Bless The Broken Road Ch 05

Ya'll are going to hate me. I don't blame you. I was as shocked as you are going to be. It was the hardest, and most emotionally draining chapter to write.

But don't kill the messenger. Often, the journey is more important than the destination.

All of the errors, misspelling and punctuation deficits are my own. I couldn't locate an editor. They are more difficult to find than a chapel in a whorehouse. So my apologies upfront. As always, this is not a stand-alone story so reading the prior chapters will enhance your reading pleasure. There is no sex in this, although there should be, dammit. It just wouldn't have fit in.

Upon seeing that Rob didn't recognize her, Jessie screamed "Noooo!" She seemed to pass out, eyes rolling back into her head, and dropped to the floor out of Rob's sight. He didn't understand anything that was going on. Who was the woman? Where was he? The door to the room opened and he saw a nurse enter. She stopped immediately when she saw Jessie lying on the floor. Then she turned her eyes up to Rob, who was now looking back at her. She tensed up, covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a scream of joy and stepped back into the hall.

"Code Yellow, 5042. Code Yellow 5042." She yelled down the hall.

The nurse then ran to Jessie and began checking her pulse and breathing. Her assumption was she had fainted because Rob had woken up. However, her pulse was very weak and rapid and not right for someone who had simply passed out. The nurse hit the call button. As she moved around, she watched Rob out of the corner of her eye. His eyes would follow her movement. She was so excited! That was a good sign. She stood and turned to face Rob while trying her best to contain her emotions.

"Hello Mr. Martin. Can you hear me?" she asked.

Rob weakly nodded his head yes, knowing he couldn't speak.

The nurse was a very good looking redhead. Her hair was dark, but still red. Almost brown. She wore it down and it looked very similar to how Lisa wore her hair.

"Awesome! Can you speak?"

Rob tried for her but his throat was just too dry. He slowly nodded no.

"We will take care of that very shortly. My name's Aimee and I'm your nurse."

Aimee's hair came down off her shoulders several inches and was full and wavy. She had a very sweet smile which ended in little dimples. Her cheeks, when she smiled, curled up the corners of her big, bright green eyes. In the looks department, she was very similar to Lisa. And Lisa was the benchmark that Rob used to compare all women.

As Aimee checked Rob's pulse in his left wrist, she heard a gasp come from behind her. Looking back, she saw Vickie, one of the floor nurses, standing in the doorway with a shocked look on her face.

"Vick, we need a gurney or a bed STAT. I think she's in shock. Pulse is rapid and weak. Have her checked for concussion also."

Vickie turned around and almost ran into two more nurses about to enter the room.

Turning back to Rob, Aimee held up one finger in front of him. "Can you see my finger?"

Rob nodded yes.

"Follow it with your eyes." She moved her finger left and then right. Up and then down. His eyes followed well.

"Very good Hun. Do you have any pain in your head?"

Rob nodded no.

"Any pain when you moved your eyes?

He shook his head no.

A male nurse entered, picked up Jessie and carried her out of the room. There was a bed in the hallway just a little down the hall from Rob's room. He laid Jessie on it and wheeled her quickly toward an elevator that went to the first floor and the ER.

Aimee placed two fingers into Rob's hand between his palm and his fingers.

"Can you feel that?"

Rob nodded yes.

"Squeeze for me."

Rob did. Aimee thought his grip was pretty good for not moving for three months.

She leaned over Rob. "Same thing on this hand. You feel my fingers? Okay, squeeze." She checked his pulse in that wrist.

"I'm going to check your feet. You aren't ticklish are ya?" she said with a huge grin and a laugh. "If you are, I'll find out. No secrets here."

Rob worked up a little smile for her. He knew he wasn't ticklish so he had nothing to worry about. He liked her personality, it was bubbly and business at the same time. She knew what she was doing, was efficient, and yet how she did it was smooth and effortless.

Aimee grabbed his foot and moved it. "Can you feel my hand?"

Rob nodded yes.

"Push my hand."

Rob tried. He got very little movement out of his foot but it was a start.

"Very good Hun." Aimee took off a glove and ran her fingernails along the bottom of his foot. More than a gentle scrape but not enough to leave a red mark. His foot jerked at her touch.

"Ooooooo, I think someone is a little tickliiish." she laughed.

The jerk was involuntary on Rob's part. He didn't know why it had done that. He was determined that it wasn't going to happen on the other foot. He was not ticklish.

