Part 11

After about 30 minutes, the hospital chair started to hurt Talia’s rear and brought her out of her daze. She couldn’t believe that he was gone and she was never going to see him again. ‘Maybe he’ll call.’ She thought, but then realized that she had not told him her phone number or her last name. ‘But I know his last name.’ She remembered this and dashed to the pay phone a little further down the hallway.

“Information.” The operator said.

“Yes. I need the number for Justin Timberlake in Orlando.” Talia replied, impatient to get the number.

“Justin Timberlake?”

“Yes ma’am.” Talia frowned, not knowing what the big deal was.

“You don’t actually think that number is listed do you?” The operator responded and disconnected the call.

Talia stared at the phone in disbelief. ‘That was really rude.’ She thought. Oddly enough, she heard “…group member Justin Timberlake was released from the hospital today…” She walked back into the waiting room and couldn’t believe what she saw on the TV. The four guys that had come to visit Justin and his mother were on the TV talking about his injuries. She also saw a black man standing with them. When she heard what they said she couldn’t believe her ears. Justin was a teen pop star. For the second time in the last 45 minutes, she sank down into one of the chairs. No wonder the operator on the phone had been so incredulous when she asked for his phone number. She stood slowly and went back out to her Jeep. Talia drove home in a daze. She tried to concentrate on her homework, but couldn’t. After an hour of fruitlessly trying to get some work done, she decided to take a nap.

Lynn, Joey, Lance, Jc, and Chris had followed Justin and Liz to Justin’s apartment. They all watched hopefully as Justin walked through the door and sat down his bag. He looked around slowly, trying to soak everything up.

Feeling the weight of their stares, he turned around to face this group of people that seemed to follow him everywhere. He wished that that everyone but his mother would just disappear and that Talia would appear in their place. But that wasn’t going to happen and he knew it. He saw that it was almost 4pm and felt terrible for not being at the hospital. He was sure that she was disappointed or even upset that he wasn’t there. ‘Who am I kidding? She’s probably glad that she doesn’t have to coddle me anymore.’ He thought to himself. But somehow he knew that wasn’t the way that she felt.

Justin turned his attention to Liz, avoiding the five other pairs of eyes that were locked on his every move. “Where’s Talia phone number so that I can call her?”

Liz pretended to fish around in her pocket. Then she looked through her purse. “I can’t find it Justin.” She said innocently, knowing herself that she never had it.

“What do you mean you can’t find it?” Justin asked, his voice rising a little.

“Justin. Honey. Liz must have just misplaced the number. I’m sure she’ll find it later.” Lynn put her hands on his shoulders to try and comfort him, but he shrugged them off and walked to the other side of the room.

Justin leaned his head against the wall. The one person that he knew was not here and he didn’t know how to find her. He resigned himself to sitting and listening to the other people in his life that he was supposed to know pump him full of information they hoped would trigger a memory or two. Justin tried really hard to remember, but came up with nothing. When they were talking about his relationship with Liz, he closed his eyes and tried to conjure up her face. But instead of Liz’s face, he saw Talia’s instead. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. After a while, he complained of a headache and was rewarded with everyone leaving…except Liz.

“I guess I will see you later.” He said to her.

“Oh, I’m going to stay here and make sure that you’re taken care of.” She replied sweetly and went into the kitchen.

Justin groaned inwardly. He couldn’t believe that she was staying there. ‘Oh well, at least I won’t be by myself.’ He thought. He decided to reacquaint himself with his apartment and began wandering through the rooms. Once he got to the hallway by the bathroom, he found a set of stairs. He went slowly up the stairs and into what he assumed was his bedroom. It was relatively clean. There was a picture of him and Liz on the night stand. Justin picked up the frame and gazed at the picture. It looked like they were at some sort of party. She had on a very sexy baby blue dress, and he was wearing a black tux with a baby blue bow tie and cumberbund. He sat the picture back down and went to the closet. It was filled with Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas, FuBu, and other name brand clothes, most of which were some shade resembling baby blue. There were also an obscene amount of shoes in the bottom of the closet. ‘Jeez. There are enough clothes and shoes in here for 6 people.’ Even though this was his bedroom, nothing triggered any memories in Justin’s mind. He sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Justin?” Liz asked as she walked up the stairs.

“I’m up here.”

She walked into his room and found him sitting on the edge of the bed. “Anything in here helping you remember?”

“No it isn’t. I’m tired now, could you excuse me so that I could take a nap?” Justin asked Liz.

“Sure.” She said and went back downstairs.

Justin stripped down to his boxers and got under the covers, drifting off to sleep quickly. He was plagued by bad dreams. All of them were of screaming girls. He saw four other guys around him, but they had no faces. Justin bolted up in the bed covered in sweat. He looked around for a moment, not sure where he was. Slowly, he got his bearings and realized that he was in his apartment. He looked over and noticed that Liz way laying next to him. He couldn’t believe that she had gotten in bed with him. Being careful not to disturb her, he eased out of the bed and went downstairs to get something to drink. Once he was downstairs, Justin decided to spend the rest of the night on the couch.

