(Edited)

She stood in front of James, her eyes wide open.

"Jay-Jay?" Her sweet melodic voice questioned, shocked.

James's heart filled up with so much love. Who would have thought that I would miss a nickname that I once hated so damn much? He looked at her; bruised. How much she had changed, still beautiful, yet broken. The fact that she finally remembered who he was after such a long time had him wondering how it happened. She stood frozen in shock, just staring at him. He looked at her, really looked at her and realized something that the boys kept missing, the look in her eyes. Her face wore a smile, but her eyes spoke the truth; they were filled with pain and darkness, trying to escape.

He looked at her and smiled, before he could say anything else, she embraced him, holding on for dear life. James wrapped his muscular arms around her small, fragile body, hugging her back. Her sweet, familiar scent filled his nose, and he pulled her even closer. "Goodness, I missed you!" He kissed her temple and gently pushed her shaking body away from him. She was crying. "Shsh little Fighter, I'm here now." He soothed, wiping the tears from her cheeks. James ignored the state her face was in; bruised and battered. He felt the rage in him boiling over, but he knew he had to keep himself under control. Now he understood why she had the hoody over her head.

She hiccupped. "I'm so sorry for forgetting you! I didnt do it on purpose, I promise." She looked up at him, her eyes filled with so much sadness. "Please forgive me?"

James chuckled. "There's nothing to forgive Fighter." He hugged her one more time and looked over at Dustin and Shawn. They stood a few feet away, looking slightly uncomfortable. They weren't good with crying girls, but I knew they cared for Autumn very much.

Autumn groaned with frustration. "I have no idea how I forgot everyone."

James shook his head, his hair falling over his eyes. "I might know something." He patted Autumn on the head, and she swatted his hand away.

"Are you gonna share with the class?"

"I'll explain everything after you race with me," James smirked, her eyes filled with panic.

"Hell, yes!" Dustin and Shawn shouted, bumping their chest against one another. Autumn whacked them behind the head, and they scowled.

"Damn woman! Why so violent?" Dustin asked. Shawn thumped her on the forehead, and she stuck her tongue out.

James rolled his eyes, remembering how childish those three could be together. "Okay children, thats enough!"

Shawn crossed his arms over his chest and stomped his feet. "I'm not n child, take it back!"

"Thank you for proving my point." James rolled his eyes and grabbed Autumn's wrist, pulling her towards his car, she winced slightly but tried covering it with a cough.

"I don't want to go!" She yelled, trying to pull away from his grip. Her shouting drew the attention of the bystanders, and James smiled at them, waving awkwardly.

"Nothing to see here." He pushed her into the passenger seat and closed the door, getting in behind the wheel.

James turned to a furious Autumn giving her a sly grin. "Relax Fighter its just a friendly race."

They were racing against Dustin, Shawn and two newbies. James could win with his eyes closed. The race started, and James was in the lead, Autumn sat quietly next to him, distracting him unknowingly. He couldnt help but smile, remembering the good old days. It used to be something they did together, racing. Back then everything felt perfect, he had her in his life, and even though she was Ryans girlfriend, they were always close. James knew that they hadnt spoken in a long time, but he still knew her better than he knew himself. He could see since the very beginning, when he approached her at her workplace, that something was wrong. Back then, he couldnt ask her what was going on, but now that she remembered him, he could approach the matter.

James looked over at her and placed his hand on her thigh, giving it a slight squeeze to draw her attention. She winced, her head snapped up and looked at him with a small smile, it was completely fake, at least she tried. James came in second in the race, his thoughts distracting him. He came to a conclusion about her; she was ready to give up. She already did. It was evident in her posture, the way she talked and the look in her eyes. It all indicated that she was tired of trying; she wanted to end it, what exactly, was what James wanted to figure out. He just hoped that her situation wasnt as bad as her trying to kill herself. He couldnt handle something like that.

After the race, which Dustin won and wouldnt stop boasting about, they went to get some celebratory cake; per Dustins request. They chose a small diner on the outskirts of town; Autumn didnt know this, but they picked a place where Ryan would unlikely run into them.

"Hold your willy," Dustin exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table. "Are you saying I only won by default?" he asked glaring at Shawn.

