Brian’s POV

Having Katie right here in front of me was such a miracle. I gently caressed her cheeks with my thumbs and smiled at her with teary eyes.
“You’re back. You’re really back.” I said with my voice shaking. Her hands ran down my arms and I had a hard time holding back a sigh. Feeling her soft touch was such a delight after what felt like ages. When her hands reached my wrists I took them and covered them in kisses, hoping to warm them up a bit.
“Brian …” Katie said softly but I was so overwhelmed by my feelings for her that I cupped her cheek once more.
“Shhhh I’m right here. I’ll never leave you ever again.” I said and gently pulled her into a deep kiss. Her lips were a bit too dry but nevertheless the sweetest thing I ever tasted. I felt like I had been starving for a very long time. She hesitated at first but my heart skipped a beat when she kissed me back ever so softly. God, I needed her so much. My light, my angel, my world.
“Brian, I’m so sorry …” She whispered against my lips but I cut her off again. I didn’t want her to apologize for anything. All this mess was my fault anyways.
“Don’t be, baby, I’m the one to blame.” I said softly and pecked her lips over and over again. My hands, covered by her small ones, were cupping her cheeks.
“No, Brian, you don’t understand.” That’s when she pulled back and looked at me with her eyes filled with an endless pain and sadness that it broke my heart all over again.
“What is it baby girl?” I asked with a sad frown on my face. What happened to my baby when she was overseas?
“I’m so sorry but I can’t …” She started.
“You can’t what? Talk to me? Of course you can, baby. You can tell me anything. I …” That’s when she grabbed my wrists and with a desperate look in her eyes she shook my arms in frustration.
“I can’t remember you.” She said and tears started to roll down her cheeks. I looked at her in confusion.
“What?” I heard myself ask. I was frozen in shock and stared down at her but with every word coming from her mouth it felt like she was stabbing my heart with a blunt knife. Katie stepped away from me and wiped her tears but once she let go of my hands I felt so lonely again.
“I can’t remember anything.” She said, “I know what happened, Jeremy had explained everything to me but …” That’s when my heart nearly stopped.
“Jeremy? What has this bastard to do with all this?” I pressed through gritted teeth and clenched my fists to prevent them from shaking.
“I don’t know. When I woke up he was there, and Ivan too. I … I don’t know what’s right or wrong. Who is real and who is taking advantage of me. I just know that I dreamed about you. I saw you and I felt you … in my heart. Brian, I had to come and find you and now that you are here … god, this headache is killing me.” She pressed her palms against her temples and squeezed her eyes shut. Forgetting this asshole Jeremy for a minute I took a step towards her; just in time. Katie stumbled backwards and nearly fell but I managed to catch her. I picked her up bridal style and she rested her head against my shoulder. She was as light as a feather.
“Oh baby, what happened to you?” I mumbled and kissed the top of her head gently. I decided to take her to the people I trusted most instead of carrying her all the way to my car. The whole gang was standing outside the ice cream parlor. They were all in shock: Val was covering her mouth and had difficulties holding back her tears. Matt had a confused River on his arm and pulled his wife close. Zacky was shaking and Allie hugged his tattooed arm tightly.
“Honey, these are your real friends. Don’t be scared I’ll explain everything to them, ok?” I whispered as I crossed the street. She nodded and I kissed her forehead.
Everyone was quiet as I pushed past them and sat Katie down onto the leather bench of our booth. She clutched her handbag to her chest and didn’t look up but when I wanted to turn away she grabbed my hand tightly. This gesture made me smile a bit and I kissed her hand. From somewhere a glass of water appeared and I noticed Val’s shaking hand.
“Drink this, honey and put these on,” I gave her my sunglasses. “That should help your headache for now.” Her blue eyes looked into mine for a while, searching for something, but then she decided to trust me and did as I asked. I took that chance and motioned my friends to follow me. Once we had left the café they attacked me with their questions:
“What happened to her?” Matt asked.