Talia woke up and looked at the clock beside her bed. It read 4am. She laid in bed trying to go back to sleep but gave up after an hour of staring at the ceiling. She got up made some coffee and sat at the kitchen table waiting for the coffee to brew. Again, her mind wandered and she started thinking about Justin.

When Justin woke up again, it was beginning to get light outside. Liz came downstairs and saw him on the couch.

“There you are. How come you got out of bed?” She asked him.

“I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.” He replied distantly.

“Oh. Are you going to be okay here by yourself? I have to go to work in a bit.”

Justin looked at her and hoped that she didn’t see in his eyes that he was glad she was leaving. If he couldn’t have the one person he wanted, he would rather be alone. “I’ll be fine.” He told her. “Where do you work and what time will you be back?”

“I work at a law firm as a secretary and I should be back a little after 5.” She said. “Your pain pills are in the kitchen on the counter by the sink. And I’ll write my work number down and leave it on the fridge in case you need anything.”

He nodded and watched her go about getting ready for work. An hour later she was walking out the door. He had to assure her that he would call if he needed anything about 20 times before she would actually leave. Finally he shut the door behind and leaned against it. He saw his bag from the hospital sitting against the wall and decided to go through and put stuff away. He pulled everything out of the bag onto the floor. All that was in the bag were the clothes that he had on when he was brought to the hospital and his copy of the police report. He tossed the clothes into the garbage and went to put the police report in a drawer in the kitchen when something caught his eye. Next to his name was ‘Talia Carlisle’. His face broke into a smile when he realized what his discovery meant. He scanned over the rest of the report and found a phone number on her half.

He ran to the phone and dialed the number off the piece of paper. It rang 4 times and he started to hang up when he heard a girls voice on the other end.

“Hello?” Talia almost shouted into the phone. She had just locked the door to her apartment and barely made it back inside in time.

“Talia?”

“Justin? Is that you?” She dropped her backpack by the couch.

“Yes. It’s me. How come you haven’t called or come by?” Justin asked.

“I couldn’t. When I got to the hospital you were gone and no one would give me your phone number. I even tried calling the operator, but they laughed at me. It seems you’re a huge pop star.”

“Yeah. That’s what I figured out too, though I don’t really remember. Would you do something for me?” He asked hopefully.

“Anything.”

“Would you come keep me company?”

Talia couldn’t believe her ears. She had been sure that she’d never see him again and here he was asking her to come to his house. “Sure. Just give me your address and I’ll be right over.”

Justin’s face fell as he realized he didn’t know his address. “Um…this is going to sound really stupid, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Okay. Are you in an apartment or a house?” Talia tried to help him figure out a way to get the address of where he was.

“An apartment.” Justin replied, not sure what she was getting at.

“Go out your door and tell me if there are any other apartments around you or if you can see any street signs.” She instructed.

Justin did as he was told and opened the front door. He was met with a lot of noise from the busy city they lived in. He looked around and saw there were several other buildings that looked like apartments around him. “I see some other buildings, but not any street signs.” He was about to give up.

Talia bit her bottom lip and thought for a minute. “I’ve got it. Justin, lay the phone down and go knock on someone’s door. Ask them what the address is.”

Justin wasn’t sure about what she’d told him, but he’d do anything to get her over there. “Okay. Hang on a second.” He put the phone down just inside the front door and walked to the next building. Taking a deep breath, he raised his arm and knocked. A small oriental man opened the door and looked at him like he was crazy. “I’m sorry to bother you sir, but I had an accident and now I have amnesia. Could you please tell me what the address is here?” The man smiled at Justin and wrote the address on a piece of paper. Justin thanked him and hurried back as fast as his injured ribs would let him.

He picked the phone up and Talia was still on the other end. He gave her the address and she promised to be right over.

Part 12

Talia made her way to a fairly unfamiliar part of town. She searched a little, examining every street sign and building. She spotted the building and smiled up at it. Yesterday she didn't think she'd ever see Justin again, let alone find her way to his apartment. He called her though. He had taken the initiative and phoned her, that had to mean something in the grand scheme of things.

She pulled into a parking space and hugged herself as she made her way to the front of the tall apartment building. Room 4C. She remembered the apartment number clearly, as if it were etched in her brain. She took the elevator to the forth floor and found his apartment. She slowly raised her hand; suddenly she had become nervous. Why? It was ONLY Justin. Only Justin. She had barely tapped the door once when it swung open. There he was, fully dressed and looking completely amazing. "Hey Talia," he smiled.

He hugged her, startling her for an instant before she completely got lost in him. Everything about him. His shirt was so soft and he smelt so wonderful. Exactly like a man should. 'Cool water? Designer?' she wondered to herself. Her arms however remained locked around his torso.

