Bette
I exhaled for what felt like the hundredth time this hour. We continued to go back and forth about what we were about to do but we all knew this was the only way for Lana to be herself sooner rather than later.
I looked as Lana sat on the chair just in the other room. From what I could see she no longer looked calm, no now she looked upset and I knew why. A glass window separated us from her and it was a good thing it was sound proof or else she would have heard Matt's yells.
"You're planning on giving her fake memories!" Matt yells angrily "She doesn't even trust us fully yet"
"Will you calm down, you're upsetting her. This is for the best. For once she won't have to live her life in pain from all of her real memories of her past. She lost her best friend and for goodness sakes she lost her baby Matt. I don't see why you're complaining she will still remember you" I say annoyed at him "Trust me if I could id give her the real memories that belong to her. But, If I get something wrong her brain will shut down and she will be gone for good. She wont know what's real or fake"
He looked in her direction and knew I was right after staring at her. He took a deep breath and exhaled. I could tell he was now also trying not to get any more upset.
"We're lying to her. Do you think she will forgive us when her memories come back?" Leo asks
"If they ever come back. She's been in a coma for almost four months. She shouldn't have survived that fall; that attack left her on the brink of dead. If I can give her some type of peace then I will" I say "she deserves this much. She deserves to live happy with no worry and no guilt"
"So what exactly are you planning on doing?" Leo asks
"I'm going to give her an ordinary life. A mother with her son who has just moved into a new home. A hardworking father who visits every once in a while because work keeps him away" I say looking at Matt "I may not like this idea but you two are still married. A ceremony like yours isn't simply undone. You and Lana are still married and maybe for you to have your same life I can plant something like you guys are separated because of the lack of time you two spend together. I don't know I'll come up with something"
"And what about her fiancée or her sister? What do you plan to do when they see her and try to confront her?" Matt asks "she may be my wife for life but when she gets her memories back she will remember how I left her"
"And why did you leave her?" I ask knowing
"You know why. I had to in order to keep her safe I had to finish my mission even if it meant leaving the woman I love behind" he says
"Exactly, which is why this is a great idea. You get your wife back and her," I say looking back at Lana "she gets the life she's always wanted. Everyone already thinks she's dead now she can live a normal life"
"And you'll be the one planting these memories?" Leo asks
"Yes, I'm the only one who can make it seem more believable" I say
"And what will happen if her sister or anyone sees her. Don't get me wrong it's a great idea, a very nice life but do you honestly think they will do nothing when they see her?" Leo asks
"I've already told Caitlin she's on board. She wants Lana and Damon close enough to where she can still keep an eye on them" I say
"What exactly do you plan on implanting in her mind?" Matt asks
"I want to give her a normal happy life but I also want to give her some of her memories. A stubborn girl who always did good and fought for the people she cared about but maybe just not here" I say referring to the organization "i'd like to keep josh in her memories, her boyfriend from high school who died in an accident leaving her behind. And the new man who fell in love with her, they married and had a beautiful son." I say looking at Matt "a man who has done everything he could to stay in their lives as the hard working and loving husband he is"
"And what makes you think Damon won't tell her anything?" Leo asks
"Damon will be happy as long as they are all safe" I say "I hate this I really do I'd like it if she remembered if she knew who she was but she doesn't"
Matt stood staring into the room watching Lana with a small smile on his face. "I just want her to be happy" Matt says
Leo takes a deep breath and shakes his head looking down. "Alright" He says looking up
I look at the window, seeing Lana smiling as she talks to Damon. For once she didn't look worried. She looked at Damon with adoration in her eyes.
"Lets begin" I say
As we all left the room we were in we walked into the room Lana was in with Damon. She looked up smiling just enough to be friendly.
"Okay let's get the show on the road" Leo says
We quickly began to work. Grabbing everything we needed we began to place the wires on Lana.
"Come on Damon let's go get something to eat" Matt says as Damon takes ahold of his hand
Damon quickly hugs Lana and begins to follow Matt. Lana turned to look at Matt who was already looking at her and at the same time they both smiled.
"You don't have to be nervous. I'll see you soon" Matt tells her
As they left Lana looked at me and Leo and exhaled.
"Ready as I'll ever be" she says
☆ ☆ ☆
Lana
I could feel my heartbeat faster and I felt as if maybe they could hear it from within my chest.
Bette placed some pads on the sides of my head and a couple other ones on my chest. The beeping of the machine grew louder as I grew more nervous.
"Here we go" Bette says
The guy named Leo smiled at me sort of sadly and shook his head.
"I'll be in the other room" he says, placing his hand over Bette's shoulder and leaving.
