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".

To the readers: I really appreciate the reviews. I love reading whatever you have to say! I know everyone wants Jack's memories to come flying back but if I do that, the story is over so it will drag out for a bit longer. Sorry! :)

(26/07/2018)

CHAPTER 13

Elizabeth was curled up into him, exactly like this. It was in a different room with light grey walls. Elizabeth's hair smelt the same but it was much longer. She had a singlet on which left her shoulders bare and he remembered kissing the skin across her shoulders and her neck. His hand was around her but it was clinging to her hand instead, specifically the large ring on her left hand. The one he had just put there an hour before.

He wanted to wake Elizabeth and tell her but was unsure. After all it was just a snapshot. It wasn't a conversation or a kiss. It was just the two of them lying in bed. Instead he got up and went downstairs looking for paper and a pencil. He wandered into Elizabeth's study and in the top drawer he found art paper and graphite pencils. He sat down and drew everything that he had just remembered. He drew the bedroom, he drew their hands wrapped together and he drew Elizabeth. He carried them down to the basement and pinned them on the wall before he went back to bed.

Jack had his first hypnosis session that afternoon. They had requested that Elizabeth come too. They had ended up dragging along all three girls and had them plied with their ipads and some books to keep them entertained while they waited.

When the therapist came out, she said that she would take Jack alone for the first part. Elizabeth was really just there to corroborate any results. Elizabeth nodded and stayed sitting in the waiting room with the girls.

Jack was led into the room. The therapist, Suzie, was an older woman who made Jack feel quite comfortable.

"So Jack, I have read your file. Have you had any memories since your return?"

"Just one so far. Last night actually."

"Well that is a very good sign" Suzie said happily.

"Maybe your memories will start coming back on their own. Now hypnosis is a bit of a tricky method to use for memory recovery. The idea is that brain wave frequencies are changed so that we can access different memories. There is one main problem with hypnosis."

Jack had already been worried, but the tone in Suzie's voice bothered him.

"As you can imagine, memories are the way you have interpreted a scene or an event and everyone's interpretation is different. The problem is hypnosis can cause false memory syndrome. You may think you have had a memory but in fact its not real. You might be remembering a dream or something that didn't actually happen. That is why I have asked your wife to come. If you do remember anything, we need her or someone else, to corroborate that the memory was real. Does that make sense?"

Jack nodded.

"It is important that you are curious about your past but you cannot make the memories happen. Don't stop them from happening, just allow them to happen on their own. As we continue, you may notice images, sounds or feelings. Pay attention to all of those things and as you experience them, try and describe them to me."

Jack nodded.

"Okay, let's begin."

Elizabeth waited impatiently in the waiting room. It was 45 minutes before she heard movement at the door. Jack reappeared.

"Thank you Suzie" he said as he left.

Elizabeth stood up as he came toward her.

"It didn't go quite as well as we hoped" Jack said to her.

"Why?"

"I didn't remember anything."

Elizabeth was disappointed. She couldn't hide it. She had been overly hopeful that he would walk out of the session with a big improvement.

Jack must have noticed. He wrapped his arms around her.

"It'll be okay, Beth."

Elizabeth nodded, trying to hold back the tears.

"Come on girls. Let's go home now" she said as she helped Eve up and put the ipads back in her bag.

Jack took her hand as they walked back to the car.

"Can we get ice-cream on the way home?" Gracie asked from the back seat.

There were a chorus of cheers from Halley and Eve.

"How can we so no to that, Jack?"

Jack laughed at their enthusiasm.

Elizabeth drove past their favourite ice-cream shop, Smiggins, on the way home.

The girls jumped out of the car eagerly and were racing toward the shop and immediately pressed their faces to the glass looking at the mounds of coloured ice-cream.

Jack stood back and watched them as they bounded up and down excitedly.

Elizabeth began ordering all of their flavours, before turning to Jack.

"The usual?" she asked before registering what she had said.

"Sounds good. You know me best" he said smiling.

She shook her head, rolling her eyes at herself and ordered his mint choc chip ice-cream in a waffle cone.

Gracie took Jack's hand, dragging him to a spare table. The girls sat down with their cones and offered each other tastes of the different flavours. Eve began to cry when Halley took a big bite of hers. Gracie cried when Eve did the same thing to hers. There were tears and arguments going every which way.

