A Million Miles Away

Poke.

Cristiano stirs, but his eyes remain closed. Amelia stays still beside him, her face buried against his chest. His grip slightly tightens, turning away from the disturbance.

Erica sighs as Sergio holds back his laughter. Melody is downstairs with Katia and Elma, while Erica and Sergio were assigned to wake up the former couple.

“Why can’t we just jump on them?” Sergio questions in a hush tone.

“Look, I understand you want to jump at the chance of getting in bed with Chrissy, but Amelia is currently in his arms. You’ll squeeze her and I rather you don’t do that.” Erica refrains herself from smacking Sergio.

“You know they’re both heavy sleepers.” Sergio didn’t see the point of quietly waking them up. That’ll never work. The two are hardcore sleepers. A natural disaster could occur and they would still be sound asleep, as if things like that are natural occurrences as they sleep.

“Yes well we both know Cristiano gets cranky when you wake him up.”

“I’ll deal with the consequences.” Sergio takes a pillow and smacks Cristiano. He groans but yet again his eyes remain closed. Sergio continues hitting him until Cristiano finally grabs the pillow and sits up, Amelia rolling away from the two to get away from imminent danger.

“You are such an asshole,” Cristiano harshly throws the pillow at Sergio.

“An asshole? Cristiano, I’m waking you up for dinner, I think I deserve a thank you.” Sergio scoffs.

“Yes well my foot will soon be thanking your ass.” Cristiano moves to stand up, but is held back by Amelia.

“Now, now, Sergio shouldn’t be harmed because of his specialness.” Amelia wraps her arms around Cristiano from behind. Since she’s kneeling, she’s able to place her chin on top of Cristiano’s head. “Apologize.”

“For what?” Sergio questions.

Erica smacks him, motioning for him to apologize.

“Unbelievable,” Sergio rolls his eyes. “I’m sorry for rudely waking you up Cristiano.”

“Thank you,” Cristiano smirks, seeing the double team in action is something he definitely missed, as long as he wasn’t the recipient of their schemes.

“Ugh, I hate it when you two do that. You can’t always use that. One day, you’re not going to be on the same side.” Sergio whines making the two women laugh.

“Never going to happen,” Erica offers her hand to Amelia.

Amelia gives Cristiano a quick squeeze before taking Erica’s hand and making their way out of the room. The two men watch as they walk away, leaving them alone.

“The girls are such pains,” Sergio comments making Cristiano laugh.

“Only to you,” Cristiano gets off the bed, stretching a bit.

“Cozy position we find you in,” Sergio wiggles his eyebrows.

“Shut up.” Cristiano grins. “Never know what you have till you no longer have it.”

“She’s still here man, she’s not walking away.”

“Yeah,” Cristiano nods his head. “Alexander spoke to her.”

“That asshole? How?”

“Vince didn’t pick her up, sure Alexander had something to do with that. She was waiting for Iker when Alexander came and started talking to her. Thankfully he didn’t sink his claws in cause Iker came.”

“Yeah, thank God I came,” Iker walks in the room, joining the two men. “Tia Grace is downstairs, she’s looking for you.”

“Me?” Cristiano hasn’t seen Amelia’s mother ever since the accident. Unlike her idiotic son, she never placed any of the blame on Cristiano. She emails him once in a while, but they haven’t been able to see one another for quite some time. In some ways, Cristiano was avoiding her. If he saw her, they would end up talking about Vince. She never knew about Vince’s actions and Cristiano didn’t want to be the one to tell her. As far as he knows, Grace believes that Cristiano stayed away because he was guilty. He’s not going to ruin Vince in his mother’s eyes.

“Yes well you know the son-in-law she hasn’t seen in years,” Iker teases. “By the way,” he turns to Sergio. “Just pour cold water over Cristiano, that’s what I do.”

“Oh! I didn’t think of that.” Sergio smirks.

Cristiano rolls his eyes. “You two are pests in my life.”

“You don’t mean that,” Iker places an arm around Cristiano. “Besides, I’m going to be your cousin-in-law, you’re stuck with me.”

Cristiano groans. “Yeah well, I gotta have her back first.”

