Chapter 1

"This is all my fault," Seth moaned.

"It's not your fault," Ryan said sharply.

"Yes, it is. I'm the one who played tug-of-war with the bottle with her."

Summer had been in the emergency room for nearly an hour now. Ryan had called Sandy and Kirsten as soon as they got to the hospital and they were on their way. Marissa was now passed out, her head on Ryan's shoulder.

Seth had told Ryan as much as he could about what had happened without giving the details of the conversation. Seth knew that he had more than one reason to feel guilty, if only he hadn't upset her so much none of this would have happened. He knew that Summer's dad wasn't around very much but he had no idea that she practically lived in that big house by herself.

If Summer didn't make it through this…..He shook his head. No, he couldn't think this way.

Sandy and Kirsten came rushing into the waiting room and Ryan stood up to greet them.

"How is she?" Sandy asked.

"We don't know yet. The doctor is still with her," Ryan said.

Kirsten sat down beside Seth and put her arm around his shoulders.

"We should call her parents," she said.

"They're not home," Seth sighed. "They're in Europe, probably."

"Who's staying with her at home?" Kirsten asked.

"That's the thing, I don't think anyone is staying with her."

Her brow wrinkled in concern. "Poor girl…"

Sandy looked over at the still sleeping Marissa. "I'll call Jimmy, tell him to come pick Marissa up."

"I'm going to talk to the nurse," Kirsten stood up. "Somebody needs to sign the papers. Do you boys want anything to eat?"

Seth shook his head.

"We're fine, thanks," Ryan said.

His parents left the room and Seth buried his head in his hands. Ryan sat down beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't blame yourself."

The time that passed since his parents arrived seemed to stretch onto forever for Seth. In reality it was only around thirty minutes later that doctor came out. The Cohens and Ryan all stood up.

Please let her be alright, please let her be alright…Seth silently prayed.

"How is she, Doc?" Sandy asked.

"She's fine," the doctor said and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. "She suffered from a concussion and we worried that the impact of her head injury, along with her alcohol consumption, may have caused her to slip into a coma, but she's awake."

"Can I see her?" Seth asked eagerly.

Doctor Jenkins, as his name tag read, looked uneasy. "But I'm afraid I do have some bad news…."

Seth paled. He didn't like the sound of that.

Sandy put a hand on his son's shoulder reassuringly. "What is it?" He asked.

"Are you her parents or guardians?" Doctor Jenkins asked.

At this point Kirsten spoke up. "No, we're not. But her parents are currently overseas and unavailable. We're all that girl has right now. Please just tell us if there's anything wrong."

"I'm afraid that she's suffering from memory loss. She seems to be aware and in the right frame of mind, so we can presume at the moment that no severe brain damage has occurred. But she is unable to recall anything prior to the head injury, including her own name.

Seth slumped down into a chair.

"So she has amnesia?" Ryan asked.

"Yes. Right now, it looks to be retrograde amnesia, meaning that she can't remember anything before the head injury occurred. She has no idea who she is, why she's here or who any of you are."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes, taking in the full impact of the doctor's words.

"Is it temporary or permanent?" Sandy asked.

"We don't know. I'm sorry," Doctor Jenkins said.

"Can I see her?" Seth asked again.

"She can have visitors," he agreed. "But one at a time, too many people all at once may overwhelm her."

Seth jumped up and followed the doctor down the long hallway. They reached Summer's room and the doctor opened the door. Seth's heart nearly stopped at the sight of her. She looked so small, so fragile lying on the hospital bed, and the guilt threatened to overwhelm him.

"Looks like she fell asleep again," Doctor Jenkins whispered.

Seth sat down on the chair beside her bed and barely noticed as the doctor quietly slipped out of the room.

Seth tucked a strand of hair behind Summer's ear and took her hand. She looked so peaceful, a huge contrast from the Summer that was screaming at him only a few hours ago.

"I'm so sorry, Summer," Seth whispered. "So so sorry."

He lifted her hand and kissed it then rested his head beside her on the bed. He closed his eyes and just lay with her for a few minutes.

"Who are you?" He heard Summer whisper.

Seth sat up suddenly. "Summer!"

She looked up at him in confusion.

"Summer Roberts…that's your name."

"Like the season?"

Seth smiled. "Yeah, like the season."

"What's yours?"

"Seth….Seth Cohen."

He noted that Summer seemed very serene and calm, very different from the loud, confident, and feisty Summer he was used to. He wondered if it was the amnesia that was causing this or whatever drugs they had put in her, maybe both.

