Noel’s hair bounced playfully across her back and shoulders as she descended the last flight of stairs. The pants and top that had survived the day gave her the illusion of having the world by the throat and her confident walk echoed the sentiment. He smiled at her and took a step across the tiles of the foyer to meet her as she descended before he stopped in his tracks. Those unforgettable hazel eyes had noticed him with a casual glance but there was no sign of recognition in their depths. It was as if she was one of the faceless masses that looked through him as he begged on the street corner. In the five minutes they had been apart, the memory of who he was had evaporated, burned away like a fog at sunrise. Standing in the entry room, Lucas hung his head as Noel walked past him and out into the street, oblivious to the last hour they had shared.

He had been in the city for almost two weeks now. All of his possession had been stolen, a grey skinned mutant had attempted to eat him in an alleyway and now, the one person he had made any type of connection with couldn’t remember who he was. The loneliness had started to become tough to take but this last blow was the hardest.

His memory drifted back to a time at the boxing gym when he was young, a few weeks after his father left.

****

Lucas lay on the ground, his jaw throbbing from the blow that had buckled his knees. The bald head of the trainer shone with a layer of sweat as it caught the light from the lamps bolted to the dusty rafters above. The man leaned over the boy where he had fallen and examined him with a disappointed frown.

“What do you think your doing? This isn’t some flop house. Get your butt up!” He scolded loudly.

Lucas could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He hadn’t just lost, he had been destroyed. He had been powerless to stop anything his opponent had thrown his way. The entire match was completely out of his control and he felt feeble and helpless.

“I don’t want to coach.” He sniffled and stuck his bottom lip out in a pout. “I just want to lay here and die.”

The balding coach slowly bent low and then flopped into a sitting position beside the young man where he lay prone in the middle of the ring. The coach seemed tired and warn as he gazing off into the shadows of the corner for a moment as if examining some unseen ghost which hid there. The look of disappointment briefly changed to sadness before the rigid mask of the trainer resurfaced.

“So that’s it then” he grunted. “If things aren’t easy or don’t go your way you are just going to lay down and die?” The coach dropped into a sitting position on the canvas and began to idly pet the floor as he continued to stare into the corner. “Kid, you’re going to spend your life on your back if that’s the case.” Turning to the young fighter, he extended a hand to help pull him up. “No one can beat you but you kid so suck it up buttercup.”

Lucas took a second to consider the words before wiping away his tears and accepting the hand that was offered to him.

****

“Suck it up buttercup.” Lucas whispered to himself.

Turning around, he saw Noel standing on the stoop, reaching for her empty side holster as she looked up the street. She stood in the door frame, a statue of fierce determination, like a valkyrie from some old Norse legend.

“My apartment!” Noel yelled as the sound of another car crash reverberated through the entry room. The woman ran in the direction of the noise without hesitation.

“Are you kidding!?!” Lucas said to the empty room before following the young brunette out into the street. Upon exiting the foyer, he turned to see a silver station wagon sticking out of the third floor of a five storey brownstone a couple of blocks away. Noel was running full out towards the scene, not a care for self preservation.

“Why couldn’t I have saved a nice quiet librarian?” Lucas muttered and gave chase.

Running flat out toward her apartment made Noel realize a few things. 1) She was tired. 2) She had mostly likely left her partner in the dust. 3) Her apartment building had what appeared to be a stretch limousine sticking out the side of it.

Noel slowed and came to a stop about a block and a half away so that she could count how many floors up that was.

One, two, oh no. She checked her exposed forearm and spun around to see the street signs just to be double sure. The brunette muttered about her stuff, though there was only one thing she was interested in saving: a family photo. Also, she wanted her back up gun since her primary seemed out of place. And while she was at it… Ugh. She wasn't going to save anything from this distance.

"You coming?" She called back to the man closing in after her. Noel glanced over she shoulder as she started to run again and then stopped dead.

"You're not Nick." Her hand went to the empty holster and then made a frustrated claw int he air.

He had some yellow flowers in his hand as if he had forgotten they were there when he started running. Noel felt guilty then. The guy at the bottom of the stairs had been waiting for her?

