Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All rights go to the actors, writers and creators of the show "When Calls The Heart".

CHAPTER 5

Jack couldn't sleep. He had tossed and turned all night. His arm was itchy and his ribs hurt but that wasn't why he was awake. His mind was solely on Elizabeth. He couldn't understand what he had done wrong. One minute their kiss seemed to be going along well, the next he was standing there on his own watching her drive away.

He got up and went and wrapped his arm in plastic and went for a shower. It was early in the morning but he needed to do something. He left the house as the sun was coming up and he was soon joined by all the dog walkers and the elderly ladies out enjoying the cool morning before it got too warm. Jack kept walking down to the foreshore. He used to come and ride his bike here with Tom as a kid. It looked so different now. There were lots of big houses now and even the dirt track that they once rode on was now a cemented bike track.

Everything had changed in what seemed like the blink of an eye. How am I ever going to adjust to this?

Jack walked back to his mother's house going a different way. He needed to talk to someone about what happened. He was not talking to his mother that was for sure. Maybe Doug. Where was he? Why hadn't he visited?

Elizabeth woke up the next morning to her alarm and found Eve curled up tightly by her side. When Jack was home, they discouraged the girls from coming into their room at night but when Jack was away Elizabeth let them be. It made her feel less alone when she could feel someone next to her rather than just Jack's empty pillow.

The memory from the previous night came flooding back in. Elizabeth had no idea why she left Jack like that. It had felt so right and then it was like a switch had flipped in her mind and before she knew it, she was driving home.

Elizabeth dragged herself out of bed and got ready for the day. As she finished dressing, Eve had stirred and called out to her.

"Mommy?"

"Hey baby girl. Are you going to get ready to go to Aunt Vi's?"

Eve nodded at her. Elizabeth scooped her up and carried her to her room. She helped her get dressed and then went to wake up Halley and Gracie. Elizabeth took Eve downstairs and started preparing breakfast for all of them. The older girls traipsed in and all three of them were eating their cereal while Elizabeth finished off their lunches.

Today was the last day of school and Elizabeth was more than happy to have a break. Doing this for the last two terms on her own had been exhausting. Even though her and Jack seemed to be miles away from each other, she hoped that by the time school went back, he might have some of his memories back.

The girls finished getting ready. They were all in the car and Elizabeth was on her way to Viola's to drop off Eve and pick up her nephew Oscar, Viola's oldest. Viola's second and youngest child, Lara, was the same age as Eve and they would end up going to school together but for the time being they spent their days playing since Viola didn't work.

Elizabeth helped Eve out of the car while the other two waited. Elizabeth rang the bell.

"Hi Beth. Hi Eve. Come on in darling." Viola said.

Elizabeth bent down to give Eve a hug and kiss goodbye.

"Oscar, hurry up, Aunty Beth is here!" Viola yelled behind her. "Sorry, he will be just a minute."

"That's okay. We have time."

"How is everything with Jack going?"

Elizabeth must have winced or something at the sound of Jack's name. Viola instantly knew something was up.

"What happened?"

"I don't know."

"Beth, you can tell me."

"I know, I just honestly don't know what happened. I think I just began overthinking things."

"Come on explain."

"He kissed me last night as I was leaving."

"Kissed you? As in on the cheek?"

"Aaah no. More than that."

"On the lips?"

"Yeah but more than that."

"Beth, that's fantastic!" Viola gushed.

Elizabeth just shook her head at her sister.

"No, its not fantastic. He doesn't remember me and now he's kissing me!"

"It's just a kiss, Beth. You were at his mother's place. It wasn't likely to go further."

"It's not that, it's just …. I have dreamt every night for the past six months on what it would be like to see Jack again. How he would take me in his arms and kiss me …"

"… And do other things to you …"

Elizabeth couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Sure, but when I was kissing Jack last night I realised, that is never going to happen again."

"Of course it's going to happen. It might just take more time." Viola wrapped her arms around Elizabeth and held her close. "What happened after the kiss?"

"I kind of ran away."

Viola held her back.

"You what?"

"I ran away. I didn't say anything. I just got in my car and left."

