TOMMY - ONE WEEK LATER

I'm on my way to the hospital having just dropped the kids off with Hayley - again. I know that I should be spending more time with the kids and that I'm not doing any good here, but I want to be there when he does wake up. Unfortunately, there's nothing Pina can do right now. It's the head injury that's put him into the coma and we have to wait. Dar took it upon himself to contact Zedd's parents and they should arrive today. I'm actually grateful that he did since, truthfully, it never even crossed my mind. Pina and Dar will bring them to the hospital when they do arrive.

Once I've parked, I get out, stretch and yawn. Powers know I'm not sleeping worth a damn and my appetite is pretty much nonexistent. The staff all know me by now and I wave as I go by. I do check in with the floor nurse, hoping to hear that there's been some change, even if I wasn't here. Disappointed as the response is negative once more, I go into his room and sit in my usual chair, after giving him a quick kiss and taking his hand.

"I'm here again, mate. The kids really want to see you, but the hospital won't let them yet. They're still worried about you developing an infection in spite of how much you've healed. The kids send their love, though." I falter. I really don't know what else to talk to him about. "I miss you so much. Nothing feels right without you. Please wake up."

I stroke my fingers along his arm and hand, getting lost in my misery for who knows how long. My attention snaps back to my mate when he suddenly takes a deep breath that he releases as a groan. He moves slightly and my eyes flicker over the monitors. My hope rises as the numbers do. Quickly, I press the call button for the nurse. It's only a minute before she pokes her head in. "What do you need, Dr. Oliver?"

"I think he's waking up." She comes in and quickly checks his stats.

"I'll call the doctor." She all but runs out of the room. I watch anxiously, hoping against hope that we've finally turned the corner. He opens his eyes slowly, struggling to rejoin the waking world.

I breathe a sigh of relief even as he speaks in Eltarian. "What happened? Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital. You were in an accident."

He looks at me and I can see his confusion. "I don't understand you" he says in Eltarian. I switch over and repeat myself. "I don't remember."

"Do you know who you are?" I start with a simple question.

"I'm Zedd, son of Kerch and Mara, Lord of Eltar." I nod. However, my heart stops at his next words. "It's customary to return an introduction. Who are you?"

"I'm your mate."

"No you aren't." The instant denial hurts, but I'm aware he's probably just confused.

"Yes, I am. I am your bond mate as well as your husband." I hold up my left hand, showing him my ring. He raises his hand, looking for his band. "No, mate. The staff took it off of you - along with everything else - when you got here. I have it though, it's safe at home on our dresser, along with your cuff and necklace, I promise."

He frowns. "That's not normal. The hospitals don't do that without reason."

Uh oh. I think I understand his confusion now. "You aren't on Eltar, Zedd. You're on Earth."

"Where?"

I hesitate. I don't know what makes me do it, but I find myself asking softly, "Zedd, how old are you?"

Before he can answer me, Dana comes in with Pina. Dana smiles at him before giving him a playful greeting. "Well welcome back, oh great lord of chaos and destruction. I swear Zedd could you maybe do all of us a favor from now on and try and stop ticking off the universe, we finally get your husband to stop injuring himself all the time and then you go and pick up the slack."

He looks at me, confused. I translate for him, though I'm careful to leave out some of her teasing, not certain he'll grasp exactly what she's aiming for. Pina says to him, "You don't understand English?"

"When would I have learned that? And what for?"

Quietly, I'm translating for Dana so that she knows what's going on as Pina asks, "Do you know who I am?"

"Should I?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

He smiles brightly. "I'm going to meet Annwyl today. It'll be the first time I've seen him in over a year."

Pina and I exchange looks. I can't help but re-ask a question of my own. "Zedd, how old are you?"

"Two hundred fifty seven." Oh god - he's lost thousands of years. He sees our shocked looks, his own smile faulting at our stunned silence. "Right?"

"No" Pina tells him. "You're over ten thousand, my friend."

Shock settles on his face. "What?"

"Hold on" Dana cuts in. "Let me finish my exam and then we'll bring his parents in and you can get him caught up." Fortunately, his shock silences him and she finishes checking him over quickly. "I'll get his parents."

I look at Pina. "You might want to go tell Dar what's going on."

She nods and heads out of the room. Zedd speaks hesitantly. "Who is Dar?"

I give him a sad smile. "Your best friend."

"Where's Annwyl?" Oh hell. I have no idea how to answer that without upsetting him. Finally, I tell him, "He's on Triforia with Lord Trey."

"Who?"

"Lord Triforn's son" Pina explains as she returns before turning to me. "Trey wasn't born more than a few hundred years ago. If Zedd thinks he's only in his two hundreds, he wouldn't recall Trey as the current lord of Triforia."