"You're not… we're not…" She pointed to herself then to Lucas, then back to herself looking more and more uncomfortable as the possibilities ticked by in her head. The agent ended up settling for something vague. "We're not on a… you know." She motioned to the flowers so that she wouldn't have to say it.

Her eyes strained in her head as she looked at him. They were not on a date. They couldn't be. Her head throbbed and her hand went to her temple.

What was she doing again?

((OOC: That would be a wipe for Lucas. Feel free to forget your choice of memories. It can be something as mundane as his name or something as exotic as forgetting how to work his left arm. enjoy!))

"You coming?" Noel called back to Lucas as he closed the distance between them.

“Now she remembered him?” he thought. “How can you forget so completely that you walk past me like a stranger only to call to see if I am keeping up?”

Noel turned to look back over her shoulder and stopped fast. Lucas understood by the look on her face alone but the statement she uttered next confirmed it. "You're not Nick." A look of guilt came over her as she noticed the yellow flowers in his hand. "You're not… we're not…" she stammered as she gestured sheepishly between the two of them. ”We're not on a… you know.”

The answers were simple enough. 1) Yes, I’m coming 2) No, I’m not Nick; and 3) we are not on a date. Lucas opened his mouth to get all this out of the way before another car flew past but wasn’t fast enough.

The mental tsunami flushed through Lucas’ mind and brought with it a thousand jumbled images flipping by at an incomprehensible speed. He staggered and raised his hand to his head instinctively as the alien feelings assaulting his brain. As quickly as it had come, the wave passed on and the answers to Noel’s questions where scrubbed clean away with it.

Was I following her? Am I Nick? Were we .... and do I know? The answers the man had found so easily a moment ago were no longer there to be retrieved. He slowed down and stopped a few feet away from the young woman, attempting to force his mind to retrieve a response to these simple questions, but nothing came. Small flashes of random half second moments assaulted him but were difficult to hold onto. He felt like a child chasing dandelion seeds in the wind.

The image of Noel running down an alley holding his hand flashed across the theatre of his mind. She wore a suit and had blood on her elbow. The tattoo on her forearm peaked out of the cuff. The image disintegrated as Lucas tried to pry more detail from the mirage. Looking over the woman standing before her, things seemed the same but different. She wore the same pants but her arm no longer had a scratch on it. This must have been a few months earlier. They had known each other long enough for the wound to heal completely. That was something.

Another memory floated to the surface. Noel was on her back, her eyes closed and she breathed heavily. Her hair was tousled about wildly but she didn’t seem to care. The young man had been lying on top of her and had tried to push himself up but his arm had given way and he ended up lying at her side instead. She seemed so peaceful, laying quietly beside him. He had reached his hand out and brushed some of those brown, silky locks from her eyes. And then the memory was gone.

A lonely subway car, Noel cradled his head on her shoulder with an arm wrapped around his waist. He was groggy, barely conscious but she was there for him. Making sure he got home safely. Supporting him.

More memories started to flood back at a faster and faster pace. Simple images but disjointed. It was like reading a book after someone had shuffled all the pages. He saw the angel wing tattoo on her back, he felt warm and at peace as he lay on a bed and watched her read a greasy magazine in some dingy apartment, she bent for a pouch on her ankle to retrieve a map, “Hey Noel, I got pretty turned around back there. You have any clue which way it is to get back to your place?" he asked.... None of it fit together. None of it explained who he was or who they were to each other. He ws putting together a puzzle with all the pieces upside down.

The past continued to bombard him. One after another the memories returned to mock his inability to make sense of the simplest questions. He was in a cement hallway kneeling in front of her. Something made him feel scared and nervous. Afraid to share his thoughts but knowing it was now or never. A flash and the memory skipped forward a few seconds. “The truth is.....it....well; it is going to feel really, really great.” The scene pushed away into nothingness, to make room for yet another patrtial spectre of the past. Noel, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and hugging him close, burying her head in his chest. She had yelled his name excitedly. What had she called him?

"Nick?" "Nick!" Nick. His name was Nick.

Nick looked up to face the woman as he shut out the chaos of his mind. She seemed scared and wary, like a hungry animal, unsure whether to accept the food being offered, fight or flee. Nick had seen that look before. He had seen anger, hope and sadness reflected back in their hazel depths as well. The details were starting to point towards a truth he couldn't quite remember but it was there, lost in those shuffled pages.