Aimee moved his other foot and ran her nails along the bottom of his foot. "Is that painful?"

Rob nodded no.

"It feels normal?"

Rob nodded yes.

"YOU are a very good patient Mr. Martin. As long as you do everything I say, we are going to get along very well together." Her huge smile confirmed that she was kidding around with him. Aimee checked his pulse in both legs.

"The doctor will be in momentarily. He'll be very happy to see you awake. You're doing awesome!" Aimee smiled. She must do that a lot, Rob thought. The smile seemed to always be there.

The room began to fill up with hospital personnel. Everyone was excited and smiling and laughing as they talked, all looking at Rob. A coma patient waking up was pretty big news and it seemed everyone wanted to see him. A doctor weaved his way through the nurse crowd and went immediately to Rob.

"Mr. Martin. My name is Doctor John Holliday. Can you hear me?"

Rob nodded his head yes.

"Radial and pedal pulse is good. He has sensation in all extremities. His grip is good. He responds well to commands and has good comprehension. No head pain and no lag or wandering in tracking on the visual field test." Aimee sounded like a proud parent.

"Excellent. Can you speak?"

Rob tried and a little squeak came out but there was now too much noise in the room for anyone to hear it. He shook his head no.

"Okay. That is probably due to lack of moisture in your mouth and throat. We'll give you a sip of water to moisten everything up. Then we'll try again."

As Aimee filled up a small pill cup with water for Rob, the doctor took his pen light and checked Rob's pupils. Unbelievably, Rob thought, blinding a patient in both eyes with an extremely bright light is actually considered a legitimate medical procedure. He remembered hating doctors, but couldn't remember why at the moment.

Aimee gently put the cup to Rob's lips and let a little water trickle into his mouth. He swallowed without a problem. He then tried to clear his throat as things started to break loose. Aimee gave him a few more sips. Rob was able to force out a thank you through a fairly gravelly voice. Aimee beamed proudly when she heard him speak. She placed her hand softly on his cheek for a quick second and then turned away.

Rob soaked up every bit of her touch.

"Do a full blood workup. Notify PT to put him on their schedule. Also notify Doctor Fisher in Psych to set up an eval." Doc Holliday said.

"Absolutely Doctor." Aimee said.

The doctor left and Aimee went to her computer to update his chart.

"You have been his nurse for two days, and he wakes up. Chelsea was with him for three months. What did you do to him?" Vickie said sarcastically, smiling and kidding Aimee.

Turning her head toward Vickie, tilting it back a bit over her shoulder, she smiled. "Some gals got it, and some don't. I got it!" she said, laughing. She flashed her smile at Rob and then turned back to the computer.

Rob was watching her and it hit him that Lisa did the very same thing. It was almost like Deja Vu. Aimee seemed very much like her. She even looked a little like her. He felt it was mostly just his mind playing tricks on him because he missed Lisa so much. But meeting Aimee was a comfort to him. She wasn't Lisa, but it was a little bit like she was here. That was comforting enough to Rob.

"Aimee" Rob said through his weak voice.

She turned quickly, a little startled.

"Yes Mr. Martin. What is it?"

"Call me Bob. Is there a Lisa here?"

"I've not met anyone by that name but I'm sure if the hospital has her contact information, they will notify her that you are awake. I'm sorry Bob, I've only been your nurse for two days."

Rob was disappointed that she didn't know Lisa but smiled weakly and said "You remind me a lot of her. I'm glad you're my nurse."

"Awe...thank you Hun. I'm happy to be your nurse. If you need something, let me know, I have to put some things into the computer for a bit." Aimee returned to her typing. In a few minutes, she turned around to look at Rob again. He was asleep.

Aimee was typing but her mind was wandering. She'd never had a patient regain consciousness before. She'd only been doing this job for two days at this hospital but had worked with coma patients previously. God she was nervous! She'd hoped she'd done everything right. She wondered who Rob was. She hadn't had a chance yet to meet any of his visitors, friends or family that might have stopped to see him. At three months, the expectancy that he might wake up at any time had waned. So she had spent most of her first day meeting the staff and getting acquainted with procedures, although she had stopped in at the beginning of her shift and then once more late in the afternoon.

