I'll keep these short, I said, I won't go overboard, I said, these stories will be contained one-shots, I said. ANYWAY, I failed so here's a sequel to day 7. Enjoy!

Day 7: Do You Recognize This? PT 2

Characters/Pairings: Jake/Rose; Haley; Jonathan

Rating: T

Content warnings: memory loss; abandonment; pregnancy mentions; swearing; of-age drinking

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

SIX MONTHS LATER

Jake stretched, letting the warm sun wash over him. It wasn't quite warm enough to be jogging at the beach but here he was because, well, why not? He was still in recovery mode, although only technically, and Jonathan wasn't expecting him to try to get a job for another month. Although, Jake was thinking about maybe going back to school instead. He wasn't quite sure what he'd been doing with his life pre-brain injury. It was one of those things that had gotten hidden behind what he'd taken to calling the 'She-Shield'. Rose's name didn't hurt him; Rose's name didn't make him feel anything. Their eight-year wedding anniversary had apparently been last week and Jake hadn't cared enough to so much as send her a note because Rose didn't mean anything. Rose's name just meant something to other people and, so, Jake refrained from mentioning it.

Some people were so sensitive about the fact that someone who couldn't remember their wife due to a TBI would just up and leave her, even knowing she was pregnant with their unborn child.

People like Trixie, who Jake didn't speak with anymore. He was even speaking with Spud less, though Spud was at least trying to understand. Jake knew that people couldn't understand but he understood. And, in time, he really believed that Rose was going to understand it too. If he couldn't love her anymore then she deserved to find someone who would. They couldn't just keep promises to each other they had made years ago because they were both different people now. Him, especially.

Jake watched the women jogging by him on the beach, feeling satisfied when they checked him out in return. Jake hadn't felt a real interest in a relationship since getting out of the hospital and moving back in with his father. But, who in his life circumstances would? That didn't mean that he didn't appreciate a beautiful woman when he saw one.

Jake slowed his jogging as a text came in and he pulled out his phone.

Dad: Jake, remember Haley lands at 3PM. Be home in time for family dinner, please.

Jake: You've reminded me a million times. I'll be home. I'm excited to see her.

And, Jake was excited to see his little sister. She'd been off on a work placement in Ireland and hadn't really had the chance to return home during his recovery. There had been a few, strained chats on the phone and a couple of texts between the two of them. Jake could tell that her loyalty fell with Team Rose and Jake could live with that; he was just convinced that when he saw Haley again in person, he could get her to see things from his side.

Jake made it home for 3PM, giving him plenty of time to shower, look presentable, and have already unpacked the takeout on the set dining room table in time for Dad and Haley to make it back from the airport. As the smell of takeout Chinese food permeated the air, Jake felt sad all over. Even though Jonathan had sprung for quality food, his mother would be rolling over in her grave at the thought of her family not making their own dumplings.

"Jake!"

Haley jumped into his arms.

"Hey, Haley."

"How are you feeling?" she asked, squinting at him.

"I feel great!" Jake said. He tapped the side of his temple. "Got most of it back."

Jake would have been an idiot to miss the roll of Haley's eyes.

"We've got dinner on the table," Jonathan said hurriedly, as if he sensed the tension between his children. Jake knew that Jonathan saw Rose periodically. There had been an ultrasound of Rose's child on the fridge, for a time, until Jake had asked Jonathan to keep it in his room. Jake didn't contest that he was the father of his wife's child and he wasn't going to say anything about Jonathan seeing said child. Jake just knew that the man who had fathered that child was a man that he was never going to be again. He was just trying to protect them all.

"Thanks, Dad."

They were old enough now that Jonathan put wine on the table. Only Haley indulged in a glass; Jake knew that his brain was still too sensitive for drinking. And he never wanted to go through the disorientation of not knowing his life ever again. That time in the hospital had been more than enough for a lifetime. The conversation flowed freely over food, mostly centering around Haley's work placement, which was fine by Jake. It was after the meal was through and Haley poured herself another large glass of wine that things started to get bad for Jake. She leant back in her chair, staring him down, and took another large sip.

"So, how's Rose?"

"I'm not doing this."

"You are definitely doing this," Haley argued.

"I've done this."

"Not with me!" Haley snapped.

