Justin held his throbbing head, feeling overwhelmed. There was a large group of people crowding around him. They were all talking at once, all of them at once trying to help him and make sure he was okay. They were all twittering over him and petting him and hugging him and kissing him and telling him how glad they were that he was okay. It was all very chaotic and emotional…and Justin didn't have the slightest clue who one of them were. Feeling a bit panicky, Justin had his eyes closed and was trying to remember who all of them were when all of a sudden his conversation from the night before flashed through his head. Tensing up nervously, Justin quickly scanned the crowd, but then, not seeing Brian, he relaxed slightly. He continued looking through the crowd, then suddenly, he saw someone he did recognize.

"Daphne!" Justin exclaimed excitedly, his eyes widening with excitement.

"Yes, Justin?" Daphne answered brightly from her place just outside the crowd.

"Come here." Justin encouraged her, patting the space on the bed near his hip.

"Okay," Daphne said shyly. Then, once she had sat down, "Yes?"

"So…you don't remember anything either?" Justin inquired, not feeling very sure of himself.

"Nope…nothing."

"Well, that's good. I mean…at least now, I feel a little less…"

"Insane?" Daphne finished for him.

"Yeah!" They both laughed softly.

"So…" Justin started, biting his lip and leaning forward slightly to scratch his knee. "Did anyone tell you…what happened?"

"Yeah, my Dad told me." Daphne answered.

"Mine too. At our senior prom…" Justin sighed "doesn't that suck?"

"Yeah…it's weird. It's like, I know what happened, but I don't remember it."

"Yeah, it's like it happened to someone else or something."

"Yeah…But it didn't Justin. It happened to us. I don't understand Justin. Did we do something to cause it? Are we not good people? What did we do?" Daphne said all this quietly, choking back a sob.

At this point, the others realized that the teens were having a personal moment and they all left the room to give them some privacy.

"Aw, Daph." Justin said sadly. Seeing the tears start to roll freely down her cheeks, Justin pulled the girl into his arms. Feeling her tremble against him and feeling his own tears coming dangerously close to falling, Justin realized how comfortable he felt with her. He didn't remember her, of course but he felt this natural connection with her. Thinking about what his dad had said about her, he decided it made sense. She was very pretty, and, though he didn't feel much of an attraction towards her, he figured that was just because he didn't remember her. They were obviously close if they had gone to the prom together. Pushing all thoughts other than ones of comfort, he kissed her on the side of her head and tightened his arms.

"Aw, Daph, it's going to be okay. Just wait. Soon, we'll remember everything and this will be nothing but a neat story for you to tell our kids." Justin pulled back and brushed a tear off her cheek.

"Our kids?"

"Oh, hey, I wasn't trying to freak you out with talk about the future or anything! I just…didn't know how long we'd been together and I thought it might cheer you up."

"No. It's fine. I just…didn't realize." Daphne said softly with a light smile on her face.

"Well it makes sense doesn't it?"

"Yeah. I just didn't put two and two together, I guess."

"What's the smile for, huh?" Justin teased, bumping shoulders with her, for she had somehow gotten to where she was sitting against the headboard next to him.

"I don't know. It just feels…right. You know?"

"Yeah, it's like, even if no one had told me that we went together, I'd still know we were close. I can feel it."

"Yeah, plus, I just realized my boyfriend is hot!"

"Hey, you're not so bad looking yourself, you know!"

"Well, yeah, but that goes without saying." she said exaggeratedly, rolling her eyes upward.

"Brat!" Justin exclaimed throwing a teddy bear that someone had put next to his bed at her head.

"Hey!" Daphne responded by taking the pillow from behind her, and, while Justin was busy laughing, hit him in the shoulder with it hard.

"Hu-oomph!" Justin exclaimed as his butt his the floor with a thud.

"Pfft" Daphne snorted at the look on Justin's face.

"Oh, real nice Daphne. Real sexy. Real elegant."

"Shut up, twat!" Daphne said, doubling over and snorting again.

"Oh, that's it! No one calls me female genitalia and gets away with it!" With that, Justin lunged on top of her and started tickling her in the side.

"Okay! Okay! Stop! Mercy!" Daphne exclaimed in between fits of giggles. "That would be the thing you remember about me."

Justin tried to respond but couldn't, between trying to catch his breath and trying not to laugh.

Daphne looked up at Justin, and, seeing him silently looking at her, misunderstood and instinctively leaned up to touch her lips to his. This kiss was a brief one but is was long enough for Daphne to feel lightning shoot through her body. She laid back and felt her heart fill with happiness. For the first time since she woke up in a starched white hospital room that smelled of cleaners and realized she didn't remember anything, she felt happy. This wonderful guy was with her. He was perfect. Before they even really knew who they were, they were having fun together and he made her laugh when she had been crying. He was sweet, sensitive, funny, and fucking hot! She could only imagine how in love they were and couldn't wait until she remembered everything. Licking her lips and tasting him on her, she looked up at him dreamily and saw that he was just as speechless.

