I don't own Relic Hunter or Star Trek the Next Generation; or any of the characters from these shows.
Information for Relic Hunter fans: An away team is a group of people assembled to go on missions to other planets. They are invisibly beamed through thin air and once they arrive on the planet they materialise again looking and feeling exactly as they were when they left!
CHAPTER SIX
Nigel followed the captain into the turbolift where he looked at Jean Luc's face, realising that he really did look quite unhappy but was, obviously, trying to disguise it. He wondered; bearing in mind the captain had confirmed that things were as they should be on Earth, if he was now going to be sent home, or whether there was something else he was about to learn which would prevent that. He felt quite anxious; although he trusted Jean Luc and believed he had his best interests at heart, even if he had allowed his brother to steal Sydney!
Realising that Nigel was rather shy and because he could tell how nervous he was, Jean Luc wanted to prepared him for what he was about to face and said very calmly, as they stood in the turbolift, "when you go into the observation lounge Nigel you'll see quite a few people there; most of them you'll probably know, but perhaps one or two, you won't. Now I don't want you to worry about that at all, we just need to talk to you and explain a few things." Strangely, that little speech had the opposite effect and put Nigel completely on edge; he was now dreading it!
As soon as they reached the observation lounge Jean Luc walked directly in, although Nigel was, naturally, hesitant and dragged slightly behind. He immediately noticed that Data, Worf, Deanna, Beverly, Geordi, Guinan, Miles, and one other man, were sitting around a large oval shaped table, obviously waiting for them. Upon seeing his friends he felt slightly relieved, although he still felt uneasy about the meeting itself. The Captain walked to the head of the table and stood there; leaving Nigel, who looked quite bewildered, stood at the other end. Jean Luc looked at the assembled group, smiled, and said quite confidently "I think you all know Nigel, except for you Number One…. Nigel, this is Commander William Ryker, he is my first officer."
Nigel looked at the commander who immediately got up from the table and confidently walked towards him smiling widely. Nigel shook his hand and instantly got the strangest feeling he'd actually met him before; although he couldn't think where, or even when that might have been, but he certainly looked familiar. Of course, Nigel realised that lots of people have similar looks and considered, in this case, he must be confusing him up with someone else. However, he couldn't help but wonder; bearing in mind he'd been on board the Enterprise for six weeks, why he'd never been introduced to him before. Ryker returned to his seat, and stood there next to the captain who was now sitting at the head of the table.
"Nigel Commander Ryker has been very busy for the past few weeks taking care of things on Earth" Jean Luc said, as if he'd just read Nigel's mind "he actually attended your brother's wedding and spoke to Louisa Wright while he was there."
"Oh" Nigel replied, hanging his head "I suppose that must have been nice…. what!" he suddenly perked up and said to Ryker "you spoke to my nanny Sir! Was she alright? I haven't seen her for such a long time."
"Yes Nigel, she's fine, missing you terribly, of course, and the wedding, well that was wonderful; the bride looked stunning" Ryker replied, as he motioned to a chair to the right of Jean Luc. Nigel sat down directly opposite Ryker, who poured out a glass of water for him.
"Now then, let's get things started" Jean Luc continued, trying hard to smile "Nigel, I know you're wondering why you're here… well it's for something I hope you're going to be very happy about; we're going to send you home."
"Oh… that's good Sir, I suppose, but really, apart from wanting to see my nanny and a few other people, I've got no reason to go home now. If three years have passed on Earth, like you said they would, I'll have lost my job, my apartment and everything else will have changed; including my friendship with Sydney. Preston will treat me like he used to, now he's married Sydney, and my life will be miserable" Nigel said, on the verge of tears.
"No Nigel, you're wrong, it won't be like that at all and I can assure you everyone, including your brother, will be delighted and very relieved to have you back! I doubt you've any idea how much you've been missed and if it hadn't been such a life or death situation for the people of the 24th century, we would never have put you, or them, through such anguish. We simply had to get the timeline back on track and, unfortunately, to do that, Sydney and Preston had to marry… son they would have done that anyway had the timeline not been interfered with. Despite that Nigel, I promise you're going to have a really happy and rewarding life" the captain said sincerely, thinking how much he was personally going to miss Nigel when he's gone.
