Chapter 10

One week later . . .

It had been three days before Marc was given permission to leave the base.

Injured in the RPG blast that took out Jules's building, Marc had been medevac'd back to base and sedated.

By the time he came around, Jules had already been flown back to England for a surgery to remove a clot in her brain.

With Commander Strong's blessing, and the knowledge of their engagement, he put Marc on the first plane out.

And that is how he came to be there, in a hospital in the centre of London, stood outside of Jules's room and afraid to go inside.

She was awake, she had been awake for the past hour, but Marc couldn't bring himself to step through those doors.

What did he say to her? How did he explain why he wasn't there when she woke up from surgery?

Pacing up and down the hallway outside her room, Marc froze when a nurse left her room and walked over to him.

"Yes?" Marc asked, stood in his uniform. He had not bothered changing, instead coming straight here.

"She would like to see you," The nurse nodded to Jules's room with a smile.

"Thank you," Marc sighed; Jules had seen him acting like a fool and called him out on it.

"She's very weak though," The nurse warned him.

He nodded, said that he understood, and stepped inside, shutting the door behind them. The room was like most hospital rooms with white walls, tubes and a monitor in the corner forever bleeping about something.

A floor-to-ceiling window let in the late morning sunshine and giving Jules a view down onto the car park.

Jules was sat up in bed as she watched him walk in, a pleasant smile on her lips and wearing pink pyjamas, with her left arm up in a sling.

Marc did not think anything about it, his eyes travelling to the bandage taped to the side of her head.

A strip of hair on the left side of her head, behind the ear, had been shaved for the surgery but they had not taken much.

Jules saw him looking, "They tried to help me keep my hair," She spoke softly, lifting a hand and softly twiddling with the hair that had brushed over her right shoulder.

Marc nodded, "You still look beautiful to me."

Jules shifted uncomfortably in the bed.

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner, I got stuck at the base in Afghanistan." Marc apologised, taking the seat beside her.

Jules shifted a little bit away from him as she turned and watched him carefully, her fingers entwining on the bed sheet in front of her.

"Jules?" Marc frowned, wondering why she hadn't shouted at him yet.

Julia lifted her eyes to look at him in shock, nobody called her 'Jules' but she pushed it aside. The doctor did say she may be a bit groggy after the accident.

"Are you-" Julia searched his face, "Are you a soldier?"

Marc froze, "Jules? What are you talking about?"

"I didn't mean to offend you-"

Marc frowned, she didn't mean to offend? Jules would never have said that.

"-I just thought that the uniform and you mentioned Afghanistan- Are you not a soldier then?" Jules asked meekly, afraid.

"I'm a Marine," Marc muttered, unsure of what to say or what was happening.

"Oh," Jules nodded, "Are you okay?" She pointed to the cut on his forehead which he had had to have stitched up.

"Um, not really, no," Marc blinked, still in a state of shock.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Julia rattled off like she had been brought up to, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Marc replied instantly, hoping she was suddenly going to scream that all of this had been a prank, and did he like her revenge?

But of course she did not say that.

"Why were you outside my room? Are you looking for someone?"

Marc's lips parted as he stared into her eyes and realised that she did not know him. There was no longer that spark there.

This wasn't Jules.

"Um-" Marc began to panic.

"Morning, honey!" Julia's door suddenly opened and Katherine came walking in with her husband, her arms laid down with bags.

Marc rose to his feet politely but when Katherine saw him her face turned cold.

He knew then, in that moment, that Katherine had not told Jules about him.

"May I have a word?" Marc asked them, staying polite in front of Jules. She did not need to see him arguing with her parents.

"I think that would be best," Mr Reynolds explained.

"Daddy?" Julia frowned.

"It's nothing to worry about sweetie," Katherine placed a bag on her daughter's lap, "Here, your friends have been sending you get well cards. Why don't you take a look, honey?"

Marc stepped outside of the room and guided them down the hallway a bit so that Jules could not over hear them.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that those 'Get Well Soon' cards don't have any from her real friends in Afghanistan." Marc looked between them.

"Look, son," Harold tried to intervene.

"What the hell is going on?" Marc raised his voice, "She didn't even recognise me!"

"Listen," Harold put up his hands, "We're going to take you to the doctor. He can explain it better than us."

The doctor did explain it but Marc wasn't sure if it was better.

"It is rare but it has happened before," Doctor Barter sat down at his desk and looked across at Marc, willing him to believe it, "I'm afraid the clot in Julia's brain damaged a part of her long-term memory before we could safely remove it."

"You're telling me she doesn't remember anything of her time in the Marines?" Marc scoffed.

"I'm afraid so," Barter nodded, "We have conducted memory tests to see how much she remembers and we estimate that all of her memories are intact up until a few weeks before her eighteenth birthday."

