Her eyes no longer heavy, Jane tried her best to stay aware of her surroundings. She looked around, the boy still slumped down in his chair next to her, the water bag still as it looked before, the meter, now being calmed down and slow. Jane could not help but ask the boy where she was. It was clear to her that she was in a robe of some sort, with IV's sticking out of every inch of her body. She tried to comprehend as much as she could before she asked the boy any questions. The boy looked long, he looked tired, and a little depressed judging by his dark puffy eyelids, she could tell he had been crying.

Jane rolled over to her side so she could face the man, her movement startled him, he shot up his head and started to tear up at the thought of Jane actually being awake.

Jane was more awake than she had ever been before. She sighed, which sent the man into panic, he once again called for the doctors, but this time, things were different. He leaned out the door to the small room which they were staying in. "Dr. Mali!!" A tall lady from down the hall looked over with a very sharp turn of her head, "she's awake!!" The lady in the lab coat ran over with two other nurses by her side.

Jane turned over so she was facing the ladies in scrubs, she looked confused, but to them, that was good. "I'm glad the treatment worked, but we cannot release her until we know for a fact that the wound has healed." The lady in the lab coat continued to speak to the man that had stayed by Jane's side for who knows how long.

"The gunshot, it has caused her to lose her memory, it became too deep, the metal was rusted and it caused bacteria and infection to spread to the brain." "So she doesn't remember who I am? What happened? Where is she?" The man said, he looked confused, he looked at Jane as if he was flustered, he was angered by this information he was given, you could just tell. "Um... excuse me? Can I... get some water? Please?" "Ah, of course Ms. Blake, I'm glad to see you are respondent. Lorie, please go get Jane some water. Now, I'm going to run some basic tests Jane, just to test your health and memory, do you have any questions?" The lady in the lab coat asked. "Uh... yes..."

Jane had so many questions, where was she? Who was she? Was she okay? What happened to her? All these questions took so much time, that now the sun was setting. The sky was yellow, and a dim glow shone in through the two rectangular windows on the back wall of the tiny hospital room.

"Now Jane, do you remember who you are?"

The lady in the lab coat started to ask some basic questions to see how AWAKE Jane really was.

"Yes"

"Will you tell me your full name please if you can Jane?

"Um.. Jane Lilia Blake"

"That is correct. Next question"

Jane sat up a little more so she could catch her breath, the boy still sitting next to her then grabbed her hand. Jane looked at his hand with surprise, and shock, but she did not pull away, which made the man very content. His shoulders then moved back almost like they fell into relaxation.

The lady continued

"Do you know who I am?"

"A doctor.."

"Yes, I am Dr. Mali, I have been taking care of you here at Bennet National Hospital and Urgent Care for about 1 month. You have been in a Coma like state since your accident."

The man chimes in

"Being shot by someone is not an ACCIDENT."

"Let's calm down Mr. Parker"

Jane looked over at the man who now looked familiar. She looked puzzled. The man looked back at her and asked what was wrong "I...sa-a-w you..." Jane was almost trembling. "You know me? You remember me?!" The man became very intrigued by what Jane had to say, "I saw you.. in the glass, and then...... you were gone... you left me alone..." Jane tried her best to explain what she had seen without exploding with tears. She gripped the man's hand even harder as her heart beat fastened. "Where did he leave you, where were you?" The doctor chimes in, she continuously checked the heart monitor to see the lines now rapidly beating up and down. Dr. Mali seemed calm though Jane looked panicked. 

"In the room, the dark room..... it was cold, and— I saw you... you looked at me— and then you shattered... into little tiny pieces, and I was alone..... it got darker, then I—I— heard a loud noise...... like  a-a-a a gun."

As Jane spoke her voice got higher and her eyes filled with tears which eventually fell onto the blanket she was wrapped up in. "Chris, Chris Parker. Before you had your— incident— you and Chris were friends." "Chris?"  Chris looked like his dog had just been hit by a car. He let go of her hand and stood up. Jane could tell he was upset she forgot who he was. She could also tell he wanted to walk out of the room and go punch a wall. As he started to walk off, Jane reached over and grabbed his wrist. "Wha— fine." He sat back down and they discussed what Jane saw before she had woken up.

Jane was starting to fall asleep as Chris and Dr. Mali discussed the details of what would happen when they released her. She turned over on her side curled up into a ball and shut her eyes. Dr. Mali glanced over at what looked like a ball of white blankets and pillows

A couple of weeks had gone by. They kept Jane in a recovery room. Everyday, they brought visitors in to try to re connect her memory. Jane felt as if she was trying to solve a 500 piece mind puzzle. She felt as if her mind was slowly slipping into a haze. A blurry, grey, haze. Some days, she felt like giving up. She tried to rip the cords from her arms, jump up, and Rome the room. She was so upset that she couldn't remember. She wanted things to go back to normal again, although she had no clue what normal was.

