Author's note - hopefully this chapter will get me off many people's hit lists. Please let me know what you think.
He took a deep breath and stared at the large white board that has been brought into his room. He looked at all the photos and read all the information. It just wouldn't click.
He heard a knock on the door and looked to see who was entering. The man had been there earlier that day; he dug deep trying to remember his name.
"Agent Thacker, I wasn't expecting you to come back today." He greeted with a slight slur to his words. He got frustrated at the sound of his own voice. He knew he didn't naturally speak that way.
"Hacker, my name is Hacker." The other man corrected.
Damn at least he was close.
"I wanted to congratulate you. The information you gave us made the mission a complete success." Hacker stated.
Information? What information? He could feel his anger building. If he were paranoid he would swear this was some kind of experiment. If they weren't American he would swear he was being help prisoner.
Hacker could see the agitation and confusion on his face. He grabbed the chair from across the room and sat it next to the bed.
"Let's talk." He said. The doctors said he needed familiarity and repetition to aid in recovery. "Can you tell me who you are?"
He rolled his eyes and answered the question. "I am Master Sergeant Seeley Joseph Booth."
"What year do you think it is?" Hacker asked.
"1997" he answered.
"Do you know Jacob Broadsky?"
"Yeah he is an army buddy of mine." He answered again, getting irritable over all the stupid questions. Still angry over the way his voice wouldn't cooperate with his brain.
"Ok. You were in the army, but you no longer are. You are a special agent in the FBI. It is 2011. You have a son named Parker and he is 14 years old. That is his picture right there." Booth looked over at the photo marked Parker. "Your partner is a Forensic Anthropologist named Dr Temperance Brennan. She is also here in the hospital. That is her right here." Again Booth looked at the photos. "Jacob Broadsky had gone rouge. He was killing people that he considered got a slap on the wrist from the law and executed him with his skills he learned in the Army. You were trying to catch him and he decided to take you out of the picture. He caused a landslide at a crime scene and injured you and Dr Brennan
"You suffered severe hypothermia as well as multiple fractured bones. The doctors said that due to the lack of oxygen to your brain caused anoxic brain injury. The loss of memory and other symptoms you are experience are the cause of this injury. You are lucky that you were not left in a vegetative state. You have surprised many of the doctors here. Anyway, when you woke up we explained what Broadsky had done and you gave us the information we needed to catch him. You told us that he would experience some remorse by the death of Dr Brennan and that he may choose to attend her funeral as long as law enforcement presence was not evident. So we faked a funeral and we caught him. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you. That is why you are the best agent we have out in the field."
Booth thought about all this information. It was hard to believe any of it. He felt the pain in his body, but the whole situation sounded like something you would see on some tv show or something. This kind of thing just doesn't happen for real.
Hacker saw that Booth was trying to process the information. "One of the problems with your memory other then the loss of 14 years is that once you wake up, you haven't been able to retain the information from the day before. The doctors believe it may be getting stored in your memory but due to the damage you just can't access it. They believe that seeing familiar people and items and repetitiveness will help in the healing process. I understand how frustrated you must feel about all this."
Booth stayed silent. He was getting tired, but he was afraid to go to sleep. According to the doctors and this guy if he slept he would wake up and not remember anything. He breathed deeply trying to let everything sink in.
"Can I be alone?" Booth finally asked.
"Of course. If you need anything all of your friends and relatives numbers are written there. The nurses will be glad to assist you." Hacker returned the chair to its original place and walked to the door. He felt bad for the man. He hoped that he would get it all back. He had lied, he couldn't imagine how he was feeling.
Booth closed his eyes; trying to recite everything he had been told. He tried to recall everything from the white board.
He heard the voices again. It was always when he closed his eyes. He could hear distinct voices speaking to him. One he recognized as his mother, some others were guys he had known in the Army, but there was one voice he could never place. It was a woman's voice. She kept saying 'I love you too."
He couldn't tell anyone about the voices. They would lock him up somewhere and throw away the key. Though how he felt about the whole situation, he should already be there. Not like he could go anywhere now. He was wrapped up like a Christmas present and had a cast on each limb.
She loved him too, that means he had told her first. He wondered who it could be. There were no photos labeled as his girlfriend.
The fact that he was hearing voices of people he knew to be dead was even more disturbing. His mother always voiced encouraging words. She told him everything was going to be ok. That she knew he wasn't ready and she would be waiting for him when it was time. His army buddies were always supportive as well.
How could he lose 14 years of his life? How could they disappear like they never happened? He lost a whole career. He had a kid. If he had to lose years, why couldn't it be his childhood? There was plenty there he would love to forget.
He was so lost in thought he didn't notice Jared entering his room.
"Hey, Seeley." He said.
"Jared, finally a familiar face." He could see that his brother wasn't the age he should be in 2000. He was the only thing that made any of this even seem close to real.
"Do you remember what we talked about yesterday?" Jared asked hoping that his brother would say yes.
Seeley tried to remember yesterday, but all he could recall was his last target. He wasn't allowed to talk about that.
"No." he answered sadly.
Jared sighed and wiped his face with his hands.
"How are you feeling today?" Jared asked highly disappointed.
"I don't even know how to explain that. Can I ask you a question?" He changed the subject.
"Sure, shoot." Jared replied.
"Do I have a woman in my life? You know, like a girlfriend or anything." He inquired.
Jared wasn't sure how to answer. He knew he and Temperance were close, but he wasn't sure if they had anything else going on. "I don't know." He answered figuring no further explanation seemed appropriate.
That disappointed Booth quite a bit. Not so much that it sounded like he didn't have anyone special, but more to the fact that he and his brother had drifted far enough apart that he didn't know the answer.
He looked at the notes on the board. He wondered why he wasn't with his kid's mom, Rebecca.
Booth began feeling odd. By the time all the alarms from the hospital equipment sounded he was unaware. Jared watched as his brothers body began to stiffen and shake. He ran from the room yelling for a doctor or nurse.