(Vincent's Pov)
I don't know how long I had been here, on the side of the road upside down. I know I saw some lights from the emergency responders, I saw someone come over, they didn't look like an EMS person.
"Hey, hey can you look to me?" I hear and slightly move my head to look to the person.
"Hey, can you tell me your name?" I hear them ask and I nod a bit but my head was pounding. I shut my eyes a bit and looked back to them.
"V-Vin… Violet?" I asked as I looked to the woman.
"Are you sure?" She asked as she laid on her stomach and looked around.
"Y-… No." I mutter and closed my eyes a bit.
"Hey, hey got to keep you awake, ok?" She asked and I nod a bit.
"DAD?!" I hear and I tried to look around.
"Ph-phone." I mutter to the lady.
"Ok, ok I'll grab it ok?" She asked and I just close my eyes again.
"Hello?" I hear.
"Dad? Where's my dad?" I could hear.
"Honey, can you put your mom on the phone?" The lady says and I turn to look to the lady again but my neck hurt and I groaned a bit.
"Hey don't move your head sweetheart." She says and I choked a bit.
"Clem?" I asked.
"Is that your wife?" She asked.
"N… I don't…I don't." I mutter.
"Hello? Who is this?" I hear Clementine on the speaker.
"Is this Clem?" The lady asked.
"Yes, who is this?" I hear.
"This is Elenor, your husband got into an accident, EMS is here but we need to know his name." She says.
"Vincent, his name is Vincent, oh god what happened he was just on a call with his daughter." She panicked.
"Do-Don't make her p-panic." I say to the woman.
"It's fine he's talking, but he said a different name, do you know if he has any medical issues that we need to know about?" She asked her.
"Uh… he had surgery, he's FTM, I uh… he." She tried to say.
"Ok, ok, calm down sweetheart, we're helping him right now, now, they're going to get him out the car, I'll tell you the hospital in a bit, ok?" She tells her and I took a deep breath.
"L-let me, talk." I tell her and she brings the phone up to me.
"Clem?" I asked.
"What happened? How bad? Where?" She asked.
"Someone… hit me… don't know… don't know." I tell her and I ended up blacking out. I don't know all that happened, I can't remember anything but the flashing lights, I don't even remember going to a hospital at all until I finally woke up in a white room. I hear some beeps and I looked to the side to see something but I don't know what it was, I couldn't remember much of anything.
"Well good morning." I hear and look to see a woman.
"Hm… head… hurts and my legs." I mutter.
"Yea it's going to hurt for a bit, I'll get the doctor to come in and check up on you, you have a boot on your one leg the other one is just bruised a bit but not badly injured, but if it does become an issue then tell us while you are here or later on down the road." She says and I watch as she took some notes.
"Where… am I?" I asked her.
"You're in a hospital, you got into an accident." She says to me.
"My fault?" I asked her and she looked to me.
"No, no it wasn't your fault… your family is here too, they just went to get something to eat, your daughter will be happy you're awake." She tells me and I was slightly confused.
"Daughter?" I asked and she nods.
"Yes, your wife and daughter are here." She tells me.
"I… Want… grandma." I mutter as I closed my eyes just for a bit. it was a while before I woke up and saw a beautiful woman and child over by the side sitting in a chair and reading a book. I look to them a bit before the woman looks up from the book and taps on the little girl's shoulder who looked up to the woman and then she pointed to me and the little girl quickly turned her head and then hurried off the woman's lap and ran up to me.
"Dad, dad you're up, are you ok?" She asked me and I look to her.
"I uh… y-yea kiddo." I say and pat her head a bit. she looked to me a bit confused and then to the woman and I looked to said woman then the girl and think.
"P-princess?" I asked it was a random word I could think of but it seemed to make the little girl happy as she tried to climb in the bed with me.
"Sweetie no, don't do that." The woman says as she got up and grabbed the child. I look at the woman and then the door opened.
"I mean lemon cakes are good- Vincent." I hear and turn my head and I saw Minnie.
"Minnie." I say as I tried to sit up.
"Wow, excited to see me?" She asked and I saw my other friends.
"Marlon, Tenn., Omar, Aasim, Ruby, Louis… BRODY!" I yelled a bit as I tried to get up to give her a hug but I felt hands on me and I look to the woman.
"Sorry you're just hooked up and your legs." She says and I look to see I almost pulled the needle out my arm so I laid back a bit.
"Hey how is everything?" Ruby asked.
"Um… can't remember a lot." I tell her honestly.
"The nurse said it might be temporary." The woman says and I look to her then to the others.
"He seems to remember us fine." Louis says and I nod.
