C H A P T E R - T W O 

Ryan sped after Cooper’s figure, the older man meeting his calls with a deaf ear as he staggered between the two sliding doors.

“Cooper,” Ryan caught up with him, his breath fogging up with his nose turning red. “Cooper,”

“This is fucking unfair!” Cooper whirled around, Ryan taking a step back at the outburst. “She does not fucking deserve this-this-this bullshit!” He continued and paced the pavement, gripping at his hair.

“She is already an autoimmune patient!” He laughed humorlessly while Ryan stood rooted in his spot, his gaze on the mud on the tip of his sneakers. “She already has a shorter lifespan than you and me! She doesn’t live to our standard of ‘normal’, and this was forced down her throat when she was only five years old! Five, Ryan! Do you have any idea how devastating that must have been for her? Growing up knowing you could die any day, huh?”

The blue-haired boy swallowed at the words, swallowing the dryness of his throat and hesitantly peeked up at his best friend.

“We lost our parents not too long after that,” The blonde man put a hand to his forehead, a sardonic smile on his face. “Forced onto an aunt who didn’t want us and now amnesia-!” He flailed his arms, his words dying away to watch Ryan wince, shoulders hunched and hands clenched into fists.

“Fuck, Ryan,” Cooper’s anger died away, taking a step forward but froze when Ryan stepped away from him. “I’m sorry, I got carried away and-”

He had begun to say but stopped when the younger shook his head and reached into his pocket for a cigarette instead. Putting one between his lips, he handed one to Cooper as well and lit the end for both of them. The medical student took a couple of puffs before he came to stand beside the older man. Cooper watching Ryan with his hand stuffed into the pocket of his scrubs and blowing a cloud of smoke in the air above them.

“It is unfair,” Ryan finally spoke halfway through his cigarette. “It is even cruel given how we have no idea how many years she has forgotten, and you and I can both agree that these last five years had been the best for her. Physically, emotionally, mentally, and medically as well,” 

Cooper's gaze lowered to his shoes as he let the cigarette dangle from his lips.
“But…” Ryan let out a heavy exhale, clenching his fingers into a fist and unfurling them as he stared down at the gentle tremors coursing through his palm. “It is what it is, and all we can do is be there for her when she wakes up. That is our job right now,”

Finishing their cigarettes, they made their way back inside where Dr. Walker and Dr. Mitchell were standing outside Lucy’s bedroom. The doctors conversed back and forth before their voices came to an abrupt end at the arrival of the two men.

“She’s been settled back into her room,” Dr. Walker updated them.

“And we can’t really say the extent of the damage until she wakes up,” Dr. Mitchell piped in, the two men nodding, having suspected as much. “So kindly page me when she wakes up so I can assess the damage,”

“Will do,” Ryan nodded, shaking the neurologist’s hand and thanking Dr. Walker before he followed Cooper into the room.

Lucy lay sleeping beneath the covers, the wires connecting her to the rhythmic beeping of the monitor.  Amelia sitting beside her.

Both men settled down in the silence of the room, Cooper settling on the edge of the bed, taking Amelia’s hand into his own with Ryan in the corner of the room.

None of them noticed when they fell asleep in their chairs, Ryan leaning back with arms crossed over his chest and the head was thrown back, meanwhile, Cooper slept with his head on the mattress and his arms dangling off the edge. Amelia’s head on his shoulder in the chair beside him.

The sound of a sudden cry had them all jump up and blinking at their surroundings before their eyes settled on the girl sitting up in bed, eyes pinched tight and a hand cradling her side, letting out a trembling exhale when Cooper moved closer to her, both Ryan and Amelia deciding on staying back for the moment.

“Lucy, hey,” He spoke gently, stroking back her hair as she cracked open an eye, tears blinding her vision with sheets clenched in her hand.

“Cooper,”

“Hey, look at me,”

“I’ll get Dr. Walker,” Ryan leaped out the door, returning with the doctor in tow as she instantly stepped towards the I.V. and administered a dosage of morphine.

All three watched in silence as she slowly settled down, her hazel eyes slowly opening and her shoulders lowering from her ears and she let out a sigh before leaning back against her pillows.

“Feeling better?” Her doctor asked as the girl swallowed and nodded. “Remember me?”

Again, a nod.