"Why would Annwyl be with anyone on Triforia? He hates Triforia, plus he's supposed to meet with me today." How am I supposed to tell him that the boy he thinks he's currently in love with is now a captive? That Annwyl betrayed him and tried to kill him? Well almost killed him, deliberately or not.

"Again, you aren't the age you think you are, Zedd. A lot has happened that you apparently don't remember right now, what Annwyl did to you being a large part of it. I can try and explain things to you, but I'm not certain if that will help you or not at this moment."

Kerch and Mara come in, as well as Dar. Zedd frowns. "But how will I know what you say will be true?"

Kerch speaks up. "Because he's your mate, you're bonded and we'll be able to confirm what he tells you."

"Father, Mother. But how can I trust you when you don't want me with Annwyl?"

"It's true that I didn't like the boy, but I absolutely despise the man he's become and what he's done to you."

Zedd pauses at this statement. "Mother, how old am I?" She tells him and he clearly doesn't know how to respond. I gently take his hand again, only to have him pull away from me. "Don't touch me! I don't know you and it's highly improper to go around caressing others that are mated to someone else!"

I try and mask my hurt since, again, he's lost. I think he feels it, though, at the confusion that once more crosses his face. "Mate, you do know me. We're bonded and I know you can feel it." Inspiration strikes. "I'll tell you what. I'll tell you a short, edited version of your history from where you think you are in time until now. After that, I'll answer any questions you have as best I can."

His eyes narrow but they don't leave mine as he considers my proposal. "All right."

I take a breath and, drawing on the 'fairy tale' that I'd told Mara Jane some months ago, I begin. "I told our history to a special girl a few months ago, changing the names to make it easier for her to understand given her young age, but I'll tell it to you the same way, agreed?"

"Go on, but there will be no touches during this tale." Ouch.

"If that's what you want, mate. Once upon a time, many, many centuries ago there was a handsome, yet troubled young lord named Rage. This young man while greatly misunderstood by those around him and struggling to find his way in the word fell in love with someone very much. For the sake of the story we'll call him Spite. Now Rage loved this idiot, known as Spite, and did all he could to make the other young man happy. Unfortunately, Spite was very true to his name and ended up manipulating the young lord for his own selfish needs before eventually breaking his heart. Now because of this as well as the fact that many people thought badly of this young lord already, in his hurt and anger, he turned to the only thing that made sense to him at the time, which was evil. He believed that since people already thought him evil that he might as well prove them right in the worst way possible."

"This young lord served the forces of evil for many centuries, becoming more and more well known for the power he welded along with his skill in conquering worlds and destroying his enemies. That is until one day, he was given a new assignment - to take over for someone who was doing a bad job trying to take over the planet she had been assigned to conquer. We'll call her Jealousy. Now, at the same time that this young lord was traveling to the new planet, there was a different young man named Sorrow. This young man, much like the young lord, felt misunderstood by those around him and in his quest to try and find a place to belong was captured and put under Jealousy's spell, and through the spell, was forced to work on the side of evil."

"For the time being, Rage and Sorrow were both evil now, however since the young man didn't want to be evil as the young lord had all those centuries ago, he was one day freed from the spell and in gratitude joined the ones that had freed him, helping them by fighting the evil witch Jealousy that was trying to take over the planet. Over time he actually became great friends with the ones who had freed him and found, for the time being a place where he felt he actually belonged. Then came the day that the young lord arrived to take over the work of enslaving the planet from the failing miserably at her job Jealousy. The young lord and the young man now being opponents fought several times, neither of them giving up. What neither of them knew however was that the battles they fought, and the passion they shared during their battles - even if it was filled with hatred at the time - made a bond form between them. After a long time of the lord losing, finding it harder and harder to bring himself to actually try and kill his young opponent anymore due to the unknown bond, the evil side sent yet another group to take over the job. And so the young lord left."

"He was still evil and now somewhat depressed due to his failure. Anyways, a few years later, a great power swept through that section of space, destroying much of the evil. The lord barely survived the power wave because, while he had been evil for a long time, he wasn't completely evil and having so much of himself destroyed at once hurt him very badly. It took a long time for him to recover and get better, but he did with the help of two companions that would eventually become his chosen family. Once he was better though, he decided that the evil life wasn't what he wanted anymore and so began to build a new one, using the reputation he'd built when he was evil to help him."

I brace myself. This next part will be hard, again, but it must be done. "Now, while Rage was recovering, Sorrow went on to finish college and continue defending his home planet from other threats. Until the day that an evil threat he'd accidentally helped create almost killed him. He spent a little time in the hospital and then was moved to a care facility while his friends continued to fight without him. Because they were still trying to help protect their planet and stop the evil that'd almost killed him, he was left feeling abandoned and thought they no longer wanted to be around him. All he knew was that they took him to this place and left him, and while at this place the people who were supposed to be taking care of him were actually very mean to him and hurt him more and more every day."

"How?"

