Who am I?

Chapter 3

The next day, Spike woke up to the smell of fresh coffee. He smiled as he sat up on his cot. He fetched a notepad and the pen that he had been writing things down with the night before. He looked over the notes that he had made the night before to see if anything jogged his memory. Nothing that he had written so far seemed to. He closed his eyes and sighed quietly before getting up and going to the bathroom.

He noticed that the cabin was quiet and that he was alone. That was ok with him. He figured that Melanie had taken Jamie somewhere. Either to work or to school. He, himself had been alone since his dad died and his mother moved back to Italy earlier this year. He stopped short. That was a memory that he had just recovered. Something that he had not known before he went to bed last night.

He wrote the memory down real fast before tossing the pad on his cot and going into the bathroom. While he was in there, he gave himself a quick once over in the mirror and shaved, leaving a goatee instead a smooth shave. He noted that he was due for a haircut and decided to get one the next day. He turned on the water in the shower and got undressed, folding his clothes neatly before stepping under the hot spray.

While in the shower, he thought long and hard about where circumstance had brought him to. He had a feeling that Melanie and Jamie were on the run from something big. What, he didn't know, but he felt a surge of protectiveness towards the two of them. He had also noticed Melanie as a woman, and not just the woman who had saved his life. He thought that she was very pretty, with her big green eyes and red hair.

When he had gotten out of the bathroom after having taken a quick shower after wrapping a garbage bag around his arm, he spied Melanie's note on the table and sat down to read it after getting himself a cup of coffee and making himself a couple eggs with toast to eat for breakfast. It was a very short note. He figured that it would only say that she had taken Jamie to School or something like that.

'Mike, I took Jamie to school and went to get a few things taken care of. I should be back soon. Hope that you are feeling a little better this morning than you were last night. Melanie.' Spike put the note down and ate his breakfast quickly, taking his dishes to the sink and washing them real quick afterwards. After he finished, he took everything out of his duffle bags to see if he could find anything that would give him any more clues to who he was.

He found the usual assortment of clothes. Way in the bottom of the first bag, he found his cell phone and charger. He hadn't even given any thought to owning a cell phone. If it still worked, he could call someone, that was, if he had anyone on his list of contacts that might possibly be able to shed some light on who he was. He tried the power button. Nothing. That meant the phone was dead. He plugged it in and left it to charge.

In the second bag, he found some cards and other stuff in the bottom of the bag. He dumped them on the bed and looked at them one by one. The first item was a picture, of him, a few other guys and a woman. On the back, someone had written "Team One". He looked through a couple other items he found and found a bracelet that had "Lewis Young" written on it. He waited for something to click with him, nothing did.

He looked at the other pictures that were there. he was with different people in each one, upon closer inspection, He realized that they were the same people from the first photo. So that meant he was at least friends with those people. He looked at the bald guy and felt some recognition, but he couldn't draw on the guy's name. He closed his eyes against a sudden onslaught of tears. He hated not knowing who he was, what he did for a living.

He was still sitting there on the cot with his head bowed against the tears when the front door opened. He didn't have to look up to know that it was Melanie back from the store. He knew that he should help her with any groceries that she might have bought and he hastily wiped his eyes, acting as though he was tired, and not crying. He thought that the plan worked. She was more focused on not dropping things than noticing that he had been crying.

"Hey Mike? are you- Oh good you are up. Did you get my note? Did you eat anything yet?" Spike looked up to see Melanie coming in with several bags of groceries. He abandoned his stuff and helped her by taking three bags and setting them on the table. Together, they quickly unpacked the groceries and put them away. Spike told Melanie about finding his phone and charger and hoping that he would find someone it it that would know who he was.

"By the way, yes, I got your note and I did fix myself some eggs and toast. I was hungry and I am decently handy around the kitchen. In fact, I would love to cook for you guys tonight. Italian. I cook that really well. That much I do know about myself for a fact." Melanie agreed and Spike looked at the stuff they had around, before deciding that he would need to pick up some stuff from the store. He made a quick list and off they went.

Melanie tried to help him plot the menu, and Spike merely looked at her with pity. He was Italian. He was cooking Italian dinners since he was 12. Better that she just stand back and let him have the run of the kitchen. He told her this with much appreciation. She wasn't too put out by not being able to cook dinner that night. She had never had authentic Italian food, Winston, while he went out all the time to wine and dine people, he never took her with him.

She permitted herself a quick thought about Winston. He had to be spinning, not knowing where they were, if Jamie had told anyone. She was sure that He had already contacted Emily to see if they had shown up there. She knew that Emily would lie for her if she'd had to. That was the one thing that Melanie had decided to do. She wouldn't go straight there. She decided to drag out the time between leaving Winston and going to Emily's house.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Spike grabbed her by the hand and fairly dragged her out into the cold. If she were honest with herself, She kinda liked Spike. But only kinda. She had to be careful right now, since she was still married, though would use anything that he could to gain the upper hand. She knew he was just like his mother, who, if she were honest about it, was a world Class, A-1 Bitch.

She would die before she allowed that, that woman to have any hand in raising her son. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the only reason Winston and his mother even remotely put up with her, was because she had given him a son. They still held out hope for more sons, but frankly the thought of having sex with him again and hoping for a son made her stomach turn violently.

