Recovery was agonizingly slow but gradually Gilligan's responses grew stronger until six months after the accident, with the Skipper by his side he opened his eyes.
"Gilligan?" said the Skipper half hopeful but with a note of fear, the Professor had warned them that though he was getting better Gilligan might not be quite as he used to be when he woke up.
His eyes reacted to the voice and he looked sideways at the Skipper his mouth quirking up at the corners in an attempt at a smile.
"Ski…pper," he breathed.
The Skipper grabbed hold of his hand in relief. He recognized him that was a very good start.
"Oh, thank God. Little buddy; you really had us worried there."
"Sorry… Skipper."
The Skipper winced; he hadn't meant it like that.
"No, no, no, you have nothing to apologize for, I'm sorry… for everything."
Gilligan's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, he knew his brain wasn't working at full capacity and even now he seemed to be thinking through a thick fog but why was his Skipper apologizing?
"What for?"
"What for? For all the mean things I've said and done to you over the years, all the times I disbelieved you and shouted at you and cap-slapped you. I'll do my utmost not to ever do it again."
He knew it was possibly a foolhardy promise but he meant it all the same.
Poor Gilligan just looked even more bewildered.
"Am I dead?"
The Skipper let out a stifled sob, "No, you're not, you're very much alive and it's going to stay that way, oh please let it stay that way!"
Much as he would like to know what on earth was going on Gilligan could feel a desperately profound tiredness sweeping over him and despite himself he quickly fell back to sleep.
Just then the Professor came into the hut.
"Professor! He woke up, he spoke to me!"
Like the Skipper he was cheered by this news but he had to see if anything could be gleaned about his mental state from this brief bout of consciousness.
"What did he say to you? Did he recognize you?"
"Yes, he called me Skipper." He looked guilty.
"He apologized for worrying us."
To the Skipper's surprise the Professor was heartened by this fact.
"That sounds like Gilligan, I think I'd better stay here and keep an eye on him for a while in case he comes round again, I need to ask him some important questions."
The Skipper looked doubtful.
"I don't think he's up for anything too taxing at the moment Professor, he was only awake for a few minutes."
"Don't worry, I'm not intending to ask him quiz questions but I need to ascertain any impairments to things like vision and cognition."
The Skipper only understood about half those words but he was sure the Professor knew what he was talking about.
He next time Gilligan awoke the Professor was sitting by his side.
"Hi, Pr'fessor," he mumbled.
"Hey Gilligan, how are you feeling?"
"Sleepy, groggy, my head hurts."
"I know, it'll be alright," the Professor was actually rather encouraged by how well the trepanation wound was healing but it wasn't really surprising that it still hurt.
"Do you think you could answer some simple questions for me?"
"Sure, Pr'fessor, f're aw'y."
He took note of the extent to which he was slurring his words but that could just be a result of fatigue. He held up three fingers in front of his eyes.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three," Gilligan answered; they were a bit blurry but even he couldn't get that wrong.
The Professor held up one finger.
"How about now?"
This was easy.
"One"
The Professor held up seven fingers.
"Now?"
"Five."
The Professor looked surprised then concerned. Any of this may be temporary but Gilligan currently had lost the use of one eye. He was almost fearful to discover what else might be missing.
He could see that Gilligan was already beginning to flag so he contented himself with conducting one more test. He pulled up the blanket to uncover Gilligan's feet.
"Gilligan? Can you wiggle your toes?"
With a great effort he managed to make his toes curl slightly before he fell back into unconsciousness, it wasn't much but it proved that he wasn't paralyzed which even in the face of other difficulties was a great comfort.
Over the next months as he gradually became well enough to get out of bed and interact with the other castaways and eventually take up a few light duties of his own the Professor came to the conclusion that Gilligan really did seem to have a charmed life as, despite a serious head injury resulting in a seizure, surgery, prolonged coma and what did turn out to be short term vision problems, he managed to escape the whole ordeal virtually unscathed.
But not entirely.
His high octane energy that before had been his normal state had been severely depleted and he was much less likely to hare about the place. Sometimes they would find him just staring into the middle distance unaware of their very presence.
The first time the Skipper came across him like this he went to get the Professor, afraid he was having some kind of relapse but after examining him the Professor reassured the Skipper that Gilligan was having what was called an absence seizure and it was nothing to worry about, however if they found him like that in future they should stay with him in case it developed into something more serious.
But even that might have worked out in his favour as he made fewer accidental blunders. The rescue attempts were no more successful but at least the failure really couldn't be laid at Gilligan's door.
For his part, the Professor kept his promise and, after quite a bit of persuading, convinced Gilligan that he no longer had to put up with their bossing him about if he didn't want to and that he was perfectly with his rights to, although hopefully a tad more politely next time, call them out on it.
The past several months had made them all realize to their guilt and shame just how much they had been relying on Gilligan's hard work and compliant nature as they tried to do all his jobs as well as their own. So, over dinner one night when Gilligan had gone to bed early they all discussed it and decided that even if they could have they wouldn't let things go back to the way they were before.
To help facilitate this they convened a meeting and between them reallocated the chores with Gilligan's input so that he didn't have to bear the lion's share of the burden anymore.
For the Skipper's part he resolved to treat Gilligan better from now on and actively worked on keeping his temper and trying his hardest to not get frustrated no matter how much he might ramble on. Gilligan's recent brush with death had made him see how much he had taken his little buddy for granted and far from being a liability or a Jonah the Skipper had discovered, much to his surprise, that his first mate was actually the heart and soul of the whole group. The force that made living on the island tolerable and kept alive the flame of hope that they would be rescued one day. Although as he thought this he couldn't help but smile ironically as he added in his head, 'despite his own best efforts to keep us here.'
They each in their own way made a similar resolution but they found that being more patient and tolerant towards him took a lot less effort these days.
This in itself gave his fellow castaways pause, they had always known that Gilligan's injury might change things between them but they were discomforted by the idea that they might actually be benefiting from such a terrible thing.
But there was something else too; without that feverish energy he seemed to have lost a lot of his Gilliganishness; a part of him that made him him that they had grown used to and were gradually discovering they had become quite fond of.
He didn't withdraw completely but he was far more reserved and seemed to tire much more quickly than he used to, sometimes even taking a nap in the middle of the day along with everyone else which would have been unheard of before.
They decided to simply be grateful that he was still with them at all but it did nothing to quiet the feeling that something was conspicuously and tragically missing when he no longer hyperactively recounted meaningless anecdotes or ran about in his excitement at a new discovery.