Louisville Slugger

by SJC

Willow, to put it mildly, was screwed. Even after she promised Matt that she would stay with him, she had still fully intended to leave before his friends arrived. It would have been a simple matter to convince him he needed to rest a bit, call a doctor and then leave before the situation was made any worse. It was one thing to accidentally bludgeon your boss –twice, but lying to an amnesiac was just inviting all sorts of unwanted complications.

But her plan had slowly crumbled under warm eyes, heart-breaking vulnerability and his dangerous way of making her lose track of time and sense. Now she was beyond panicking as she peeked through the curtains to spy on the group exiting their vehicles and making their way to the door. It was barely eleven. She should have had another hour still! The knock on the door that soon followed defied her logic and forced her into action.

"Uh, Hi?" She tried to sound casual as she opened the door to reveal two guys.

"Hey, you must be the secret girlfriend I've heard so little about." Her attention fell to the first guy who spoke. He was carrying a case of beer in one hand and using the other to remove his sunglasses. "And you're a redhead." He glanced at his companion with a smile, "What a surprise."

"Ignore him," the second man spoke up. He was carrying a plastic grocery bag that looked to be filled with a couple bags of chips. "Everybody does." He shifted the bag to offer his hand. "I'm Shannon and that nut is Shane."

"Oh, um, I'm Willow." She volunteered.

"Alright, now that introductions are over, show me to the grill!" The first man- Shane, slid past her into the house and the other followed him with a slight eye roll.

"Actually- um, wait!" She shut the door and ran to catch up with them as they started exploring the house. "Look. Now is really not a good time for this. Matt's not feeling well. I was just about to call a doctor-"

"A doctor? Why?" The news had finally gotten their attention and she led them back to the front foyer.

"We're um, not sure what happened, but he appears to have somehow fallen and hit his head."

"He bumped his head? That's all? Man, you had me worried for a minute. Matt's used to that. Heck, I can't remember the last time he didn't get hit with something." Shane didn't seem the least bit worried and a quick glance at Shannon confirmed that he was speaking the truth.

"It's more then just that. There's some memory damage."

"What are you trying to say?" Shannon broke in.

"He doesn't know who he is."

"Wait, start from the beginning. Tell me exactly what happened."

"Um, you want to know what happened? Right, of course." Willow wracked her brain for a way to reorder the previous night's events without implicating herself in anything that would result in causing the two muscular men in front of her any reason to want to hurt her. "I'm not really sure what exactly happened last night. He was fine when he called to let me know that he was here. And when I came over early this morning, I found him on the floor. I looked him over but it didn't look like anything more then a bump on the head. So I moved him to the bed and before I could do anything more he had started to wake up. That was right about the time I believe one of you called?" Shane nodded his head in affirmation. "He seemed fine until he realized he lost his memory. We've been arguing over calling a doctor since then."

"That's Matt for you. I guess he didn't lose his aversion to doctors when he lost his memory."

"Yeah," she tried to force a smile. "But now that you guys are here you can strong arm him into getting taken care of! Now that I'm sure he's in good hands I really need to be going-"

"You can't leave now. Matt needs you."

"Yeah, but I really need to-"

"Willow, he must be so confused and scared right now. He needs us right now."

"Of course." She caved, sufficiently guilted into staying. "I'm going to go check on Matt and let him know you both are here, and you can um, call the doctor."

Willow breathed a sigh of relief as she escaped from the two but it was short lived as she turned the corner and found Matt in the hallway.

"What are you doing? I told you that you had to rest until a doctor saw you. You get your butt back in bed!" She rushed to his side and tried to lead him back to the bedroom.

"As much as I love you trying to get me in bed," he laughed, "if rest is all you have in mind I'm going to have to protest."

"But no! You need your rest. You listen here, young man, I'm not going to let you jeopardize your health because-"

"Willow." He caught the small hands that were still trying to tug him back to the bedroom and held them between the two. "I know you're worried and I think you've been incredibly sweet taking care of me, but I'm fine." He caught her look and amended his statement, "Alright, so I have a slight memory problem. But other then that and a bit of a headache, I feel great. Really. So can you please let up on the nursemaid routine just a little bit?"

"Ok, but- you have to promise to take it easy and if you feel weak or dizzy or anything at all you will immediately let me know." She tried to look stern but it only made him smile. "Hey, I mean it buddy."

"I promise." He brought her hands to his mouth and placed a light kiss across her knuckles. "I may have lost the memory of whatever it was that brought you into my life, but I'm thankful for it all the same. You're amazing." He mistook the guilt that flashed across her face for concern and pulled her closer to him. "It's going to be fine. We'll get through this together."

She sniffled slightly and blinked back tears. "I know." She forced a cheery voice, "But you better stop all this mushy stuff before your boys out there hear you talking like that. They seem like the type that'd enjoy giving you a hard time."

He groaned, "Can't you just make them go away." He had dropped her hands and his now rested on her hips, tugging her to him. Hers rested lightly on his chest. "Going back to bed is starting to sound like a better idea."

"Sorry, but I don't think they're going anywhere. They're just worried about you."

"And I'm sure I'd be really touched if I actually knew who they were."

"A couple hours ago you didn't know who I was either. Just meet them and let them see that you're ok. Maybe it'll trigger a memory." Of course at this point, she wasn't sure whether that would be a good thing or not. If he remembered before she left she would be caught, but at least she wouldn't have to keep up this insane charade.

"Then let's get this over with."

"That's the spirit!" She gave him a smile and a quick kiss on the cheek. But inside she was doing all she could to fight the warm fuzzy feelings she was getting from her fake amnesiac boyfriend. 'Oh boy,' she thought, 'and I didn't want to deal with complications....'