"Noel” he said. "I think I am Nick. And....uh...it is a little fuzzy but ... you may have agreed to be my wife."

((OOC Exotic enough for you ))

((OOC: LOL! Awesome <3))

That... was not right. Noel swayed on her feet with the blow of his words. "That's not right. That can't be right." Her words came out faster and faster until they tumbled, one backed up right against the other. "I can't get married. I'm aslob. Myjob'stoodangerous. I-Ican'tevenremembermynamehalfthetime." This was like waking up to find herself pregnant. Just the thought had her putting her hand on her stomach and stepping out to catch her balance.

Now that would really be awful. They weren't getting married because of...

No! She didn't get involved. Nick was her partner. Her partner. At work. You can't mix work and... other stuff. There wasn't anything besides work.

"Nick..." That didn't feel right either. Her skull tried to tear itself apart, but she put her hands over her eyes and tried to breathe for a moment. "If it's fuzzy that's probably not right." Right? That happened sometimes? Right? RIGHT?

Something smashed loudly nearby, but with their perspective and the tall buildings, it wasn't entirely too clear where the car had landed.

"Oh thank God." A distraction. She reached for her gun and... "UGH! Ni- you just... come on." She reached her hand out for him instead of the gun that wasn't there. That felt more right, like something they had done before. Maybe they had held hands many times before this.

What if she was hurting him right now because she didn't feel like she knew him?

"We can figure this out later." She tried to make her voice gentle even if she didn't feel it. "Right now, I think my apartment's burning down." She tugged his hand to get them going and then they were running... together.

She had to ditch him somewhere.

There was a small crowd gathered outside of her apartment building, men were handing furniture out windows and there was an old woman carrying no less than four very small, very yippie dogs out the front door. "Have you been here before?" She had to get the memories flowing. If left alone, they might never remember what was right.

Noel turned to her side to scoot past the man who was now heaving a trunk out the front door. He caught Nick's arm which by his hand caught Noel too.

"You can't go up. The upper floors aren't safe, man."

Noel put her hand on the man's arm and opened her mouth to say... well she wasn't sure what she would have said because a bomb exploded behind her eyes. Her headache was so bad it was trying to climb out of her eyes. The guy staggered and grunted, but he did let go of Nick's arm.

"What the-?"

She was already dragging Nick up the stairs, heralded by shouts from downstairs. Noel needed a nap after this. She would get her gun and flop down on the couch for a nice big... Noel's door was hanging askew. That should have been her first indication that something was wrong, but it wasn't until she opened the door and saw the headlights of the limo shining on her couch that it really sank in.

Her jaw dropped. Her apartment! Her tattoo! Her life!

"Please? There's a photo of my family, it's in a silver frame somewhere in the vicinity of the driver's side door. I'm going to the bedroom." She stopped and looked at their hands where they touched before squeezing his and letting go. "Be careful."

Noel had a gun to find.

The left turn signal flickered on and off, splashing the back wall of the apartment with a warm yellow glow for brief seconds as it cycled endlessly. Brick dust still hung in the air and filled the living room with a whitish fog which made Nick cough when he tried to breathe. He put a hand over his mouth and fought against his lungs natural urge to clear the floating particles they had just inhaled. Large cement bricks and chunks of mortar where strewn across the hardwood floor, randomly splayed out from the initial impact of the flying vehicle. Some of the larger pieces of carnage had flown clear through into the kitchen, dislodging pipes and creating a showering water fountain in the ajoining room. A small lake had already formed on the tile floor and threatened to overflow into the rest of the apartment. The devastation was complete.


Such a traumatic experience would be hard on Noel, Nick worried and he called out to try to lighten the mood. “Love what you’ve done with the place.” He joked. “I barely recognize it now that you’ve redecorated.” It was actually partially true. There wasn’t a single piece of furniture or knick-knack that the man felt he had seen before. The young man scanned about for anything he could remember but everything seemed foreign and new. It was as if he had never set foot in his fiancée’s apartment before. It would be even tougher to find the picture without a point of reference to where it was before the car had found its parking spot other than “by the driver side door”. Stepping over the shattered pieces of a coffee table, Nick entered fully into the room and began to hunt for the photograph. He felt like a rescue dog searching for trapped survivors after an earthquake as he sifted through the rubble of Noel’s life. The home had probably been a bit untidy before but now, it was a wreck. Not an inch of the living area had survived the limousine’s explosive intrusion.


