Lost Without You (Jemi Fanfiction)

8: Two Pieces

I nervously step into the room and immediately notice how injured Joe is from his accident. His left arm is broken, his head bandaged, and he's covered in scrapes and bruises. 

"Hi Joe," I say, sitting down in the chair beside his hospital bed.

"Hey Dems," he replies.

"How are you feeling?" I ask.

"Better now that you're here," he responds smiling.

Okay, now I'm a little creeped out. What's wrong with him?

My face obviously displays shock and Joe looks up at me questioningly.

"What's wrong baby? Did I do something?" he asks.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong," I reply, "It's okay."

The doctor looks up at me. "Could I talk to you?" the doctor asks.

"Sure," I say, "I'll be back in a minute, Joe."

We step out into the hallway.

"He thinks he's still my boyfriend," I tell the doctor.

"I know. You should just play along, for now anyways. We'll work on telling him later."

"Okay. So I act like we're dating? What do I do about the baby?"

"Just make something up. You can tell him once he's ready," the doctor say.

"Okay," I reply, "I guess I'll go in and talk to him now."

Inside Joe's hospital room, we talk a little. Joe obviously lost a lot of him memory, since we were dating 7 years ago.

"Do you know when I can go home? I miss Nick so much," Joe says.

"Well," I say, "You lost some memory so it's a while since the last thing that you probably remember." Thinking on the spot, I decide to make up a little story. "We actually live together now, and we have a baby."

I probably will regret this later, but I finally have an excuse to get Joe to myself and to get to know his baby.

"Wow," he says, "I guess I really did forget a lot."

I spend some time with Joe for a while until the doctor comes into the room to tell me that he's ready to be moved into a regular hospital room. I walk out into the waiting room and am greeted with an anxious Denise.

"How is he?" she asks.

"He's physically alright, but he doesn't remember anything since him and I started dating," I reply.

"So, he doesn't remember Sophie or the baby?" Nick questions.

"Not at all. I did tell him that he has a baby, but not who's. The doctor said to wait before telling him everything," I say.

Denise nods. "Can I go see him?"

"He's getting moved to a regular room, so that's a good sign. I just hope that he doesn't completely hate me after he realizes that I played along."

Once he's in a regular room, we can all visit at the same time. Nick lays Luca into the infant carrier and I grab it from him before we walk into the room.

Joe immediately lights up. "Is that our baby?" he asks.

"Yeah," I reply, feeling guilty, "His name is Luca."

"I guess I can't really hold him," he sighs, looking at his broken arm, "Can you bring him closer, though?"

I nod and turn the carrier around so that Luca is facing Joe. The look on his face is one that was missing when Joe had first come to see his baby, the look of love, and I'm so glad that I can see it in him now.

"He's adorable," Joe says.

I smile, then step back and let Denise and Kevin Sr. talk to him for a while. I place the baby carrier on the floor and step aside with Nick.

"Are you sure lying to him was a good idea?" Nick asks.

"Probably not, but I just missed seeing him happy. I thought that if I lied to him, maybe he'd stay happy for a little longer. At least not hate Luca," I whisper to him once Joe is out of an earshot.

He nods. "I get it. I was starting to wonder if my brother would ever come back."

Nick and I make it to the hospital cafeteria and pick up some lunch for everyone but Joe, who will be served his own meal from the hospital staff. We sit down and talk for a while, then go back up to Joe's room.

Joe seems much the same so I'm glad that he hasn't had a random memory flash yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time until he does.

In privacy, Denise, Kevin Sr., and Nick step out of the room. I pick Luca up into my arms and sit on the edge of the bed beside Joe.

"The doctor said that I could probably go home within this week," Joe says, "But, he's not sure if I'll ever regain my full memory back."

"That's terrible," I fake my sympathy. Internally, I'm thinking that this might just be my key to staying with Joe.

"I probably won't ever remember our wedding," he complains.

"Um," I pause, "we're not married."

"Oh, are we engaged?"

"No, but we've been dating for a while," I reply, feeling awkward. I should have known that this question would come up.

"Well, I can tell that I love you a lot, so it's not like I don't believe you, it's just I'm surprised that I haven't proposed yet."

I smile. "It's okay if you can't remember," I say, "I'll still love you."

He smiles in response.

Now all I can do is hope that he doesn't remember and hate me forever.