Chapter 22: Who? What? Where? Why? And How?

As her father, Hunter, drove home, Charley looked out the window of the truck at how different Gaia looked. She didn't remember anything and it didn't help knowing that her father had just told her that she had been missing for four years.

"Baby, we're going to find out what happened. Tomorrow, we'll go to the hospital and see what the doctors have to say" he did his best to comfort his daughter, who looked so different but, was still his little girl.

"Okay papa" she turned to look at him, tears forming around the edges of her eyes.

"Your mom is going to be so happy to see you" he mentioned as he took a quick glance down at her left hand, that was resting in her lap, and noticed a unique ring sitting on her ring finger.

"I can't wait to see mom" she said as they pulled up to the garage door and he father turned the truck off. She saw the kitchen door open and her mom walk outside. Her once slightly gray hair was now almost stark white from those years of worrying about her daughter.

"Late night breakdown?" she asked and then gasped when she saw a young, richly dressed girl step out of the passenger side.

"Not exactly" he said as he held out his hand to Charley and she accepted it.

"Charley?" her mother, Chasity, gasped as she stepped into the light of the street lamp.

"Mama" Charley murmured as she practically jumped into her mother's arms and felt them wrap around her, comforting and safe.

"Where have you been?" she sobbed as she stroked her daughter's back as they each shed tears of joy and sadness.

"I don't know. I can't remember" Charley whimpered into her mother's shoulder.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, gently moving her away to look at Charley's face.

"Now's not the time. We'll deal with everything tomorrow. For now, we all need to get some rest" Hunter stated as he led them into the kitchen and locked the door.

"But..." Chasity began to question but, one look from him made her rethink what she was going to say.

"Why don't you take Charley to her room and help her get out of that dress" he suggested to his wife and she escorted Charley back up to her bedroom.

The stress of Charley being missing for those years had taken its toll on her physically as well as mentally. There hadn't been a day that went by that she didn't stay awake for hours hoping and praying that their little girl would find her way home. Now that she finally came home, it led to more confusion due to her losing four years of memories.

"Wow. Nothing's changed" Charley had anticipated with the revelation of being missing that they would have changed her room but, they didn't.

Her room was eight by ten feet with a small reach in closet. Her walls were still covered with mint green paint, a white ceiling, and white floral designs stamped all over the place. Her twin bed had clean sheets and blankets on it with her old pillows. At the foot of the bed was her teddy bear that her father had won for her just after she was born. Her small oak nightstand still doubled as a dresser next to her bed. There was also a large mirror above the nightstand.

"It's just as it was on prom night" Charley lamented as she looked around the room, as though seeing it for the first time even though to her it was just a few hours ago.

"I didn't change anything. I wanted it to look like it did when you left" Chasity said as she made a motion with her hand for Charley to turn around so she could help her out of the dress.

"Mama, I swear I don't know what happened. I don't know where I've been or what I've done" Charley's voice was raspy as she spoke.

"I believe you. Maybe a good night's rest will help" she tried to sound hopeful but it was difficult, as she unzipped Charley's dress and then gasped when she saw multiple healed marks on her daughter's back.

"What is it?" she heard the gasp and became very concerned because, she could hear her mother crying.

"Where have you been?" she didn't mean to ask the question aloud but, it fell out before she had a chance to stop herself.

"What do you mean?" Charley inquired as she turned her head back to look at her bare back. She gasped when she saw all the healed crisscross marks across her back and then she shivered with uncertainty at the fact that she didn't know where she had been.

"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry" Chasity was obviously visually shocked by how many flattened welts were across her child's back and as Charley slid her dress down, she saw more across the backs of her legs.

"Don't be. This isn't anyone's fault but, the person who did this to me" Charley stated as she reached into her night stand and pulled out a pale blue cotton tee shirt. She quickly dressed in order to cover up the majority of the damage that had been done to her.

"Get some sleep Charley. We'll see you in the morning" she said as she left the bedroom and headed back to her own room, still shocked by what she had just seen. She informed Hunter of what she had just witnessed and he was obviously upset by it but, agreed that there was nothing they could do about it at this point in time.

Charley looked in the mirror and began to pull all the pins out of her hair, finally seeing how long it truly was. Running her fingers through the long tresses, she could see that it was very healthy looking and didn't have a single split end. She even looked at the skin on her face and saw that it had a nice healthy glow to.

