AJ looked up at his Uncle Stuart and smiled. They were walking through the corridors of Pine Valley Hospital on a top secret mission. Stuart had decided that the only way to cheer up his little nephew was to bring him to see his mother. He felt very guilty about going against his brother wishes, but he wanted to see a smile on that little boys face.

They had tried to get to see Bianca first to give her the picture, but she was in with a doctor so now they were sneaking through the hospital corridors to find Marissa's room. AJ knew exactly where they were going.

When they got to just outside Marissa's door AJ stopped and looked back at his uncle.

"Will we get into trouble for this?" he asked quietly.

"I'm sure it will be fine." said Stuart, "But I'll stay out here and keep watch just to make sure."

And there it was, the thing Stuart had been so desperate to see, a genuinely happy smile on little AJ's face.

…

AJ pushed the door open and found his mother sat on the bed flicking through a magazine, a frown on her face. She looked up slowly at the sound of the closing door, her expression changing to one of astonishment at the sight of the little boy standing in her doorway.

"Hello." she said, her eyes wide with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

AJ pursed his lips, he wasn't entirely sure, now that he was here, what exactly he wanted to say to his mom.

"I wanted to see you." he said simply.

"Are you alone?" Marissa asked, tapping the side of the bed, encouraging him to come closer.

A grin appeared on his face as he rushed forward to except his mom's invitation and clambered onto the bed beside her.

"Uncle Stuart brought me." explained AJ, "He's outside watching the door..."

Marissa starred hard at the little boy, taking in every detail of his face.

"So you are my son?" she asked, lifting up a tentative hand to stoke his cheek. "AJ."

"Yes." said AJ still smiling. He paused realising he had to be honest. "Well you adopted me. You were only my aunty before you married daddy."

Marissa looked down taking in this new information, absentmindedly rubbing her left temple.

"Are you alright mommy?" AJ asked concerned.

"I'm fine; it's just a bit of a headache - Which is hardly surprising considering!"

AJ found his eyes drawn to the angry scar amongst her red hair.

She gave the boy a reassuring smile.

"Do you really not remember anything?" AJ asked, "You don't remember me even a little."

"I'm sorry sweetheart." said Marissa, taking his hand "You have no idea how much I wish I did."

Marissa realised it was true. She had been avoiding visitors, since the first strange five minutes with her mother when she had just felt so overwhelmed. Sitting with this little boy she realised she did feel something, not a memory exactly, but a connection. Maybe she was ready to see other people from her past. Maybe she should start trying to find out more about herself.

"Well." said AJ, unaware his mommy was lost in her thoughts. "I've bought you some things to help you remember."

He had a bag in his hands. Marissa smiled at his eagerness.

The first thing he pulled from his bag was a cookie.

"This is for you, it's a triple chocolate cookie with nuts, your favourite. Daddy doesn't like nuts but we do. "

Marissa took the cookie from him, it did smell good. She broke it half,

"Well if it is both our favourite we should share."

AJ took his half of the cookie and took a big bite from a corner. Marsissa took a slightly smaller bite and them her eyes widened,

"Wow, delicious." she said taking another bite, chocolate was defianately a good thing.

AJ stuffed the last of the cookie into his mouth.

"There's more." he said, with his mouth full. "I've brought pictures too."

He pulled two framed photos from his bag.

"This one is from the parlour, I probably shouldn't have taken it but it's a nice one of you, me and daddy, when daddy was happy."

Marissa took the photo. It was disconcerting to see her own face smiling at her from a past she didn't remember.

"Why is your daddy not happy anymore?" Marissa asked, finishing the last of her cookie.

"He said it was because you broke his heart." said AJ, "But I don't think it was just that."

Marissa looked at the handsome blue-eyed man smiling from the picture frame and wondered what she had done to hurt him.

"This one is from my bedroom." said AJ, passing her the next picture.

It was a photograph of her with AJ on her lap beside another smiling woman embracing two little girls.

"This one's got Bianca in it," said AJ, "And that's little Gabby and that is Miranda my birthday-twin," he said pointing at the faces in turn.

Marissa felt a jolt of recognition at the woman was the deep brown eyes smiling at her from the photograph. She had seen that face before.

"And who is Bianca?" Marissa asked.

"She's like your best-est friend ever." said AJ grinning. "You love her."

Marissa blinked and looked back at the picture, haunted by those deep brown eyes. So this was her best friend. She still couldn't work out the familiarity she felt looking at the image. She searched her mind to try and find where she had seen those eyes before. Then she remembered the woman in the therapy pool; the woman that had unsettled Marissa so, with her wide smile and happy greeting. Marissa had pretty much blanked her, a little nervous about how to behave around her obvious disability. Now she felt like a total jerk.

"She's in the hospital?"

"Yes, she was shot too." said AJ sadly, "Right here." He added, pointing to the side of his neck. "At first she couldn't move at all. We are drawing pictures to help her get better."

He pulled out a drawing from his bag. It was a picture of bedroom, it was very yellow.

"It's very good." said Marissa, and was happy to see her compliment make the little boy's preen with delight.

"Bianca likes my pictures of the house. She said I have an arch-it-ectural eye." he said struggling a little with the long word. "I've done you a picture, to help you get better too."

It was a picture of a smiling little boy with yellow hair and two letters 'AJ' painted boldly in red in the corner.

"A self-portrait, I love it!" said Marissa, unable to stop the grin spread wide across her face.

"It's so you don't forget me again."

Marissa sighed and stroked the little boys face.

"I don't think I ever could..."

As she starred at AJ she felt an urge she couldn't fight. She pulled the child into a hug and planted a kiss on the top of his head.

"…I don't think I ever would."

AJ wrapped his arms tight around her.

"I love you mommy." he sighed, not wanting to let go, "Inside out and upside-down."

…

…