Chapter 3

My vision started getting blurry. I tried speaking but couldn't. Yet again, I was on death row. But this time, I wasn't sure if I'd live.

"The doctor said she's pretty stable. They're gonna wait a little while before they reattach her leg." Derek told Hotch.

Hotch nodded. "Derek, you know it wasn't your fault." He said.

"I beg to differ. If I had looked back to check on her, I was close enough to pull her away. I could've seen it about to fall on her and saved her." Derek said. He felt so guilty. She was only twenty-four.

"You don't know that. Right now, I think the best we can do for her is to be patient and-" Hotch was cut off by the yelling of people in Mel's room.

"BP is dropping!" One yelled.

"She's flat lined, hurry, Code Blue!" Another yelled. Panic rushed into Derek's heart.

"It's a system malfunction. Oh, god, she could've been flat lined for hours." A nurse said.

"Charge to 300." A doctor said.

"Sir, are you-"

"Do it!"

Derek and Hotch watched in horror as her heart rate didn't change from the monotonous sound. The doctor shocked her again.

Relief filled the whole room as her heart started beating again. Someone felt her pulse. "She's good." He said.

"What happened?" The doctor that resurrected her asked a nurse.

"I changed the batteries and as soon as I did, she flat lined. The batteries I changed out must've been rigged." The nurse said.

Derek and Hotch exchanged glances. They cleared her room once she was steady. A nurse sat in the chair, watching her.

"Is she okay?" Derek asked, walking in.

"Yes. I mean, physically. Who knows what happened to her mentally? After all, she did just die." The nurse said, scribbling something on her clipboard.

"When is she gonna wake up?" Derek asked.

The nurse looked at her watch. "Roughly thirty minutes. That's when the sedative will wear off."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." She said.

Derek left the room to update Hotch, who was joined by Emily and JJ.

"Is she okay?" JJ asked.

"She should be. She sort of died but they brought her back. She's been dead for a while because someone rigged the batteries not to show if she flat lined or not. She should wake up in about half an hour." Derek said.

"Poor girl. This was her first day, and already, this." Emily said, motioning towards the ICU room she was in.

"Is her first name actually Mel, or is Mel short for something?" Derek asked, curious.

"Her file says it's Mel. But, that could've been manually inputted." JJ said.

"Huh. Maybe it's Melody." Derek said.

"Or Melissa." Emily said. "She sort of looks like a Melissa."

"No. Maybe it's Melanie." JJ said.

"Melina?" Hotch offered.

"Bingo. I'm betting it's Melina." Derek said. They were all silent for a moment. Derek knew they were just trying to make light of the situation.

"Where's Reid?" Derek asked, almost forgetting about him.

"He's with Dave, talking to the police. Mel was right about how the fire was set. They're going over the profile with them and seeing if anyone they know fits the profile." Hotch said.

The nurse in her room stood up quickly and blocked their view of Mel. Derek tried to see what was happening.

"What happened?" JJ asked.

"I don't know." Derek muttered.

The nurse looked back at them. She looked calm, so Derek's heart rate slowed.

"She's awake." The nurse said.

They all walked into the room and Derek took her hand. Here eyes were barely opened.

After a minute, she was wide awake, though, and panicking.

"Mel, calm down. You're okay." Derek said, trying to calm her. She ripped her hand from Derek's.

"I don't know you." She said.

"Mel, it-it's Derek. Derek Morgan. You don't remember me?" He asked.

"I don't know any of you." She said, looking at the BAU team. "I don't know you." She whispered.

Derek looked to the nurse, who had already paged a surgeon. Neurosurgeon, Derek hoped.

"What do you remember?" Derek asked her.

"I-I was with Bobby. We were celebrating my twenty-first birthday. Where is he? Is he hurt too?" She asked.

The team exchanged looks. "What? What is it?" Mel asked.

"Mel, you're twenty four. You turned twenty-one three years ago." Derek said. Mel's face broke the team's heart.

She took a few steadying breaths. "Where's Bobby?" She finally asked.

"I'll call him. What's his number?" Derek asked. He was fighting tears. This was all his fault.

She wrote down Bobby's number and handed it to Derek. Derek walked outside and dialed.

"Hello?" A man with a country accent answered.

"Robert Singer?" Derek asked.

"Depends on who's asking." He said.

"I'm a friend of Mel Winchester's. There's been an accident." He said.

"Call me Bobby. What happened?" Bobby asked, his voice becoming panicky.

"Well, she was crushed under a pile of rubble at a school that was falling apart. She survived that, though, but someone killed her. The doctors managed to revive her and now she doesn't remember the past three years."

Bobby sighed. "Where?"

Derek told him their location. He hung up. Bobby expected to get there in about an hour. Derek walked back inside to the ICU.

Reid was in Mel's room, talking to her. Emily was outside, reading a magazine. She looked up when Derek approached.

"They left to go talk to the police. Reid did something and managed to get a name from Mel. But, she's not remembering yet." Emily said. Derek sat down, completely deflated.

"If I had looked behind me…" Derek started.

"Stop. I talked to the neurosurgeon. This wasn't because of the accident. She has a tumor. That's what's causing this. This had nothing to do with you. In fact, if this hadn't happened, she'd be dead. You didn't look behind you, and she's alive." Emily said.

Derek let that sink in. "She's alive."

"She is alive. And she's gonna stay that way."

Derek actually managed to pull a smile out of his ass and celebrated. For a moment.

"Bobby Singer is on his way. Also, I want to make sure the rest of the FBI doesn't come." Derek said.

"Why?"

"Sam and Dean are coming with him."