A.N. The next bit, slightly longer than the others, and starting that fantastic element of these kind of stories - SNICKERS! Enjoy!
Chapter 6
"Where are my keys?" Sara almost yelled, struggling to yank them out of her purse while balancing on one leg and leaning against the front door of her flat.
"Yes!" she exclaimed as she finally freed them from whatever had been snagging them, and then she heard a muffled voice ask "I take it you've finally got your keys out of your bag then?"
Sara looked over at Nick, almost hidden by her crutches, two overnight bags and a huge brown bag of groceries cradled in his arms.
"Yeah, I have, you just have to hang on a minute longer Nick!" she laughed as she opened the door. Throwing her keys and handbag onto the table right inside the door, she turned back to Nick.
"Ok, now I need my crutches."
"Right," Nick said slowly, trying to figure out how to give Sara her crutches and still hold everything else in his arms. Sara reached into the pile, managing to get her hand around one of them, but by tugging at it and balancing on one leg, the two of them became very unstable.
For the second time in a week Sara felt Nick crash into her and the two of them crash to the floor. This time, thankfully, although he landed on top of her, she didn't bang her head, and there was no cabinet nearby to fall on them. As she lay there, she looked up, and her gaze was captured by Nick's dark brown eyes.
Nick stared down at Sara lying beneath him. Having her so close to him was playing havoc on his body, which was threatening to respond to how he felt about her. Knowing that Sara would undoubtedly be able to feel this, he tried to squash down those feelings, but he couldn't resist just reaching down and brushing a few strands of hair off her cheek gently with his hand, allowing his knuckles to graze the soft skin of her face ever so gently.
Sara shivered inwardly as she felt his hand stroke her cheek, and as she continued to stare into his eyes, she could see desire for her in them, and she knew that look was mirrored in her own eyes. She had fallen for him, having spent so much time with him in the hospital, them talking almost non-stop, in an effort to help her to regain her memories. She still hadn't remembered anything else, but sometimes she felt it close to the surface, almost braking through whatever dam seemed to be blocking all these memories from her conscious mind, and then they would slip away again.
As Nick moved his head almost imperceptibly closer, Sara realised he was going to kiss her. Against all her instincts telling her that she didn't even know if she was going out with anyone else yet, she allowed her eyes to start to drift closed. She could feel his breath on her cheek …
As Nick leaned down he saw Sara's eyes start to shut and he knew she was giving him the go ahead. He leant down until just a wisp of air separated them.
Then Sara's neighbours came out of their flat and jolted Sara and Nick out of their almost kiss. The two opened their eyes again, startled, and Nick hastily got off of Sara and started piling the groceries back into the bag that they had spilled out of as he had fallen. He then quickly dumped these on the inside table where Sara's keys and bag were, and then leant down to help Sara up.
Sara reached up for the hand that he offered, more than a little annoyed that her neighbours had chosen that precise moment to walk out of their flat, although she knew that it was for the best, until she regained her memories. Also, if they had come out a minute later, it would have been much more embarrassing for her!
Sara finally reached the relative safety of balancing on one leg, and Nick quickly reached down and picked up her crutches, handing them to her, allowing her to hobble in the door in front of him. He desperately wanted to carry her in, or help her in, but he knew that if he did he wouldn't be able to resist kissing her, and he didn't really want to do that until she had regained her memories, he was afraid of what she would say after regaining them, whether she would want what he wanted as much, or whether she had just kissed him because she didn't remember anyone else she might like more.
Sara made it over to the couch, and sat down, eager to be off her feet, as it was very tiring using crutches, and her arms were already hurting from the strain. Meanwhile Nick carried the bag of groceries into the kitchen, and filled up the kettle, turning it on after he had done so.
"Coffee?" he asked Sara, having walked into her living room.
"Oh! Yes, sure I'll just go and make it! Hang on." As Sara tried to get up Nick hurried over to her. This was a very good idea, because as she made it to her feet she wobbled and had it not been for him grabbing her arms, she would have fallen into a very undignified heap.
"I've put the kettle on already!" Nick told her gently, a smile now lighting his face up. "I was just inquiring whether you wanted any." Having her this close to him again after the hallway encounter was doing dreadful things to his mind, making it run with an x-rated certificate, which he was sure would disgust her. Or would it? He wondered, considering their encounter not five minutes ago. She certainly wasn't rejecting my advances then.
Sara looked at Nick's kind smile, and felt her insides melt. She had definitely fallen for this guy, and she wanted him in the worst way, but at the moment her mind was still stuck on the idea of coffee.
"Oh Nick, I'm sorry" she said, jerking him out of his thoughts.
"Sorry? Why?"
"I'm so pathetic, I can't even make coffee or anything on my own, 'cause I'll fall over…" She felt her eyes begin to water. She had always prided herself on being independent, and here she was, unable to even make a cup of coffee.
Unable to bear it any longer, she suddenly burst into tears.
When Nick spotted this, he gave up trying to stop his body from doing what it had desperately wanted to do for the past few minutes, and gave in to the urge to wrap his arms around her. He gently embraced her, and unable to stop himself, kissed the top of her head softly.
"It's alright, It's ok," he murmured. She seemed to take comfort in his words, and began to relax.
"Anyway," he said softly, "I should be the one who's sorry. It's my fault, after all, that you're unable to do that."
Sara pulled away slightly, and looked up at him through her tears. Now, though, there was a hint of a smile on her face.
"I thought we agreed that wasn't your fault!" she said. Just being in his arms was causing that familiar feeling of memories rising to surface in her again. If they would just come a little bit further…
"Yeah," Nick muttered, "but I did kind of push you."
Once again Sara saw the scene playing out in her head, the first memory that she had remembered, and, as though they had been waiting for a signal like this, all of her other memories seemed to break through the barrier holding them back. Sara's mind was overcome with a huge rush of thoughts, feelings, images, sounds, smells … she couldn't handle it. She moaned in pain, it felt like her head was going to explode with all the new information it was getting. She gripped the sides of her head with her hands, as though trying to stop her brain leaking out of her ears with the pressure of all of these forgotten scenes.
Finally it all became too much for her mind to handle, and as the images continued to rush past her closed eyelids, Sara fainted.
A.N.2/ Please read and review!
