Phew! I've been working hard on this. I've recently had a revelation about Distance, so I'm scrapping When You Were Mine and eventually writing that as an Ezria story. Forever My Friend and Safe Place are in the process of being written!
I'm disappointed with the lack of reviews on the first chapter; you all are lucky I even made this longer than a thousand words. So here's the deal: ten reviews or more and you get one that's over three thousand in chapter weight. That doesn't include an author's note.
I'll say it once, and I'll say it again. This story is in no way fictional. It's from my imagination and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. If you don't like the pairing of Lucian, please don't read. Thank you!
The lush band played a song softly in the corner of the hotel ballroom. Lights were shining their dim light over the guests seated at tables, waiting for the bride and groom to get up for their first dance. Lucy smiled at Ian from their table, round and circular and filled with their friends. Robert sat to Ian's left with Charlotte's hand in his underneath the table. Claire sat next to Lucy, gushing about the festivities to anyone who would listen. The couple though was trapped in a small bubble that no one could seem to puncture, not even the calling of their names to make their way to the dance floor.
"Luce," nudged Claire, he elbow slightly sinking into the white fabric resting on Lucy's side. "They're calling you two up." Lucy's head snapped away from Ian, leaving her new husband a bit confused until the smaller woman tugged on his hand to pull him upwards into a standing position.
"Come on, Mr. Harding. It's time to dance." Her smile glimmered in the dark lighting, making Ian's heart thud. He wasn't ever overly cheesy, yet remained a romantic, but tonight was an incredibly different occasion than a press event. Tonight, Lucy was unspeakably gorgeous. When seeing her come down the aisle, it took Ian's breath away. His hand slipped easily into hers as she guided him towards the dance floor.
The band began to lilt into the melody of the song they'd chosen to dance to. "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" was a bit outdated and maybe a bit too country, but Lucy had wanted Lady Antebellum and Ian wanted whatever would describe them best and make her smile. His arms wrapped around her tiny frame and grasped her hand to hold Lucy up in the proper wedding waltz position. Little known to the public, but due to him being a clumsy child, Ian's mother enrolled him in ballroom dance to grant him a bit of grace. Needless to say, the eldest Mrs. Harding was grinning ear to ear as they moved across the floor.
"It's surreal, isn't it," Ian asked Lucy quietly, their voices barely audible over the music. In response, she leaned up and kissed him, eliciting collective sigh from the audience. Ian smiled as the music climaxed into a brand new key.
"Maybe for you; it all feels real to me." Lucy smiled and rested her head against Ian's chest as the music played on and died off in a chord.
"Her head's pretty banged up," said the nurse as she guided Ian down the hallway. He didn't respond; only looked at the ground and bit his fingernails of out a bad habit. He and Lucy had tried multiple times to nip it in the butt, as well as curbing her habit of painting her nails every five seconds, but neither had any luck. As they neared the door, Ian sucked in a breath, willing himself not to break down into a mess of tears again. Friends seeing it was one thing. His wife was a different matter.
Nothing could stop the tear that rolled down his cheek as he took in Lucy, who looked smaller than ever in the hospital bed. Ian had always figured the only time he'd ever see her in here was when they decided to have children. To see her so bruised and in pain took a strike to his heart. "Hey," he spoke softly, moving closer towards the bed.
"Ian," Lucy asked curiously. Ian's heart lifted a bit; at least she didn't have severe trauma. She could remember him. "What're you doing here? Where's Chris?" Ian's stomach dropped and his heart shattered. Chris? The man had been long gone for years, even marrying another girl shortly after he and Lucy broke up. It hadn't been an amicable relationship between the three at first, but things soon died down to a dull growl now and then.
Ian opened his mouth to intercept Lucy's question, but the doctor who had then entered the room in a hurry with his clipboard in hand. Doctor Raines was a man in his mid-fifties with greying hair and a wide collection of ties; he could've given Ezra Fitz a run for his money. "Lucy, what is your last memory?" He took a pen and a clean sheet of paper to document her words and glanced at Ian, the young man still looking heartbroken and confused.
"It was my birthday," she responded. "You and I were shooting and I…" Lucy trailed off, trying her best to remember. "But I can't remember the rest." Doctor Raines made a few more marks in his notebook before letting Ian speak.