"Kids, come on. It's the first time we've been all together in how many months?" Jonathan said.

"We're not all together," Haley said coldly, swirling the wine in her glass. "My sister isn't here. You know, Jake's wife."

"Fuck you, Haley."

Jake stormed out of the room and out the front door of the house, feeling like a teenager again as he slammed the door behind him.

Jake didn't know where he was going but he shouldn't have been surprised when Haley caught up to him a cut-through alley, grabbing his shirt sleeve and pinning him down against the wall.

"I don't get you!" she said, shoving him again. "I don't understand!"

"My brain is broken," Jake said, pounding his palm for emphasis. "I don't know her. She is no one to me! And it hurts and the people I love love her too. It sucks but I am not someone that she needs in her life. I could see how much my existence hurt her when I was there because she was expecting something from me. Everyone was expecting something from us because we're 'Jake and Rose' like that means something. But it doesn't mean anything to me! Do you hear me? IT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING!"

Haley scoffed. "Where's your honour, Jake? Your loyalty? Okay, even if you don't remember her, why walk out on night one of being home? What did Gramps teach you all those years?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "How to toy with electronics. I dunno. He was just Gramps."

Haley froze for a second and then she just laughed. "Okay, so you've gained a sense of humor so we can thank the brain injury for something. Come on, you're the fucking American Dragon. You think honour and loyalty and love are just, what, components of the job?"

"What are you talking about?" Jake's brain whirred, catching on the She-Shield. American Dragon? Was Haley that drunk after two glasses of wine?

"You're the American Dragon." Haley's brown eyes were huge, reminding Jake of their mother's eyes and the way she would look at him when he did something stupid. "Or did you walk away from that too?"

"A dragon? Are you high?"

"What?"

"What?"

Jake and Haley stared at one another until she reached out, hesitantly, and grasped Jake by the shoulders, shaking him slightly.

"Jake, you know that we're dragons, right?"

Jake put his hands on her own shoulders in return, stooping so they were eye to eye. "Haley, you're high. We're humans."

"Holy shit! Is that why you can't remember? All of your early memories of Rose are about the dragons. Oh my God." Haley paced the alleyway. "I mean, you met as humans, right? But so much of your relationship was about the dragon and the Huntsclan."

Jake leant against the wall behind him, crossing his arms over his chest, and watching her, bemused. Haley was crazier than he remembered. Maybe he would get to tell Jonathan about this and he wouldn't be the weird sibling anymore because of the TBI.

"Haley, whatever game you're playing isn't funny anymore, okay?"

Haley stopped in front of the alleyway and, then, before his very eyes, transformed into a purple dragon.

Jake was suddenly glad that he hadn't had a drink in months; he would have fallen over immediately if he had. As it was, he still reached out, touching Haley's scales, to make sure that he hadn't suddenly started hallucinating.

"You are Jake Long, American Dragon," she said. "You're a world dragon. Now, transform."

As soon as Haley said it, it unlocked an instinct that Jake didn't know that he had. The battle cry of 'DRAGON UP' echoed through his head. Memories that he didn't know he had of Gramps flashed through his mind. His grandfather, as a large blue dragon, teaching him on the roof of Gramps' old shop, taking him to the Isle of Draco, fighting with him because Jake needed to grow up.

Haley looked at his dragon form and nodded. "Follow me."

Jake didn't know how he knew how to move his wings but he did. He took the skies with Haley, following her until she dipped down, taking him to the roof of a building. She transformed back into a human but Jake was still so incredulous of the fact that he was a dragon to let that slip away from him quite yet. He walked the area of the rooftop, which was bare and boring, and then turned to Haley.

"You are Jake and Rose," she said, "but before you were Jake and Rose, you were the American Dragon and the Huntsgirl. I think your brain is protecting you because on this rooftop, you thought you lost her forever. She completely forgot you, like you never existed. You had to put her through hell to get her back and I think you're stopping yourself from putting her in that position. But, Jake, times are different. There's no Huntsclan now. She's just your wife and she loves you. You're putting her through hell by forgetting her."

Jake walked the roof again.

American Dragon. Huntsgirl. Huntsclan.