“You never lost her.” Iker pats his back. “Now go, she’s waiting for you.”

Cristiano walks out of Amelia’s room followed by his Real Madrid teammates. Walking down the stairs he feels slightly nervous. She’s not going to bite his head off, but he just hoped she won’t ask what’s been going on all these years. He finds her in the living room with his mother, chatting away. She’s facing him and her eyes light up once it falls on him.

“Cristiano!” She enthusiastically exclaims. Standing up, she immediately gives him a hug. “Pictures do you no justice, you’ve grown up. I have missed you.”

“I missed you too, Tia.” He wraps his arms around her. “How are you?” Grace and Amelia share the same eyes shape along with eye color. Their smiles were identical along with their facial structure.

“I am well, how have you been?” She pulls away and he sees this expression grace her face, it’s the same expression that he saw after Amelia woke up. Worry. Pity, that’s an expression he’s never seen from Tia Grace. Though worry can be mistaken as pity, she never pitied him. She had no reason to. But she did worry about him, for his well-being, especially after learning of Amelia’s condition.

“Good, better now.” Grace understood his answer. He’s not exactly better seeing her, but with the way things are going with Amelia.

“I’m glad you’re speaking to Amelia again,” Grace smiles. “She has missed you.”

“Did she talk to you about me?”

Grace shakes her head. “I don’t need my daughter to tell me these things.” She laughs looking over at Dolores. “Mothers just know, right Dolores?”

“Definitely,” Dolores stands up, moving beside Grace. “That’s why you shouldn’t even try lying to me, I know how you are.” She playfully glares at him.

Cristiano laughs. “This is great, not only do I have to worry about Erica and Amelia double teaming me, I have to worry about you two as well.”

“Family,” Grace shrugs. The three laugh together, missing these moments they used to share.

“Excuse me,” Cristiano turns around finding Vince at the foyer. “Can I talk to Cristiano?”

“Certainly,” Grace gives Cristiano a slight push. “Don’t be too long, dinner is almost ready.”

Cristiano passes by Sergio and Iker as he follows Vince outside. The two footballers weren’t sure if they should follow the two, but they figure that they need their privacy. He closes the door behind him finding Vince leaning against Jay’s car. He’s thankful that the house is gated so he’s certain that no paparazzi would be able to see this.

“Amelia hated seeing you upset,” he comments, surprising Cristiano.

“Amelia hated it when you’re being a douche,” Cristiano retorts. “Look where we are now.”

Vince stays silent for a moment. The man before him was once his best friend. He knows he was the one at fault, pushing Cristiano away. Before the accident, he had apologized to Cristiano about doing what he did all those years ago, walking away from his family and friends. For a moment, the future of their friendship looked bright. Then the accident happened and everything changed once again.

“You know I was angry at you,” Vince says making Cristiano laugh.

“Really? Always thought you were just having a bad day when you would threaten me or constantly remind me that I killed your sister.”

“But you did.”

“I never argued with that.”

“Why’d you let me do it, Cristiano?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why’d you let me push you out of the picture?”

Cristiano chuckles bitterly. He did let Vince push him out. Vince confronted him about the accident after Amelia woke up with amnesia. He let his old friend cuss him out, say the most hurtful things to him, and all he did was stand there and take it all in. When Vince told him to stay away from Amelia all he said was a simple okay and walked away.

“Because at that point and time I blamed myself for what happened to your sister. That what you were saying and doing was justified. It was my punishment for being careless, for putting her in harm’s way.” Cristiano takes a deep breath. “For a moment I believed that I was at fault and I ruined your sister’s life. I thought that it was best for me to walk away.”

“Then what happened?” Vince questions.

“You brought Daniel back and I saw the error of your ways.” He smirks. “Your sister was my life, I love her with every fiber of my being and I let her go because I thought I was at fault. But then I had the sudden urge to make it up to her.” Cristiano moves closer to Vince, stopping a few feet away from him. “To make her see who she once was, to help her in any way I can. But I couldn’t. You want to know why?”

“Why?”