"Hey!" Elizabeth said as she came to sit between Halley and Eve. "Cut it out."

"But Mommy …" excuses flew from all of their mouths, blaming each other and complaining.

"Next one complaining loses their ice-cream" Elizabeth said firmly.

The ensuing silence indicated Elizabeth had won that argument. They ate their ice-creams in silence, including Jack.

Late that night, Jack was still wondering how to ask Elizabeth about more details regarding the memory from the night before. He didn't want to get her hopes up, but he needed to know when it was from. He suspected it was from when they got engaged.

"Beth?"

"Hmmm" she looked up from her book.

"If Halley is already 8 and you've told me stories up until 9 years before, I'm guessing you must be close to telling me that we got engaged soon."

Elizabeth grinned at him.

"Yeah those few months were a bit of a whirlwind."

"Why?"

"We got engaged and were married within about six weeks."

"That's really fast."

"It sounds like it, but it didn't seem that quick at the time."

"So are you going to tell me?"

Elizabeth closed her book.

Nine years before (May 2009) …

Jack and Elizabeth had been back together for a few weeks, but they had noticed something shift between them. Elizabeth knew that things had gotten more serious. Most nights after dinner they would have hung out watching tv with Elizabeth wrapped in Jack's arms. Now, most nights Elizabeth wouldn't have been able to tell you what was on the tv.

They would start by sitting down next to each other but very quickly, they would end up on top of one another, Jack's hands sliding up under her tshirt. She would pull his tshirt off over his head and her hands would be sliding all over his arms and his back as they kissed each other desperately, like they'd been deprived of kisses for a month, when it had really been less than a day. They couldn't get enough of one another.

One Friday afternoon Jack arrived at her place, with a bunch of flowers in hand.

"What are these for?"

"May I have your hand please?" Jack asked.

Elizabeth gave her his hand and was surprised when he held it oddly in front of him.

"Elizabeth, would you do me the honor of accompanying me on a picnic this evening?"

Elizabeth laughed at him. "Why are you being so formal?"

"I realised we haven't been out for a proper date in a while, so I want to make it up to you."

"Oh well in that case, I accept."

Jack beamed at her. "How long until you're ready?"

"Give me five minutes."

Elizabeth raced off to change into a summer dress. When she came back she noticed Jack seemed a bit nervous.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Let's go" he said grabbing her hand.

He drove her down to the lake side to a pretty area that was reasonably quiet for the season.

Jack pulled out two picnic blankets and a basket and walked down to a spot next to a big tree.

He let Elizabeth take a seat before he laid everything out. He had wine, cheese and crackers to start and roast chicken and salad for their main. He even had dessert with chocolate dipped strawberries and mini cheesecakes.

"Wow, Jack this is amazing. You have really outdone yourself."

Jack grinned back at her. He poured her a glass of wine and they sat there talking and eating until the light began to fade.

Jack suddenly stood up and held out his hand to her.

"Take a walk with me."

"Okay …" Elizabeth said getting to her feet.

He led her along the edge of the lake until she saw a bunch of candles ahead. Thinking that it was for someone else she went to pull him away.

"Jack, we better go back this way."

"Why?"

"All the candles."

"So?"

"We don't want to intrude on something" she said.

Jack laughed. "It will be okay."

He pulled her towards them and she realised they were set up in the shape of a big love heart. Once she saw that, she realised they were for her.

"Jack …." She said uncertainly.

Jack took her with him to the centre of the candles.

"Elizabeth, I know we have had a pretty rough few months but I know one thing for certain. I cannot live without you. You were what got me through my deployment and it was you that has helped me with everything over the last few weeks. You are my guardian angel. I don't ever want to lose you. I love you more than you could possibly imagine. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much."

Jack dropped to one knee, holding out a diamond ring.

"Elizabeth Thatcher. Will you marry me?"

Elizabeth didn't need time to respond. "Yes" she whispered.

"Really?" he asked quietly, a shy smile on his face.

"Yes" she said louder.

Jack jumped up and kissed her hard. She whimpered into him, before she kissed him back. Jack pulled back and slid the ring on her finger. Elizabeth looked down at it thinking it couldn't be more perfect. Jack kissed her again.

They walked back up to the picnic to find it already packed up and waiting by the tree.

"Who did you have helping you?"

