Things Aren't Always What They Seem

Jon sat next to the bed, his knees pressed into the side of it, and found it difficult to look Charlotte in the eyes. She wasn't very mobile yet and she wasn't talking all the much-- but then again she probably had no idea what to say. Pat sat on the other side of the bed and immediately grabbed Charlotte's hand, holding it in his. When Jon saw Pat's actions he shook his head and let out a breath of frustrated air.

"How are you feeling?" Pat finally asked. Jon looked up at Charlotte and waited to see her response.

"I-I'm not really sure," she said clearly nervous and uncomfortable around the two people she used to be more herself around than anyone. "My head is...it's hurting that's for sure." She looked at Pat and then turned to meet eyes with Jon.

She let out a nervous laugh and looked down awkwardly at her hand. "I guess...I'm engaged to one of you," she pursed her lips and never took her eyes off the huge rock perched on her finger. She didn't know who to look at and she felt terrible that she couldn't remember.

Jon tightened his jaw and looked away as Pat reached down and took her hand in his again. "That'd be me. I guess I should refresh your memory. I'm Patrick and I'm your fiance."

Charlotte nodded slowly and looked over at Jon. "And you? What's our story?"

Jon pushed the frustration out of his mind and finally looked at Charlotte, really looked at her. When his eyes met hers he felt the animosity melt away and he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead with a smile. He was just so damn happy she was awake. "You and I," he pulled his lips off her and stroked her head. "We've known each other a long time-- eight years. You've been my best friend for eight years."

"And I'm guessing you're mine too?" she gave the slightest of grins as she tried to put the pieces together.

"I sure hope so," he answered with a smile. He could tell she was in there and eventually--hopefully--she'd figure it out too.

"We've been together about two years," Pat interrupted and lifted her hand up to his lips. "We got engaged a few months ago."

"This is all," she put her hand to her head and gently pressed her fingers to her forehead. "This is very overwhelming. I wish I remembered more. I know you two must be important to me-- very important if you're both sitting here with me. And I know it has to hurt that I don't know who you are. Nothing about this is fun," she said as her voice cracked and tears started to flow down her face.

"Hey, hey," Jon said sympathetically as he jumped up and pressed his lips to her forehead again. "Don't say that," he moved back and pet her head softly. His eyes quickly caught the glance of Kaner and it was then he noticed the death glare Kane was throwing his way. Jon looked at him and held his ground before he moved back and locked eyes with Charlotte. "I know this isn't easy for you, but I'm here for you, we both are. Every step of the way we're going to treat you as normally as we can."

"Yeah," Pat chimed in as he gently ran his fingers up and down her arm before intertwining his fingers with her own. "Don't be afraid of us. We're on your team."

"Speaking of which," Jon sat down and grabbed her other hand. "We play hockey. That might be a good starting point. Pat and I," Jon took a breath and let out a deep sigh. "We both play for the Blackhawks and that's how you two met-- through me."

"I see," Charlotte gave a little nod and looked back and forth between the two of them. "Did they give you any idea on when I can go home?" Both could see she was optimistic and itching to get out of the hospital but when her eyes fell so did her outlook. "Not like I would know what to do when I get out of here anyway."

"I already called your job," Jon answered. "I explained the situation to them and took care of it. You don't need to worry about that yet."

"I have a job then?" Charlotte asked interested in what the answer would be.

Charlotte indeed had a job, the thing was her life revolved so much around Jon and Patrick that they sometimes took for granted the fact that she had a job too-- and a life, even if it wasn't much of one away from them. "Yeah," Jon nodded and felt guilt hit him that he hadn't taken much more interest in it before. He had just gotten so used to her making sacrifices for him--and Pat too-- that he simply didn't realize. "You're a head hunter. A damn good one too. You got the job right after you graduated college. The good thing about it is that it never really gets in the way of us playing and you're always there..." Jon trailed off and looked up at Patrick who he could see felt the same way. They were so wrapped up in their lives and with being hockey superstars that her job simply didn't register with them most of the time.

"Well that's nice to hear," she said with a tentative smile. "At least I've accomplished some things in life I suppose." She turned her attention to Patrick. "And me and you...when are we getting married?"

Pat looked down quickly and forced himself to make eye contact with her again. "We haven't picked a date yet."

"We haven't?"

"We've thrown some ideas around and talked about certain months but we haven't picked an official date yet, no."

"Oh." She nodded and looked back down at her ring. "Okay." She was visibly uncomfortable and it showed by how she was fidgeting with her hands.