*~* And he can't smell like Randy who sits next to me in Mister Esposito's

class. *~*

'NO!' her head screamed. She cautiously let go of him. "Hello Justin. It's nice to see you up and about finally." She brushed past him and into his apartment. Her head was spinning. Everything that she had asked for when she was ten was standing within an arms length of her. But it COULDN'T be him. It just couldn't. 'But why not? Why couldn't it be Justin?' she asked herself. An inner conflict waged inside her head. He was tall, handsome, blonde, had blue eyes, smelt good and she was almost positive he didn't have cooties.

"Sit down… please," Justin urged, "you can just put your bag on the chair or anywhere you'd like."

She nodded toward him and placed her bag on the chair. "Nice place you have here."

"I'm sorry," Justin began.

Talia looked toward him quizzically, "for what?"

"For not convincing them to just hang around the hospital yesterday until three, for when you came… If you came."

"I was there," Talia looked up at him. Their eyes met briefly. "Of course I was there. I said I would be."

"Well I'm glad you could come today," Justin smiled, "I found your phone number on a copy of the police report. Talia Carlisle huh?"

"That would be me," she said with a nod, "so what are we supposed to do today? You aren't expecting company?"

"Well Liz left this morning, she had to work," Justin explained, "and I would imagine everyone else would show enough courtesy to call before they decided to barge in on me here. It's not like the hospital where I'm all bandaged and don't have much of a choice who comes to see and who doesn't. Here… I can say who I want to see and who I don't. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is… I am glad you're here."

"Me too," Talia nodded. "You said Liz left just this morning?" She tried not to sound too intrusive, but she felt her attempt at pure curiosity seemed phony.

"She stayed here last night," Justin began flippantly. Talia couldn't help but wonder if maybe she… they had done something that would jog his memory. She shook away the thought. "Halfway through the night I had to move to the couch," Justin laughed, "I woke up from a dream only to find she had slipped into bed next to me."

"It's probably really difficult to have your boyfriend just inches away and not having him remember anything that you had shared," Talia smirked, "I'd imagine that is hard to deal with."

"Speak from experience?" Justin questioned.

"Not really… just assuming." Talia shrugged.

"Well," Justin sighed, "you know the guys left tapes over here yesterday. They're all labeled. We can watch those, or is that too boring?"

"No," Talia laughed, "I'm here to help in any way necessary."

Justin slipped in the first tape and pressed play. It seemed almost surreal to him as his own face appeared on the screen laughing and joking around with 'the guys'. Talia looked toward him, it couldn't be easy to see himself like that. It probably just made him more anxious to remember things.

"You know I think I'm the only eighteen year old girl who wouldn't know your name," Talia laughed. Justin looked away from the television and toward her.

"I guess that's good in this situation," Justin shrugged, "we can learn about me together." Talia laughed, but noticed the hurt that had become evident in his eyes. He looked like a lost puppy, trying his hardest to find his way home. Justin turned his face back to the television. She watched him watch himself. It was odd how his face would become so expressionless as the tape played through. Every now and again his forehead would crease, like he had a memory or had begun to remember something. None of which lead to anything, even if it did he didn't let her know. After moments of studying him in his present state Talia began to watch the tape. He mesmerized her. They had obviously taped a concert of 'N Syncs and she watched Justin glide across the stage, making girls scream at his every movement. It was hard to believe that the guy on television and the guy sitting next to her were the same guy.

*~* Oh... one last thing... he has to be able to dance. *~*

'That's it,' she thought to herself, 'he's IT. But if he isn't it… he's as close as I'll get.'

"Well that's one tape," Justin said. He rewound the tape and the two sat in silence for a while.

"Nothing huh?"

"Nothing," Justin shrugged. He buried his head in his hands, then pulled up and looked at Talia sitting beside him. He was fully aware she had no idea what to say to him. There were no words that would comfort him at that moment. The tape made him feel more lost. Watching the persona displayed on the screen only gave him more to live up to. More events to remember.

"Don't try to hard," Talia's soft voice comforted, "if you try to hard to remember you won't."

"But they want me to so bad. All of them."

"Yeah... but it's your body. Your mind. Your injuries. You don't have any more control over the whole situation then they do," Talia explained. She rubbed his back comfortingly. She just hoped what she said would help him out.

Part 13

Justin laid his head on Talia’s shoulder and they sat like that for a few minutes. Almost unconsciously, she was running her fingers through his hair. All of a sudden, Justin jumped up off the couch.

“That’s it!” He shouted.

“What?” Talia asked from the couch.

“My mom used to run her fingers through my hair like that when I was little.” Justin had a happy smile on his face. He grabbed Talia’s hands and pulled her up off the couch and they danced around in circles for a bit. Then they collapsed back on the couch laughing. Justin cringed a little and Talia knew that his ribs must be hurting him.