"Oh Beth, honey." Viola hugged her again. "This is Jack! You have to tell him what is going on in your head. He's so confused right now and he's probably just doing what feels natural to him … muscle memory if you will."

"He comes home tomorrow. What am I going to do?"

"Do me a favour. Tomorrow just make an effort to hold his hand and kiss him on the cheek like you two always used to do. It will make him feel more comfortable, I'm sure of it. Maybe you will start feeling more comfortable too. If you get the chance to talk to him, just tell him. Jack is the most understanding man I know and he always has been. That won't have changed."

They were interrupted by footsteps running down the hall as Oscar finally made his appearance. Viola kissed him on the forehead. Elizabeth took his hand and led him to the car. She waved goodbye to her sister as she drove them all to school.

Jack walked back in the front door of Charlotte's to find her sitting at the breakfast bar.

"Where've you been? I was starting to get worried."

"Just thinking."

"Everything okay?"

"Not really."

Charlotte just nodded, taking a sip of her tea. His mother never pressed him. She knew when he didn't want to talk.

"Ma, why hasn't Doug come to see me?"

Charlotte dropped her tea cup. It made a massive noise and spilled the remaining amount of tea all over the bench. Luckily it didn't break.

"Shoot!" Charlotte said loudly as she jumped up grabbing some paper towel to mop up the mess.

"I'm guessing there's a story here" Jack said as he watched his mother.

"Oh honey. I don't know how to break this to you, but Doug passed away about nine years ago."

Jack's mouth fell open. "What …. What do you mean?"

"You were both on your first deployment. You were in different squads and his took a direct hit. He was killed instantly. You were a wreck for months."

Jack was silent for a few moments.

"How did I get through it?" Jack asked, his voice cracking.

"Elizabeth. And Lee. They were both there for you."

"Do you have Lee's number? I need to talk to him?"

"Sure."

Charlotte pulled out her phone and found Lee's number.

"Do you want to call him now? He would be up. He normally drops the kids at school."

"Okay. Thanks Ma."

Jack took the phone and walked out of the room as it began to ring.

"Hi Charlotte?"

"Lee. It's Jack."

"Hi Jack. How are you feeling?"

"Okay. Look I was wondering if you might have time to talk at some stage today?"

"Of course. Can you wait until I've finished work? I can come and pick you up and take you out for a beer."

"Sounds good. Thanks Lee."

"See you then."

Lee had been surprised to hear from Jack. He had barely spoken to him at the hospital. When he found out that Jack didn't remember Elizabeth, Lee thought it would be best to take a back seat. Jack should be spending all his efforts on remembering Elizabeth, rather than wasting his time on Lee. Something must really be wrong if Jack had reached out to him.

Lee picked him up from Charlotte's place and took him to a local bar that he remembered going to a while back. Jack was quiet in the car but Lee didn't want to push him.

Once they sat down, drinks in hand, Lee waited for Jack to speak.

"My mother said that we are really good friends."

"Yes."

"She said you've been there for me for a long time."

"We became friends quickly after you and Elizabeth began dating. The four of us would go everywhere together."

"Even though I used to be engaged to Rosie?"

"Yes, even that. Although you two kept that quiet for a while. The night that Elizabeth and I found that out, was an interesting one."

"Why?"

Lee chuckled.

Nine years and eight months earlier …

Rosie and Lee had been dating for about two months and Elizabeth and Jack had been together for three weeks. Things were going well for both couples, until Rosie had begun to get a bit jealous as to how much attention Elizabeth got off Jack.

Elizabeth and Rosie had been waiting at the bar for Lee and Jack to arrive. They were both wearing slim fitting dresses and had gone to the effort to do their hair all nice. The two of them drew a lot of attention.

"Do you realise that you sound like Rosie when you tell a story? Were they actually drawing a crowd or are just saying that?"

"Oh no, they drew a crowd alright. Elizabeth had four guys trying desperately to get her attention and I think Rosie only had two, so she started off that night jealous from the very beginning."

Lee and Jack had been to a baseball game at the stadium together. As Rosie and Elizabeth waited, fans were streaming into the previously empty bar. It became crowded quickly so by the time Lee and Jack rocked up, they could barely find their girlfriends. Jack finally noticed Elizabeth and seeing all the men she was trying to fend off, Jack walked right up to her, wrapped his arm around her lower back and pulled her into him, kissing her protectively.

