„Dr. Shepherd, good, you made it here," the nurse looked relieved.

"What's going on, Harriet?" Derek asked, a little out of breath.

"Dr. Wilson has been moving a lot, seems like she's waking up," the nurse told the neurosurgeon expectantly. Derek couldn't help but cast a small smile.

"I knew she could do it," he said. "Shall we?" he held the door to the patients' ward open for Harriet.

They entered Jo's room, meeting groggy, confused eyes.

"Good to have you back, Jo," Derek smiled at her in anticipation. He walked closer, trying to get a good view of his patient. The nurse stood by, handing the chart to her superior and pushing some more morphine for the patient.

Jo wriggled slightly, seemingly uncomfortable and coughed.

"Dr. Shepherd?" she asked in slight discomfort. "What's going on?"

"Take it easy," Derek replied, watching the young woman trying to get up. The nurse helped the woman to a sitting position and couldn't help but smile either. The patient seemed to be doing very well considering what had happened to her. Jo grimaced in pain.

"You still have a very sore body. Your arm was completely crushed and you had a brain bleed we had to fix. Also you came in with a lot of contusions to your torso and limbs, so let's be reasonable about getting up."

Harriet put some more pillows behind Jo's back and provided her some physical comfort. She also brought her a wet cloth to freshen up and some ice chips for her dry mouth. Jo immediately seemed to feel better. Her looks were still a little confused.

"How are you feeling?" Derek gave her a scrutinizing look.

"Um…" Jo cleared her throat. "A little squished to be honest," she smiled crookedly.

"Do you feel like answering some questions for me so we could clear the air for neurological damage?"

"Uh… yeah. As long as I don't have to do advanced math or something," Jo joked, closing her eyes and sighing.

"You'll be fine. The surgery went very well but you did hit your head pretty bad. So let's make sure everything's still as it is supposed to be." He smiled encouragingly. "Please be sure to tell me when to stop anytime, we don't want to overdo it, alright?" Derek asked politely, telling the nurse quietly to page Dr. Karev while she was heading out to the nurses' station. She nodded.

"Okay, let's start with some warm up. Just tell me your name, your date of birth, where you were born," Derek looked at her expectantly.

"Jo Wilson, March 13th, 1987, Boston, Massachusetts," Jo rolled her eyes a bit. Derek chuckled.

"Well, it's a good thing you think that's something to joke about," he said. "Can you tell me where we are right now?"

"Seattle Grace, oh wait, I mean Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, Seattle," Jo said.

"Great, you are doing a fantastic job," Derek gladdened genuinely. "Alright, Jo, this will be harder. Don't panic if you can't recall everything at once, okay? Can you tell me, what is the last thing you remember, before you blacked out?" Jo nodded and closed her eyes for a moment.

"I remember finishing my shift and driving home. We had been fighting at the hospital already, so I was anticipating the fight to continue," Jo started. Derek frowned but encouraged her to go on.

"When I came home, we started the fight back up instantly. It just got out of hand. He was yelling things at me and I didn't have myself under control either, to be fair. But then all of a sudden he hit me. I mean he lost all control and he punched my face. I tried to get off him, I tried to, you know, defend myself, and I think I got him somehow but he wouldn't stop hitting me. He was so enraged, I think he wasn't even in his right mind," Jo dried the tears that were coming naturally while telling her story. Derek looked at her weirdly. She couldn't quite place it. She expected anger or something like that… or maybe at least sympathy. But to her, it seemed like confusion. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Well, Jo, please don't get upset, but I am confused. Can you tell me what day it is?"

"Um… I really have no clue how long I have been unconscious. But I guess it must be a couple a days from what was that, July 7th or 8th," she tried to recall.

"Were you talking about Karev?" Derek asked unbelievingly.

"What? No! No, why, what? No, I'm talking about Jason," Jo said, baffled about the question. She looked like she was getting upset. "Why would I be talking about Alex?" Derek looked at her, trying to put the pieces together.

"Jo, what year are we in?"

"2013," she shot out. She could see how the doctor in front of her tried to put on a mask but initially failed because she managed to get a glimpse of shock. "What's wrong?"

"Alright, Jo, you must not get upset now, okay?" Jo nodded slowly. Derek sighed heavily. "Today's date is October 17th, 2019," he said, trying to sound calm. Jo just looked at him.

"What are you saying?" she gulped heavily. Derek just nodded and walked back to the table at the window and retrieved the papers. He gave them to her and pointed at the date. October 17th, 2019.

"What does that mean?" she said, trying not to panic.

"It seems like you have a form of retrograde amnesia. I can't tell you much more, I will need to examine you," Dr. Shepherd said.

"Okay," Jo said, feeling uncertain. She thought about it for a minute. "Does this mean, I am not in here because Jason hit me?"

Shepherd shook his head. "No, Jo, that did happen, it just didn't put you in a hospital bed. That happened 6 years ago and you did defend yourself and it put him in a hospital bed and you got out," he mused. "Do you remember anything after that day?" Jo looked at him uncomprehendingly.

"I… I… I don't think so. I feel like this happened yesterday. I mean, how can you be sure, I mean, are you sure that… this is a little much," she said quietly.

"I know, Jo, but we will get behind this and we will do everything for your memory to come back, okay? I will order another round of head CT and MRI and you will have to go through some more exams with me, is that alright?" Jo just nodded.

"So, what did happen to me?" Jo asked part curious, part scared.