Today she had given Rob a bath in the morning and then was off seeing other patients when Rob woke up. She thought Rob was good looking, even handsome. And he had a nice body. She saw his scars and tattoos during his bath and assumed that he was a veteran. He didn't seem to be the type to be a banger from the streets. She winced and marveled at the scars. For him to have survived those injuries meant he was a true fighter. She had felt, when she first saw him, he would not be the type give up.

Jessie was evaluated in the ER and it was determined she was in shock. Because of her low blood pressure they couldn't give her a sedative. They needed to wait for her to wake up before they could check her for concussion symptoms. They didn't want to chance doing a CT scan while she was unconscious in case she decided to wake up in the middle of it.

The hospital notified Wendy and Don that their son had awoke from his coma. Wendy's scream of joy was so loud, everyone at the nurse's station heard her, even though she was on the phone. Wendy immediately tried to call Jessie but got no answer. She called Hoss to tell him the news and that she couldn't reach Jessie and had left her a voicemail. Hoss tried Jessie also with no luck. He called Maddie to let her know. Her scream of joy, although Hoss didn't know it, was just as loud as Wendy's.

Maddie was the first one to reach the hospital. At the nurse's station, they informed her that Rob was awake and seemed to be doing well, and that Jessie was in the ER being treated for shock. She would be assessed for concussion when she woke up.

Maddie was concerned with that news and rushed to the ER. Jessie was still unconscious. Maddie approached her bed, not knowing what had happened that caused Jessie to go into shock. It had to be more than Bobby waking up, she thought. As she brushed some hair off Jessie's face, she started to stir.

As Jessie stirred, she opened her eyes. It only took a second for her to go into a panic. She scrambled to move, to get out of bed, to go somewhere. She didn't know where. Maddie immediately grabbed her shoulders to hold her down.

"Jessie! Hey. Stop it! Listen to me. What's wrong?" Maddie said.

Jessie looked at Maddie with the look of terror that one would see in the eyes of a wild, caged animal. It took her a second or two to recognize Maddie.

"OH GOD MADDIE, HE DOESN'T REMEMBER ME!" she screamed, and immediately began to cry uncontrollably.

Oh my God, thought Maddie. She was speechless for a moment. No wonder Jessie went into shock. Maddie hit the nurse call button.

"He woke up. He got my attention and tried to speak. He could only whisper though. He asked me where Lisa was! If she was here. When I asked him if he recognized me or knew who I was, he shook his head no!

"Jessie, please, calm down. Listen to me. We knew this might be a possibility. But we don't know that it is permanent. It could be temporary and he could regain those memories.

"He didn't recognize me and asked if Lisa was here! OH GOD! OH GOD!" Jessie cried.

"Jessie, there is a lot of testing that Bobby will need to undergo. It will take days. They'll need to check his physical condition. Then they'll check his mental fitness and memory to determine what he's retained and where he's at."

A nurse came in and Maddie asked her if she could give Jessie a sedative. The nurse took one look at Jessie and nodded yes.

"I...I...want to see Rob." Jessie stammered out.

"You need to stay right here for now. You are in no condition to see him. It will only make things worse. Not only for you, but also for him." Maddie said.

"What?"

"He won't understand why you're acting the way you are. It's too early for him to deal with that. You need to rest and give things a little time. Okay?"

The nurse pushed the sedative through Jessie's IV and she quickly dosed off. Maddie looked at the nurse and said "Do you know why she is here?"

"Yes."

"Good. Do whatever you can to keep her here and DO NOT let her see Bobby Martin. In fact, he shouldn't have any visitor's yet. I'll have those orders for everyone in less than half an hour."

Maddie located and spoke with the head of the Psychiatric Department, Dr. Karen Fisher. She told Dr. Fisher that Rob did not recognize Jessie, and who Jessie was to him. Then what Jessie's reaction had been to that. Dr. Fisher agreed that Jessie needed to stay away until his mental state could be assessed and a plan made on how to proceed. Maddie said she was going to see Rob and would update the doctor as soon as she was done.

When Maddie opened the door to Rob's room, he was looking out the window and turned when he heard the door. Rob recognized her immediately. For him, it was incredibly welcome to finally see a face that he knew.

"Maddie! It's great to see you. How are you?" Rob said through a voice that was a little strained.

She was stunned. Maddie? He called her Maddie? Finally, after all these years, he called her by that name. If all it took was his head split open and then shot to get him to say it, she would have done something along those lines years ago. More than once, similar thoughts had crossed her mind. He could be an incredibly stubborn and exasperating man.

