Jared paced the hallway while waiting for the doctors to finish their examination. He had done his research on anoxic brain injuries. He knew seizures were a possibility but since it had been a few days since he regained consciousness. The doctor said that since he woke up relatively quickly that the damage didn't seem as severe as it should have been. They told him that full recovery could be possible in time, but that when it came down to brain injuries nothing was ever certain. Seeley might just have to build a new life instead of stepping back into his own.
They wanted to observe him for at least a few more days in case there were any latent damages. Jared felt bad. He needed to get back to work soon; he needed to get back to Padme. At the same time, his brother was going to need help. He knew his brother would want to go home. The doctors had suggested a rehabilitation community, but Seeley would be miserable there. He had called several home health care companies to find out information on their services.
The FBI were footing the bill since it was an on the job injury. Hacker had told him they would follow any decision that Jared would make.
He hoped that after the shock of it all wore off that Seeley's friends would come around and be more receptive. They would come in for short visits, they never stayed long. He could understand it though. They all were dealing with their emotions. They all saw his brother as big, strong and damn near indestructible. They had worked with him for years and see him come out unscathed. They each loved him in their own way. Now he looked at them as strangers and they all blamed themselves in some way.
It was hard for him to see his brother this way. He was always so confident and now here he was lost and confused. He couldn't share stories of all the lost years. Rebecca was afraid at what the impact on Parker would be so she doesn't want to bring him by. It was surprising to Jared that Booth's boss of all people seemed to be trying to get through to him the most.
Hacker told him that Seeley was his best agent. He wanted him to come back to work, even if he wasn't in his previous capacity. He had already contributed to the capture of Broadsky, which showed the man that though the memories were lost his skills were highly evident.
Jared hoped that his brother could get his life back in any aspect possible. His bones would heal but he wondered if he would ever find the lost time.
Booth was exhausted. His body wouldn't respond to his requests. Everything hurt. He looked around the room disoriented. The lights cast an eerie glow to everything he could see. The doctors were looking in his eyes and they were speaking to him, but he couldn't comprehend what they were saying. He tried to ask what was going on, but all that came out were grunts.
Slowly the doctor and nurses exited and Jared returned to the room. He could see the worry lines that plagued his features. He fought to keep his eyes open, but his eyelids were so heavy. He drifted off into his dreams.
He searched his surroundings; he was confused to where he was. It was dark, he was surrounded by rocks. He could hear voices, but they were so faint he couldn't hear what he was saying. He wandered down the passageway. He came to a waterfall. The waterfall was bathed in the brightest light he could ever remember seeing. Inside the light was where the voices were coming. He could see the outline of figures in the light. The most prominent voice grew louder.
"Seeley, my son. Don't be afraid. We are here to help you, to help you through this horrible ordeal. It isn't time for you to join us just yet. We know now that you still have so much to do. So many people still need you, son. It will be a long hard journey but you will make it through.
"It is all about love, Seeley. Love will show you the way. Follow your heart where ever it leads. Sometimes it will cause you pain, but in the end it will always be worth it. You always question yourself. You harbor so much guilt, but it is unneeded. Everything you have done was done with honor and loyalty. That has always been how you lived your life.
"When you need us we will be there. We will help give you strength. I have always been with you Seeley. I have always been watching over you. I love you."
With that she faded back into the light. Behind him in the darkness he heard another voice. Another woman. She sounded afraid. She was crying. He was drawn to her voice. He could feel warmth emerge inside his chest. 'I love you too.' Joy sprung from him with those words. He knew he loved the owner of the voice. He searched the cave for her. He could see the shadow of her form, but he could not see her. She kept moving, just out of his sight. Then all went black.
He was now in a building full of offices. He wandered down the empty hallways looking in each room, until he came to a room that had his name on the desk.
He walked in and looked at everything that decorated the room. This was his, but nothing looked familiar. He opened the drawer and pulled out some files. He read through what he saw. He was an FBI agent. Many of the reports in the file made mention of a handful of doctor, the most frequent name mentioned was a Dr Brennan.
He felt a vague familiarity to the name but other than that he had no idea who any of them were. He obviously interacted with him quite often. Why couldn't he remember? He had always prided himself on his intuitiveness and his memory. Again everything went black.
This time the blackness didn't lead to anything, just a jumble of voices. He could hear the laugh of a young child, conversations that contained his own voice he tried to focus but too much was going on.
He opened his eyes and looked around the room he was in. He saw various equipment placed throughout the area. 'Hospital' he thought to himself. What was he doing there? He looked down at his body. Both arms and legs were in casts. He could feel a bandage around his head. His torso was stiff and sore. 'What the hell happened?' He dug through his memory. All he could remember was being in the dark, and he was very cold.
He saw a large white board across from the foot of his bed. He looked first at all the photos.
He saw a child labeled Parker – son, the next was of a beautiful blond woman labeled Rebecca – mother of son. He went through all the faces, Temperance Brennan, Angela Montenegro, Camille Saroyan, Lance sweets, Andrew Thacker, Wendell Bray, Vincent Nigel Murray, Clark Edison, Colin Fisher, Arastoo Viziri, Daisy Wick, a number of faces labeled as Special Agents. Why were all those faces there. In the middle of the board he saw the words:
Anoxic brain Injury:
Cognitive problems include:
• Short-term memory loss. Most people with HAI experience short-term memory loss; the problem is extremely common when a hypoxicischemic injury caused the HAI. The person cannot remember new information which has just been presented. The part of the brain responsible for learning new information is called the hippocampus and it is very sensitive to a lack of oxygen.
• Poorer performance in executive functions. The executive functions include judgment making, reasoning, and processing information. The person with HAI may become impulsive and indecisive. He or she may lack the ability to concentrate or to focus on more than one task.
• Anomia. This term means having difficulty using words or processing what words mean. The right word may not be remembered or a word may be placed out of context. Sometimes the opposite word is used; for example, a person wanting to say "sunny" may say "cloudy" instead. Common words may not be understood.
• Visual disturbances. The person with HAI may have trouble processing visual information. They may find it difficult to focus or they may reach for an object, but not be able to touch it because they are reaching in the wrong place. Rarely, HAI causes cortical blindness; the eyes are normal, but the brain cannot process visual information and so the person cannot see. Oddly enough people with cortical blindness may act as though they can see, even though they seem unable to identify objects, colors, or shapes; this because the damaged part of the brain is unable to realize that it is damaged.
Physical problems include:
• A lack of coordination. This is called ataxia. The person's gait may be wobbly; they may weave or stagger like someone who has had too much alcohol.
• An inability to do common tasks. This is known as apraxia. The person may be unable to remember the sequence of common tasks like brushing the hair or drinking from a cup.
• Movement disorders. The person may experience spasticity, rigidity, and myoclonus (muscle spasms). The patient may have involuntary movements, jerky movements, or trembling.
• Quadriparesis. The person may experience weakness in all four limbs.
• Headaches.
Anoxic brain injury can also cause confusion, depression, hallucinations, delusions, personality changes (such as increased irritability), and the inability to concentrate.
A lot of that didn't make much sense to him, but he knew it was referring to him. He must know all these people. He was in the FBI, he wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. He didn't remember being in the FBI, but he could remember an office. His office.
He was deep in concentration that he didn't notice a soft knock on the door. Three people entered the room and the man cleared his throat to get Booths attention.