One of the Best
Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA Network.
A/N: so I refuse to say that Neal has blue eyes even though he told Sara that during his polygraph and it showed true on her screen, because if you've ever paused the show (and I seriously can't be the only one who does this) and looked at Neal's eyes, they are not blue! Blue green maybe but not baby blue. Enough of my ranting…on with the story.
Chapter 4
Elle had drifted off holding Neal's hand, but she woke up suddenly when she felt a slight pressure pushing on her fingers several times. She opened her eyes to find a pair of blue-green eyes staring back at her.
"You're awake!"
She squealed unable to contain her excitement. She wanted to give him a big hug, but realized that was impossible due to the nature of his injuries, so she just settled for squeezing his hand. She didn't want to throw anything out of alignment that the doctors had spent hours fixing.
The man on the bed, however, didn't move or respond to her enthusiasm. He just kept staring at her with those big beautiful eyes.
##
When Neal opened his eyes he felt dizzy. He tried to move, but his body just wasn't getting the message. He blinked several times, trying to adjust his pupils to the light. He tried to move just his arms, but weren't sure they were cooperating either.
He noticed a dark haired lady on his left side, but couldn't see her face. Who was she? What was she doing here? What was he doing here? He honestly didn't remember any details to help him make sense of what was going on. He must have moved something enough to get the dark haired lady's attention because she lifted her head to look at him.
"You're awake!"
The dark haired lady seemed excessively excited about something, although Neal wasn't sure what. He assumed the comment was meant for him, but he didn't have any idea who this woman was or why she would care if he was awake. He had no idea what to say, so he just kept staring at her waiting for her to explain the situation. He heard a door open and saw a tall man walk up to the bed; he was wearing a suit and looked very official. Neal wondered if he was in trouble for something, but had no idea what he could possibly have done. It was likely this man just needed to talk to him about something; maybe about whatever had happened to land him here, in what he assumed was a hospital with all the beeping going on around him.
"He hasn't said a word."
The dark haired lady was speaking to the tall man.
"He just keeps staring at me with this blank look."
The tall man stood on the other side of his bed from the dark haired lady, and Neal shifted his gaze when the tall man started to speak.
"Do you know who you are? Do you remember what happened?"
Neal tried to say 'No' but his voice didn't seem to be working. He saw a look of concern pass from the tall man to the dark haired lady. He didn't recognize either of them, and was confused as to why they would care what he was doing here. They must be police or something, he reasoned. But then again, why would the dark haired lady be so excited to see him? The tall man had definitely not shown the same type of excitement, but seemed very business-like and to the point. Neal was thinking this through in his mind: the woman seemed to really care, and the man seemed to be only interested in what had happened. What did this mean?
"Mom?"
The whisper was so faint that Elle almost didn't hear it.
"Mom? Is that what you said? Mom?"
Elle excitedly squeezed Neal's hand again. Elle realized that as much as she had always wanted to hear that word in reference to herself, she knew this was not a good sign. Neal must not recognize her.
She looked up at Peter. He rephrased his question to Neal.
"Do you know what your name is?"
Those big blue-green eyes just stared back at him. Peter looked over at Elle.
"This is not a good sign. I think I'll get a nurse, and see if Dr. Worthington has a free moment to check on our patient."
Peter walked out of the room leaving Elle alone with Neal.
She was still holding his hand, and used her other one to brush some of the hair that had fallen down into his face.
"It's ok. You're awake! We're so excited! You're going to be fine."
Elle was trying to sound so encouraging to help Neal feel better, but there was a discomfort growing in the pit of her stomach that something was very, very wrong with Neal.
##
Neal felt the dark haired lady still holding his hand, and felt himself relax a bit when she ran her fingers through his hair. He felt safe. He hadn't felt so safe since he was a little kid. How did he know that? He didn't remember being a little kid. He didn't remember anything actually, and he was a bit scared when that tall man had asked him who he was and he honestly had no answer. He had no idea who he was. What he did know was that this dark haired lady seemed to be very excited that he was awake, and he felt very safe with her. She must be his mother. Who else had ever made him feel safe like this? He fell asleep with that peaceful and content thought on his mind.
##
Dr. Worthington pulled both Peter and Elle into the hallway to share his latest observation.
"He definitely is suffering from amnesia, but with a blow to the head like that, it really is to be expected. Neal seems to be suffering from what's considered a retrograde, transient amnesia."
"English please, doctor?"
Peter was trying not to be annoyed.
"Basically, retrograde means he doesn't have any memories of before the accident, and transient means it happened because of brain trauma, not something like Alzheimer's."
"Ok, that makes more sense. Is there anything we can do about it?"
"These types of cases are very tricky. There really isn't a lot we can do. He may regain some of his memories back, and there is also the possibility that he may never get his memory back. We just don't understand the brain well enough yet to answer those questions. I can tell you though, that when I talked with Neal, he seems to think that you, Elle, are his mother, and that Peter here is a scary tall guy that is a policeman who only wants to ask him questions about things he doesn't remember."
Elle laughed.
"Well, even without a memory, he's pretty much got you pegged, honey."
Peter did not look amused.
"So he has no idea who he is or why he is here?"
Peter wanted to confirm the information because he needed to report to Hughes on Neal's condition.
"Yes. That pretty much covers it. He needs to stay immobilized for several weeks while his back stabilizes from the surgery, and then we'll be able to do some physical therapy to help his muscles regain their strength, but the prognosis on that seems very good. He may need to be in a wheelchair for a while, but he should be expected to eventually walk again. The amnesia is just a different story. For the length of time he was unconscious, there are definitely more serious implications in terms of him recovering all of his memory, but like I said, you never know. The brain is a tricky thing."