"He could remember some things." Ruby says and I look at her a bit.
"Yea but… does he remember Clementine?" Tenn. asked and I was confused before I looked to the woman. So, she must be Clementine.
"No, he doesn't but it's ok, it'll come back." Clementine says and I look to her. I remember the nurse saying I had a wife, so is this my wife? Damn I did good but… I thought I was with Minnie.
"I have a wife?" I asked and the group all looked to me.
"The… nurse said I had a wife… is this my wife?" I asked as I pointed to Clementine who I looked at and saw she was looking away.
"Is she, my wife?" I asked again.
"Well… no, we just… I help you raise Hazel." Clementine tells me. I'm a bit confused but stopped asking questions. For now, at least. I look at the clock and see that a few hours had passed and the others said they would be heading out, the only ones to stay were Clementine, Hazel and Minerva.
"Look, what do you plan on doing?" Minerva asked and I was confused.
"What do you mean by that?" Clementine asked.
"He can't take care of Hazel by himself, you can't take off work, maybe she should stay with Sophie and I? at least until he can get better." Minerva says.
"He just has some memory loss, he's not… look we can figure it out." Clementine says.
"She's my daughter, I can take care of her." Minerva says.
"Can you two stop arguing?" I asked and they both look at me and I point to the little girl who was currently sleeping on one of the cots they brought in.
"The child is asleep, and I think I should have a chance to speak… I mean if she really is mine." I tell them.
"He is right." Clementine says and I look to Minerva.
"He-… fine whatever." She says and I look to the little girl then to Minerva.
"I can take care of her… and if I need help I can call you or Clementine." I tell them.
"Or my parents." Clementine says and I nod at this. I would have to ask her later who they were but right now I want the arguing to stop.
"My parent's can help too." Minerva says.
"The last time your parents tried to help as you call it, they tried to tell Hazel she was going to live with them for a few months, freaking her out." Clem says and I look to both of the women.
"They just want to spend time with her too." Minerva says.
"No, they just want to take her away from Vincent." Clem counters.
"Please stop arguing… I will take care of Hazel, I'm fine, ok?" I asked.
"What is Hazel allergic too?" Minerva asked.
"What?"
"What is Hazel allergic too? If you think you can take care of her, you should know she has an allergy." Minerva says and I shake my head.
"I… I can't remember." I tell her.
"See."
"It's fucking temporary Minerva, he can't remember a lot right now, give him a break he was in a god damn wreak." Clementine says to her.
"Don't-."
"STOP!" I yelled and looked to see the little girl was still sleeping. I looked back to the girls and they looked back to me.
"I have no idea why the hell you two have to argue about this, but right now it's giving me a god damn headache, Minerva I remember your parent's being huge dicks to me, so right now I don't want them near her, if anything we can send her to Texas to live with my grandparents." I tell her. She kept quiet and shook her head as she exited the room and I lay my head back a but and rubbed my head with my free arm and I take a deep breath and exhale.
"Peanuts." Clementine says and I look to her.
"Hazel is allergic to Peanuts." She tells me and I nod at this and I take another breath.
"Do I need to get a nurse?" She asked and I shook my head.
"No, I'm… I'm fine I just… major headache." I mutter. I look over to Clementine as she looked to me worried.
"I'm fine… really just… I'm just going to sleep, ok?" I asked and she nods as I looked to the door and shook my head. I closed my eyes. As the time passed on the doctors would ask me questions and I would try and answer as best as I could, some days were good days other days I just get pissed off at all the questions. Clementine and Hazel would come and visit me when they could, I understood that they had their own lives but I was happy to see them. On my final day here, the doctor explained a few things to Clementine and I was getting my shirt on just as I was able to sign my papers and we could leave. We went to the car and I helped Hazel into her seat and I looked to Clementine as she got in the driver's seat. I stare at the car a bit and take a breath and get in.
"We can play all day too; can we play tea party?" Hazel asked and I nod as Clementine began to drive.
"Sure, that sounds nice." I say and Hazel kept talking. We finally get to the house I supposedly lived in and I rubbed the back of my head. We head on inside the house and I look around a bit and went into each room just to see if I could remember anything about this place. I head into a stud and saw guitars, a keyboard piano, posters and much more music stuff.
"Oh, you found your study." I hear and look behind me to see Clementine and I nod.
"I remember playing but… when did I stop?" I asked her.
"From what you told me it involved Minerva, and you said you couldn't write anymore… I mean you didn't have inspiration anymore." She tells me and I go and take a seat by the keyboard and I pressed on a key.
"Your mom and dad will be here tomorrow." I hear and look to Clementine.
"They talk to me?" I asked and she nods as she takes a seat next to me.
