Broken Memories ((Jack))

[juliet]

Light poured into Juliet’s eyes as she opened them. The sun shown so bright that she closed them again with a look of pain on her face. She couldn’t yet remember the events of the night before. No, she wasn’t awake enough for that yet. She vaguely recalled going to a pub, but nothing else had settled on her mind yet. Juliet opened her eyes once again and looked around the room. She was in the Hospital Wing. Juliet blinked. What had happened? She didn’t remember coming here at all. She must have passed out. Still, everything was fuzzy. She sighed. Only a matter of time before everything came rushing back. She looked around the Hospital Wing. She was the only student in there which she didn’t mind. She didn’t have a clue where Madame Pomfrey was, but that wasn’t important yet. Juliet was quite sure that she had probably been given medicine while she was asleep. After all, Madame Pomfrey wouldn’t let Juliet get away with not being medicated. But what for? Juliet placed her hand on her head for a moment. She was starting to remember some things. A pub, some drinks, a boy. Wait, what boy?

Now it was all coming back. Jack, more drinking, the accident. Well that part was still a bit fuzzy. She had fallen, right? But how? Maybe Jack could fill her in on the details. Juliet shook her head slightly. She remembered going outside with Jack. They were talking like friends talk. She could remember that. Juliet looked around the room again. What exactly had happened? Why was she in the hospital wing? Juliet really couldn’t remember how she had come to be in this bed. Juliet placed her hand on her head. She felt a bandage but she wasn’t really concerned with it. For once she didn’t care what she looked like. Juliet only wanted to find out what had happened. She just wanted the truth. Maybe that would make her feel better.

Just then, Juliet noticed a some-what familiar figure walk into the room. “Jack.” She squeaked. She had no idea as to why she sounded so funny, but she didn’t particularly care. She blinked as she tried to focus on him as he walked over to her bed. She wanted some answers, some real ones. She wanted to know why the hell she was in this hospital bed. She stared at him blankly. At least she could remember him At least she could remember some things, but not everything. And Juliet wanted to know everything. She eyed the expression on Jack’s face. It was a mix of different emotions. Some of them, Juliet couldn’t even decipher. Usually, Juliet had a way of reading people. She could sum them up well even if she was all wrong. She couldn’t do that now. It was all a blur. All she had were stupid pieces of facts.

“I don’t..” She tried to talk, but her throat hurt. She shook her head. She was a determined and stubborn girl. She didn’t care what was best for her nor did she care what other people thought of her at the present moment. Juliet always stuck to who she was. She liked herself that way and no other. She concentrated on Jack. “remember, much.” She finished the sentence. She stared out a window blankly before looking back to Jack. She shook her head slightly. She felt like crying. She didn’t even know why she did. But , she wouldn’t. Even in this condition, Juliet was proud. “What happened?” She asked finally. Yes, she didn’t look like herself and she sounded like a five year old, but none of that mattered really. Juliet didn’t care for once. She stared at Jack waiting for the answers.

[Jack Reid]

Jack walked into the Hospital Wing, remembering the events of the night before. He and Juliet had been having a wonderful time at the pub, and then disaster had struck. Juliet had began a game of running towards the castle, but hadn’t measured how drunk she was, nor had she stopped to think of how icy it was on the walkway. She had fallen, and fallen hard, becoming unconscious as soon as she hit the hard ice. Jack had run over to her, kneeling down on the frozen sidewalk, holding her head up. But she was out like a light. So Jack had done the only thing he could think of doing. He picked Juliet up in his arms, and walked up the nearby stairs into the castle. He climbed the stairs after that, which led to the hospital wing, where Madame Pomfrey was nearly asleep at her desk, with files and papers strewn all over. He asked her if she could help him, and explained the situation. He left out the part where Juliet had been drinking, so that the woman wouldn’t be alarmed and call for Headmaster Dumbledore for discipline. That was the last thing both Jack and Juliet needed at the moment.