It was tugging at the edges of the She-Shield and it was the first tug that Jake had felt since he had woken up in that hospital room, not recognizing the blonde woman hovering over him. Jake glanced up at the sky and then he pictured Rose as he had never seen her – fifteen, garbed in dark robes, floating into the sky away from him. Jake grabbed after the phantom, feeling his heart seize at the thought of losing her.

That motion broke the She-Shield.

Everything that he had thought he would never feel about Rose hit him with such strength that Jake turned back into a human and fell to his knees, feeling the tears on his cheeks.

"Jake?"

He knew that Haley was right there but it sounded like she was calling out to him from the far side of a very long tunnel.

"What have I done?" Jake cried, putting his head in his hands. "How could I have forgotten her? Haley, she's the love of my life."

Haley knelt in down with him, pulling his hands from his face. "How much do you remember?"

"All of it." Even if it turned out to not be a hundred percent true, Jake was confident that he knew more than enough. Enough to hate himself. Enough to know that she hated him now. "And I can't take these six months back! I made sure to make her hate me because I am not the person that she deserves! I really thought that I couldn't love her and that she was better off without me! And I think it's turning out to not be true! Well, no, I don't deserve her and I didn't, like want her to hate me, I just wanted her to understand that we couldn't be anymore, except we have to be. She's my Rose."

"Jake, I know she loves you. She and I haven't spoken in a long time because I think she thought I would be on your side automatically but you've made sure I've known Rose more than half my life. Rose is in love with you. Rose understands you, even when you don't understand yourself." Haley smiled warmly. "She's going to be so relieved that you understand now."

"She's not going to understand," Jake said, feeling like he was going to throw up. He was pretty sure that his stomach was in his knees.

"She will," Haley promised.

Jake shook his head. "Haley, you don't understand. Rose is almost eight months pregnant. And I knew she was pregnant when I left her. How the hell do I ever make that up to her?"

Haley faltered. "I … I don't know, Jake."

Jake bowed his head. He could see it all in his mind. The pregnancy tests they had taken that were negative, lying in bed and bantering baby names, the 'practicing' of baby-making. He could feel the weight of Rose in his arms. How had he left her? Why did he make her do this all alone? He felt like his heart was going to stop.

"But," Haley said with such conviction that Jake picked his head up to look her in the eye, "I know you have to try."

Jake nodded.

He knew that too.

(-.-)

Rose's ankles were swollen and she had a pounding headache and she couldn't have caffeine and the thought of tiny kittens made her cry to the point where she thought she and Baby were going to have to adopt one and, oh no, did she forget to go to the bank? Baby was eating her brain. Rose wasn't even sure that she was safe to drive with the way that Baby caused all of her thoughts to go out of the damn window but she had to drive because she was all alone, going home to that big stupid house with its six bedrooms because she needed an at home office and she and Jake wanted so many kids but there was no Jake. There was just her and Baby and Rose should probably move except she couldn't let the dream go.

Rose pulled into her driveway, nearly hitting the gas and running through the living room window when she realized that Jake was sitting on the front doorstep. It had been over six months since she'd seen him and he'd just abandoned her. She'd been sobbing in a chair, unable to speak, when he had told her that he didn't give a flying fuck about her or their child or empathy and had dropped his wedding ring on the coffee table. Rose thought about putting the car in reverse and driving off, only coming back when he was off their property, but she couldn't do that. Her whole heart still belonged to Jake.

Rose turned the key and shut the car off. She stared at Jake through the windshield and he stared back at her. That was new. Six months ago, he hadn't been able to look her in the eye.

Rose rested her hand on her stomach and she spoke to Baby, like she always did, on all the nights that she was alone in this big house that was meant for a family she didn't have anymore. "Don't feel bad that I thought he was my whole heart. It's like I grew a second new heart, all for you, and it only belongs to you. That's your father and I hope one day you know him, I really do, but if it's always just you and me, be glad that you got my second heart. No one's hurt it yet."

Despite her better judgement, she got out of the car. Jake stood as she approached the front door and Rose pasted a genial smile on her face. She wanted to hate Jake so badly that it hurt and she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She had spent so much time practicing hate in front of Trixie, though, that she felt like she could pull off at least a detached polite to the real thing.

"You should have told me you were coming to pick up some more stuff," Rose said, "I would have put it on the porch like before."

Jake was staring at her baby belly. "Uh, I was hoping I could come in for a minute, actually."

