A/N: I'd completely forgotten about this story until someone reminded me so I've decided to do a re-write of the intro. I'll add the next chapter a.s.a.p.

Disclaimer: The characters, with the exception of those not in the original line-up, don't belong to me, they remain the property of Paxson Entertainment. I'm just having a bit of fun with them.

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Remember Me

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Sitting on the edge of his bed, Jack stared at the diamond solitaire ring as he turned it over and over in his fingers. He'd found it when he'd finally decided to unpack the things that had been forwarded to him from D.C., courtesy of his friend Bobby Manning. Until quite recently, he'd categorically refused to even entertain the fact that his stay in his hometown could be permanent as to do so would be tantamount to giving up, but lately and with her help, he'd grudgingly begun to accept that things would probably never be as they once were and he'd have to leave the job he loved and find a way to manage on an F.B.I disability pension and the money he'd put by. The mere prospect had plunged him into a deep depression and she was the only light in a bleak and uncertain future.

He sighed and closed his eyes as the fatigue he'd lived with for so long washed over him again. The effort involved in the simple task of putting clothes into drawers and the small wardrobe had taken its toll, causing a nagging ache which seemed to encompass his entire body. Swinging his legs carefully up onto the bed, he lay back and stared at the ceiling of the room where he'd spent his childhood... A room which had seemed so much bigger when looked at through a young boy's eyes. He felt trapped, frustrated by his body's inability to complete even the smallest of tasks without feeling pain and needing to rest, while his mind was as active as it had always been and he longed to go for a run, play a game of hockey or even just go to watch a football match.

Reaching across to his bedside table he picked up the bottle, opened it and shaking out two pills swallowed them down. As he waited for the inevitable oblivion to overtake him once more he made his decision... They'd talked about getting a place together to ease the burden on his elderly parents and he'd agreed but he wanted to do things properly. She'd come to him at the hospital and stayed while he was in the coma fighting for his life, talking to him, holding his hand and reading his favourite Alistair MacLean novels and then returned to Wisconsin, moving back in with her own parents to be on hand if he needed her, so when he saw her next he'd ask her to marry him. Beg her, if that's what it took... After all the years of an on/off relationship he'd make Allie his wife, that is if she felt she could cope with living with a man who had been broken into a million pieces both physically and mentally. He felt the ring still in the palm of his hand and closed his fingers around it but as his body started to relax, somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind many questions still remained...

. ~ When had he bought it? Had he already proposed? What had her answer been? ~

If he could only get back the memories of the last five years, day-to-day life would be so much easier to handle.

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