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Sitting on Carter's bed with my legs crossed, I watched him move into his bathroom. I could hear the water running from the sink but I could only see his backside. I shivered when he turned back into the room. I wanted to get out of this tattered dress and into some fresh clothes, but I hadn't even thought about that until I was able to stop my mind from racing.
Carter pulled his desk chair closer to his bed, sitting on the edge of it when I saw he had a damp wash rag in his hand. Without saying anything to me at first, he reached up and pushed my hair out of my face. Then he gently brought the rag up to my forehead and started wiping away the dirt that was caked onto my skin.
I stared into his blue eyes as he ran the rag down the side of my face. It was fairly warm and felt wonderful against my skin. I leaned into his touch, feeling so much better after everything that happened tonight. Things could have been so much worse.
"You know," Carter said, moving to wash the dirt on my cheek, "When I couldn't find you in the banquet hall..."
"I'm okay." I assured him.
"Skye, you don't understand," he cleared his throat, "I've been on scene for several fires and fought against many demons, but I was never as scared as I was when you weren't behind me on the dance floor anymore."
"Carter-" I tried to interrupt him, but he continued.
"I wanted to stay and look for you but we had to defeat that demon and the moment we did, I came rushing back to the hall to look for you. I needed to know you were safe. I was supposed to make your night magical and memorable, but now all you're going to remember is the fact that I let you get hurt." Carter said, moving to my other cheek and avoiding the eye contact I was trying to set.
Looking at him, I could see that he had tears sitting at the brim of his eyes and I wanted them to spill over so I could brush them away. I shook my head, trying to not cry myself. I swallowed hard.
"I got hurt, we can't deny that. But that's not all I'm going to remember. I'm going to remember sitting here with you while you so graciously take care of me. I'm going to remember the look in your eyes and the smile you had on your face when you saw me at the top of the stairs." I shook my head.
"I couldn't help it - I had just seen the most beautiful girl in the entire world." Carter's words flowed out breathlessly.
"I don't know what I did for you to fall in love with me Carter," I finally met eyes with him, "But I wouldn't change a single thing that has led up to this moment."
"I don't ever want to see you hurt again." Carter leaned in, letting the rag fall out of his hands as he cupped my cheeks.
"I don't think you'll ever let me get hurt again." I smiled, praying that what I thought was about to happen, was finally going to happen.
"I love you, Skye Mitchell, more than I thought I could love anyone." My heart stopped with his words and my breath caught in my throat when he finally leaned in and gently pressed his lips to mine.
Electricity sparked through me as I leaned in to kiss him back. I reached up and placed my hands on his, feeling the comfort of him holding me and passionately invading my personal space. I was so incredibly happy that our moment did not get ruined or interrupted. All the missed chances and disruptions have made this moment so very special to me.
Carter pulled away, allowing us to readjust before crashing our lips back to each other. His words, his actions, just everything about Carter Grayson made me fall in love with him. I never thought that I would be in this moment right now - happy and in love.
"I love you too, Carter Grayson." I kissed him one more time before pushing us apart.
"You really are the most beautiful girl on this planet." he smiled, picking the rag back up and getting the first off my chin, "Let's get you all cleaned up and then ready for some rest."
"Can I stay with you tonight?" I asked.
"I wasn't letting you out of my sight." he kissed my forehead and then got up from his seat. He reached into his closet and pulled out a long red sweater - one I had seen him in many times and then tossed it over to me.
"Thanks," I smiled, "I just might look better in this than you do."
Carter let out a loud laugh as I closed the door behind me to change. I used another rag to finish washing all the makeup and dirt off my face before returning to Carter's main quarter's where he was waiting for me. He was leaning over his CD player, going through songs until he settled on a slow tuned one.
"We can't go to bed without getting a proper dance in." Carter smiled, taking my hands and pulling me closer to him. I put one hand on his chest and wrapped the other around his shoulder as we rocked back and forth to the slow tune.
We had our eyes locked the entire time enjoying every second of the dance before the song ended. I wanted to stay up and dance with him all night, but he saw my tired eyes and insisted we rest for the night. We'd have plenty of more opportunities to dance.
I curled up on one of his pillows, letting him lay next to me and wrap his arm around me, pulling me closer to him until I was nestled against his chest. With another shiver that night, he pulled the blankets over top of us and planted another kiss on the top of my head. I smiled against his chest as I started to drift to sleep, feeling him play with strands of my hair and twirl them between his fingers. It was a relaxing moment that I wished I could stay in forever.
My pager woke me from a peaceful slumber still wrapped in Carter's arms. He slept through the beeping and even me sliding out of the bed. It was early morning and training day. A new round of EMTs were coming in for training and it was my task to demonstrate the qualities of a perfect leader and an even better EMT. I've been running this program since I was the top of my class in college.
I stopped and looked at Carter, wondering if I should wake him before I leave. I decided against it and headed off to my own room for a quick shower and change of clothes. After changing, I headed off to the galley where I was about to settle down for breakfast, the demon alarm rang and everyone was forced to take action.
Somehow, in the midst of the attack, Nova was caught in the middle. Nobody stopped me when I insisted on running to her aid. She'd do the same for me - she has done the same for me. Ryan was already at her side as I grabbed my med bag out of the Rescue Rover and rushed to her side.
"Of course you had to be at the right place at the right time to take on a monster by yourself. You're absolutely insane Nova." I shouted as I started examining her for any obvious injuries while also checking her vitals.