"So um what happens now then Sir, are you going to fly me home and just leave me there? What am I supposed tell everyone, they'll think I'm nuts if I say I was abducted and taken to a spaceship!" Nigel said, raising his voice and getting even more agitated at the thought of it.
"Nigel, son, try to keep calm, I didn't mean to upset you" Jean Luc said, noticing Deanna get up from the table having sensed how anxious Nigel was.
She walked around to the back of Nigel's seat, put her arms around his shoulders and said "It'll be alright Nigel, just listen to the captain."
Jean Luc continued "Son, it's obvious that while you've been on board the ship you've gained a lot of knowledge about the future and, of course, you've had experiences that will make you look ridiculous if you tell anyone about them; well it's for those reasons we've decided to partially erase your memory."
"What!" Nigel shouted, looking quite horrified. Deanna held him even tighter, sensing the shock of what he'd just been told surging through his body.
"Don't worry Nigel!" the captain said very quickly before Nigel could say any more "the procedure will only wipe out your memories of the time you've spent on the ship; all of your previous memories will remain intact and you'll be fine."
Nigel didn't look one bit convinced, but Jean Luc continued. "There's one thing though that we're going to let you remember, and that's your visits with 'your parents'. You'll only actually experience those as very vivid dreams, but they'll leave you feeling quite exhilarated and very happy when you wake up. You see Nigel; different areas of our brains are used for different things; so we can separate memories, oh and allowing those nice memories to stay with you will also help prevent nightmares in the future; so that's a good thing for you."
The captain had hoped that his explanation would make Nigel feel better but, unfortunately, it didn't as he was, obviously, very sceptical and quite frightened by the idea of having something done to his brain. Jean Luc, therefore, asked Beverly to explain a bit more.
"Sweetie, this particular technique is generally used on children who've had a traumatic experience; it enables them to forget the ordeal they've been though and lead a normal life" Beverly said, feeling quite sorry for him.
"Surely it's dangerous; you might turn me into a vegetable! Can't you just leave me as I am, I won't tell anyone about you, I promise" Nigel said, looking at the doctor pleadingly.
"Nigel, there's no way you'll be able to keep it a secret, Sydney or your brother will get it out of you one way or another and, like you said, they'll think you've lost your mind. If you genuinely can't remember where you've been you won't have to lie and your credibility won't be lost" the doctor said "I've checked your medical records very thoroughly and there's nothing in them that indicates it will be dangerous for you to undergo the procedure. The one little problem is that you're extremely intelligent and everyone you know on Earth is aware you have a phenomenal memory. Because of that it might be hard to convince some of them that you can't remember the past three years but, of course, you won't be lying, although in reality you will have only actually lost six weeks. It'll upset you at first Nigel, but not for long, you'll be too busy concentrating on your brilliant future as your intelligence, memories, hopes and wishes will remain exactly as they were before you came here. The thing is, even though you won't know it, everyone else on Earth will be three years older but, of course, you'll only have aged six weeks!"
Suddenly the reality of his situation struck him and, looking even more upset, he shouted out of pure frustration, "Bloody hell! Sydney's going to be eleven years older than me now, instead of eight!" Of course, he instantly realised how silly that sounded as age shouldn't make any difference now she's married, as any romantic relationship between them was completely out of the question.
"But Nigel, think about it" the captain said "everyone will believe you're 27 regardless of the fact that you still look so young. The age gap between you and Sydney and, of course, everyone else will appear exactly the same as it's always been as even you won't know you're still 24!"
Even though Nigel understood what the captain and Beverly had said, he just wished it could be different. He simply couldn't help but remember Jean Luc telling him that Sydney had started to become attracted to him. Of course it was all too late now and he knew he simply had to face the fact that Preston and Sydney were married.
He turned to Beverly and said rather quietly "doctor, the procedure, it won't hurt, will it?" his face turning white at the very thought of it.
