Chapter 23

The color completely drained from Alistair's face and his breathing began to quicken. He looked up at Anders and demanded, "What the hell did you do to her?"

"I did exactly what I was supposed to do. I healed her," Anders retorted. Alex stared at both of them bewildered.

"Well, you did something wrong because she doesn't recognize either one of us," Alistair hissed.

"She has been in a coma for almost a year. It is going to take some time for her to get her wits about her. Just give her time, Alistair and she…"

"Alistair?" Alex questioned.

Alistair turned and looked at her, "Yes, that's me, my Love."

A brief smile flickered across her face. "You mean it wasn't a dream?"

"What Love? What wasn't a dream?" Alistair inquired.

Alex reached up and touched Alistair's face, "You, Ferelden, Morrigan…it wasn't a dream? It was real?"

Alistair nodded vigorously, "Yes, it was real. I am real." Alistair pointed to himself and then to her, "We are real."

She gently stroked the side of his face and smiled, "You are so much more handsome in real life. So clear and well defined; at first I didn't recognize you."

Alistair began to laugh and cry at the same time as he pulled her into his arms. "By the Maker, you nearly gave me heart attack."

"I'm sorry, Alistair. I didn't mean to scare you," she said weakly. "I remember everything, but it has the hazy feel of a dream and the image that I had of you definitely isn't as vivid as the real thing." She said as she ran her hand down his arm.

Alistair looked up at Anders, "Is this normal?"

Anders raised an eye brown, "There isn't anything normal about this situation and there is no precedent to help us define what typical behavior is and isn't. That being said it would make sense that the life that her spiritual form lived would take on a dream like quality when her spirit was reunited with corporal body. Everything that her spiritual form experienced was real to her spiritual form, but not real to her physical form because it didn't truly live through it. So the memories are there in her corporal body, she remembers everything, but those memories aren't as clear because they didn't happen to her physical form. Which means when she tries to remember something that happened in Ferelden it will take longer for her cognitive memory to distinguish and identify those experiences. So she recognized you Alistair, but it took her cognitive memory time to identify how she knew you."

Alex smiled up at Anders, "You should be a psychologist."

"A –whosie – whatie?' Anders asked.

"A psychologist is someone who studies and deals with mental processes and behaviors," Alex replied.

"Hmm, that sounds interesting. Could I be a magical psychologist?" Anders asked.

Before Alex could answer the door to her room swung open. "Her organs and her vitals have been growing stronger over the past twenty-four hours. I want a complete workup…" Matt's voice trailed off as he entered the room and saw Alex sitting up in bed completely alert. The clip board that he held crashed to the floor as he stared at her dumbfounded.

She smiled at him, "Hi Mattie."

"Alex…holy shit…Alex your awake!" And he ran over to her and threw his arms around her.

She laughed as she hugged him back. "It's good to see you again too."

"What?...When?...How?" He stammered.

She laughed again, "Have you become a journalist as a second occupation?"

Matt looked over at Alistair, "How long has she been awake?"

"We arrived about a half an hour ago she woke up shortly after that," Alistair lied.

"A half an hour ago and you didn't notify anyone," Matt demanded.

"Mattie, calm down, I asked them to wait a few minutes while I got my bearings. Things were a little fuzzy and I just needed a minute to collect myself," Alex replied.

Matt shook his head and smiled, "Even coming out of a coma you have to be the one in control. I have to call your Father. He will be ecstatic and will want to see you before I send you off for a complete evaluation."

"For God sakes, Matt, I just woke-up do you have to start the poking and prodding immediately. I'm fine…I feel fine. As a matter of fact, I feel better than fine. I feel like I could run a marathon," Alex retorted. She noticed Anders puff his shoulders up with pride and she had to stifle a laugh.

"I can put it off for a day or two, but you're a doctor Lex. You know it has to be done before I can release you," Matt said.

"Fine! I want to go home and sleep in my own bed tonight so let's get started on the tests," Alex said.

"Why are doctors always the worst patients? You know damn well you won't be going home tonight," Matt said.

"The hell I won't. I feel fine. I want to be in my own home in my own bed," Alex demanded.

Matt looked at her questioningly, "You have been in a coma for almost year. How do you know your father kept your apartment?"

Alex paused as she realized her mistake, but she recovered quickly as she replied, "Because I know my father. I know that he would never give up on me and that when I woke up he would want me to return to my own home."

Matt nodded in agreement. "Lex, please be reasonable. You have been in a coma. Your muscle deterioration is going to be significant. You probably don't even have the strength to stand up," Matt said.

"You want to bet," Alex said as she threw the covers off, swung her legs over the bed and stood up. "I told you I felt like I could run a marathon."

Matt's mouth gaped open. "That's impossible!" He exclaimed.

