Chapter Two
Ed drifted in and out of consciousness after that. He didn't fully wake up until hours later, and the first thing that he noticed was that he was really in a hospital. He could hear the steady beep of a heart rate monitor, and he could see an IV, a blood transfusion. He noticed that strong scent of sterilizing fluids and cleaning products hospitals usually carried, and then a nurse entered the room.
"You're awake." She said, and smiled warmly, "How are you feeling."
"Fine, thanks.' Ed replied, slowly sitting up. "Have you ran any tests yet or has it not been long enough?"
"You've been here for a couple of hours and as far as we can tell you're totally fine."
"Do you think I could make it to work in time, then?"
"Uhm, I don't know. I think that maybe you'd want to talk to the doctor in charge of your case about that. I'm just here to change the saline solution."
"Oh." Ed replied, "Well…thanks anyway. Tell him I feel great. I just want to get out of here and move on with my life."
Ed had his way, of course, and he was out of the hospital within the next two hours. He really did feel fine. There wasn't any more pain, and he wasn't having anymore memory blackouts so within the next couple of days he began to forget all about the incident. He didn't bring it up to anybody, not even Al. As far as anyone else knew, he'd had a completely typical night that night.
He spent the next couple of weeks doing regular things. He did a lot of work in Central with Roy and all his subordinates, he left town on more than one lead, occasionally he caught some time to hang out with friends…
He had no idea how huge the consequences of that night were.