"I need to find Kristin... she's the doctor here..." Jayde looked down at her hand, tightly held by Lucas'. "I'll be right back." She promised. His blue eyes were huge with fear but he nodded and released her. Jayde ran from the room breathlessly, she stopped outside the door and allowed herself a sob. One became several, and soon she couldn't catch her breath. She was bent at the waist, gasping, when she felt hands on her shoulders.

"Jayde! What is it?" Kristin demanded. "Did... is Lucas ok?"

She shook her head and sucked in a lungful of air. "He's awake... but he... he can't remember anything." She raised her tear covered face. "What if we've lost him?"

Kristin took her by shoulders again, and firmly led her back into the medbay. Jayde jerked her entire body to a stop when she saw Lucas was unconscious again. "But... I know he talked to me..." She spun to Kristin, "I didn't imagine it, I know I didn't."

"No, I don't think you did." She said gently. "Jayde, Lucas was in a deep coma. His brain is still healing. I'm sorry, I had hoped to be here when he woke up, but Tim opened up a few of his stitches working on repairs." She guided the confused girl to back to her bed. "When someone wakes from a coma, they are often very confused, and their recent memories are usually lost." Kristin placed a hand on her shoulder when Jayde started to look panicked again. "But they come back after some time."

Jayde sat on the bed, suddenly feeling very tired. "So he'll remember me? I... I mean... all of us?"

"Yes, dear."

"Oh god," Jayde shook her head, "I feel like an idiot. I just assumed the worst."

Kristin raised an eyebrow, "you feel like an idiot because you were worried about someone you care very much about?"

She blushed, "I didn't say that."

"You didn't need to."

Jayde smiled slightly, "maybe I should just go to sleep before I say anything else stupid."

She crawled in the bed, and watched Kristin place a PAL on the table next her. "I'll be staying close, call me if he wakes up again."

"So, is this good? Him waking up, I mean." She asked, pulling the blanket up.

Kristin nodded, "yes, it's very good." The doctor crossed the room and examined her other patient. After pulling open an eyelid, she clucked her tongue. "He's responding to light, that's an excellent sign." Kristin scowled at the interface. "And the plastic surgeon will be here in the morning to remove this silly thing, finally." She turned back. "You won't have long to wait, dear." Jayde nodded sleepily and closed her eyes, not noticing the implication in Kristin's voice.


Several hours later, Jayde slowly woke to a humming noise. The lights in the medbay had been dimmed, and she strained to look around in near darkness to locate the sound. She heard movement on the other side of the room, and reached for the small desk lamp beside her bed. Lucas blinked in the sudden light. He smiled shyly, "hey."

"You know who I am?" She asked skeptically, sitting up and swinging her legs to edge of the bed.

"Uh... yeah?" He sat up and groaned lightly.

"You didn't earlier, gave me a damn heart attack." She told him with a tone of mild accusation.

"Oh... I don't remember that. Sorry." He looked so sheepish that Jayde had to laugh.

"Don't worry, that's not my biggest concern right now. How are you feeling?"

Lucas grimaced and rubbed his chest. "I hurt, but I don't understand how. I thought the fire wall would only affect my mind, not my body."

"Fire wall? What do you mean?"

"When I was trying to get into the World Bank, it had some pretty nasty protections. I could feel it burn me, and now..." He rubbed his chest again. "It feels like I've been scorched."

Jayde shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Kristin had to shock you with the defibrillator paddles when your heart failed, that's what you're feeling."

"Oh..." Lucas laid his head back on the pillow. "Don't tell anyone that I thought that."

"I think we can blame the brain damage for that one."

"Thanks, I think."

"So," Jayde started awkwardly, "what was that you were humming?"

"Oh, uh, I don't actually know." He wrinkled his face. "I have a bunch of these songs running through my head, and I'm sure I've never heard any them before."

"What do they sound like?" Lucas hummed a few different tunes. "Oh! That's some of what I downloaded into the hard drive for you."