Everyday, Chris got off work early to come see Jane. He sat by her side. Held her hand. He did everything he could to make her feel safe again. Sometimes, when Jane was asleep, he would talk to her. Cry for her. Let out all his pain, and emotions in front of her, without her knowledge of it. Chris started staying at the hospital at night with Jane. She had started having nightmares. Flashbacks. Episodes. Like the one she had had when her eyes had opened again for the first time.

It would start with chills. Jane would shake, and tremble. She saw Chris. On the other side of the glass. She felt the cold, dark cement on her feet. She heard the horrifying noises of the gun. Every night. She woke up in tears. Screaming. Shaking. Her heart raced. Her eyes blurred. And her body collapsed.

Some nights, Chris would get into the bed with her, and hold her hand. He would pull the blankets over her body, and guide her head to his shoulder. The only thing he wanted was for Jane to feel safe. And loved.

The doctors talked about keeping Jane at the clinic until the episodes died down. Chris wanted nothing more than for Jane to stay with him. In the end, it was her choice.

   Yes, some of Jane's memories of Chris had been restored, but she wasn't quite sure what he was to her yet.

   A couple more days had past, and the doctors decided to give Jane the choice. Jane thought very hard. She was so angry at the doctors for putting the fate of her own well being, in her own hands.

   "Jane? Err—are you awake?" Chris whispered as he entered the room. Jane turned over on her side to face the door. "Yes? Is something wrong?" "No... I just... well... yes. There is. I wanted to let you know that I understand if you want to stay here for a little while longer. I won't be angered at that decision, though I want to be. I just want what's best for you." Chris looked down at his hands, and began to sigh. Jane could tell he was hurting, more than she was. Ah sat up, which  made Chris shoot his head back up. He slowly pushed her pillows up so she could rest comfortably. Jane held out her hand.

"Chris.... I'm ready to go home."

Chris packed up the last of Jane's things from the hospital room. He headed down the hall. Took a left, and then headed towards the elevator. As he walked with a quick pace, he picked up some light sounding voices coming from behind a cracked door. from what he could hear, he found small punches of words he knew.

   He stopped, and walked towards the door. Dr. Mali, and another doctor were in the room. Chris wasn't sure what they were doing, but he heard Jane's name come up in conversation, so he knew he had to continue to listen. "If the treatment worked, she should remember everything by now." "But she hasn't. I fear she won't be able to remember anything of the 590 hours that led up to her accident." It was hard for Chris to distinguish who was talking, both doctors were women. " id they ever catch the guy anyways?" "No. He's still out there somewhere, they just haven't tracked him down yet." "I'm sure they will get around to it at some point." Chris was infuriated. He tried to compose himself as he stormed off towards the elevator.

   He got outside. He opened the trunk of his car and threw Jane's things in the back. He slammed the trunk shut, and tried his hardest to contain the pain inside him. He slammed his fist onto the trunk a couple of times before turning around to see Jane standing at the entrance to the hospital. She stared with a blank expression, before slowly walking towards Chris and his car. "I—is everything.... okay?" Jane didn't know how to feel. Mostly, she felt sorrow. She thought Chris maybe didn't want her to come home with him. The other feeling  came from her chest, every time she took a breath. Jane could now walk, but her chest still aches when she tried to walk too fast, or breath in hard. "Everything is.... it doesn't matter. Why didn't you wait for me to come grab you?" Chris became more worried about Jane than ever. "Come on, I'll help you to the car."

   On the way home, Chris looked down to see Jane squeezing the seatbelt with all her might. He could tell she was hurting, but didn't know how to help. He slowly reached over her lap, and grabbed her hand. He slowly peeled her fingertips away from the yarned leather seatbelt. He intertwined his fingers with hers, and brought her hand over to the counsel, where their arms could freely rest. Their hands stayed intertwined the whole way home. Chris was afraid to let go. Jane wanted nothing more than to lay down on his chest, and listen to his heartbeat.

   When they pulled up to the house, Chris walked around the car, and opened the passenger door. Jane slowly made her way out of Chris's pearlescent grey Audi. "Can you grab my stuff? I'll meet you inside." Jane said as she made her way to the sidewalk. " we can get your things later. Let me help you to the door, and when you get inside, we can get you to bed." Chris was determined to do anything he had to, in order to keep her safe.

   Chris couldn't stand the thought of losing her. Not again. He couldn't stand looking at the shattered glass wall anymore. He needed to tell her. Tell her he...

   Loved her.

