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".

Two chapters today … this is the second! Don't miss Chapter 33!

(1/9/2018)

CHAPTER 34

Elizabeth woke up feeling refreshed from the previous day's rest. The headaches had long since gone and the bruising on her face, although still there, was beginning to turn yellow indicating that she was on the mend.

Elizabeth went to get out of bed but Jack wouldn't let her.

"The doctor said to rest today as well."

"Jack, I'm fine. Really."

"Yes, but after you were sick yesterday, I felt horrible. So, you are to stay here all day."

"All day?" she said in surprise. "I have a lot to do."

"Like?"

"Grocery shopping and meal planning for the week. Washing. Cleaning."

"Decide what you want from the shops and I will go get it. I can do the washing and cleaning."

"I'm not an invalid!"

"Yes, you are. I will organise the shopping."

Elizabeth only agreed because she realised it meant Jack would have to leave the house to get the groceries, which allowed her time to move around the house.

Jack got up and went downstairs. Elizabeth wrote a comprehensive shopping list, hoping it would take Jack at least an hour to get everything and then pulled out a new book that she had wanted to start reading for a while.

Even though it was nice to have a moment to herself she was bored within half an hour and was dying to get up. Elizabeth went into the bathroom for a shower and was interrupted by Jack.

"You should have called out to me!"

"I'm fine Jack."

"What if you had another dizzy spell and fell over?"

"Then I would have called out."

"It's too late if you hit your head again!"

"Jack, I'm fine. Stop worrying. I left the shopping list on my bedside table."

Jack uncertainly went and retrieved the list as Elizabeth stepped out of the shower and wrapped her towel around her.

"This is a lot of stuff. I'm not sure I should leave you alone for this long" he said coming back into the bathroom.

"Just get Halley to stay with me. She can use my phone for emergencies. She knows how."

"Okay. Are you sure?"

"Yes Jack" she said in a bored monotone and could see the hint of sadness in his eyes, which made her feel guilty. After all he was only worried about her.

He turned to go, his shoulders slightly slumped, indicating he was upset with her. Elizabeth reached out to grab his arm.

"Jack, I'm fine. I promise. You don't need to baby me."

"Yes, but you're not looking after yourself. Maybe you need to be babied" he said firmly.

"Fine. I'm going to come downstairs and sit on the lounge while you're gone. I won't move."

"Promise?"

"Yes. I promise."

Once Elizabeth was settled on the lounge with everything she could possibly need at her fingertips and Halley sitting beside her, only then did Jack leave with Gracie and Eve. Halley had wanted to go too but Jack promised to bring her back a treat and only then was she happy to stay.

"I will bring back a treat for you too, if you behave yourself" Jack said to Elizabeth before bending down and kissing her on the forehead, the same way he had just done to Halley moments before. Although Elizabeth knew he had intended to be funny, she felt like a child and she resented him slightly for it.

When Jack returned with the groceries he came in to check on Elizabeth first. Halley ran out to see the treat that Jack had bought her which was waiting in the kitchen.

"Did you move young lady?" he said to Elizabeth with a grin.

"It's not funny, Jack" she said annoyed.

His smile disappeared and he knelt down beside her.

"What's the matter Beth?" he asked as his hand rested on her arm.

She pulled away from him. "You're treating me like a child, in front of the kids no less. You don't treat me like that Jack" she said with more anger than she had intended.

"Elizabeth, I'm just worried about you."

"Well, worry about me as your wife and not your daughter! I have a mind of my own. If I say I'm okay, then I'm okay!" She stood up and walked upstairs.

Jack wasn't sure whether to follow Elizabeth or stay where he was. Unfortunately Gracie had heard their argument though.

"Daddy, why are you and Mommy fighting?"

"We're not fighting. We just disagree about something, that's all."

"Disagree?"

"Yes, Mommy thinks one way and I think another way. We're not fighting."

"She just yelled at you though."

"That's okay. Sometimes people get upset and they yell."

