Author's Note: Well, I decided to write another fanfic. As you'll find out in the prologue, it takes place 4 months after the episode "Heart and Soul" I don't want to give too much away, so please read, and REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! I need to know what you all think. I'm posting the first three chapters all at once, but after that it might be a few days or so between updates. I'll warn you if it will be more than that.
Prologue: It's been 4 months since Sam moved into Melinda's garage. Sam and Mel have grown close over the course of those months, and have even started dating, although Sam's confusion and amnesia and Mel's grief have created obstacles in their newfound relationship. Melinda hasn't stopped trying to help Sam get his memory back, however Sam is still hesitant and unsure if his past is really something he wants to remember. Until….
Sam bolted upright in bed, breathing heavily, drenched in cold sweat. Trying to catch his breath, he shook his head, as if the gesture could expel the nightmare from his thoughts. Once he had pulled himself together a bit, he decided he wasn't going to fall back asleep anytime soon. He got up, grabbed his black Yankees t-shirt from the footboard of his bed, and pulled it over his head. He then quietly made his way into the house, praying that he wouldn't wake Melinda.
Once he'd walked through the door connecting the garage to the house, he noticed that the light was on in the kitchen. He paused for a moment, debating whether or not he should just return to his room. Then he heard something; it was soft, nearly inaudible, but when he listened more closely he could distinctly hear the sound of someone quietly crying. He padded into the kitchen and stopped a few feet away from the table where Melinda sat, head in her hands, silently sobbing.
"Melinda?" He called worriedly.
Mel looked up quickly, startled, and then took a quick breath and tried to brush away the tears that were flowing down her cheeks. "Sam." She said, her voice broken. "What are you doing up? It's three in the morning."
"I could ask you the same thing." Sam replied, taking a seat directly across from Melinda.
Mel looked at him. His eyes were full of concern; he was making the same face Jim would make when he was worried about her. That only made the tears fall faster.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked.
Melinda only shook her head, not trusting herself to speak without breaking into hysterical tears.
Sam looked down at the table in front of her. A photo album of some sort was open. In it were pictures of her and her husband. On their wedding day, hiking in the woods, hugging in front of a cruise ship… He now understood why she was crying.
"You miss him." He stated softly.
Melinda tried to take a deep breath, but ended up hyperventilating. "I thought… that it would get easier over time. But it's not. Everything I see…. Everything I do reminds me of him. And I can't…. I can't…" She was unable to finish her sentence as she broke down once again, burying her head in her hands.
Sam moved his chair closer to her, until their knees were practically touching, and he took her into his arms. He held her even tighter as her whole body shook with her sobs. She was holding onto him for dear life, clutching his shoulders until her knuckles were practically white. If he felt any pain, though, he didn't care. His main concern was the woman in his arms, who he found himself deeply in love with although he only just met her. If she wasn't alright, neither was he. That was the connection he felt to her.
After a few minutes, Mel's crying slowed to a stop, and she quickly pulled away from Sam, wiping her face with her sleeves. She looked at him regretfully.
"I am so sorry…" She said. "I'm such a mess right now. You shouldn't have to deal with this. I…"
Sam interrupted her, taking her hands in his. "Hey. It's okay… Don't even worry about it." He said soothingly. "You're hurting. I see that. And you don't have to apologize for it. I just wish there was more that I could do."
A small smile crept across Melinda's tear-stained face. "You're here. That's more than I could ask for."
Sam released one of her hands to trace away a stray tear below her eye. "I know my business." He said goofily, smiling his crooked smile.
Mel let out a short laugh. That was something Jim used to say to lighten the mood when she was feeling down. How was it that she could miss someone so much when they were technically sitting right in front of her? She glanced at the memory book on the table, and sighed.
Sam looked down at the book as well. He pointed at the picture of Mel and Jim in front of the ship. "When was this taken?" He asked.
"In October. We went on the last cruise of the Clairdon for our anniversary." Melinda answered, a hint of nostalgia in her voice.
"Hmm." Sam mumbled, as if he was thinking of something. "May I?" He asked, about to turn the page.
"Yeah. Go ahead." Mel replied, a bit too enthusiastically. She had been hoping for a while that Sam would look at the pictures, and that they might jog some memories.
He flipped through a few pages, pausing to carefully view each photo individually. His brow creased as if he was deep in thought. Then he caught Melinda watching him. He locked eyes with her, cocked his head a bit to one side, and asked:
"Do you ever get the overwhelming sense of deja-vu?"
"What do you mean?" Mel asked.
"Well, this is gonna sound crazy, but looking at these pictures… I feel like I've been all these places." Sam said. Then he waved his hand in the air, dismissing the thought. "Never mind. It's all in my head. It's gotta be." He went back to looking at the photos.
Melinda was about to speak, when Sam pointed at a picture and blurted out:
"Wait. There! I know that place!"
Melinda looked at the photo he was referring to. It was a picture of her and Jim at the lodge… The lodge where Jim was shot. It was taken when they had first arrived. Before Natalie had seen the ghost, before they all knew the truth about Hunter, before her world was torn apart…
"How do you know that place?" Melinda asked quietly, her voice shaking.
Sam closed his eyes and tried to remember. Then it hit him.
"The nightmare I just had… I was there. It felt so real…." He trailed off.
Melinda leaned forward a bit and put her hand on Sam's arm. "What happened?" she asked.
Sam stared off into oblivion as he retold his dream.
"I was inside the lodge. There was a man… He had a rifle. I was trying to wrestle it away from him. I finally got it. I was holding it in my hands, when I heard a gunshot. It wasn't the rifle, though. It came from outside. And then I just felt excruciating pain tearing through my shoulder… I fell. And when I opened my eyes, I saw….. You…." Sam trailed off. He looked at Melinda, wide-eyed. And then he was suddenly struck by a series of flashbacks, playing out in front of his eyes like a movie on fast-forward.
His brother, Dan, dying in his arms. Meeting Melinda for the first time when her apartment complex was burning down. The Umbrella Room. Their wedding. His mother, Faith. The accident when a wheel blew out on the ambulance. Andrea and the plane crash. Professor Payne. Gabriel. The memorial service where he almost lost the love of his life. Tom Gordon. Camping in the woods. Trying to have a baby with Mel. The cruise. Hunter and Neely. His death, and refusing to cross over because he couldn't bear to leave Melinda. And the man who died in the accident. Sam. He saw his spirit cross over, and he saw his body. It was his only chance….
And then, as soon as the flashbacks started, they stopped. And everything dissolved into darkness