It has been a week, with the weekend of the family welcoming the Isley-Quinn group into the family, easily getting to know each other in Gotham, with Poppy heading back in the move to help them find a place.
James stayed with Barbara, Nora, and Jackson, next to Thomas, and so, days were spent of reading books, talking to Victor in his comatose state, nursing and giving Jackson his attention, with Barbara taking care of herself for the sake of the baby, and helping bathe Victor, and watching the medicated drugs slowly leaving after a test every day.
Finally, on the next Monday, Victor woke up, but it's not the reunion everybody had in mind, including his wives, unfortunately. He groaned as Barbara and Nora quickly reacted upon hearing him make that noise, something had hadn't done through his comatose state. "Is he waking up?", Barbara asked as she was on edge.
Nora nodded, putting away the book, glancing at their slumbering son in the carrier, "I think so...They took off the last medicated drug yesterday...".
Through the week, Victor's bruised areas including his neck, his lung, his chest, his hipbones is all but healed to almost normal state, with his fractured fingers now degraded to sprained fingers, his left arm now in a mild cast, healing from its sprained state just like his left leg, and his right leg is healing to a sprained state from its fractured state, and his fractured nose had set back into place, mildly bruised, and his few fractured ribs are healing into a bruised state, set back into place, and the cut on his head is all but vanished, with the knot of the head smoothing back into normal skin, if still a bit tender.
After the tests, it was a major relief that the inner other organs were mildly bruised, now healed, and his spine is all good if tender from the shock of the crash, and of course, his sensitive parts are all intact.
Barbara called to Victor, "Come on, Vic, that's it, almost there...", her heart racing as she heard him flickering his stubbornly closed eyes, groaning, and Nora encouraged, "You got it, Victor...", biting her lip.
Both of them took deep breaths as Victor finally opened his eyes and started to glance around, not moving his head but just his eyes. "Ugh...", Victor groaned as he obviously still felt quite a lot of pain from his injuries.
Nora replied with a relieved sob, "Oh, Victor...Are you alright? Do you need some water?", as Barbara said with a relieved nod, "We all really missed you, Vic.", as Victor's eyes landed on them, and there was a moment before Victor croaked, "I'm sorry, but how do you know me?".
"What?", Barbara asked as Victor rubbed his head. "Ow..", he groaned. "Actually, now that I think about it... who am I?", he asked. Both women looked to each other and felt their hearts sink as they had a feeling what was going on.
"You... do you remember anything?", Nora asked. "Your name, your family? Anything?". Victor blinked, "I...I know how to talk, eat, walk, sleep, read, cook, drive, and a couple of other things, but I don't remember how I learned...", as Barbara pushed the button to call for the head doctor in charge of Victor's stay by getting the nurse in charge of Victor's care.
"Do you remember school, elementary, junior high, high school, college?", Nora asked urgently as she tried to hold back tears as she prayed that he knew something at least, her heart sinking faster as college was truly how they met...Gods, that is 8-10 years respectively with Nora and Barbara, of friendship, dating, and then eventually marriage. Memories of their dates, lovemaking, classes, living together...God, does he even remember getting married, the day of discovering Alderson's Disease, the night of Martha's cure and the discovery of Nora's pregnancy, all those wonderful days of months with massages, horny lovemaking, making the nursery, and being there at Jackson's birth?
Victor shook his head. "No... I can't seem to remember... You said my name was Victor?", he asked as Barbara nodded. "Yes, your name is Victor Fries-Gordon. I'm Barbara... this is Nora. We're... we're your wives.", Barbara said as he blinked, "Wait, wives? As in plural?".
Nora nodded, "Yes, we're poly as you are straight, while I and Barb here are bisexual, meaning that you are attracted to the opposite sex, while we are attracted to both same-sex, and the opposite sex.", trying to use a little science to jog Victor's mind as Victor loves science as a close fourth, while of course, his first and second loves are her and Barbara, with the third love being his son.
Jackson, feeling the tension and the urgency, woke up, whimpering and gurgling, and Nora instinctively took him out of his carrier, kissing his head, "It's okay, darling...Your daddy...he's being lost and confused...", with a little sob.
Victor frowned, wanting to apologize, hating to see women cry, and moved slightly, seeing the glint of his ring, and realized that the two women wasn't lying as he then noticed Barbara and Nora's rings.
He may have forgotten some things, but he remembered learning science, but not where or how, and he knew what Nora was talking about sexual orientation and all, and he was torn to see a baby, his baby, "Is he...Am I...?", and Barbara answered with a plummeting heart, "Yes, that's your son...Nora gave birth to him...His name is Jackson Alexander Fries-Gordon...".