“Because I respected your request. I didn’t see it before but I realized the reason you wanted me gone was to rebuild your relationship with your sister.” Cristiano bitterly smiles. “Amelia loves you, even though you left and you were being a douche, your sister always had you on a pedestal. I think she loves you a bit more than Jay, but we don’t have to let anyone know that.” They share a laugh. “You were my best friend man, it was us against the world then things just changed.”

“I’m sorry for what happened to your sister.” Cristiano grimaces. “If I can switch with her, I would.”

“She’s my only sister,” Vince began, letting out a deep breathe. “When I got the call, my heart dropped because it was like a vicious cycle. Another person who was important to me, my only sister, got into a car accident and no one could tell me if she would make it or not.” The tears wells up in his eyes, remembering the moment he arrived in the hospital, sitting in that waiting room for any possible news on his sister. “I blamed the person who was with her and it was you. For me, you were at fault. If you didn’t drive carelessly Amelia wouldn’t be where she is now.”

His words stings Cristiano.

“When we found out she lost her memory, I decided that it was my second chance with her. My second chance to be the brother I failed to be all those years ago.” Vince explains. “You were in the way, Cristiano. If I let you be in her life, you would swoop in and she wouldn’t need me there. It was always like that, she always needed you more than she needed us. I couldn’t let that happened so I placed the blame on you.” It was fucked up, Vince knows that, but this was one of his selfish thoughts. Cristiano was an obstacle for him, so he got rid of him. “I put it in your head that it was your fault for what happened to my sister. That you, the person she loves more than anyone in this world, is the reason why she’s not who she was. It was fucked up, I know, but I wanted to be her brother without you there.”

Vince feels a weight taken off his shoulders as he finally let out his true feelings, what he did to sabotage Cristiano’s relationship with Amelia. He didn’t technically blame Cristiano for what happened. It was an accident, he understands that, but he felt Cristiano was partly at fault. He knows Cristiano would keep Amelia to himself, to make up for what he did to her. It’s not like Cristiano would push everyone away from her, but Vince wouldn’t get the quality time he would want with his sister and he couldn’t have that.

It’s selfish, he knows that, but all he could think about was his relationship with Amelia.

Cristiano couldn’t contain his anger. All these years he punished himself for what he did to her, for what he thought he did to her. An idea her own brother planted in his mind just to assure his relationship with Amelia is saved, while her relationship with him would just be a part of her lost memory. He couldn’t accept that. This was the lowest thing Vince could have ever done to him. There could have been some compromised. Cristiano wouldn’t step on any boundaries. He respects the fact that Vince is her older brother, he wouldn’t try to sabotage anything between them.

He walks up to Vince and punches him in the face, causing Vince to fall down on the floor. Placing his knee on either side of Vince’s body he continues his assault; landing punch after punch on Vince’ face. He’s a man enraged by the confession of the man below him, writhing in pain. Vince didn’t even try defending himself.

He knows he deserves this.

Cristiano lifts his arm for one last punch, but he’s held back. He looks behind him and finds Jay, shaking his head. Cristiano gets off Vince, walking away to try and cool down. Jay pulls his brother up, landing a punch on him as well, Vince falls to the ground once more.

“You’re a horrible for what you did,” Jay spits out, obviously hearing the conversation between the two friends.

Vince spits on the ground, blood dripping down the corner of his mouth. “I know.”

“No, you obviously don’t,” Jay narrows his eyes at his younger brother. “You ruined her relationship with Cristiano just so you can redeem yourself?”

“You wouldn’t do the same?” Vince retorts.

“No, hell no,” Jay replies. “Do you have any idea how much he means to her? Who am I to erase someone from her life?”

“You never argued with me before,” Vince points out, spitting on the floor, wiping the left over blood on his lips. “I never heard you voice out an opinion about cutting Cristiano off.”

“I did jerkoff, you just weren’t paying attention.” Jay rolls his eyes. “I never cut Cristiano off, I talk to her about Cristiano, I just don’t tell her the heavy details because that isn’t my place.” He looks over at Cristiano. “I applaud you for respecting Vince’s opinion, though you should never listen to his nonsense, but you did it out of respect.”

Cristiano walks over to them, keeping his distance from Vince. “I don’t give a shit what you say, I’m going to take her back.”

