YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

Jaime Sommers paced the length of the hospital roof like a caged animal, which, in many ways, she was. The latest round of surgery had been a complete success; too much of a success for Jaime, although no one thought to ask her opinion.

Her mind had become a vast kaleidoscope of images. Memories, both wanted and unwelcome, sprang into focus too rapidly to process or adjust to. She closed her eyes for a moment and let the pictures take over: Batting tennis balls with Steve, first as young kids and then later (he looked so good in those tennis whites!); 'Their spot' by the lake where they talked for hours about nothing at all, and the night Steve held her as she sobbed with the grief of losing her first high school boyfriend.

She thought about the first time Steve kissed her, the memory so vivid now that she could feel his arms around her and taste the promise of the future on his lips. Jaime stopped pacing and blinked her eyes rapidly but the images remained. Damn! Life was so much simpler without old memories to complicate things! Next time she'd be more careful what she wished for. Right now, she wished she was anywhere in the world other than this roof.

Doctor Michael Marchetti had first brought her back from the dead and now had restored the memories that had also been pronounced unrecoverable and dead. His joy at the success of the experimental surgery was ironic, really. It was only a couple of weeks ago that she and Michael had been planning their future together. And now...this.

"I called Steve," Michael had told her quietly, less than 24 hours earlier. "He'll be here tomorrow." His heart ached at the probable outcome, but he knew he had to be a physician first and do what was best for his patient.

"No-o-o! Why?"

"He has a right to know, Jaime."

Jaime trembled at the thought of what this meant. "But I don't even know yet if I'm really feeling these feelings or just remembering them!"

"When you see Steve, when you look in his eyes, you'll know."

"But where does that leave us?" Jaime pleaded, her tears flowing freely.

Michael steeled himself for what had to come next. God, he didn't want to hurt her! He looked deep into Jaime's eyes and, forcing his concern for this patient to outweigh his love for this woman, he plunged ahead.

"There is no 'us', Jaime. There never really was. There's you, and there's Steve."

"There was an 'us' a week ago when we talked about buying a house, when we walked in the garden, when you kissed me...Why are you doing this?"

Michael turned away, unable to face her and see the pain he'd caused. "Steve's plane lands at Andrews at noon, and a chopper will bring him here. You need to be on the roof to meet him at 12:30," he told her brusquely. "I haven't told him anything except that you're here and you need to see him."

"Michael, please-" Jaime reached out for his hand but Doctor Michael Marchetti was already in the hallway, closing the door to her room, leaving her behind.

Jaime paced the roof again, feeling more trapped than she ever had in her life. When she was as far as possible from the landing pad she stopped and, although it was mid-July, she shivered violently. Memories of her past with Steve kept coming, faster and faster, as though Michael's actions of the day before had tripped a final release signal in her mind. What would she say to explain this to Steve?

------

In the helicopter, Steve leaned forward in his seat, straining for the earliest possible glimpse of the only woman he had ever truly loved. Michael had given no clues as to the reason for this visit, so Steve had no idea what he faced when the chopper landed. Would Jaime be in a wheelchair, the result of a mission gone wrong? Was she lying, pale and still, in a hospital bed, waiting to say goodbye before she died? Or (most likely, in Steve's opinion) was she standing happily in Michael's arms, ready to announce their engagement? The last 18 hours had been sheer torture.

He didn't have much longer to wait. His left eye focused on the roof long before the chopper pilot saw it. A familiar blonde figure stood alone, her face tilted upward, searching the skies. What could she possibly be waiting to tell him?

------

"You did the right thing," Doctor Rudy Wells said softly, trying to console his young associate.

Michael nodded. "I know," he said, turning away from the office window. "Jaime and I had a nice thing going, but she and Steve - there's just no comparison. If there's the slightest possibility they can get that back, she deserves the chance to try. They both do."

Rudy placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "Still, I know what it cost you, Michael. I don't envy you this decision."

"If it doesn't work out for them, hopefully she'll realize how much I care." Michael turned back toward the window as the sound of the landing chopper filled the air. What would Jaime decide to do?

------

Jaime fought against the wind created by the slowing chopper blades as she moved almost involuntarily toward the landing pad. Her heart leapt to her throat as Steve strode across the pavement to meet her. Their eyes met, and instinct suddenly told Steve exactly why he'd been called to the hospital. He took Jaime's hands in his own and pulled her closer, searching her face more intently, just to be sure.

"Oh my God!" he gasped, not quite believing it. "You've got your memory back!"

Jaime stared at the ground, anger flashing across her face. "Michael swore he hadn't told you."

Steve cupped her chin lightly with one hand and raised her head so she was looking at him again. "He didn't," Steve confirmed, taking her in his arms. "Your eyes did."

"My eyes?"

"There's something there I haven't seen in a very long time," he told her softly. "I'd given up hope of ever seeing it again."

Jaime felt the tension drain from her body as she leaned closer and let his arms fully encircle her. "What did you see, Colonel?"

Steve smiled. "You," he said simply. He brushed her lips lightly with his own, testing the waters. The kaleidoscope that Jaime's mind had become slowed and then stopped spinning. She returned the kiss openly, willingly, the emotions that had been locked away for so long flowing freely between them. Jaime knew without a doubt that she was no longer viewing her past; she was seeing her future.

End