His voice shook, trying his best to contain the heartbreak he felt. "Lucy, this isn't 2012 anymore. Chris isn't a part of your life." Ian's hand went to her left one and lifted it up, his finger running across the engagement ring and wedding band that lie there. "I am. I'm your husband." A single tear rolled down his cheek as Lucy withdrew her hand.
"What are you talking about," she asked weakly. Her hand went to her head, the diamonds in both her rings glittering in the artificial light of the hospital bedroom. "Don't be ridiculous, Ian. Where's Claire? She'll set you straight." Ian gritted his teeth, disliking her tone.
"Claire is out in the lobby with Kurt and our two other friends, Robert and Charlotte. She was your maid of honor; I think she'd know what's really going on." Ian's voice completely broke as he got up from the bed. Lucy's face softened, feeling sympathy on top of her confusion. She and Ian weren't married. Were they? She couldn't remember a wedding or a proposal or even a first date! "I need to go." Ian hurried out of the room with Doctor Raines on his heels. A nurse tended to Lucy, who was developing a headache.
"She can't remember our life," Ian said in a nearby corridor with Doctor Raines trying to console him. "She doesn't remember our wedding or…" A sob choked up his throat, cutting off Ian's voice. The doctor rubbed his back, trying to be soothing.
"If we try our best, she might gain it all back."
"But what if she doesn't," Ian challenged. "What if she never remembers and I lose my wife, huh? What if she goes with some other man because she can't remember loving me?" By then, tears had become straight rivers, running down Ian's cheeks.
"What's best right now," Doctor Raines said, "is to let her adjust to being awake. Go home and get some sleep. Tomorrow you can figure out what to do; I'm advising to let Lucy be exposed to her regular routine. Perhaps you can do a few things to jog her memory. You're lucky her entire mind hasn't been swiped." Ian glanced at his and treaded out to the lobby with the parting words tell her that I love her.
Lucy stretched lazily in the morning, her pink lips forming an 'O'as she yawned. Ian's apartment was comfortable to say the least. If she could, she'd move in right away. But, it had only been a few short months into their relationship; she didn't want to jinx anything by moving too fast, despite her desire to wake up next to him in the morning.
Though, this wasn't the case today. Ian was nowhere in sight, but the smell of waffles filled the air. A knowing smile fell on her lips as Lucy ambled out of the bedroom and saw her boyfriend trying to use a Belgian waffle maker and succeeding more than she ever could. Then again, Ian liked to cook; Lucy cooked so she could feel herself, not for enjoyment.
"Hey there." Her voice was soft and quiet, trying to not scare Ian so he wouldn't burn himself with the hot pan contraption. Ian turned, letting the handle rest by itself and a grin spread over his lips. Checking that the waffle would be fine by itself, he walked over to Lucy and wrapped his arms around her. She was only clad in one of his Carnegie Mellon tee shirts and a pair of pajama shorts, but she still looked beautiful, no matter how many times she tried to protest the fact.
"Morning," he murmured, pressing his lips against hers. Lucy smiled into the kiss, applying light pressure to kiss him back. Things weren't going to get too heated that morning, especially with her growling stomach.
"You're making me breakfast?" She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck and rising on tip toe to meet Ian's eyes with hers. Those deep blue pools would be the death of her and Lucy knew that Ian took pleasure in the fact that he only had to stare at her to make her knees go weak.
"Of course I am." Ian laughed at the buzzer dinged, leaving Lucy by herself only two feet away from him. Watching him, the grin on her face only spread into something more cheesy; she'd finally found him.
After Ian had fled the room, Lucy was administered a pain killer type fluid and laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. Were she and Ian really married? She question had been pushed about in her mind for the past fifteen minutes. It could've been probable, seeing as the year was now 2016. Four years had passed. Four years could've held things that she needed to unlock and figure out for her and perhaps Ian's sake. He looked like somehow had wrenched out his heart when she brought up Chris.
To be frank, Lucy couldn't remember the other man all that well, only his name and that on the last day she could pull from the vaults of her mind, she had been dating him. What Lucy couldn't remember was that the broke up the next day, sending her to Ian's place for a source of comfort. What Lucy couldn't remember was the way she kissed Ian as she got to his doorstep. What Lucy couldn't remember was repressed feelings emerging as she kissed him.
