"You're not my parents." Kyle stared at the people in the doorway.
"Noah, honey, that's the amnesia. You just don't remember us." She smiled, stepping closer to the bed.
"Don't come any closer to me." He tried to sit up in the bed, and he glanced to Nichole for help.
She didn't know what to do, what to say. "Maybe now's not the best time ... for this." She tried to be diplomatic, but she didn't want to surrender Kyle to these people. But if they were his parents...well, it was hardly fair to keep them apart.
The couple shared a glance, and the man slipped an arm around his 'wife's' shoulder. "When is a good time, Mrs. Trager?"
"Never."
Nichole was surprised by the venom in Kyle's voice, and she glanced to him. "Kyle..."
"His name is Noah." The woman's nostril's flared as she regarded her 'son'.
"My name is Kyle." Pleading eyes searched Nichole's, begging silently for her help. "I don't want them here."
Lori slipped out of the room, and none of them tried to stop her. She was glad for that. She hurried to find Kyle's doctor, certain this couldn't be considered 'resting.' If nothing else, she wanted to buy him some time.
"Noah, sweetie, you don't mean that..." The woman tried to move closer, but Nichole rose, blocking her advance.
"Maybe you should let him rest, and come back later."
"That would be my suggestion." The doctor stepped into the room. "He's had a nasty shock, and he needs to rest. All of you, out."
There was an uneasy silence in the room. Kyle gripped Nichole's wrist. "Don't go." He wanted a few minutes, to try to talk to her, about everything he should have talked about before. He had an awful suspicion about these people, and he didn't want to go anywhere with them, or have anything to do with them.
Nichole looked at the doctor, who nodded to her. "Five minutes." And he ushered the others out, despite the protest of Kyle/Noah's 'mother'.
Once Nichole had sat back down, Kyle gave her an abbreviated version of the past few days, along with his suspicions about his so-called parents, and what he'd seen at the carousel. He ended it with "don't let them take me away, please."
Stunned, Nichole didn't even know what to think, or where to begin trying to think. When the doctor came to get her, she stood unsteadily, and walked numbly from the room. She decided that someone should be there, with him, where they could see his door, at all hours.
She didn't want anyone to kill him.
Once outside of the room, Nichole made her way down the hall to Stephen, the rest of her family, and Kyle's friends. She didn't know if it was safe to talk here, and she suddenly felt as though she'd been thrust into some sort of spy novel. The thought made her laugh, but it was that shaky laugh that verged on hysteria.
Stephen slipped an arm around his wife, rubbing her back. "Is everything okay?"
"No. It really isn't." She looked at the people gathered there. "Amanda...I hate to ask, but we have to go...pick up some things for Kyle. Can you stay and just...watch his room? Make sure everything's okay?"
"Mom, I can stay." Lori quirked a brow, wondering why her mom wanted Amanda to stay, and not one of them.
Nichole smiled to her daughter. "I know. But I need you to help me with Kyle's things." She hoped Lori was bright enough to read between the lines.
Lori drew breath to protest, but there was something about her mother's expression that curtailed it. "Sure..I'm sure he'll be fine with Amanda." She pointedly ignored the look that Charlie and Hilary exchanged - and Amanda missed.
"I'm going to take Hilary home, then. As long as you're staying." Charle smiled to Amanda, leaning in to kiss her cheek.
"Sure. I'll see you in a little while then." She smiled up to her charming, wonderful boyfriend before she settled back down into one of the ugly orange chairs. But it put her in line with Kyle's door, so she could see...whatever it was Nichole wanted her to see.
Amanda waved them off, then reached for a magazine. She wasn't going to read it, but it gave her something to do with her hands, and a pretense - in case someone was watching her.