Thwarted Dreams -- Chapter 14

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Colonel Lydecker, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Caroline, etc.).

Caroline tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t. Everything was still dark, but she could make out faint voices and noises. It’s a hospital. I’m in a hospital. Why am I in a hospital? Everything came back to her a moment later. It was a car accident, remember? You were driving home looking forward to being free from Patrick and your tire blew out. Why did it blow? Why can’t I wake up?

The voices and noises that she could hear started to become louder and more distinct. “I think that she’s starting to wake up,” a female voice said.

“It looks that way,” a male voice agreed. “Keep an eye on her, nurse, and page me immediately when she regains full consciousness.”

“Yes, Dr. Marsh,” the nurse said.

It won’t be long, Caroline thought. It better not be long. She sighed mentally. Stuck in a coma with nothing to do…that accident must have knocked a screw loose in there. I’m starting to sound worse than Chris did that one time the summer that I turned sixteen and he got drunk and needed a ride and nobody nearby him could pick him up and Mom and Dad weren’t home and I’d only had my license for a week at that point and I had to drive…how far was it? An hour-and-a-half, two hours? However long it was, he was completely trashed and he was talking like an idiot. Gave me plenty to tease him about later, though! She wanted to laugh and swore that she felt the corner of her mouth twitch. After that came the throbbing headache. Oh man, I wonder if this was how Chris’ head felt the morning after that night. She winced mentally and groaned as she felt the rest of her body start to throb with her head. Well, maybe this is how he would have felt if he’d gotten drunk and then gone for a spin on Danny’s motorcycle.

“Mrs. Nelson?” the nurse said. “Mrs. Nelson, can you hear me?”

Caroline fought to open her eyes and succeeded this time. She blinked before she focused on the nurse’s face. “Yes,” she said. Her throat felt dry and her voice sounded scratchy, as if she hadn’t used her voice for a long time. “Where--?”

“Just stay there and relax. I’m going to get the doctor now,” the nurse said soothingly.

Do I look that agitated? Caroline thought, already annoyed as she watched the nurse walk over to the phone on the wall and talk for a moment. Another minute later and the doctor came back into the room with a worried-looking Patrick behind him. Yeah, I bet Patrick’s worried. I bet he’s really worried. I would—oh shit, Jenny! Where’s Jenny? Is she okay?

“You had me so worried,” Patrick said. “Thank God that you’re going to be okay.”

“Mrs. Nelson?” Dr. Marsh asked gently. “I’m Dr. Marsh. How are you today?”

“How…do you think?” Caroline managed to say.

Dr. Marsh chuckled. “You’ve definitely got some spirit.” He looked into Caroline’s eyes with his light and tested her reflexes. “So far, so good. I want to ask you some questions now, okay?” Caroline nodded and he continued. “Good. Now, what is your name?”

“Caroline Nelson,” Caroline replied.

“Your full name, including your maiden name?”

“Caroline Ashley Robinson Nelson.”

“Good. Where are you from?”

“Columbus, Ohio.”

“Are you married?”

“Yeah, to Patrick. He’s standing right there.”

“Good,” Dr. Marsh said. He nodded approvingly. “What was the last thing that you remember?”

Caroline pretended to think, not missing the look in Patrick’s eyes that Patrick was trying not to show. “I was making dinner. It was a little bit chaotic because Patrick had twisted his knee a few days before and even though his doctor had said that he would probably be fine by now, he still wanted him to take it easy until tomorrow so he was lying down on the living room couch watching TV and I stopped cooking long enough to run upstairs to check on Jenny and…” Caroline trailed off when she saw the looks on the faces of Patrick and Dr. Marsh and succeeded in keeping a triumphant grin off of her face. Patrick bought it! “What’s wrong?”

“Caroline, can you please tell me what day it is?” Dr. Marsh asked.

“Sure,” Caroline said. “It’s January 21st, 2013.” She saw the look that Dr. Marsh and Patrick exchanged. “It is still January 21st, right?”

“No, Caroline.” Dr. Marsh shook his head. “I’m afraid that it’s June 23rd, 2013. Four months ago, on February 27th, you were in a terrible car accident. Your left rear tire blew out and you lost control of the car. You were barely hanging on when the ambulance brought you in and you are extremely lucky to still be alive. We almost lost you several times.”

Caroline was genuinely stunned. Four months?! I’ve been in a coma for four months?! “I lost five mo—oh my God, Jenny!”

“Relax, Caroline, Jenny wasn’t with you at the time of the accident,” Dr. Marsh assured her.

Patrick nodded. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Jenny’s with my mother right now. She and my father flew down from Pittsburgh as soon as they heard about the accident so they could help me with Jenny.”

“Oh,” Caroline said quietly. Four months. I missed Jenny’s second birthday! I missed four months of her life and my own life because some stupid tire blew out on me. Damnit, I almost died as senselessly as Chris and Lisa did.

“Why don’t you relax?” Dr. Marsh suggested. “I know that this is a lot to take in right now.” He and Patrick and the nurse left the room.

Caroline was still in shock. I can’t believe I lost so much time. She heard two pairs of footsteps walk away from the room and then another set approach the room but stopped just outside the door and she heard a muffled voice. What the hell? Is that Don? As quickly as she could, she removed the oxygen tube from her nose and unhooked the IV that was in her wrist and got out of bed and managed to make her way to the door somehow. She pressed her ear to the door and listened as well as she could.

“She doesn’t remember the information, Donald,” Patrick said. “Not a clue. She doesn’t remember a damn thing from the entire month of February, in fact. The last thing she remembers is the night before I was back on my feet from that knee injury back in January.”

Lydecker sighed. “I’m not happy that you were careless enough for her to access the information at all, Patrick, but I am glad that you placed those hidden cameras in your office.”

Caroline was seething, though mostly at herself. Damn! I should have though of the possibility of hidden cameras!

“What should we do?” Patrick asked. “Should you send another one of those kids to finish the job or should we let things stay as they are?”

“No, we’ll let things stay as they are, at least for the time being,” Lydecker told him. “As long as she has no memory of those days, she isn’t a threat.”

“I’m still not sure why you ordered the hit on her in the first place,” Patrick said. “It’s not like I love her, even after all the years that I’ve been on this assignment, but 599 has been gone from Manticore for four years now. What damage can she do?”

Caroline could almost hear Lydecker’s glare and raised eyebrow. “You know exactly what kind of damage she can and would do, especially if—“ He was cut off by a nurse wheeling a cart down the hall. “Let’s finish this discussion in my hotel room.”

“It’s your call,” Patrick agreed. The two of them walked away.

Caroline just sat there stunned for a moment before she made her way back to her bed, climbed in, and rehooked her IV and put the oxygen tube back in her nose and lay back on the bed. I was almost murdered. Don tried to have me killed because I found out about my son. How could he have done this to me? Why? She covered her face with her hands and sobbed bitterly.

TBC