Hey guys! I got this chapter up faster than I thought!

KingdomKeeper1121: Yes I have seen OUAT in Wonderland, but I'm not sure I like it as much as I like OUAT. The special effects are all weird, but it's got a great story. And thanks, I will keep it up! :P

So I hope y'all enjoy this chapter as much as the past 9!

Chapter 10: So Call Me Maybe?

October 15, 2358
Province 9, County 15, British Columbia
North Vancouver High School

Drip…drip…drip…

Jess stood in front of the coffeepot, waiting for it to fill with coffee. She needed her energy to get through the day.

She had taken a two-week break from work so that she could get herself together. Not only had she been planning how she was going to fake her death, but she was having more intense dreams.

Last night's dream involved Queen Amanda and Daniel, though he was called Finn. The two had shared a brief kiss before Amanda fainted.

For some reason, Jess had felt an emotional attachment to the queen, as if they had known each other for a long time—which she was positive they had just met two weeks ago. But yet again, Daniel had said they had all known each other for a long time.

Jess sighed. If only I could remember.

The door that led out of the teacher's lounge opened and shut very quickly.

"Jess," Patrick said from across the room in a quiet voice just loud enough for her to hear it as a whisper.

Jess whirled around and ran into his arms, not caring about the security cameras or the fact that anyone could open the door at any moment.

"I missed you," he whispered into her ear. He let go of her and she smiled up at him. She noticed the scruff on his chin—that could only mean that he was stressed. The only time he didn't shave was when he was stressed.

"What's wrong?" She asked him, lightly tracing his jaw with her finger. The scruff felt good on the tips of her fingers.

"I didn't hear from you for almost three weeks." He looked down at his feet in shame. "I thought something bad had happened to you."

"Oh sweetie," Jess gave him a quick hug. A beep from the coffee ended their hug, and Jess hurried to fill up her cup with the hot beverage. "I was just visiting some family. There was…a funeral."

Even though she had rehearsed the lines over and over, they still felt foreign on her lips.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Jess." He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, kissing her cheek quickly.

"Patrick, you can't do this here. Someone will see, and then something will happen to me…and you."

"I don't care anymore."

Jess whirled around so fast she spilt her coffee all over his shirt. "Patrick, you can't say that!"

The door opened and a fellow teacher walked in. Jess said she was sorry to Patrick over and over again while he used napkins to clean up as much as possible. The teacher eyed them, but said nothing.

Once the teacher was gone for at least a minute, Jess looked over at Patrick with sympathy. She didn't care anymore either, but she didn't want him to get hurt because of her.

She walked up to him and leaned up on her tiptoes so that her mouth would be right next to his ear.

"Meet me at my place late tonight. We've got some stuff to talk about."

Jess walked out the door fast, so that he didn't have a chance to reply.

The feverish knocks on the front door of her apartment caused Jess to stop in her tracks. She knew it was Patrick, but she was still worried. This was the conversation she had been dreading for two weeks now.

She opened the door and he hurried in, plopping himself down on the couch. On the coffee table, there were old newspaper articles Wayne had loaned to her. The topics ranged from Maleficent's takeover to an ancient place called "Walt Disney World."

Wayne had called it research. She called it boring.

Patrick picked up one article, titled "Small World Vandalized." His eyed it carefully before offering it up to Jess, a questioning look on his face.

"There's a lot we need to talk about," Jess told him. He nodded and patted the spot next to him on the couch. She complied and his arm draped over her shoulder. He kissed her on the top of the head.

"Let's start with where you disappeared to for three weeks."

Jess took a deep breath. She had a huge, deeply rehearsed speech prepared but it all went out the window when he pulled her close.

"I…I had to visit some old friends."

"Jess has friends? Whoa!" Patrick joked. Jess elbowed him in his side and continued—purposely ignoring his lame joke.

"Apparently, I had my memory wiped by Maleficent herself."

Patrick's silence showed her that he was listening.

