Vaggie felt the dead weight of Charlie's hand in her own, and listened to the steady beeping of the heart monitor. She was staring down at her phone's screen, reading the notepad message that she already knew by heart over again. It was a bulleted, organized list of her and Charlie's relationship milestones; the first 'I love you', first kiss, first month of dating, and so on. Vaggie had been updating the note with every new thing that had happened for the last three years they'd been dating. She'd shown it to Charlie early on (just after the third monthiversary), who had immediately started sobbing and calling it the sweetest thing someone had ever done for her. That had been Vaggie's inspiration to keep updating it, for her and Charlie and their relationship.
She didn't know that soon it would become the pivotal piece in a quest to restore things back to how they were; right now it was the only thing keeping her spirits up. There was no new update on Charlie's condition. She'd been badly hurt during the battle, and was now in a medically induced coma from her injuries. Vaggie had been by her bedside through it all, since it all had happened. The rest of the gang had periodically come and gone to visit her, but Vaggie had remained there the whole time. She'd been encouraged to come back home and get some rest, but had refused; she'd wanted to be in the hospital room with Charlie, and be there the moment that she woke up.
She didn't know what would happen when that actually happened, but was ready for anything.
She'd been lost in thought staring out the window when it finally happened, some days later (time had stopped feeling real to her at this point). She felt the subtle twitch of Charlie's fingers, and her eyes darted to her girlfriend's face as she slowly opened her eyes. Vaggie felt her eyes well up as Charlie slowly blinked.
"Hi, babe," Vaggie said quietly. "Welcome back."
Charlie blinked a few more times, her brows furrowing as she tried to focus on Vaggie's face. She opened her mouth, and what she said made Vaggie's heart drop.
"Who are you?"
"Wha- Charlie, it's me, Vaggie," Vaggie said, taken aback. After a moment when Charlie's face didn't clear and she didn't yell 'Gotcha!', Vaggie continued. "Your girlfriend?"
In fact, Charlie just looked more confused at this. "Girlfriend?"
"Babe, we've been dating for three years," Vaggie said, feeling her panic start to rise. "I know you like to make silly jokes, but please don't do it right now."
Charlie pulled her hand out of Vaggie's, her face twisting up like she was about to cry. "Please don't call me babe. And I'm not playing. I don't know you."
"Fuck," Vaggie whispered under her breath, completely unprepared for this. Thinking quickly, she said, "Okay, hang on, let me go get a doctor."
"I think that's a good idea," Charlie replied, pulling the blanket up to her chin as tears filled her eyes. Vaggie got up from her chair and left the room in a hurry, feeling her own tears threatening to fall.
She might not remember you. It sometimes happens when someone is put into a coma.
The doctor's words rang through Vaggie's head as she stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She had definitely not planned for this. What the fuck was she going to do? What would the others say? Would Charlie remember them? Would she remember anything?
"Okay, calm down, you'll figure this out," Vaggie said, taking a deep breath to try to clear her head. But would she?
Something in the bottom left corner of the mirror caught her attention and sparked a sudden new flame of hope in her heart. Vaggie rubbed her face with her hands and turned away from the mirror, pocketing her phone and steeling herself as she prepared to return to Charlie's hospital room.
"I thought you were leaving," Charlie said immediately upon Vaggie's return. She ignored the dagger Charlie's words sent through her heart and took her seat in her chair again, Charlie leaning away as she did.
"Can I show you something before I go?" she asked gently. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest. She hoped this would work, or at least be the kickstart to things working. Charlie looked at her skeptically, before letting out a hesitant single nod of her head.
"Fine, but make it quick."
Vaggie unlocked her phone and brought up her notepad, before leaning over to show it to Charlie.
"I don't know if this will help, but I sure hope so," Vaggie said, as Charlie took Vaggie's phone and started scanning the note. "Like I said, we've been dating for three years. I've kept a list of relationship milestones, from our first kiss, to the first 'I love you', to meeting your dad-"
"How do I know you didn't just write this up in the bathroom just now?" Charlie asked without looking up. More daggers went through Vaggie's heart. Vaggie's mind raced, trying to come up with a way she could prove that she hadn't as Charlie kept scrolling through the note.
"How do you know my birthday?" Charlie asked after a moment, stopping on the bullet point relating to the birthday date night Vaggie had organized during their first year.
"Because we're dating," Vaggie answered slowly. "And girlfriends are supposed to know each other's birthdays."
"Sure you didn't get it from the hospital staff?"
Vaggie sighed, growing slightly exasperated. "One, that's illegal. Two, why would I do that when I already knew it?" She looked at Charlie as she narrowed her eyes before continuing to scroll through the note. "Charlie, why are you fighting this so hard? I know you don't remember me or anything that's happened the last few weeks, but I promise you, I'm not lying. I really have no reason to."
It was Charlie's turn to sigh. She placed Vaggie's phone face down on her leg and said, "It's not that I don't believe you. It's just like you said, I don't remember you or anything, and I'm scared. The doctor really scared me, saying it might be a long time before I remember anything about this, if at all. I don't even know what day it is."
"To be honest, I don't either," Vaggie said with a half smile that made the corners of Charlie's lips twitch. "But if you let me, I want to try to help you remember."
After a moment, Charlie nodded. "I'm gonna trust you to help me remember things. Sorry I was so harsh earlier, I was just scared."
Vaggie smiled, feeling her heart swell with relief. "That's okay, I totally understand-"
Charlie's eyes welled up with tears. "You forgive me? That's amazing!"
Vaggie relaxed more as she leaned in to grab Charlie's hand as she started sobbing her joy. At least some things can't be changed by memory loss.
A/N: My beloved girlfriend dragged me into the fandom, so here's my first contribution! Stay tuned for more!