She turned her over head light off, she pulled back the covers, and laid down. As she laid on her back, looking up at the ceiling, she began to wonder what actually did happen to her. Whatever it was, it must have been really traumatic. But, something else must have happened because, she was wearing some sort of engagement ring on her finger. She ran her fingers over the large and very elegantly designed ring and felt a sense of peace wash over her. Rolling over onto her side, she closed her eyes and did her best to get some sleep.

Morning

The next morning, Charley awoke in her bed and heard her mom and dad talking in the kitchen. Deciding she had slept enough, Charley arose and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and walked to the kitchen. She saw her father having some coffee and her mother cooking breakfast.

"Morning princess" Hunter said as he watched as she grabbed a coffee cup from the cupboard and filled it.

"Morning papa" she said as she added a little bit of milk and sugar to her drink before sitting down at the table.

"When did she start doing that?" Chasity softly questioned once she realized that Charley was only holding the cup handle with two fingers and her thumb, her other two fingers were away from the cup. She also noticed that Charley sat up straight and tall instead of being hunched over. Even her chin was tilted up.

"When did you start holding your cup like that?" he had no problems asking the question.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Charley was completely unaware of what her parents were asking her.

"Since when did you start sitting and drinking your coffee like that?" Chasity asked, pointing at her daughter's posture and then to her hand.

"I don't know. I didn't even realize I was doing that" and it was the truth. She hadn't realized that her whole physic had changed.

"It's a good thing we're going to the doctor's office today" Chasity mentioned as she turned back to her cooking.

"Well, you and Charley are going to the doctor's. Charley, could you hand me that ring on your finger?" he asked as he held his hand out.

"Sure. Why?" Charley agreed as she pulled the ring off and handed it over to her father.

"I'm going to take this to a jeweler friend of mine and have him take a look at it. He might be able to get some information on where it came from and who purchased it. It may help all us to trace your steps" he stated as he placed the ring in his shirt pocket and then finished his coffee.

"Welp, I'm off to see the jeweler. You two beautiful ladies have fun today and try to stay out of trouble" he chuckled as he gave Charley a hug and kissed her on her cheek and then went over to his wife and kissed her long and hard.

"Get a room" Charley laughed for the first time since she got home.

"Rascal" Chasity laughed and shoved him out of the kitchen.

Charley heard her father rev up his old motorcycle and take off. She hoped today would be a better day.

"Now, let's eat some breakfast and then go see the doctor" she said as she placed a pile of pancakes in front of Charley before joining her.

P.O.V.

As soon as Hunter arrived at the jewelers, The Fiery Phoenix, he began to recall the last time he had been there. It had been when he went to purchase a wedding band for Chasity and wanted something unique. The jeweler, Luke, was a half-breed. He was half Martian and half human. All of him looked human, until the clothes came off and you saw the excessive body hair and he also had a tail.

"Hunter. Long time no see my friend" came the laughter of Luke as Hunter walked through the door.

"I know what you mean" Hunter laughed as he held out his hand and shook Luke's hand.

"How's that gorgeous, foxy wife of yours doing?" Luke had no qualms of asking about Chasity.

"She's doing good" he said, knowing that Luke was a bit of a chatter box.

"Any luck on finding Charley?" Luke finally sobered up enough to ask about his friend's missing daughter.

"Yeah. She came home last night" Hunter was almost in tears at the thought of his little girl finally making it home.

"That's awesome man. You know all of us were worried about that little girl and the misses, she prayed for ya'll to find her. I can't wait to tell her the good news" Luke couldn't believe his ears. Charley was finally home but, he suspected that Hunter was there for more than just a friendly call.

"So, what can I do for you?" Luke asked as he watched Hunter reach into his shirt pocket.

"I need you to tell me about this" he said as he pulled the ring out and showed it to Luke.

"It gorgeous and I'm flattered but, you know my ass is married. Although the gesture is sweet" neither Luke nor Hunter could maintain a straight face as they both fell out laughing.

"You are so not funny" Hunter chuckled as Luke took the ring and placed it on his pinky finger and admired it.

"I know. Well, let me look at this under a microscope and I'll see how much info I can give just based off a visual and then we can go from there" Luke said as he pulled his microscope out and turned the light on to see through the gem.

"Ok." Hunter said as he pulled a stool up to the counter and sat down to watch Luke work.

"This ring is amazing. The clarity of this stone is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Oh!" Luke was excited.

"What" Hunter asked when he noticed his friend's face.