"If I can regain my memory, I can help the six other people in my same situation defeat Maleficent."

Jess hesitated before looking up at him. She saw confusion in his face, but there was something else. It took her a few seconds to realize that it was heartbreak.

Jess placed a hand on his knee. "Patrick, I don't know if all of this is true, but…I feel like it's the right thing to do."

He nodded, his gaze locked on the pile of newspaper articles on the coffee table.

"So you're not Jess…you're…you're someone…else?"

"No, I'm still me," she reassured him. "I just have a different past, that's all."

"You probably have a boyfriend or a husband in that past too," he added bitterly.

Jess turned to him and cupped his chin with her hand. "You're the only man in my life, Patrick. Don't you ever think otherwise."

"But if you had your memory wiped, then you wouldn't remember him."

"Patrick, sweetie," Jess leaned in a little closer so that he would have no choice but to focus on her. "I love you. If it turns out that for some odd reason that I had a boyfriend beforehand, we'll deal with that later. You are the one I want to be with."

He leaned in and kissed her on the lips gently. He pulled away too soon and gave her a smile.

"So what do you have to do to get rid of Maleficent?" There was a new gleam in his eyes that she hadn't seen in years. He was excited. Her heart did a little dance seeing how happy he was now.

"Well," Jess picked up a few of the articles. "Right now I've been reading these articles, hoping that something will click together."

Patrick picked up the same article he had shown her earlier. "You think these articles have to do with you? They're all dated in the early 2000's! That was three hundred years ago!"

Jess shrugged. "It somewhat sounds familiar."

Patrick gave her a quizzical look. "Please tell me you're not three hundred years old."

Jess laughed, for the first time in a very long time—if she excluded the quick laughs she shared with Terry Maybeck back in the forbidden district. "No, I'm not."

Patrick let a smirk grow on his face. "You'd be the hottest three hundred year old woman I've ever seen. Too bad you're not three hundred years old…"

Jess elbowed him in the side. "Please, I am the hottest girl you know."

Patrick playfully rolled his eyes and turned back to face the pile of articles. "So what do you expect to find in all of this? Your memories?"

"No," Jess shook her head. "Well, maybe, but…there's something else…"

"What is that?"

"I…I…" Jess put her head in her hands. "I have to leave…forever."

Patrick moved his hand from her shoulder to her lower back. The way he moved it up and down on her back soothed her. It almost made her forget the pain and heartbreak that was about to come.

"Forever?"

"Yes…" Jess turned her head so that she could eye him and watch for his reaction. "Can I trust you that you won't tell anyone what I'm about to say?"

His facial expressions softened. "Of course you can sweetheart."

"I…I've…" Jess swallowed the lump in her throat. "I've got to leave…and I can't come back."

"Why is that?"

"I have to fake my death. I can't be in the system anymore."

He took the time to let the information sink in. "I'll do it with you."

Jess turned to him in a shock. "No, Patrick—"

"Yes!" This time he cupped her chin with his hand. "I want to be with you, Jess, and if you've got to leave, I'm going with you."

"Patrick," Jess felt the tears swell up in her eyes. She was determined not to cry. She didn't cry in front of people, but yet when she was with him she couldn't hold them back.

"Jess," he leaned in so that he didn't need to speak above a soft whisper. "I love you, and if this is the only way we can be together, than so be it."

"Surely there's another way…"

"You're faking your death, Jess. There's obviously no other option."

Jess studied his beautiful face. Even though he had had many hours after school before he came over to her apartment, he hadn't shaved. Jess would be lying if she said she found the scruff unattractive. His short, brown hair and alluring brown eyes made her weak in the knees each time she looked at him. He was possibly the hottest janitor the world had ever seen.

Jess cleared her throat when she realized she had been staring.

"W-w-what about Rose?"

"She can go live with her aunt. It'll be okay."

Jess gave him a look. "She's your daughter."

"And I love her very much, but you are my soul mate. We can take her with us if you really want."

