Soon You'll Get Better

Seven

"No!" Linda yelled at the nurse and doctor who were trying to take away her man. She hadn't figured out his name yet, but she knew she wanted to bear his children. "No! Give him back!"

Danny was surprised at her outburst. He wondered what caused it, could it be the brain damage? Speaking of brain damage, how bad was it? Could she remember what she learned for nursing? Could she remember how to cook all those fantastic meals? Could she remember how to drive?

"I want him!" She reached out for him, "I want.."

The nurse, doctor, and Danny all watched as he face scrunched up, her yelling temporarily ceased.

Slowly, she said his name. "Donnie. I want Donnie." She pointed to him, making the 'come here' sign with her finger.

"Close. It's Danny." He said, walking back to her, despite the doctor's orders. He was never one for orders anyway.

"Danny." She repeated, smiling as he took her hand in his.

"The Doctor has to do some tests, but I'll be here." He pointed to a corner of the room where he'd be out of the way. "You have to let the doctor do his thing, then I'll come back and hold your hand, okay?"

Linda really didn't want him leaving her, but he did say he'd be in the room, and he'd come back to hold her. She nodded, frowning when he let go of her hand.

Danny listened intently to what the doctor was saying to the nurse. He didn't understand most of it, but by the looks on their faces it wasn't good.

**********

"How is she?" Henry wondered when the doctor came out to talk to him. All the adults in the Reagan family were listed as contacts and confidentials, so they didn't have to go through the awful hassle of HIPPA (a system Linda praises and cursed at the same time).

"The brain damage is... not what we thought. The learning part of her brain was not damaged, so she doesn't have to relearn anything."

Henry sighed in relief, knowing how hard it would be to relearn forty three years of your life. "What's the bad news?"

"The bad news is pretty much everything else was messed up. She's talking, but the words are a little slurred and she's taking long pauses mid-sentence. She also has a stutter, but not how you probably think. She holds the first letter of every word and every new syllable , like this: Mmmmis.....ter Rrrrrea... gggan."

"Otherwise she's talking normally?"

"Mostly. It seems as though she can't remember the big words, not yet anyway. We're trying to get her to let go of her husband?"

"Danny."

"Danny, so that we can do some CAT scans and an MRI. She seems to think that the sun revolves around her husband. She's always looking to him for answers, and when we tried to do normal tests like blood pressure tests and eye tests, she screamed at us."

"Will she be screaming a lot?"

"At first. She has no control at the moment, no filter. But we're not sure to the extent of the injuries or if they're fixable until we get those tests. It's a test just trying to get her to let go of Mr. Reagan."

Henry almost corrected the doctor, but asked his question instead. "Does she remember anything?"

"It doesn't seem so. Nurse Bea said she had a lot of trouble remembering her name, and only really remembered when Danny said 'Linda'. Linda must have a deep connection with Danny, because, even with the temporary memory loss, she knows him. You could tell she knew him, she just didn't know what he was to her."

"You said temporary memory loss?" Though Henry found it sweet Linda loved Danny that much, he wanted to hear more about the memory loss.

"Yes. We're hoping it's going to be temporary. She seems to be remembering some memories, once Danny tells her. Like the rings- he told her what each of her rings meant, and it seemed like she vaguely remembered. But we need those X-rays to make sure."