Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.
Chapter 3
Tampa General Hospital, Tampa, Florida, May 18, 2008
"Knock, knock."
Karen was a little surprised to see A.J standing there when she looked up from the magazine she was reading. "Oh hello," she said shyly.
"Hi, how are you feeling?" He asked, moving forward slightly but still stayed by the open door.
"Somewhat better in myself, still haven't remembered anything."
A.J nodded, "Just give it time, I'm sure it will all come back to you. Do you mind if I come in?"
"I don't mind but I'm not going to be here that much longer. The doctor signed my release this morning."
A.J walked into the room fully. He was wearing the same jeans as the day before but with a black TNA shirt. "I know. That's actually why I'm here."
Karen shot him a confused look. "It is?"
"Yeah … you see Jay was kinda busy—"
"So he sent you instead?" Karen snapped, interrupting him.
"What? No! He's outside talking to one of the nurses about a follow up appointment or something."
The brunette frowned, "Then I don't understand."
"Jay was kinda busy earlier so he asked me if I can bring some of your clothes here. I was going to come in first thing but then we thought it might be better if I just came at the same time so I could help you settle in."
"Oh … right. Sorry for snapping."
A.J waved it off, "Don't worry about it. You've got a lot on your mind with the amnesia and all."
"Still, I shouldn't have snapped at you. You're only trying to help."
"Well, I'm used to you snapping at me … just kidding." He flashed her a cheeky smile. "Anyways, I better give you your clothes so we can get out of here."
"Okay."
A.J placed a black holdall bag on the bed in front of her. He unzipped the bag, "Let's see what we've got in here." He pulled out a pair of white sneakers and handed them to her. "Sneakers, socks, jeans, tank top and underwear … I'll just leave the
underwear in the bag and you can get it in a second. It's pretty warm outside so I didn't bring a sweater. If you get cold, there's one of Jay's in his truck."
"That's very thoughtful of you A.J." Karen peered into the now almost empty bag and found a white bra and matching panties inside, "Where did you get all this stuff?"
"From my apartment. It's just some of your stuff that you keep there."
The brunette raised an eyebrow, not quite believing what she was hearing, "I keep stuff at your apartment?"
A.J nodded, "Yeah, I have lots of your stuff there. You even have your own closet."
"Wow!" Karen said. She couldn't believe that she kept clothes at another man's apartment. "Do I spend a lot of time there?"
"Quite a bit." A.J replied noncommittally. "I'm just gonna go wait outside while you get dressed. Shout out if you need anything."
"Thanks and thanks for bringing the clothes."
"Least I could do. See you soon." He smiled at her before leaving, closing the door behind him.
For a moment, Karen didn't move. She was too busy caught up with the hundreds of thoughts whirling around in her mind. Why on earth would she have things at A.J's house? Jay had told her they were best friends but she thought he was joking. Maybe it was true, maybe he was her best friend. He certainly seemed genuinely concerned about her well being unlike some people she could mention. As far as she knew Kurt hadn't even bothered to call the hospital to check up on her.
The brunette shook her head, she could think about that later. For now all she wanted to do is get home and take a nice long relaxing bubble bath. Hopefully she would have some of her favourite lavender bath oils there. She pulled the underwear out of the holdall and proceeded to get dressed as quickly as possible. Once she was fully clothed Karen gathered up the cards and placed them in the holdall. Kara, the nurse had wrapped up the flowers that A.J had given her so hopefully they wouldn't die on the way home.
Karen took one more glance around the room to make sure she'd got everything. When she was positive that nothing had been left behind, she picked up the flowers in one hand and the bag in the other and slowly made her way to the door.
Walking was proving to be a bit of a struggle. She'd only been out of bed a couple of times until this morning when she had to walk for Doctor Yelland to prove to him she could walk okay before her release. She opened the door expecting to find the two men sat outside waiting for her but there was nobody there. "Jay? … A.J?"
"Oh hey Karen," A.J called from down the hallway. I just had to go to the bathroom. Jay's gone to get something out of the vending machine. He's hungry."
Karen smiled, "Jay's always hungry."
"Let me take those for you." He'd taken the flowers and the bag off her before she could protest. "Do you need any help walking?"
"I think I can manage as long as we take it slow."
A.J locked eyes with her, "We can take it as slow as you want."
Karen looked away quickly to break the eye contact. "Thanks Allen." When she looked at him again a few second later he was smiling.
"Did I say something amusing?"
"No … you just don't normally call me Allen except …doesn't matter."
"Except when?"
"It really doesn't matter. Forget I said anything. Seriously."
Karen scowled at him, "That's not very fair. You can't just tell me half a story like that."
"I'm sorry, really I am. I shouldn't have said anything."
