Terri-Lee had come to Foothills hospital immediately, walking out of a trial debriefing where she was one of eight lawyers retained: Maisey had been found.
"Where is she?" Andy met her at the front doors of the hospital, "How is she?"
"She doesn't remember anything or anyone," Andy told her. "We don't know what it will do to have you come in, but you were the only person I could think of aside from Brett that could possibly be there for her and Brett isn't an option." Terri-Lee agreed.
"I'm so grateful she's alive."
"You might not be when her memories come back and she has to relive what Luke and Jesse did to her." The lawyer checked herself as she realized the truth of what he was saying, "I haven't even told Anna, and I don't plan to," Andy told her, "Tony can't know. We have to keep this from Brett until she's ready. He's a mess already knowing she thinks he betrayed her. If he knew she was here and what had happened he'd leave the ranch to sit by her bedside and she wouldn't have any idea who he was to her or what he's done for her."
He paused outside the hospital room and knocked--Kyle was back, showing her some figurines and books, he left one and left when he saw Dr Andy. "Maisey," Andy spoke softly, "This is Terri-Lee, you knew her before the accident."
"Hi," Maisey said brightly, "Kyle was just showing me these miniatures that he and his dad painted together before his dad got sick--it's terminal cancer--they play a game every week, his dad needed a break so he came to see if Henry needed to go out." She frowned, "I'm sorry that I can't remember you."
"It's okay," Terri-Lee told her, "I was both your friend and your lawyer." She came near to the bed, "We lived in the same apartment building."
"I have an apartment?" Maisey brightened, "Could I go there instead of staying here now that I'm awake?" She asked Andy.
"Once you can get up and go to the bathroom and shower by yourself we can talk about it," he promised indicating the traction harness that was suspending her legs. "Until then, you need to stay here where the nurses can help you."
She nodded, "Since Terri-Lee knew me, is she allowed to tell me about myself, or will that be too risky? I heard the nurses say introducing too many people or too many things at once could send me into a tail spin."
Andy frowned, "They shouldn't have said that in here."
"They didn't," Maisey told him, "the sound from the hall carries and apparently I have good hearing."
"Terri-Lee can tell you a little at a time, but if you start to remember anything at all, you have to promise to tell Dr Jeff." Maisey agreed, "Alright. I have to go back to my own clinic but I'll call and check on you," Andy promised.
"Thanks Doc Andy," she smiled, "Terri-Lee, please tell me how we met?"
Terri-Lee sat in the chair that Kyle vacated, "That was when you first left your husband, it's not a very nice story."
Andy stepped into the hall and let Jeff know he was leaving, "Call me anytime, I'd like to know when...if... she gets her memory back." Jeff agreed and watched Andy head for the parking lot before going to bring the doctor coming on shift up to speed on the patients.
About a week later Terri-Lee smiled in the doorway seeing her friend laugh and joke with a man who had an IV pole attached to him, two other men and the young man Kyle. There was miniatures on the lap table over her bed and Kyle was giving her directions on how to paint them: the men were telling her tales about the game and explaining the lore and stories that had come out of the game. Kyle noticed her first and Maisey followed his gaze. "Terri-Lee, this game is fantastic! You should hear about the stories, I wish I could stand up so I could go watch the games upstairs later, but Kyle promised to leave me the paints so I can start painting--what did you say this was again?"
"Tau," the two men that could stand did and nodded in the lawyer's direction, "one of many armies that fight for and and against the Emperor of Mankind."
"Tau, right, I still think I'd like painting those alien guys better, can you imagine a whole table full of them? It would be like pulling out a fridge to a colony of cockroaches."
"Tyranids are like cockroaches," Kyle's dad growled, "Death to the Xenos!"
"I'm not sure I follow," Terri-Lee admitted, "but it's great to see you smiling and getting excited about doing something. Once you're out of traction the nurses can help you into a chair and to go see the games."
"Do you think so?" Maisey was like a child, Terri-Lee noted, eager for excitement and impatient.
Kyle started to clear things away, but putting them within reach for Maisey, "I'll take Henry for a walk before I go up to game with dad."
"Thanks Kyle," Maisey beemed, "One of these days I'll convince you to let me pay you for all the help you've been." The men left Maisey alone with the lawyer. "Were you able to get them?"
Terri-Lee held up a laptop bag and a cell phone box. "Opening yourself up to the world of social media, email and text messaging might be overwhelming," she cautioned, "I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to have these."
"You and Kyle and the physio can't be here all the time and you can't protect me forever." she looked at the lawyer slyly, "I know you haven't told me the whole story of my past," she admitted, "And while I appreciate the care, I'd rather find out now than walk into a bad situation and not know it's a bad situation."
Terri-Lee handed over the computer first. "Do you think you might try writing while you're here?"
One of the first things Terri-Lee had told her was that she had written books and was a renowned young adult author. She'd brought copies of the books for her to read. "I might," she admitted, "I'm not really sure I can, but I'm going to see if I can." She opened the laptop and surprised both herself and Terri-Lee by typing in the password without thinking. "Well that's exciting."
Terri-Lee got the nurse and told her about the achievement. The nurse had her lock the computer and do it again twice more, before having her try to tell the nurse or write down what the password was. It was surprising that she drew a blank and couldn't tell anyone what it was.
"Muscle memory," Dr Jeff announced, "That's a good sign, it means that your body will likely remember how to do things like walking, and tying a shoe, crafts that you used to do or other physical tasks you did before the accident. That's half the battle."
Excited, Maisey started asking Terri-Lee about the things she used to do before the accident, wanting to test Dr Jeff's theory. Terri-Lee promised to bring her crochet hooks and yarn the next day.
After Terri-Lee left to go back to work Maisey unlocked her laptop and decided she'd better see if internet history or emails could trigger her memory. There were over a thousand emails--her internet history showed book stores, online shopping, gardening, crochet patterns and a town called Waterton. She looked at everything, but nothing was familiar. Frustrated she put the laptop aside and picked up the cellphone box. She wondered if the process would be just as futile and put it away in the drawer next to her without opening it: a battle for another day, she decided. She picked up the book Kyle had left "Horus Rising" she read the title and flipped the book open.
Jeff watched from the doorway before the end of his shift as Maisey frowned at the computer and phone box for the third time that afternoon before turning back to the book. She'd finished one and started on the second Kyle had left for her. Like Terri-Lee he was concerned she was opening herself up to too much at once but he also knew that having a semblance of a life was better than rotting alone in the hospital. With being in traction her physical recovery was going to take a long time
Kyle and his father's friends had started to play a role in her recovery: he'd been researching cases like hers where the patient spent more time alone, frustrated and gave up on their recovery, seeing there laughter and interest in new things was positive, but he warned his staff that this could be a temporary thing, a forced positivity and they could find that negativity rear it's heads eventually.