"Mommy never yells like that though" she said quietly.

Jack sighed. Great.

"Gracie, go back into the kitchen with your sisters and I will be back in a moment."

Jack walked upstairs, looking for Elizabeth when he reached the bedroom. The door was shut but thankfully she hadn't locked it. Jack opened it slowly but he couldn't see her anywhere. Remembering where Elizabeth had gone last time, he walked slowly over to their walk in wardrobe and peered around the corner and sure enough Jack could see her bare feet poking out down the end.

He walked forward slowly and before he could see her fully he began talking.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to talk to you like a child. I was just so worried about you on Friday night and then again yesterday. I felt like I didn't protect you like a husband should have protected his wife. I should have seen that punch coming in the first place and I let you down. I'm so sorry."

Jack knelt down in front of her. Her hands were over her eyes, her elbows resting on her knees. He gently pulled her hands away and only then did he see how upset she was. Elizabeth's eyes were red and tears rolled down her cheeks and she was quietly sobbing.

"Sweetie, what is it?"

Elizabeth just shook her head at him. He moved by her side and pulled her into him again as she continued to cry.

"I said I was sorry. Please don't cry."

He sat there for a while before he pulled her face up to him.

"Talk to me, Elizabeth."

"You need to trust me Jack. I don't need babying."

"I know you don't. I was just joking around before."

"It's only funny if what your saying isn't condescending and disrespectful."

"I know. I can't say sorry in any other way. It won't happen again."

They sat there quietly for a few minutes.

"I love you. I don't know what I would do without you" Jack whispered.

"I love you too, Jack."

Jack spent the rest of the afternoon getting his things ready for the first day back at work. He remembered the early days so he packed his bags ready with whatever he might need and put them in his truck ready to go. Elizabeth insisted on packing some food for the next day as well.

In the afternoon, Jack sat down with his sketchpad thinking back to the memories that had come back to him over the last few days since the treatment session on Thursday. There was the picnic in Central Park, according to Elizabeth. He drew the park where they had sat in the cold and then their makeshift picnic in the hotel room. He remembered the view of New York from their hotel room. His hand flowed freely over the paper as his pencil filled in all the details that remained in his mind.

Then there were the memories of the tent surrounded by dust and the unknown man. He drew the scene of the man sitting on a bench opposite him. He drew a view of the city that now lay in rubble. He drew a picture of a man lying injured on the ground, a massive gash in the top of his thigh that bled profusely.

Jack drew a picture of a local child that they had found wandering lost amongst the ruins with no shoes and rags for clothing. He stared at that picture when he was done and it made his heart break thinking about what may have happened to that child. He would never know.

Jack went and hung his pictures up on the over-crowded wall. He really needed more space. He looked around and decided to move some of the pictures around. He stared at the picture of the man in the tent again but he couldn't remember his name. He pulled out his phone and took a photo like Elizabeth had showed him.

As they were getting ready for bed, Elizabeth could tell Jack was nervous.

"You will be fine, Jack. A couple of weeks and everything will get back to normal."

"I hope you're right."

"You know I am" she said with a grin.

"Can I show you something? Do you know who this is?" Jack pulled out his phone and showed her the photo of his drawing.

Elizabeth smiled. "That's Shane. You remember him?"

"Yeah."

"I knew you would. You two are normally inseparable."

Jack nodded, contemplating what she had said. "What time should I leave in the morning?"

"Aim to leave here just after eight."

"Okay. Eight. Got it."

Elizabeth shook her head at him before coming up to wrap her hands around his waist, giving him a quick hug.

"Take a deep breath, Jack. You've got this" Elizabeth said smiling up at him, only then did he hug her back. They stood together for a few minutes before she pulled away.

"Where you going?"

"For a shower. You know if you need to relax maybe you should come with me" she said with a little wink before she left the room.

It took all of a second for Jack to run after her. "I'm all for relaxing …" he called out to her and he heard her laugh echo from the bathroom.

