I walk out of the room, away from those two, and leave them to their privacy. I walk quietly, wiping the tears from my own eyes, listening to my footsteps as I approach the lobby. I look up from the floor, to meet Tamlin's eyes, watching me.

"What took my darling doctor so long?" He smiles evilly at me.

"Very funny, you jerk. For your information, I helped that young man get in touch with someone he hasn't been with in a while and it was nice. She needs him, I found out from a confidential folder that her mother died, and everything." I give him the Look.

"Oh, well that was kind."

"Really, I didn't think you would say that." I laugh sarcastically.

"We really need to get going now, though. This way," Tamlin takes me by the elbow, and leads me to the front doors, "my car is idling." I stare at his Jeep, after signing out, and wonder if I really am ready to get in a car with a complete stranger. "What? Cat scratched your feet?"

"No...," I know who he is but I don't at the same time, and I am suddenly getting cold feet. "Where are you going to take me, I need to tell my dad that I am okay." I sternly look at him, and he walks around to my door and opens it for me.

"Get in, please. I will take you to see your dad," he starts to mumble, "eventually." I get a weird feeling in my legs, then a tingling sensation, and a headache.

"What?" I ask hesitantly, then my abdomen pounds me with pain, as my spine tingles up to my neck, and I pass out in the parking lot.

"Hey, wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!" I hear a voice, very distant yet next to me. My head is pounding with waves of pain, and I struggle to wake up and open my eyes.

I see black, a blank canvas, and no matter how much I try, I can't open my eyes. I start to panic, and scream, then I feel something grab onto my arms, and cover my mouth with a...hand? I struggle to breathe, and struggle to get up. I don't know where I am, or remember even the last twenty four hours.

I start to wonder who I am when, I choke. I can't breathe, and this hand won't go away. I realize I am still screaming when the hand clamps down harder. "Chill, calm down. It's just me, Tamlin. Remember me?" I struggle to recall ever even hearing that name, let alone coming to terms with the fact that we are acquainted.

What kind of person cuts off your oxygen, and tells you that it's just them? I open my eyes, looking around wildly. "Umm, hmm!" I scream harder. He lets go of my mouth. "Jesus! Mary, and Joseph! What the hell? You call yourself a friend, then you all of a sudden clamp down on my breathing tube, and cut off my OXYGEN!"

"Wait, you don't recognize me at all?" Was I supposed to?

"No, I don't so I would appreciate it if you didn't touch me, at all. I don't remember you, how I got here, or even who I am!" What happened to me? I start to hyperventilate, and know I am starting to feel cooped up and claustrophobic. "Air, I need air." I fall to my knees. I put both hands on the floor to catch myself, when I feel a rush of cool air rush into the room. I look up, expecting to see a door opening for freedom, but instead it is a dusty little window that is propped open.

"There, now calm down. I can see why you would be confused but I know deep down you know who I am. Take a seat, and we can see why you cannot remember me." He is so calm, this Tamlin. I wonder if we do actually know each other. I sit back down on the couch, on the opposite side from him. "Now, does your head hurt?" What?

"Y-yeah? I mean, for a moment when I woke up it certainly did, and I couldn't see and it freaked me out." I'm cautious of this stranger.

"Shit. Shit, shit what the hell? The doctors told me you would be fine, that you had a major concussion. But, memory LOSS? They said it was a possible side effect but why now? And this bad at that? I cannot believe this. I don't know what to do." He looks at me, his perfect face: strong jaw line, straight smile, tanned muscular skin, and not too big nose.

He has raven black hair, in a close shave, and bangs in a gelled up way-kind of sexy too. Waaaaiiiiittttttt. I didn't just think that. I need to be on top of the game, I cannot let my guard down with this stranger. Who knows, I think, maybe he is holding me hostage.

"Wait, concussion, hospital? Memory loss? Who am I? Don't you dare try to lie to me. Who am I?"

He turns towards me, thrusting his hands into the air, "Why would you even ask that? You obviously don't trust or know me, so...what makes you think I wouldn't lie?"

"Uh, because I need answers dipstick, so don't play around with me. Be forward, and just spit it out!"