"Yea, you all made up a few years back… I mean you didn't hate them you just… couldn't talk to them about… you being who you are." She tells me and I think a bit and I still didn't remember.
"Will my grandparents be here too?" I asked but she didn't say anything.
"I mean I get that they are old… you should meet them." I tell her.
"Oh, I uh… I already did, your grandma was really sweet." She tells me and I nod.
"My grandfather is funny too, right?" I asked and she kept quiet.
"I didn't get to meet him…. Vincent, you don't remember do you?' She asked and I look at her.
"Did something happen to him?" I asked and she again kept quiet but nodded.
"He's dead, isn't he?" I asked and again she nods and I look back to the keyboard and press another key.
"How's my grandmother?" I asked her but she said nothing and I wiped my eyes a bit.
"She's gone too, isn't she?" I asked as I take a shaky breath.
"Vincent… I'm so sorry I… she passed away a few years ago." She tells me and I nod.
"It's… it's ok… I just… wish I could remember." I tell her and wiped my eyes again.
"I'll give you time to-."
"No… I mean… you can stay." I mutter and kept my eyes to the Keyboard.
"Papa… Mama?" I hear and turn to look at Hazel.
"Oh, sorry I forgot tea party." I say and clear my throat a bit.
"Are you ok Papa?" She says and I looked to Clem then to her.
"Yea, I just… learned something I forgot." I tell her as she comes up to us.
"What was it?" She asked.
"Hazel." Clem says.
"No, it's ok… um… just my grandparents is all." I tell her.
"Oh, great nanny and great poppy." She says and I nod at this.
"Yea… did she?" I asked as I looked to Clementine and pointed to Hazel and Clementine shook her head at this.
"Oh… I'm sorry." I say.
"Sorry for what?" Hazel asked.
"That you never got to see them… they would have loved you." I say and rubbed her head a bit. we sat for a while and Hazel went out the room and I look at the posters a bit.
"Do you have any questions?" Clementine asked.
"How did… no it's fine I'll ask my mom and dad." I say to her and looked to the woman. She nods at me and pats my shoulder a bit and I get up with her and we go into the living room where Hazel had a small tea set ready and I smiled at her as I go and take a seat with her and we play tea party, though my leg hurt a little I couldn't really move from the table. Clementine brings over some snacks and we just talk about Hazel and how school was going for her. I asked Clem if she could bring me some pain medicine for my leg and she goes to get it as Hazel talked to me more.
"So, what's um… your favorite color?" I asked and she looked to me a bit.
"It's purple silly." She tells me and I smile.
"Ah right, how could I forget." I say and smack my head playfully.
"It's ok Papa, it's your favorite color too." She says and I nod at this.
"Do… you have any friends at school?" I asked.
"No, but Aunt Christa is my friend." She tells me and I look to Clementine as she comes in and hands me the medicine which I take.
"Christa is a family friend of mine, but Hazel calls her Aunt Christa, and her husband is Uncle Omid." She explains and I nod at this.
"And Grandpa Lee, and Grandma Carly, and Uncle AJ… are they coming over too?" Hazel asked Clementine who nods at this.
"Yes, they will be over tonight actually… want to help me make dinner?" Clementine asked and Hazel nods.
"Can I help?" I asked.
"Sure, that would be great." Clementine says.
"No, Papa will be able to lick the spoon." Hazel says and I look to her and then to Clementine as she laughed.
"Well don't you think he's allowed to? He did good at the doctors don't you think?" Clem asked the little girl who looked to be thinking and then she nods.
"Ok, only because he did good." She says and I couldn't help but laugh at this.
"And will you be eating your greens?" Clementine asked as she looked to me.
"Eww, greens." I say.
"See, Papa has to eat his greens." Hazel says and I look to her.
"I mean if he doesn't eat his greens, he can't have dessert." Clementine says.
"Hey now wait-."
"You told her that she had to eat her greens or no dessert." Clementine tells me and I look at her then to Hazel who nods.
"But I'm an adult-."
"No excuse Papa." Hazel says and I look to her then to Clementine.
"She's right Vincent." Clementine says and I look to both of them.
"Ok fine I'll eat my greens." I say.
"Even papa can't get away with not eating his greens." Hazel says as she pours me some more tea and I take a drink. It was just plain water but it seems to make her happy.
"That's right." Clementine tells her. After a while Hazel went to go play in her room and I looked to Clem as she got stuff ready in the kitchen and I went to go help her.
"Do you want cookies for dessert?" Clem asked and nod a bit.
"Your grandma gave me her recipe." She tells me and I look at her.