Jack stayed with Juliet through most of the night, falling asleep a few times while he watched her lay nearly motionless in the bed. He hoped that she would wake up soon, and he also hoped she wouldn’t have amnesia. That would be horrific for him, that she wouldn’t even remember who he was, or the night they had experienced together. He wouldn’t be able to take it if she didn’t remember. It would be life-destroying, he was sure. Worse than his parents nearly abandoning him, even. The one person he felt the most comfortable with, and her memory of him could be completely wiped out within a second. Jack looked at the nearby clock and saw it was nearly 7am. He had brought Juliet in at about midnight the night before, so he had been here seven hours. He needed something fresh to drink, to clear his mind and get over the slight hangover he was experiencing. Jack got up and walked out of the Hospital Wing, and paced the hall, trying to help his headache. He reached into his pocket, where he usually kept some small items, in case he needed to use transfiguration to make things. He pulled out a large pencil and spoke the spell with his wand in his other hand, and the pencil took the form of a goblet. Smiling at it, he grabbed a better hold of his wand and spoke a water spell, filling the goblet with the cool liquid. Jack drank quickly, and instantly, his headache began to lessen. It was just what he needed. He filled the cup again, and walked back into the room where Juliet was still lying in bed.

Jack looked at the bed as he walked towards it, and realized Juliet had woken up. He walked closer, and saw her look at him, and he didn’t know what to say, or how to look. She whispered his name in what sounded like a squeak, and he sat down next to her on the bed. She spoke in barely a whisper, saying she didn’t remember much. Bloody hell. She knows my name, but that’s likely it, he thought to himself. Jack swore in his mind, frustrated that this whole thing had happened. Jack looked at Juliet again, and she asked him what had happened. He put his hand on her head, brushing her hair out of her face, exposing her beautiful features, even when she likely didn’t think she looked good. He smiled at her, and explained. “Well we were at the pub in Hogsmeade, and then we were on our way back. It was icy, and you wanted to race me back up to the castle. I was about to follow after you when you slipped and hit your head on the ice. You were knocked unconscious, so picked you up and brought you here.” He hoped that she would remember something about the night. “I’ve been here with you since. It’s nearly 7am.” Jack searched her eyes for some kind of recognition, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. That was impossible. He waited for her to say something. “Do you remember anything, Juliet?”

[juliet]

Juliet’s closed her eyes for a minute as Jack talked. She just wanted to fade away into a fantasy world. She just wanted to be that pig-tails girl that she was back in her first year. But, she wasn’t that girl. That girl came and went fairly quickly. Juliet knew that life wasn’t simple and it defiantly wasn’t easy. She wasn’t a weak link. She could make it through. The question was, did she even want to? She didn’t know anymore. Juliet shook her head slightly, but she didn’t open her eyes. Things would be so much easier if she could just, fade away. She opened her eyes and noticed a silvery ghost glide through the room. Like that. If she could fade out of her present life and into the life of a ghost, life would be so different. Yes, it was a weird thought but Juliet was in a weird state of mind. For once, she couldn’t define her thoughts or her actions. For once, she actually looked like a victim and not the killer. For once, she felt so vulnerable and silent. She opened her eyes and looked at Jack. He wouldn’t understand. She knew that he wouldn’t understand if she explained how she felt to him. Or would he?

Juliet nodded at what Jack said. He saved her. Some memories were filling her mind, but some of them came and went. She couldn’t hold on to some of them. She had this vacant look on her face as she tried to remember everything. It was hard. “Some of it.” She told his about remembering things. She wanted to remember everything. She wanted to remember the slightest detail from what she was wearing to what the air smelled like. But she couldn’t. Her mind was almost in a trance. It wasn’t ready to be forced to remember and she would simply have to deal with that even if she hated it. For once in her life, Juliet couldn’t force herself to be something she wasn’t. She couldn’t push herself to be or act a certain way. Her mind wouldn’t let it. It was almost as if her mind gave up on her stupid whims. It was like her mind didn’t care what she wanted anymore; it only wanted its way. Juliet sighed. She couldn’t remember it all. Maybe she never would.