“Did they give you any pain pills?” She asked with a concerned look on her face.

“Yeah. They’re in the kitchen on the cabinet by the sink.”

She walked into the kitchen and found the pills. She poured him a glass of water, but stood at the sink a little longer thinking about what had went on in the time since she’d arrived. Every fiber of her body was screaming ‘this is it, he’s the one that you’ve been wanting for the past ten years!’, but the reasonable side of her was saying, ‘you’ve known this guy for 4 days, slow down your hormones girl.’

“Talia? You okay in there?” Justin’s voice broke her from the daze she was in. “Yes.” She called back quickly and took the pills and the water back into the living room with her. “Sorry, I kinda zoned out for a minute.”

He gave her that prizewinning smile she’d become accustomed to the past few days. “No problem. You up for another tape?” He took the medicine she handed him and swallowed them with a gulp of water.

“Sure. Maybe it will help you.” They settled back on the couch for another trip down memory lane.

On her lunch break, Liz ran to her apartment and grabbed everything she could find that portrayed her and Justin together. She had to fill his head with the good things and hope that he didn’t remember what happened the night of his accident. She wanted him to get his memory back of course, just not what had occurred the last time he had been here. She remembered it clearly. Her boyfriend, David, had come over to watch movies with her because she hadn’t expected Justin to be back in town until the next day. They had gotten carried away and were in a heavy make-out session on the couch, when Justin had walked in on them. He had a key to her apartment and didn’t think there was any reason for him not to let himself in like he always did. As soon as she’d heard the door open, she’d had the feeling that it was him.

She had turned around slowly after untangling herself from David. “Justin I can explain…”

“What’s there to explain?” He’d shouted. “It’s not like I can’t SEE what you’re doing Liz.” He had turned away from her then, like he couldn’t stand to look at her anymore.

“I get lonely Justin! You don’t understand.” She had whined.

“And you don’t think I do? At least I’ve had the self control to respect you Liz.” She’d started to say something else then, but he had stopped her. “You know what? I don’t want to hear any more of your lame-ass excuses. I’m leaving here and I don’t ever want to see or hear from you again. NEVER.” He had slammed the door, but not before throwing the key she’d given him at her feet. That had been the last time she’d seen him until Sunday when the guys called to say they’d found him. Then when she’d met them at the hospital and found out about the accident, she’d felt so guilty. She was going to tell them the truth, she really was. Until she found out that Justin had amnesia anyways. Now it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. If there was any way that she could get through this mess and keep him, she was going to do it. She put the pictures she’d gathered into a bag and headed back to work.

The second tape was over and Justin was still staring at the TV screen.

“Justin? Are you okay?” Talia was afraid that he was pushing himself too hard. She knew that he wanted to remember his life before Friday, but she’d heard stories of people trying too hard to remember and never getting their memory back. She didn’t want that to happen to Justin. It seemed to her that he’d had a great life, and it was something he would surely want to get back to. “Maybe you shouldn’t watch anymore today.” She suggested.

“Yah. You’re probably right. I just don’t want to disappoint anyone. If I’m part of this group, don’t you think that there are fans out there who are upset that things are on hold?”

“Well…I’m sure there are. But you have to think about yourself and not them.” Talia reasoned with him. “You are way more important to your family and friends than a bunch of fans are.”

Justin smiled at her. Talia seemed to be the only person that he could talk to like this. He knew that he could tell her anything and she would listen and understand. He made a mental note to thank God for this angel sitting in front of him and tried not to think about where he might be if she hadn’t come along. Then something dawned on him. “I’m keeping you from class.”

“Don’t worry about that. I only had one today and it was an elective. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t have come.” Talia replied and thought again about the wish she’d made 8 years ago. Could he really be THE one? But that wasn’t what she was here for. She was here to help him in any way she could, and besides he had a girlfriend. That put a damper on the whole ‘perfect man’ thing. “So…what do you want to do now?”

Justin shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. You have any ideas?”

He looked straight into her eyes and it took every ounce of will power she had not to melt under those awesome blue eyes of his. “You could give me a tour.” She suggested.

Justin got up off the couch and took her hand in his. He led her through the apartment, showing her every room. Besides the living room and kitchen, there was a spare bedroom, a study, and a bathroom. Then they were standing at the bottom of some stairs. They went up them and Talia found herself in what she took to be his room. It looked like a guys room, there were posters of half naked women on one wall and Tarheels memorabilia on the other three.

“Just by looking, I’d say you were a UNC fan.” Talia said with a smile.

“It sure seems that way.” Justin agreed, but a frown took over his face. He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the floor. “Why can’t I remember something as simple as that?”

“Hey.” She cupped her hand under his chin and lifted his face so that he was looking at her, not the floor. “It’ll all come back to you. The doctors said this was temporary.” She reminded him.

“I know. But it’s just so hard. I mean, I sleep in this room and my clothes are in that closet over there. But I don’t remember wearing or buying any of them.”