"No, Nigel, of course it won't, it's completely painless; you trust me don't you? I've looked after you while you've been on the ship haven't I? You must know I won't let anything bad happen to you. Sweetie, I've used that technique successfully many times; you're going to be just fine, I promise" Beverly said, taking hold of his hand and squeezing it.
Nigel looked down at the table and then directly at Beverly and said "I trust you doctor and I understand why it needs to be done; um…. so when are you going to do it?"
"I'm already prepared sweetheart, so we can do right now if you like, or we can wait until after dinner if you'd prefer" Beverly said, hoping he wanted to do it now as the thought of him leaving was breaking her heart and she just wanted it over and done with, so that she could move on.
"I think I'd rather do it now than wait" Nigel said, still looking very nervous.
The room suddenly went very quiet and the doctor looked around at the other members of the crew and said "do any of you want to say anything to Nigel before he goes home?"
Deanna who, obviously, sensed exactly how Nigel felt about everything, realised he didn't blame anyone for any of this, as he understood that billions of people in the future would benefit from the sacrifice he'd made so that the timeline could be corrected. However, she also knew how deeply upset he was by the fact that Preston and Sydney were together, as had he not been abducted, he might have been the one to marry her.
Deanna looked at the people assembled around the table and said "I think before Nigel goes home we should all thank him for the great personal sacrifice he was forced to make to ensure our lives would continue as they were supposed to. It's such a shame we can't actually give him a proper gift; those memories of his parents are such a small thing compared to what he deserves but, obviously, he can't take anything from the future back home with him.
"I don't want anything Deanna, so don't worry about it" Nigel said, thinking what a caring person she was.
Everyone cheered and applauded Nigel; and Deanna, who was still stood by Nigel's chair, threw her arms around him again, sensing that a hug was all he really needed. Deanna shed a few tears as she said goodbye to him, realising she and everyone else would probably never see him again after that evening.
Nigel didn't know what to say, his head was so mixed up with thoughts about the procedure, seeing Sydney, anger towards Preston and, of course, never seeing his friends on the Enterprise again. However, he got up from the table and Geordi, Miles, and Captain Picard all said their personal goodbyes to him, shaking his hand and giving him a small hug as well.
Ryker, not really knowing Nigel that well, shook his hand, gave him a warm smile and said "you're going to be alright son, very soon your life will improve and you'll eventually find love and happiness."
"Really Sir! Who's going to love with me?... Will Cate change her mind about me!" Nigel asked; as other than Sydney, she was the only woman he still had romantic feelings for.
"You'll see" Ryker said, as the captain called his first officer away.
Guinan told him she thought he was a truly brilliant young man and that she believed he would go far and eventually find the happiness he deserved. They hugged and Nigel thanked her for being such a good friend.
Worf had been highly impressed by Nigel and had started to think of him as a little brother, even though they were so different. Nigel was overjoyed when the large Klingon said, as he hugged him "you may never become a warrior but you are, indeed, very brave; it has been an honour to know you."
Data said goodbye next and shook Nigel's hand firmly, wishing he could experience what everyone else was feeling as, unfortunately, Data, being an android, felt no emotion. Nigel, however, believed Data still 'cared' about him in his own way and a lump came into his throat when Data said "It was very nice meeting you Nigel, you are a very special young man and although you will not remember me; I will always remember you."
Nigel felt so sad saying goodbye to everyone, but hoped they were right about him having a wonderful future, especially since they all knew they'd be having a good one now!
Beverly walked Nigel to sickbay, where she hugged him tightly for several minutes, telling him that she'd miss him very much but it really was time for him to go home to his family and friends. She eventually let go of him and explained that she needed him to undress completely, get into bed and lie on his stomach so that she could start the procedure.
Nigel went into one of the smaller rooms within sickbay where he could undress in private and, as soon as he was ready, he put a towel around his waist and got into bed; immediately discarding the towel once he was under the covers. Lying down on his front he tried to get comfortable but the butterflies in his stomach refused to settle. As he led there wishing it was over he turned his head to the side and noticed Beverly looking really miserable as she made the final adjustments to the equipment she was about to use. Sadness filled his heart too as he realised he would never see the kind doctor again, or anyone else on the Enterprise.