Victor didn't even react to the name yet looked sad and bewildered as the nurse had seen everything, and got the head doctor of Victor's stay, coming in, "What has happened?", seeing the sad looks as he expected to see smiling faces and all.
"Um, I think he's suffered from amnesia.", Barbara told him, "He doesn't seem to remember himself or us.", frowning as she tried to comfort Nora.
"I see.", the doctor nodded as he walked up to look closely at Victor. "Well, I suppose we should've thought that this would be in the realm of possibility. His head had taken injuries. But it's a bit tricky. Some people take even worse injuries to the head than Mr. Fries-Gordon here and yet have no memory issues or any change to their brain's normal activities.".
Victor asked softly, "What happened?", and the doctor explained, "You got in a car accident. A drunk driver slammed your car hard and caused you to flip over a few times. Now, let's see about those eyes for a physical check.", using a mini flashlight, "Tell me if this is bright.".
"Bright, bright.", Victor repeated, and then followed the doctor's finger, and the doctor replied, "Well, his eyes are intact with perfect eye coordination, and the cornea connections to the brain looks clear...It's definitely a mental memory issue. How much do you know now?".
Victor replied, "I remember the basics of talking, eating, driving, drinking, reading, etc., and Victor sounds barely real as my name. Why was I in a car crash?".
Barbara answered him, "You were out of town on a work/personal trip, so we didn't know for a little while but rushed to where you were the moment we knew.".
"Doctor, is there anything we can do?", Nora asked as he shook his head, "Not really sure. There's not exactly some medicine we can give to help him recover. It may be temporary; it could easily be permanent. We may also have to worry that his brain might reset every night and he'll be back to this mostly blank set every time he wakes up.".
Barbara replied, "Would familiar surroundings help? Like smell, touch, and all?", and the doctor nodded softly, "That'd be a start as your family friend Dr. Wayne has suggested a transfer to Gotham General Hospital where it'd be a bit more familiar and more comfortable to help Victor heal from his other injuries as you all know the place personally. Victor, tell me, on the scale of 1 to 10, how's the pain?".
"I'd say that it's an 8, maybe 7 and a half.", Victor said, and the doctor replied, "I'd give him the rest of this week and then see how he does on the weekend, as if he can manage walking on his legs with a crutch to the bathroom and such, I can then talk with Dr. Wayne on transferring him. Are you feeling hungry at all, or thirsty, Victor?".
"Mouth is pretty dry... so yes, I think I could use some water. Maybe some food too, I'll see if I can hold that down. What exactly did I get in terms of injuries, because it feels like every part of my body is hurting in one place or another...", Victor groaned.
Barbara replied, "I got it on the food service.", heading straight for the menu from the cafeteria, with Nora pouring some water from a pitcher into a glass and adding a straw, as the doctor explained, "Well, Victor, you aren't wrong there, as you got a healing neck, your lung, your chest, your hipbones is all but healed to almost normal state, with your right two fractured fingers now degraded to sprained fingers, your left arm now in a mild cast, healing from its sprained state just like your left leg, and your right leg is healing to a sprained state from its fractured state, and your fractured nose had set back into place, mildly bruised, and your few fractured ribs are healing into a bruised state, set back into place, and the cut on your head is all but vanished, with that knot of your head smoothing back into normal skin, if still a bit tender.".
"It was truly a rough crash, but you thought quickly to protect yourself somewhat, if slow at times to technically curl up into a ball. You are lucky to have an intact spine, organs, and of course, your inner workings as well.", the doctor added.
Nora replied, "Here you go, Victor.", handing the glass to Victor's good left hand while holding Jackson, and Victor tentatively smiled a bit, "Thank you...Nora...And that explains the pain, doc...", sipping from the straw slowly, relishing into the smoothing cool water through his mouth and throat.
Jackson, confused and hurt by not seeing his daddy smile and gush over him, reached out determinedly, digging into his slight gamma energy to use strength to wiggle out of his momma's grip, whimpering and cooing as he landed on Victor's chest, mildly causing almost no pressuring pain to Victor's healing chest as he's still in the newborn stage, being 1-2 months old, still so small, and he shuffled closer to rest against his favorite spot of his daddy's chest which is his heartbeat.
Nora gasped in worry, "Oh, I'm sorry!", as Victor stared at the little one, his son, instinctively using his good arm to protect the little one from slipping off the side or such, "He isn't hurting me, he's still small and I...I wish I remember him, but I remember how to keep him safe instinctively...Why do I remember things like that, doc?", wishing that he'd remember loving and taking care of this little stranger, this remarkable, adorable little one who looks a lot like him as he is still shocked that he's married to two women, and that he's a father, still wrapping his head around it.
"The mind is a fickle thing. Perhaps it's just the brain has things organized in a way that everything that's of the normal experience of all people is kept in one place while the more personal memories are elsewhere.", the doctor theorized.