“You’re not going to hear anything from me,” Vince spits out the remaining blood in his mouth. “I’m sorry for what I did, Cristiano, you didn’t deserve that.”

“No, I didn’t,” Cristiano sighs. “I wouldn’t have taken her away, I would have let you rebuild your relationship with her. She’s your sister, that’s your family, I would never get in between that.”

“You would get in between that,” Jay chuckles. “You protect her better than we ever did.”

Cristiano smiles, knowing what Jay is saying is true. He was always more protective than Vince and Jay. He was the one freaking out when Taecyeon and Amelia first started dating, everyone told him that seeing his reactions while the two were dating was priceless, but he’s pretty sure he wasn’t that bad.

“Look man, I’m not good at these types of things, but I would like for us to start over.” Vince did miss Cristiano. He was his best friend for so long, he couldn’t just let the friendship go. The friendship fell apart with his own doing, he couldn’t walk away from Cristiano again. This man is most likely going to be his future brother-in-law. Getting along early is always the key.

Cristiano ponders for a moment, placing his hands on his hips, observing Vince. He knows the guy is sincere. Why wouldn’t he be? But Cristiano is reluctant. This guy single handedly destroyed his relationship with Amelia. But then again he let him, he let Vince fool him. Maybe for a second he turned away, he fell for it, because he was trying to do Vince a favor. But he still can’t forget what he did.

But he can forgive him.

“Sure man, we can start over,” Cristiano sticks his hand out. “Cristiano.”

“Vince,” Vince shakes his hand, earning a smile from Cristiano for the first time in years.

Jay wraps his arms around the two. “Now that you two ladies are good, let’s get Vince cleaned up or our moms will ask questions you two will not want to answer.”



Amelia sits outside at the patio, looking over the garden that her mother built. Not technically build, but she planted all the flowers and plants, regularly taking care of them whenever she’s in town. Cristiano walks out to the patio with some dessert, he places the two cups containing ice cream on the table. Amelia turns towards him, watching as a smile spreads across his face. She immediately returns it.

“Giving me ice cream again, I’m not upset.” She teases him.

“I know, but you never say no to ice cream anyway.”

“Right you are,” Amelia wants to tell him. Maybe things would be easier for them. She feels that Cristiano is holding back on her. If she tells him that she remembers that he’s her fiancé, things will be much easier. He wouldn’t feel as restraint as he is now. She can tell he’s being careful with what he says around her. Instead, she takes the ice cream and starts to eat it. Cristiano does the same.

“Vince and I talked it out,” Cristiano tells her.

“You mean hit it out?” Amelia didn’t see the fight, but it’s obvious that Cristiano gave Vince a nice busted lip.

“He deserved it,” Cristiano crosses his arms over his chest making Amelia laugh.

“I’m not sure if I agree with you, but after everything my brother has done to you, I’m sure a punch on the face is not so bad.” She smiles. “What did we use to do together?”

Cristiano’s mind begins to shout out numerous of answers, some inappropriate, but some are definitely things he could tell her.

“Movies, you love watching movies,” Cristiano smiles fondly at the memories of Amelia excitedly running to the movie theater to catch a movie she’s been waiting for. She’s a movie fanatic, some movies he would prefer not seeing, but Amelia loves them, especially horror films. She can’t take the film whatsoever, ends up scaring her, but she still watches it. If anything, he benefits from it because she sticks to him like glue. “Horror films are your favorite.”

“Horror? Really?”

“Believe me, I’m not sure why you like it when it always scares the crap out of you.”

Amelia and Cristiano laugh. “Why do you watch it? Do you like horror films?”

“No,” Cristiano shakes his head. “But you like to and you don’t watch it unless I watch it with you, so it’s a lose-lose situation really.”

“I must have bullied you quite often.” She says in a teasing tone.

Cristiano laughs. “You have no idea.”

Vince and Jay watch the two from the window in the kitchen, smiling at the laughter they hear coming out from their sister. They envy Cristiano. Their sister is the apple of their eyes, they would do anything for her, the world is hers if she wants it. But ever since Cristiano walked into her life, her brother’s slowly began to be placed on the back burner. At first they were bitter, who wouldn’t be? But Amelia still adored them, they weren’t hurt, at least Jay wasn’t. Vince dealt with his issues and it was buried now.

