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A/N: This is the chapter some of you *may* (no pun intended) have been waiting for, haha. May and the memory-back Matt meet one-on-one. We'll just have to see how this will go. Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy!
May gaped at Shannon as if he would crack one of those smiles any second and say, "just kidding." But he stared right back at her, his face completely earnest. "Really?" she prompted. "Don't lie to me, Shannon."
"I'm not. I swear on my tattoo shop."
She didn't know whether to feel sick to her stomach or overjoyed. If it had been before she had told Shannon everything, the feeling would have definitely been sick. But now, she knew her story wasn't as strange as she thought and perhaps this would come to be a good thing.
"Are you okay?" Shannon asked, coming to sit on the edge of her bed. "You've become a little pale."
"I'm fine," May reassured him quietly.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm a nurse," she teased. "I think I know when I'm fine."
Shannon smiled back. She had such a playful, although sometimes defensive attitude. "Just checking."
May looked down at her snow-white cast, staring at it for an answer. When it didn't provide one, she looked back at the man next to her, searching him for one. "Do you think he remembers me?"
"Matt's got a good memory."
She blinked several times and fumbled with the fingers on her free hand. "You haven't told him about what happened yet, did you?"
Shannon pushed her face up so it looked him directly in the eyes. "I wasn't finished before," he whispered. "The accident may have provided his memory back, but he hasn't forgotten the past few weeks, however."
She gulped. "So, he now knows why I was so afraid of him?"
"You were afraid of him?" Shannon mused. "Get that. Someone was afraid of Matt—"
"SHANNON!"
He smiled a little, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, but yeah. He knows pretty much everything. And yeah, he remembers you. He told me the story himself a little while ago. He said that he remembered this pretty, little, blonde girl crying on the cement and man, I quote, "she certainly had an attitude"." Shannon stopped to grin wickedly. "I see some things haven't changed."
Despite Shannon's attempts at humor, May didn't feel any better. She didn't exactly feel upset either, though. She was a little worried, a little relieved, but fully terrified of when they would be in the same room together. By experience, she knew things would grow awkward on her end. Although she dealt with the public in gruesome situations everyday, this would be different; this truly meant something to her. It may have been something small all those years ago, but it stood with her all those years and now defined some of what she was today.
"I'm scared, Shannon."
"Of what… Matt? He's a huge teddy bear. You know that."
"Not of Matt, really. I'm just scared."
He couldn't help be a little amused. Here was a girl who saw people at their absolute worst and she was afraid of meeting a guy she had spent weeks with, whether she realized it or not.
"Do you want to get it over with now?"
"I guess so," May said glumly. "Go get me a wheelchair, please."
Shannon nodded, giving her trembling hand a squeeze. "I'll be right back."
Meanwhile, Matt already had a visitor in his room. She had been in there for fifteen minutes without saying a word. After hearing about the accident and finding out Matt had his memory back, she had hurried to the hospital, despite the fact she had a "meeting" with Vince that day. She was aware that Matt knew everything now, remembered everything as well.
Finally, he spoke, "We were careful."
Eve looked up. "Were we?" she challenged. "I'm pregnant, after all."
"But we were," Matt protested, squeezing his eyes shut. He had a headache, whether or not it had to do with the burden of Eve's news, or the accident, he wasn't sure. "We were."
"Were we?" she asked again. "Name one time we used any kind of protection, Matt."
He looked away guiltily, staring out the window for an answer. "This can't be happening."
"Well, it has. And I'm pregnant," Eve said with a bit of an angry tone. "So deal with it."
Matt's gaze snapped right back to her, eyes darkening. "I have a lot to deal with, Eve. I pretty much just missed out on a month of my life!"
Without realizing it, Eve snapped right back, "At least you're in control of your life! I'm held by strings on a place I don't even want to be in. You don't know the kind of pain I'm in."
His head cocked to the side. "What?"
Immediately, Eve realized what she had said, trying to brush away the tears. "Nothing, Matt. It's nothing."
"Eve, what are you talking about?" he demanded.
"Nothing," she snapped back, just as Matt's hospital door opened, revealing Shannon and a ghost-white May. "I'm just pregnant!"
May's eyes immediately widened at this. "Um, we can come back later," she mumbled feebly, feeling embarrassed to hear an obviously private conversation.
Matt looked up though. "No, come in," he muttered. "This conversation is over." He gave one last pointed stare to Eve, who simply looked away. "Hi, May."
Shannon took a seat in the corner of the room, trying to blend in. Seconds before another word was spoke, Eve stormed to her feet and slammed her way out of the room, leaving quite the awkward feeling for all parties present.
"Sorry about that," Matt was quick to apologize. He didn't understand what had gotten into Eve. The day before, everything had been perfect. Except, when he got his memory back, his true life had flooded everything and showed what had truly been left behind.
"It's okay," May said softly.
Matt was quick to jump on a direct question. "Were you ever planning on telling me that you knew who I was on a different level than what you were saying?"
"… I don't know."
"I remember you clearly, May. That night never faded from my mind. You were pretty cold."
"I had a reason to be," May said defensively, looking to Shannon for support. He simply put his hands up and quietly walked out of the room. So much for moral support. With a sigh, she thought about how nice it would be to be confident for once. She peeked at Matt momentarily and then launched into what had happened once more before she and Matt had truly met for the first time.
When she was finished—and surprisingly still dry-eyed—she looked up at Matt, seeing his stone-like face. They remained locked in that gaze for several minutes until Matt finally spoke. "I wish you would have told me this that night," he muttered angrily. "I would have kicked the shit out of that guy in a second."
"Nick never cared," May said simply. "He would have laughed in your face, probably."
"He wouldn't have had a face to laugh if it I would have gotten my hands on him," Matt explained seriously. "I don't understand how men can lay a hand on a woman."
She shrugged. "I don't know."
"So that's it, huh? It does surely explain a lot."
May offered him a small smile. "Yeah. I'm not just a bitch all around. You know that now." It grew to a comfortable silence in the room. May looked around her, recognizing the hospital walls and the feeling it gave her. Then, she remembered what she had heard as she walked in. The girl she had seen plenty of times over was pregnant… with Matt's child?
She hadn't expected that.
Now she truly had a reason to be jealous over Eve with. Eve had slept with Matt. She knew the beauty of his ways; she knew how it felt to be kissed by him, to be the subject of one his wide smiles. She didn't have that. And it made her severely jealous.
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