She smiled slightly. “Thank you Prince Charming.” She joked slightly. She closed her eyes again and then opened them. “Thanks for saving me.” Never before had Juliet sounded like that little girl she used to be. It was weird really. Maybe this would thing was supposed to take her back to that place, that time. Nah. She stared at him. “Hmm, I remember being drunk and stupid. And I remember laughing and then running. But, that’s kinda it for now.” She shrugged. She wanted to remember what they said to each other. Maybe it would come to her. Maybe it would. Juliet glanced around the room. Suddenly she really wanted to get out. She looked around for Madame Pomfrey. “So, you wanna break me out of this place?” She joked with her mischievous smile. She knew that he probably wouldn’t go for it, but she didn’t care. She almost felt too weak to move even if she really wanted to leave.

Suddenly, some memories came back. They played a game. They asked each other questions. Now she remembered. She remembered talking about Jack’s family. She remembered bringing up her mother and her dad. She remembered talking about wanting to be a healer. And there was something else. Something that was said right before she blanked out. He said something. Something, Juliet knew she needed to remember. Suddenly, she closed her eyes, focused, and remembered. It was weird how she did it really, but she didn’t care. “I remember what you said.” She paused. “When I asked you if I’m more than a pretty face.” She felt slightly embarrassed, but she didn’t care. “Umm, no one has ever said anything like that to me before.” She smiled slightly. She felt totally unlike herself, but she couldn’t do anything about it. “So thanks.”

[Jack Reid]

Jack sat there, on the hospital wing bed, gazing into Juliet’s eyes, knowing she was having a hard time remembering. He had told her everything that had happened, and she still wasn’t remembering. He wished there was something more he could do, but he knew he had nothing else he could do. He turned away, wondering if things would ever be the same as they were last night. They likely couldn’t be, not unless Juliet began to remember things. He couldn’t bear what was happening here. Jack felt like getting up and leaving Juliet lying there, just because he couldn’t deal with the rejection he had come so used to being under, once again. Especially from someone he felt he could be himself with. Someone he felt he really could let his guard down for. Now that was shattered.

Juliet thanked Jack for ‘saving’ her, and he just chuckled. “It was no problem, really,” he said simply. It really hadn’t crossed his mind to do anything else other than bring her to the hospital wing. She began to remember some things, but apparently not the important stuff. How Jack had told her how she wasn’t just another pretty face. How he had told her she was beautiful and smart, and how he had playfully ran after her, right before she fell. Jack snapped out of his daydream and heard Juliet asking if he wanted to help her break out of the Hospital Wing. He glanced around, and saw that Madame Pomfrey had left to use the lavatory, right outside of the wing. “Sure. Let’s get you out of here, if you feel up to it. I don’t want you falling again, you definitely wouldn’t like that, and neither would I.” Jack looked at her, waiting to see if she really wanted to leave. He’d definitely help her out, but he didn’t want her moving if she wasn’t feeling well still.

As Jack sat on the bed, looking into Juliet’s seemingly longing eyes, she said she remembered something. His breathing caught in his throat, and he just looked at her. Did she remember his caring words, before she had tripped? “I remember what you said,” she said, pausing before continuing. “When I asked you if I’m more than a pretty face.” Jack’s heart skipped a beat, wanting to pick her up and whisk her away, so they wouldn’t have to worry about anything getting in their way, but he knew his mind was flying places it shouldn’t be. She said how no one had ever said that to her before, and she thanked him, somewhat awkwardly. “Juliet…” he began, quietly. He moved his hand towards hers, not touching it, but moving it closer to her, on the bed. “I meant every word. You are beautiful, and you’re so much more than just that pretty face. That’s just an added bonus,” he said, smirking at her. “So, where do we go from here? Are we breaking you out, or are we just going to sit here and reminisce of our wild and drunk night together?” He smirked at her again, letting her know he was joking with her.