Shawn rolled his eyes. "I was three feet away from the finishing line when a rat ran in front of my car, and I had to swerve so, I wouldnt kill him." Both James and Dustin looked at him like he was delusional, but he paid them no mind. "I saved that quitters life." He stated proudly.

Dustin scoffed, leaning back in his seat. "Yeah right, you can't even save a fish from drowning!" Shawn leaned forward, punching him on the arm, Autumn and James chuckled. James looked at her sitting next to Dustin with the first real smile on her face, and he felt genuinely happy. There was hope.

James decided to put an end to their bickering; he wasn't up for another late night because they couldn't stop arguing.

"Enough! Neither of you would have won if I wasn't distracted by a phone call." Autumn looked at James with a raised eyebrow. He gave her a sly smile asking for her to play along.

She shook her head at his antics. "It was a very intense conversation." It frightened him that she was such a good liar.

Both Dustin and Shawn looked worried and bombarded James with questions. "Who was it?"

"What happened?"

James looked panicked, not thinking this through. He looked over at Autumn, hoping she would help him, but she only smirked at him; he was on his own. Traitor!

"Uh, Uhm, you see..." he started off searching for an answer, while they all waited patiently. "My dog!" James yelled out, regretting it instantly.

Autumn covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing. Shawn wanted to punch James for worrying him and Dustin, like usual, looked utterly confused.

"Really? When did you get a dog, man?" All three of them glared at Dustin. Was he serious? "Hold on why didnt you tell me?" he pouted.

Shawn couldnt hold in the urge to reach over and punch him again, this time harder than the previous. "Are you serious right now?" He asked incredulously. "How stupid could you be? Hes lying!"

Dustin leaned into Autumn, rubbing the sore spot on his arm. "I knew that you prick, no need to beat me to death." He scrunched his eyebrows, furiously. He turned to Autumn with a pout, and she smiled warmly at him.

"Sorry buddy but even I knew that was a lie, besides you know hes allergic to dogs and if he comes in contact with them, he swells up like a pufferfish." She explained. She looked over at James, shooting him a smirk.

James huffed and leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "At least I'm a cute pufferfish."

Shawn cleared his throat, drawing all the attention towards him. "Since were talking about animals, lets address the elephant in the room," He said glancing at Autumn, causing her to fidget in her seat. Before James could open his mouth to tell them the news he had discovered, a blond girl with pretty green eyes walked up to their table.

"Halo, my name is Nikky, and I'll be your waitress today." She introduces herself, and the boys looked at her lustfully.

Shawn looked Nikky in the eyes and smirked. "Are you a magnet, 'cause Im attracted to you?" He flirted. James rolled his eyes, not believing the show in front of him; he knew Shawn had a better game than that and to use such an old pickup line, amateur.

Nikky rolled her eyes. "That pick-up line is so old my heart didnt even skip a beat." She sassed. James smirked proudly, mentally patting the girl on the back.

Shawn didn't look beat, his smile brightened. "Its okay, baby, my heart is skipping enough for the both of us." He winked at her, and her cheeks turned rosy. James scoffed, losing his respect for her and looked over at Autumn enjoying the show.

"Ok, enough flirting. Can I order now?" Dustin asked rudely.

Nikkys rosy blush turned scarlet. "Right, I'm sorry. What can I get you?"

Dustin scratched his chin in deep concentration. "Can I have two large pizzas half and a half; one with pepperoni on the one side and sweet chilly chicken on the other side, the other one-half pineapples, half vegetarian." He looked up at her to make sure she was writing everything down. Ignoring the shocked look on her face, he continued. "Two large plates of fries and two of nuggets, four milkshakes; two chocolate, one caramel and one Oreo." He finished, closing his menu, casually he turned to his friends. "What do you guys want?"

Dustins friends shook their heads at his childish antics. With that being the entire order, the waitress walked away a bit horrified. Everyone laughed at her expression. It was one of Dustins favourite pastimes; ordering for everyone in one go and pretend that it was all for him; not that he couldnt finish all of that, he had an enormous appetite.

Everyone looked at James expectantly; he did mention he had an idea of what happened to Autumn. He stared back at them, missing it completely; sometimes, he could be dense.