He considered for a while. "I guess I came back into my body so fast, they came with me. Very cool." Lucas grinned a lopsided smile.

"Only if you like them. Otherwise, we may have to delete some files in you head." She grinned with him.

"No, I really don't want anyone doing anything in my brain for a very very long time." He fell silent for a while, then chuckled.

"What?"

Lucas blushed, "nothing... I um, just realized something." Jayde waited expectantly. "Well... this is the longest conversation we've had when we were both human. I'm waiting for someone to burst in and say we're about to be abducted by aliens or something. "

"That's pretty ridiculous."

"Yeah, I know."

Lucas chewed his lip, looking pensive. "How's your arm?"

She glanced at the tight bandage. "It hurts, but I'll be fine."

"I'm sorry, I... I can't believe she did that to you." He sat up again quickly. "Where is she? Nick said you had been rescued, but didn't say anything about Julianna."

"She's in custody, Nick talked her into giving herself up. I guess she's going to be treated in a mental health facility." Lucas flared his eyes. "Don't worry, she can't get out, it's high security."

He shook his head, "why isn't she in jail? She could have killed you. And me." He added as almost an afterthought.

"She was scared..." Jayde said quietly. "Don't forget, I did something horrible when I was a scared kid too."

Lucas gasped, then scowled, "no, that's very different. You... killed some one who was hurting your parents. It was the only way out for you."

"And this wasn't for her?"

He sighed angrily and tried to run a hand through his hair. When he ran into the interface, he sighed again. "It's different." Lucas pulled on one of the nodes and hissed in pain. "When is Kristin taking this thing off?"

"Another doctor will be here in the morning to help her. How is it different?" She prodded, not letting him change the subject. Her eyes flashed dangerously, and he didn't answer right away. "Well?"

Lucas dropped his hand to his lap and closed his eyes. "Because you were just a little kid. There was no one around to help you, and you had no way to tell anyone. If Julianna sent me a message, anything, I would have found a way to help her." He opened his eyes again and looked at her sadly, "when she broke up with me, I just let it go, I didn't ask her why. Maybe if I had tried harder, I would have found out she was in trouble."

"Why are you blaming yourself for this?" Jayde asked, raising her voice in frustration.

"Why do you blame yourself for what happened when you were ten freaking years old?" He snapped back. She opened her mouth in shock at his outburst. "I... I'm sorry, that wasn't fair."

Jayde shook her head, "no," she sighed, "it was. I just feel sorry for her because I know how scared she was. Yes, she made a terrible decision, but I don't know if I can be mad at her for it."

"You are way too self sacrificing."

She snorted, "so are you."

"Well, I guess we're a good match then." Lucas went white, then red when he realized what he had said. "I.. um... I mean..." He trailed off and stared at the wall.

Jayde, in turn, found the floor fascinating. "Well..." she finally said, "I guess we did just have our first fight."

"You think that was a fight?" He asked with wide eyes, "geez, you should have heard my parents when I was a kid."

"I'd rather not." Jayde said dryly. "So... um, what does this mean?"

"What does what mean?"

She sighed and twisted her face. "Us being 'a good match.'"

"Well... what do you want it to mean?"

She stood and crossed the room, sitting in the chair next to his bed. Jayde shrugged, "I donno."

"I'm not sure either... I mean, I think I do, but... I want to know first, what do you want?" He studied her face.

Jayde took his hand and looked at him. "We really really suck at this."

Lucas laughed, "I know." He smirked at her, "we could ask Ben for help, I'm sure he has some thoughts."

"Ug, no. I don't want to know any of his thoughts."

"Yeah, and I'll never hear the end of it." Lucas agreed.

Jayde got up from the chair suddenly. "This is so stupid. Lucas Wolenczak, will you go out with me?"

"Yup."


Author's Note of mild pleading: So I wanted to show what actually happens when some one wakes up from a coma, since I found out recently. They are confused and their memory is pretty messed up. I wasn't looking to make it a 'screw you' type dream sequence trick. Sorry if it seemed that way. It was just time for him to wake up and not be stuck anymore.