Talia thought she saw tears in his eyes, but didn’t have a chance to decide if that’s what it was because they heard a voice downstairs.

“Justin? Where are you?”

“That’s Liz. We should go down there I guess.” Justin got up off the bed. “I’m up here, be down in a sec.” He called down the stairs and then he and Talia went down to greet Liz.

Liz heard them come down the stairs and was in the hallway to meet what she obviously expected to be Justin by himself. Talia thought she saw a look of hatred cross Liz’s features, but it was immediately replaced with a saccharine sweet look.

“Talia. How are you?” Liz said through clenched teeth.

“I’m fine thank you.” Talia replied. Justin obviously didn’t notice the edge in Liz’s voice. He was still holding onto her hand and Talia saw Liz’s gaze resting there.

“I brought you some more stuff to look at sweetie.” Liz said to Justin. She held up the bag with the pictures in and threw a glance at Talia.

Talia took the hint and let go of Justin’s hand. “Well, I’d better be going.” She caught Justin’s eyes again and saw that they were pleading with her to stay. She forced herself to look away. “It was nice seeing you again Liz.” She gave Justin a quick hug before grabbing her bag off the chair in the living room and closed the door behind her.

Part 14

Talia jogged to her car, her head somewhere else. Everything seemed to be coming together at one time. He was it, she had never been so sure of it. It made so much sense to her. How many people do you just find at the side of the road? Why did she stop when her parents had given here the stranger talk? Why didn't she just drive by and call from further down the highway? What drew her to him? Fate… it was the only excuse she could muster up. Fate and wishes. But it wasn't like she hand planned eight years ago. He was taken, even if he didn't remember that he was.

She slid into her car and stared blankly at the wheel. "I need some sleep." She mumbled to herself. She turned the key and listened to the hum of the car.

"How'd you get Talia to visit?" Liz questioned. She tried to sound as sweet as she possibly could. "I couldn't find her phone number yesterday."

"Well I unpacked my bag from the hospital and luckily found a copy of the police report. Of course her name is on that so I called her. It's a lot easier than being here alone."

"You could have called me at work. I left you my number by the phone." Liz pushed the bag of memories over to him. Justin picked the first item out of the bag. His head hurt, but he didn't want to push this off any further. If he was going to remember if there was anything worth remembering it could possibly be in that bag. There were albums full of pictures, of him performing, of them together amongst friends, of them together and alone. He looked up only to see her urge him to dig deeper with her eyes.

"Nothing?" she asked as she watched him slide the first album across the table at her.

"No… nothing," Justin whispered, "I have a headache but if you leave the bag here I'll look when I get the chance to."

"Okay." Liz tried hard not to sound disappointed.

"Hey do you have Lynn's phone number around here somewhere," Justin said hopefully, "I kind of recalled something about her while Talia was here."

Again Liz felt herself fill with anger. Talia was here… after what she had done to keep her away from him she was there. Lurking in the shadows. "Yeah your mothers number is number one of your phones memory. Just pick it up and say 'call mom' and it'll dial for you. Very high-tech."

"Thanks," Justin picked up the phone and commanded it to call his mother. He listened as it rang a few times, but then someone picked up. "Hello."

"Hello Lynn," he said softly, "it's Justin."

"How are you doing?" she asked. He could tell from the tone in her voice that she was concerned.

"I had a little memory today," Justin said, "and I thought you should know. I know how much you want me to remember my old life." Lynn cringed as those words hit her ear. "When I was younger did you used to comfort me by running your fingers through my hair? I know how odd that must sound to you…"

"NO NO!" Lynn jumped up, "that's a great memory! When you were a little boy you used to be afraid that gremlins hid under your bed. One night you came into my room and was really upset so I let you crawl into bed with me and I ran my fingers through your hair. I'm impressed you remembered it."

Justin could almost feel himself smile. He knew she'd be the only one who'd appreciate a memory as vague as that. Her and Talia. Everyone else would look at him with confusion in their eyes. Why something so simple? Why not awards and performances? 'Some things just mean more' he said to himself. "I just wanted to let you know," Justin said into the receiver.

"I'm glad you did," Lynn nodded. He could tell that she was smiling on the other end, he just sensed it.

Talia looked over her books, she had to do some reading for her women in literature class but her mind wasn't with her. Everything was clouded over. The way he rested his head so delicately on her shoulder. The way he so readily took her hand and toured her around his apartment. The despair in his eyes while watching the tapes. Everything was vivid; his every movement was etched in her brain. He was impossible to forget. For a brief second she wondered what it was like to be Liz. To have this guy that every girl

feigns for one minute. Have him love you and then have it taken away. To have him stand before her clinging to the hand of another woman, someone he felt comfortable with. She couldn't imagine. Maybe she had a reason to be so cold? 'So much for studying' she sighed to herself. She picked up her stereo remote and pressed play. The delicate sound of piano mixed with violin filled the air and caused her to drift off to sleep.