[juliet]

Juliet’s whole body ached, but she didn’t care. It was as if it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like she was concerned with her health. She knew she would heal. She was more concerned with Jack and remembering everything. This was the important thing for the time being. Everything was still a bit new to her, but memories were coming back. She wouldn’t let them stay away. No, Juliet would fight it. She wanted to know everything, remember everything. That was just the way Juliet was. Juliet smiled at Jack. She never would have imagined that she would meet Jack Reid and instantly feel connected to him. She would have never imagined that he would save her the night that they met. But, Juliet had never done things traditionally. She had always been one for taking another route in life, doing things a different way. Usually, this upset people, but Juliet didn’t care. She would live her life as she wanted. However, this usually didn’t end up well as this situation concludes. Still, Juliet wasn’t about to change. Not even Jack Reid could change her, she wouldn’t let it happen. Juliet hated being the damsel in distresses, but she needed Jack, he was there for her. Yes, Juliet technically barely knew him. But, she felt as if they had been friends for years. So maybe, she needed to be the damsel this one time. Maybe it was fate. Or maybe she was just delusional. Either way, it worked.

“Okay, but next time..” She chucked. “I get to save you. Deal?” She asked as she pushed a piece of dark hair out of her face and smiled to Jack. “That will make me feel much better about the whole you having to say me thing.” She chucked and winced. She was still a bit sore. Juliet looked to the ceiling as something occurred to her. She looked at Jack with a serious look about her. “Umm, I’ve never needed anyone to save me before.” She told him as she nodded slightly. “So..thanks.” She repeated for no real reason except for the fact that she wanted to say it. Jack saved her and Juliet would never forget even if he wanted to. Yes, she hated being the damsel, but she was the damsel who was still alive after all. So, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. Maybe Juliet didn’t have to be alone all the time. Maybe she could try her best and let others in. She did have friends, but it was hard to let them in all the way. Something she just couldn’t discuss with Faith and the others. Maybe she could with Jack. Maybe.

Juliet nodded and smiled at what Jack said. He was perhaps the nicest person Juliet had ever met, at least he was to her. Juliet didn’t know many people that treated her kind besides her friends. Yes her father, but he did push her away to an extent. He was hiding something, Juliet knew this. She just didn’t know what it was. So, she pretended it didn’t exist. She nodded. “I needed to hear someone say that.” She told him truthfully. Juliet had people in her life, like her mum. She just wanted Juliet to model and so off her perfect body. Then, she wanted Juliet to get married and have a baby boy and then a girl as planned. But, Juliet had never been one for that plan. She much preferred the plan where she kicked her mother out of her life entirely. A smile lit up her face at Jack’s next comment. “Oh we’re leaving. She told him as she shifted around a bit. As she was knocked out all night, she was still wearing her clothes from the night before and she still looked pretty nice except for the smudged make-up and the vacant look on her face. She pulled back the sheet and tried to stand up, grabbing Jack’s hand for support. She felt like blushing for a moment, but refrained. “And next time we go out, I’m only drinking a glass of wine.” She said as she winced at her throbbing head-ache. By this she also meant that she wanted to see him again, but that was a given. Juliet looked around and it seemed that Madame Pomfrey wasn’t around. Juliet eyed Jack as she looked around the room. She then tugged on his hand and pulled him through the hospital wing to the corridor. She wanted to get a few corridors away so that Pomfrey didn’t have a clue as to where so was. Juliet felt better now; better enough to break free from hospital care. “Finally. I thought I was going to die in a place that smells like feet and medicine.” She smiled. Juliet looked to Jack. “Now what, kind sir?” She asked as she moved her bare feet around on the floor and eyed them for a moment. She then looked back to Jack.