"Explain!" Shawn demanded, looking at him sideways.

"Right," James said, leaning forward. "When I realized that she wasn't faking and actually didn't remember us, I went and consulted with a doctor. I explained Autumns situation to him, and he said that without a physical diagnosis, he couldnt make an accurate prognosis. But from what I had told him, he said that all of her symptoms pointed to Dissociative Amnesia," James explained. The look on all their faces was relief; they were happy that Autumn wasnt pretending. James opened his mouth to continue, but Nikky arrived with their drinks. Sending them around to their rightful owners, they thank her, and she left.

James took a sip of his caramel milkshake and sighed happily. "Like I was saying, Dissociative Amnesia is a type of disorder that involves the inability to recall important personal information. It usually lasts minutes, hours, months and rarely; like in your case, years. The doctor explained that in most cases, the patient recovers their memories without treatment."

"Okay, that makes sense. I've been having flashbacks and dreams up until recently when I dreamt about all of you and everything came back to me." Autumn said playing with the straw in her Oreo drink. She looks up slightly, the hood of her jacket covering her face.

"Great at least now we know what happened and you have your memories back, so we have you back. Alls well that ends well." Shawn said, smiling.

James shook his head; he still needed answers. "Shawn's right, at least now we know what happened, but what's bothering me is the reason behind it." He looked over at Autumn, her face contoured with panic. "Dissociative amnesia comes from stress or trauma, and as far as I can remember, stress has never been an issue for you. That leaves trauma." He didn't remove his eyes from her, waiting for her to speak up. Their gaze broke when Dustin spoke up.

"What type of trauma?"

"Abuse," James answered, looking back to Autumn. She fiddled with her thumbs, a clear sign of anxiousness. Autumn looked away from everyone; she felt guilty.

"Autumn?" Dustin called her.

She sighed and looked at everyone. "Don't be ridiculous. Maybe it was the fact that I got ripped from my life and thrown into another one."

James looked at her, analysing everything she had said. No, it couldnt be! She was too much of a fighter to let something like that bother her. James could feel it; it was a trauma caused by abuse. Was she being abused by her foster parents? It could explain why she had a purple bruise on her jaw and flinched every time someone would touch her. It made sense now, but why would they take in a kid and not take care of it, unless they were only doing it for the money? But why abuse her and risk being thrown in jail, for more money maybe? But who was paying them? James stopped with his theories when Shawn spoke up.

"Look kid I might be an ass most of the time-"

"All the time," Dustin said, cutting him off.

Shawn shot him a glare and continued. "But I really care about you, and I'll always be here for you if you need me. I'll even go as far as to kill someone for you." Autumn smiled at him, her eyes glossing over.

"I'll go as far as letting someone kill me to save you." Dustin joined in with a goofy smile.

"I'll kill both of them to save you," James said with a smirk. Dustin and Shawn glared at him, causing Autumn to smile.

"You guys are so dramatic." She said, wiping her happy tears away. "But I appreciate you all so much and I'm thankful to have you al back in my life. Just don't expect the favour in return because I don't love you guys that much." She smirked.

"Ass," James chuckled.

The night went fast after that. They ate their food, making light conversation and jokes. Their waitress ended up slipping her number to Shawn when she brought the check to them, Shawn gloated the rest of the night about it. After they paid, James walked Autumn back to the car that she came in. He was gathering strength to ask her not to give up; he wasnt ready to lose her again.

"Thanks for dinner and not giving up on me," Autumn said, turning around to look at him.

"You don't have to thank me, Fighter. You still mean the world to me and no matter how many times you forget me, Ill never forget you." James said, seriously, pulling Autumn into a hug. He saw Shawn and Dustin approaching, so he leaned closer to her ear so that they wouldnt hear. "I didnt give up on you. Now, you need to promise me that you wont give up on yourself. Just hold on a little longer, please. If you feel like you're slipping, Im just a phone call away. Ill come save you." He kissed her on the forehead and moved back to look at her. She was confused and slightly shocked that James knew what she wanted to do. She got in the car and looked at him while they drove away.

Standing alone in the parking lot, James realized that she left with the same look in her eyes that she had when she arrived. He feared that maybe he didnt convince her to stay alive.

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