Marc swallowed around the lump in his throat, "She enrolled three days after her eighteenth birthday."

Doctor Barter looked down at his hands, "I'm sorry."

"So," Marc blinked, "She doesn't remember me or any of her friends or anything from Afghanistan? How old does she think she is now?"

"Because of the memory loss, she currently thinks she is seventeen. She asked me if she would be released in time for her birthday in a few weeks."

"Her birthday isn't for another couple of months," Marc's throat began to close up, "We were going to travel to Paris."

Katherine lifted her head as she heard the news.

"We have broken the news to her that she is in fact twenty-three years old. It's just a matter of time of allowing her to come to terms with that." Barter explained.

"Well," Jules's mother muttered, "We must look on the bright side."

"Katherine . . ." Harold spoke softly in a warning.

"Bright side?" Marc frowned, "My fiancé doesn't remember who she is."

"Yes, that is true," Katherine appeared upset but Marc could not tell if it was genuine or not, "But now she might be able to have a second chance at life. A chance without war and death."

"I know you never approved of your daughter going into Marines," Marc looked her in the eye, "But your daughter was one of the most dedicated, talented and, simply amazing, Marines that I have ever known. And I love her."

Katherine shifted in her chair.

"You may not want to tell her about the heroic work she did, or the amount of people she saved, but one day she will remember."

"Lieutenant," Doctor Barter, "I must stress that this appears to be permanent, Miss Reynolds may never remember who she was."

"Yes, she will," Marc told him, "I'll make sure of it." He got to his feet.

"Marc!" Harold shouted.

"Oh, don't worry," Marc turned back to look at them, "I won't tell her. I'll let her figure it out for herself, Jules never did like people manipulating her," Marc looked at her mother, "so I'll step back and let you have your way, for now."

Marc turned to the doctor who had a small smile playing on his lips, "Can I see her before I leave?"

"Of course," The doctor nodded, not even checking with her parents.

"Thank you," Marc turned to leave when he remembered something, "Oh, there was a ring with Jules when she came in. Where is it? I didn't see it on her."

"I'm sorry, I don't remember any ring." Doctor Barter shook his head.

Marc looked towards her parents but they both shook their heads, "I didn't see any ring."

Marc turned and stormed out of the room.

Talk about adding insult to injury, he had just lost Jules and now he had lost his grandmother's ring.

It was probably lying amongst a pile of rubble in Afghanistan.

Taking a deep breath he tapped on Jules's door.

"Come in!" Jules's voice replied.

Marc opened the door and stepped inside, "Hey,"

Jules looked at him, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Marc lied, "May I come in?"

Julia nodded and he shut the door behind him.

"I didn't mean to scare you," Marc walked across the room and sat back in the chair.

"You didn't," Julia shook her head and Marc smiled, seeing a bit of Jules inside of her, it gave him hope.

"Are you sure you're alright?" She nodded to his head.

Marc nodded, "Ladders and a fear of heights don't mix," Marc lied, "What about you? You look pretty banged up there."

"Oh," Julia nodded "I was in a car accident."

"A car accident?" Marc clenched his jaw.

He wanted to tell her the truth, that she was injured serving her country, trying to stop a high-profile terrorist.

But he didn't know how to tell her that she was injured for nothing. Farhat had slipped away in the explosion.

A slight part of him suddenly wondered if Katherine was right, did Jules deserve a life away from death?

Marc always wanted to keep her safe but he knew that Jules wouldn't want that. That was why she became a Marine but if he told her the truth now, Julia wouldn't believe him.

She would call security and kick him out.

And if he was to come back at another time and tell her the truth, after she had started to see the cracks in her mother's false life, he needed to leave her without the impression that he was a nutcase.

It was hard to do, but he had to do it.

"This might not make much sense to you now," Marc leaned in, "But I care for you quite deeply."

Julia opened her lips to speak but Marc stopped her.

"Don't say anything," Marc smiled softly, letting her know that he wasn't going to harm her, "I have to go soon and you may not see me for a while, but I just wanted you to know that."

Julia nodded.

Marc got to his feet and stared down into Jules's face, cut adorning her skin, but she was still as beautiful to him as ever.

"Be safe," He told her as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead.

Julia didn't move, her eyes closing briefly as she felt his lips against the thin skin of her forehead.

Lingering for a second, trying to cement everything about her in his mind, Marc pulled away and headed for the door, his heart breaking a little bit more with every step he took away from her.

"Marc?" Jules suddenly called out

"Yes?" He spun around to look at her, his eyes wide as his mind ran wild wondering what she was going to say.

"Thank you," Julia smiled.

His hope was crushed but somehow he managed to smile back, "You're welcome."

And then he opened the door and left, her parents waiting outside to watch him leave.

(hc