"Call it a modern day miracle or a scientific anomaly. I don't care what you call it, Matt just do whatever you have to and get me out of here," Alex said as frustration made your voice shake.

Alistair walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Love, I completely understand your desire to get out of here, but you know your father is going to want some answers too. Maybe if Matt runs his test he will be able to provide those answers for him."

"Or maybe not and they will only have more questions," Anders muttered low enough that only Alex and Alistair could hear them.

"Matt, could you go call my father, please and let him know that I would like to see him?" Alex asked.

"Of course, I'll be right back," Matt said as he headed out the door.

Once the door was closed Alex turned to both Alistair and Anders. "Anders is right. Running tests on me is only going to raise more questions. Correct me if I'm wrong, Anders, but they won't find a thing wrong with me," Alex inquired.

"Sweetheart, you are now in the best shape of your life. They won't find even a clogged pore," Anders smiled proudly.

"Alex, I understand they won't find anything, but if Matt is half the intellectual that you are he won't be satisfied until he tries to figure this out. Tell him you will let him run whatever tests he wants as long as you can go home tonight and if he wants you can even come back tomorrow. If he can't agree to that then you tell him you are leaving now without any tests being run. He can't force you to stay, right?" Alistair asked.

Alex shook her head, "No he can't."

Alistair pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. "I want to get you out of here as quickly as possible, but let's try to play by their rules for a little bit. You know when he can't figure this out it's going to drive him crazy."

"Yes, I know it will. Up until I went to Ferelden I believed everything had a scientific explanation, but now I understand that there are things out there that go beyond my ability to explain," Alex replied.

Matt rushed back in and paused when he saw Alex in Alistair's arms. Alex withdrew from Alistair's embrace, "Is my father on his way?"

Matt smiled, "I'll be surprised if he doesn't run every light to get here."

Matt looked over at Anders and Alistair. "Would you mind giving me a moment with my patient?"

They both nodded and headed out the door. Matt rubbed his hand across his stethoscope to warm it up before he placed it to Alex's heart. He listened for a few minutes and then listened placed in on her back to listen to her lungs.

As he checked her nose, ears and throat he said, "I didn't realize you were still so intimately acquainted with your old boarding school friend."

"Alistair and I have kept in touch through the years. We have had an on again off again relationship since our junior year in high school," Alex said as nonchalant as she could.

"Really? Why haven't I ever heard you mention him before?" Matt asked.

"Oh Mattie, I tell you about all the boys that are complete jerks because I need your manly perspective; but Alistair is perfect in every way and I was worried that if I talked about him that I might jinks it. Stupid I know," Alex said.

"It's not stupid. So is it the distance thing that has kept you apart," Matt asked.

"Huh?"

"With him living in Britain and you living here," Matt said.

"Oh yes, that's it," Alex said.

Matt spent the next several minutes checking her vitals before he let out a long sigh, "None of this makes senses, Alex. You and I both know that after being in a coma for as long as you have been in one, there should be severe side effects."

"You mean brain damage. What was I on the Glasgow Coma Scale when I was brought in?" Alex asked.

Matt was silent for a long moment and then mumbled, "You were a seven….you should have died or remained in a vegetative state. However, the strangest thing occurred; the longer that you were in a coma the stronger your brain activity became. Your SPECT Scan showed that there was moderate blood flow to the brain, but no matter what we tried we couldn't pull out of the coma. This is why your father refused to give up on you. He strongly believed that you were still in there and even though it went against all of my medical training I believed that too. Then about two weeks ago you took a turn for the worse. All of your organs began to shut down and we couldn't stop the process. The only thing that remained strong was your brain activity."

Matt paused as he looked down at her and brushed a stray hair out of her eye, "Alex, you are a modern day miracle. I can't explain anything that has happened to you."

Alex smiled, "A miracle defies explanation; it surpasses all known human or natural powers." Alex rested her hand in Matt's, "Mattie, you can run all the tests you want and you will not find the answers you seek. Sometimes you just have to accept things on faith."

"When did you become so spiritual?" Matt asked.

Alex laughed, "After being in a coma for the past nine months. You tend to get a new perspective."

The door burst open again and the booming voice of Brandon Seymour bellowed out, "Where is my precious little girl?"

He rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks as he looked at Alex. She smiled, "Hi Daddy."

Alex saw the tears brim over and slid down her father's cheeks. He quickly wiped them away and in two big strides was at her side as he pulled her into his arms. She had forgotten how good her father's arms had always felt when he embraced her. She always felt safe, protected and loved in his arms and it dawned on her that she felt the exact same way when she was in Alistair's arms.

