“I’ll believe that, if and when I remember it,” Sean sneered.
“It happened,” Noel insisted.
“I’m not even convinced that’s the Mitchell Yates I know.” Sean heaved a tired sigh. “I don’t know what to believe, Noel. I want this nightmare to be over with.”
“I can understand that.”
“I just want to go home; I want my life back,” Sean said as they entered Medical.
“Hopefully that won’t be too much longer,” Noel returned with a tired smile.
Sean followed Noel into his office. “Please have a seat, Sean.” He gestured to a recliner.
Sean took a seat pulling the lever to raise the foot rest, leaning back, and lacing his hands together across his abdomen.
“Good. Now I want you to relax. We’re just going to have a little conversation. What I’m going to do is go a little deeper than I did before to help you focus. I touch your forehead for about thirty seconds and that will be it. You won’t lose consciousness but you do need to close your eyes. It helps you see what you’re trying to remember much easier than if they were open. Are you ready?” Noel pulled his chair over and sat next to Sean.
“Yes. Is it the same as before? I open my eyes to come out of it?” Sean asked.
“No.” Noes explained. “I’ll have to bring you out of it with another touch but you will be able to converse with me and you’ll remember everything we talk about. If you become too uncomfortable with my questions, you may ask me to end the session and I will.”
“Okay. Let’s do it.” Sean took a deep breath and said a silent little prayer he’d remember something that would trigger the complete return of his memory.
Until that happened, he’d be stuck in limbo.
Noel reached over and touched Sean’s forehead.
“That’s it? I didn’t feel anything.” Sean said.
“That’s it. Now take a few deep breaths, close your eyes, and try to clear your mind. I’m going to ask you some questions and I want you to answer with as much detail as you can remember.” Noel said.
“Okay.” Sean said as he took a deep breath.
“Shoot.”
“All right. You were working on the Angleton case.
Do you remember that?” Noel asked.
“I do. It was a nasty case but the evidence was mounting up. We were sure we had him.” Sean clearly remembered this.
“What is the last thing you remember about working on the case?” Noel asked.
“There was a lot of paperwork. I remember clearly working on that ‘til late.” Sean said.
“Then what?” Noel asked.
“I went home,” Sean answered easily.
“Nothing else?” Noes asked as he made his notes.
“No. I just went home,” Sean repeated himself.
“And nothing happened?” Noel pushed for more details.
Sean was silent a few minutes, wet his lips with his tongue, and frowned, trying to remember. “I remember driving and checking out all the cars around me.”
“Were you being followed?” Noel asked.
“No. At least I don’t think so.” Sean’s memory seemed to be graying out somewhat.
“What happened next?” Noel asked.
“I drove into the parking garage at my complex, where my condo is. Everything looked fine. I was almost to my parking spot…” Sean knew there were memories there but they were too vague to describe.
“Did something happen?” Noel asked hoping they were going to uncover another piece to the puzzle.
“Yes.” Sean sucked in a deep breath; his hands gripped the arms of the recliner nervously.
“Tell me what happened.” Noel encouraged.
“Someone was shooting at me,” Sean explained. “It all happened so fast. First a bullet shattered the windshield; then more bullets hit the door. I remember tires screeching, my car was hit and spun around and someone called my name.”
“Who was it?” Noel asked.
“Yates.” Sean answered, puzzled by the revelation.
“What did he want?” Noel pushed for more detail.
“He wanted me to get into his car,” Sean said as the foggy memory cleared a little. “His door was open. I looked out and I could see two men coming in my direction. I had no other choice. I jumped into Yates’ car.”
“Go on,” Noel encouraged.
“He turned the car around and tried to drive out but the ramp was blocked by another car with two more men.
He tried the other exit but it was blocked as well. He pulled into a parking space and turned the ignition off.” Sean spoke more confidently now as the memory became clear to him.
“What happened then?” Noel asked.
“I peeked out and saw them coming for us.” Sean gripped the arms of the chair as he remembered the fear.
“And?” Noel prodded as he scribbled frantically to keep up with his notes.
