Lucifer [Louis] [On Hold]

24 | R e m e m b e r

"Yeah, I get it. You're not the worst case I've had to deal with, believe it or not. 

"Once, there was this little boy appeared in the Beyond, about four or five years old. Near-drowning accident. Obviously he was far too young to understand what I was really offering him, so I had to baby talk it to him. He lived, long and happy. Married, had four children and died of lung cancer in his seventies. Of course, because he had been so young when he had first appeared here, he literally couldn't remember a thing. It wasn't a case of time having passed and it just slipped his mind as the years went on - he just literally couldn't recall. At that age, kids mix up their reality with dreams, believing in all that crap about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus and-"

"The Devil and God?" Melanie finished for him.

He took a deep, deep breath. 

"Sorry. Go on," Melanie told him.

"Kids find it hard to separate dreams and reality. At his age, it was but a dream being here. So when we met again years later, he refused - flat out refused - to believe what I told him, even after his memories returned fully."

Melanie frowned, unsure where he was going with this. "Are you saying that even after mine come back, there's a chance I'll not remember you? Remember us?"

Louis just shrugged. "There is the slight possibility. However, I don't think that'll be the case. You were eighteen and you tend to remember things more clearly when you're an adult. Not four, for Hell's sake."

"And the dementia? Will that not affect the process?"

Louis shook his head. "It shouldn't. Because we met before the dementia. Therefore, it'll only be small things after you were diagnosed that you may not remember."

Melanie's heart sank in her chest. Would she forget things about her family? Jenny and Tristan had visited her faithfully at the hospital, after the illness had been diagnosed. Precious last moments with her family were not ones she wanted to lose forever. 

In silence, the two of them continued to meander through the hospital, doing anything and everything to pass the time. They played a sad man's version of ring toss, launching stethoscopes at a heart monitor from one end of the room to the other, played hang man on some old sign-in sheets at the reception and even a small round or two of truth or dare to pass the time.

"I dare you to ... do a cartwheel," Louis decided with a grin Melanie's way.

"A cartwheel? How old do you think I am? I'll pop my hip again if I - oh."

Louis just laughed as Melanie hid her embarrassment behind her hands. 

"Cartwheel or forfeit," Louis demanded, tapping his fingers impatiently on the arm of the wheelchair he was faffing around in. Melanie had spent enough time in one to last her, well, a lifetime. She'd opted for the top of the reception desk. "What's it to be, Melanie Cooper?"

"It's McCauley," she automatically corrected.

A silence fell between them.

"Would you rather I call you by your husband's name or your maiden name?" Louis finally asked, all mischief flickering from his eyes.

"I..." Melanie stopped herself. What would she prefer? "I'm not sure."

"Tell me about him," Louis suggested. "If you don't want to do the cartwheel, your forfeit is to indulge me in your married life."

"Pervert."

"Curious," he corrected.

"I take it we didn't stay in touch the years after I married?" Melanie asked.