The Accident ••• an AJR Fanfic

• 3: We're Not Okay •

They all quickly stood up when they saw Jack's doctor from around the corner. He led them back to his room and they could tell it wasn't going to be good.

   "From what I can see, there's not much we can do as far as Jack's memory loss." He said.

   Jack looked sadly up at everyone who was surrounding him. He reached up to hold Gracie's hand. She glanced down for a brief moment and he softly smiled up at her.

   "Just try to remind him of things, show him things that are significant to him, tell him stories, whatever seems important, let him know that. Some patients I've seen with a similar condition will sometimes remember little things here and there, so be sure to do that." The doctor explained.

   "Okay." Adam said. "Is there anything else we can do?"

   "Not much, unfortunately. I can't imagine how hard this must be on you three. If you have any concerns, let me know." He paused. "We're going to get him discharged as soon as we can, and schedule him for a checkup on his wrist in about eight weeks."

   "Thank you, doctor."

The doctor walked out of the room with his clipboard, and the four of them exchanged glances. Jack looked like he felt incredibly guilty and Gracie could see the pain in his eyes. But it didn't even come close to the hurt she could see in the eyes of his brothers.

Jack slowly pulled his hand away from Gracie's and started anxiously picking at the skin around his fingernails.

   "Are you okay, Jack?" Gracie asks.

   "Yeah, I just still feel really badly. About making them so sad." He said, looking up and Ryan and Adam.

   "It's okay, you don't have any control over what happened." Gracie tried to reassure him.

   "It's really okay, Jack. We know you didn't cause any of this to happen." Adam said, quietly.

   "Really?" Jack asked. "You're not mad at me because I don't remember you?"

   "No, of course we're not mad at you!" Adam said, stepping around the bed and grabbing Jack's hand. "I can't be mad at you for something that could have happened to any one of us. Right Ryan?"

   Ryan nodded, still looking really sad.

   "Thank you." Jack said, tearing up. "Can I hug you?"

   "Yes, of course." Adam smiled, leaning down and hugging his little brother.

   Jack turned to Ryan and was about to say something when the doctor returned to the room.

   "We can go ahead and get Jack discharged now. I know it's late and I'm sure you folks are eager to get home." He said.

   I glanced up at the clock on the wall, and it is getting close to midnight.

   By twelve thirty, we were rolling Jack outside into the parking lot. He looked around curiously at the tall buildings around us. He didn't say anything, but he looked like a little kid looking up at the moon for the first time.

   It was a quiet drive home, no more than ten words were exchanged the whole ride to Jack and Ryan's apartment.

   They led Jack into the elevator and up to their floor. Ryan unlocked the door and they were met with an excited Shay the second they opened the door. Gracie later found out that the old couple in the apartment next door had been coming over to feed Shay the past two days.

   Shay immediately ran up to Jack and started scratching at his legs and trying to lick his hands.

   Jack looked a little uncomfortable and tried to back away from her. Adam started to pet her and she moved her attention to him instead of Jack.