Her father pulled back and cupped her face, "Let me take a look at my baby girl." His eyes washed over her and then he pulled her back into his arms. "I think you look even more beautiful. You have a glow about you."

Alex laughed, "You're my dad. I think you are a little bias."

Another thunderous voice came over her father's shoulder, "Well, I'm not bias. If you look like ass, Baby Sister, I am going to tell you so." Her brother's smiling handsome face peered over her father's shoulder. By the disheveled state of his hair and wrinkled and untidy clothes he had thrown on he must have rolled out of bed and rushed over here. "But I have to admit, for being Coma Girl for the past year, you look remarkable."

Alex smiled, "James, it's good to see you too, although if we are being honest you do look like ass."

Her brother laughed as he pulled her into a huge bear hug, "Damn, I missed you. It's good to have you back, Sis."

Alex spotted Alistair and Anders standing in the corner of the room looking awkward as they watched the family reunion. She smiled, "Dad, James, I would like to introduce you to my friends, Alistair and Anders. They just recently arrived from Britain."

Both her father and brother looked over at the two Ferelden men and smiled. "It's nice to meet you," Brandon said.

Alistair stepped forward and extended his hand, "It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Seymour. Alex has told me a lot about you."

Brandon clasped Alistair's hand as he shook it. "I wish I could say the same, but I don't recall Alex ever mentioning you before," Brandon said suspiciously.

"Oh Dad," Alex interjected, "your memory is like Swiss cheese. I told you about Alistair when I was attending Deerfield." Alex saw the smile flicker across Alistair's face at them mention of cheese.

Brandon narrowed his eyes at his daughter, but managed a smile as he replied, "Well, Deerfield seems like a lifetime ago so it must have slipped my mind."

"Well, it's very convenient that your friends from across the pond arrived just in time for your miraculous recovery," Matt added.

Now it was James turn to study them. "Oh, you live in Britain. I love the UK and have traveled there extensively. Where are you from?"

Based on information that Alex had given him before he entered the Fade he replied, "Northumberland, a little town called Warkworth."

"I see. I never made it up to Northumberland. I hear it's very picturesque," James said.

Alistair smiled a genuine smile, "It is. The next time you are in Britain visiting I suggest a trip up there."

Before James could continue his inquisition Alex looked at Matt and said, "Let's get these test started. I want to be out of here by five o'clock." Matt began to protest, but Alex held up her hand. "You can't hold me against my will. I will come back tomorrow if you need me to, but tonight I will sleep in my own bed. So let's get this party started," Alex demanded.

Alex spent the next several hours undergoing every test imaginable. By four o'clock Matt had given her a clean bill of health, but he insisted that she come back tomorrow so that he could recheck her vitals. Alex was irritated, but agreed to the recheck. At the nurse's insistence and much to the dismay of Alex, a hospital volunteer pushed Alex in a wheelchair to the hospital entrance where they waited on her father to bring his car around. Alex looked over her shoulder at the volunteer, smiled and said, "Could you give me a moment alone with my friends?"

"Of course, honey," the woman as she pointed toward the door, "I'll be right over there if you need me."

Alex looked at both Alistair and Anders, "Have you been staying at my apartment?" They both nodded. Alex ran her fingers through her hair as her mind began to quickly formulate a plan. She looked at Alistair, "Okay, I told Matt that you and I had an on-again-off-again relationship so we need to let them believe that I gave you a key to my apartment and that it was customary for you to stay there whenever you were in town."

Alistair raised an eye brow, "And you think they are going to believe that? I don't think any of them are completely buying our story. The whole key thing will just cause them to have more questions and doubts."

"But all of your belongs are at my apartment. How am I going to explain that?" Alex said.

Alistair smiled, "No need to worry about that, Love. We knew if we were successful that your family would want to bring you home so we hid our backpacks underneath your bed. Your family shouldn't have any reason to look under there." Alistair watched as a large black car pulled up to the curb. Mr. Seymour jumped out of the driver's side, walked over to the passenger door and opened it for his daughter.

Alistair helped her out of the wheelchair. She hugged him as he whispered in her ear, "Anders and I will be fine. We will come back to the apartment tonight after your family has left." She kissed the side of his cheek and again Brandon eyed him suspiciously as he helped Alex into the car.

"I will see you tomorrow," Alex said as she played along with the charade.

"See you tomorrow," Alistair replied. He watched the car pull away and both relief and anxiety washed over him. She was healthy and whole once again, but her family who had been without her for over a year were closing ranks around her as they tried to protect her from any outside sources that they considered a threat and Alistair had a feeling that they considered him and Anders a threat.

Anders must have sensed what he was thinking, "Don't read too much into, Alistair. They are cautious now, but as the newness of Alex's return to the living wears off they will be less wary of us."

Alistair nodded, but he had his doubts.