Meanwhile, back on the Bridge; Captain Picard, Commander Riker and Deanna were all waiting for Beverly's call to say the procedure was complete. While they were waiting they discussed Nigel and the general consensus was that he was a very exceptional young man who deserved to have the wonderful future that they knew was in store for him!
It had been over an hour and they were getting slightly concerned that something might have gone wrong, as the operation generally took 20 minutes. However, a couple of minutes later a rather depressed sounding Beverly called to say that Nigel was ready to leave and, therefore, with great authority, the captain said "Number One, prepare the away team."
"Yes Sir" Ryker said "Deanna let's get this done."
Ryker and Counsellor Troi left the Bridge and immediately went to their respective quarters where they changed into some clothes suitable for the year 2006, and then made their way to sickbay. Once there, they were greeted by Beverly, who was also wearing suitable clothing. She was looking extremely unhappy and simply couldn't hide it.
"Are you ready for this Beverly?" the commander asked, trying to be professional as he couldn't let emotion get in the way of this important task.
"Yes Will, I have everything ready" she said, looking over to the young man lying motionless on the bed, who was now wearing the clothes he wore when he arrived on the ship.
Deanna gave Beverly a half smile; sensing just how unhappy her friend was about the pending departure of Nigel, although the truth of the matter was; she felt exactly the same.
Beverly got a blanket, one that looked like it might have been used in Nigel's time, and with the help of Deanna, wrapped it around the sleeping young man.
Nigel was completely unconscious as Commander Ryker picked him up and carried him to the transporter room where Miles was waiting by the control console. Once Miles had entered the necessary data, enabling them to be beamed to the correct location on Earth, the away team stood on the transporter platform where Ryker, who was holding on to Nigel tightly said "four to beam down chief."
Within seconds they found themselves in a rather secluded area of woods which was not far from the Massachusetts General Hospital, where they were going to deposit Nigel. Ryker knew exactly how to get to there, having worked out the route a few days earlier. They, obviously, wanted to keep their arrival on Earth as inconspicuous as possible, which was why Ryker chose to transport to the woods, rather than the hospital itself.
Ryker gently placed Nigel on the ground where Beverly checked his vital signs to ensure he was still in good health and showed no signs of distress from either the procedure or by being transported to Earth.
"He's fine Will" Beverly said, looking over at the tall man.
Ryker then looked over to Deanna and, without saying a word to her, she confirmed that Nigel was showing no signs of stress and, therefore; it was safe to leave him at the selected place.
As it was getting quite dark nobody noticed them place Nigel on a bench, which was situated outside the hospital entrance. Having already checked past weather records to ensure it wouldn't rain or get too cold, they left him there knowing he'd be perfectly alright for quite some time. As Nigel slept very deeply Ryker called the ship and said "three to beam to Nigel's apartment!"
Sometime later Nigel awoke to find a very worried looking man touching his forehead and feeling his pulse. He knew he was outside, because he could see the stars; however, he must have passed out again, because the next thing he knew he was in a hospital bed, feeling fine, apart from a slight headache and a very dry mouth. He tried to think what had happened but he couldn't remember and considered he must have passed out and been brought to the hospital.
He could see a nurse outside his room talking to a policeman, who kept looking over at him. Nigel couldn't help but wonder why he was there, although he soon found out when the policeman, noticing he was awake, suddenly left the nurse and came over to his bed.
"How are you feeling young man?" the cop asked.
"Fine Sir, just a bit thirsty, is there a problem?" Nigel asked, his voice sounding very croaky.
The cop poured out a glass of water and handed it to Nigel who drank the entire glass in one go!
"What's your name son?" the cop asked
"Nigel Bailey Sir" he said, his voice sounding much clearer now.
"Why were you sleeping on a bench outside the hospital Nigel? You weren't drunk, your clothes were clean and they look quite expensive; have your parents thrown you out?" the cop asked, noticing Nigel look surprised.
"No, my parents are dead and I wasn't sleeping on a bench; I was…. was, um, well….. the last thing I remember was arriving home from work; I put the key in the door and… and… then I remember seeing the stars above me and waking up here a little while ago" Nigel said, wondering if what the cop had said, about how he came to be there, was true.