Lee on the other hand was still struggling to find Rosie, so by the time he made it to her, she was watching Jack kissing Elizabeth with a look of fury on your face.

"Where were you?" she had yelled at him. Lee wasn't even sure why she was sup upset with him.

It was too crowded now to stay so they decided that they would walk down to some restaurants down the street and find somewhere a bit quieter. As they burst out of the bar, Lee and Rosie ahead, Elizabeth and Jack right behind them, Rosie yelled at Lee.

"At least if I was still engaged to Jack he would've come to my rescue and kissed me like that. Honestly Lee! Where were you?"

Elizabeth and Lee had stood there open mouthed, trying to process what Rosie had just said.

"Engaged?" Elizabeth said, turning to Jack. "You two were engaged?"

"Um yeah." Jack answered, still holding onto her arm.

Elizabeth was stunned. She pulled her arm away from Jack's.

"I have to go."

"No Elizabeth, please let me explain."

"No Jack, leave me alone!"

Jack watched as Elizabeth walked off down the street.

"Rosie! Why would you say that?!" Jack yelled before he took after Elizabeth.

Lee stood there watching them leave.

"Really Rosie? Just because you wanted a kiss. Look what you've done? Why didn't you just tell me."

"Jack and I are history" Rosie murmured.

"I don't care about Jack. I never felt threatened by him. He loves Elizabeth – anyone can see that. What I want to know is why would you make such a scene? Do you have to be the centre of attention all the time. That's what this is all about, right? Because Elizabeth was getting more attention than you?"

Lee had hit the nail on the head.

Rosie didn't say anything. She didn't need to.

"So what happened after that?"

"You and Beth made up of course but I'm not sure what you said. It was all forgotten after that. Rosie still used to joke about it sometimes and would get stern looks from all three of us, so she doesn't mention it much anymore." Lee laughed.

Jack sat there contemplating whether or not he should talk to Lee about what happened the night before. He wanted to speak to Lee about Doug as well, but maybe it would be best to speak to Elizabeth about that.

"Jack, what is it? There's something on your mind?"

Jack didn't know where to begin.

"I need to talk to someone and its not really something I can ask my Ma."

"You can't talk to Elizabeth?"

Jack shook his head.

"Because its about Elizabeth?" Lee led on.

"Yeah."

"You can tell me. I won't say anything."

Jack paused. He had no one else to ask and he was supposed to see Elizabeth tomorrow morning. Jack decided to just go for it and trust Lee.

"She came over last night and everything was going well. Elizabeth was telling me stories about the girls and we were looking through photos. She held my hand all night. When it came time for her to leave … I don't know what came over me …"

"You kissed her."

Jack looked sideways at Lee. "Yeah. How did you …?"

"I'm your best friend. I know that look. I take it, it didn't end so well."

"No, she started kissing me back and then "bam", just like that she pulled away, took off to her car and drove away without looking back."

"Right, well I am in no way an expert with women, but I do know Beth. If she pulled away like that, she just got scared. She still thinks you're her husband Jack and she probably got caught up in the moment and then realised you're not him. Yet."

"What are you talking about?"

"Elizabeth loves her husband Jack more than anything in the world. But you don't remember her, you're like a shadow of Jack. When you two were kissing each other you forget that she loves you but you are still learning that you love her. Make sense?"

"I guess. All I can say in my defence is that I had been dreaming about kissing her since the day I met her. I can't stop thinking about her and I miss her when she's not around. I couldn't let another moment pass without acting on it. It's like my heart already knows that I love her, but my brain is still catching up again."

"When are you seeing her next?"

"I'm moving back in with them tomorrow."

"I think you need to tell her what you just told me. That might help her to understand. Do it tomorrow. You have to talk to her about how you're feeling otherwise you two will never find you're way back to one another."

"Okay. Thanks Lee."

"Your welcome. Okay enough of this seriousness. Let's go play a game of pool."

Jack laughed.

"Am I any good at pool?"

"Not against me you're not!" Lee laughed and led Jack to a spare table.