Unfortunately, Justin's was not the same kind of speechlessness. The kiss had been long enough for him too. Long enough for him to feel absolutely nothing. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good. It was just…lips. There were no fireworks or lightning bolts or electricity, or…anything. In fact, the most dominant emotion was…shock. Shock that Daphne had kissed him. That didn't seem right. Shouldn't he be used to it? No! Shouldn't he like it? Shouldn't he want it? Thinking about it, he figured it was because he couldn't remember her, so it was really like he had just kissed a stranger. Well, not a stranger, there was that connection, more like a friend.

"Wow." Daphne stated, finally speaking.

"Yeah, uh…"

"What…the…FUCK…is going on??!!"

Daphne looked over Justin's shoulder to see who had just interrupted their moment so rudely. She saw a tall, dark, and very angry man standing in the doorway.

"Brian!" Justin exclaimed, his voice breaking as he jumped off of Daphne. "We were just…uh…we were…uh." Justin stuttered, sitting down in a chair in the far corner of the room and pulling his knees up to his chest lightly.

"Jus? Justin? Sunshine, what's wrong?" Brian asked softly, forgetting his anger when he saw how freaked out Justin was. He walked closer to him and reached out to him, but, seeing him cringe away, stopped. "Did you remember something?" Brian took another step forward, but stopped again when he saw Justin flatten himself against the wall.

"No, no, nothing's wrong! My, my mom, she, she asked me to come. She, she needs to talk to me." With that Justin rushed out of the room without so much as looking back.

"What was that about?" Brian asked, looking toward Daphne.

Daphne shrugged her shoulders uselessly to the retreating back. "…Ryan! That's his name! I think…?"

Brian paced the lobby long after all of his friends had left. All he could think about was the numerous times he had tried to talk to Justin today and he had immediately freaked out and found a reason to leave. This just didn't add up. Sure, he was an asshole, but he had NEVER done anything to make the kid scared of him. Seeing the Doctor coming toward him, Brian stormed up to him.

"What the FUCK is going on?" Brian asked for the second time that day.

"You'll have to be more specific Mr. Kinney? What is what going on?"

"Justin! What's wrong with him?"

"Well, the area right next to his occupital lobe, which controls memory has been damaged and until the swelling goes down…"

"Can the medical shit, I know he lost his fucking memory! I'm not a fucking idiot."

"Well, then I'm afraid I'm confused again Mr. Kinney."

"I'm talking about me!"

"Well, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with you but if you're feeling ill, then…"

"No, you jackass! What I mean is, why is he scared of me?"

"Elaborate." the doctor requested.

"Yeah, I'll elaborate! Every time I go near him, he freaks out and runs away! Oh, and forget trying to touch him, he all but passes out in fear!"

"Well Mr, Kinney, I can assure you that it is a perfectly natural rea…?

"No, it's not perfectly natural." Brian mocked. "If its so natural, then why isn't he that way with everyone?"

"You mean he's not?"

"Nope. He was rolling around playing with Daphne. He hugged his mom and Debbie. Fuck, he even had a nice, civil conversation with his Dad! So nope, not everyone, just me."

"Hmm, that is slightly odd. Before the accident, did you do anything that might make him stay away from you?"

Brian's brain flashed to the dozens of times he had yelled at Justin, screamed at him. All the times he had told him he was nothing to him, that he didn't give a fuck about him. All the time he had told him to get the fuck out. "…No, not that I can think of Doc."

"Well, then I don't know why exactly, but it sounds like he's remembering wrong for some reason."

"Well, what can we do to make him remember right?"

"Nothing."

"What the fuck do you mean, nothing?"

"Well, firstly, until the swelling goes completely down, we can't know if the anmesia is likely to be permanent."

"So you're telling me I have to wait…what, a fucking week while he walks around terrified of me and I'm not supposed to do anything?" Brian asked dubiously

"No, that's not what I'm saying."

"Well, good."

"What I'm saying is, we can't know how to carry on with this until we know the severity of his condition. Then, if it's permanent, we'll wait a couple weeks as a precation, then start taking the proper steps to get him into therapy to recover his memory."

"And if it's not permanent?"

"If it's temporary, which it is likely to be, then we simply wait for him to remember."

"What do you mean, 'we wait'?" Brian asked incredulously.

"Mr. Kinney, his subconscious has made him remember wrong for a reason. Triggering memories before he's ready for them may set back his recovery."

"So how long are we talking about, Doc?" Brian asked darkly.

"I'm sorry, Sir, I can't answer that very accurately. It could be a matter of a week, or it could be months."

"Months?"

"Months."

"Mother fucker!" With that, Brian stormed out of the hospital