"You're Alise Lewis, I found you out on a pasture banged up. You had ended up telling me you were beaten, uh....the other stuff's not important if you cannot remember. But, you were thrown from a plane with a ripped parachute. You had somehow survived, by pulling the string and the ripped chute catching enough air that you had hit the ground with minimum damage. I know it sounds crazy, but I even have your meds from the hospital, and your clothes, well the clothes I bought you."

"Okay, you told me a name, and my 'story,' but not much else. Those are facts anyone could get from a newspaper. Spill it, who are my parents, where do I live, where the hell am I?"

"Your father is Derrick Lewis, mother Amabeth Lewis. Father, a retired police officer and FBI agent. Mother, elementary educations teacher for the fourth grade. You come from Applewood, Montana. As for where you are I will not give that away."

Okay, he seems to know a lot, but why the heck can't I know where I am? "No, tell me where I am or I am walking my happy ass out of here."

"Only if you can take me out to get through the door, and I see you retained your spunk, Alise."

"What the hell? So you are keeping me as a hostage? What the hell did I ever do, who are you?"

"I'm Tamlin Wolf, and you are special to me."

"Oh no I am not, I am not part of any of this. Let me go."

"Just try to go, just try."

I turn my head slightly, and I see a huge metal door to my left. It is dusty and old looking, but easy to understand. I just have to turn the handle, and lift up the bar over the door at the same time to get the spring alongside it to release. I look back at him. "And just who do you think you are? Threatening me. Obviously you're not a people person, because if you were you would know that to get something from somebody you coax them into it, by being nice!"

He looks down at his hands, "Oh don't even. If you knew who you were you would easily understand that we made a pact to...Please Alise, I don't want to hurt you." He is rubbing his already scarred knuckles, and I realize he has a good hundred pounds on me.

"Hurt me? Really...I thought I was special to you? You realize a ticket is only good when it is in it's full form? And when it doesn't already have a few punches in it?" What an idiot.

"Alise, sit down, now. You just got out of the hospital that you stayed at for a month or more recovering from abuse and a fall that should have killed you!" He stands up from the couch so suddenly, that I back up subconsciously. "That is the last thing I want you to go through again, do you not see the boot on your leg, and the bandages on your body? I can bet you are sore in a few places, some not appropriate to mention."

I blush, because he knows all this. How could he, unless that story was true? It can't be though, I refuse to believe that. Who would do that to me? "Shut up, shut up! Why can't I just leave. I must have a family somewhere? And if you have a soul you would see how this situation looks wrong on my end. I'm in capri leggings, and just a sports bra! And one that announces that I have cleavage. Alone, in a place with a man that I know nothing about except his name." I move back a few more steps.

"No, I am not like that, I would never touch you like what those men did to yo-" he cuts himself off, "You don't have to worry about me, just believe me. I wouldn't have cared for you if I wanted you dead." He puts his hands on his hips, "Would it make you feel better to have a shirt?"

I nod yes, "Frankly, yes to be modest." He scoffs.

"You, modest? Yeah right." He laughs. He looks at my eyes, and then grabs the hem of his first shirt and starts to pull it over his head. Once his head is slightly covered, I run to him and shove him as hard as I can, and then grab the blanket from the couch and throw it over him.

I make a hobbling run for the exit, and open the door as the spring lets loose. I get through the threshold when I hear it snap back into place. I then hear a scary sound, the door reopening. I dash up the two flights of stairs in a narrow concrete pathway that surrounds the exit.

I reach the top of the stairs as the door opens. I realize that this is a back set of stairs. I lock eyes with Tamlin, and then turn around to continue my trek. Once at the top of the stairs, I lug my boot with me. Then, I stop running, because all around me is a big open expanse. Nothing but pasture and crops for miles, and a few barns and silos here and there.

My ankle begins to throb. My casts are off however and that makes it easier. "Going somewhere?" I whip around, and back up as Tamlin ascends the top landing too.

"S-stay back! Don't move any further, or I'll hurt you."

"You already did, awe." He smirks. "You can't go anywhere, it's just you and me for miles upon miles of nothing but crops and animals. Welcome, home. To my ranch."