Nick reached down and picked up a crippled flat screen television. A large piece of rock protruded from the center of the display. It fell apart in his hands like a wet cardboard box as it left the ground. He chucked the remaining pieces of technological junk in his hands to the side and bent over again to clear more rubble away when a glint of silver under the overturned couch in the back corner caught his eye. Nick made his way towards the couch and bent low to grip its head and arm rest. It was lighter then he thought and flipped back up to its feet with relative ease. The frame had been lying face down amongst some chunks of exploded wall underneath it. Carefully, Nick reached down and picked it up, spinning the silver treasure over to face him. A crack ran straight across the surface of the glass and stone dust obscured the image completely. Gingerly, Nick wiped his finger tips over the surface, revealing the smiling faces of Noel's parents. He tried in vain, but couldn’t remember the last time he had seen the photograph despite its obivous importance to her.


“Got it!” Nick yelled out over his shoulder as he continued to study the photograph for another moment.


Shaking his head and returning his mind to the task at hand, Nick turned and saw a wicker clothes hamper that had fallen on its side. It was nearly full of dirty laundry. “Better to have dirty clothes then none at all” he figured. Nick bent low to pick up a battered, dusty gym bag from the ground and dumped out its contents before filling it again with clothes from the hamper. He wrapped the family photo of Noel’s parents in a faded blue T-shirt so it would be protected before placing it into the bag with the rest of the clothes.


“Time to go!” Nick called as he stood up and looked towards the bedroom, bag in hand. The sounds of sirens could be heard approaching from the distance. He hoped the couple would be gone by the time police arrived. If the cops started asking questions, he wasn’t sure that he would be able to answer them. Growing impatient, Nick made his way towards the bedroom door to see what was keeping Noel.

Her sensible shoes were completely soupy by the time she slogged her way through the kitchen and shimmied past the side view mirror. This whole experience was surreal. There was a limo in her apartment. There was also a man in her apartment. That was something she knew to be as rare as the limousine. And yet she was supposed to be engaged? There was really something that she was missing.

Noel knelt by her caved in bed and heaved her shoulder against the frame in order to lift it enough to retrieve a metal lock box. That was her little nest egg in case of a rainy day. Today qualified as raining.

As she put her hand on the bed to hoist herself and the box up, she noticed what was missing. A ring. "A-hah!" Something splattered onto the ground some feet below where her bedroom wall should have been (that was missing too), but Noel was more interested in her hand. No. Ring. They totally weren't engaged.

Somehow encouraged, she was more than happy to feel under her pillow for her safety blanket, a matte black 9 millimeter. It went straight into her holster once she managed to fish it out and a crumpled note fluttered to the ground with a distinct gun shape impressed against it. She had apparently slept with both under her pillow.

It was her own handwriting.

RUPERT was dissolved and with it your position has been terminated. Report to the local FBI division for reassignment.

She rocked back on her heels and they squished underneath her feet. This was unbelievable. No, this couldn't be right. As her stress levels rose, her eyes began to shake.

Noel wasn't too surprised to see a paper in her hand. She left herself notes after a mind wipe all the time. The brunette read it.

Fired? This was unbelievable. No, this couldn't be right… Her headache flared and her bedroom shook when a muscle spasm racked her watering eyes.

There was a paper in her hand. She could hardly read it because her eyes were tearing up… This was unbelievable. No, this couldn't be right.

Nick heard Noel crying softly to herself before he reached the bedroom. He hesitated, just out of sight behind the door frame. Going in to comfort her was the logical step, but the young woman was so scared to show weakness. Would intervening in this private moment hurt more than it would help? The sobbing sound quickly ended the debate and Nick dropped the gym bag while he stepped into the room to try and help the devastated woman. Noel had her back turned to him and her shoulders shuddered as she sobbed uncontrollably. A small wrinkled piece of paper was clutched between her delicate fingers and seemed to be the cause of all her grief.


