Renegade

Jason’s stomach tightens just a little at Dr. Fuller’s words. It was hard to comprehend what was happening.


Con holds his smile with Katie, the corner of his eye catching the Dr. coming in. “Yes, it’s been quite a while, but not to worry…things will be just fine.” He gives her arm a gentle pat. “I’ll be back, alright? Don’t go anywhere.”

Turning, he gives a slight nod to Dr. Fuller before going back out into the hall. Joining Nate and Jason, his worry he now lets show on his face. How on earth were they going to deal with this?

As Jason paces, suddenly a thought strikes him and he looks up quickly between Con and Nate. “She doesn’t know how strong our connection is,” he almost whispers.

Con lifts an eyebrow. “I didn’t think about that…how does…”

“I don’t know,” Jason cuts him off. “I don’t know how it affects anything.”

“You better cool your jets as much as you can,” Con warns. “Otherwise you’ll giver her an overload she’s not expecting.”

The minutes tick by as they wait for Dr. Fuller.



“Well I’ll be, if it ain’t Renegade Carson.”

Carson looks up quickly from where he’s mopping the floor around the counter. It had been a quiet day until people had started coming in for supper, and after someone had spilled their pop all over the place, he was up to clean. The noise of the evening had begun, and now they only had a few tables left. Mabel was busy at the register, Aerith was taking orders, and Herb was in the kitchen, content at that end of the world.

Carson’s eyes narrow as he spies Waylon and his two buddies, Cash and Reagan. He recognized them alright…They’d had their fingers in the Agency several times during the last few years, their only goal to cause trouble and gain money.

“You here to eat or cause problems?” he asks evenly.

Waylon’s large black frame leans against the counter casually, a sly grin coming out. “Seeing you mopping the floor, I think I’m just here to watch,” he taunts. “Never thought I’d see you in this line of work.”

Carson sloshes the mop back down into the bucket before wringing it out and continuing to clean the sticky mess. He tries to ignore the three that had already gotten under his skin multiple times before.

A cigarette butt is flicked in his direction, landing where he’d just mopped. Looking up with a glare, he sees the smirk on Reagan’s face. “This is a non-smoking facility. I suggest next time you take a smoke outdoors and dispose of the leftovers properly.”

Reagan’s eyes widen and he laughs. “My, my, my, you’ve quite the vocabulary, Carson! Wow…they said you’d changed, but I didn’t believe them. You really have gone wussy.” He slaps Cash’s arm. “Hey, get a load of that - a wussy, Aussie!”

The three goons bust out laughing, Waylon pointing at Carson. “I think you missed a spot.”

Carson can feel his face growing red as his irritation intensifies. Aerith had her back turned from the other end of the room, Mable was still busy, and Herb was too far away with too much noise to know what was going on.

He grips his mop more firmly, his knuckles growing white. “Either sit down and order food, or get out,” he orders sternly.

“Ooh, he does still have a big shot attitude.” Waylon grins. “I thought that still existed somewhere.”

Reagan takes a step forward. “Grady wants you back, Carson.”

Carson bristles. He’d taken orders from Grady for several years. The fellow assassin had always liked Carson’s style. “Tell him he can’t have me. I’m not playing that game again.”

“Well we say you are.” Waylon moves towards him. “It wasn’t an option for you. You are coming with us. You can do it the easy way or the hard way. But you know the consequences of the hard way. You know Grady don’t take no for an answer.”

As the three move closer to Carson, his mind reels. How had they found him? Why did Grady want him back? The Agency didn’t need him. These guys couldn’t just walk in here and bully him. “Sorry boys. I’m not coming.”

“Oh yes you are.” Waylon reaches out to take Carson’s arm, but he’s suddenly thrown backward as a mop handle connects with his jaw. Staggering backward, Waylon knocks over a stool, cursing under his breath.

The other two move in, and suddenly there’s an all out brawl, three against one. Carson holds his own, wielding the mop as a weapon, jabbing Reagan’s stomach, knocking Cash’s feet out from under him, and swinging for a second round at Waylon.

