Abby Owens couldn't remember the last two years of her life. She had been told snippets of it in the medical wing. They hadn't wanted to pressure her and reveal too much too soon, but from what she had gotten Callie to tell her, she now knew that she and Jake were no longer together, and her and Marcus were. The thought confused her more than anything. She had loved Jake, she had always only thought of Marcus as a friend. What had changed? Not to mention, it turned out that she was supposed to be in her last few weeks of medical training, but she couldn't remember that, either. Though, Doctor Barnes had already informed her that she could repeat the last few years if it came to that, but he hoped that if she went back to her normal routine, the memories would come back, too.
"Are you ready?" Marcus drew her out of her thoughts, waiting for her to come with him to her – no, their – room. She couldn't even remember leaving her parent's quarters, let alone living with a man that she barely knew anything about. But, that was her routine, and if she ever hoped to gain the memories back, that was what had to be done. Plus, her parents had already informed her that if she needed to, she could always come back to live with them. She nodded, giving him a soft smile that didn't really reach her eyes. It didn't take them long to get there, and after taking a few looks around, she could tell she definitely did stay there. Her grandmother's necklace was sitting on a table beside the bed, her clothes were packed neatly into one of the drawers, and her perfume was sitting next to the sink in the bathroom. But, for the life of her, as much as she tried to close her eyes and picture herself there, she couldn't remember a single, damn thing. "Hey, we will figure this out." He told her, trying to comfort her.
A week had gone by and still nothing. Marcus slept on the floor, the only time he had tried to touch her, by placing a soothing hand on her back when she was crying, she had flinched away and he hadn't come too near to her again. She felt horrible about it; she could tell by the way he spoke, and the look in his eyes, that this was killing him. Whatever they had gone through together had meant something to him and even if she couldn't remember it, it pained her to think about how much she was putting him through. She decided that day, sitting in the room, waiting for him to get back, that she needed answers.
Abby pulled out one of her warmer shirts, before walking out of the door. She believed that there was one person that could give her the answers to some of her questions, or at least she hoped. That was why she found herself so far away from her room and so close to Jake's. She knocked on the door, part of her wanted to turn around immediately, but the other part still believed that she loved this man. When he opened the door, he didn't seem very surprised to see her. Almost as if he had been waiting. "Come in." She quickly obeyed, moving into his quarters and looking around to see if anyone else was in the room. Luckily, they were alone.
"I heard what happened. I wanted to come and see you, but Jackson said that it might make things worse, at least at first, so I stopped myself." Jake felt the need to explain his absence, mostly since he knew that if she couldn't remember anything, she probably felt let down that he hadn't come.
She shook her head, "It's fine." She looked down at her hands; they were shaking form the nervousness that was coursing through her body. "Jake, I need to know some things." She didn't let him respond before she cleared her throat, "I need to know what happened between us. The last real thing that I can remember is us sitting at the mess hall eating lunch and I asked you if you wanted my yogurt, but I don't remember what you said. Everything after that is completely blank."
Jake sighed, running a hand through his hair and motioning for her to sit down, "To be honest, I don't quite know what happened. One day, we were happy, the next you met me here and told me that you needed time for yourself. You had said that everything about you had been revolved around me since we were kids, and you needed to know if there was more out there. You said you needed to focus on your training and yourself." Abby didn't say anything, trying to let the information sink in. She had left him? How had she gone from needing time to herself to being with Marcus? She could tell by the look on Jake's face that he had always wondered the same thing. "I waited for you. I mean, after finding out you were with Kane, I dated. But, I never found anyone that I had the same connection with that I had with you, so it never lasted long." She tried to hide her smile. She knew it was wrong, but loving Jake was the last thing she could remember, and it made her feel good to know that he still cared about her.
They talked for a few hours, most of it not even about her past, which was nice. It was nice to just talk about anything and everything other than her memory. When she got up to leave and he went to place a kiss on her cheek, she instinctively placed her own lips on his. He responded after a few second, by placing his arms around her and deepening the kiss. When they broke for air, and she realized what she had done, she quickly apologized and let herself out of his room. For her, that was normal, kissing Jake, but she knew for him that it hadn't happened in years. Not to mention, there was Marcus. Oh my, Marcus. He had probably gotten out of training an hour ago. She ran towards their room, hoping that he was there.
"Abby!" Marcus shouted from relief when the door flung open. Callie was there and Abby could tell from the look on both of their faces that they had been worried for her. Callie told Kane that she would call off the manhunt and let Thelonious and Jackson know that Abby was back, before leaving the room. "Where have you been?" His voice was quiet, not accusing, but concern leaked out.
Abby swallowed, wondering if she should lie, but something about that felt wrong. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. I just, I needed to figure some things out. Things about my past. I went to talk to Jake." She waited for him to get angry, but he never did. Instead, he let out a defeated sigh and gave her a small nod.
"Did you remember anything?" Marcus asked the same question her had several time throughout the last week. But, Abby noticed it was different this time. Before, he used to sound hopeful and eager, but now, his voice was sad. There was no hope left in it, as if he was about to give up on her ever regaining the memories that they once shared. She couldn't bring herself to answer, only shaking her head, while not looking at him. "I know to you right now, I'm just a guy that you were kind of friends with. But, I want you to know, you can trust me. If you want answers, about us, I mean, I can give them to you." She felt angry at herself for not having asked him already.
"Okay, tell me how we happened. I want to know. If I moved into your quarters with you, I must have loved you a lot." She saw him wince at her use of the word loved, but he sat down and started explaining everything that she had forgotten. He told her about the injury he had sustained to his knee during training. It wasn't a major injury, so Barnes had let her fix him up. He had asked her out after she was done, but she had turned him down at first. He told her about the fact that he didn't give up, he kept coming in with small aches and pains just so he could see her and eventually, she agreed to go out with him if he quit letting the other training guards use him as a punching bag. He told her about their first date, how at the end, or what he had thought was the end, she had leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek, and whispered in his ear asking him if he wanted to do something against the rules. He told her about how even he, Marcus Kane, couldn't tell her no and that was how they ended up in an empty observatory room, way after allowed hours, to stare at the stars. He told her that he had fallen in love with her that night. He told her about their first time, a few months later, staring at those same stars, how she had whispered in his ear after hours of lovemaking, that she loved him, too. He told her about the endless amount of hours that they would stay up talking and about her telling him that when he got his own quarters, she was moving in with him. He had quickly applied for his own housing the next day. He told her every important memory they had together, and only when he was finished, did she notice that he was crying.
"I wish I could remember." She truly did. She wished she could remember falling in love with Marcus, but the fact was that she didn't. No matter how much she was told, she didn't remember and she knew even if she didn't remember her last few years of medical training, that this long without remembering wasn't good. But, she couldn't, it that moment bring herself to tell him that. So, she simply reached out a squeezed his hands. "I think that maybe it might be best if I go back to my parents for a while. I just need time to process everything and I can't do that here. I'm so very sorry." She whispered, standing up. With one last look behind her, she walked out of the door.
Marcus wasn't surprised she had left. It was a lot to take in. Loving someone that you barely remember knowing. He had told her everything, but he had left out one detail. He stood up and dug into his drawer until he hands wrapped around a small box. He pulled it out and opened it, staring at the simple gold ring that it contained. He had told her everything, except the fact that the day she had forgotten him, was the day he had planned on proposing to her.