How many fingers was Yakko holding up? Was he teasing her? "I . . . I used to know."
"Hey, hey!" That seemed to delight him. "I know that sound. Someone is a little cognitive again." Yakko turned around in his chair, coming much closer. "How are you feeling?"
Aroma thought about the fingers he held up. "I can't think in ones." She looked at her hands and laid them all out. "Ten. Twenty. I cannot think in ones."
"But you can think!" Yakko threw confetti in the air. "You made it back, congrats."
Made it back? Aroma looked around. The colors were more muted. "I see differently." Colors. "Blue. Black. White. Grey."
"Okay, but you are still okay. So what if you lost a little bit? You are lucky Scratchy understood your notes," Yakko said again. "I am sure your big diction will return. So will your abrasive and hellish personality."
Aroma stared behind him. Dot and Wakko were fighting over a jar of cookies like . . . what was the word? "It's not as rude as idiot. Its more sciencey in its meaning. It's."
She watched Yakko snap his fingers like he was disappointed. "Stay here. In this conversation or you won't ever get better." He held up some notes. "From your own words too."
Her diary. That should have sparked rage inside of her, but it didn't. It was probably where they found a way to try and help. Her memory was weak. Her last thoughts were trying to remember her name. From there, she knew she was in a . . . A . . . "Trouble. Bad trouble place."
She looked back at Yakko. Upset again. Okay. Her big words that always made her feel safe. They had left her. "I am in the tower?"
Yakko smiled again. "Yep! I took personal care of you while you were incapacitated. Welcome back. Hopefully if you are back. You are still saying some words here and there in incomplete sentences."
He spoke so much better than her now. Aroma would be pulling herself into . . . "If I were home. I would get. Help. From smart warners in . . . In . . ."
"Therapy," Yakko said easily.
Therapy. "I forgot therapy. Its my last name." She forgot her own last name.
"Yeah, well, Scratchy will have a sachon or two," Yakko said.
"Sachon?" What was a sachon?
______________________
"Sachon? No, session. S-e-s-s-i-o-n?" Yakko shook his head. Not good. She didn't even recognize that word? "Wow, you really did lose it all. On the plus side, at least it improved your personality," he smiled. "One minute."
He rushed over to the other two, stood on top of the jar of cookies, and stole it. "Hey! Has no one noticed our guest is actually feeling better? You know, speaking straight again? Clear in the head? Quit fighting over the cookie!"
He stole the cookie. Really! He thought some of the guilt wearing off would make them feel better. It did for him.
"Your wife is back. Yay. Congrats." Dot didn't sound enthused. "It was her own research, of course it worked. Does that mean she can buzz off now?"
"She isn't, uuuuh?" How should he put it?
She didn't even recognize the word session," Wakko said. Guess he was paying attention. "Her big words are gone."
"Big diction dictionary lost her words?" Dot asked. "Well, that kind of thing happens when you chew on bars. Do you think she will get it back?"
"No idea," Yakko confessed. He was happy she was just better. "I better get her to Scratchy. He's the pro. Maybe he'll know." That and he could touch on the subject that drove her to that state better than he could.
Yakko went over to get her, but she had gone asleep. The stuff she was taking tended to knock her out a lot.
_________________
Scratchy's office
Aroma opened her eyes. She felt like she had fallen asleep in their meeting. "Sorry for dozing off."
Scratchy was watching her intently. "How do you feel now?"
Feel? She didn't remember telling him what was wrong yet. "How do you think I feel?"
"What I think isn't important. How do you feel?" He insisted.
Hmm. "Confused."
"Tell me about this confusion."
"I feel like . . ." Strange. She felt? Not bamboozled, but like she should be on the other side, asking the questions. "Lost and confused. Scared. I want to go home."
"What makes you scared?" He asked her.
Aroma thought about it. She had dreamed of Yakko being there. No, not there. In the tower. He had been caring for her. "How insane is Yakko?"
The doctor seemed to lose his composure slightly. "Um? That is tricky to answer."
"I need to know. I have important news to tell him." Was her dream right? Could Yakko be . . . "Coggy. Cog." No. The words. "Yakko is a staircase. I need to know how high he has climbed." That made no sense! "I mean. His brain is like a staircase." No, that wasn't going to work. "Can he handle serious stuff?"
"Are you referencing the reason you were here before?" The doctor asked.
"Before?" Confusion. "This is the first time we have met."
"Oh. Oh, I see," he answered mysteriously. "No, it is not. The last time you were here, you were too kooky to understand. I called the warners for help."
Kooky? Oh. "That is why." That was why her mind didn't feel the same. "Did they find something left behind. I made."
"They found your notes which helped you," he answered. "Once we saw why you went kooky. It is okay, it would be normal to feel overwhelmed after such news."
News? He did know. "Does Yakko know?"
"Yes, but he does not know how to process it as well either," he revealed. "Abortion is not an easy concept."
Abortion? "Oh. That isn't what I came about. I was becoming insane because of body changes. There are . . . Words." How to explain? It was like she couldn't use her words, yet she still emotionally understood. "Many warners gave good guesses that the brain would be different if a warner got pregnant."
"Oh. Yes, you could have had physical changes moving through that process."
He still didn't understand. "I am still moving through it. I did not have an abortion."
"You are still pregnant?!" He had smacked his face with his hand. "That is illegal!"
Yes. "The doctor did not want to deal with Yakko. He let me go. I want to go home."
The doctor was shaky now. "Oh no. If? I mean, it is illegal but if a Warner baby is born? Then. Then, you become a race. You have freedoms."
"I need to find a way home," she insisted. "Can I trust Yakko to help? To understand?"
"Well? Well." The doctor did not look as sure. "This is? I mean he has shown that . . . Then again, something like this? How do you feel about it?"
Telling him? He did help her find herself. This was different though. "I do not know."
"If he handled it well, the Warners could help protect you here. It would not be revealed until after it was born. Then, all of you would be free. All warners, everywhere."
Freedom. If they helped and she stayed. "Which to choose."
"My suggestion would be to stick around him and be sure of your decision," he answered.
Around him? "The Warners hate me."
"At first, but they realized what you were actually doing with your research," he said.
Hmm. Getting close again? Presto was gone. No, that wasn't his name. And? "I am still married to Yakko. That fact saved me." She was grateful. "I will cave and give him a date out of being grateful."
The doctor seemed to understand her intentions. The closer she was to Yakko's good side. The easier the decision would be. Which was good because there was a confident knock on the door. Aroma answered it, knowing who it would be.
"Hey there!" Yakko greeted her dressed like a repairman. "Still functioning?"
"Um? Yes," she answered. "Thank you. For your help."
"Thanked, I am getting thanked?" Yakko asked. "Well then?" He leaned up closer. "You want to finally give me that date willingly? I'll extend your warranty."
Aroma tried to think. I feel like I have a high fever, but I'm not warm. "Your . . ." She did not know she was still married to him before the whole pregnancy reveal. She needed to be careful. "Presto is married to me?"
Yakko laughed. "Yeah, no need to worry about Presto. I am still married to you. So about that date?"
She nodded. He helped restore my mind. Maybe he can handle more. Maybe I judged him wrong?
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Author's Note: Sorry for the long hiatus. You can take a look at conversations in my profile to know more. To sum it up, I am now physically and mentally capable after a real hard 2020 to really get back into writing again. Here's to looking forward to a much better 2021.