Abeyance

Valerie kept coughing in her sleep, which worried me. I crawled next to her and felt her head again.
Hot. Still burning up, sadly.
I sighed and laid close to her.
"You'll be okay, Val... Don't you worry..." I whispered, and somehow, before I knew it, I fell asleep.
I don't know how long I was asleep before Valerie woke me up.
"Dad-" she coughed. "Daddy? I don't feel good."
I frowned and held her in my arms.
"I know, Val. You'll be okay, I promise. Right now, just... Try and go back to sleep, we'll get you something in-"
There was a crash.
Lights.
I panicked and stood up, Valerie slung over my shoulder.
"My head hurts..." Valerie said quietly and wiped her nose on my shirt. Gross, but I let it go.
"I know, Val. I know." I said quickly, picking up my gun.
Jenna came out of her tent.
"What's going on?"
I ignored her and started running. "Lights? Lightsy?"
I heard gun shots.
"Fuck! Jenna, take Valerie!"
I slid her out of my arms and ran to the back of the store.
"Lights," I shouted. "Lights, where are you!?"
The gun shots stopped.
Oh no...
I continued running.
But I heard laughter... Lights laughing... And a familiar voice...
I pushed open a door, revealing Lights and Vic.
"Vic!?"
"Oh hey, Quinn."
I couldn't believe it... Vic was back!
"Where's Jaime?"
Vic sighed and looked down. "No longer with us..."
I frowned. "I'm sorry."
Vic quickly changed the subject. "I found some other survivors, Kellin. I was just telling Lights."
"Yeah, after you almost killed me!" She yelled.
"You almost killed me!" He argued, but smiled.
I can tell Vic was sober and over the dispute between he, Lights and I. But Lights wasn't.
"We have one, too." I said. Lights looked down. "A girl. Jenna."
Vic nodded. "I found three. Two guys, one girl. Teenager."
"Is it still raining?" I asked.
"Not too bad."
I nodded. "We need to go, then. Valerie isn't doing good."
"Who's Valerie?"
Oh yeah, he doesn't know we found a kid...
"A little girl we found."
"Toddler little?"
I nodded.
"I'll go get her," Lights said quickly and walked away. She didn't make eye contact with me.
I sighed. Vic put his hand on my shoulder.
"Something wrong?"
"Lights..."
"What about her?"
I was going to explain, but took to keeping that information to myself.
Given about 20 minutes to pack up our stuff, we were out and on our way. We met Vic and his crew, and we all introduced ourselves. Like Vic said, he picked up 3 people. The teenager's name was Cassadee Pope. She was a 19 year old girl. A nice, pretty girl. Her attitude reminded me of Tay. She was optimistic. I realized I thought less and less about Tay every day. I didn't want to. But I guess that's just how getting over lost ones is. Or dead... Anyway.. One of the guys was named Matty Mullins. He was about my height and 24 with red/orange hair. He was pretty cool. The other man was a little older. 31. His name was Beau Bokan. He worked for the NYPD, and had select information. And luckily knew what day it was... I noticed, as we walked, that he was staring at my Lights. Like he left something important behind with her.
"Okay, so-"
"Valerie, why aren't you-"
Valerie looked up at Beau, who was looking at Lights as she talked. She looked confused.
"Are you talking to me?" Lights asked. Beau nodded slowly and walked toward her. He took her hands in his.
"It's me, Beau! Why aren't you saying anything to me, Val?"
Lights shifted uncomfortably and pulled her hands away.
"Because I have no idea who you are."
Beau looked heartbroken.
"Valerie... Valerie, what do you mean?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why don't you remember me? Us? I'm your boyfriend!"
He sounded so upset.
But when it all registered, I frowned. Beau was Lights', well, Valerie's, boyfriend. But she doesn't even remember... It seemed Lights made that same connection.
"Oh... Oh Beau..." She frowned, too. "I don't remember anything since the attack. Not even my own name. Valerie, you said," That was why it was familiar to her when we found Valerie... "I'm sorry... I-"
Beau wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, and my stomach dropped. He was kissing Lights. My Lights...
She didn't kiss back, though. She pushed him away and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Beau. But I can't do this. I have no idea who you are. And I don't feel comfortable being with someone I don't know," she held out her hand. "Lets keep it business. Okay?"
Beau stared at her blankly. But he shook her hand.
"O-Okay." He nodded.
Lights cocked her gun. "And call me Lights. The only Valerie I know is the baby."