"Charlotte do you need anything? Can we do anything, get you something? What do you need? Tell us and we'll do it," Jon offered frantically trying to be of some type of help to her, hoping it'd prompt her mind to remember.

"I don't know," she said as she slowly shook her head. "I just want to go home-- wherever that is. I just don't want to be here. You guys can't be here every second of every day and it sucks being alone in a hospital not knowing a thing about who you are or what your life is. If I'm going to go insane trying to figure everything out, I'd at least like to do it at home."

Jon nodded his head. He understood where she was coming from but it was killing him internally to look at the girl he'd known for so long and see her looking back at him with no idea who he was. "We, uh, we'll talk to the nurse and see what we can do."

Pat got up, leaned over, and lightly gave Charlotte a kiss on her lips. "I love you," he sighed out as he pulled away so the tips of their noses were touching and looked her in the eyes searching for any glimmer of hope. Charlotte looked at him and forced a small smile. Jon looked at her face and could tell she had no idea what to say and she would never say anything rude-- it just wasn't her nature.

Jon smirked as Pat realized she wasn't going to say it back. He could see the wave of disappointment flash over Pat's face and he swallowed hard as he brushed his fingers down her cheek. "It's okay Charlotte. I don't expect you to say it back yet. You probably feel like a stranger is kissing you and saying he loves you and I realize it's a lot to take in."

"Did the nurse and the doctors fill you in on what happened?" Jon cut him off. "With the accident and all and how you wound up in here."

Charlotte nodded, "Yeah a little. They said I was trailed by a drunk driver and he hit me. I think I hit black ice and someone in oncoming traffic hit me too and it just became a huge mess. I guess I should be lucky to be alive and I don't mean to be unappreciative, I just wish I knew who I was."

"I know." It was hurting Jon to see her so broken. He vowed to himself that whenever she was sent home, he'd be there every second he could and he didn't care if Pat had a problem with it or not.

***

It took a few days but the hospital finally gave the go ahead for Charlotte to go home. Jon figured that both he and Patrick would be escorting her back to her apartment and for the most part they were able to put aside their battle in front of her, but it still irritated him to have to play nice when he really wanted to rip his arm off and throw it across the room. He was surprised, however, when Patrick told him that he could take Charlotte home and he'd stop by later on in the night.

"Gotta get your fix with Rose, huh?" Jon asked bitterly.

"No you fucking asshole," Pat shook his head and started to lose his cool. "Don't worry about it."

"Whatever," Jon said under his breath as he rolled his eyes. "Peace."

Jon helped her get in the car and drove slow as he took her home. He didn't say a word and neither did she-- she was too busy trying to remember what she should have known, and he didn't want to make it harder on her. He knew when she was ready, she'd talk.

"Home sweet home," Jon sang as he opened Charlotte's door and quickly turned the lights on. She looked around and saw it was just the way she left it-- though she didn't know how that was supposed to be anyway.

"Nice place," she walked in slowly and looked around. Both she and Jon were secretly praying that something in her mind would click when she got home-- when she walked in the door and walked back into her own life, but as she continued walking further into her apartment nothing changed. She turned around with tears in her eyes and looked at Jon. "Nothing," she whimpered out and shook her head.

"It's okay," he said softly though he was disappointed.

Charlotte walked slowly to him and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest. He closed his arms protectively around her and felt the wetness from her tears soak through his shirt. He pet the back of her head, running his fingers through her hair and kissed the top of it. "It's okay," he said again. "Come here." Jon pulled away from her and took ahold of her hand as he led her into the kitchen. "I called ahead and picked up some food before. I picked it up and brought it here because, well, we used to eat leftovers and watch movies here all the time. So I thought maybe that would help, plus, it's normal and it's routine, and the nurse said to be as normal as possible."

Charlotte looked up at him and genuinely smiled, tears still glistening in her eyes. "I love that plan," she said softly as she watched him go in her fridge.

"I won't lie-- I cheated a bit." He turned around with the plastic containers and held them up on display with a smile. "Normally we're picking at Chinese or pizza but I got something a little better. This is cause for celebration," he said as he put the containers on her table and opened them. "I got filet and veggies from the first restaurant we ever ate at when you moved to Chicago."

Charlotte couldn't stop smiling as she watched him put their food on plates and pop them in the microwave. "That looks delicious. It sounds like a good dinner," she said more relaxed. It was the most 'herself' she'd been since she woke up.

Jon did a double take as he looked back at her from facing the microwave. "There it is," he said beaming. "There's that smile I know and love."