Justin again wandered the lower floor of his apartment. Liz couldn't take the hint. She was helplessly reaching for something that wasn't there. Again she had slid into bed with him, cuddled up to him. All he could feel was a sense of suffocation. At least everyone else had shown common courtesy and stayed away. That would help him, he deduced. He needed space to remember things. He needed to people around him to have open minds and open hearts. THAT was what would help him, not crowding. Not trying to

reach for something that was so long gone in his mind he had NO recollection. He sat on the couch, the same couch Talia had sat on earlier and smiled. He could almost feel her fingers running softly through his hair. Her hands rubbing his back, and tilting his chin offering words of encouragement. He had to get Talia back to the apartment. She's the only one who helped him.

Talia woke the annoyingly incessant ringing of her phone. She dug through the couch cushions and finally found it. "Hello," she said breathlessly. She had just caught it before her built in answering machine picked up.

"It's Justin."

"Justin?" she asked. She was still so tired, so worn. She must have slept restlessly. "What time is it?"

"It's like noon… too early? You have a class don't you?" Justin rambled, "I'm sorry."

Talia laughed. "It's not too early and no… no… I don't have a class." She looked down at her pile of books and bit her lip. Some things just seemed more important then lectures at that moment. "What do you want?"

"I was wondering if you could come over today," Justin whispered. He was strangely cautious. Was he expecting her to say no?

"Umm… yeah… sure," Talia nodded.

"If you're busy I totally understand," Justin jumped.

"No. I said I'd come over. I'll be there, give me about fifteen minutes."

Again she found his apartment and again she felt a surge of nervousness, excitement in knowing that she was moments away from seeing him. What was happening to her? Talia knocked on the door and again Justin swung it open, greeting her with open arms. She could almost feel herself get lost in his long, warm embraces.

Justin wrapped his arms around Talia; something felt so right when he did that. Like all the planets had aligned and everything was going all right. Even though he knew they weren't. "I'm sorry if I pulled you away from something important today."

"No it's fine," Talia pulled away from him. She walked toward the couch and took a seat. His eyes intently watched her. She picked up the album that Liz had brought over and flipped through it. "You were a cute couple…" Talia trailed, she felt herself break at the sight. It bothered her too much.

"Yeah… WERE," Justin stressed as he took a seat next to her. "Now it's just weird to be around her. Again I found myself on the couch because she got into the bed. It just doesn't seem right to have her there. It wouldn't be fair to either of us if something happened while I am in this state."

Talia nodded knowingly. "I understand."

"You always seem to do that," Justin chuckled. Talia felt chills run up and down her spine at the sound of him saying that.

"Excuse me… I forgot something in my car," Talia excused herself. She didn't want him to notice the way he had the ability to make her feel. It had to be written all over her face, the smile, and the pure sense of giddiness she felt at that very moment. She rushed out the door before he had a chance to protest.

He got up and closed the door, but didn't lock it. She could let herself in.

He took the initiative and took out a CD that was in the bag of things Liz had brought over. He figured he might as well get something done while he waited for Talia to return. The music started to play and he slid the booklet out and began to read the liner notes under his picture. He shook his head in disbelief he didn't remember ANY of these people. All of these people who probably at one time or another meant the world to him now were just names scrawled on a piece of paper. He felt tears well up in his eyes;

he wanted so desperately for one name to jump out at him. ONE. That was all he needed.

Talia paced the lobby for a few minutes. The sensations that coursed through her at that moment couldn't be described. She had this overwhelming feeling of hope that the guy just four floors away was THE guy. HER GUY. 'Wishes don't come true like that' she scolded herself. 'They just don't.' She took a deep breath and entered the elevator. On her way up she concocted a story that would suffice. She thought she might have left a

book in the back seat of her car. But she didn't. How forgetful of her! That would work… that would definitely work.

She went the apartment door and found it unlocked. She stepped into the foyer and heard what she vaguely recalled as a muffled sob. Was it Justin? Of course it was Justin, he was the only one there. She moved as fast as her legs could carry her to the living room area. Justin was on the couch, with his head buried in his hands. His soft, melodic voice flowed through the speakers and into the air. "Justin?" she whispered. He didn't

look up, didn't respond in the least to her questioning tone. She rushed toward him her chunky heels making a faint clicking noise on the floor.

Talia sunk into the couch next to him and instinctively rubbed his back. She could now tell he was crying. 'Jeez… why did I have to leave him?' she asked herself. "Shhh…" she coerced as she tried to stifle her own tears. He raised his head slightly and turned to face her. His fingers still covered his lips, but he had obvious wetness on his cheeks and his eyes were reddened. Talia instinctively wiped the wetness from his face. She could

tell he faintly smiled, even though she couldn't see it his face moved slightly.