Sean thought for a few minutes then said, “I must have passed out. The next thing I knew we were in a place I’d never been before. It was here! Here in Medical. I had gotten a flesh wound in the shoulder and you fixed me up. I remember that now. That’s when I met Evie! She came running into the room after you left. She thought Yana…
Yates… Yates is Yana!” The truth of that dawned on him and he went on. “She thought he had been hurt because she had heard he was in Medical.”
“You remember all that clearly?” Noel asked.
“I do,” Sean confirmed confidently. “Evie asked us to some party that was going on in the courtyard. Then Caroline came in then, and the two of them left.”
“Very good, Sean. You’re doing very well with your concentration.”
“I can see it all very clearly now. I can’t imagine how I forgot it.” Sean relaxed a little.
“What else do you remember about that night?”
Noel asked.
“I remember my shoulder hurt like hell but then you put that gauze on it and in a few minutes the pain was gone,” Sean remembered with a smile.
“Anything else?” Noel prompted. “What happened after I left?”
“Yates and I sat in the waiting room and talked.
That’s when that jerk Jimmy came in.”
“You didn’t like Jimmy?” Noel grinned.
“Hell, no!” Sean said with disgust.
“Do you remember why?” Noel asked.
“I needed answers and he was trying to get Yana to go off with him,” Sean explained.
“Did you get the answers you were seeking?” Noel asked.
“Some of them, it was funny though.” Sean struggled to understand his feelings.
“What was?” Noel stopped scribbling and looked up.
“Yates. He was different.” Sean recalled his confusion.
“How was he different?” Noel asked.
“Not at all like the Mitchell Yates that I knew.”
Something nibbled at the back of his memory—something important that he should remember.
“Describe the difference? Did he look different?”
Noel returned to his notes.
“No. He looked the same.” Sean explained. “He just seemed… I don’t know, like he was concerned about me.”
“And the Mitchell Yates you knew wasn’t like that?” Noel asked.
“Absolutely not. He was a thug.” Sean felt sure he remembered that much correctly.
“Do you remember anything else about that night?”
Noel asked.
“Yes. We were both exhausted. We went to our rooms and slept for a few hours then we went to the party.
We found a table and ate and talked.” Sean said as the cobwebs in his mind seemed to fade a little.
“And what did you learn?” Noes asked.
“Yana told me about himself and this place. He said he was born here and this was his home,” Sean answered.
“Go on,” Noel encouraged.
“I learned a lot about Yana, who he really is and why he di
d the things he did. I learned about Jimmy and what a pain in the ass he is. I learned about Evie and her parents and you and the Elders.” A little more confident now, the words tumbled out.
“What’s the most important thing you learned about Yana?” Noes asked. “The one thing you found hardest to believe?”
“That he was with this group, the Peace Keepers.”
That answer was easy for Sean.
“Go on.” Noel sat back in his chair and listened; clearly pleased
“They’ve been in there all day; how much longer do you think it will take?” Yana broke the silence as he and Aaron sat killing time in the waiting room.
“I don’t know. It’s nearly six. Why don’t we go get something to eat? They’ll have to break soon.” Aaron said.
“You’re right. Sitting here is driving me nuts and I don’t know if they’ll stop for dinner or not. They may eat in there and keep on going.” Yana agreed and they headed out the door together.
“What will you do if this latest focusing thing doesn’t work?” Aaron asked when they were finished with their meal.
“I don’t know. I don’t even want to think about that.
It would be up to Noel or maybe the Elders.”
“What options do they have?”
“They could get together and tell him all that’s happened; or maybe just a part of it. Or maybe they’ll turn him loose and let him go on his way. God, I hope that doesn’t happen!” Yana cringed.
“He’d probably want to move back down below,”
Aaron said sadly.
“Then I’d move down there, too. Have you ever known anyone who has gone through this treatment before?” Yana asked.
“Yeah, I have. It usually works. There’s only one time I can recall where it didn’t. It was with a guy with severe brain damage.”
“Well, Sean is in good shape physically,” Yana said.