A.J seemed determined not to tell her anything else so Karen decided that she might ask Jay about it later. Jay appeared to know a lot about her friendship with A.J so if anybody would know it was him. "I'll let you off this time."
Allen nodded, "Thanks sweetheart. I wonder what's keeping Jay?"
Karen tried her best to ignore the fact he'd just called her sweetheart, "Which way is the vending machine?"
"Are you hungry?"
The brunette shook her head, "No, I just thought we could meet up with him on the way out."
"Right." A.J nodded. "We'll just head up there now. It's this way."
They starting walking slowly up the hallway, luckily for Karen, Jay had appeared when they were by the exit. "Ready to go?"
"I can't wait to get out of this place."
"Me too, I hate hospitals," A.J admitted.
"And you telling us that because? We don't care if you hate hospitals, do we Karen?"
"Oh shut your fat mouth," A.J huffed. He stomped off outside leaving Jay and Karen behind.
"Jay … that was really mean."
"He knows I was only joking. He'll be waiting on the other side of the door or he'd better be."
"Why's that?"
"He's got my car keys."
Karen was starting to get concerned, "Are you being serious?"
"Yeah, he left your bag in the car like a dumbass and had to go back for it."
With that A.J reappeared, "Are you guys coming or what?"
"We're coming." She grabbed Jay's arm and started to pull him along with her, "Come on you."
"Gee Karen, I see having amnesia hasn't made you any less bossy," Jay joked.
"She's not bossy, she's a princess and deserves to be treated as such." He gave her a wink and carried on walking.
"Kiss Ass," Jay called out as they followed.
"That's it, when we get home I'm gonna kick your butt on Call of Duty 4."
Jay snorted, "I'd like to see you try."
A.J laughed, "Don't worry, you're not going have to wait long."
"Oh really? It's on."
"What's call of duty?" Karen asked.
"Video game," the two men replied at the same time.
Karen smiled, "Well at least you agree on something."
"We play on Xbox live. He's at his house and I'm in my apartment. It's a really cool game. You're actually pretty good at it too," A.J pointed out.
"I am?" Karen asked in amazement. "I don't usually play video games."
"Are you kidding me? You usually come on and kick both our butts."
"That's only because A.J rolls over and dies for you."
"I do not!"
Karen ignored A.J's protest, "Do you guys normally argue this much?"
"We're not arguing … just trash talking," A.J corrected.
"Oh," Karen replied, feeling foolish suddenly.
"Don't worry about it and here's the car," Jay said. "A.J, got the keys?"
The dark haired man gave the flowers he was carrying to Karen before reaching into his jeans pocket and pulled out the car key. "Here ya go." He turned his attention to Karen, "Do you want to ride in the front or the back?"
"In the back please. Do I live far from here?"
"It's only about fifteen minutes away." He waited for Jay to unlock the truck. He opened the back door for Karen to enter.
"Thank you, A.J." One thing Karen was certain of, A.J certainly was a gentleman.
"You're welcome." He closed the door and walked around to the passenger side of the truck. He opened the other back door and placed the holdall on the seat besides Karen before getting in the front side.
It took just a little over fifteen minutes for them to reach Karen's house. She still couldn't believe that they had moved to Florida. It wasn't until the three were standing on the doorstep did they realise there was a problem.
"Oh my gosh, I don't have a key to get in. I didn't even think about it. How stupid is that?"
A.J rubbed her arm gently, "Don't beat yourself up about it. You've got a lot on your mind."
"But still, it's pretty stupid when I don't have a key to my own house. What should we do now?"
"We could always go around the back and break a window," Jay suggested.
"Oh great idea butthead!" A.J replied sarcastically. "Then we'll just leave Karen in the house alone when anybody could break in and attack her."
Jay rolled his eyes, "I would say she could stay at my place but we don't have a spare room at the moment and I don't think sleeping on the couch would be the best thing for you right now," the Canadian reasoned.
"Probably not," the brunette agreed.
"You could always stay at my place … I mean, I have a spare room and it would only be for a few days until Kurt got back, right?"
Karen wasn't sure what to do. On one hand she didn't remember A.J and it would be like living with a perfect stranger for three days but on the other hand, this man was her best friend and in all honesty she didn't have a lot of options.
"And besides," A.J continued when Karen didn't speak, "Maybe spending some time with me will trigger your memory or something."
Karen gave him a small smile, "I guess it couldn't hurt."
"Then what are we waiting for," Jay said, the blond man already heading back to the car.
"Nothing I guess," Karen replied, following him.
For a moment A.J didn't move. His hand was in his front jeans pocket. His fingers were tracing the outline of the small metal object in there. A key … the spare key to Karen's house.