That night, Jane got settled into bed. Chris offered to sleep on the couch so she could be more comfortable. Jane sat up in bed for a while. Looking at a scrapbook her mother had sent over from France, where her parents lived at the time.

The scrapbook was pictures of her summers spent in Paris, and all of her birthdays spent with her family. The one thing that puzzles her the most, was that in almost every picture, Chris was there. Standing by her side.

It was around 11, and Jane's pain meds were starting to kick in. Jane got out of bed and walked out into the living room. She peeked out from behind the little entryway to the hallway. She saw Chris, sitting on the couch, holding what looked like a wide brown, stained picture frame. She slowly approached him, and carefully sat herself next to him. He kept his eyes fixated on the picture in front of him. She was about to speak when Chris stopped her. "This was two summers ago. We went hiking along the Bennet River. I remember we asked a random tourist to take our picture. He ran off with the little disposable camera you had bought a couple hours before. We ended up finding the guy, and he gave us the camera. That was the feistiest I had ever seen you." He pauses to chuckle, "that was the best summer I had ever had." Chris looked up at Jane. Jane looked up and met his gaze. "Chris... what really happened... the night of my incident..." Chris slowly lowered his head.

He looked so nervous, and his hands were shaking. Jane saw how worried he was, and put her hands on his. She held his hands tight, and he started to speak.

"It was just a normal night. You came over to watch a movie. We got hungry, so I went to pick up some food. You really wanted noodles from that new ramen joint that opened up a couple miles away, so I left to get some. All I know is that while I was gone, you answered the door, and... next thing I knew, I was coming home to see my front door wide open. The place was trashed. That shelf over there was on the ground. My tv stand was missing a leg, and all my plants were broken. My heart was pumping at a million miles a minute. I started to panic, and I looked all over the house for you. I thought they took you. When I got down the hall, I saw a light from under the door. The door was locked, and it looked like a bullet was shot through the door.... and when I finally got the door open, there you were... laying on the floor..." his eyes were swollen, and were filled with tears. She leaned over and put her head on his shoulder.

   He tugged his hands away from her grip and put his arms around her. "I thought I lost you... forever..."

   Jane nestled her head in the crook of Chris' neck. Chris was about to take Jane back to bed, when he noticed she had fallen fast asleep in his arms. He carefully laid the two of them down on the couch. Careful not to wake her, he pulled the blanket up over them, and held her close.

The sun peered through the flowing grey curtains over the windows. Chris was fast asleep. Jane slowly opened her eyes. When she woke up, she was able to remember vividly what happened the night before, for the first time in what seemed like forever. She looked around a little from where she was laying. She remembered how the tears streamed down Chris' red face, and how she felt when she drifted to sleep on his shoulder. She felt at home finally.

Before even giving it a second thought, Jane pulled the blanket back over her shoulders and nuzzled herself closer to Chris. Although out cold, Chris pulled her in closer. Jane didn't seem to mind.

A couple hours later, Chris woke up. His eyes squinted as he tried to block the streaming light from the curtains with his fingers. It took him a moment to realize that his arms were empty. He looked down to see he was alone on the couch. He looked around a little, and quickly picked up the sound of a soft hum coming from the bathroom. Chris slowly got up from the couch. He took his sweet time seeing as he was so tired.

Down the middle of the hallway, Chris stopped at the bathroom door. He looked down at the light peering from under the door. He tried to avoid eye contact with the bullet holes above where he gazed. He closed his eyes and pressed his ear gently against the door.

Jane leaned close into the mirror. Her stomach doubled over the bathroom counter. She stared deeply into her reflection as she hummed a tune that seemed unforgettable, although she couldn't quite figure out where the tune came from.

From outside the door, Chris heard the tune and smiled. In his head he filled In lyrics, but was careful to not sing them aloud. He didn't want to seem like a creep. "I dreamed— duh duh— I've never seen" Jane began to softly sing in and out of a hum. Jane knew the lyrics too well, yet she hadn't remembered singing it before.

Chris recognized that song the second he heard her from down the hall. In his head, he replayed the lyrics, "You were just a heartbeat, yet to come alive".

Chris had played that song for her while she was in the hospital. Sometimes he would play it through his headphones, and put one earbud in her ear, And one in his, while she lay unconscious in the hospital bed, in hopes she would somehow hear it, and know he was there. Sometimes at night, he would whisper that song to her while he held her hand. He was determined that one day she would sing the song with him.

When Jane opened up the bathroom door, she looked down at the bottom of the hall to see Chris waiting there for her. They both smiled, and Chris walked over to help her down the stairs.

"Well I see someone is feeling amazing this morning" Jane smiles even brighter when he says this. 

"How about we go make some breakfast?" she giggled, and nodded in agreement as Chris lifted her up into his arms and carried her down to the kitchen.