Lis sat in her car just staring at the house while Brian grabbed her suitcase from the back. "You coming?" he asked, turning around to look ather.
"Yeah." she took a deep breath and got out, grabbing her keys from the dashboard and followed Brian up the steps. She unlocked the door and they stepped inside. The house was silent as she looked around, no sign of anyone.
"They're probably out back." Rok suggested, seeing her look for them.
"Maybe." she said softly. Part of her wanted to turn and run outside, hop in the car and never come back. "I guess I'll go upstairs and unpack." Lis said taking her suitcase from Brian.
"I'll make us some dinner." He said as he headed for the kitchen.
Lis made it to the stairs when the sound of the patio door opening caught her attention and then there he was, standing there. Her eyes took in every inch of him, from the piece of hair that was standing straight up to the way his shirt was half untucked down to the nearly untied sneaker on his right foot. Lis tightened her grip on her suitcase handle, praying that she'd be able to control the tears that threatened to fall.
Nick froze and stared at Lis. She was standing at the bottom of stairs, suitcase in hand. "You're back!" he said with a small smile.
Han appeared behind him, "She's here? Let me in..." she shoved Nick out of her way. "Lis!"
Lis came out of her daze. "Hey Han, I'm just going to get settled."
Nick walked towards her. "I'll take your bag if you want..."
"I've got it, thanks." she forced herself to look away from him and went upstairs, slamming the door to her room.
Han looked at Nick and Brian. "Rok, is she ok?"
"She's as good as she can be." he answered, looking at Nick.
"I'll go see if I can help her with anything." Han said and went upstairs.
Nick walked back into the kitchen and sat down across the counter from where Brian was starting to make dinner. "Whatcha making?" he asked, opening up his drink that was on the counter.
"Burgers." Brian answered and looked up at his friend, for a minute he saw the old Nick sitting there but then it passed just as quickly as it came.
Nick nodded and sat there uneasily for a few minutes. "So really how is she?"
"She'd be a lot better if you would stop pushing her away Frack." Brian said honestly.
Nick sighed and started peeling the label off the bottle. "Rok...it's best this way, just trust me ok?"
Brian shook his head. "You might not care, but trust me the other Nick, the one who's still in there somewhere is going to care when he comes back and finds out the girl he loved more than anything is gone."
Nick glared at Rok. "He isn't in here Rok, he's gone. Don't you think I want my memory to come back? Don't you think I want to know me and her? Don't you think it kills me to see everything we had together and I don't remember one single second of it? I'd give everything I have to remember one minute with her! Damnit!" He jumped off the stool and walked out onto the deck.
Brian stared after his friend for a minute, then walked out after him. "I'm sorry man...it's just that I remember everything you two had and I know how much pain she's in...and I also remember I promised you that day I'd look after her."
Nick leaned on the railing, his head resting in his hands. "What day?"
Brian stared out in the yard. "Just a day awhile back."
Han watched as Lis set her now empty suitcase in her closet. "Lis talk to me!"
"What?" Lis said, sitting down on the chair in the corner.
Han looked at her hands. "Are you and Nick over?"
Lis felt her heart stop. She studied her sister for a minute before answering. "Yeah Han, I think we are."
"But you two...you still love him...he still cares about you..." Han said softly.
"Han, he might care about me but trust me there isn't the love there. If there is it's more of a brother-sister love." she answered, trying to keep her eyes away from the bed, the bed where he had made love to her only one week prior.
"But Lis, you can't give up...."
"I can't force him Han...you think I want to give up on him?" she said putting her head in her hands and starting to cry. "You think this isn't killing me inside? We barely had any time together and now he's gone and I'll never get him back."
Han went over and knelt in front of her sister. "How do you know you'll never get him back?"
"Because he's all ready starting to move on..." Lis glanced up at her sister.
Han bit her lip. "He's a flirt, he's always been a flirt Lis, you know that."
"Look Han, can you just...just let me lay down for awhile? Tell Bri I'll be down for dinner later on ok?"
Han stood up, feeling sorry for her sister. She'd never seen her so out of sorts before and it was worrying her. "You sure?"
"I'm fine Han, I'm not losing my mind." Just the love of my life, she thought sadly.
"Ok, I'll get Rok to call you for dinner." Han said as she closed the door to her sister's room.
Nick turned around. "I'm going to lay down Rok, call me when dinner's done ok?"
"Sure man." Brian said and waited till his friend left before heading back inside. Two of his best friends were absolutely miserable and there was really nothing he could do to help, just pray that Nick regained his memory soon.
~~A few hours later~~
Nick tossed and turned in his bed, his restless sleep broken by dreams...dreams that were making no sense to him. He sat up and looked around the room, 'calm down Nick, they were just dreams.' but he knew they were probably more than that. What he had seen were probably memories, bits and pieces of his life that were coming back in no particular order. He rested his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands, trying to sort things out.
A knock on his door disrupted his thoughts. "Yeah?" he called.
The door opened and Han walked in. "Just me...you ok?"
"Fine, perfect, never better." He answered, falling back on the bed.
Han shut the door. "Cut the crap Nick, I could you hear mumbling in my room. Whats going on?"
"Just stuff, nothing I want to get into."
"No one does." she muttered sitting down on his bed.
"So what are you doing here?"
"I came to tell you dinner's ready. It's been ready for about half an hour but you didn't hear me knocking on the door."
"Well let's go eat." he said, getting out of bed.
Han grabbed his arm. "Not yet. We need to talk."
He rolled his eyes and pulled her hand away from his arm. "Why Han? Look..."
"Nick...what's going on? Tell me the truth ok? Please!"
He shook his head. "Han, I've got to deal with things on my own right now ok?" He grabbed his shirt and slipped it over his head. "Now I'm going to eat, you coming?"
"Yeah, sure." she said and followed him out the door.