Nova looked at me cautiously, slapping my hand away as I tried to push hair out of her face to connect another wire, "Who are you?"
What does she mean? She knew who I was.
"What are you talking about?" I said, "It's me... Skye?"
She stared at me, but looked like she was looking right through me.
"You're best friend? Third grade, some kids were picking on me and you got sent to the principal's office because you took them both on in a fight on the playground." I reminded her.
"What are you talking about?" Nova asked.
I grabbed my shoulders, "Do you really not remember me?"
She shook her head and pushed my hands away. Okay, something was seriously wrong. Maybe she hit her head and it prompted amnesia. I was concerned because even with her previous concussion, she wasn't displaying memory loss then - so I worried that something worse was going on up in her head. I needed to get her back to the Aquabase so I could start running more tests immediately. Especially since I knew she previously had a concussion - this was just not good.
Dana ran over to us, "I think that monster let off some sort of high frequency energy blast that might've erased Nova's memories."
"We have to get her back to Miss Fairweather," Carter said, running up with my sister, "Power down!"
We rushed from the scene of the demon attack and back to the base in the matter of minutes. Carter drove us there carefully and cautiously and followed behind us as we led Skye to Miss Fairweather. She was awaiting our arrival the moment we sent word back to my father.
"Oh Nova, I'm so glad you're okay," Miss Fairweather tried to give Nova a hug, but she pushed her away like everyone else.
"Who are you?" Nova asked.
"What happened?" Miss Fairweather asked.
"She went on a run and ran into a monster, I think it let off some sort of high frequency energy blast that might've erased her memories." I explained. I started gathering things we would need to start running tests.
Miss Fairweather stepped away to speak to my father who met us in the med bay. I watched my brother walk back over to Nova and start talking to her.
Miss Fairweather's lab was very similar to my bay and contained many of the same instruments. Only hers scanned for different aspects of the human body while mine focused on other things.
Miss Fairweather spewed out information that I hardly understood.
"Skye, start telling her stories," Miss Fairweather said.
"Okay... um..." I started, "Wait, let me go get something!"
I had a photo album filled with different memories from over the years. I thought that by showing her some, it would help jog some of what she was missing up in her noggin. After grabbing the album, I came running back into the room, plopping back down in the chair on her right and setting the album in her lap. Dana hunched over and looked at the photos with us.
I pointed to the picture at the top, "Does this look familiar?"
It was a photo of us girls standing side by side, covered in various colors paints, glitter, and stickers.
"That was after my 12th birthday party. We covered a slip and slide in paint and slid down it. Dana threw glitter on us after." I explained. My father walked over and joined the party.
"Oh, can't forget this one," Captain Mitchell said, flipping to another page where we stood in pristine uniforms saluting to the camera, "That was when you two were sworn in as official Lightspeed employees."
He flipped to another page.
"And here," he said, pointing to a photo of Nova and I in a massive blanket fort, "Was after you moved in with us."
Nova shook her head and pushed the book away. It wasn't helping. Why wasn't it helping? I really thought that by showing her these pictures, they were going to help her remember something. She had to get her memory back. I couldn't lose my best friend just because she was caught in another demon attack.
I had a look of frustration as I clutched the book to my chest. I tried to think of any possible way I could help, but it was too far out of my control. Carter walked up behind me and patted my shoulder.
"Her memory path has opened up 85%," Miss Fairweather said.
The demons seemed to always invade the city when we were making great progress with something. I wished Ryan could have stayed and kept talking to Nova because whatever he was saying was helping, but he was needed in the city with the other rangers. Nova sat up and tried to follow them out of the room, but I stood in the doorway and stopped her.
"It's okay," I said, "It's for them."
I pointed to the rangers who started to file out the door behind me.
"Where are they going?" Nova asked.
I heard the croak in her voice and handed her a glass of water with a straw, "There's a monster attacking the city, probably the same one that attacked you."
"You can't let them go," Nova cried out, "They'll lose their memories too and-"
Miss Fairweather laid her back down onto the bed and then she just suddenly passed out. Probably from fear, I concluded, because her vitals were running just fine. I remember how confused and dazed my first demon attack I was involved in made me feel, so I had somewhat of an understanding of how she felt.
Assuring me that she had full control over Nova, Miss Fairweather ordered me out of the room. I didn't want to leave, but she told me that right now, we might just be overwhelming her and I didn't want to do that. So, I headed off to the communications room and watched the rangers work to defeat this monster.
I felt unsettled standing there instead of being at my best friend's side, but to keep myself busy I moved from the communications room to the entry gate where the other rangers would be coming through any moment and I could quickly assess them. Just after I gave them all full clearance, Miss Fairweather came rushing into the room to tell us that Nova had made a full recovery.
"Nova!" I shouted, running into the room and throwing my arms right around her neck to give her the biggest hug.
"Hey Skye." I pulled back, examining the smile on her face curiously. Did she really get her memory back?
I knew it was true when she let out a low whistle. A massive smile spread across my face as she pulled her into another hug, returning the whistle happily.
With the concussion and the memory loss incident I decided to order her to stay overnight just for observation. I knew she hated being there just as much as I did, but until she got my clearance, she was staying put. I worried about her too much to just let her walk out here without a hundred percent certainly that she was back to herself.
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May the power always protect you.
If you would like to see how Nova lost her memories, then head on over to @carnationcreation's page and check out (20) Stories of Final Phase! Don't forget to add this to your reading list to get the latest updates!