Jack laughed. "Lee was here."

"Really? He's good. I had no idea."

"Come on. I will take you home."

Jack drove her home and took her inside. She pulled him onto the lounge, where they took up where they left off the night before. His hands resting on her hips, her arms around his bare shoulders. Eventually, after feeling the tiredness overwhelm him, Jack got up to leave.

"Don't leave Jack. Come and lay down next to me" Elizabeth said dragging her to her bedroom.

Jack hadn't been in there very often. She grabbed her pyjamas and disappeared into the bathroom before returning and pulling him onto the bed with her. He kissed her a few times before settling in behind her, she automatically curled into him. Elizabeth felt so safe and comfortable in his arms. She knew she wanted to stay like this forever. His hand wrapped protectively over her own. She felt him running his fingers over her new ring.

"I love you. I can't wait to marry you" he whispered.

"Me too" she whispered back.

Jack sat there listening. That was what he had remembered. The night that they had gotten engaged. It was Elizabeth's bedroom in her old apartment. He knew it was a happy memory but now this explained it.

"I must confess I was a bit disappointed today, Jack."

Jack reached out and took her hand.

"About the hypnosis?"

"Yeah" she said without looking at him.

"I know, I could tell."

Elizabeth nodded slowly. Jack reached out and tilted her head up. He saw the tears glistening in her eyes.

He leant in and kissed her.

"It's close. I know it" he said. "I did have a feeling last night, like I've already been here before."

"Really?" she said surprised.

"Yeah. It faded quickly but I remembered lying in the bed with you upstairs."

Elizabeth started to cry.

"Hey, why are you crying?"

"It's just relief. I miss how things … used to be" she said as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Jack wiped them away with his thumb while he caressed her cheek. "I know. We will get there eventually."

Elizabeth nodded as he leant in and kissed her again, taking his time, trying to show her how much he cared.

When Elizabeth woke up the next morning wrapped in Jack's arms, she felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Jack had remembered something! She didn't want to get her hopes up but she couldn't explain how much difference it made to her that there had been progress, no matter how small.

She bounded out of bed and into the shower and returned to her bedroom in a towel. She went to the drawers pulling out her clothes for the day before dropping the towel and getting dressed. It wasn't until she pulled her dress over her head that she realised what she had just done without thinking. She halted abruptly.

Slowly she turned around to see Jack still lying there with his eyes closed asleep. At least she thought he was asleep. She wasn't about to check. She pretended nothing had happened. She went back into the bathroom to fix her hair and makeup, a deep crimson covering her face.

Jack had been laying there half awake when he heard Elizabeth come back into the room. He didn't realise what she was doing but when he started to open his eyes he realised the magnitude of what he was witnessing. When the towel dropped, he had to do everything in his power to stay still and not make a sound.

She must have totally forgotten he was even there as she pulled her underwear on and slipped her bra on. She was stunning. Jack lay there awestruck. Considering she had three daughters, you could hardly tell from her flat stomach and toned body. She turned sideways when she pulled the dress over her head and Jack got an even better glimpse. When she froze, he immediately knew she had realised. He shut his eyes quickly trying to keep his breathing even which was difficult considering he was almost hyperventilating when he had just been watching her.

He heard her move back toward the bathroom and Jack lay there motionless until he heard her opening and closing drawers.

Jack felt guilty, like he had just seen something he should have never seen. At the same time, he was battling in his head. She's my wife. I have every right to look. But you don't remember she's your wife. You just perved on her. No, I didn't. It's not my fault that she forgot I was here and I opened my eyes. I didn't sneak around trying to look at her. You're a creep, he concluded.

He could hear Elizabeth coming back in the room so he closed his eyes and pretended to wake up.

"Hey babe" he said trying to sound innocent.

Elizabeth came down and sat by him on the edge of the bed.

He moved closer to her, putting his arm across her lower back.

"Hi yourself." She looked down at him, watching him. He wasn't sure what she was looking for but she must have seen something.

She nudged him with her elbow. "You saw me, didn't you?"

"Saw what?" he tried to play innocent. He didn't think it was working. She knew him too well. He was at a real disadvantage in this situation.

"Don't play innocent with me! I can read you like a book." Jack saw the flush rise back in her cheeks.

He grabbed her and pulled her back with him onto the bed and leaned on his elbow looking down at her.

