Summary- Sequel to Missing on Christmas Eve. Suze tries to shut herself off from the rest of the world after her attack. Will her family and friends be able to teach her to learn to live again? Should read MOCE before reading this.

Disclaimer- I own nothing but the plot.

A/N- just to let you know, the story will be in Suze's POV.

I looked down to see blood pouring from my chest. I placed my hand over the wound and coughed in pain. An evil laugh made me look back upwards.

'Why?' I choked out. I could feel myself slowly slipping into unconsciousness.

'Oh, come on, Suze. You know why,' they said. He leaned in close to my face, just millimetres away. All I could see was a pair of icy blue eyes staring at me. 'De Silva shouldn't have won. And now he hasn't. Goodbye, Suze.' He leaned in and kissed me. A harsh kiss. Nothing like the sweet, tender kisses I shared with Jesse. And I was helpless.

He smirked at me and placed the gun in my hand. I dropped it instantly and crumpled to the floor. I watched as the stranger removed himself from the scene and left me to die.

I looked down at my wound again. My hands were covered in my warm blood. I began to cough for air. I couldn't breathe. I was suffocating…

'Querida, please wake up,' a soft voice whispered. I felt something warm drop onto my cheek and soft fingers wipe it away. Fingers began to gently stroke my hair. 'Querida…'

My eyes slowly fluttered open and I found myself starring into Jesse's tearful eyes.

'Querida,' he whispered. A tear slowly rolled down his cheek. I tried to lift my hand to wipe it away but I couldn't. I felt as if I was on the ocean floor, being held down by a thousand tonnes of concrete. His hand slowly stopped stroking my hair. He smiled weakly at me.

I tried to fight back the tears but I couldn't. I hated seeing Jesse this scared and upset. I couldn't bear it. 'Please, Susannah, don't cry. 'Everything is alright now,' Jesse said as he gently wiped the tears from my face.

I looked around at my surroundings. White walls, beeping machines… the hospital. I hated hospitals more than anything.

A male figure slowly opened my door and walked inside, followed by a female figure. I tried to shrink down in my bed, scared. I didn't know who they were. Jesse must have noticed because he began stroking my hair again. 'Shh… this man is your doctor. There is nothing to be afraid of.' I slowly began to relaxed.

'Hello, my name is Dr Ashe, and this is Nurse Swan. I'm glad you're awake. You've made remarkable progress over the past twenty-four hours.' He came up to me and slowly removed my oxygen mask. I hadn't even noticed it was there.

'OK, I'm just going to adjust your bed so that you can sit up. Would you be able to step away for a minute, sir?' he asked Jesse.

Jesse nodded. 'Don't worry, Susannah, I'm not going anywhere,' he said stood up from the chair. I was silent as they adjusted my bed for me. When they were done, Jesse sat back down in the chair and took my hands within his own, gently resting them in my lap.

'Are you able to tell me your name?' Dr Ashe asked.

'Susannah… Si…Simon,' I coughed.

'Good,' he said. 'What about your age?'

'I'm eighteen,' I said slowly.

Dr Ashe nodded to himself and scribbled something down in the clipboard. 'Can you tell me your address?'

I paused. I couldn't remember anything. I slowly shook my head. 'What can you tell me about your family?' Dr Ashe asked. I thought about my family. My mother, father… maybe even a sibling? I shook my head, unable to remember anything about them. 'Do you remember this young man?'

I nodded, relieved that I could answer another question. 'Jesse de Silva,' I said quietly. 'My boyfriend.' I felt Jesse relax next to me, obviously thankful that I had remembered him.

'Miss Simon, you have suffered a nasty blow to the head, not to mention an extremely traumatic experience. We believe they are the reason for your amnesia.'

I bit my lip. 'What's going to happen to me?'

'We are going to keep you in here for observation until you are well enough to return home. Of course, if you haven't remembered anything by then, we may have to keep you here for longer,' Dr Ashe explained. 'Although, there is another option. We can release you into the custody of Mr de Silva, as long as he has a clean record with the police. This is only due to the amnesia.' I sighed. 'It doesn't matter now, you have plenty of time to think about what you would like to do. I'll just check the machines and leave you alone.' He smiled at me.

I stared at Jesse as the doctor checked the machines and recorded stuff in the clipboard. After what seemed like hours he had finally finished.

'Good news, Miss Simon. If you continue to heal at this rate you should be out of here in a week,' Dr Ashe said. 'Would you like me to let your family and friends know that they can come in now? It may jog your memory, and I'm sure they would love to see you. We were only accepting one person at a time until you woke up.'

I shook my head slowly. 'No,' I whispered. 'I don't want to see anybody except Jesse.'

The doctor sighed. 'Very well, I'll tell them that.' He replaced the clipboard and quietly left the room, followed by the nurse.

I looked at Jesse. 'How are you feeling?' he asked.

A tear rolled down my cheek. 'Not good. I'm so scared, Jesse,' I confessed. He gently wiped my tear away.

