies," he wrote something's down on his clip board. "She's fine otherwise. She can be checked out later today."

"Wait!" Casey yelled out before he left the room, "What happened to me?"

"You were in a car accident. Your car was hit but a semi-truck. You suffered major head trauma. You flirted with the possibility of being in a coma but you were very lucky, Casey. We're all very thankful."

Casey wiped her face again and nodded slowly, "Okay. Thanks." He left the room as Casey had new tears replace those that she just wiped away. She slowly lifted her right hand, lightly grazing the side of her head. Looking at her Mom, her voiced cracked in question, "Ar-are we in London?"

"No." Nora shook her head sadly, "We're in New York, Casey."

"New York?" she raised an eyebrow, "Why are we in New York of all places."

"You came to see, Derek." Brooks informed her blankly to which Casey's face scrunched up in a ball of confusion. Everything just seemed to lead back to Derek somehow.

Derek came back into the room; his face red and puffy as if he was crying. Casey had never seen him cry and the fact that he did so much now terrified her.

"Derek, the Doctor said we can check out later today." Nora informed him.

Clearing his voice, he tried his hardest to avoid Casey's eyes, "Okay, so where are you going to stay?"

Nora shrugged, "I wanted to find a hotel--"

"No." Derek shook his head, "You guys can stay at my dorm. It's big enough and it's just me staying in there anyway. The RA won't mind. Then tomorrow we can sort everything out," he looked over an awkward faced Brooks. He rolled his eyes, "You too, Brooks."

"Thanks a lot, Derek." Nora sincerely smiled. Brooks nodded along too.

"Yeah, Derek, thanks." Casey let out a bit confused as she wasn't used to Derek being so offering.

He didn't answer her and neither did he yet look her way. His actions only led to a frowning on Casey's face.

--

After all the paper work and discharging information, it was already night time. Nora and Brooks had tried to tell Casey about things she forgot, but it got so frustrating for her so they quit for the day. Casey started feeling pressured because she wanted so badly to remember but it wasn't working. She had no mention of her and Derek's relationship since Derek shied away from her the rest of the day. It kind of made Casey sad and she didn't know why. She always wanted him to leave her alone and now that he has, something inside her hated it. She hated the fact that Derek was avoiding her in every way possible. It really hurt.

Nora and Casey slept on Derek's bed, Brooks slept on the couch while Derek slept on the floor. Casey couldn't really sleep as her condition kept running negatives on her mind. She was stressed and she had every right to be. She knew she wasn't supposed to rush things but a part of her wanted to remember now and hoped that everything could be normal again. But unfortunately for her, it just wasn't working for her.

Whenever she dozed off, she would see images she'd never seen before. She remembered seeing a college classroom, she saw herself hugging Brooks, she saw bright white lights; she even remembered seeing herself cuddling with Derek on a couch. She awoke abruptly and sat on the edge of the bed and quietly started to sob. "Why me?" she cried as she brought up her knees to her chest and hugged it tightly; rocking back and forth.

She saw Derek stir from across the room and quickly tried to quiet down but she couldn't help it. The next thing she saw was Derek getting up and pacing over toward her, squatting down to take a look at her. "Casey, you okay?" she shook her head. "Come on. Let's go," he stood up and offered her a hand.

"Where?" asking as she wiped her tears with her sleeve, taking his hand and getting off the bed.

"Let's go for a walk." He playfully patted her head, "Clear your head," he let out a joking laugh.

She glared at him as a tiny smile crept up on her lips. A part of her was relieved that Derek was actually paying her attention again, "Not funny, Derek."

"Just kidding," he assured her.

--

He brought her to Washington Square Park again. The same place they walked after the dinner they had the first night they got together. It was quiet out. A nice warm but cool night; it was comfortable. Derek noticed it seemed to get her to relax, "You feeling any better now?"

She nodded as she scanned the scenery in front of her, "It's actually pretty beautiful out here. I kinda like it." He stopped and stared at her in disbelief. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she furrowed her eyebrows inward with solid confusion.

"Casey, you said that to me before and you said it at this same exact place!" he said with much shock in his voice. "Do you remember anything?"

"I don't know?" she said quietly. "I know it feels like I've been here before. I remember this arch vaguely." And she did remember it vaguely which confused her even more.

"Oh, Case," he smiled with slight relief and the girl was making progress already. "Um, is that all you remember?" he felt terrible for interrogating her since the Doctor said to go at her own pace. Settling the eagerness in his voice, he assured her, "I mean no rush or anything…"

"Actually I had dreams." She told him, "They kinda freaked me out. That's why I couldn't sleep…" her voice ran quiet once more. "I saw things I don't remember at all. I saw Brooks?" he nodded "I even saw you."

"Me? Really?" he blushed and smiled lightly while a brow raised up; intrigued.

"Yeah," she let out a slight chuckle, "It was totally weird, you were lying on a couch with me," she laughed once more at how crazy that thought was, "That must have been a dream, right?"