Once he was gone, Bette brought the machine with a lot of buttons and knobs closer to us. She sat in front of me and made sure the patches were stuck correctly.
"This is your last chance to back out. This might hurt a little" she says
"I just want to know who I am" I tell her
She smiles and takes a hold of my hand.
"You can close your eyes if it helps" she says and I listened "all you have to do is listen to my voice. I'm going to start the shock at a very low level it will feel like an itch"
I closed my eyes feeling my whole body shake from nerves. "Now, I'm going to inject this serum so try not to move" she tells me
She lets go of my hand and a while after I feel her hand on my neck. I could feel a small pinch and the warm liquid entering my body. And just as quickly as she had injected me I felt numb. My body froze and I couldn't move.
"I can't move" I say beginning to panic
"It's okay you're not supposed to. It helps with the pain" she says "just listen to my voice. Soon you won't be able to talk so don't worry"
Slowly little by little the shocks were also growing stronger. I tried to say something but couldn't. Then I felt another pinch this time on my temple.
"Your name is Lana Snow" she tells me
I then felt her brush my hair back. "You were a handful while growing up. You did your best to stay away from trouble but trouble somehow always found you. You were close to your family but when you were a teenager you got into a big argument and you ran away. You haven't spoken to them since then." she says
I could see it. I had walked out of the house after watching them sleep. I had bags filled with my things in my hands and all I felt was sadness.
Her voice broke a little this time. "The only person you still had with you was your boyfriend at the time. Josh. You met when you were children, you two were inseparable. You did everything together. He was a beautiful person, he had light hair and light eyes to match his soul. He was a kind person who made you laugh when you didn't have a reason to laugh. You were in love, he meant the world to you as did you to him. He loved you so much and you made each other happy. You spent a few years together happy and in love"
She paused for a moment before she continued. "But bad things happen in this world. Josh was driving home from work and he was in an accident. Your boyfriend died in a car accident. You were so devastated you didn't think you could move on. You laid in bed for what felt like eternity until you forced yourself to get up and pretend you were ok. You forced yourself to get up and live on because that's what Josh would have wanted you to do"
This time a quick memory flashed across. I was running. I must have gotten a call from the police or something. I ran until I saw the scene. I could feel my heartbeat so fast I thought it would jump out.
I wanted to scream but I couldn't talk, not even move. I could feel my tears run down my face. "Josh!" I remembered myself yell
His body laid on the ground with blood oozing from his chest. I didn't know why there was blood oozing from his chest. But it was someone else who called my name, they sounded confused as they tried to get my attention. I cried as I held Josh's body closer to me. But it wasn't the sadness that I could think about. I felt guilty as if I had done something wrong and I didn't know what it was.
I was able to take a deep breath in and I could feel my tears fall as I cried from the memory.
I could hear her clear her throat as she continued. "You then met someone else. He caught your attention in a way you didn't think anyone else would not after losing josh. You married Matt when you were young. You married in a small ceremony. It was something special there was nothing like it. You met at a charity event and you were both smitten with each other right away. Soon after you both moved away to a private area. You two had a son together, Damon. You were in an accident that made him a premature baby. You cried so much and you were in so much pain but Matt stayed by your side. When Damon was born we placed him in your arms and you kissed his forehead with tears in your eyes" she says
For some reason I could feel those exact feelings. Those memories rushed into my head. I remember holding a small baby in my arms but for some reason his face was still faint. I cried but for some reason it wasn't tears of joy. I felt pain and anger at myself. Maybe it was because of the accident that made Damon a premature baby.
After this I was beginning to feel pain. It started in my head and then slowly began to fill my body.
I could see Matt, his dark hair brushed back as he smiled at me. I looked down to our hands as a silk thread was wrapped around them. I could feel the love inside something I didn't think I'd ever feel. It was familiar and it made me feel safe. As we drank something from a golden cup I could feel warmth around me. The priest mumbles some words I couldn't quite understand right now but I somehow felt I knew what they meant then. It made me feel like this bond was unbreakable. Like what we were doing was something that would bring us together for the rest of our lives.
We both left holding hands and staring at each other the entire time. We didn't have to say anything because we somehow knew what we wanted to say. We somehow knew what we were feeling. Leaving what looked like a maze we stopped as Matt twirled me around.
Even if I had my memories back, even the happy ones, I couldn't help but feel the physical pain I felt in my head.
"Everything was perfect but when I asked you to come back to Central city to help me you accepted even if it meant hardly seeing Matt. You two agreed that you would make it work. I needed your help to run my bar. Everything was paid for you and Damon both Matt and I made sure that you two had everything. Matt comes to visit as much as he can since he has a lot of work back at home"
Opening the door to the apartment had me smiling. It didn't matter if it was a big place or small but as long as we were happy everything was fine. Damon ran into the apartment carrying his things to his room. Matt carried another box and placed it on the table.
