Chapter 4
She opened her eyes to a strange room. It looked like a hospital. She looked down at her body and yes, she was wearing a gown and there were monitors attached to her beeping. Just then a nurse walked in and saw she was awake.
“Hello there,” she greeted with a smile.
“I’ll just go get the doctor for you.”
“Where am I?” She asked looked around. “Who am I?”
The nurses eyes widened in alarm. “I-I’ll go get the doctor,” she stammered and left the room.
A few minutes later a tall attractive doctor with wavy dark hair walked in. “Hello I’m Dr Shepherd. Do you remember your name?” He asked shining a light into her eyes.
“I-I…I don’t know. I don’t remember.” She watched as the doctor frowned.
“Excuse me a moment please.” He smiled warmly at the pretty young woman and left her room. The nurse followed. “Let’s get a CT scan and where’s her file?”
The nurse shrugged.”she’s listed as a Jane Doe, we have no details about her.”
Derek rolled his eyes. He could see why the chief had asked, no begged him to come to Seattle. Seattle Grace hospital was a mess. It was literally his first day here and it had been disaster after disaster. All he knew about this patient was she was in an RTA, she’d coded on route to the hospital and the cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Burke had referred her to neuro when she hadn’t regained consciousness after a few days that was before he joined and now nobody could find her damn file. At least he’d started his time in Seattle with a bang, literally, after meeting that amazing woman in the bar last night.
“Sorry Sir, still no file. Dr Burke entered as much info as he could remember onto the system but he’s done so many surgeries since that he’d not sure if he missed anything. He thought her name might be carter maybe…” The nurse shrugged apologetically and Derek shook his head in frustration.
“Well let’s get that CT and see what’s going on with Ms Carter’s brain.”
“I didn’t know who I was. They only told me I’d been in an accident, had a tear in my heart and arrested in the ambulance.” Claire-Valerie explained.
Lucas shook his head.”That makes no sense at all. Me and Bobby bought you in. We told them everything about you. They kicked us out and then a few minutes later told us you’d died.” He began pacing the room. Dr Webber had left so they could talk but Lucas wished he’d stayed as it seemed the hospital was at fault for this.
He felt like his whole world was spinning, like some crazy whirlwind. What the hell would Sully say. How the hell did he tell Sully. They’d worked hard on repairing their torn friendship when Vic had been in a coma. Sully had forgiven him finally for…..this! He looked at Claire in disbelief. The years that he’d hated himself for making that call. The call that his best friend blamed him for....for killing his wife.
He massaged the bridge of his nose trying to get his head around it. “What happened next?”
“I discharged myself a few days later. They couldn’t tell me anything. They put me in touch with a service that would help me get back on my feet. I got a job waitressing, eventually an apartment….”
“Here in Seattle?” Lucas interrupted in disbelief. She nodded. “Then about 3 months later I found out I was pregnant. I guess the hospital didn’t know cause I was so early or something. I still hadn’t regained my memory. I’d travel around Seattle hoping for something to trigger my memory but after 6 weeks of daily bus rides, ferry boat, trains etc around nothing came back. I then decided to start a new life somewhere else, I moved to spokane.”
“And then?”
“I had a baby boy. Went to school got my GED, went to night school and became a lawyer.”
Lucas chuckled at the irony. “You know you were a lawyer before right?”
She nodded.”I didn’t then but when my memory started coming back, I couldn’t believe I’d done it twice.” She laughed. Lucas’s breath hitched. It was a laugh he never thought he’d hear again.
“So when?”
“It was little things at first, remembering cases I’d worked on, clients, then school, college, work then…”
“Bobby?”
She nodded her eyes filling with tears. “It was over a period of two years. First his face looking at me lovingly. He looked like Justin so I knew he was his father but didn’t remember his name. I’d curse myself that I couldn’t draw and sketch a picture of him to ask people who he was. Then memories of Seattle came back and you, Eva. They started coming back more and more then I remember it all. That was 3 months ago.”
He stared at the tears filling her eyes, his own filling up too, not knowing what to say to her. She’d lost so much. They all had.
“So do I call you Valarie or Claire?” He smiled finally walking over and taking her hand. They both chuckled and hugged as the tears fell down both their cheeks.
There was a gentle knock on the door and Justin poked his head through the door. He frowned with concern seeing his mom’s tears.
“What’s going on here.” He said puffing out his chest and looking stern. Lucas almost laughed because he was so much like Sully. Remembering his friend he groaned. He looked to Claire then back to Justin.
“Does he know?”
She shook his head.”Justin is a freshman at Stanford university.” She said proudly. “He graduated High School early and got a full academic scholarship. He wants to study medicine.”
“That’s amazing. Smart like your mother I see.” Justin beamed as Lucas turned back to Claire
She smiled brightly and turned to Justin. “Justin meet Lucas, he’s a dear old friend of mine from here in Seattle.”
Justin’s expression was puzzled. “An old friend? I thought you had no memory of the past?”
“It started coming back a couple of months ago. I didn’t want to worry you but that’s why I came to Seattle because my memory returned.”
Justin looked back between his mom and the man holding her hand with a look of fondness on his face. “Is he my father?” He asked
Both their eyes widened and Lucas started coughing.
“No no no! He’s your fathers best friend though and mine.” She smiled warmly at Lucas.
Lucas stood up and walked over to Justin and held out his hand to shake the young man’s hand. “Lucas Ripley, nice to meet you. I was the best man at your parents wedding. There seems to have been a huge mistake where we, your dad and I, were told your mom died. Now today I learn she didn’t. Heads are going to roll for this I’ll make sure of it.” He turned back to her. “What about Sully? What do I tell him.” Her eyes lit up and he could see the same love he use to see whenever she thought of her husband. Her feelings hadn’t changed. she still loved him.