Taken back by his interruption, I stumble in my story for a minute, looking at him in confusion. "What?"

"How was he hurt?"

Swallowing hard and taking a breath, I debate the best way to answer this, or if even really should right now, before answering as bluntly as I can. "They tried to make him a pet and when he resisted they beat and drugged him until he couldn't fight back anymore."

Eyes suddenly blazing with anger, he for a moment makes me believe that he does recall who I am to him now, only for me to realize it's the bond and his own morals that are causing the reaction, not him recalling my place as his mate.

"Anyway, one day, Rage, many planets away, felt like something was very wrong. He and his friends searched the galaxy for information until they heard about Sorrow being hurt and almost dying. He remembered the young man that he'd been so mean to and had fought so hard against and he felt bad about what he'd done, so he decided that he would do everything he could to help his old enemy. He went and took Sorrow away from the terrible place that he was trapped in and brought him back to his castle. While there, Rage helped him recover and kept him safe and it wasn't long afterwards that they discovered the bond that had been forged so many years before. After a time, they fell in love and with the blessings of their friends and family, they got married. They went on to have a family, with Rage carrying their first child, a beautiful little girl, and Sorrow carrying their second, a handsome little boy."

"Wait - we're bonded, married and we have children?!"

"Yes." I give this time to sink in. "We have a daughter, Mara Jane Elizabeth Anise, who has the same dark power you do and a son, Jacob Samuel Benjamin Kerch. She's thirteen and he's almost six."

"And the boy carries no powers?"

"As I mentioned, I carried him so he wasn't exposed to the dark power like she was when you carried her. I suspect he'll be more like me and have access to power from the great temple on Phaedos when he's old enough."

"So you're Phaedosian?"

"Originally human, altered to half breed - human and Phaedosian - by the powers." I wait for a few minutes. He looks at Pina and Dar.

"You are the two companions from his story? The ones that helped me recover and became my chosen family?" They both nod.

"We served the evil at one time as you did" Dar tells him. "When we were freed from it, we didn't suffer as you did since we didn't carry the sheer volume of dark power that you could."

"I know it's a lot to take in" Pina says gently. "But I swear to you on my honor as a warrior, he speaks the truth."

"I- I don't know what to think" he admits. "How did Annwyl break my heart?"

"When you returned to the city, he met with you and told you that he'd bonded to another. You told him that bonded pairs weren't necessarily mates and he claimed that he and his bond mate had become actual mates a short time before you came home" Kerch tells him.

"And who is this supposed bonded mate?" he demands.

I glance at Pina and Dar. "What the hell was his name? I know that Zedd said that the boy was his biggest rival, but I don't remember his name."

"Musuh" Zedd growls. "So Annwyl used my enemy to break things off with me?"

"Basically. And that's what led to you turning to the Evil Alliance" Dar says.

"So what, he's now with this Lord Trey?"

"Not by his choice, he returned a few years back, after we had become mates, but before we were married and had the children. He stated that he wanted you back and when you explained that we were mated and bonded, he accused you of taking me as a bonded pet."

"What?!" Sitting up and hissing sharply, he sinks back down onto the bed looking again more than a bit enraged. "I would never do such a thing to any species!"

"Well he thought differently, most likely since he has no such reservations. After we got rid of him, he went after you again deciding that if you wouldn't submit to him willingly he'd make you his pet. As you can imagine that was not something any of us would allow to happen and to prevent a repeat of such a matter we requested Lord Trey's aid to keep him contained so to speak." As this sinks in, I suddenly realize there's another issue that needs to be addressed. "Look, I know you've had a lot of shocks already today, but there's another really big one that we need to deal with before you find out the hard way." I'm tempted to switch to English, but I don't want him to think that I'm conspiring against him. Well, that's what the old Zedd would have thought. "We need a mirror."

Mara instantly digs in her bag as Zedd looks at me strangely. "I know what I look like."

"No, you know what you looked like then. Holding as much dark power as you did and for how long has altered you inside and out, Zedd." I take the mirror from Mara and hand it to him. "Whenever you're ready."

He hesitates for a long time before he raises it. His eyes widen as he stares at his reflection, acquainting himself with his 'new' face. Finally he sets it down on the bed, face down. "I- I'm tired. I need to rest."

"And think too probably" I say.

"I want to be alone." Again, pain squeezes my heart. He flinches at the sensation through the bond.

"Sorry. I'll - close the bond until you get used to things." It's been a very long time since the bond between us has been completely closed, but I do it just the same. For him. I stand up and lean over to kiss him, but he pulls away. "Sorry. Just - habit. I'll be back later - or tomorrow if you'd rather."

He nods and I leave the room, followed by the others. I look at Pina as we leave. "If he's going to be like this for any length of time, I'm going to start needing those shots again."

"Let's give him some time. As he recovers, he may regain his memory."

"We're never that damn lucky."