"Call me and I'll be here as soon as I can. I love you both" he says kissing me
His kiss felt familiar but something I haven't felt in a very long time. It's as if I was expecting different lips, a different spark.
The pain only increased. I wanted to scream so bad. It felt like my brain was melting. I wanted to claw at my head to stop the pain but couldn't.
"Think about the happy memories, even the painful ones that got you here. You've been through a lot Lana you've lost a lot but now it's your time to be happy. It's your turn. That baby in your arms you can't see his face that well and it's because of your blurry vision it isn't hurt or anger you feel at yourself it's love and joy that you and Josh had some time together" she says
"The anger you feel at yourself and the guilt it isn't that. You don't feel guilty for Josh's death. It was an accident you're crying because you're sad, not because you feel guilty. There is no difference between the kiss Matt gives you. It's exactly what you remember it to be. There is a spark you feel. This man is in love with you and you love him"
"You are feeling a little stressed at the whole move. Matt helped with everything and so did I. You help every once in a while at the bar but other than that you're a stay at home mom with her son who goes to school. You two have fun on your own and sometimes with Matt when he visits. You guys spend most of the time at the park or at cc jitters drinking hot chocolate and eating cakes. You're happy with your life. You don't feel like something is missing. You have everything you've ever wanted" she says "these are your memories Lana. Your happy life. Slowly you'll feel the pain go away. It might linger but that's just your memories finding their way back in. You'll only remember your memories not this procedure but if you ever do get your full memories back just know I did this for you. To give you a little break, to let you finally rest."
I didn't understand at first but just as Bette said the pain was slowly going away. Slowly I could feel a tingly sensation in my fingertips and my toes felt cold.
It's as if I blacked out. One second I was feeling my body come back and the next I could feel a flood of memories rush into my head. I felt overwhelmed. I felt like I was going to pass out and I think I might have for a few minutes. The sharp pain in my head was slowly fading away. I opened my eyes after squeezing them tightly, seeing my vision slowly beginning to adjust to the room.
Once I could see again I saw Matt wiping the sweat off my face. "Hey. How are you feeling? The headache will be gone in just a moment" He says
"I'm fine sweetie" I smile "just feeling a little hot, this bug really is going around isn't it" I chuckle
"You're all better now" he smiles kissing my forehead
"So have you told Damon already?" I asked him
"About?" He asks "oh the business trip no not yet I just want everything to be the same for a while longer"
"He will understand" I smile at him "we've made it work this long" I chuckle "Damon and I are going to be doing this on our own until you come back"
"I know baby if I could I'd stay you know that" he says "we will make this work until you two come home to me" he kisses me
His lips felt the same, exactly as I'd remembered. The spark was still there and there was no one else I'd rather kiss.
"I love you" He says looking into my eyes smiling in some sort of way
"I love you too" I said but it felt odd for some reason it didn't feel right but quickly that feeling was washed away
I smiled and stood from where I sat. "Where is Damon I feel like I haven't seen him in so long" I say
Just then the door opened and in walked Bette and Damon.
"Hey bud" I say hugging Damon as he ran into my arms "I missed you" I kissed the top of his head
"I missed you too" he says hugging me tightly
I looked at Bette and saw her smile also.
"We gotta get home say bye to auntie Bette" I say "we've got a big day ahead of ourselves tomorrow"
Damon hugged Bette and went to get his things.
"Thank you so much for doing this for me again" Bette says hugging me
"You're my best friend I'd do anything for you" I smile at her "the bar could use a lot of my help. Especially with that strip place next to it"
"If anyone could bring business back, it's you" she says
"We will be rocking business in no time" I say
As we walked out of the building I looked back not feeling an attachment. Matt carried the bags to the car and Damon quickly got into the back seat. As Matt put the bags in the trunk I hugged Bette goodbye.
"Call me if you need anything" she says
"Don't worry about me Bette I've got the bar under control" I say
Matt opened the passenger seat for me and I got in. Once Matt got into the driver's seat he grabbed my hand and kissed the top of it.
"Let's go home" He says
I looked back to Damon and wasn't sure if he wanted to say something or not. He smiled and put his seatbelt on.
"Let's go home" I say
I leaned back into my seat and felt so comfortable. I didn't worry about anything, just how Damon would react to Matt leaving again.
A/N
I know some of you will hate this. But it's for the drama and the plot I swear! Don't hate me (:
I didn't know who to choose to play Matt but then decided to go with Ben Barnes because I have a huuuge crush on him.