Justin dropped his hands totally from his face and simply looked at her. Talia felt herself tense under his glare. It was as if he was taking her in, trying to memorize her every feature. In her nervousness she moved her fingers from his cheek down past his jaw and rested her hand finally on his shoulder. 'A non-committal place' she sighed to herself.

She noticed Justin was moving closer to her. The closer he got; the more and more she felt the pounding of her heart against her rib cage. She tried to hold her reserve as he slowly approached. He had done this before, she reckoned, even if he had no recollection of it. He had definitely rendered some woman helpless by mere thoughts of what was about to occur. His lips finally reached hers and she lost herself totally to him at that moment. All her reserve in the world was no match for the feeling of him. How soft

and welcoming he was. His arms wrapped around her and he continued his methodical assault on her senses. She could mildly taste the salt from his tears on his lips and it was that which caused her to snap back into the hazy reality. "NO NO NO! STOP! You're with Liz." Talia pulled away, but refused to look at him, knowing he'd pull her in again. Him, embodying everything she had wished for eight years prior on that falling star.

"I don't KNOW her Talia," Justin said quietly. He grabbed her hand. She could hear the quiver in his voice. 'Don't cry' she urged him silently. Knowing she'd lose herself completely if he did. "I don't know her. You're the one who told me to do what I feel," he whispered. His fingertips ran across her lips. "I don't know Liz. I know you." He again leaned in and it took every ounce of her will power to pull herself to her feet. She shook her head and looked down at him still clinging to her hand.

"That can't happen Justin… you know that." She felt her voice stiffen and she realized she was trying to hold back her own tears. She wanted that so much… she wanted HIM so much. But there were obstacles. Just because he didn't remember Liz didn't give her any right to assume the role of girlfriend, or whatever in his life. She had more respect for the bond couples shared. Much more.

Part 15

“Why not?” Justin asked, his eyes still glassy from crying.

“Let me explain something to you.” Talia sat down with him on the couch and told him about how her parents got a divorce when she was 10. “I know that’s not the same as your deal with Liz, because you’re not married and you don’t have kids. But you have to understand where my belief in the wrongness of the whole thing comes from. You many not remember Liz right now, but you will eventually. Then you might regret letting more happen than already has.” She paused for a minute to make sure that he was listening and understanding her.

Justin looked at Talia and realized that she was right. “I’m sorry.” He said. “It won’t happen again.”

She put her hand on his shoulder to let him know that there were no hard feelings. “You wanna go get something to eat?”

“Sounds good.” He smiled a little, making Talia happy that she had told him, and stopped things before he found out what she was really feeling. She was sure that all this was out of gratitude for her saving him, then being there for him every since. And she didn’t want that to get in the way of him remembering.

Talia had seen a small corner café on her way to Justin’s apartment and they decided to walk since it was such a nice day outside. It wasn’t too hot outside, but the sun was shining brightly. She figured that the outside air might do Justin a little good.

As they stepped out of the apartment, Justin instinctively reached for Talia’s hand and she didn’t stop him. She’d seen first hand how lost and alone he felt and if holding her hand made him feel better, then so be it. She tried to think of it as helping him out, instead of what she really wanted to think. That is was fate that they were together like this and so comfortable with each other. It didn’t take them long to reach the café and they found a table quickly since it was the middle of the afternoon, long after the lunch rush. Talia was glad for that too. If Justin was such a big celebrity, then people were bound to recognize him and she didn’t know how he would handle that right now.

They made it through lunch without any obstacles or real awkwardness between the two of them. When they got up to leave, Talia noticed that Justin cringed a little.

“Do you want to catch a cab back to your place?” She asked, her hand on his arm. Justin shook his head no, but Talia could tell that he was hurting, so she didn’t give him a choice. She walked to the edge of the street and hailed a cab. Justin didn’t protest, he just let her lead him to the cab and got in.

They made it back to Justin’s apartment safely and she went up in the elevator with him to make sure he made it okay and took his pain pills.

After Justin had taken his pills and laid down on the couch, Talia looked at her watch and saw that it was after 4pm. She didn’t want to be there when Liz got back. “I think I’m going to head home.”

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Justin asked, but then stopped her before she got out the door. “Wait. I have a doctor’s appointment and I don’t know how long it will take.”

“Don’t worry about it. Call me when you get done and let me know how things went.” Talia told him. She closed the door behind her and leaned against the outside. ‘How could I have let that happen?’ She chastised herself. She couldn’t let Justin know what she was really feeling. If she did, she was afraid that would put even more stress on him. Sighing in defeat, she walked to her Jeep and made the lonely drive to her apartment.

Liz walked in the apartment and saw Justin laying on the couch asleep. He looked so peaceful that for a minute she had second thoughts about what she was doing. But she quickly shook them off. She was going to hang on as long as she possibly could. Maybe Justin would never remember what happened between them on the night of his accident. She was going to do everything she possibly could to get him to remember everything else they shared though.

