Forget Me Not

Chapter 3

Emma froze.

She watched uncertainly as the woman shut the door gently behind her and stepped into the room. If Emma hadn't seen it earlier, she definitely noticed it now – the white uniform, the stethoscope around the woman's neck and a file in her hands.

The woman stared at her keenly for a moment or two. "Are you a relative of his?" She asked, "I've never seen you here before."

Emma quickly gathered her wits about her and shook her head. "No," she said quietly, watching as the woman stepped over to the monitors to check up on Dylan's progress, jotting down numbers on the documents inside the file. "I'm his girlfriend."

The woman turned, her eyebrows knitted together faintly in evident confusion. "I didn't know he had a girlfriend."

"Right." Emma exhaled and bit her lip. "Because he doesn't know – "

" – he has a girlfriend," the woman finished, a light of understanding in her eyes now. "Because of the amnesia. Sorry, this must be a difficult period for you," her voice was softer now, more sympathetic, and she held out a hand for Emma to shake. "I'm Flo. I'm the nurse who's been checking up on him."

"Emma," she reached over and grasped Flo's hand in a brief handshake. But her mind was still in a whirl. She still couldn't quite place a finger on where she'd met Flo before, and the thought of that was frustrating her more than it should have. "It's nice to meet you. Thanks for looking after him. I'd come more often but – he doesn't take well to strangers, apparently," the words left a bitter taste in her mouth but she swallowed and forced her lips up in a smile.

"Just give him some time," said Flo, and there was something in the way she looked at Dylan that made Emma's breath catch. It was a lot like the way she looked at Dylan, and the familiarity was both puzzling and frightening all at once. "I'm sure if you mean that much to him, he'll remember you – eventually."

Emma's throat was dry. "Thank you," she managed at last, but her voice was unsteady and her knuckles almost white as she gripped Dylan's jacket in her hands.

Flo opened her mouth to reply, but the sudden movement from Dylan made the both of them glance down. He blinked blearily as he stirred awake, and Emma felt her breath catch when he looked at Flo, the expression on his face relaxing as a light smile glossing his lips.

"Hey, you," the smile on Flo's face was bright as she stared down at him. "How're you feeling today?"

He swallowed. "Better," he rasped, and braced his good arm on the side of the bed in an attempt to sit up.

Emma instinctively moved forward but Flo reached him first, easing him up and adjusting the bed with the proficiency of someone who'd clearly done this dozens of times before. Emma took the glass of water on his bedside table to hand it over to him, but the moment she did, his eyes widened as he noticed her for the first time, and the expression on his face hardened.

"What're you doing here?" He asked, his posture rigid and he was staring her with suspicion in his eyes.

Emma awkwardly set the glass back down on the table. "I'm here to visit you – "

"I told you – I don't know you," his voice was tight with annoyance. "Why do you keep coming back?"

She felt a sudden surge of defiance rush through her and she met his gaze squarely. "So just because you can't remember me, I can't come and visit?"

"You can't just barge in here and...and..."

He trailed off, frowning as he tried to find the right words to say, and her eyebrows rose. "And what?"

"And mess with my head!" Emma tried not to flinch when he glared at her. "You can't just...you can't – " He trailed off again, his jaw clenching in evident frustration, only to pause when Flo laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Deep breaths," she told him, before turning to Emma with an apologetic look on her face. "I think you should leave. He's obviously very worked up now and I don't think it's a good idea to aggravate him any further."

Emma didn't know exactly how she managed to do it, but she schooled her features into an expression of blank calmness as she looked at Flo's hand on Dylan's shoulder, and the way he seemed to relax under her touch. "Fine," she said quietly, setting the jacket down on the bedside table and falling a step back. "I'll go."

She turned to leave, and she was almost out of the room when Dylan broke the tense silence, mild annoyance still lacing his tone, "You left your jacket."

"That's yours," she returned evenly, before stepping out and shutting the door behind her.