Dirty Visual

A severe head injury was luckily the worst of Brian’s injuries. He had a sprained wrist and a few of his ribs had been broken. Brian’s lucky he’s still alive. It had been three days. Each day everyone went to see Brian; they hoped he would wake soon.

Zack and Matt took the boys to the hospital just after their shifts ended. They slowly made their way towards room 209. When they entered no one expected to see Brian sitting up and watching TV. But they were also surprised when he was found holding a blond woman’s hand. “Hey Matt; its good to see you buddy.”

“Brian, how are you feeling?” Matt asked taking a few steps into the room. The woman turned around. Zack didn’t miss the catch in Matt’s breath when he saw her. What? Did he have a crush? And why is Brian holding her hand?

“I’ve been better.” Brian smiled slightly; he winced when the stitches on his lip pulled.

“Michelle what are you doing here?” Matt wondered; he slowly rocked the baby in his arms. Recognition set in. Brian’s ex wife was here, trying to take him back.

“Better yet; who is he?” She pointed at Zack. She stood and made her way over to Zack; Michelle held her hands out. “And why is he holding Jared?”

“This isn’t Jared.” Zack stated pulling the baby closer to his chest. “This is Bentley.”

“I’m Jared.” The little boy stepped up closer to his dad’s bed. Brian looked at him with a curious stare.

“What kind of joke are you trying to pull Matt?” Brian glared at his best friend; his gaze turned to Zack. “Give my wife our baby.”

“Brian what’s going on?” Zack studied his boyfriend. Why would he do this to me? Why now?

“I have no idea who you are. Hand my wife our baby and get out.” Brian demanded, slightly leaning up on his hospital bed.

“Brian you know this is Zack; your boyfriend of like a year. You two adopted this little boy and have been raising Jared together.” Matt spoke pointing to each person as he named them.

“Matt, get the fuck out and stop messing with me. You know I am married; now give me my Jared and get out.” Brian nearly yelled.

“Daddy I’m right here.” Jared was in tears looking at his dad.

“Get out!” Brian screamed making everyone jump. Jared ran right to Zack who wrapped his arm around the little boy.

“Excuse me but I need to ask you to leave.” The doctor spoke behind Zack and Matt. After much protesting Zack was finally talked into leaving the room; the hateful glare that his boyfriend gave him was enough to make him want to cry.

“Doc what’s going on with my boyfriend?” Zack wondered with tears welled in his eyes.

“Why is he acting like this? That woman in there hasn’t been in his life since his little boy was young. He doesn’t seam to recognize any of them and he thinks Jared is still a baby when he’s seven.” Matt was confused too.

“We have determined that Mr. Haner has obtained memory loss. For some reason he can not remember anything recent. And with how he spoke he still thinks his oldest son is an infant so he can not remember anything from approximately the past six years.” The doctor gave the men a sympathetic look.

“What do I do about our kids?” Zack asked no one unparticular. “He doesn’t remember one growing up and doesn’t know the other one at all.”

“Do you have custody?” The doctor asked.

“Yeah; I adopted both of them.” Zack rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I suggest you take them home. We do not know how long this memory loss will last; it could be temporary or permanent. Come back after everyone has had a chance to calm down and spend some time with Mr. Haner.” The doctor suggested.

“He thinks our baby is Jared and assumes we are joking about us dating. His ex wife wants to take our baby and he thinks Bentley is Jared.” Zack panicked. Brian could take him to court to get their boys.

“She can not take your children away from you. If you are taken into court we can bring up Mr. Haner’s medical files and get you temporary full custody until his memory recovers. But it may never do so.” The doctor spoke. “Do not force memories upon him or he may get agitated because he can no remember you or doesn’t believe it. We can show him facts like blood work proving his son is the eldest but I would rather not even force that for now. He needs time to recover.”

The doctor left them all standing in the hall, feeling helpless.

Notes