Moving too quickly though, Carson’s foot hits the fresh water on the floor, and his own feet slip. Losing his balance, his feet go right out from under him, his head and shoulders slamming back onto the floor. Almost dazed, he looks up just in time to see Waylon on top of him. Thinking fast, he brings the mop handle up, hitting Waylon where it counts.

With a cry of pain, Waylon doubles over, falling to his knees. By now, Cash is on his feet and gives a kick to Carson’s ribs. Carson winces and rolls away in pain, getting to his hands and knees, but is knocked from behind.

As the fight ensues, several customers look wide-eyed at the scene. One man in a panic grabs his cell phone and dials 911.

Perminent Coma

*Katie cant help but grin up at Con. Her eyes sparkled though they showed alittle confustion.*

"Yeah I guess I can get out of the habbit. Or try anyways."

*Katie thinks for a moment about what Con said about her being here last. Had it really been that long? It felt like just yesterday to her.*

"Has it really been that long Con? It seems like just yerterday to me. Has alot changed since than? Now I feel so lost because I cant remember such a big time spand. I try to remember and all I see is fog."

*Dr. Fuller approches the group with Nate close behind. She scans each face in turn as she plays over things in her own mind.*

"I cant say for certin from what Nate has told me if Katie will ever get her memorie back or not, but once I check her over and do some quick tests I will be able to let you guys know."

*Dr. Fuller lets out a low sigh. This was hard she had delt with cases like this before and 9 out of 10 times people never recovered and if they did they still wernt the same.*

"The best think you can do right now for Katie is make her comfortable and try not to feel her tomuch old information that she dosent remember. If her brain is trying to block out some painful avent or situation that happend and you end up reminding her to fast her brain could shut down again and throw her back into a coma that she very well might not come out of because her mind is trying to protect her."

*Dr. Fuller waits a few moment for any questions and than slips past the group and into the room giving a nod to Con that asked he step out of the room.*

"Hi Katie. I'm Dr. Fuller. How are you fe...."

*Dr.Fuller's voice becomes muffled as she closes the door beind Con as he leaves. Now once again it was a game of waiting.*

Ornery

Con chuckles, doing a good job at acting as though everything was normal. "You know how moody that man is. He just got the living tar scared out of him like the rest of us did." He gives Katie a wink. "Get out of that habit, will you? I'm going to get gray hair hanging out with you."

Casually introducing the subject, he feels her out a little bit even though they haven't spoken to Dr. Fuller yet. "Jase said you couldn't remember some things. Don't worry though, I'm sure it'll all come back to you." He retains his smile. "It's been quite a while though since you were here last, and I've gotten a whole lot more ornery, so you'll have to watch out."


Jason paces the hallway, unsure what to do or how to act. This was just all....hard. It was just plain hard. He knew they would have to slowly tell Katie about what had been happening...but it had been so long. She didn't know about him going to prison. She didn't know about how he'd shut her out and how they'd lost their relationship. She didn't know he'd found a new love. She didn't know Con was no longer at TJY. She probably didn't know that Carson was on the right side of the tracks even. There was so much...how were they to tell her? Would she just accept it and move on? Would it hurt her?

He looks up as he sees Nate with Dr. Fuller, the questions playing in his eyes. He wanted to know what to do. He wanted to know when Katie could go home, and if this partial amnesia was permanent.

Road Block

*Katie nods as Scott turns to leave.*

"It was great seeing you again too Scott. I look forward to seeing you at work."

*Katie's eyes follow him as he leaves the room a strange melancholy settling over her. For a moment she had a feeling of sadness and maybe almost a panic as Scott left the room. Like she wanted to yell for him to come back, maybe even beg for him to stay but why would she do that when she hardly new Scott. As fast as the feeling comes up its gone again and Katie is left alone with the fog and cloudiness. Leaning her head back Katie closes her eyes. All she wanted to do right now was sleep some more. Everything was so confusing and being told much time had passed since her first accident was tiring. Trying to remember but running into a road block was even harder.*

*Nate gives a nod.*

"Yeah I can go find her. I think I saw Dr. Fuller at the front desk when Laura and I came in. I'll be back."