Derek didn't laugh as he just stared ahead, "No. It wasn't, Case." He sat down with his back against the arch as he patted the space next to him, telling her to sit next to him and she did.

They both stared at the beautifully lit fountain in front of them. "Derek?"

"Yeah?"

"This is totally crazy...but were we..." she trailed off as she thought it couldn't be real.

"Continue…"

"...were we something?"

Derek focused his attention to the side of her face as she still stared ahead. He knew she was still a bit nervous as her voice cracked from the question. "Do you remember that? Or is it just a feeling?"

She looked at him finally. Her blue eyes meeting his brown ones and still she was able to have his heart beat more rapid with one gaze, "It's a strong feeling, Derek," her face completely serious. Her eyes were searching his own, desperately for answers.

"Derek..." she jokingly whined.

"What?" he pulled back from her hair, laughing.

"You just don't know when to stop, do you?" she chided in mock annoyance.

He chuckled as he gave her a quick kiss on the neck, "Well it's not my fault I can't keep my hands off you." He hugged her tighter around the waist from behind her. "I love doing this."

She smiled letting a small giggle escape past her lips, "I kind of do like your hands where they are." Derek gave her another kiss on her neck and he loved being able to do it as often as he does. "This movie sucks…" she sighed in disappointment.

Derek lifted up a little to look at the TV, "We were watching a movie?"

"Well I was…you on the other hand..." she trailed off as Derek nuzzled her neck to which she started to shriek in laughter, "That tickles! Stop!"

"Fine!" she settled her laughter as he finally stopped, "You're mean…" he pouted.

She just couldn't help but think how adorable he was when he acted like a stubborn child. It was too cute. As silence ensued between the two, she began to think again and she felt the need to bring it up. Sighing, she knew now was the right time to bring it up, "So what? What are we going to do?"

Derek kissed her head and rested his against hers, "About?"

"Are we going to tell people about us?"

"Do you want to?"

Casey turned to face him, softly running her hands through the strands of his soft hair, "I don't know." She shrugged lightly, "What would people think about us?"

Derek shook his head and let out a laugh. His girlfriend was one who really over-thought everything. "Who cares what other people think, Casey."

"What about our parents?"

Derek snorted intentionally at that question, "What about them?"

She shrugged to herself, "You think they would approve?"

"Who knows, Case," he furrowed his eyebrows while slightly smiling, trying to understand her questions, "You're not ashamed of us, are you?" he let out a little laugh, while running his own hand through the soft brown strands of her own hair.

Casey laughed nervously, "No. Of course not. The last few weeks have been perfect. I actually like this. Whatever this is that we got going on," she offered him a smile.

"Then why do you look so scared all of a sudden?" he pushed some hair behind her ear.

"I'm not scared, Derek," she lied, disguised behind one more nervous chuckle. "What time is it?" she felt the need to quickly change the subject.

Derek was completely confused by her sudden change in behavior, looking over at his wall clock, "It's almost 11? Why?"

"I actually have some errands to run tomorrow..." she sat up on the couch where they lie.

He was taken aback and sat up too. Confused once more, "I thought you were gonna stay till tomorrow night?"

"I was," she tried to think of a lie on the spot, "but then I remembered I have a bunch of things to do. Yeah, that's it. I have a bunch of things to do," she gave him a quick peck. "I'm sorry. I'll call you when I get home." She quickly headed toward the door and opened it.

"O-okay? Call me, alright?" he said rubbing the back of his head.

"Of course." She gave him a hug, pulling back to take a good look at his face as if to remember it. She smiled a bit sad, "Bye."

"Alright, bye?" he frowned.

She never did call.

He took her hand in his and intertwined their fingers, staring back ahead, "Yeah, Case. We were something," he admitted. His voice had become quiet and shaky, "I was afraid you wouldn't come back to me," he squeezed her hand harder. "Then when you woke up and didn't remember us..." he trailed off too and he was never good as expressing his feelings. "It was my fault, Casey. This whole thing is my fault," he brought his head down in much disappointment in himself.

She took her free hand and tilted his chin to look at her, "Derek, it's not your fault okay?"

He shook his head and cried out, "Casey, you don't even remember what happened!"

"I was the one that wanted to come see you," she exasperated, "I came out here to see you because I wanted to, okay?"

Derek stared at her again with slight shock on his face, "Y-you remember?" his voice stammered lightly.

"No, Brooks told me," she assured him.

He immediately frowned, thinking she was making more progress with him. They sat in silence a little while longer, holding her hand as she leaned on his shoulder.

Derek brought her hand up and kissed the inside of her wrist much like he did all those times they were together. Taking a deep breath, he continued on to where his voice strained, "Casey, I'm so, so, sorry."

"Derek," without thinking, the words began to fall out her mouth, "I'm sorry for ignoring you." His body tensed as she kept talking blankly, "I'm sorry I was afraid of us. I was just afraid of what would happen with us. Like if we would work out or if we wouldn't. I'm sorry you keep blaming yourself because it was my fault you moved on." It was obvious she didn't realize what she was saying.