Rose tilted her chin. "Sure, I guess, this time. But, if you're going to do this again, I really do want a call first. You abandoned this place so you don't get to demand to come in."

"I get it."

Rose knew he was sad by the slumping of his shoulders and the way he wouldn't look up from his feet but she hardened her heart against it. He had long since decided to not even try to love her after all. Them, Rose corrected herself, one hand steadying her stomach as she let them into the house.

The house wasn't as changed as she would like to think that it was. Rose had hated the thought of taking down any picture of Jake and so they just hung there, a testament to ghosts.

"Would you like some water?" Rose offered. She was no longer a wife but she could be a polite host.

"Yes, thank you."

Jake followed her to the kitchen. Rose poured water glasses. They stood at the counter and sipped, even though Rose's hips were screaming at her to sit down.

"Can I ask why you stopped by?" Rose said when the silence finally got too loud.

"How are you?" Jake asked. "You and uh?"

"I call it 'Baby'," Rose said coldly. "And, we're fine. Well, healthy. Well, Baby is fine and healthy. I guess I'm just fine."

Rose knew her dark circles went all the way down to her cheeks now and she had none of that pregnancy glow that all first time moms seemed to have. She cried herself to sleep every night still, wishing for Jake next to her. But, she wasn't going to admit any of that to him. He had forfeited his right to even try to care half a year ago.

"How are you?" Rose asked, trying to be polite.

"Haley came home today."

"And she convinced you to see me? Thanks but no thanks. If you would just tell me what you want from the house and we'll keep going on how we go on." Rose rolled her eyes and started to walk away from him. "We're not playing polite, okay? Not now, not ever. This was how you want it, remember?"

"I remember you first kissed me in the Huntsclan."

Rose stopped mid-step. Slowly, she lowered her leg to the floor but she didn't trust herself to turn around. This man didn't want to remember her. This man was not her Jake.

"Do you remember prom? We convinced our parents that you were getting a hotel room with Trixie and I was getting one with Spud but instead we got one together?"

Rose wanted it to be her Jake. She wanted it to be her Jake so badly. Rose braced herself against the wall.

"We always wanted to get married and I always knew that. I always knew that was where we were going to end up but the first time that I ever made a plan, we were still in college." Jake's voice was getting closer as he spoke. Rose couldn't turn around; Rose couldn't run away. She stayed still, not believing what she was hearing. "You won a Go-Kart race and downed a trophy's worth of beer. That same year, I started saving up for a ring and a trip to Greece. I knew it was number one on your list of places to visit and I wanted it to be extra special for you."

Rose heaved for breath. Jake was right behind her now. She could feel the body heat. She wanted to turn, hold him, and have it be all right.

"What else do you remember?" Because she remembered screaming all alone, wondering if grief could kill her and Baby.

"I remember homecoming. I remember Huntsgirl. I remember when we went to Peru and every llama went met spit at me. I remember standing at the end of an aisle, knowing how stunning you would look, and still having my breath taken away by you. I remember how you snore –"

"I do not snore."

"- just a little snore in your sleep."

Rose hesitantly turned around, staring into Jake's eyes.

"I remember every dream we built and I know how I tore all of that away from you because I didn't understand. I knew you were my wife and I didn't act like a husband. I didn't even try. You deserved more than that. Then, I should have been a father. I should have been … at least more myself. I'm never going to lie to you, because you deserve more than that. I truly didn't know a thing about you and, because of that, I truly didn't feel a thing for it. But, talking to Haley, all of those truths came out and the truths were keeping the feelings at bay because I feel for you, more than I'll ever feel in my entire life. I do know that a brain injury is just a reason and I hid behind it like it was an excuse." Jake's eyes burrowed into her own and Rose knew him well enough to see the genuine feeling behind his eyes. He was leaning into her and Rose wanted nothing more to pull him into her embrace. "I'm sorry. I'll spend the rest of my life telling you I'm sorry. I'll do anything you want for the rest of my life because you are my Rose and I'm your Jake and that's the way things are supposed to be. That was the one thing that was never supposed to be lost along the way."

Rose grabbed Jake's hand and put it against her stomach. Baby was doing summersaults for her, probably because of her, and all of the truth she needed was in the way that Jake teared up, feeling that little foot beating against her skin.

