Familiar Somehow

Aria continued happily babbling about something Angel couldn’t quite decipher as she snuggled up against her and Eddie watched the two of them with a slight smile on his face. This was so strange. So foreign. Shouldn’t being home have triggered some of her memories by now?

She didn’t recognize this adorable little girl or the man fondly watching over them. Now that she had her glasses on and could look around the room, none of this opulence looked familiar either.

Her bedroom was huge. There were beauty products scattered all over the vanity and the bed could fit four people easily but there was still tons of space in the room itself.

It was decorated in a rather feminine manner and she couldn’t help but wonder if Eddie stayed in this room too or somewhere else. There was only one dresser. Once again she found herself questioning the sort of relationship they had.

A knock sounded on the door and Angel looked up to see a man with light brown hair, blue eyes, and more delicate features than Eddie wearing a gray suit and looking rather stiff. His attention was entirely on her fiancé.

“Sir, I brought the doctor you requested to help retrieve Mrs. Todd’s memories. I have already cleared your schedule for the day and plan to return to the office and continue with paperwork unless you have other instructions.”

The man’s gaze finally made its way toward Angel and he did a double take. She frowned. Why was he looking at her like that? Come to think of it…this person looked familiar somehow. She was almost certain she knew this face.

“Who are you?”

He finally snapped out of his staring. “Mark Hanover, ma’am. I’m Mr. Todd’s executive assistant. We’ve met many times.”

That didn’t seem right. How could she know her fiancé’s assistant’s face on sight but not her fiancé’s or her daughter’s? There had to be more to it than that. He was only vaguely familiar but there was definitely more recognition there than with anyone she had met since getting hurt.

“I know you,” Angel insisted. “I don’t know from where, but I definitely know you.”

Eddie looked between the two of them and scowled. “Tell me Mark…why does she recognize you when she doesn’t recognize me or Aria?”

“I have no idea! You’ve been present for all of my interactions with her; we almost never speak to each other directly. You have to believe me sir,” Mark practically begged.

His eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t explain anything.”

Angel’s head was hurting again. Where did she know this man from? But seeing the blind panic on his face she felt a little sorry for him. Eddie seemed to think he had done something wrong but it probably wasn’t his fault she only recognized him.

“Don’t be mad at him Eddie. I don’t know why I know him either, just that I do.”

Eddie deflated slightly at her words. “Fine. Just bring the doctor in and get out of here. You have work to do.”

Mark seemed relieved as he scuttled away. “Yes sir, thank you!”

The doctor was a man in his fifties and he set his bag down on the other side of the bed. “Your assistant explained the situation to me. The patient was found washed up on a beach with a bump on her head and doesn’t remember anything?”

Eddie nodded grimly. “Yes. Except apparently she recognized my assistant. She hasn’t recognized me or our daughter.”

“Memories can be funny that way. I wouldn’t worry too much. Remembering anything at all is a good sign. The best way to help her is to surround her with familiar things but you don’t want to overwhelm her either because that can have a negative effect. What information can you give me about the patient? Age, medical history, and so on.”

He sighed and wearily rubbed his forehead. “She turns twenty-one next month. She’s had epilepsy since she was a child so I’m not sure if this injury was related to a seizure or not. She also has insomnia, anxiety, and bouts of depression but her primary care doctor thinks those are all related to the epilepsy.

“She can’t handle flashing lights very well either but she hasn’t had any seizures for over a year so she has a driver’s license and everything…she takes medication twice a day that helps manage them so I don’t know why it would suddenly stop working. She’s religious about taking her medicine.”

The doctor nodded to show he was listening. “I see. Were there any complications with her pregnancy?”

“She had a few seizures but that was only because they had to change her medication to one that’s safer while pregnant and it took some adjustment. She spent a lot of time on bed rest after that because she didn’t want to trigger any more. I don’t know much about her seizure frequency before I met her,” Eddie said as worry creased his brow. “Is that a problem?”

He shook his head. “No. More recent seizure activity is what I was interested in anyway. How many has she had in the time you have known her?”

“It’s been nearly four years now and if I’m remembering correctly she’s had six. But like I said, none in over a year. She was doing really well so I don’t know why this happened.”

“We can’t be positive her injury was because of a seizure,” the doctor pointed out. “Does she go to the beach often?”

Eddie looked even more confused. “Not at all. Her mother drowned in the ocean after falling overboard on a dinner party they were attending on a yacht. She’s been afraid of it ever since.”

Angel, who had been listening intently to the two of them this whole time as she tried to work around her headache, frowned. Afraid of the ocean? No…that was wrong. She loved the ocean. She was certain of it!