Justin stirred in his sleep and felt someone staring at him. He opened his eyes, hoping to find Talia there, but saw Liz instead. He closed his eyes quickly, hoping that she hadn’t seen them open and would leave him alone.

“Justin? Are you awake?” Liz asked when she saw his eyes flutter.

He groaned to himself and opened his eyes again. “Hi Liz. How was work?” He asked as if he really had interest.

“It was boring as usual. I would have rather been here with you.” She smiled sweetly. “Did you do anything exciting today?”

“No not really.” Justin replied. “Talia and I went to lunch at this little café a few blocks from here.”

Liz felt her blood boil and the sound of Talia’s name. She was going to have to do something about that girl, she just wasn’t sure what yet. Liz thought that Talia was spending way too much time with Justin. But, she’d deal with that later. Right now she had to concentrate on Justin wanting her again. She had to make him remember.

Talia collapsed on the couch as soon as she got home. The day had been exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. She felt emotionally drained. When Justin had kissed her earlier, she felt like the circle had been completed, like she herself had been completed. He was everything that she wished for so long ago and had been convinced she would never find. ‘But I have found him.’ She thought. The only problem was that he was already taken.

The next morning…

Justin woke up on the couch yet again. He tried not to remember the previous night. Liz had slipped into his bed wearing some lingerie. He had woke up, but pretended to be asleep. Even when she snuggled up next to him, he had lain perfectly still until he was sure that she was asleep. Then he’d gotten out of bed and came downstairs. He got up off the couch and went in the kitchen to get something to drink. As he walked by the phone, it rang.

“Hello?” He answered.

“Justin? It’s Jc. Do you mind if we come with you to the doctor today?”

Justin sighed. He knew that he was going to have to face them again sooner or later. “No. I don’t mind. Can you pick me up then?”

“Sure. We’ll be there in about an hour.” Jc told him and hung up the phone.

Justin got some cereal out of the cabinet and heard Liz coming down the stairs. He assumed she would be getting ready to leave for work.

“Good morning sweetie.” Liz said happily as she joined him in the kitchen.

“Morning.” He returned politely. He waited for her to leave, but she didn’t. “Do you have to work today?”

“Nope. I took off so that I could go to the doctor with you. I have to be there for you.”

He tried not to show how disappointed that he was, and was saved by the guys arriving.

“Hello Justin.” They said almost at the same time. After some empty small talk, they all loaded up in Jc’s Cherokee and headed to the hospital. He had to get some follow up x-rays, so the doctor had told them to meet him there.

They checked in at the nurse’s station and sat down to wait for the doctor to arrive. Lance was the first to ask about Justin’s memory.

“So. Did the tapes help?”

“A little. I haven’t really remembered anything yet, but they definitely made me feel better.” He replied carefully. “At least I know what happened by watching the tapes.”

They sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until the doctor arrived. He took Justin through a hallway and to an x-ray room. After taking about a dozen pictures of his ribs, the doctor told him to wait there until he returned. Justin did as he was told and sat on the hard table without his shirt on. The doctor came back about 15 minutes later.

“Well I have good news for you Justin. Your ribs are healing nicely. They were not completely broken to begin with, just cracked, and you should be back at 100 percent in 2 or 3 more weeks.”

“Thanks doc.” Justin replied.

“Now. Let’s go back out here and get your friends. I’m sure they want to hear the rest of what I have to say.”

Justin frowned a little, but pulled his shirt back over his head and followed the doctor into the waiting room. Liz, Jc, Lance, Chris and Joey stood up and followed Justin and the doctor into an office. The doctor took his seat and urged them to do the same.

“Now. About your memory loss, Justin.” He began. “Have you had any luck in recalling things?”

“No. I haven’t. I had one vague dream and a small memory about my mother.” Justin replied.

“Okay. First of all, that’s perfectly normal. It hasn’t even been a week since your accident. It will all come back to you. And when it does, it will probably be all at once. There’s going to be one thing that triggers a significant memory, and after that, everything else will just fall into place. Unless…” The doctor turned to Liz and the guys. “Can any of you tell me what Justin’s mood was the last time you saw him?”

“When he left the hotel, he said that he was going over to Liz’s house.” Jc answered for the guys.

“He came over for a few minutes, then left. He seemed a little tired.” Liz lied.

“Okay.” The doctor replied. “Then we shouldn’t have a problem. The only time that temporary amnesia can be hard to overcome is when there was a traumatic experience immediately preceding the event that caused the amnesia. In Justin’s case, that would be the accident and the mugging.”

Liz shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

“Traumatic experiences can affect the fullness in which the memory returns.” The doctor explained further. “But since none of you seem to think that occurred, Justin should have no problem in regaining his full memory. Do not pressure him though. Let it come about naturally or it will take longer.” He warned them and left the room, reminding Justin to come back and see him in a week.


parts 16-20




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