Maisey woke up in a cold sweat, fear coursing through her. The dream had been so real.
Henry whined at her bedside until she sat on the floor and hugged him.
General's Concourse had been open for a year, she wrote and toured, and she always wound up back in Medicine Hat. The night before an older man had come to the front desk and asked for her. Ned Franks, he had introduced himself and humoring him because he was Brett's uncle they had gone into the Hearth for dinner. She hadn't gotten much sleep after he'd left, and the nightmare had come afterwards.
She didn't remember Brett from before, she'd only met him a few times since and it was always awkward, she always felt a little bit guilty that he hadn't been told sooner about her amnesia. Ned had come because despite her lack of memories, she and Brett had been close once and he had been injured badly, they didn't know if he'd make it. Andy had confirmed it when she'd called him but she had said good night to Ned, thanking him for the information and then going back to her suite she kept telling herself it wasn't her problem.
But in the early morning she decided it didn't matter what she remembered, she needed to go see him in the morning. The nightmare had shook her to her core. It was 3 am when she called Doc Andy. "I need to see him now."
"Maisey? Are you okay?" Andy sat up straight in the chair he'd dragged beside his best friend's bedside.
"No," she admitted, "Ned's visit last night triggered something, I've had nightmare after nightmare and all I can think about is coming to see Brett."
"Call me when you're here, I'll convince the staff."
"I'm in the parking lot," she told him. "I can't lose him when I'm just starting to remember."
Andy escorted her to Brett's room: his face and arm was bandaged on the left side, machines pumped air into his lungs and forced his heart to beat. She went to his right side and picked up his hand, touching his cheek, "oh Brett," she whispered, "who will keep my monsters at bay if you're gone."
As a doctor Andy wanted to observe Maisey and see what memories had shaken loose and how they were affecting her. As a friend he left the room, understanding she needed privacy.
She pulled the chair closer to the bed and rested her cheek on his undamaged hand, "I've lost so much time with you." She lay there against his side or sat and talked to him about the things she remembered and the things she'd been doing. She refused to leave when the nurses came in to check and change his bandages but had stepped out of the way so they could do their job.
Andy told her to leave to shower but instead she called Kyle to bring her some clothes and books. She read to Brett. Andy told her they had gone camping and somehow Brett had unintentionally gotten between a bear and her cub with a fire at his back. The damage to his face and left side had been from where he fell into the fire when the bear had come out of the twilight. The bear had taken a few swipes at him but Andy and Lucas had fired their guns and scared it off. He'd hit his head hard and the claw marks were deep lacerations on his chest.
"What do you remember?" Andy asked her softly as they sat vigil by Brett's bedside.
"Everything, I think," Maisey admitted. "Luke and Jesse, the trials, Brett finding me at the fence line; you and Anna, Slim's, Waterton..." she paused, "And that last night I saw him in Calgary."
"He really didn't have anything to drink that night," Andy told her.
"I know," she watched Brett's face, "I was in the panic room of my apartment when he came up that night. He was so angry that he wasn't being given a chance, but I was so scared he would turn out like Luke."
"We should do a new scan of your brain," Andy told her and she glared at him, and he chuckled, "He's not going anywhere."
"He might die," she whispered, "I remember loving him," she admitted, "and now he might die not knowing how I felt."
"How do you feel now?" Andy asked.
"Confused." She told him. "The Concourse is my life, and writing, I can't give that up to go be a rancher's woman but I want to explore how I feel about him now that I remember. It's not fair."
"It never is," Andy told her. "You've had four years of your life that a part of you was missing."
"I can't believe it was Ned all along that was the catalyst for bridging the memories."
"I don't think it was," Andy told her, "You might have gone the rest of your life without them if Brett hadn't been hurt. I think that part of you that loved him forced it's way to the surface when faced with losing him."
She considered what he said solemnly and watched Brett's body as the machines did the work his organs were meant to do. She felt the callouses on his hands and the worry lines on his face, the scars from barbed wire on his arms. She remembered nights she lay in those strong arms, sleeping comfortably because he was there to protect her, she wished there was something more she could do for him now and wondered if he'd felt that way when she'd lain in a coma in his aunt's house.
The thought of the house triggered memory of the last time she'd been there--trying so hard to present herself in a way that was so different from the woman he'd known to try to help him with letting go. She didn't know if she'd succeeded. It had been obvious right away that it hurt him to know she hadn't remembered him. "When will they know if he'll be okay?" she asked, her voice small. Andy hesitated and she straightened, "What is it?"