Victor nodded as he can understand that of all things, perhaps from the science he faintly knew about. And so, with the doctor seeing that little Jackson isn't hurting Victor between now and then between needed times to heal without pressure, Victor became comfortable as much as he could be.
He heard stories of personal memories from Nora and Barbara, and soon, James, and the rest of the Wayne family before and after getting transferred to Gotham General Hospital, and eventually the Fries-Gordon apartment house, though he was not pushed into things like sleeping in the same bed with Nora and Barbara, using the guest bedroom.
Victor slowly remembered his work and made a motion of taking Nora and Barbara on dates when James or Poppy is taking care of Jackson, trying to do his best in remembering little things while making new memories.
Thomas and the Wayne family thought about asking permission for some gamma healing, but with Leslie pointing out that it would perhaps cause too much on Victor's mentality, and maybe natural healing would help easier with patience.
Thankfully, his mind never had set into a blank slate every morning, just getting a memory or two back overnight, and so it lasted for four months, until one night where it all returned to him with a random moment of Jackson breastfeeding of all things.
Victor heard Jackson's cries of hunger while he was using the bathroom, hearing a door open from the direction of the partially open master bedroom door, and to the nursery, hearing footsteps, and after washing his hands, he intended to head to his guest bedroom, to pass by the nursery when he glanced in, happening to see Nora humming a lullaby with her breast open to let Jackson nurse eagerly.
He warmly smiled, leaning against the doorframe to watch the serene moment of his beautiful, wonderful wife being a content mother with his perfect son, recalling the joyful moment of a bedraggled yet happy Nora nursing newborn Jackson minutes after his birth, and then his eyes widened.
Victor blinked for a few moments before he walked up to Nora and almost in an instant, kissed her right on the lips, much to her surprise as her eyes widened at the action.
Nora habitually kissed him back like she has for forever since college as her eyes closed in the long-awaited sensation, and it was a minute before they had to part away for air, and Nora opened her eyes with tears, "Vic?".
Victor gave a blinding, joyful smile, "That's me, my love...I'm back...I remember everything...Oh, Jackson!", leaning down to kiss Jackson on the head as he suckled upon Nora's breast in the chair, "Oh, Nora, I remember him...old and new memories...He's so big now...", with a sob.
Nora smiled, "You somehow still helped when you were clueless...You did great...Oh, Vic, I missed you so much, Barb too.", and Victor gasped, "Barbara, she's pregnant! Oh, I gotta see her!".
Nora grasped his hand, "Hold on a minute...How about this? After Jackson is finished nursing, he will be happy if you hold him and sing to him and all, and then we head back to Barb, to our rightful place...It hasn't been quite the same without you in that bed...", with a tearful smile.
"I'm sorry...", Victor apologized. "I think I just didn't feel right at the time...", hating yet understanding why he had to do it. "Maybe it was partially our fault, we probably rushed you into things by telling you some things the moment you woke up.", Nora said.
Victor replied, "You were trying to jog my memory, Nora, you and Barb...I can't blame you there as you were hoping so much...But I'm here now...", kissing her on the lips again briefly, "I can't get enough of that...", with a smile.
Nora smiled, "And I wouldn't be bored of it, and Barb wouldn't, either.", as she rested her head on Victor's shoulder as they watched Jackson nurse, and after he was done, he gurgled at his daddy, tentatively looking at him.
He felt his daddy's lips on his head earlier, but he must be dreaming. Victor smiled at him, "Hi, Jackson, look at you, my handsome boy...Wanna play with me?', giving his hands out, and Jackson widened his eyes and squealed, reaching out to him with a cry for attention.
Victor picked him out of Nora's arms and played with him as he went into the routine of burping him, changing his diaper, and all, making raspberries on his belly, making Jackson giggle and shriek in joy and laughter, singing the lullaby as he redressed his son, and rocked him, swaying and dancing around a bit.
Jackson tried to keep awake, but kept yawning as Victor kissed and held him lovingly and happily, "Don't worry, Jackson, you and I got a big day tomorrow of playtime and all, but it's time for little boys to go to sleep...I love you, Jackson Alexander Fries-Gordon.", and Jackson attempted a sloppy kiss on his daddy's cheek as Victor smiled, tucking him in the cot.
"Sweet dreams, my handsome rascal...It's going to be a great day tomorrow, so dream about it, okay? Good night, Jackson...", Victor kissed him one last time, caressing his tuft of growing strawberry-blonde hair as Jackson yawned, closing his eyes, and fell asleep into dreamland.
Victor left the cot quietly, heading to Nora in the doorway, turning on the nightlight, and turned off the ceiling light, and glanced at the slumbering Jackson, whispering, "I can't believe how much he grew...He's like a bamboo shoot.".