The next morning, Jack sat in the office in his uniform waiting for Sergeant Major Gowan.

"Jack!" Gowan appeared and Jack immediately stood and saluted to which Gowan responded.

"Welcome back. Come in."

Jack made his way back to Gowan's office where he was directed to a chair.

"Jack, you will be assigned to Private James Perkins for the next week. He will show you around today and then follow him around to classes and training for the rest of the week. He's one of our more advanced officers so he should be a good match. We will catch up on Friday afternoon and see how you're going, and I will want to know how much you remember then."

"Yes, sir."

There was a knock on the door.

"That should be Perkins now" Gowan said to Jack. "Come in" he called out.

A young man, barely 25, entered Gowan's office and stood at attention. Gowan welcomed him in and Private Perkins sat down in the seat beside Jack.

"Perkins, this is Sergeant Thornton. You are aware that the Sergeant has had some memory loss due to an accident during his last deployment to the middle east?"

"Yes, Sir. Sergeant O'Donnell filled me in."

Jack nodded, thankful that Garry appeared to be helping him out again.

"Yes, so you will have Sergeant Thornton follow you around for the week. It will be in your best interest to help him as much as possible. He will attend physical training with your group in the mornings and classes during the day."

"Yes, Sir."

Jack and Perkins were dismissed and they left Gowan's office. Once outside, Perkins handed him a piece of paper.

"Sergeant Thornton, here's a copy of my program."

"Thanks, but just Jack or Thornton is fine."

"Yes, Thornton. I will start showing you around so you remember where everything is and then I will show you where to meet me for tomorrow morning."

"Is that still a 5 am start?" Jack asked. He did still remember his early days on base.

"Yes, that's right. Have you been doing much physical training?"

"Some. I just got the cast off my arm a few weeks ago but I'm getting there."

Perkins nodded. "Let's get going, Sir."

Jack followed.

It was the last week before school returned and Elizabeth knew she was going to have to go into work on Wednesday and Thursday to prepare the classroom. She was going to be job sharing with a new teacher to the school that she had not met before.

Since she only had a few days left, she organised to meet up with Shane's wife Katy at the local swimming centre. They had a shallow outdoor pool with a few small waterslides and water play area which was perfect for all of the kids.

When they arrived, the kids quickly ran off and Katy and Elizabeth sat on the side, watching her youngest Phillip playing on the ground with a small water fountain.

"Shane's home next week. We can't wait."

"Let us know once he's settled in and I can bring Jack over."

"I'm sure he will want to see him straight away. After the accident, Shane has been so worried about him. It's been the longest time since the two of them talked in the last ten years."

"I know. But Jack has had some memories return recently and he does remember Shane. That's promising."

"How do you know it's Shane?"

"Jack has drawn him. It's definitely Shane."

"That's great news. Shane will be so happy about that."

When Jack got home that night, Elizabeth and the girls were all waiting on the front step for him. He could see them all waving excitedly to him and in between them sat Rip, wagging his tail. When he pulled up and stopped the car, his three daughters raced over to him.

"Halley! Gracie! Eve! How was your day?" he said trying to sound as excited as possible.

"So fun! We went to the swimming centre!" Halley said as they all gave him a hug.

Jack closed his car door after he finished hugging all of them and made his way toward his wife who stood on the step patiently waiting for her turn. The girls ran back inside with Rip chasing after them and then it was just the two of them.

Elizabeth was now his height as he walked straight up to her, kissing her gently.

"Hi sweetie" he said quietly.

"Hi Jack. How was it?"

"Let's just say this has been the best part of my entire day."

"That good huh?"

"Yeah, but that's okay."

"It can only get better right?"

Jack nodded before kissing her again, before pulling back, eyeing her. "Do you mean work can get better or this day can get better?" he asked, his head to the side.

"I only have control over this day" she said with a wink before walking inside.

"I like the sound of that" Jack said with a smile.