Chapter Two
Jaime bubbled with excitement as their private plane got closer to its destination. "Feels good to be outta there, doesn't it?" Steve said, stating the obvious. Their eyes met, and - there it was again! - the almost magnetic spark between them that grabbed ahold and made it nearly impossible to look away. Sometimes when Steve looked at her, she seemed like the old Jaime again, before her amnesia, but Steve no longer dwelled on what they'd lost. The present day was full of plenty of joy and promise, and he intended to savor every second of it.
So did Jaime. "How long 'til we get there?" she asked, sounding like a small, impatient child. "This is gonna be so great! Do we really have two whole weeks, all to ourselves? I haven't had a vacation in so long...!"
Steve smiled. "Who put the extra quarter in you today?" he teased.
"Sorry. I'll shut up."
"Don't you dare shut up. It's great to see you so happy."
"Did we ever go away like this - before?" Jaime asked, suddenly a million miles away.
The questions were starting already. "Of course we did," he told her. "Our families took vacations together almost every summer."
"No, I mean later - just us."
"Well, yeah, a few times."
"Steve? I've been wondering about something..."
"You're awfully cute when you blush."
"You know what I'm gonna ask, don't you?" Jaime said, stalling, trying to come up with the words.
"It's pretty hard to make you blush, so yeah, I probably do."
Jaime made a face at him. "You're gonna make me say it anyway, aren't you?"
"Oh, you bet; wouldn't miss it for the world!"
"Alright. But you are so mean!" She took a deep breath. "When we were...together, before...did we ever...have sex?"
"Nope."
"Oh." Jaime was shocked; not the answer she was expecting. "I guess I assumed -"
Steve grinned wickedly. "But - we did make love."
"Oh, you brat!" she said, hitting him playfully.
"You wanted to know. You're not up to that yet, though."
"I know. That's why I asked. Won't it be hard for you, staying in the same cabin and not - you know?"
"Jaime," he said, gently taking her hand, "I'm happy just to be with you. That was all a different lifetime ago, and who knows - maybe someday we'll make some new memories..."
------
Jaime was cooperative, at first, allowing Steve to wheel her into the cabin. When he suggested she lie down and rest for an hour or two, though, her stubborn streak began to rear its ugly head.
"But we just got here! I wanna look around, wade in the surf -"
"Jaime -" Steve only had to raise one eyebrow to quiet her.
"Fine," she grumbled, jokingly sticking out her lower lip, "but even Rudy would've let me dip my toes in the water first."
"Well, ok," he laughed, "if that's all you wanted..." Steve picked Jaime up in his arms, carried her out to the edge of the water and - for one millisecond - touched her toes to the surf. "Now your toes got wet, and you, Sweetheart, are gonna take a rest." He carried her back into the cabin, laid her down on the bed and tucked the sheet in around her. "At least two hours," he told her, but she was already half-asleep.
Once he was sure Jaime was sound asleep, he picked up the phone at the other end of the cabin and called Rudy. "Steve!" Rudy greeted him jovially. "How's our patient?"
"The trip took more out of her than she thought it would, but she's fine. A little pale, but she actually agreed to take a nap."
"Good work, Doctor," Rudy told him.
"Rudy, she's already asking questions...she started while we were still on the plane."
"Just take 'em as they come. Let me know if she starts remembering things on her own; that would be important. And if she has any pain or unusual symptoms, I'd like to know right away."
"Gotcha," Steve answered. "Oh, Rudy? If you see Oscar, tell him we both said thank you."