"You've no idea how you got here or why you were sleeping rough?" the policeman asked, wondering if Nigel was hiding something from him.
"No Sir, I've no idea" Nigel said, looking quite worried and feeling very confused.
"The doctor who found you a couple of days ago brought you into the hospital because he couldn't wake you up. He didn't find any of the usual drugs they test for in your system, although he found a minute amount of some unrecognisable substance in your blood. He considered that might be why you were sleeping so deeply, but he found nothing else. He only called us to see if anyone matching your description was on a missing person's list; or in case we were looking for you" the cop said, noticing Nigel looked quite anxious.
"I don't take drugs Sir; I've taken sleeping pills once in a while, but not recently" Nigel said; wondering what that substance was that the doctor found.
"So is there anything else you remember?" the cop asked, wondering if Nigel was faking his memory loss for some reason.
"Well I can remember leaving work with a really bad headache and cycling home; I was wishing I could go to bed instead of having to go to the Grand Canyon with Sydney. Um is Professor Fox around? She might know what happened to me, maybe I fainted or something and someone brought me here, I really don't know" Nigel said, feeling even more confused.
"Where can I contact Professor Fox Nigel?" the policeman asked, taking out his notebook and pen.
"The ancient studies department of Trinity College, she's my boss" Nigel said, writing down the telephone number of the college for the cop, who immediately rang her using his cell phone. Nigel watched the cop, who was playing with his pen while he waiting for the call to be answered. Upon receiving a reply the policeman explained the situation to Sydney who screamed with joy when she heard that Nigel had been found!
"I think she's missed you!" the cop said, rubbing his ear "She'll be here as soon as she can but I'll get the nurse to come in and make you more comfortable before she arrives; bye Nigel."
The cop left believing this was probably nothing the Police needed to be involved in as Sydney, being so happy to hear the news, forgot to mention how long he'd been missing.
Just over an hour later Sydney rushed into his room and threw her arms around him, the tears rolling down her cheeks as she stroked his hair and hugged him tightly. As unusual as it was for her to cry, she simply couldn't stop herself on this occasion and Nigel was very surprised!
"Where've you been Nigel! Why didn't you call me! I thought you'd disappeared for good!" she said quite loudly as she continued to hug him.
"No need to cry Syd, I'm fine! Honestly, I am. I don't know what happened though, one minute I arrived home feeling really ill; the next, I'm here. I must have been so sick someone decided to leave me outside the hospital. I've been unconscious for the past few days or I'd have called you; sorry" he said, looking up and giving her a sweet lopsided smile; hoping she wasn't too annoyed with him.
"Never mind the past few days, where've you been for the rest of the time! she asked; starting to look quite cross.
"Has it been more than a few days then? Nigel asked, quite taken aback.
"Nigel, don't act the innocent with me! You've been gone almost three years and you know it! For God's sake, tell me where you've been; you took your passport with you so you must have been travelling!" she said as loudly as she dared, bearing in mind they were in a hospital.
"Syd, stop messing about, I'm not stupid, it can't have been very long because the policeman told me I was only brought here a few days ago, and anyway, you know I always keep my passport in my rucksack just in case we go abroad; you'd have found it if you'd looked in my hall closet… I didn't get a chance to get my bag before I passed out so it must still be there. You know I did actually intend to go to Las Vegas with you, I just didn't make it. Did you go without me?" Nigel asked, hoping she was going to say yes and that she'd found lots of Hopi relics.
"Nigel, that was years ago! You know I'm not messing about so you can stop making up silly stories! You know very well it's been almost three years!" she said, loudly, noticing he suddenly looked really scared, just like he always did if she shouted at him. "Look Nigel you've been away a long time, I had to get on with things; I couldn't just put my life on hold on the off chance you'd return. I thought you'd never come back and …" She didn't know what else to say; how was she going to explain about Preston and everything else. Then she thought …. he was the one who left, not me! She knew it was going to hurt Nigel terribly when she explained she'd married Preston, but then she considered that Nigel was being so evasive about where he'd been; he could quite easily be married too!