Jake dropped to his knees in front of her. "I'm sorry to you too, Baby. I'm sorry I missed all your ultrasounds and being the first one to feel you kick. I'm sorry you didn't know you had a daddy but I'm here now, forever, okay, as long as your Mama wants me."

Jake peered up at Rose.

"Baby's a he," she said finally. "And, I'm sorry, but he's already being called Ash because that was your favourite name and I wanted him to have some part of you because I didn't think you'd ever come back."

Jake rose to his feet. "I love that and, Rose?"

"What?" Rose didn't want to sound so flat but all these months of practice didn't give her enough feeling left.

"Don't ever doubt I'm coming back you. I fucked up this time and I know it but we always come back. We always need to have that conviction."

"We do?" Rose wanted to lash out at that hope bubble because it had only led her astray. It led to her and Baby and a living room that she couldn't walk into.

"We do."

Rose ran her finger along Jake's empty ring finger, loving and hating the thrill that went through her at touching him again.

"Tell me you still have it." Jake gathered up her left hand in his, kissing each finger and then her engagement ring and then her wedding ring. "I'm your husband. I'm this baby's father. I know I hurt you but, please, give me this chance."

Rose waved Jake to follow her. She led him into the living room and sank into the couch, pointing at the coffee table. She felt sick at being in here again. She had walked through it, ghosted around it, never looking at the ring that he had left behind. Jake's wedding ring was sitting exactly where she'd left it because, if she moved it, it meant he really wasn't coming back. Jake picked it up.

"Can I put it back on?"

"Where'd we get married?" Rose asked.

"Italy. A vineyard. We toured China, Korea, and Japan for our honeymoon."

"What did you hate about the first place we lived?"

"The shower walls were painted red. It looked like a blood bath. If you're going to ask me if I recognize this or if I recognize that, the answer is yes. I know this place. I know you. I know us together. I know everything I forgot that hurt you the first time."

Rose twisted her wedding ring around her finger. There was a reason she had never taken it off but there was a reason she was hesitant now. "Why do you love me?"

Jake sat next to her on the couch. "The easy answer is because you are who you are and that we didn't fight destiny and my grandfather and the Huntsclan for so long to end up breaking up."

"That's the easy answer?"

"Well, the hard answer is the one I don't know how to put into words. Maybe it's the way I can tell you anything or the way that seeing you feels like home or the way I still love you even though you steal all the covers and thank goodness I'm a dragon because I wouldn't be able to keep warm otherwise. The hard part is the stuff I can't put into words. Which, hey, is this a test? Because my wedding vows were 'for every easy thing about you, there is a hard thing, and that is the reason I love you. You challenge me in a way that no one else does and you keep me safe in a way no one ever has. I know my heart is yours as much as I know your heart is mine and I will keep that confidence through the rest of our lives'."

Rose took the wedding ring out of Jake's hand. It shouldn't have been comforting that there was a flash of fear in his expression but she was relieved that he thought she was something worth losing. She picked up Jake's left hand and slid the ring back into position.

"Just know," Rose said, holding his hand to her chest, "if you ever forget me again, if you ever take this ring off again, I reserve the right to kill you."

"I'd deserve it."

Rose felt like she cried about everything these days but the tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Fuck you, Jake, I missed you."

Jake pulled her into his lap, one arm cradling around her back, the other one holding onto Baby.

"I know. I'll never be sorry enough. I'll wait on you and Baby, hand and foot, everything you could ever want, just to make it up to you. I wish you had gotten to tell me you were pregnant in the way that you wanted to and that I could have been here this whole time. You're my Rose. You didn't deserve to be alone."

Rose fully broke down against Jake's chest because he was finally here. Her husband, her child's father, being the person that he had always wanted to be and, deep down, the person that Rose had never doubted he would be.

"I love you," Jake whispered.

In her desperate bouts of anger, Rose thought that she would never be able to say those words to his face again. Now, though, when she tipped her head back and looked at the expression of someone she loved, who loved her, who was everything that she thought he would be, a smile touched her lips. It was the first real smile, outside of her son, that Rose had in a very long time.

"I love you too. More than you know."

"Oh, I know," Jake assured her. "Can I kiss you?"

Rose wanted nothing more and so she leant up first, pressing her lips to his.