She had to face facts. Winston was a child Molester. He needed to be in prison, where he couldn't hurt anyone else. She knew that was why Jamie never brought any of his buddies around the house. He knew what his father was, having experienced it first hand. That was the only reason that she and Jamie had left. She had waited until Winston was on a business trip and his mother was too busy to meddle in Melanie's affairs.

When they got to the store, Spike took his time very slowly picking out exactly what he needed. He learned to slow down and be picky about what he bought to put in his Lasagna. He had decided on Lasagna and Garlic bread instead of breadsticks. He had sent Melanie to pick up Lettuce, tomatoes, Salad Dressing, and croutons. What Italian dinner was complete without Salad? While she did that, He checked out the fresh cheeses and Herbs.

After a couple hours of shopping, Mike had everything that he needed to cook a couple Italian dishes. He had thought about buying a bottle of wine, but the medicine he was on, you had to be careful about Alcohol, and Melanie didn't like to drink, so he bought a couple bottles of juice instead. He told Melanie to drop him off at the cabin so he could start cooking while she left to pick up Jamie from School. He had the day off from work.

While she was gone, Spike got to work. He had had to buy the pans that he needed since he got the feeling that Melanie and Jamie had fled with just the absolute basics. He desperately wanted to ask some questions, but he knew that it was not any of his business or concern. He could only hope that whatever they were fleeing from didn't find them while he was with them, He would not hesitate to protect them. Protect and serve.

As soon as he had that thought, Spike dove for the pen and paper by his cot. He wrote down exactly what he had been thinking and that exact thought. It was strange, the idea of him protecting and serving. He tried not to think about what it could possibly mean. However, the more he tried not to think about it, the more that he thought about it. The only people that he could think of that would follow protect and serve, were security guards, and cops.

As soon as he had that thought, he laughed and shook his head in amazement and derision. No way in hell was he a cop. That was absurd. He was a chemistry geek. However, as soon as that thought had formed, he was assaulted by a memory of being somewhere one day and joking around with someone. The memory was so real and clear that he'd had to sit down, forgetting to write it down.

'You know, you are such a geek. Always reading manuals. No wonder the girls don't like you.' There was some playful shoving and some gentle laughter. Spike was happy in this memory. He thought he detected some kind of uniform, but he was fuzzy on the details.

'Yeah, But at least I am a geek with steady hands. And you guys count on it everyday in the field. The girls love the geek.' He shoved someone back, before throwing a fake punch to the other persons stomach, before being tackled onto the floor. There was much playful yelling back and forth. Someone saying something about keeping the peace.

'You have to have steady hands, to mess with bombs. Geek Boy.' More laughter, more shoving. That was all the memory consisted of. There was a vague memory of someone calling them to a briefing? Why would he be part of a briefing? He tried to find the answer to that question in the hazy memory but it grew dim before he could. Spike checked his watch and decided that after dinner he would take a pain pill.

As quickly as the memory had come though, it was gone. It was a few minutes before Spike shook his head to clear his mind and continued cooking dinner. He barely remembered what the memory had consisted of and tries to write down what he COULD remember. It wasn't all that much to go on. He abandoned the task of trying to remember after a moment and concentrated on dinner.

'It was probably just my imagination. Maybe some television show that I watch before the accident. Yeah, that's probably it. I'm probably something boring, like an executive or manager at a store. Or maybe even a teacher of some sort.' As soon as he had that thought, he scrunched his nose up in distaste. God, he hoped that he WASN'T an executive. He'd probably go nuts before his time.

He had already pulled the Lasagna from the oven, covered it with Foil to keep it warm, and set the table complete with napkins. He would put the Lasagna back in to warm up if needed when they got home. He could only hope that Melanie and Jamie liked it. They should be walking through the door at any moment, and he wanted everything ready so they wouldn't have to wait. He poured himself a glass of juice and waited.

When Melanie and Jamie got back, he was at the stove cooking the sauce at a simmer. He had just tasted the sauce and put more basil in and put the garlic bread in to cook and startled when Jamie came in and slammed the door. He peeped over his shoulder to find Jamie Scowling at him before going into his room and getting some other clothes on. When he came out, he had on sweats, with shorts over them, running shoes and and sweatshirt on.

He scowled at Spike again and started to walk out the door after grabbing a couple peices of fruit to eat along the way as he ran. Spike studied him as he walked about. Melanie had come in, gone to the bathroom and then went into the bedroom, giving Jamie some space. She didn't know what was bothering him, but he was worked up about something. She figured that she would let Spike try to handle it. Man to Man kind of thing.

"Do you want to talk about it Jamie? I don't know if I would be able to help, but I would like to try. Dinner will be ready in about 15 minutes. Plenty of time for a chat." Jamie nodded shortly at him. Spike turned the oven down a little bit, told Melanie to just watch the sauce and followed Jamie outside into the cold air, after grabbing his jacket. They walked a few paces away from the cabin when Jamie suddenly rounded on him.

***Authors Note:

So what do you guys think of the story so far? I'd love some feedback! Please read and review!