"We can't bring her," Jess retorted—probably too fast. "It's not safe for her."

Patrick kissed her on the forehead. "Then we do this together." He turned back to the newspaper pile on the coffee table and started sorting through it again. She could tell that he was sorting the articles by date of publication. It was a habit of his that she found cute.

After watching him for a few minutes, he turned and gave her a smirk.

"Are you going to help me figure out who Jessica Lockhart really is or are you going to stare at me like a love-struck idiot?"

She rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm. She leaned forward and started sifting through the articles. "Let's do this."

He quickly kissed her cheek. "Together," he whispered into his ear.

October 29, 2358
Province 2, County 1, United Kingdom
Royal London Hospital

Philby walked into the hospital with a fake smile plastered on his face. He nodded at each of his coworkers as he made his way to the nurses' desk to get his assignments for the day. He took the folder from the receptionist's hand and started sifting through his patients for the day.

For the past month all he could think about was Willa. While he was with Wayne in his apartment, he saw a few framed pictures on one of the dressers that intrigued him.

The one that stuck with him had Philby standing there in a tuxedo with a baby blue tie. He had his arms wrapped around the most beautiful bride in the world—Willa Angelo. She was wearing a strapless white dress that flowed out like a princess gown. Her brown hair was pulled back in a bun, with the veil sticking out of it. She was glancing up at him with a smile, a look that he was returning. Underneath it was the date May 22, 2009.

A few things bothered him about that picture. The first was the date. If they truly had their memory wiped, the year would still be from 2358. He didn't understand why the photo was date over 300 years ago. It made no sense.

The second thing that bothered him was that it was a wedding picture. If he and Willa were married, he sure didn't remember it. How could he have forgotten marrying a beautiful girl like her? He wasn't sure about it.

But then after they met up later, she had mentioned that she remembered. Now that he was back in London, Philby was finally realizing that she was so upset because she remembered him. He had felt like a horrible person ever since. What kind of husband forgets his own wife?

He sighed dramatically at the thought of her. He didn't realize it was so loud, but someone brought him out of his thoughts.

"Are your assignments boring?"

He turned around and saw a beautiful young woman leaning on her elbow that was placed strategically on the desk. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Her blue eyes were tempting him, he was sure of that.

"Well don't you look familiar?" She said in a sarcastic tone of voice.

Philby would be lying to himself if he had told himself that he didn't know her. Something about her screamed familiarity. Maybe she was from that supposed past Maleficent had made him forget.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Philby asked her as he closed the folder the nurse had previously given him before she caught him in the act of thinking of Willa.

"Maybe so," she winked at him. "Why don't you take me out tonight and we'll see if you remember me."

Philby raised his eyebrow. He had never met a woman so upfront before. He considered saying yes, but he wasn't sure. He had never seen her here before, but yet she was wearing the white coat of a doctor.

There was also the problem of him having a wife that he didn't remember.

"Do you work here?"

She winked again. "Just started today." She held out her hand for him to shake. "Name's Dr. Alcove." He shook her hand and she leaned in closer. "But you can call me Lauren."

He let go of her hand and eyed her. "Philby."

"So what do you say about that date, Philby?"

Before he could answer, she grabbed a sticky note from behind the desk and wrote her number down on it. She opened his folder and stuck it to the first page. She closed the folder and handed it back to him, winking once more.

"So call me, maybe?" She walked past him, winking as she went—as if what she had just said was some kind of inside joke. He turned and watched her leave, humming the tune to some song he couldn't recognize. He glanced back down at the folder, opened it and stared at the number.

Maybe he would call her.

So, what do y'all think? Jess and Patrick teaming up together? Lauren and Philby possibly going out on a date? Hmm...what's going to happen next?

Please review guys! If y'all don't, I just assume you don't like it! I do love reading your reviews, they absolutely make my day! If y'all have any suggestions or random ideas of what you think/want to happen, let me know!

Have a wonderful rest of your day! :)