Disclaimer: I don't own As the World Turns, or any of its main characters. I do own this story, however. No infringement is intended. This original piece of fanfiction is being written for entertainment purposes only, and I am gaining no monetary compensation for it. So please don't sue! Besides, you wouldn't get much of anything from me anyway.

Author's Note: Because I wrote this story not long after Jack's car accident, there are a few things to consider when reading this story. In essence, this story assumes that: 1. Carly wasn't able to pick up Jack from St. Genevieve herself (use your imagination as to why). 2. That despite whatever the ATWT writers have in store for Julia and Jack, nothing happens between the two (at least, not romantically anyway). 3. That it's Hal Munsen who tracks down Jack in the first place, not Mike, Carly, or Parker… and picks up Jack from the hospital, despite everything else that may be going on in his life.

Summary: Jack returns home to his family, and his memory, six weeks after waking up in St. Genevieve.

Home Is Where the Heart Is by peacejaw

I do not remember Oakdale, but I do remember waking up in the St. Genevieve hospital. And I do remember what I was told about Oakdale. But to be honest, however, Oakdale is nothing but a fairy tale to me. Its almost as if Oakdale exists as a dream, one that sees very far away … even beyond all of my memories.

"Why can't I remember Oakdale?" I ask again. Hal Munsen, who I've since come to remember, is driving me back to Oakdale; and to my wife and daughter. He's been very upfront with me and has answered most of my questions. But he won't tell me what I really want to know: how I lost my memory in the first place.

"Because you haven't regained all of your memory yet," he answers automatically.

I sigh and turn to look out the passenger window. Nothing looked familiar to me despite the fact that we are now on the outskirts of town. It was almost terrifying to be facing something so unknown, so unfamiliar to me. It doesn't help that I feel so inadequate and helpless right now.

"I know that you want me to tell you about the day of the accident," Hal admits somewhat warily.

"Damn straight!" I grunt.

"We don't know everything, Jack…"

"Then tell me what you do know!"

And after a moment he did. He told me about tracking someone named Starsiak to where Molly McKenna was staying, about how the women rightly defended herself, and about how I made a snap decision to take Starsiak to the hospital on my own. What he couldn't do was tell what happened on the way to the hospital, as he didn't know himself.

When he was finished, it was all I could do to say, "Oh".

"Yeah."

A moment passes in silence, even though we aware driving through the heart of Oakdale. Then two. A third quietly passes before I could voice what I wanted to ask.

"Could we go to where the accident happened? I'd like to see if visiting the place would help me regain some of my memory…"

"I don't think so. Your doctor said not to push yourself so hard."

"But Hal…"

"No buts, Jack," he says sternly. "The trip home is more than enough for one day."

I can't really blame him for wanting to protect me; he's like family to me. Still, I know what I have to do. "You don't understand, Hal. I know that seeing where the accident happened will help me. I just know it will."

"What makes you so sure?"

"A gut instinct, mostly."

He nods once, and after a moment, we pull over. Slowly I get out of the car and make my way onto the bridge. The destruction of the accident was obvious even though it has been six week since the accident; the police tape was still covering the gaping hole where the car went into the river. There were other signs of the accident, but I ignore them as a sense of foreboding engulfs me. I close my eyes so that I could relax, and almost immediately I'm taken back in time… to just before the accident.

I know that I'm driving a car while talking to someone on the phone, just as I know that there's someone sitting next to me, and that he's injured. He's also handcuffed. It'd been one of the precautions that Hal insisted on before I left the crime scene. As I hang up the phone, I look at the man next to me. Nothing about him has changed and yet there's new a sense of danger about him. But why that's the case, I'm not quite sure.

We throw a couple of comments at each other before the unspeakable happens. He reaches over to stab me, but I surprise him by fighting back. In the process, however, I lose control of the car and we crash into the guardrail. Within a matter of seconds, I'm dangling over the river, and I don't quite know how I ended up that way. Not that it really mattered; it just was. He starts kicking at my hands, trying to force me to let go.

Fear seizes my heart as I see the car suddenly lurching at me, and then as I'm falling … and suddenly end up under water. For a moment, I struggle to surface. But then I black out, and remember nothing until I wake up in the hospital.

Slowly, I open my eyes to find Hal watching me. He has given me something that nobody else has been able to: answers. And hope. Hope, because I can remember Oakdale. Hope, because I can now remember my family and friends. Hope, because I now know that home is where the heart is.

And for now, my heart and soul belongs in Oakdale.

"Let's go home, Hal." He gives me a half smile, and I instinctively know that he has questions for me. "I'll answer all of your questions, as long as we talk in the car."

"All right…"

And with that, I know that I'm home for good.

-[Finished]-; August, 2004