Derek turned to look at her. A look of worry and relief all in one gaze for her, "D-did Brooks tell you that stuff too?" he watched her face as she was slowly realizing what just happened. He read so many emotions in a matter of seconds. Looking him straight in the eye, she shook her head and there came the look of hope in her eyes.

He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up off the ground and brought her in for a tight embrace. "Oh My God! Casey! You're starting to remember!" he screamed with happiness as he held her tighter against him. "Let's go! We have to tell them the good news!" Casey nodded with a smile. The first genuine smile she was able to express since waking up.

Derek knew this would take time. He didn't know how long it would take for her to get her memory back and he sure as hell didn't know it would be so fast. He didn't even know if it would come back at all. But miraculously it was slipping in there. And this was all he wanted, this was what he hoped for.

He held her hand as they walked back to Derek's building. Giving her occasional kisses on her hand, or they'd give one another smiles. Derek so badly wanted to kiss her, but the gesture might have been too overwhelming and he really didn't want to scare her off right now. As much as he wanted to do it, he thought of her first and that's when he knew for sure that he loved her. He was actually thinking about someone other than himself.

As they walked along the sidewalk, a car was approaching to pass their way. There beamed the bright headlights and they quickly blinded Casey. Letting go of Derek's hand, she stopped walking; frozen at the sight of the lights. She stared directly at it with wide eyes as it got closer and closer. She tensed. She couldn't move.

Derek turned to look at her. "Casey?" He watched as she focused directly at the light and immediately he felt the worry and concern wash over him.

Casey reached up and touched the side of her head. Slightly grazing the wound, she remembered that's where she was hit. The bright lights flashed an image of the semi-truck that was coming toward her during the accident. She then could hear the loud honking horn ringing from all over. She physically looked pained as she dropped to her knees with her hands over her ears. It was already too much to bear.

"Casey!" Derek ran and dropped on his knees to hold her. Holding her tight against him, he became frightened with worry for her, "What's the matter? What happened!"

Casey didn't answer him. She couldn't answer him because she could hardly hear him. Closing her eyes, she kept trying to drown out the noise. It was now a mix of a truck horn; deafeningly loud, she could hear Brooks on the phone, and a mix of all the things she overheard in the hospital. Just then everything flashed. She saw her family having dinner, she saw Princeton, she saw Brooks laughing, she saw the arch, she saw Derek, she saw herself kissing him, she saw herself hugging him, she saw the headlights, she saw shattered glass, she saw blood, she faintly saw the paramedics and Doctors, and the last and most vivid image was of Derek smiling at her with his bright eyes staring directly at her. It all flashed before her, vividly as if it were happening all over again.

Derek felt her breathing erratically. "D-Derek?" she cried out as the tears streamed down her face.

"Casey. Shh…" he rubbed circles on her back as he held her tighter, letting her know that he was there for her. "I'm here. I'm here…" she relaxed a little bit, "Case, you scared me just now. What happened?"

"I saw it…" she cried silently. "I saw it all. I heard it all. I remembered all of it, Derek. I saw the accident--"

"Casey," Derek shook his head immediately to stop and assure her, "you don't have to relive it."

"No, Derek," she shook her head more to emphasis that she had to, "before my vision blurred, I called out for you. I wanted to see you. Only you," she cried into his shoulder. "Only you," she mumbled almost inaudibly.

"I'm here now, okay? Relax, calm down. It's okay. Everything is going to be okay now." Derek rubbed her back more and gave her a reassuring kiss on the side of her head.

"You told me you loved me. You even cried. I heard you cry. You told me I had to do my part. You told me your love was strong." She held him tighter, "Derek, I came back for you," she whispered. "It was you. You helped me come back." She sobbed some more, "I forgive you, Derek." She had to let him know. "I don't hate you."

He let out a few tears of his own and he couldn't help it anymore. Derek was scared to see her like this since he'd almost lost her before. And to hear her finally say the things he'd been waiting to hear; it was all just bittersweet. Smiling, he let out a pathetic sniffle, "I don't hate you either, Case." He stifled a laugh remembering her own words, "I'm exactly the opposite," he kissed the side of her head once more.

Pulling back, she brought her eyes to meet his again. This time she brought her hands up and wiped his tears with the pads of her thumbs. "I'm remembering because of you," she smiled softly. "I needed you."

Derek nodded, "I'm always going to need you, Case." He rested his forehead against hers, softly, "I love you," he finally let her know face-to-face; not over an answering machine or over a comatose body. He told her now and he absolutely meant it. "I love you."

Casey kissed him then and there. She couldn't wait any longer. It was the perfect kiss. The way they held onto each other so tightly. She pulled back when another tear fell, "I'm so in love with you." Her voice was shaky but confident as a smile graced her lips.

Derek reciprocated and gave her another quick peck. "Are you my Casey now?" he searched her eyes and he wanted to be sure she was completely okay; that she was all there.

Running her hands through his hair, her eyes scanned every feature on his face as if to remember it.

And she would remember it, forever.

Casey finally made it to his bright eyes and smiled, "Yes."