“Yes; we have to keep that in mind. It’s probably just taking so much time because Sean is asking a thousand questions.” Aaron tried to lighten the mood for both of them.
“He does like to ask questions,” Yana agreed with a nod.
An hour later, they walked out of the restaurant and started up the ramp, making their way back to Medical.
“Yana!!!”
Yana looked up in time to see Sean come barreling down the ramp in a dead run. Yana took off and met him half way. Sean nearly knocked him over, grabbing him in a bear hug.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He murmured the apology over and over between kisses.
“It’s okay, Sean. It’s okay,” Yana mumbled.
Except he didn’t feel okay. Grateful to have Sean’s memory back, certainly, but not okay. Not yet.
Sean took his hand and dragged him up the ramp, finding a deserted hallway. “No, it’s not. I was—” He stopped, swallowed hard. “They did things to me, Yana. I can’t—”
“I know, Sean. I’ve seen what they can do.” He lifted a hand, cupping Sean’s face. “I understand why you shut it out. But how could you forget… us?”
“I don’t know, Yana; I really don’t. You’re the most important thing in the world to me; you’re all I care about; you’re my life! When you didn’t come for me right away I thought I’d lost you. Nothing mattered. I guess I just blocked everything else out.”
“I couldn’t get back to you any faster,” Yana explained. “I was injured in the blast and in the chamber for three days. When I got out I expected to see you there waiting for me. I had no idea you hadn’t transported or I never would have.”
Sean knew Yana wouldn’t have left. He knew everything. Finally.
Sean enfolded him securely in his arms, caressing the back of Yana’s head. “We’re together again. That’s all that matters,” he whispered as he trailed little kisses down the side of Yana’s neck. “Oh God, I love you so much! I can’t believe how badly I treated you. Can you ever forgive me?”
“Is that the drugs speaking or is it you?” Yana teased, his green eyes flashing pleasure of things to come.
“Oh, it’s me, babe. Or have you forgotten?” Sean kissed him then, letting his hand run down Yana’s back and coming to rest on his butt. “Let’s go home.”
Sean grabbed Yana’s hand and hurried back to their room and through the door. The short span of time it took them to get from the door to the couch found them both naked and wrapped so tightly around each other it was difficult to tell where one body ended and the other began.
Sean sat, shirtless, with his bare feet on the coffee table, leaning back on the couch, with Yana’s head in his lap. Sean stroked Yana’s forehead gently.
“I still can’t believe that I forgot all this.” Sean ran his fingers through Yana’s hair.
Yana grinned and kissed his way up Sean’s chest to his lips. “I’ll just have to do a better job from now on and make sure I’m not quite so easy to forget.”
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I was born in Elmira, New York, grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, married a Texan and lived all over Texas the last 30+ years. I have four children, ran a day care center for many years and have been writing fan fiction since I was thirteen. I love long walks alone so my mind can ramble. I love reading and my tastes run from historical novels, to sci-fi, to westerns, to classics, to WW2, to biographies and anything else that catches my eye. I have a mad fondness for dictionaries, atlases and encyclopedias and have boxes and boxes of them. Show me a map and I’m enthralled for hours. I know—I’m weird.
I love absolute total quiet, very little TV, occasional movies (about one a year), wild life (animals not people—though I’ve known many people who might fit into the animal category). I love the beach, birds, cats, newborn babies, flowers and great big smiles. Oh, and hugs!
I hate total darkness, (I confess I must have a night light to sleep), flying, (no, no, no. Tried it a couple of times but never again!), people who talk endlessly about themselves, intolerance and bigotry.
My biggest asset? My wild and endless imagination.
My biggest fault? I’m a Libra and simply cannot make a decision.
Website: http://donnamcintosh.weebly.com/index.html Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4806891.Donna_
McIntosh Email: [email protected] ALSO BY DONNA MCINTOSH: Available from Silver Publishing:
HOME
The Missions
Available from Secret Cravings Publishing:
Survival
Tanner
The Christmas Gift
The Bodyguard
Jason Willoby
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The Cop and The Hooker
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Under Texas Skies
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