“Has he remarried?” She asked nervously.
“No. He never stopped loving you.”
Justin still looked confused and lost, making Lucas feel sorry for the boy. “Look Claire, Justin is welcome to stay at my place and you too, when you get discharged. I’ll need to go talk to Sully….”
Claire nodded. “I can’t wait to see him.” She said wistfully.
He gave Justin his card. “Call me if you need anything at all, either of you and I’ll be back later.” He gave her a final hug and patted Justin on the shoulder. He knew she needed to talk to her son and he needed to process all of this. What the fuck would he say to Sully.
He left the room and wasn’t surprised to see Dr Webber outside at the nurses station waiting on him. He needed to get to the bottom of how this happened so he could at least tell Sullivan something.
It was approaching early evening and Vic was on the roof of station 19 wondering if she should try calling Lucas. She was really worried now as she hadn’t heard from him all day. She knew he had days when he was so busy that she wouldn’t hear from him but she was worried something had come up on his medical that bought back memories of when she was in the coma and thought he’d died. Maybe he did have a heart problem and had collapsed buying her flowers.
She shook the thought away. He was probably just busy. The roof door opened and Andy walked out smiling happily.
“What’s got you so happy?”
Andy giggled. “Oh nothing.” She didn’t want to let on that she and Robert had just kissed in his bunk room. It had happened suddenly. One minute they were talking and the next she’d leaned in and he’d responded. His shift was over and he left for the day leaving her with the biggest smile. She couldn’t wait until shift ended and she could see him for their drink which she was pretty sure would be sex instead.
“How are things with you?” She asked noticing the worried look on Vic’s face.
“I haven’t heard from Lucas today and I’m trying not to let it worry me but not succeeding.”
Andy shrugged “He’s probably tied up with meetings or paperwork. I can go check if there’s been any big calls. He might have got a 3 alarm somewhere.”
Vic smiled and shook her head. “Thanks. It’s okay. I’ll hear from him eventually.” She was trying to sound a lot more certain than she really felt. Her phone started to ring and she looked at the display with relief to see his name flash on the caller display.
“Hey! I’ve been worried about you.”
“Sorry babe. Something major came up today.” Vic could tell by his tone that whatever it was hadn’t been resolved yet. “Has Sully left yet?”
“Um, let me check.” She covered the mouth piece and asked Andy who started to blush as she nodded. She looked at her friend frowning at her strange reaction and lifted the phone back to her ear. “Yes he has. Is everything okay?”
“Um sure, kind of. I can’t really talk about it right now but we’re gonna have a guest staying over. A young man by the name of Justin. So he’ll be there in the morning when you get home.”
“O-kay.” This was all very cloak and dagger even for Lucas. “You’re not going to tell me you found out you have a son you didn’t know about are you.” She laughed nervously. When Lucas didn’t laugh or deny it she stopped abruptly.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,Eggy. I love you.” He hung up before she could say it back. Vic just stared at the phone. Great, now she was even more worried. She really needed the klaxon to go off right now so she could take her mind of whatever was going on with her fiancé. She turned to Andy and narrowed her eyes.
“what’s really going on with you?” She knew she could break Herrera. She get whatever it was out of her.
Lucas hung up quickly as Dr Webber approached him.
“The board has been called for an emergency meeting first thing in the morning and also the Fox foundation and our lawyers. A lot of the Doctors involved in Claire’s care no longer work at Grey Sloan and Derek Shepherd is dead.”
“Yes. I knew Derek. He was a good surgeon.” He looked the older man directly in the eye. “One person that was here then is you Richard and you were the chief of surgery, so ultimately any mistakes made fall on you.” Richard nodded. He knew this was the case and knew he could lose his job but that was nothing compared to what the Sullivan’s had lost.
“I’m prepared to take whatever punishment comes my way. I want to get to the bottom of this for Claire, Robert and their son who grew up without his dad.” He patted Lucas on the shoulder as he walked off. Lucas closed his eyes. He really wished Vic was home. He needed to lose himself in her warmth. She always made him feel better but he couldn’t tell her until he spoke to Sully. With a heavy heart he left the hospital and headed over to his friend’s house.
Robert opened the door wearing a wife beater and basketball shorts.
“Hey,” he said cheerily.”I was just grilling some steaks. Join me. The game’s starting soon.”
“Um sure.” Lucas said entering the small apartment.
“What’s up with you? You look like someone killed your puppy. Don’t tell me you and Hughes have had a fight.”
Lucas shook his head, removing his jacket.”why are you so happy?” He looked at his friend happily swaying to some music as he flipped the stakes. Just like Robert could read him, he could read his friend. Oh god no. “You-you’ve met someone.” He stammered.
Robert looked at him and gave him a cheesy smile. “You’ve been telling me I need to get back out there and I finally did. I mean it’s early days but I got a good feeling about her. We kind of clicked you know.” He put the stakes on a plate and bought them over to the small table. Lucas looked at the juicy steak and salad. He hadn’t eaten all day but he still couldn’t bring himself to.
Robert noticed his mood.”seriously what’s up with you?” He asked putting a forkful of food in his mouth.
“I’ve been at the hospital all day. A patient was bought in and I….er…” his voice trailed off.
“Someone you know?”
“Um yes. The hospital mixed up her medical records and she lost her memory in an RTA. So it’s a big mess.” He was looking at his plate playing with the food.
“Damn. Poor woman. But you can get in touch with her next of kin right?”
“Yea her son is her next of kin. He came but her husband doesn’t know yet and I don’t know how to tell him.” He looked up at Robert hoping he’d get the message but then why would he. He thought Claire was dead.
“Tell him? about her memory loss?”
“Tell him that she didn’t die 17 years ago like we thought.”