Nigel stared at her with a very sad, yet bemused expression on his face and said, very quietly "Syd, you're poking fun at me, aren't you?
She didn't respond to that, she just looked at him and thought; he looks so sincere but he can't really believe it's only been a few days surely. It's strange though, he looks exactly the same as the day he stood me up at the airport. I guess his hair could do with a cut, but other than that, he hasn't aged a day! She had to admit though; he looked really handsome with his hair just past his ears. Then, to her surprise, she noticed his clothes hanging on the back of the door; it was what he was wearing the day he disappeared!
Nigel noticed Sydney looked distracted but he still believed she was joking; the alternative was simply too scary!
Suddenly Nigel got an idea and said "Um Syd, pass me your little mirror from your purse please, if I've been away for three years I'll look different" he said, stretching out his hand and smiling. She handed it over, he looked at himself and thought the same as she did, he needed a haircut, but otherwise he looked the same. He smiled triumphantly as he handed back the mirror and said "Come on Syd, I've got you now, you can't explain why I haven't changed can you?" he said, laughing just a little as she still looked quite stern.
"No Nigel I can't, but you've still been away for three years!" she said, wondering if he had a good reason to fake amnesia or if he really had no idea where he'd been.
Just at that moment the policeman came back and glared at Nigel "I've been talking to my colleagues at the precinct; they've been looking for you for years, you're in big trouble young man! You've wasted hundreds of hours of police time; costing many thousands of dollars! Now where the hell have you been!" the cop yelled angrily, waiting for a reply.
Nigel was visibly shaken by the cop's tone and by the fact that he had more or less confirmed what Sydney had said. He looked up at the cop nervously and said "I, I don't know Sir… I re..really don't."
The policeman asked Sydney to leave so that he could talk to Nigel and get to the bottom of what had happened to him. Sydney could see that Nigel was scared and she really wanted to stay, although she couldn't imagine for one minute that Nigel would lie to the police, and besides, she wanted to know the truth too, so she didn't protest.
Just as she was about to leave Nigel called out to try and stop her and at that moment, as she turned around and saw the look on his face, she realised he was actually telling the truth; he really had no idea where he'd been!
"Right young man" the cop said "start from the beginning and if you keep up this pretence I'll take you down the precinct, put you in a cell and let the other prisoners do what they want with you! They'll love having a pretty boy like you in with them and you'll soon change your mind about explaining where you've been hiding then!"
"Please Sir, I honestly don't know where I've been; I can't remember anything since arriving at my apartment. Please don't take me to jail! I don't know anything!" he pleaded, the tears starting to pool in his eyes.
"You really can't remember anything at all?" the policeman asked, still looking a little sceptical but realising Nigel was actually very frightened.
"No Sir, nothing, Oh God, I don't understand this at all! Please Sir, I want to see my doctor; I need to know what's wrong with me…please! " he said, feeling completely distraught.
Upon seeing the horrified expression on Nigel's face the policeman went out to inform the doctor of his discovery and the doctor was totally shocked as he'd no idea that Nigel might be suffering from amnesia! He immediately rushed into Nigel's room to examine him, leaving the cop talking to Sydney, who'd been waiting for him. Unfortunately she was only able to stay for a short time as she felt the need to get back to her students, although actually, she was looking for any excuse she could think of to put off telling Nigel about Preston!
The doctor re-examined Nigel recalling that the only thing he'd found when he initially checked him was that odd substance in his blood. That chemical, or whatever it was, had still not been identified but his blood was now clear. The doctor began wondering if that substance had, in fact, caused Nigel's supposed amnesia if, indeed, he was suffering from that.
To ensure he didn't miss anything, and to test if Nigel was being truthful, the doctor checked his patient's head for any swelling and asked "Have you experienced any headaches recently Nigel?"
"I have a slight one now but other than that, I don't know Sir, I can't remember if I have…. other than at work; but everyone says that was three years ago! Sir I'm so confused, what's happening to me!" Nigel said, starting to get emotional.