"You had a car accident. Two cars collided and a truck tried to bypass and hit you while doing it. You did a pretty nice maneuver, if you hadn't reacted that quickly, you would not be here right now," he said. Jo nodded again. She felt empty, she didn't know how to respond or where to start. Dr. Shepherd was scribbling in her chart while she was watching him suspiciously, when the door banged open and a frantic Alex came hurrying in. Jo smiled instantly, the first sign of comfort coming her way.

"Alex," she said sighing in relief.

"Karev, listen to me," Dr. Shepherd said sharply which made Jo turn her face around to look at him in confusion and looking back at Alex, who was quickly making his way over to her bed with a scary look on his face. He sat down sloppily on her bedside and engulfed her in his arms completely.

"God," he sighed heavily with a trembling voice. Jo was struck by how worried he seemed and hugged him back tightly with as much enthusiasm as her sore body allowed her.

"Alex, you need to listen to me before you do anything rash," Dr. Shepherd said again, a little louder. Alex didn't listen. He loosened their hug and looked at Jo piercingly, making her feel vulnerable.

"Don't you ever do this to me again, ever, do you hear me? You scared the shit out of me," Alex said in a still trembling voice, before kissing Jo full on the mouth, holding her tightly to him, careful though, knowing about all her bruises. The kiss was soft, but very intense and Jo's right arm immediately found its way into Alex's hair while her left arm was still fixated on a stabilizing tray since it had been crushed in the car crash. Jo's heart was beating fast and her breathing already got out of control. She could feel how Alex was fighting with emotions but the only thing she could really think about was how he was kissing her and how she couldn't get enough of his smell. They parted when Alex pulled back slightly, only to lean their foreheads against each other and softly stroking her cheek. He pecked her one more time before pulling away and getting up and examining her.

"How do you feel? Are you hurting? Did they give you enough morphine?" he looked between a shell shocked Jo and a sympathetic looking Derek. There was an awkward silence in the room. Since Shepherd didn't look like he was giving any answers to him, he turned back to Jo. "You look like I just kissed you for the first time, babe, what's going on?" he tried, his voice carefully joking.

Jo, who was trying to get herself back under control after that unannounced, unbelievably hot kiss she just shared with her best friend, and still confused about what the hell was going on with her, was trying now to get some words out. She coughed. "Well… you kinda just did…" she looked at him apologetically.

"What the hell's going on?" Alex asked suspiciously, again looking in between Shepherd and the patient.

"Alex, you need to hear this and I need you to not get upset when I tell you," Shepherd started. Alex was getting impatient. "We know little about it as of now but it seems like Jo has lost some of her memory with the head crash. She seems to get everything right up until a little over 6 years ago when Dr. Myers put his hands on her," he said slowly.

"What are you saying?" Alex again looked frantically between Derek and Jo who was giving him another very apologetic look. "You know who I am right?" Alex directed towards Jo.

"Of course, Alex, but I did know you before I met Jason," she said calming down a little, trying to calm Alex as well.

"So, you are saying…" Alex was confused.

"When I woke up, I thought I was in the hospital because Jason had brought me there after hitting me one too many times," she said matter-of-factly.

"And you don't remember anything after that…? Anything at all?" He looked at her unbelievingly. Jo shook her head slowly. Alex was speechless. He looked at her for a couple of minutes, mulling it all over in his mind. What happened? What did that mean? What did she know?

"I mean, we didn't elaborate much on it but for me, right now, I believe it's July 2013, I just got out of that relationship with Jason, I don't have a home because I didn't listen to you when you told me not to move in with that asshole, I am 26 years old, I am an intern at Grey Sloan Memorial and you and I are not on talking terms… and I guess I am talking a lot of crap. We obviously aren't on the same page since you just kissed me and in my world you won't even be in the same room with me right now," Jo rambled, speeding up the last part a bit out of embarrassment. Alex listened closely, trying to process what was happening. All of a sudden, he realized what he just did.

"Jo, I am so, so sorry, I shouldn't have, I mean, I didn't know, but I shouldn't have come in and just kissed you, I am so sorry, I didn't think, I didn't realize, I just, you were in that car crash and I couldn't think anymore and, God, Jo, I really am sorry," he rambled.

"Alex, Alex, stop! You couldn't have known, please stop apologizing. It's fine, really, you're fine. You're a good kisser," Jo tried to joke. Both doctors looked at her. "I guess it wasn't our first kiss, then?" she added a little less happy. Alex shook his head. He turned round to Derek for help.

"Alright, this is a lot now and I'm not expecting you to do everything at once. It is really important for you to rest and let your body heal. If you are okay with that we will go ahead and do the CT and MRI and then we will talk some more. Also, I know you are most probably not all in, but I would really urge you to talk to a therapist. We have some in the neurological department and he or she will help you try to get your memories back and also how to handle life from now on. I can't tell you anything right now, I don't wanna worry you but I also don't wanna give you too much hope."

Jo nodded understandingly.

"Does this mean she could be getting her memory back in an hour but this could also mean she could have lost it for good?" Alex asked in defeat. Jo looked up at him in sympathy. She thought about how much pain it must be to not be recognized. Well, at least, that's what she thought she saw in Alex's eyes. Pain. She couldn't remember 6 years of her life. 6 years were a long time, she couldn't even imagine what must have happened in those 6 years. Maybe they had a life together? Is that why he was fighting with all those emotions? Or maybe they were just dating? This was going to be hard. She looked back at Shepherd.

"Unfortunately, that's exactly what the prospect is as of right now. But let's do the exams first, then we'll know more, alright?" he smiled at her and left the room, squeezing Alex's shoulder on his way out. Alex stood a few feet away from her bed, not knowing what to do with himself. Jo felt like she should be upset, which she really was, but she also knew, right now, there wasn't anything she could do.