“Yeah, what happened to my sister? Have you seen how skinny she is?” Zacky asked in distress.
“What did she tell you?” Allie shook my arm and Val held her son close to keep herself distracted but it wasn’t working so well.
“For god’s sake, Brian, tell us!” She pressed out, glaring daggers at me.
“I don’t know anything!” I said a little bit too loud as I stepped away from them, “I don’t even know what to think. My girlfriend is back from the dead and she is not herself anymore.”
“What are you talking abo-?” Zacky started with a frown on his face but I cut him off in frustration.
“She said she can’t remember me, ok?!”
Silence. My friends stood there, shocked and totally confused.
“I don’t understand it either. She said she woke up in a hospital with Jeremy and Ivan being there and that she dreamed of me. Of us. That’s why she came here to find me. And yes, it is Katie.” I said as I noticed Allie’s look on her face, “I gave her a letter the day before she left on tour. No one knew of it but her and she held it in her hands moments ago. Besides, I would recognize her anywhere.” I said and looked inside the ice cream parlor at Katie who sat there like the weight of the world was resting on her skinny shoulders. It broke my heart even more.
“So, what do we do now? We have to be careful and not scare her even more.” Matt explained after a while. I nodded.
“I want to take her home for now. Get her to eat something and to calm down.”
“That’s a good idea.” Val said softly. “I’ll go and check on her.” And with that she and River sat next to my girl, who only seemed to be a shadow of her former self.
“Alright, I’m gonna go and get the car.” I said, playing nervously with my car keys.
“And I’ll tell the others that beach day is cancelled.” Matt sighed and pulled out his phone. I shot him a quick smile but when we all turned to leave Allie stopped us all.
“We have to call Jeremy.” She simply said but this statement brought my blood to boil like lava. And not just mine.
“If he is involved in this I won’t let him anywhere near her.” Zacky pressed out through gritted teeth.
“I second that.” I clenched my fists so hard that the keys surely cut my palm’s skin.
“Don’t be silly.” Allie rolled her eyes, “If he was there when she woke up – like Katie told you – he definitely knows more about her condition and will be of help. He loves her …”
“And that’s just another reason why I don’t want him around. I might lose it when I see his stupid face.” I had a hard time controlling my anger at this point.
“Ok, guys, calm down.” Matt said and put his broad hands onto one of Zacky’s and my shoulders. “Allie has a point. But right now our focus should be on Katie. We don’t know what lies Jeremy might have told her but as a family we can help her remember the truth.” That’s when he shot me a look that made me feel ashamed of myself. “Besides, I’m pretty sure Jeremy will look for her himself. Probably even right now as we speak. He will come to us.”
Damn, I loved these guys so much. Zacky was always having my back and Matt always found a way to talk sense into our stubborn heads. This family was everything to me.
“Alright … thank you, man.” I said and hugged him, feeling stupid for my jealous outburst.
“It’s cool. I’d probably react in the same way if it was about Val.” He smiled and clasped my shoulder before going back inside with Zacky.
“But unlike you Matt uses his brain and doesn’t hurt the woman he loves beyond repair.” Allie said and when I looked at her I could only see hatred and disgust in her eyes. But before I could defend myself she followed her boyfriend, leaving me all alone on the sidewalk.
She was right. What happened to Katie was basically my fault. I had been wasting so much of her precious time since the moment we had started dating. Time I couldn’t give her back. But I was just human and bound to make mistakes. I have paid for them a bitter price and I have accepted this punishment. I wasn’t a changed a man but over the last few months, when Katie was gone, I realized that I was madly, unconditionally and irrevocably in love with her.
Not once did I stop thinking about her. Not once did I call her anything but my girl. And although my hopes were slowly leaving me of ever being with her again my heart had never stopped beating for her, only her.
And this was the reason why I sprinted to my car and got it in front of the ice cream parlor in no time. Because in the end it didn’t matter if she remembered me, forgave me or left me. I loved her. Plain and simple.