"I can't find anything physically wrong with you at all, you've got some scars on your chest and shoulder, but they look a lot older than three years. I'll have to arrange for some scans to see if they reveal what the problem is. You may have suffered a head injury which is not visible externally; the scans will expose anything like that. Just take it easy; you seem perfectly healthy so I'm sure you'll be fine" the doctor said, leaving Nigel and walking back to the policeman.
The policeman returned to Nigel's bedside and said "look son, if you're trying to protect someone, or if you're just frightened of whoever took you, then don't be, just tell the truth and I'll make sure they can't hurt you; everything will be alright….. as long as no major crime has been committed! If you were kidnapped; or something like that, you must tell me Nigel; I just want to help."
"I'm not hiding anything, I'm not deliberately protecting anyone and nobody, as far as I know, has threatened me, I just simply can't remember!" Nigel said, rubbing his forehead and looking over to the door wishing that Sydney would come back.
That evening, just before Nigel was about to eat his dinner, two porters came into his room and advised him that he was being moved to a nicer room. Nigel wondered why, as he was perfectly comfortable where he was. However, his new room was really quite amazing and had a private bathroom, a huge flat screen TV and his bed was even more comfortable than the other one. There were six of his favourite books and bowl of fresh fruit, including grapes, which Nigel loved, on his bedside cabinet. He began to wonder who was paying for all this, as he couldn't imagine his insurance was up-to-date, although he considered it must be Sydney, as he couldn't think of anyone else who'd look after him to this extent!
The following day, to his astonishment, Cate Hemphill charged into his room and threw her arms around him, just like Sydney had.
"Nigel, it's so good to see you" she said, hugging him really tightly and thinking my God he still looks like a kid even now!
"Oh um, hi Cate; it's um nice to see you too" he said, hugging her back but feeling a little put out as he recalled that instead of calling him when she came to Boston, before he lost his memory, she only called Sydney! Of course, to him this felt like only a short time ago although, of course, it wasn't and he didn't know about the mix up with the phones.
"Nigel, Sydney said you're suffering from partial memory loss; has anything come back since yesterday? Cate asked; holding on to his hand, hoping he'd be honest with her because she was finding that hard to believe; even though she'd not even talked to him yet.
"Oh um, no I still can't remember where I've been; do you know anything?" he asked, looking at her hopefully.
Cate looked at him sternly and said "If I knew anything I'd have hauled your butt back home before now! Surely you remember something; you've got the most amazing memory of anyone I've ever known; please Nigel" she said, trying to keep calm "it doesn't matter if you're embarrassed about it, you can tell me!"
"Cate I don't remember anything, I can't tell you what I don't know!" he said rather sulkily.
"Really" Cate said, looking at him with her arms folded across her chest, not at all convinced he wasn't hiding something.
"So why are you in town this time Cate?" he asked, thinking I bet it's not just to see me.
"I live here now; I left Interpol and decided to come to Boston to live for a little while. I'm moving to England in a couple of days though; I've bought a house in London" she said, noticing Nigel looked quite stunned.
"You left Interpol! But why; you loved it!" he said, very surprised by her statement.
"Nigel I spent a long time trying to find you, I even turned down foreign assignments so that I could use Interpol's computers to search for your credit card transactions or passport usage. I searched and searched for anything that might lead me to you, but I found nothing!" Cate said; noticing Nigel was just staring at her now looking quite bewildered. She went on "as time passed, having turned down so many assignments, I was no longer offered anything interesting, so I lost my enthusiasm for the job. I still continued working there but my heart just wasn't in it; so two months ago I resigned" she said, wishing he'd open up to her.
"I'm so sorry Cate if I caused you to do that; I really didn't mean to, honestly, the last three years are just a complete blank" Nigel said, feeling quite guilty, even though it wasn't his fault. He truly wished he could tell her something to explain what had happened, but he couldn't.
"So what's the last thing you can recall then?" she asked, noticing he looked quite sad.
"Coming home to my apartment with my head pounding, feeling a little annoyed with you and then waking up here, that's all!" Nigel said, feeling frustrated by the situation.