Before she could ask any more questions, Dr. Mitchell rapped his knuckles against the open door, peeking his head in before stepping inside, greeting Ryan, Cooper, and Amelia with a nod of the head before turning to smile at Lucy.

“Hello, Ms. Dixon.” He greeted the girl who looked at him through half-lidded eyes. “I’m Ethan Mitchell, the neurologist on this case, and was hoping to run through some questions with you,”

“Neurologist?” Lucy’s eyebrows furrowed as she slurred the word, her gaze shifting to Cooper and then her doctor. “Why a-”

“-You were in an accident,” Ryan spoke up from his place in the corner watching her gaze shift to him over her brother’s shoulder. The medical student feeling Amelia clench his fingers into her hand. “I don’t think you remember that given that you have amnesia,”

“Amnesia?”

“What Mr. Forbes is trying to say,” Dr. Mitchell stepped in front of him, shooting a look to the blue-haired boy. “You were in an accident last night and suffered a few minor injuries,”

“Minor?” Ryan scoffed.

“Ryan,” Cooper called over his shoulder, the blue-haired boy tensing. “Please let him handle this,”

“Fine,” The medical student grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and biting at his nail beds.

“Thank you,”

“As I was saying,” Dr. Mitchell resumed. “I’m sure you must have realized that you have a broken rib and a sprained wrist,” The patient nodding to the words, sparing a fleeting glance to the blue-haired man in the burgundy scrubs before returning to the man in the white overcoat.

“And you suffered significant head trauma,” He spoke slowly, watching her bring her free hand up to her temple, her eyes widening at the rough gauze beneath her fingertips, her wide eyes darting to Dr. Walker for answers. “Unfortunately, the trauma led to what we call retrograde amnesia.

“Now that means that you won’t be able to recollect information after a specific date. So, may I ask, what is the last thing you remember?"

Lucy’s eyebrows scrunched together as she stared down at the cast on her wrist, swallowing the lump in her throat and tried to remember. Closing her eyes to feel Cooper’s thumb rubbing over her palm to try and calm her.

“My…” She trailed. “My eighteenth birthday,” She looked up at the doctor before her gaze shifted to the grunt and hiss her brother and the nurse let out.

“What?” Panic welled in her chest at the reaction.

“Four years,” Amelia muttered, staring at Ryan’s blank expression before turning her gaze to Cooper’s tensed back.  

“It is as I feared,” Ethan sighed. “Your medical reports stated that you had previously suffered a head injury from falling down a flight of stairs…four years ago. And I believe you can’t recollect information after that date,”

“Four-what?” Lucy scoffed, a breathless laugh escaping her as her gaze darted to the grim expression on her brother and doctor, waiting for either one of them to laugh and tell her they were joking. But instead, she couldn’t even get them to face her. “No, that’s not-no-no,”

“Lucy,” Dr. Mitchell redirected her gaze as he brought forth the man in the scrubs to be standing in the light of the room, his blue hair being the first thing she noticed, but couldn’t even bring herself to laugh at the ridiculous color. “Can you tell me who this man is?”

“I-I-I…” Her heart thundered in her ears. “I don’t know, isn’t he a nurse?”

“I’m Ryan Forbes,” He introduced himself. “I’m Cooper’s best friend of five years,”

“Five-then why-why-why don’t I know you?”

“You two weren’t introduced until after your eighteenth birthday,” Cooper murmured from his place on the edge of the bed. “Do you remember Amelia?” He asked and beckoned his girlfriend forward.

“The-the girl you had an embarrassing crush on,”

Her words had Ryan snort as Cooper let a smile slip, Amelia smiling and coming to stand beside him in Lucy’s line of vision.

“Yeah,” Her brother nodded, looking up at the woman. “She’s been my girlfriend for four years now,” Amelia smiled down at him watching Lucy’s eyes dart from Cooper to Amelia to Ryan.

“What? No, I-why don’t I-I don’t remember any-any of this, I am-I am supposed to-”

“-Lucy, relax,” Dr. Mitchell tried to soothe her. “Try to relax,”

“Don’t tell me to relax!” Lucy snapped at him. “You’re telling me that I have forgotten four years of my life and are telling me to relax like I am not missing this huge chunk-”

“-Lucillia,” Ryan’s voice cut through the static buzzing in her mind. “Tell me five things you can see,”

“Why?”