Then she was even more stunned. He recognized her? She couldn't comprehend at the moment how or why he would recognize her and not Jessie. It didn't make any sense. But she had to think fast and decided to roll with it to see what happened.

"Hello Bobby. I'm fine. How are you feeling?"

"I'm a bit out of sorts but okay. Really tired. And I don't know why it's so tough to move. What happened to me?"

"No one has spoken to you about this?

"No. They seem really happy that I'm awake for some reason. But no one has explained anything to me."

Maddie couldn't believe that no one explained to him what had happened. But at the same time, maybe it was a good thing. She could proceed slowly and not have to deal with any fallout from someone else's mistakes.

"You sustained a serious head injury. You've been in a coma for about three months and you are in Canton."

"I've WHAT? In a coma? Three months?"

"Bobby, what is the last thing you remember before waking up?"

"Uh...I've been trying to remember. I was at FOB Khe Sanh I think. That wasn't really the name but we all called it that because ISIS liked to lob a couple mortars on our heads every day. Just to keep us on our toes."

"That's the last thing you remember?" Maddie asked again.

"Best that I can recollect, yes. Was I injured there? Is that why I'm here? I saw all the scars on my chest when they hooked me up for an EKG."

"Um, yes. You were injured over there." Maddie was about to fall to her knees and had to lean on the bed for support. At least for the moment, he seemed to have lost the last 11 years.

"Do you know what year it is Bobby?"

"Uh...no. I don't.

"Who is the President?"

"George Bush."

Maddie had to sit down on Rob's bed before she fell down. Anything he remembered at the moment was some time before Lisa's death. He probably didn't know she was dead. Maddie couldn't comprehend what it would do to him to have to go through that a second time. Her eyes clouded up as she fought back the tears for what had happened, and what was going to happen, with him.

"Maddie, what's wrong? You're about to cry. What is it? Is it something to do with me?"

"Bobby, I'm so happy to see you awake. That's all."

"Have you seen Lisa? I don't know why she isn't here. I really miss her and I'd love to see her."

Maddie couldn't take it any longer. She had to leave. As she struggled to fight the tears, she said "Bobby, I need to go speak with the doctor. I'll be back in a little bit." She felt awful for leaving him without answering his questions but she just couldn't find it within herself at the moment to tell him.

Maddie walked into Dr. Fisher' office and simply broke down and lost it. The doctor was surprised at Maddie's breakdown. Once Maddie could speak, she began to tell the doctor what she had witnessed with Rob. When she walked into his room, he recognized her immediately. There was no hesitation on his part. And yet, she didn't look real similar to how she looked 11 years ago.

She was sure age had made a change in her appearance. She knew her hair was different now than how she wore it at that time. And yet, his recognition was instantaneous, as if he saw her just a few days ago. Which in fact, he had. And he didn't recognize the most important person to him in the world. The last person he saw. The person he would have, and almost did, gave his life for. Why would he not remember Jessie but remember her? It made no sense and her confusion confounded her rational thinking even more.

Could it be that the memories are still there? The pathways that his brain knew to follow previously had been jumbled up and now led somewhere else? Dr. Fisher and Maddie lobbed that idea back and forth and felt it was certainly a possibility. Memories may still be intact, only the pathways to locate them have been lost, damaged or destroyed. Dr. Fisher said she would consult with specialists to pick their brain because this area was not her specialty.

She would set up NeuroPsych and memory tests to be done immediately following all his physical testing. Dr. Fisher also agreed that until Jessie could be made to realize the importance of what needed to be done, she should not be allowed to see Rob.

Maddie was incredibly thankful that Rob was out of his coma but the fallout from his memory loss was potentially devastating. She needed to speak with Jessie and explain the situation to her. She went to Jessie's room but she was still asleep. She took the time to email a few colleagues and do a little research on the web.

When Jessie woke up, she was a little calmer, but still upset.

"Jessie, we need to talk." Maddie said.

"Is Rob okay?"

"Physically he appears fine. And that's good. However, his mental state is difficult to assess at the moment."

"You've seen him?"

"Yes, briefly."

"What do you mean by difficult?"

"I talked with him a little bit. They're going to do some testing on his mental state as soon as they can." Maddie took a deep breath to continue and wanted to make this sound as least hurtful as she could. "Right now there are some gaps in his memory. To what extent we don't know for sure. The testing should reveal those. And from that, we can determine how to proceed."