The Special

Episode 14 - Aftermath

Luckily, I don't think anyone saw what happened with me and Ron. He had safely recovered in the infirmary and was now back to normal.

"Heck of a day, huh." He rejoined us for supper, his favorite, lasagna. I stared down at my plate, suddenly not hungry.

"How are you feeling?" Jessie rubbed Ron's arm.

"Fine. Never better." He did seem really chipper. He was normally a very happy-go-lucky guy but ever since what happened at the beach he seems to be even better than normal. Me, on the other hand, I was a mess. All my energy had been transferred to Ron at the beach.

"Don't you think?" Jessie woke me up from my dream state and pulled me back into reality.

"Huh?" Jessie waved a hand in front of my face.

"Are you awake?" Ron joked. A soft, jokey laugh escaped from him.

"Yeah, I'm just... I'm tired, that's all."I shoved a hand through my hair and yawned. A few dark curls fell over my eyes and with the shake of my head they moved aside. A strange face that I couldn't name appeared on Jessie's face, maybe curiosity, or the thought that something was going on.

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After campfire was over I couldn't help but stay behind and stare into the fire. I was exhausted but I didn't want to sleep, I didn't want to move. Everyone else had left but Damian hadn't come by to put the fire out yet.

I stared deep into the fire, oddly thinking of my lost memories. I had regained quite a bit of memory throughout the almost two weeks I had been here but that wasn't enough. My memories were too precious to lose, I wanted them back.

"You're still out here?" That familiar voice came from the other side of the fire, forcing my head to jerk up. I was thrown back into the real world but the small thought of my stolen memories lingered in my mind. It disturbed me.

"What are you still doing up?" Jessie sat down beside me and stared into the fire as I was.

"I could ask you the same question." She threw the question back to me, turned her head towards me and examined my face.

"Are you okay? You seem kind of... off today." She looked concerned. I hated that look because it was a mix of both sad and scared. I couldn't look her in the face.

"Hawkeye," She turned my head towards hers. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just..." I turned back to the fire. "What happened with Ron just kind of messed me up."

"What did happen with Ron?" I was curious of why she even asked that question.

"What do you mean?" I looked back at her, puzzled.

"I never saw what happened on the beach, the boats were too far out. Did something happen? Because ever since then Ron's been feeling fine but you look terrible."

"No, not really. It took a second but eventually he coughed up the water and woke up. It's wasn't too big of a deal, he's fine."

"I know he's fine, I can tell. But are you fine? Because you've been doing really good lately until that happened at the lake. Do you want to talk about it?" I shifted in my seat, my eyes still glued to the hypnotic flames.

"I guess it just kind of freaked me out." I knew that wasn't the entire truth but it was part of the truth.

"You really do care about him don't you?" She was looking right at me and I couldn't help but look back at her. Her deep blue eyes were unmissable in the firelight.

"Yeah, I guess. I care about all of you guys." It was weird for me to say that because normally I wouldn't have such strong sentiment after only knowing someone from a little over a week. In fact I normally wouldn't have that feeling at all.

"Your a nice guy, Hawkeye." A small smile crept up on her face. I turned away, back to the fire, as a smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.

"Your a nice person, too." I turned back towards her and let the corner of my mouth curve.

Her eyes darted all over the place, as did mine, examining every inch of her face as if I would never see her again. Her long hair, not in a ponytail for once, fell over her shoulders and slid down her chest, arms, and back. The faint ringlets added character to the otherwise thinner hair. Her deep blue eyes grew deeper and her perfect lips parted ever so slightly. She was beautiful.

The world around us and the bitter thoughts of my lost memory drifted away and, suddenly, it was just the two of us in the glow of the flickering flames. My brain clicked off and my mind completely cleared. I felt a feeling that I had never felt before. I don't even know how long we had been staring at each other but it felt like an eternity.

Slowly, so very slowly she began to move closer to me, and I to her. We were millimeters apart. A powerful feeling came over me and my brain refused to start again. Suddenly, our lips met and there was nothing between us. The world stopped.

I don't know how long that kiss lasted either but that felt like an eternity as well. All the fear and secrecy and skepticism that I possessed while here disappeared and I didn't want to leave. I never wanted to leave again.

She pulled away reluctantly and slowly moved backwards.

"We should probably get some sleep." She said softly.

"Yeah." I whispered. She got up and walked back to her cabin like nothing happened and I walked back to mine. I did notice her looking back at me every few seconds though but only because I kept looking back at her.

My common sense didn't return until I entered the cabin. Oh no, what had I done. I got too attached to this place.