“This is them,” Jay comments, looking over at his younger brother.

“I know,” Vince chuckles. “It’s like nothing ever changed.”

“You see your mistake now?”

“No, but I’ve seen my mistake long ago, I don’t need some proof of it.”

“Maybe you should let Cristiano take over from here.” Jay suggests.

Vince looks over at his older brother, turning away from the window, leaning against the sink. Letting Cristiano take over was never part of Vince’s plan to redeem himself. He could incorporate Cristiano in there somehow, but he didn’t plan on giving everything back to Cristiano. But at this moment, as much as he hates to admit it, Amelia needs Cristiano more than she needs him.

“You sure that’s a good idea?”

“No, I don’t, but we have nothing to lose.” Jay sighs. “She hasn’t improved, Vince. We have to be patient, I understand that, but she might not be one of those recovery stories, she may never remember who she was.”

“You can’t say that, she’ll remember everything.” Vince counters.

“It’s a possibility we need to explore, Vince,” Jay purses his lips. “If she doesn’t remember anything, we’ll just have to help her rebuild her life.”

Vince knows the possibility of her remembering is slim, but she’s remembered a couple of things from the past. They weren’t exactly relevant, but they were something, giving her a glimpse of her life before in some aspects.

“Maybe we should stop therapy and just let her remember on her own.” Jay adds. “We’re forcing her and she may not be ready to remember anything. She’ll remember everything on her own.”

“That could take years.”

“At this point, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“I don’t think we should cut off therapy, let’s keep her in there, but have her go in with Cristiano.” Vince smiles. “He can tell her stories about their past, I’m sure that would trigger something.”

“I’m surprise you’re on board with this.”

“Yeah, well, I need to stop being selfish at some point.”

“Call Amelia in, talk to Cristiano about this.”

Vince nods his head. He steps out of the house, telling Amelia to go inside. He catches the look Amelia gives Cristiano, it’s the same look he saw in her when Amelia first realized she had a “thing” for Cristiano. It was annoying at first, all she would talk about was Cristiano, but eventually, it became amusing for him. Teasing his sister will always be the best past time to do. She would blush every time he says Cristiano’s name in a teasing tone or when he would tell her that Cristiano is coming over, the smile on her face said it all.

He occupies Amelia’s vacant seat.

“Always ruining our moments,” Cristiano says making Vince laugh.

“Would that be a moment of silence?”

Cristiano laughs. It’s unbelievable how almost three hours ago the two were trying to beat each other. And here they are now, speaking civilly.

“I need you to take care of her, Cristiano.”

“What?” Cristiano turns towards him, unsure what to make of Vince’s statement.

“I need you to start accompanying her to therapy. You need to remind her what you were to her.” Vince explains. “Start small, like how you two first met, all the details.”

“Wouldn’t that be too much for her?”

“Nothing is too much for her, she’ll know her limit.”

Cristiano nods her head. “What made you decide this?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugs. “Maybe you’ve been the missing key. But you also need to be prepared to accept that she might not regain her memories.”

“What do you mean?”

“Cristiano, you need to be able to accept that if she doesn’t regain her memories, she’ll forget whatever you two had.” Vince doesn’t know how to say this in a better way. He couldn’t exactly shatter Cristiano’s hopes of getting back with Amelia. But he needs to warn him. “Look, I need to know if you can accept that Amelia may not fall in love with you again. She may never have her memories back and whatever you had with her will just be a part of her past.”

Cristiano didn’t know how to reply. He processes Vince’s words, unsure of how to answer his question. How could you answer a question like this? The possibility of her not remembering is a factor, that’s something he’s always thought about. Not something he can accept, but thought about he has. Only time can tell what’ll happen, but he’s not going to let her completely forget him.

“I don’t need her memories to show her how much she loves me,” Cristiano confidently replies. “She’ll love me. I’ll make her fall back in love with me.”

“How are you so sure?”

“The heart never forgets.”

Vince looks at Cristiano, the determination in his face clearly seen. He nods his head and smiles. “Wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”