"What do you mean you were annoyed with me?" she asked, rather surprised. Nigel explained and when Cate told him about the confusion with the cell phones, he felt a little better; although he knew he shouldn't keep thinking about her romantically as she no longer felt that way about him. The fact was; they'd dated for a while, but when she discovered he was nine years younger than her; she dumped him. Of course, they'd always remained friends and she'd visited him in Boston quite often prior to his disappearance, the problem was, she didn't seem to realise how confusing a continual friendship like that could be for a young man; never mind someone as sensitive as Nigel.
"So Nigel, you remember what happened three years ago, but nothing since that time; is that right?" she said, looking rather sceptical.
"Yes Cate, that's right!" he said, folding his arms and looking at her defiantly, realising she didn't really believe him.
"Nigel I spent all that time trying to find you and now you turn up out the blue like this and expect me to believe you've got amnesia! That's, that's… ridiculous!" Nigel looked at her and felt very hurt, as although he understood how much time and effort she'd put into trying to find him, there was simply nothing he could do about it.
At that moment one of the nurses rushed in having overheard Cate's angry remarks. She looked at her young patient, noticed how upset he was and felt the need to defend him.
"Madam!" she shouted "what he's told you about losing his memory is not ridiculous! I can assure you it happens and it's very frightening! Nigel's been trying really hard to remember things, but he can't! You shouldn't treat him like that; he's suffered enough as it is without you making him look like a liar!"
Cate was rather surprised by the nurse's tone as she was not accustomed to being told off!
The nurse continued "Now, madam, if you raise your voice again I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"
"OK, OK, I guess I got a little carried away" Cate said, looking back at the nurse "I apologise; I'll keep my voice down and leave in a minute."
She turned back to Nigel and noticed he was now shaking his head very roughly, like he was trying to dislodge something; he then began rubbing his forehead and eyes very hard too, obviously feeling quite distressed.
"Oh Nigel!" Cate said, as she pulled him close to her and hugged him again "I'm sorry, it's just so hard for me to imagine you not being able to remember things, but Nigel if it's really you're just too embarrassed to tell me, or anyone else, what really happened, don't be; all we want is to have you back to how you were."
"Cate, please believe me when I say I really can't remember! I most likely did do something stupid though, it would be just like me; otherwise I probably wouldn't be in this situation!" he said, looking rather sheepish
"Look Nigel, I've got to go now, obviously, if you remember anything, or if you just need to talk; then call me, alright?" She wrote down her cell phone number and handed it to him; genuinely hoping that if he truly has amnesia, he'd get his memory back soon.
"Bye Cate, you'll love England" he said, trying to keep his emotions under control and wishing he could have convinced her he was telling the truth. She kissed him on the cheek and said goodbye, thinking how innocent he still appeared and wondering where on earth had he been!
The following day, much to Nigel's delight, Sydney came back to the hospital to see him. He was feeling happier, having had the most wonderful dream about his parents which he could hardly wait to tell her about. She'd helped him so many times when he'd had nightmares and he knew she'd be glad to hear about this. She was, of course, although it didn't make what she was about to do any easier.
She was holding a medium sized envelope which she kept looking at and turning over and over, as she half listened to Nigel talking about Cate's visit and his thoughts about her not believing he'd partially lost his memory.
"I guess nothing's come back then Nigel" Sydney said, looking really worried and handing him the envelope.
"No Syd, but they've done all sorts of tests and a couple of scans, so I hope they find out what's wrong and are able to help me. Syd, it's really scary not knowing where I've been or what I've done" Nigel said, his mood suddenly changing "it's even more worrying that neither you nor Cate could find me; anyone would think I'd been abducted by aliens or something!" he said, jokingly to try and stop himself from getting too upset again. "Um what's this Syd" he asked, looking at the envelope.
Sydney smiled at him nervously and said "Open it… look I'm sorry, but you were gone and he was here, I swear I didn't do it to hurt you." She stared down at the floor and waited for Nigel's reaction to what was in the envelope.
"No! This can't be real, you wouldn't do that, you wouldn't" Nigel cried. Sydney tried to calm him down but he was devastated, she'd shown him three photographs of the wedding.
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In the next chapter find out what happens when Nigel meets Preston again and Nigel gets married!