CHAPTER 18

The next morning, Carlton woke up as the sun was just beginning to rise. Coming back to awareness quicker than last night, he slowly sat up and swung his legs over the bed. He was about to stand when one of the nurses came in.

"Now where do you think that you are going, Mr. Lassiter?"

"I was just going to the bathroom and then to see Beth."

The nurse tsked as she came closer, "You know that you have to wait until the doctor says you can leave. Now, I can help you to the bathroom but then you'll have to come back to the bed."

Growling, Carlton relented and let the nurse put a supportive arm around his waist.

By the time he made it back to the bed, he was thankful for the extra support since that little walk jostled his shoulder enough to start hurting. Once he was seated, the nurse said something about pain meds and a doctor, but Carlton wasn't listening as he closed his eyes and tried to breath through the pain.

A few minutes later, as the pain started to subside, Carlton heard the door open. Opening his eyes, he watched as Dr. Kirkpatrick came closer with a small paper cup and his chart.

"I guess I don't even have to ask if you're in pain since it looks pretty evident from your expression that you are. But on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being no pain and 10 being on the point of passing out from said pain, what would you rate it?" James waited as Carlton thought.

"I don't know, about a 4, maybe 5."

"Good. And what about a few minutes ago while you were coming back from the bathroom?"

"An 8." Carlton sighed, dreading what the doctor might do.

"Okay. I want you to take these, they're not as strong as what you got last night, but they'll still help." James handed over the cup before writing down on the chart. "Now, how are your other symptoms? Are you still experiencing nausea, dizziness, light sensitivity, blurred vision, headache?"

"Um, a slight headache and dizziness."

"Good. I still want to keep you here for a few hours, just in case. I also want to check your shoulder before you go but I know how eager you are to see Miss March. So, I'm going to let the nurse take you over there for a few hours. I'll even have them bring your breakfast over there." James laughed at Carlton's grimace. "Don't worry, they usually give the slightly better food to those that only stay a day or two. I want you back in here by 9:30 so I can clear you myself before I go off work at 10. Deal?"

"Yes. Thank you doctor."

"No problem. I should be checking on Miss March in about a half hour, so I see you there."

Carlton nodded as he watched the doctor leave.

When Carlton entered Beth's room, not much had changed since he had left. Beth was still asleep and Amy was silently reading a book. Looking up, Amy smiled as she whispered, "You're up early! I wasn't expecting you until at least 7, possibly 8."

"Yeah, well I was never one to sleep in hospitals without being heavily drugged." Once the nurse left the room, Carlton got up and sat in one of the chairs. They weren't too comfortable, but definitely better than a wheelchair. "Any changes?"

"No. But I guess no news is better than bad news." She stood up and stretched. "I'll be right back. Dan usually gets up about now for work so I need to call him. Lucky for you guys, my school has a snow day but I'm not sure about Dan or Adam. I might have to leave for an hour or so to get Adam and bring him to my parents, assuming they're up and don't want to come by. I can probably keep them away today but they'll want to see Beth for themselves tomorrow."

"Thanks for the heads up."

"Yep." Amy smiled as she left the room.

Sighing, Carlton leaned back and looked at Beth who was still sleeping peacefully. After a few minutes of quiet, he got up to look for the television remote. He had just found the remote when a noise from the bed grabbed his attention. Seeing that Beth was starting to wake up, Carlton put down the remote and sat on the side of the bed. Taking her hand, he whispered, "Hey, are you going to wake up now?"

Beth slowly opened her eyes and stared around the room for a minute before settling on Carlton. Smiling, she said, "Hey."

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty. How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess." She rubbed her eyes and asked, "What happened?"

"Car accident. I swerved to avoid a deer and we ended up going off the road and hitting a tree."

"The great head detective had trouble avoiding a stationary tree on the side of the road?" She teased as she raised the bed.

Rolling his eyes, Carlton replied, "It's not like I purposely drove the car into a tree. It's not my fault that the tires skidded on the snow-covered roads and…."

"Snow?" Beth questioned. "What snow?"

"The 2 or 3 feet of it that has fallen in the last couple of days."

"What? I know that it's wintertime, but it doesn't snow here."

Observing her closely to see if she was joking, Carlton put his hand on her shoulder. "Beth? Can you tell me what day it is?"

"Wednesday? You know I'm bad at dates," She laughed nervously.

"Just, just answer the question, okay?"

"It's the, um 12th or 13th?"

"Of?" Carlton prompted, guessing what she would say.

"January?" She asked nervously, "That's not right, is it?"

Seeing that she was close to freaking out, Carlton squeezed her shoulder and gave her a small smile. "I think that we should wait for the doctor."

"Oh my god," Beth whispered as she covered her mouth and shook her head. "How off am I?"

"You're fine! I think that I'm going to go get the doctor myself." Carlton started to get off the bed when Beth grabbed his arm.

"No! You can't leave me right now!" She pleaded. "I, I….Oh my god, this can't be happening to me!"