*Nate breaks away from the group and heads back to the front of the hospital to find Dr. Fuller and fill her in on Katie.*

*Katie opens her eyes again as someone enters the room. A smile spreads across her face as she see who it is. Even if it was dark in the room the large frame could give it away in a heartbeat.*

"Hey Big Brother."

*Katie gives a little laugh as Con comes over and mess up her hair.*

"Sorry, I did'ent mean to scair you again. I guess I have a habbit of doing that huh?"

*Katie reaches up to give Con a hug.*

"Hey is everything ok? For some reason I got a strange vibe from Jason like something was wrong?"

Not nice

It takes all Scott has, not to let his face show the agony he was feeling as he receives Katie’s words. It was true. She didn’t remember anything. All the time they’d spent together…everything they had gone through…everything they had shared…their future plans… It was all…gone.

Swallowing hard, Scott musters up the best smile he can, though what he really wants to do is curl up somewhere and cry.

“Thanks. I, um…guess I was just trying something new for someone who liked it.” He pauses, not really knowing how to respond. “I’m doing alright,” he finally replies casually, even though it feels like a lie. “Everyone’s been pretty worried about you. They’ll be thrilled to know you’re awake.”

An awkward pause follows. All Scott wants to do is go to her. All he wants to do is take her in his arms, hug her, kiss her, tell he how much he’s missed her, even though it’s only been a couple days. And he can’t.

Shifting his weight, he finally turns back to the door. “Good to see you, Katie. I’ll catch you back at work once you’re up and at ‘em again.”

Back out in the hall, he takes a deep breath as if gaining oxygen for the first time. His eyes tell all as he glances between the others waiting in the hall. Looking down, he starts for the end of the hall. “I’m going home,” he says quietly. “Unless something changes, I, um…I’ll see you guys back at work.” He doesn’t wait for a response, but aims for the exit, unable to stand it here any longer.

Jason watches him go, and lets out a long sigh. “Ya know…he and I don’t get along all that great, but right about now, I feel pretty badly for him.” He shakes his head. “And I still don’t know why Katie broke up with him. I guess it doesn’t matter much now.”

Con purses his lips in thought, not liking how this felt either. “Well…how about someone going and telling Dr. Fuller Katie is awake? Nate, would you mind? She might also have some advice as to how the rest of us need to deal with this. Whether we need to tell Katie all, or break things to her slowly.”

Not wanting Katie to be alone for too long, he takes his turn. Poking his head around the doorway, he breaks into a smile before entering. “Well, Kat, you’re awake!” He comes up to her bed and ruffles her hair. “Don’t you know it’s not nice to scare a big guy like me?”

You look Spiffy

*Katie watches as Jason leaves the room a smile on her face. Left alone in the silence Katie moves her legs slightly. She could really move them. She was going to be able to walk again after all.

Hearing someone come in the door Katie looks up. Cocking her head to the side for a moment she studys the face that looked looked back at her. Trying to consintrate her smile finally grows. How he looked differt.*

"Scott, look at you. Your all spiffy looking I dident reconise you at first. I love the new look though Scott. Its fits you well."

*Katie smiles up at Scott.*

"How are you?"

*Nate listens to what Jason says as he hold Laura. Katie not remembering was going to be hard.*

"Wow, do you think she ever will remember and if she does....wow."

*Nate looks down at Laura and than back up to Jason and Con.*

"There is so much that has happend since that time. You mom and Wes, the baby, Con and Jamie, Laura and I, Her aunt and Mick. There are so many good memories she is miss too. I feel bad for her. You cant miss what you dont remember but still...just its hard thing to think about and its probley gonna be alittle painful."

*Nate just shakes his head. He dident even know where to start with this. Most of the time he had works that would be helpful but now he was at a loss.*