"Let me just say in my defence, I didn't mean to look."

"Oh sure. I know you, Jack Thornton."

"Yes, but I just opened my eyes and saw the towel drop. I wasn't spying on you."

"Why didn't you say anything then?" she said looking up at him, her blue eyes sparkling at him. He was pretty sure that she was enjoying this.

"Why would I say anything and get you to stop? I was enjoying every minute of that" he said with a cheeky dimpled grin.

"Jack!" she laughed at him.

"What? You're beautiful, Beth."

"When are you getting that horrible cast off?"

"What? This?" he said, lifting his arm off her and wiggling his fingers.

"Yeah. Its always getting in the way."

"I think another week" he said watching her. "Why are you changing the subject?"

He was laying close to her, looking down at her. His eyes drifted to her lips.

"I'm not."

"Yeah, you are. I meant it Beth. You are truly beautiful" he leant down, kissing her deeply.

Her lips parted for him and he kissed her deeper. His hand slid along her body and he felt her shift underneath him, bringing her leg up. His hand slid along her thigh. Everything felt so right.

Her hands were at the base of his neck, pulling him in deeper. His tongue slid along the side of her mouth and he heard her make a little noise that encouraged him further. His hand was creeping higher up her thigh and rested around her hip.

"Mommy!" a voice called out nearby and Jack hastily pulled back and rolled to the side. Elizabeth pulled her dress back down as she sat up.

Gracie flew into the room. "Mommy, Halley won't let me watch Frozen again."

Halley was right after her. "We've watched it a hundred times. I want to watch something different."

"One of you can pick something now, the other one decides on the tv tonight."

"Fine" Halley said as they ran back out.

"Where's Eve?" Elizabeth called out.

"Still in bed" Gracie called back.

"That's weird" Elizabeth said quietly.

Jack lay on his back, not knowing what to do.

"We will finish this later" she whispered with a grin before quickly kissing him and leaving the room.

Jack groaned to himself. How was he going to wait until later?

Elizabeth smiled as she left the bedroom. That morning had been the best morning she had had in a long time. Except for when she was momentarily embarrassed, the rest was good. She touched her lips with her finger as she thought of the way Jack had kissed her.

She opened Eve's door to find her still under her quilt.

"Eve, baby?" she said as she approached.

All she heard was a little moan. Elizabeth went closer and pulled back the covers. Eve barely moved. Elizabeth put her hand on her forehead. It felt like she touched a furnace.

"Eve are you sick? Baby can you hear me?"

Eve didn't respond.

"Jack!"

Jack flew into the room.

"She's sick. Her temperature is really high. Can you put her into a warm bath while I get the medicine and the thermometer? I might have to take her to the doctors."

Jack raced off again. Elizabeth could hear the water running when he returned.

Jack picked Eve up and she was like a rag doll in his arms. He took her into the bathroom while Elizabeth ran downstairs.

She could hear Eve crying now. Elizabeth grabbed what she needed and ran back upstairs.

Eve was crying, clinging to Jack as he tried to coax her into the bath.

"Come on Eve. You will feel better" he said to her.

Jack looked up as Elizabeth came back in. Jack pulled off his t-shirt and with his shorts still on he climbed into the bath and then held out his hands for Eve who went straight to him. She slid down onto Jack's chest and he held her there while he sponged water all over her back and neck.

"Jack, be careful of your cast" Elizabeth warned him.

"It'll be fine Beth. She's more important."

Elizabeth held out the medicine for her and Jack was able to get her take it, although reluctant.

He lay there still sponging water on her as she appeared to fall back to sleep.

Elizabeth checked her temperature and although it was still high, she expected it would still be falling. After another ten minutes, her temperature had dropped a little more, so Elizabeth took her out of the bath to get her dry. She began shaking with cold. Jack jumped out and dried himself off before picking Eve up and carrying her back to her room.

Elizabeth got some clean pyjamas on her but all the while Eve kept crying for Jack. He came back in dry clothes and laid down in the bed next to her. Eve curled up against him and as he ran his hands through her hair she fell back to sleep.

Elizabeth checked Eve's temperature again. It was still dropping and she suspected the medicine was working now. Elizabeth took one more glance from the doorway at her little girl wrapped in her daddy's arms and she smiled. You couldn't get more precious than that.