"They notified Ned this morning that it's his decision about continuing him on life support," Andy couldn't meet her eyes, "An injury like this is so unpredictable, it could be a day, it could be five years."
Anger flashed in Maisey's eyes, "You weren't going to tell me." She accused. Andy flushed, "I get that you're a doctor, but in this case he's not your patient, he's your friend and he's important to both of us."
"That's not fair, Maisey," Andy told her, "Until a few hours ago you didn't even remember he was important to you!" Andy rose, "He's my best friend! You have no idea how it feels to be a doctor and sit by helpless while your best friend is dying!" His voice rose, "This man has stood by me through every idiotic thing I've said and done, I don't know if I can be in Blindloss if he's not there and I worry that Anna would try to follow me if I leave and give up what she's got with Lucas."
Maisey starred, "I'm sorry I wasn't thinking."
"That's just it Maisey, sometimes I think you only care about yourself. I get you have had some pretty terrible things happen to you, but Brett stood by you for everything and when he told you that he loved you, you abandoned him because, why? Because it would be too hard for you? That's pretty selfish."
"I left because it wasn't fair to him if I stayed," her tone was even and cold, "He promised me he would be okay with whatever I had to give him, even if I never healed and I left because I wanted more than that for him." She glared, "I would have loved him until the day I died for everything he had done for me and the life he showed me I could still live, but I couldn't ask him to give up on having more than I could give him."
They glared at each other, standing on either side of the bed: the best friend and the almost girl friend. Andy was the first to break eye contact and turn his attention back to Brett. "I'm sorry," he said softly.
"So am I," she looked at Brett sadly. They stood in silence, "I don't know what to do to help him."
A small blip came from one of the computers around the bed and Andy rushed into the hall calling for a nurse. Maisey watched the monitors and saw another blip, and then another until a steady rhythm was established. The doctor was called and both Andy and Maisey were ejected from the room.
"What does it mean?" she asked, scared and hopeful.
"It means his heart is trying to start, that blip was his heart monitors." Andy hugged her, "If his heart becomes steady that means the lungs should get stronger too. It's a good sign, but he'll stay on life support until that happens."
Maisey couldn't sit, so she stood near a window overlooking a small garden area: an elderly couple was there sitting to one end on a beautifully carved bench underneath a tall evergreen tree and a young man stood alone near the far wall, tears coursing down his cheeks. She wondered what their stories were. There were beautiful shrubs and plants she couldn't identify, but her favorite was the center of the garden where a grassy area was surrounded by small bushes brilliant with color--they reminded her of the little garden she'd tended at the Bogs.
She pulled out her phone and messaged Terri-Lee. "Brett is in the hospital, I remember everything, please look after everything, I can't tour right now."
Terri-Lee's response was swift, "understood."
Her next messages were going to be harder. She opened her Teams account to the window that would reach her entire management. "There's been a family emergency. I will be away until it is resolved. Please call Terri-Lee if anything legal is needed or if you need signatures. Please keep doing the amazing jobs you are doing. I'll be in touch as soon as I can." Once it was sent she turned off notifications to her account. She inhaled sharply and squeezed her eyes shut: he had to be okay. When Andy turned to observe her, she had her eyes closed and her arm up so her face could rest against her bicep with her fingers tangled in her hair. He felt bad for his outburst but at the same time it had given them both an insight to the other that was needed.
He'd called Ned and was glad to hear the hospital had already called him. He wasn't going to come to the hospital yet but was glad to hear that both Andy and Maisey were there. "Doctor Tucker?" the attending physician motioned him over, Maisey glanced over uncertainly but waited until Andy motioned for her to join him. "He's not out of the woods yet, but I'm sure you already know, this is a good sign." Andy nodded and Maisey chewed on her bottom lip, "Ned Franks is the next of kin but he's instructed to keep you both up to speed with the progress. Normally we wouldn't allow anyone except immediately family in the room right now but Ned tells me the two of you are the closest thing to family he's got so we're going to make an exception." He motioned for them to follow him back to Brett's room. "We've removed the machines that were pumping his blood and heart but he still remains on life support, his lungs aren't inflating on their own. We've ordered a chest xray and an ultrasound so we can see if another surgery will be required."