"Jake!" Greenlee screams in my ear. "Jake, wake up!"
She is still on top of me. I can tell from the small bit of light coming though the window that it must be morning already.
"Jake, I remember! You need to help me!" she cries.
I don't have the slightest clue what she's talking about. "Greenlee, calm down. What do you need my help for?"
Greenlee is hysterical. "What do you mean, 'what do you need my help for?' Wade could show up any minute!"
My mind goes to work: Who's Wade??? She looks scared out of her mind right now.
"I remember, Jake!" Greenlee is frantic in my arms. "He was threatening me! He was onto the scam and… oh my God! Leo too! We have to find Leo and warn him!"
Now I remember. Wade Randall was the guy Greenlee got in trouble with for that loan with IncrebileDreams.
"Jake, we need to find Leo. I… I can't lose Leo!" she tells me in a panic. Looks like Greenlee's memory is somewhere in 2000 now. I don't know the story so well, but I can see the look in her eyes: she is desperate to save Leo… she is in love with Leo.
"It's okay, calm down," I tell her softly and calmingly, knowing my time is over. It felt nice to be the man that Greenlee wanted for one night, but now that she remembered Leo, that was all over. "Don't worry; your memory hasn't caught up to present day yet. You're just remembering more about your past. You survived Wade just fine and he isn't a menace to anyone else anymore."
"But Leo," she tells me still in worry. "Where is Leo? I have to find Leo!"
I stroke her hair to try and give her the same safe feeling that I gave her last night. "I promise Leo survived Wade too – anything else you need to remember on your own."
She looks calmer now as she tries to slow down her rapid breathing. She finally smiles at me. "I remember you now," she tells me. "You're married to the princess."
"Not anymore," I explain to her much more easily than I expected. What happened with Gillian doesn't seem to hurt anymore. "She left me for Ryan."
Greenlee laughs at me.
"You think that's funny, Greenlee?"
"No," she stops laughing long enough to answer. "But we saw Ryan and Erica together last night. That's freaking hysterical!"
I laugh along with her, happy she is enjoying herself. She might change her tune though when her memory advances to the present. Finally, she picks herself up off of me, to which I curse under my breath. I can't deny it anymore that I want her in my arms. She thanks me for calming her down and for being so nice and goes off to her room to change. I reach for the phone and call Jack – I don't want to tell her about her past any more than I have to, but Jackson needs to know that his daughter is alive. I tell him everything that happened yesterday, from finding her in the park to taking care of her all night. He tells me he is on his way over – perfect since I need to be off to the hospital anyway – but I tell him first that it's better for her to let her remember things on her own; that he shouldn't tell her any more than he has too. She is already going to flip as it is when she finds out that Jackson, not Roger Smythe, is her father. That plus her memory already advancing this morning was enough to deal with for one day.
Greenlee finally comes back out wearing a tight pink dress. The girl looks stunning to me as always.
She tells me that she wants to look her best today, hoping I could get her to Leo wherever he is. I struggle around the words. How do I tell her that Leo died saving her life? I can't do that to her. But her memory is advancing, she already remembers loving him.
"Can you tell me how things end up with Leo?" she asks me. "My mind is up to where he and Becca broke up. And I know that he loves me… I just know it. But how does it all turn out?"
"Oh, he loves you," I tell her. "He loves you more than life itself."
Greenlee claps her hands together excitedly and proclaims how she knew it all along. "So where is he, Jake? Where can I find him?"
Now what do I tell her??? Don't worry Greenlee but Leo is dead and Ryan has moved on to his new flavor of the month but it's all okay because I think I'm in love with you again???
"He's out of the country right now," I try not to give her a complete lie. "And I can't tell you anymore about your relationship so don't ask, okay?"
She looks disappointed but seems content for now with the knowledge that Leo loves her back.
Knock knock
Greenlee opens the door to find Jackson standing there. I watch him give her the biggest hug of her life as she stands dumbfounded at the door. She looks at Jack like he is crazy and backs up uncomfortably next to me. At least she still seems to trust me and feel safe with me.
I repeat to Jackson that he isn't to tell her anything that's not essential and then sit Greenlee down next to me on the couch, where I tell her the bare minimum I can about Jackson being her father. She looks willing to hear it from me and thanks me for being such a good friend to her – like that's all I want to be anymore; but I know she'll never see me as more.
I leave her on the couch with Jackson as I take off for the hospital, turning around at the door to take one last look at her before I go. She is looking at me too – she doesn't want me to leave, I can see it in her eyes. But I know it's because I'm the only one she trusts right now; nothing that a few more memories can't fix.
