Bailamos? | Mark Owen [Take That]

Chapter 53

Liz's POV

As soon as I could, I gave Greta a call to tell her the news: Angie and Mark had had a fight and she had gone to take the first plane to the States. Also, I told her the sad news about Mark, that he had been involved in a car crash. Gre quickly phoned a friend she had at Heathrow to see if he managed to contact Angie but we had no luck - she had already boarded the first flight of the morning to New York.

If Mark hadn't been involved in the accident, I am sure he would've arrived to the airport on time to stop Angie from doing yet another stupid thing.

We had all spent the past few days at St. Mary's - or maybe it was a couple of hours - waiting for Mark to come around. Howard and Gary took turns to stay at the hospital until Mark's parents arrived from Manchester.

At midday, Jason arrived with his girlfriend, Paula, who made me feel not so out of place as we waited for some news. Truth is that I didn't feel comfortable there - not just because I hate hospitals, but because I had the feeling that I was intruding in the lads' private lives.

Early that afternoon, once Keith and Mary had arrived, Gary reluctantly went to his place to rest for a bit and dropped me at mine. He picked me up a few hours later to go check up on Mark's condition. We had arrived to St. Mary's on time, I thought, when we saw Dr. Ross and Mark's parents walking out of his room.

"How is he?" Gary anxiously asked as we joined everyone else.

"He is--- okay," Dr. Ross started off. "What I wanted to tell you Mr. and Mrs. Owen, is that I am afraid that your son is suffering from what we call PTA" He kept talking as we listened carefully to what he was saying. "Post-traumatic amnesia."

"Oh my god!" Mary exclaimed and her eyes instantly welled up.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked. "He doesn't remember anything?"

"It's not like that," Dr. Ross went on. "What we normally call amnesia is a profound memory loss, usually caused by a physical injury to the brain or for example by the ingestion of a toxic substance which affects the brain---"

"But they said Mark doesn't have a proper concussion?" Howard said shaking his head. "How can he suffer from amnesia? What you've just said doesn't make sense---"

"Mr. Donald," the doctor interrupted Doug and kept talking patiently. "Amnesia refers to a profound memory loss as I said, but PTA refers to the period during which the patient - Mr. Owen in this case - who has suffered a traumatic brain injury is confused, disoriented and unable to lay down new memories. Even when Mr. Owen hasn't suffered a serious brain injury, he will experience a short period of PTA - he is indeed experiencing it at the moment. He lost consciousness when the accident happened and---"

"But he will be alright, won't he?" Gary interrupted and the doctor raised his eyebrows.

"It's too soon to tell now, but I hope he will. Most patients recover but some others just don't," He told us and had a deep intake of breath before he would carry on speaking. "There are some tests the doctors will be doing to Mr. Owen to determine the progress of his memory recovery though."

"How long will this take? Days? Weeks? Months?" Keith asked as Mary listened in horror to everything which was being said.

"I can't assure you it will take just a few days - each patient is a different individual and the way in which their memory recovery will progress varies from patient to patient..."

"But--- what kind of things doesn't he remember? His name? His dog?" Gary asked.

"From my own experience Mr. Barlow, and from what Mark has told us, I think I might be right in saying that he's experiencing a type of PTA called retrograde amnesia. This basically means that he lost memories for the time period before the injury. He might have lost memories from days, months or perhaps years - we will know as soon as we get him tested."

"He lost old memories?" Jason asked. "What kind of memories?"

"Well, he mentioned something about his girlfriend---" the doctor trailed off.

"Angie?" Gary interrupted and Keith shook his head, replying that Mark had been talking about Helen.

"What!?" I gasped "How can he---"

"He also said that you went out last night..." Keith told Doug and Jason.

"We didn't..." Doug shook his head "We've been rehearsing for a month and last time we went out was--- a bit over a month ago..." he said as he glanced at Jason. "When we went to---"

"Attica..." the three of them murmured.

"Then he apparently lost memories from the past month," the doctor kept talking. "But don't worry, I am sure he will gradually get them back."

"And what if he doesn't?" I asked worriedly "What if he doesn't remember and---"

"I am sorry miss, but no-one can assure us that he's going to recover 100% of the memories he seemed to have lost," Dr. Ross kept speaking as if everything was normal and I gasped again. "As I can't tell that he hasn't lost any older memories..."

"Could he--- possibly not remember things that happened twelve years ago?" Gary asked as if he had read my mind.

What if Mark didn't remember Angie at all? What if everything he had felt for her had just vanished for ever at the exact the moment in which he had the accident?

"Probably, yes." Dr. Ross stated seriously. "Now, he's asked for you and I told him you were going to see him - just do not get in the room all together, alright? Go into the room in turns; do not speak all at the same time; try not to ask him questions such as 'do you remember when we---' but say something like 'we really had fun when we---' okay?"

"What about the things he doesn't remember? Should we tell him about the things he doesn't remember so he---" Keith trailed off and the doctor shook his head.

"No, no... don't force him to remember anything and try not to present to him too much information - he might get overwhelmed and he can even become upset, thinking he can't cope with it all..."

"I'm sorry to ask this but..." Doug started off and after hesitating a bit he asked. "What about the concerts we have next week? Will he be able to attend them?"

"Unfortunately there's too little time for a full recovery - if you had to do those concerts in two months or even in a month, I'd tell you that he would probably make it..." the doctor shook his head. "Now if you please excuse me, I have to check up on some other things. Will you please come with me Mr. and Mrs. Owen?"

"Sure..." Keith said and both him and Mary walked away with the doctor, leaving the four of us staring at each other with worried looks on each of our faces.

"I'm sorry but I must dash..." Paula said after a few moments of silence. "I've got to get things ready for tomorrow's meeting and---"

"You want me to go with you or---" Jason trailed off.

"No, thanks baby. Tell Mark I said hi..." she said smiling. "See you guys - a pleasure meeting you Liz."

"Same here Paula" I smiled.

"Bye sweetheart" Jay kissed her "Love you..."

"Love you too..."

As I watched Paula walk away, I wondered if Mark would ever tell Angie he loved her.

What if he didn't remember her? What would happen then? I had to make sure they got back together somehow, but the doctor said that we didn't have to force him to remember anything which used to be in his memory. Although I was pretty sure that Angie wasn't just in his memory but in his heart too.

Jason and Howard went into Mark's room first, leaving Gary and I alone in the hall. Gaz was nervously passing his hand through his hair as he walked the hall bearing an uneasy look on his face. I couldn't believe what we had just heard the doctor say - Mark could probably never recover his lost memories. Mark could've forgotten Angie... for good.

Gaz walked to where I was and asked me in a soft voice. "Alright?"

"Mark doesn't remember her," I said as I felt how my eyes were misting over. "He remembers Helen but he doesn't remember---"

"Oh he will remember Angie..." he told me and wrapped an arm around me.

"What if he doesn't?"

"We'll force him..." Gary chuckled.

"The doctor said---"

"Nothing, he said nothing." He interrupted me. "Once Mark's completely recovered we'll make sure he and Angie meet again... A love like theirs can't be forgotten."

"I hope you're right..." I sighed and pressed my head onto Gary's chest.

"Trust me, all of us will have a happy ending..."

"Ha, all of us?"

"Yes..." he cupped my face in his hands and stared right into my eyes. "And that includes you and I."

As I got lost in Gary's eyes I thought of nothing. Instead, I remained immobile as I watched him bring his face closer to mine until our noses touched, eagerly waiting to feel his soft lips on mine.