“Humor me,”

“The…the chair,”

“Good, and?” Cooper urged.

“The sun and, and the stethoscope, Rebecca and, and Dr. Mitchell,”

“Now four things you can feel,”

They went through this exercise until she was calm enough to not lash out on the doctor. Cooper smiling at her as he stroked her tresses.

“In retrograde amnesia,” Dr. Mitchell spoke once he was sure Lucy had regained her bearings. “You will have difficulty recollecting specific personal experiences and moments from your life as well as certain memories you had come to associate with certain emotions. But you shouldn’t have difficulty recollecting your long term memory nor will you have any problem learning new information,”

“Not only that, but retrograde amnesia is temporary,” Dr. Walker spoke up. “So certain triggers like words, faces, smells, sounds, they can all help you regain your memories. At the moment, those last four years are stowed away in a dark corner, and by re-exposing yourself to the past you should be able to remember bit-by-bit,”

“You hear that? It’s temporary,” Cooper murmured in consolation to the slumped figure of his sister, placing a kiss on the top of her head. “Everything will be alright, Lucy,”

The four of them sat in silence once the doctor had left, Lucy’s gaze out the window as the words kept swimming in her mind, ignorant to the hawk-like gaze her brother had trained on her.

The siblings had been so occupied that they never noticed Ryan step out of the room and return minutes later in the black sweatpants and hood from yesterday, his backpack slung over his shoulder. No soon had he crossed the threshold when Lucy’s eyes zeroed in on his figure, catching a whiff of the fragrance he brought in with him.

“That perfume,” She spoke as he halted from settling down, glancing at her from between the hair falling in his eyes. “What is that?”

“Oh, this?” He exposed his wrist and held it out to her as she inhaled the musky scent and nodded. “Armani. Sharp nose,”

“I know that smell…” Her mind itched at the familiarity of the fragrance.

“Cooper has the same one,” Ryan chuckled and settled down in the seat. “He really liked mine so I got him the same one,”

“Oh,” Lucy instantly deflated before leaning back.

“How are you feeling, Lucy?” Amelia spoke up in the lull of the moment, redirecting the youngers' gaze to her.

“I’m Amelia Tucker and his girlfriend, and I live with you guys,” She supplied, seeing Lucy’s blank expression.

“Hello,” Lucy blinked up at her, giving her a smile to learn that her brother had finally mustered the courage to ask her on a date. “You’re a lawyer, right?”

“A paralegal, actually,”

“So Cooper finally managed to ask you out on a date, huh?”

“Not really,” Amelia giggled at the memory, smiling at the man beside her. “He had walked up to me one day, all flustered and dressed up for work with this man all clad in black standing behind him. And Cooper kept fumbling and stammering to the extent that Ryan just burst and asked me for him. Your brother about fainted from the embarrassment, but I found it adorable and said yes. He was just as much of a blubbering and stammering mess on our date as well to the extent where he was sure I wouldn’t’ agree to a second date, and God, you should have seen the smile that lit up his face when I gave him my number,” She chuckled and smiled adoringly back at her boyfriend who stood with flushed cheeks and scratched at his jaw, diverting his gaze.

“And next thing I knew, I was moving in with you guys,” She turned back to Lucy with a soft smile, her gaze lowering as the younger girl looked at the despondence on the trio's faces.

“You’ve told me this story before, haven’t you?”

“I have,” Amelia nodded. “But that’s okay, the doctor says that anything can trigger your memory so I don’t mind the repetition, especially since Cooper has to be reminded at least five times before something gets done,”

“I’m better though, aren’t I?” Ryan perked with a wide grin.

“Ryan, baby, you never forget,” Amelia scoffed. “And I honestly think that’s worse,”

Her words had Cooper burst into a fit of laughter that startled Lucy, watching in astonishment as he threw back his head before wrapping an arm around Ryan’s shoulder and squeezing him into his side. The blue-haired boy pulling a disgusted face when Cooper kissed his cheek.

And Lucy found herself staring in silent awe, trying to remember when the last time she had seen her brother so relaxed and at ease with the people around him, her stomach dropping to realize that Cooper had been just this comfortable over the four years she had forgotten.