Katie’s POV

I was so confused and afraid of what would happen next. The only thing I knew for sure was that I needed Brian to fully remember everything. But when I told him that I didn’t remember anything about him I felt like dying. His eyes had been filled with so much pain and I could literally hear his heart breaking inside his chest. Hurting him like this was awful and made me feel so incredibly bad. So I had tried to dig deeper into my memory but there was nothing. All blank. But the harder I tried to remember him the more my head hurt. And now I was sitting in a café with Brian’s sunglasses covering my eyes from the bright light. It actually helped a bit and also taking small sips of the cool water made me feel a lot better.
“Are you sick?” A young voice asked and I could feel a small hand touching my arm. Since I had my eyes closed I jumped a little at the sensation.
“Riv, baby, leave auntie alone.” The blonde woman sitting a bit away from me said and tried to pull the baby boy away from me.
“I … I think so, yes.” I said softly, making her stop.
“Are you going to be ok?” The boy asked me so adorably.
“I hope so.” I smiled at him, “Wanna help me?” I asked and he nodded. He scooted closer and wrapped his small arms around my torso.
“I want my auntie ok.” He mumbled. This innocent and sweet gesture was making me tear up. This adorable child knew me. He couldn’t be older than two years and he knew who I was.
“I’m sorry, he doesn’t understand …” The blonde woman explained softly, scooting closer as well.
“No one really does, I guess.” I said, running my hand through the boy’s soft brown hair.
“Yeah …”
“So, you are my friend …” I gently asked.
“Val … I mean Valary but everyone calls me Val.” She smiled and I nodded.
“That’s nice … and it’s nice to meet you. Again.” I held out my hand and she took it after hesitating a bit.
“I’m not gonna lie, this is so weird.” Val looked at me apologetically but the longer we looked at one another while shaking hands the funnier the situation got.
“I can imagine.” I chuckled and let go of her small hand. “I’m sorry, I’m really trying to remember your face but …”
“Don’t worry about it. We are all family and together we gonna bring back this memory of yours.” She smiled brightly. I felt so much better with her being so confident about it. And I would give my best to make their time and dedication towards our friendship worthwhile.

A moment later two men joined us. They introduced themselves as Zacky and Matt. Matt was married to Val and the little boy, River was his name, was their first born son. I smiled at the pride in Matt’s voice and the love that was rooting deep into their hearts for one another. Zacky, however, stayed quiet and looked to his feet but once a girl that was going by the name of Alejandra or short Allie wrapped her arms around him he visibly relaxed. It was so beautiful to watch both couples interact. Their body language towards one another, their looks. Two perfect love stories happened right there in front of my eyes.
That’s when Brian walked into the shop and up to us. He smiled softly at me but I could also see uncertainty in his movements. He didn’t know how to handle the situation and I couldn’t blame him. I hardly knew how to deal with all this. After all I couldn’t remember any of the things he and I did together … as a couple … in love … home alone. Just the simple thought slipping into this direction was making me blush like crazy and I had to look away from him.
“How are you feeling, honey?” His voice asked me and sent, without him knowing, shivers down my spine.
“A little better, thank you.” I replied but I had to clear my throat. How awkward. “What is happening now?”
“I’m gonna take you to my house … our home … if that is ok with you.” My head jerked up and I looked into his gorgeous face.
“To do what?” I couldn’t stop those words from slipping, even if I had wanted to. He frowned a bit.
“It’s just to get you somewhere safe and private.”
The look on my face must have given it away because he blushed lightly and cleared his throat. The soft giggles and chuckles from his friends was only making it worse.
“So you can recover. Get you food and a place to sleep … not like THAT … just to … relax …” I blushed even more although I knew what he meant. Zacky and Matt just burst out laughing. “This is not making it any better right?” Brian asked gently and I shook my head.
“No … but I know what you mean so … just ignore me.” I said and got up from the leather seat. He took my hand and squeezed it gently while he helped me out of the booth.
“I will never ever ignore you again, Katie.” He smiled lovingly down at me, causing my heart to flutter. “Not so sure about these idiots right there though.”
“Aw come on!” Zacky laughed and ruffled Brian’s hair, making me giggle.
“Talk to the hand.” Brian held his hand into his friend’s face and turned his head the opposite direction while he pulled me outside to his car.
“I promise you, Katie, we are doing it your way. Your timing.” He smiled and opened the passenger door for me. Chuckling I patted his cheek.
“That’s still pretty suggestive.” I got in and heard him facepalming himself.
Under the laughter of his friends he started the car and drove us towards his house. Our home, as he had put it so sweetly.

Notes

Not as exciting as originally planned but pretty damn funny in the end. What do you think? :D

Thank you for reading <3 I love you guys so so much!

xoxo