Beyond the Sun

44

Admittedly, Clark put off going to the hospital until the next day. Martha had received a call though saying that Annie had woken up successfully, and that though she was a little battered and bruised; she was otherwise okay. Visiting times were restricted, but Rebecca had made it rather clear that visitors could come down; yet not to be surprised if they got told to leave after an hour so Annie could rest.

As he stood outside of the hospital, Clark's eyes saddened slightly, the point of short term memory loss had hit him hard; what if she didn't remember him? Was naturally his first panicked thought, yet he wasn't someone from the short term past, he was someone from the long term past. She would remember him, yet his mind did worry over this. What parts would she remember, exactly? Would she remember the fact that there had been an invasion attempt by Zod? Would she remember Earth almost becoming Krypton? Would she remember them meeting again in the Arctic, and their more than dramatic experiences there? Would she remember Doctor Hamilton, Hardy; and subsequently what happened to them?

Clark trekked into the hospital with a heavy heart, he was scared of visiting her anyway, because he didn't like seeing her hurt. Seeing her lying lifeless in that bed literally tore him apart. All he wanted and wished to do was lay by her side and hold onto her and hope that that would've been enough to wake her. Yet because of the induced coma and everything else, the only thing anyone could hold was her hand; even that was a task, either try and hold a plaster cast, or avoid a cannula, it wasn't exactly easy. Not being able to hold her, or really touch her, was completely alien, no pun intended considering.

He managed to bypass the bubbly nurse who had bombarded him with sunflower knowledge and had made it to Annie's room, only to see her sitting up in bed; her face was turned to the window, the sunlight was flooding through brightly, and needless to say the sunflowers he had bought her were all facing in its direction, feeding off of the rays; yet again, he couldn't help but find slight irony in them and in connection to her. She seemed to have a trait with finding fascinations with things, and beings, that fed off the sun.

His worried expression was replaced quickly by one of relief and happiness, he ran a hand through his hair before reaching out and pushing the door open. Instantly upon hearing the door open Annie awkwardly managed to turn her head and look in his direction. "Clark!" She exclaimed and held her hands out to him as he walked quickly into the room, shutting the door behind himself as he made his way over to her. He leaned down and sat down in front of her as her arms wrapped around his neck, he buried his face in the crook her neck and held onto her gently.

"You remember me." He whispered and listened as she gently laughed. Moving away, he looked over her appearance, there were light grazes on her face, along with a few bruises, yet she still beamed at him happily.

"How could I forget you? Short term memory loss, Clark...not all round memory loss!" Annie laughed and placed a hand to her head. Laughing really did hurt, so did the volume of which she seemed to be laughing.

He looked at her sadly. "Take it easy."

"I'm sitting in bed, this is the definition of taking it easy." Annie said while looking at her hands. She looked up though when his hands gently enveloped hers. "What happened to me, Clark? I remember falling...and, you caught me, and...then Zod was there, you told me to run and I did..."

"You seemed to have thought it was a good idea to follow." Clark frowned, he never knew why she did, he doubted now he would ever find the reason seems she was really struggling to remember anything. "Don't force it, Annie. Your memories will return."

"But I want to know what happened to me...and the only person who knows is you. Please, Clark...please help me remember. There's pieces, and as I try and remember what they lead to, they go...it's like walking through a fog, I reach out for something and there's nothing there." Annie said while frowning and looking darkly to the window.