"Hey, I'm right here and everything is going to be fine," Carlton said softly as he rubbed her arm. She shook her head and started crying. Carlton was about to reassure her again when the door opened and a new voice came in.

"Hey! Look who's finally awake!" Amy said cheerfully.

"A-Amy?" Beth gasped as she looked between Amy's face and stomach.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?" Amy asked as she walked over and took Beth's hand.

"I, um I don't k-know," Beth stuttered as her breathing started to become labored.

"Amy, can you get the doctor?" Carlton asked as he took Beth's other hand and held it over his chest with his left. "Beth, look at me. You need to breath slowly like me. In and out." He ran his other hand through her hair and settled it at the back of her neck.

Beth nodded as Amy let go of her hand and left again. Beth locked eyes with Carlton as her breathing slowly calmed down.

After a couple minutes, Carlton asked, "How are you feeling?"

She gave a shaky laugh, "Um, scared, confused, nervous. What else would you expect?"

"I don't know." He smiled as he leaned back. "Can I get you anything?"

"Water?" She shrugged.

Nodding, Carlton got up and grabbed the pitcher to fill it up in the bathroom. As he was handing her a cup, Amy and Doctor Kirkpatrick came in. Amy gave Beth a smile as she sat in a chair, letting Carlton take the closer one.

James came around the other side of the bed. "Hello Elizabeth. My name is Doctor James Kirkpatrick. Can you tell me what you remember of the accident?"

Beth glanced at Carlton nervously as she shook her head. "I don't, I don't remember it."

"Okay. Can you tell me some simple things? Like where you are and the date?"

"I thought that I was in Santa Barbara and it was the middle of January but based on Carlton's reactions, I guess I'm off by a lot, at least a month."

The doctor frowned as he took out his penlight and checked her eyes. "Okay, tell me what you do remember."

"Um, Carlton and I had just gotten into his car after I spent the day with Henry, painting his house. We were discussing different types of music and my," she coughed nervously as she glanced at Amy. "A case he was working on."

James nodded as he wrote something down. "Okay. Can you tell me if you're in any pain or experiencing nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, headache, anything?"

"Well, my ankle hurts but I can also feel the bandages on it. I also have a slight headache."

"Can you tell me if the pain seems to be on one side or the other?" James asked as he gently probed her head.

"The right side," Beth hissed as the doctor pressed a spot behind and above her right ear.

"There does seem to be a slight bump there." He picked up the chart and wrote something else down. "I'm going to recommend an MRI and CAT scan, we should be able to get you in this morning. In the meantime, feel free to ask any questions you want, hopefully they can help jog your memory. Also, no getting out of bed without someone to help you, preferably a nurse but definitely not Carlton."

Beth smirked as Carlton snorted, "Thanks doctor."

"No problem. I should be back in a few hours to check on you."

James was halfway to the door when Carlton stood up and asked, "Doctor, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Of course, but you really should be in a wheelchair."

Carlton glared as he walked past the doctor and out the door. When they got to his room, Carlton asked, "Why would she lose over two months of memory from a single, small bump to the head?"

James sighed as he directed Carlton to the chairs and sat down next to him. "The brain is a very complex and mysterious organ. We don't understand even half of everything it could and does do."

"By the look on your face, I can tell that you at least suspect something."

"This morning I had the chance to look over Elizabeth's medical records. And while it only gives the medical history, not the circumstances around them, I could tell that about 2 months ago, she went through something very traumatic."

Carlton nodded, "Yeah. Her ex-boyfriend managed to attack and rape her. I tried to get there in time, but he was already on top of her. And then a few days later, he went after her again. They were both close calls."

"And how did she handle them?"

"How does anyone react to rape? She was a bit more distant and emotional. There were a few panic attacks and a lot of crying sessions." Carlton took a deep breath before admitting, "There was a suicide scare. She claimed that it was just a way to feel something physical but I could tell that, for at least a second, she contemplated suicide."

James sighed, "We won't know for sure until we get the scans done, but I believe that this is a result of the brain trying to protect itself from the new traumatic memories by blocking out the most recent traumatic events and everything in between. I would suggest not bringing up the events of a couple months ago, since it might do more harm than good. Like I said, the brain is very mysterious and I don't know what will happen when those memories are, let's say, unlocked. Just let it happen naturally. Try not to leave her alone for long periods of time, especially if she has a history of suicidal tendencies, but don't treat her any differently. Treating her like a kid or something fragile will do no good either. I'm going to contact the neurologist on call today and see if she has any suggests."

"How long will she have to spend here? Because she'll want to leave as soon as possible."

"Like I said, we don't know what's wrong, so I can only give you an approximation. The earliest would be this afternoon with hopefully the latest being tomorrow night, but it might be longer."

"Thanks doc." Carlton nodded as they both stood up and headed for the door.

"I'll be by in a few hours to check on her and hopefully get you released. Be good."