Okay, so slight spoilers for episodes 1x14 and 3x11. Also, I got Carlton's approximate birth date from Ep 2x06 where they mention that he's an Aries.

CHAPTER 25

Wednesday morning, after taking a shower and packing away all of his toiletries, Carlton came back into the bedroom to find Beth still huddled under the covers. He sat down on the other side of the bed and reached over to shake her shoulder. "Hey. Are you getting up anytime soon? Henry wants to leave within 2 hours and you still need to take a shower."

"I'm thinking about it." Beth mumbled.

"Well, let me help you out then. You only took a quick one yesterday because you didn't want to get out of bed then. This is your last chance to take a real shower for quite a few days, at least until we get to Las Vegas or wherever we are going."

She moved the blanket off her head and glared at him. "I know that I should take a shower, but that's not what I'm thinking about."

"Then what's wrong? Are you second guessing moving? Because it's kind of late for that."

"No, it's not, that it's just…" Beth sighed as she let her words hang and stared away from Carlton.

Taking her hand, Carlton asked. "Then what is it? You know you can tell me anything."

"Well, it's one thing to pretend that nothing's wrong with my family since I've know them forever. But most of my time in Santa Barbara is a complete blank. I remember the first week or so and then only a few insignificant things here and there. There's going to be a lot of people that I should know but I don't remember. I know that you told me about my jobs but that's not enough. Frankly, I'm scared of my memory never coming back."

"Hey," Carlton lightly squeezed her hand until she was looking at him. "The doctors said that it'll take some time for everything to come back and that it usually helps to be in certain environments for your brain to make the connections. I've talked with all your employers already. You don't have a singing gig until next Wednesday but they said you can cancel if you don't feel up to it. Then the daycare director, Carol, I think, said that they weren't expecting you back until Tuesday but you can take a couple extra days off since you'll probably only be doing paperwork anyways. It's not like when we get back, we're going to throw you into the deep end and expect you to tread water for hours after not swimming for years." Beth laughed shakily at that. "If everything doesn't come back at once, don't worry. You're a very smart person and can relearn things quickly enough so we'll worry about it if we get there. Okay?"

Beth smiled. "Okay. Que sera, sera, right?"

"Right. Now go take a shower before I drag you across the hall and throw you in with all of your clothes still on."

"As fun as that sounds," She said as she slowly sat up and grabbed her crutches. "I don't really want to deal with wet clothes. Unless you want to join me, of course. Then I'll be more than happy to make an exception." Carlton growled and threw a pillow in Beth's general direction. "Really Carly? I would have thought that a head detective would have better aim."

"I'll be more than happy to grab my gun and show you how well I can aim."

"Nah, I think I'll pass. Blood is really hard to get out of carpeting and I don't need another expense to weigh me down." Beth laughed as she finally left the room, ignoring Carlton's glare.

Carlton was flipping through a fishing magazine when Beth sighed, "I'm bored."

Carlton laughed, "Already? We've only been on the road for an hour and have about 8-10 hours of driving each day. You must have something to entertain yourself with."

"I have my laptop and some books somewhere but I'm not sure where they ended up."

"I would guess in the bedroom since I don't see them out here. Why don't you go check?"

Beth groaned and put her head in her hands. "I'm afraid of getting up."

"Why? We're not moving that fast and there aren't that many sharp turns on the highway."

"But getting up might bring about motion sickness."

Henry, who had been quietly listening to the radio while he drove, asked, "You're prone to motion sickness?"

"Occasionally, but it's usually just headaches and dizziness. I've only ever gotten nauseous twice and luckily we stopped moving before I felt the need to vomit."

"You've been out on my boat dozens of times and never seem to have a problem."

"Well, I usually keep Dramamine or similar pills in my purse just in case but I couldn't find any this morning."

"Do you want me to stop so you can get some?"

Beth was quite for a moment before replying, "No, I'm fine right now so you don't need to make a special trip. The next time we stop, I'll get some. If it acts up, I'll take some Advil or something. It's not as effective but it helps."

"Okay. We should be stopping in a few hours for lunch. Just let me know if we should stop sooner."

"Thanks Henry." She sighed and put her head on the table.

Carlton stood up and gently patted Beth's arm. "I'm gonna go check the bedroom for your laptop."

"Thanks. And can you let Frisco out? He's probably suffered enough, being alone with the cats and all."

They stopped for the night around 8 at an RV park near St Louis. While Henry had unhooked Beth's car from the trailer and went to get dinner, Beth and Carlton took Frisco for a walk. They silently walked around the lake for a while before finding a picnic table and sitting down. There was a thin coating of snow on the ground and it was barely above freezing, but neither Frisco nor Beth seemed to care.

Taking a deep breath, Beth asked, "So, was your vacation worth it?"

"What do you mean?" Carlton watched her face carefully as she played with her one crutch.

She shrugged, "Well, my memory of the last two weeks has, for the most part, come back and it seems that I've been causing you a lot of trouble. I think you've been taking care of me a lot more than relaxing.."

"Hey. As I've told you countless times before, I'm glad that I'm getting time to spend with you. The week that you drove to Ohio was one of the loneliest and, quite frankly, boring weeks I've had in such a long time. I had gotten so use to your presence that I just didn't know what to do, so I threw myself into my work. I was actually still at the station 2 hours before my flight. And it's been nice not having to worry about work at all. I don't think I've taking a real vacation like this since my honeymoon over a decade ago. So yeah, it's been worth it."

"Aww, you're going to make me cry!" Beth exclaimed as she covered her mouth.

"If anything, you've cried enough these last few weeks, probably this past year. I think you need to take some of your own advice and relax."

"And what do you know about relaxing?"

"Quite a bit." He poked her lightly in the arm. "And I've learned a lot from you too. Like a plethora of card games that we can play."

"Alright." Beth smiled before shivering slightly. "Let's head back now. I'm getting cold and Henry should be back soon. Hopefully he'll remember to buy dessert. Oh! Do you think he would get ice cream?"

Carlton laughed as he stood up and moved Frisco out of the way of Beth's crutches. "I highly doubt it. Besides, didn't Amy pack you enough sweets for this trip?"

"Yeah, but nothing beats ice cream. Except maybe ice cream cake. Mmm, I haven't had one of those in years. Maybe I'll get one for your birthday. Isn't it in a few weeks?"

"Oh no! You are not throwing me a birthday party!"

"Why not?"

"The last time someone tried to throw me a birthday party, they decided to go behind my back and make it a surprise. Unfortunately, they accidentally invited a whole bunch of criminals to my house and I had to move."

Beth laughed as they approached the RV. "I remember Shawn telling me about that! And then a few years later you ended up moving again because you were suspected of committing a crime, so the police combed your house."

"Okay, first of all, neither circumstances are funny. And second, I moved the second time mainly because Spencer and the person who was actually committed the crime came into my house and get blood all over the floor, so of course I had to move. I really liked that place too."

"I'm so sorry for your loss." Beth tried to say with a straight face as she waited for Carlton to unlock and open the RV door.

"Get in before I decide that I need to move again and not tell you where I'm at."

"Aww, you wouldn't do that! Besides, I can have Shawn find out for me and get me inside within a week. So basically, you would just be causing yourself a lot of unneeded stress."

"Just get in," Carlton growled as he let Frisco go ahead of them.

"Aye, aye Captain!" Beth tried to salute as she handed him her crutches in order to hope up the steps.