Charlotte blushed and helped Jon take the plate from the microwave and took a seat at the table. As Jon was waiting for his dish he grabbed a little white box that was perched on the counter and held it up. "This is for dessert."

"What is it?" she asked excited as her eyes lit up.

"You like a bakery down town," Jon started to explain as he opened the box to show her. "You love chocolate and these brownies here have little chocolate chunks with a delicious chocolate frosting. It's one of their specialities and let's just say we've eaten a lot of these together."

Jon grabbed his plate and took his seat across the table. He knew she had just gotten home from the hospital and she'd been through a horrible ordeal, but he couldn't wipe the smile off his face because even after all that he still thought she was just so, so beautiful. Almost losing her made him realize how stupid he'd been all those years and he wasn't about to do it again.

"What are you so happy about?" Charlotte teased as she took a bite of her steak.

"I'm just happy you're home. I know it's been hard for you but it's been just as hard for me to see you go through all this."

"Where is Patrick?" Charlotte asked genuinely wanting an answer.

"I don't know the answer to that question," Jon shook his head. "I wish I did. He just said he'd be by later."

"Oh," Charlotte said quietly as she tucked her hair behind her ear. She swallowed and took a moment before looking back at Jon. "How did he and I start up again?"

Jon pursed his lips and took a deep breath. "You two met because we play together. You knew each other very casually for a while and then he asked you out. There isn't really much more to it than that." Jon kind of lied. There was a lot to say, but that was the most basic version.

"So I guess he's pretty special then, huh?"

Jon swallowed. "I guess so. You seem to think so, anyway."

"I must," she said as she held her hand out and admired her ring. "I said yes, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Jon nodded and looked down at his almost finished plate. "You did." Seeing that she was done eating he grabbed her dish and took both of theirs into the kitchen to load into the dishwasher.

"I would have done that," Charlotte called from the living room.

"Don't worry about it," he yelled back. "You just get reacquainted with the place."

She got up and walked around taking in the little things about her apartment that made it unique-- made it hers. She looked at the pictures she had proudly on display-- most of her and the man in her kitchen. She saw a few of her and Patrick and got frustrated that she couldn't remember when they were taken or the history behind them.

"Here we go," she heard Jon come back in the room and she turned around to see him with the box of brownies. "I know you'll love this," he said with a smile.

Charlotte looked at him and felt her lips curl up into a grin. She walked back over to Jon as he held the box out to her to take one. She put it to her mouth and as she bit down let out a little moan. "Wow," she said before she swallowed. "This is delicious. You were right about that!"

"I knew I would be," he laughed as he looked down at her.

She was standing so close to him-- like she had plenty of times before-- but somehow it felt different. It felt serious when he felt her lightly rest her fingertips on his waist and Jon felt his breath hitch in his throat. "You, uh, you have a little crumb," he lifted his finger to the side of his mouth and touched himself on his face where the brownie crumb was on hers. "Here."

"Where?" she asked as she put her fingers to her mouth trying to wipe it away. "Did I get it?"

Jon's heart was racing so fast he almost felt numb. "No," he breathed out with a raspy voice. "Here," he lifted his hand and laced his four fingers under her chin as he delicately wiped her lip with his thumb. He looked down into her eyes and tried to figure out what she was thinking. He leaned his head down ever so slightly, bringing his face closer to hers when he heard a loud knock at her door.

Both of them jumped apart and awkwardly tried to brush off what just happened. "I'll get it," Charlotte said flustered as she raced to the door. Her cheeks were flushed and her breathing was slightly labored. Jon turned around away from her and tried to compose himself. That was not what he was expecting. She'd been home a day and he'd already breached the 'normal' rule. He didn't want to do anything that would have her asking more questions and he mentally kicked himself for taking it so far when he knew she needed to heal-- though, he wasn't sure just how far he'd really taken it.

When Charlotte opened the door she saw Pat on the other side with a huge display of roses. "Hey beautiful," he cooed as his eyes lit up and he pulled her into him for a tight hug. He pulled away from her and quickly leaned down and pressed his lips to her, giving her a harder kiss than she was expecting. "Hey," she said with a smile as she looked back at him.

"I'm so happy to see you up and about. You look great," he said admiring her as he took a step in the door. "Are you ready?" Pat asked her with heightened optimism.

"For what?" She cocked her head and wrinkled her brow as she look to him for an answer.

"For us to spend the night together," he said as he took both her hands in his and looked at her with gleaming eyes. "I'm scooping you up and taking you back to my place tonight."