She looked at her wrist, several bracelets lying there. Some were bangles and such, but a couple were messily made friendship bracelets that were in bright colors. They vaguely looked like tattered versions of the ones Ian had tied around his wrist. Could he have made these? The plastic hospital bracelet on her other wrist read a name. Harding, Karen Lucille. She exhaled; he wasn't lying. Somehow over the years she couldn't remember, she and Ian fell in love. In the pit of her stomach, Lucy wanted to shrivel up and cry; she wanted to remember their love story more than anything now, except she was coming up short with a blank slate every time.
An exhausted Lucy Hale dragged herself up the stairs of Ian's apartment building with him in tow. It had only been a week since she'd moved in and a week since they started filming for season six. While the producers originally planned for five seasons, the viewers demanded more. "You think the mystery would've gotten tiring by now," Ian groaned, carrying both their bags up the stairs.
"What we think doesn't necessarily happen," replied Lucy, rubbing her eyes. She had on thick sunglasses although it wasn't sunny out, but they were the perfect disguise. The world wasn't exactly aware that lucian lived, and they were trying to keep it that way, at least for a little while. Lucy and Ian were blessed with the fact that Ian's apartment building was in an area where nobody could find them. She'd left the house to Annie, who had already asked their other friend, Callie to move in. "I'm glad to have a job. I'm just tired o late nights like this."
Ian nodded his head in agreement as they reached his floor and pulled open his apartment door. The cozy little apartment hadn't been touched since they'd left in the late morning, both having a call time of eleven. Even the liter of water that Ian had left out after filling up Jack's bowl was on the counter. Jack was curled up in the corner of the room, but his head leapt up hearing both come in.
"Hey, Jacky," Lucy spoke cheerfully. At the end of the day, Jack was her baby. Perhaps he was Ian's baby now as well. The small dog raced over to them both, but quickly passed by Lucy and dodged for Ian's legs. The taller man chuckled, picking up the white furball and pet his head.
"Don't forget about your mom, Little Man." He laughed, scratching in Jack's favorite spot behind his ears as the maltepoo lunged for Lucy's outstretched hand. She giggled as he licked her palm in a greeting of some sort.
"We make a cute family, don't we," she asked her boyfriend, who was clearly distracted by the sight in front of him. If Lucy was that good with dogs, Ian could only imagine her with children.
"Yeah, we do," he smiled.
The walk home was quiet, snow falling here and there. After fleeing the hospital with his friends hot on his tail, Ian told them to go home to their respective apartments. He needed to be a lone for a bit. He needed to clear his head. He needed to figure out how to explain to Jack why his mother couldn't be coming home with him. Ian chuckled to himself wryly at his last thought.
Their apartment was slightly larger than the one back in LA. He hadn't exactly given that one up yet either. Instead, Ian was leasing it to a young couple, relatively close to his and Lucy's age. This one though had touched of Lucy and Ian since they'd put it together by each other's side. He could remember then painting the walls per her begging request to have bright, sunny yellow walls. Ian hadn't been fond of the color at first, but warmed up soon enough.
Pictures lined the walls of them at various events, candids their friends took, their wedding photos, and random ones of family and friends. Ian choked up at the ones of Lucy in her white gown smiling lovingly at him. He brushed at the tears forming in the corner of his eyes and left the room. Their bedroom wasn't much help either, but Ian wasn't going to sleep on the couch when he had a bed to use.
Jack slept quietly at the foot of the bed, obviously not disturbed by Ian's arrival. He smiled at the dog; a reminder of the life he had that morning. Jack was constant. Jack was familiar. "Hey, Buddy," Ian said quietly, trying his best not to look at the pictures on the dresser. Lucy had always been one to take photos, if her Instagram wasn't evident of that.
Ian groaned, thinking about the next day. Her family would be flying in, but there were still things to cover with her frantic publicist. The two of them were coming up with a press release. While he desperately needed a shower, it was too late for that. He'd climb into the steaming place of comfort in the morning before going back to the hospital. Ian shrugged out of his jeans and warm sweater, changing into flannel pants and a light grey thermal. The heating was cranked, but New York's systems in the winter had always been a bit screwy.
Jack perked his head up for a moment and looked at Ian questiongly. "Mommy will be home when she can, Jack," he sighed, curling up into the pillows. The curtains were blown wide open giving Ian the sight of New York. It was something he and Lucy often admired before falling asleep. Though she wasn't here, Ian was committed to doing the ritual. "It's just you and me for now." Jack scampered up to the top of the bed, placing himself on Lucy's pillow and curling into Ian's side. Smiling at the comfort that the small dog brought him, Ian fell asleep, praying that tomorrow would be far better than today.