"Double chocolate chip?" I asked and she nods as she shows me the recipe and it's indeed in my grandmothers handwriting and I hold it a bit.
"Wow… she never let Minerva even know her recipe's… she must have really liked you." I say and she nods.
"Yea, she told me a lot about you when you were a kid." Clem says.
"Oh, like the time I went fishing with my grandpa and my line got stuck in a tree?" I asked.
"And when you went out to get it in the water, a fish jumped up and grabbed the hook in the air." She says and I laughed at this.
"She even showed me the picture of that day… you looked so proud." She tells me and I nod.
"Yea… it was a funny day." I tell her and I think a bit.
"Everything ok?" She asked and I rubbed my head.
"I just… the doc said it was temporary but not for how long." I mutter and watched as Clementine grabbed the ingredients for dinner.
"She gave you the recipe for her uh… catfish? Fried catfish?" I asked her and she nods.
"Oh yea, she told me you and your grandpa loved her fried catfish." Clementine says as she shows me the recipe and I look to the whole box.
"She gave you all of them?" I asked and she nods.
"Yep, all of them, she gave me the box filled with them… I know I didn't know her for long but she was so sweet to me… she said she was happy that I could make you happy." She says as she works on the food and I go and get the batter ready.
"So, we aren't married… why is that?" I asked her.
"Well… we're… we aren't together anymore." She says and I nod.
"Ok." I say as I work on the seasoning.
"I mean… we weren't married at first, we agreed on a break but… we never got back together." She tells me.
"So… if I asked you… if you wanted to date… would you want to?" I asked and she looked to me.
"I don't think you are currently in the right mindset right now." She tells me.
"I mean… when I get better… I just… I'm sorry." I say.
"Don't be sorry Vincent." She tells me.
"I just… fuck." I mutter. I then hear some footsteps and look to see Hazel as she comes in.
"Hey slugger, ready to help with dinner?" Clem asked her and Hazel nods as she grabbed a stool and washed the vegetables.
"Can we watch a movie tonight?" Hazel asked.
"Sure, you don't have school tomorrow." Clem says and I nod at this as I helped heat up some oil in the pan. Clementine got the catfish ready to the side and I helped Hazel with the vegetables. I peeled the potatoes and she put the asparagus to the side for Clementine. I worked on the mashed potatoes and Hazel washed her hands and I look to Clementine who looks at Hazel who then goes and runs off and I chuckled.
"She's going to pick a movie out." Clem tells me and I nod at this as I help her with the rest of dinner.
"Does she have a favorite movie?" I asked Clementine.
"Well she has been watching the Lion King Two a lot, but then again she does love scary movies too." Clem says and I look to her.
"Hey don't blame my, you and her watched Chucky, and all that other junk, you got her into that habit." She tells me and I nod.
"Sorry I uh… if she got nightmares-."
"Nightmares? Boy she watches a scary movie and tells us the next day about how she rode on a unicorn, I don't think she could have nightmares." Clementine says as she starts to fry the fish and I work on the asparagus for her.
"I remember watching… old movies with my grandpa… um… war movies, western shows… scary movies." I mutter as I look up a bit from the food.
"Your grandmother said you and your grandfather use to watch, nightmare on elm street a lot… she said once your grandpa passed away you hid those movies when you visited her before I came." She tells me.
"Yea, I suppose I didn't want to be reminded of that day." I say quietly and too a breath.
"Hey I might seem like a bitch saying this but… maybe it's a good thing you don't remember, you were so… broken, at least that is what your grandmother said… when she passed though… you changed a bit." She tells me and I moved the food around a bit.
"Was it a bad change?" I asked her.
"I… some of it was but… you just didn't know what to do, and I wanted to help but I think I made things worse after Hazel was born." She tells me and I look at her.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"It's… I was angry at you for… having a child with Minerva, I was not… I felt like you had done it on purpose but you were drunk, Brody was with you and I mean… she went with you when you found out your grandmother passed away… afterwards you tried to keep it a secret from me and I was angry… I was fuming." She tells me and I watch as she pulled the fish out and I rubbed the back of my neck.
"I love Hazel I really do, you love her too, you think the world of her, so… I stopped being angry at you… you told me you wanted a family… and you have that." She tells me and I think for a bit.
"So that's why we took a break?" I asked.
"I didn't know what to think at the time, it seemed like it was the best option… you could focus more on Hazel and I had college." She says and I finished the asparagus.
"Gabe kept telling me that I shouldn't help you raise Hazel and god I can't believe I even considered it." She tells me.
"I'm… glad you helped… are helping me." I tell her.
"I… hmm." I tried to speak but I couldn't say anything. Clementine didn't say anything either and we kept silent.