'Susannah, everything is going to be alright. I promise you that I will be here for you, whenever you need me,' Jesse said and smiled at me.

We sat there in comfortable silence before I quietly asked, 'Jesse, what happened to me? Why am I in hospital?' I saw something flash across his eyes- hatred, maybe- but it flickered away. 'Please tell me.'

'Susannah, I don't think you're ready to hear it. You should rest first.'

'Please, Jesse. I have to know what I'm so scared of. Whatever happened… I'm terrified. Please, I have to know…' I whispered.

'Querida, please don't argue with me. I… I don't want to have to be the one to tell you. I love you too much. I don't want to see you scared.'

'If it gets too much for me, I promise to tell you to stop,' I said. 'Please. I would rather hear it coming from you than a doctor whom I barely know.'

Jesse sighed. 'Alright. Do you remember Paul?' I shook my head. 'Paul Slater… he was… very, persistent… he was convinced he was in love with you. Apparently, one night he realised that it wasn't him you were meant to be with. It was me. You told me you had worked things out between you. But you obviously hadn't. Last night, I assume he waited in your room until you entered alone. The doctors said he had whacked you across the head with a metal pole, and that you would have been unconscious instantly.

'He took you back to his place. I don't know what happened there. Apparently he drugged you with a substance that they weren't able to recognise. I found you just as he was about to… to k-kill you.'

I gripped onto Jesse's hands. 'No more…' I whispered. 'Jesse, you won't leave me, will you?'

'Of course not!' he said shocked. 'I love you, querida, and that is never going to change.' I smiled at him.

'I love you too, Jesse.'

I was unusually quiet over the next few days. Jesse knew something was wrong, but I couldn't bring myself to talk to him. I couldn't bring myself to talk to anybody. Paul, whoever he was, had left me scared. Scared of everybody, even those I had once loved.

Jesse quietly opened the door to my room. 'Good morning, querida,' he said. 'I brought you these.' He showed me a bouquet of flowers. White orchids, to be exact. I smiled and remembered why they were so significant. He placed the bouquet on the shelf, next to the other flowers I had been receiving. Even though I couldn't remember any of the people who had been sending them, it was still reassuring that there were so many people who cared for me.

He sat down on the edge of my bed and laced my fingers within his own. 'I missed you,' I whispered.

'I wasn't gone for long. You know I would have rather stayed, but I needed a shower and change of clothes,' he said.

'I'm sorry, Jesse. I've been occupying all your time and I haven't said anything to you over the past few days. You have classes you need to be going to,' I said quietly. I sighed. 'As safe as I feel when you are here, you don't have to stay here all the time. You must get bored just sitting here in silence for most of the day.'

'Shh, querida. I can never get bored in your company. As for my classes, I will catch up. You are what is most important to me, and right now, you need me to be here by your side,' he said. He gently kissed my cheek.

'Um, I have something I want to ask you,' I said.

'What is it?' he asked.

'What colour eyes does Paul have?' I asked quietly.

He gave me a funny look. 'Blue. An icy blue. Why?'

I bit my lip. 'Every time I close my eyes, I see a pair of icy blue eyes staring at me, and hear laughter ringing throughout my ears. And every night, I have the same dream. I've been shot, by a stranger with blue eyes. They kiss me, harshly, and then leave me to die.' I whispered.

'Susannah, we don't have to talk about it,' Jesse said. 'I know you are scared, querida, but you don't have to face up to anything just yet. Not if you don't want to.'

'But he won't go away. He won't let me rest,' I said.

'Querida, just relax. I promise you that everything is going to be alright. I am here for you, and I always will be. I will help you get through this,' he said soothingly and rearranged himself so that I could lean my head against his chest. He gently began to stroke my hair.

I sighed. 'Jesse, what's going to happen when I am released? The doctor said I could leave in two days, but I still can't remember anything about my family and friends.'

'The hospital will release you into my custody. You will come and live with me in my apartment until you are able to remember your family. Then we will decide what's best for you,' Jesse said matter-of-factly.

'What about my mother and father? How will they react when they find out I'm going to be living with my boyfriend in his apartment?' I asked.

He paused. 'I'm not sure how they will react, Susannah, but I will make sure that they understand that it is in your best interests that you are living with me.' I had a feeling there was something else he wanted to say, but wouldn't. I let it drop.

I smiled. He really does love me a lot. 'Thankyou, so much, Jesse. I love you.'

'I love you too, querida,' Jesse whispered into my hair. A few minutes later, I opened my mouth to say something when I saw a shimmer at the end of my bed. I gripped onto Jesse's hands, afraid of what was about to happen.

A figure slowly materialized. I let out a small cry. He was the man from my nightmares. The man who had shot me and left me to die. The man with the icy blue eyes.

Paul Slater.

A/N: Just so you know, I had planned on continuing it, but I decided to stop it there. It just felt right… ya know? Anyways, please review, so I get off my lazy ass and update.

And sorry about there not being that much in this chapter.

starryxnights