"This ring is engraved on the inside of the band with...wait for it...your daughter's name. Here, take a look for yourself" Luke said, turning the device around for Hunter to look through the lens.

"Wow. So, do you think that this ring was specifically purchased for Charley?" he asked.

"I won't know without further investigation" Luke admitted.

"What are you able to tell me about it?" Hunter asked as he watched Luke put a diamond tester up to the ring and it made a sound on each part of the ring.

"Well, all the gems on here are real diamonds. This, my friend, is a Canary yellow diamond surrounded by clear diamonds. Not a single stone has any inclusions or marks of any kind. The band is one hundred percent pure platinum. Judging by just the center stone, I'd say this ring was purchased and created in Mars. Possibly one of the larger cities. But, you should have already know that by now" Luke knew quite a bit about Hunter's past history.

"Don't remind me. I just wasn't sure of the stone or whether it was of any value" he said as Luke handed the ring back to him.

"Well, now you know. That ring couldn't even be bought by Lawrence Limburger over here. It's a one of a kind piece. Whoever gave it to Charley must really have some big time feelings for her" Luke said as he looked at his friend.

"How long would it take to do an investigation on it?" Hunter knew that if anyone could get the answers to this mystery it was Luke.

"Give me no more than two weeks. I'll make some phone calls and see who's still in business and who can track it down" Luke said, knowing it would take him only a day or two to actually find out but, he always liked giving himself some extra time, just in case.

"Okay. Thanks old friend" Hunter said as he put the ring back into the pocket and left the shop.

"Time to make the donuts" Luke sighed as he grabbed a cup of coffee and pulled out his black book of names from his back pocket. He had a long list of people to call and not all of them were going to be helpful. In fact, most of them disliked him for opting to live in Gaia, hiding among the humans.

P.O.V.

As Charley and Chasity sat in the doctor's office waiting on test results, Charley became very anxious and started getting agitated.

"Charley, are you alright?" Chasity asked as she watched Charley stand up and began pacing the confines of the small room.

"I feel like the walls are closing in on me" Charley responded as she felt her heart begin to race.

"Here, let me open the door. It might help" Chasity said as she got ready to open the door and found the doctor standing on the other side of it.

"Sorry, but, this door has to remain closed at all times. Rules are rules" the doctor stated as he saw his patient pacing the room, acting like a caged animal who was ready to bolt the moment the door opened.

"Charley, do you need something to calm you down. You seem upset" he asked as he watched her actions.

"No. I'm fine" Charley didn't mean to snap but, something about the room was causing her to panic.

"Okay. If you say so" he responded calmly as he flipped the all the pages of her paperwork.

"Well, doctor, what's wrong with her?" Chasity was anxious to find out why her baby had lost four years of her memory and acting very strangely.

"According to all of our tests, we couldn't find a thing wrong with her. We even went so far as to check her system for drugs. Nothing. The only thing that we were able to find out was that she had recently had sex but, that wouldn't cause any problems. It could be stress related. The only thing that it might be is possibly selective memory loss but, I don't know. I guess this is going to be one of those mysteries that we may never figure out" the doctor sounded sympathetic to Chasity's plight but, didn't know how to help either of them.

"Thank you doctor. You've been very helpful" Chasity stated as she ushered Charley out the door and finally outside, where she seemed to finally calm down and was very happy to get in the car.

"We'll keep trying" Chasity mentioned as she got in the car and drove home. They had spent half the day in the office only to be told there was nothing wrong with her. She just hoped that Hunter had better luck than they did.

As soon as they got home, they went into the kitchen to check for any messages. There were several people who wanted to come in tomorrow for basic oil changes on their bikes. Chasity called them all back and scheduled them in. Charley started to make dinner and wondered if she was still able to work on a bike. She quickly made up her mind and decided that maybe work was the best thing for her. Help her get back into the swing of things.

"Charley" came the sound of a male whisper and she turned around. She didn't see anyone and decided that the stress of the day had taken its toll on her.

"Charley" came the voice again and she turned around and saw some blurry form near the door, causing her to gasp.

"Who are you?" she whispered, hoping to not scare her mother.

"Charley" the voice came again and then the apparition disappeared along with the voice.

"Great. Now I'm going crazy" she grumbled to herself as she went back to cooking dinner.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. If there is anything you would like to see in the upcoming chapters, or you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to let me know. Many CYBER HUGS to all readers and reviewers.