Author note: Le gasp! Aderyn can't remember? What a crazy random happenstance! Read on, you wonderful readers, you.

Two

"What do you mean you can't remember? Is this about Wednesday night? You said you'd had a bit to drink, stayed over at Janine's. You can't have drank that much, though. Maybe if you'd—"

Aderyn stopped listening to Nathan. His words and prattling drifted about her head and she let them. It was a comfort, of sorts.

She couldn't remember. Her own life.

The happiness from only a few seconds before had fled, replaced with an insane dread and icy panic. Action, she needed to move; do something, anything. "Nate?"

"—small ones with orange bits at the bottom— yes, love?"

"Can we," Aderyn began, "can we go to bed? I'm tired. My head hurts."

Nathan drew her into his arms again. Her eyes just about reached the level of his shoulder, and Aderyn stared at their shared room with wide, unblinking eyes.

"Of course." He patted her hair, he was always doing that. "Do you want a painkiller or something?"

"No," she said, shaking her head against his chest. "I'll sleep it off, I think."

"If you're sure."

-T-

Aderyn dreamed of rain. A thick, chilling deluge that plastered her hair to her face and turned the world grey.

Well, grey and brown.

A forest.

Aderyn wandered through the trees, putting out a hand to keep her balance on the slippery leaves. There were flashing lights ahead. Somehow, Aderyn knew there were no roads nearby, so what could be causing the light?

Aderyn walked toward it till the pulsing illumination touched her skin, it felt warm. She relaxed into the beams.

And froze.

Someone else here. Someone in her dream. Someone sharing the warming light she'd found. How dare they? This was hers, she'd found it!

"Get away!" she shouted at the grey silhouette. "This isn't yours!"

At her words, the shape turned toward her and began to run. Aderyn wanted to run herself, to be away from the menacing grey figure, yet her feet felt stuck to the ground, her limbs heavy where the light hit and pulsated over her.

"Get away!" the figure, a man in a coat, shouted. "She isn't yours!"

He was talking to the light.

He was—

Aderyn woke with a start. She rubbed her head, thinking that maybe she ought to have taken that painkiller after all. Odd sort of dream, Aderyn told herself, as she tried to remember all that had happened.

One image stuck in her mind while all the others fled, lost to consciousness.

A coat.

The coat.

-T-

The bell above the door of Cactus Coffees (Aderyn still wanted to strangle Turner for choosing such a ridiculous name) jangled. Aderyn looked up from the mug she was drying and her hands froze as she saw who had come through.

The young man in the suit gave her a quick wave before fumbling for his ringing phone. Aderyn went back to the mug at hand, wracking her brains. He looked familiar, like she were remembering him out of the corner of her mind...

"—no, I'm on my way, just picking something up. Yes, yes, I'll get your green stuff." The man closed his phone and offered Aderyn an apologetic smile.

"What can I get you?"

"I'll have three blueberry muffins and one green tea to go, please," the man said, leaning on the counter. Aderyn bent down to the cake cabinet as he continued, "and have you perchance come across a greatcoat as you've been cleaning tables?"

Aderyn stood upright again and stared at him, her mind racing. "Oh! Is that yours?"

"No, it's my boss's, but he needs it back straight away."

Something, and Aderyn wasn't sure what, made her say, "I'm afraid I can only give it to him, then. That's our policy." When the man's face fell, she added, "Sorry. Wish I could just hand it over, but I can't."

Aderyn couldn't just let this go. This man and that coat meant something, and she didn't know what. "Sorry," she said again, dumping a muffin-loaded bag on the counter and reaching around the drinks machine to grab at the herbal tea boxes.

"No, no, that's alright." He reached inside his suit jacket for his wallet as Aderyn filled a cup with hot water, leaving the tea bag hanging over the side. "How much for all that, then?"

Aderyn turned her attention back to the till. "Er. That'll be five pounds sixty, but I'll make it a fiver 'cause you smiled so nice."

The man's smile reappeared. "I'm flattered." He took the bag and the paper cup, leaving a ten pound note in their place. "Keep the change," he said.

Then he left.

Result, Aderyn thought to herself as she brushed muffin crumbs from the counter. Now to take a closer look at this coat everyone's after...

-T-

The back of coffee shop consisted of an miniature industrial kitchen where the pastries and cakes were baked, Turner's office and finally a small staff lounge. Aderyn sat on one the tattered chairs and stared at the abused, minature calendar, trying to work out where her life had gone. She was so engrossed that she did not hear Turner's cough, intent on getting her attention. Turner had to walk across the room to her and wave his hand in front of her face before she ever registered his existence.

"Wha—"

"Aderyn, I'm a bit worried about you."

Aderyn shook her head, causing her red locks to fall into disarray. She'd taken her hair out of its strict bun an hour ago. Infact, she should have gone home an hour ago; for some reason, she couldn't seem to make herself leave. Aderyn tucked a strand of erratically curled hair behind her ear to look up at Turner's disapproving stare.

"Why should that be, sir?"

"This and that," Turner said, dragging up another abused chair to sir opposite her. "Mostly the fact that I've been watching you for twenty minutes and you haven't stopped staring at the wall chart."

"Sorry, not really been myself for a while."

"You did seem a bit shook up on Wednesday." Turner tilted his head. "Is everything alright? Employee welfare is an important part of Cactus, you know."

Of course it is, Aderyn thought. Especially if the employee in question is wearing a low cut top. "Nate proposed," she whispered.

Turner's smile froze for a prolonged second before he relaxed and said, "Well congratulations, then."

"Thanks."

"Having second thoughts?" From anyone else, this would have seemed a normal question. But not with Turner. Inside her head, Aderyn rolled her eyes.

"Nope."

"Right."

Aderyn stared at the wall again, it seemed like the best thing to do.

"You planning on staying here all night?" Turner prompted.

"Not entirely sure." Aderyn looked at her wrist watch and grimaced. "Tell you what, how about I lock up with the spare set of keys? Save you the hassle."

Turner smiled. "Sure. Why not? You remember the code?"

"Yep."

"Right." Turner stood. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Saturday's my day off, Stan." She'd only seen his first name once; it had stuck in her mind like glue. Aderyn knew he didn't like it, her use of it now proved how irritated she felt.

He blinked but, to his credit, said nothing more. At the doorway, he tipped his head in a mock salute. "See you later."

"Later," Aderyn murmured in return.

-T-

The clock had passed eleven before Aderyn decided to call it quits and head home.

That was when she heard the noise.

Scuffled shoes, low whispers and the occasional clunk as whoever it was collided with unsuspecting furniture in the main part of the shop.

Burglars, Aderyn thought. Just her luck. "Should have gone home," she told herself. "But no, you had to stay and practise experiencing emotional turmoil. You should be in a Jane Austen novel or something."

Aderyn tiptoe out of the staff lounge, hands sliding into her pocket to withdraw her mobile. Her fingers rested on the nine button, but she did not press it. Not just yet. Aderyn wanted to know who it was.

She concentrated. Two different sets of whispers reached her ears: both male, one Welsh, one American. She thought she recognised the cadences, they niggled at the edges of her mind, trying to be remembered. Aderyn shook her head again. Concentrate, she had to concentrate.

Hugging the shadows, Aderyn edged onto the shop floor.