There was a long silence between them where Summer was just looking at him, scrutinizing him in fact. It was like she was seeing him for the first time and Seth had to remind himself that she was. Nevertheless, he felt very self-conscious under her gaze. But he didn't dare say anything in fear of upsetting her.

"Who are you?" She asked again.

Seth was confused. "I'm Seth-"

"No," she cut him off. "I know who you are, I mean who are you?"

Seth didn't know how to answer her. Who was he to her really? The reality was Seth Cohen was nobody to Summer Roberts. It's not like he could tell her about the kiss they shared a week ago.

"I'm-" he started to say but was interrupted when Dr. Jenkins came in with his parents. Summer grabbed Seth's hand and gripped it tightly, not liking the onslaught of strangers coming into her room.

"It's okay," he said soothingly. "It's just my parents."

Kirsten stood next to Seth. "Hi sweetie, I'm Kirsten," she smiled kindly and Summer relaxed considerably.

She yawned. "I'm really tired."

"We should let you rest," Doctor Jenkins said.

Kirsten pulled the covers over Summer and smoothed them in a very motherly way. Summer smiled gratefully at her and closed her eyes.

Kirsten leaned over and whispered in Seth's ear. "We need to talk outside."

Seth nodded and followed them out into hallway where Ryan was waiting.

"Do you really not know where her parents are?" Doctor Jenkins asked Seth and Ryan.

"She practically lives alone…I had no idea," Seth muttered looking down at his shoes.

"Does she not have a guardian or another family member responsible for her?"

"We're really not that close with her family," Kirsten said. "I can call around in the morning though; find out where her parents are and how to contact them."

"Her father is Doctor Roberts, right? He specializes in cosmetic surgery. I can make a few calls myself. If he's overseas on business, we should be able to find him."

"Will she get her memory back?" Seth asked.

"Sometimes the amnesia only lasts a few days. But there are cases where it lasts weeks, even months, which is why it is imperative for us to get in contact with her parents. We're going to have to keep her under observation for a few days and run some brain scans."

Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a look. "You can just go ahead and charge everything to us, Doc," Sandy said. "It's no problem."

He looked taken aback. "Are you sure?"

Kirsten nodded. "Please, just give her the best care possible. We'll speak to her parents and sort everything out later on."

"Alright then," Doctor Jenkins agreed.

Seth had never been more grateful for his parents than right at that moment.

"Can I stay with her tonight?" Seth asked.

"Well…we don't usually allow visitors overnight but I think it might help her to not be alone right now."

Seth looked at his parents pleadingly. They looked at each other again. Seth often marveled at how they could do that. It was like they could hold entire conversations just by looking at each other.

"Okay," Sandy agreed. "You can stay."

"I'll bring you some clothes and stuff tomorrow morning," Ryan offered.

"Yeah, thanks. Could you have Marissa pack some stuff for Summer? Oh and…" Seth lead Ryan a small distance from his parents and Doctor Jenkins who were talking. "Maybe Marissa can find some photo albums?" Any childhood toys that might have meant to Summer?"

Ryan nodded. "We'll take care of it."

"Ryan," Kirsten called. "We're leaving."

She walked over to Seth and hugged him. "Eat something, will you?" She said as she pulled away. "There's a vending machine around the corner."

"Mom," he smiled. "I'm fine. Really."

Kirsten nodded and after a final wave to his family, Seth entered Summer's room once again.

She was still sleeping, the moonlight peeking through the curtains falling across her face illuminating her and making her look like an angel.

Seth sat down in the chair again and held her hand. He laid his head beside it and closed his eyes, the exhaustion night's events taking over as he fell asleep.

A/N: I did quite a bit of research on amnesia and what I found out is that amnesia is more often than not sensationalized and exaggerated in TV shows and movies. FYI, retrograde amnesia as it is described in the story is actually very rare in real life. It is much more common for head injury victims to suffer from short term memory loss rather than long term. But that doesn't fit in with the story I want to write so I'm going to have to go the Hollywood way. Lol. From here on out, don't expect the medical stuff to be completely accurate.

Oh and this chapter was a bit boring, at least to me. But the ball will get rolling very soon so don't worry. ;)

Thank you everyone for your reviews, they're very much appreciated.

Oh and about The Essence of Life. I know I've neglected that story and I'm really sorry about that. Right now I'm lacking inspiration for it and there are a bunch of other stuff in my head that's begging to be written down so I'm going to give priority to that. I can't promise anything but maybe sometime in the future when I'm not so bogged down by other stuff, I might just pick it up again. Not that I expect anyone to still be interested in it by then. lol. :D