"Mama." Hazel says and I work on the food as Clementine went to go and help Hazel. I was able to finish dinner just as Clementine came back and Hazel went to set the table and I helped her set it up. I then went and helped Clementine bring the food to the table and got Hazel to sit in her spot and I took a seat across from Clementine. As we all sat down, we put food on our plates and I tried it and smiled. It tasted exactly like my grandmothers cooking.
"I haven't seen you smile that much in years." Clementine says and I look at her.
"Well other than when Hazel said Dada." She says and I laughed a little.
"But now I say Papa." Hazel says as she eats her food. I watch her for a bit and then both Clementine an I went to eat our food.
"So, uh… how's school been?" I asked Hazel and she looks up to me.
"I made something in art class." She says and was about to leave the table but stops and looks to me.
"May I leave the table?" She asked and I nod to her and she hurries to go and grab what she made and I look to Clementine who was smiling at Hazel as she went through her backpack. As Hazel comes back, I ate some more of the food and look to the drawing she made and I held it.
"That's, me, and Papa and Mama." She says as she points to the drawing and I look to Clem then to Hazel.
"Where is your other mom?" I asked and she shrugged.
"I like Mama Clem better." She says and finishes her food and Clem sputters in her drink a bit and I look at her.
"Oh, that's so sweet." Clem says and I nod at this.
"Plus, this was for you, for the doctors." She explained and I look at her.
"Oh… thank you Princess." I tell her and she smiles and nods then takes her plate to the sink and I get up and help her wash her plate and she went to grab her cup.
"Can I have some juice for the movie Mama?" Hazel asked Clem and I look to her.
"Of course, sweetie." Clem says as she comes up with our plates and cups and I finish washing them along with the other dishes. Hazel grabbed the cup from Clem who poured her some more juice in her cup and she went into the living room and I watched as she put the movie in.
"Chuck said to take as much time as you need off ok?" I hear and look at Clementine.
"Hu? Who?" I asked her.
"Chuck… your boss… well more like business partner really." She tells me.
"Oh… oh um… fuck I didn't-."
"Hey it's ok, don't worry, honestly you haven't missed a day of work in the past five to six years." She tells me and I look to her then to the floor. I feel bad that I can't remember, but she tells me not to worry. I hear a knock on the door and go to answer it when I get a hug and look down to see another kid and I pat his head a bit.
"Oh uh… AJ?" I asked and he look up to me then to the other adults.
"See he remembers me." The boy says and I look to the adults, who must be Lee and Carly.
"Seems so, sorry Clementine told you we were coming?" The man says and I nod at this and let them in. they go over to Clementine and I walk over as best as I could. I felt a bit tired and I take a seat in the kitchen chair.
"Hey the doc said if you rest you can take the boot off, just keep the leg elevated, ok?" Clem says and I nod.
"I'm fine though." I tell her and she nods a bit.
"So, how's the leg anyway?" Lee asked.
"Hmm, they hurt but that's what happens when you're in an accident I suppose… don't know how my legs got busted though." I muttered the last part.
"The truck when it slammed into your side some of the door went inward and broke into your leg, how it didn't break is a mystery but that's why one of your legs is busted, the other one just hit the center console area that separates the passenger and driver, that's why it just hurts a bit." Clem explained and I nod.
"Oh ok." I say and look to AJ as he talked to Hazel a bit.
"Hey do you want us to take Hazel for a few nights?" Carly asked.
"No." I say immediately and look at her then to Clem.
"I- Sorry did I say something wrong?" Carly asked.
"Vincent just doesn't want Hazel to go to anyone right now, he even refused to let Minerva take her." Clem explained.
"Oh, sorry I didn't know." Carly says and I nod.
"It's ok, I just… I don't know." I mutter and take a breath.
"Hey you should go and get some rest, at least sit in the recliner." Clem suggests and I look to her and I nod as she goes and gives me an ice pack and I head over to the recliner and grabbed a pillow as well I set it up and take a seat then take the boot off and Hazel comes over to me and I look at her as she laughed a bit. I was confused before she pointed to my leg and looked to Clem.
"Papa has hairy legs." She says and I laughed at this.
"Well yea he does." Clementine says.
"Why?" Hazel asked.
"Because I don't shave." I tell her.
"Oh… is that why you have hair on your face?" She asked and I chuckled and nodded a bit.
"Yep, I don't shave that." I say as I stroked my beard a bit.
"Ok Hazel let your Papa rest up, ok?" Clem asked and Hazel looked to me and nods as she goes over to AJ and talks to him. I leaned back in the chair and I closed my eyes for a bit to rest up as much as I could.