This scene had played out for Nick before. A foggy wisp of a memory surfaced for the briefest of moments. When he was younger it had been his mother, reading a note and crying softly in her bedroom. Nick had found her there and reached out his arms …. The flash from his past dissipated near instantly as all the others had and Nick let it go so he could deal with the distraught woman before him.


Slowly, Nick stepped up behind Noel and reached a tattooed arm over her shoulder, gently plucking the offending note from her fingers and stuffing it into the front pocket of his jeans. His right hand reached around her body and found purchase on her hip. He tugged gently and guided the young woman around, pulling her body into his own. Nick wrapped both his arms around Noel and hugged as tightly as he could without hurting her. Like when….when….they were hit by the taxi cab.


The flood gate burst again and more images poured in through his scrambled brain. There had been a taxi, and Nick had jumped in the way to shelter Noel from the impact. She had been lost, damaged somehow. Was it before or after the cab? Why couldn’t he remember? Pieces of the puzzle kept coming back to him but it was too few and took far too long. He needed answers now if he was going to help her.


Noel’s body felt broken and frail as it squirmed into Nick for warmth and safety. He released the pressure slightly so he could look into her face and reassure her now that the crying had subsided. She resisted stubbornly, nuzzling herself further into his chest. With a feathered touch, Nick idly traced a finger up her back to her shoulder. The side of his hand caressed along the scar on her cheek, clearing her bangs from tear soaked eyes. He placed his thumb under her chin and delicately lifted her face to within inches of his own and whispered soothingly. “It’s ok now Noel. I won’t let anything happen to you.”


Nick dropped his hand to Noel’s back and petted her soothingly. He would let her curl back into his arms if she wanted but he wouldn’t force her. She deserved some form of peace before the emergency personnel could storm through the apartment door and turn her life upside down again. It was up to her if she wanted it or not. Nick smiled down at the beautiful woman in his arms.

She couldn't read the paper, but she already knew what it said. It was burned into her brain. Noel got fired. Everything she and RUPERT had worked for had been shut down. That was years of her life gone to waste. Her upset about the destruction of her apartment paled in comparison to the destruction of a career. Her job was her life.

So what was she going to do? What could she do? Where would she go? Noel had to take change slowly that it would sink in and stay. Her head was killing her. She snuffled and mashed her face against Nick's chest. When he had come in, she wasn't sure, but the ex-agent was glad that somebody was here to pick up the pieces.

Oh. That's right. She wasn't the only ex-agent in this room. "We both got fired I guess." That seemed a little silly. Nick had needed this job too, just not like she had.

Noel didn't have to really know him to take comfort from him, though she felt like she did. They were in the same boat. Her dignity was undone and she would be petrified until it resolved. For now, she just had to sob it out. He said that he wouldn't let anything happen to her, but what about this? He just couldn't fulfill a promise that large. Not with so much out of either of their control.

She felt… empty.

Mutants had done this, she was sure. Cars didn't fly out of the sky. And unless someone had started coloring too far outside the lines, no government she knew would pass up an opportunity to track and study mutant behavior. Even if official RUPERT was gone, they wouldn't dismiss eight years of faithful service just like that. Something had to have happened.

The firemen were the first up the stairs, clearing the building in case the vehicle shifted. It hadn't moved a lick that Noel had seen, but she hadn't exactly been watching it.

Nobody questioned her red rimmed eyes, the dust that had settled on their clothes, the soggy shoes or the baggage. They talked at her about the risk, but it rolled off her shoulders like so much water.

Noel Gage. She read the highlights of her tattoo aloud in her head like a calming mantra. Apartment 33b That part wasn't true anymore. Well, maybe they could get it cleaned up, but it would take time. She would have to be careful to let herself know not to go back for a while. Seek truth. That struck a resonance inside her mind. For all the thinking that was going on up there, she felt surprisingly focused. Noel needed to find the truth about what happened.

She sort of grimaced up at Nick. And she would have help.

"I'm sorry, I think I lost my engagement ring somewhere…"

"I'm sorry, I think I lost my engagement ring somewhere…" Noel said as she grimaced up at Nick.

Nick’s heart cracked as he looked down at her. Noel’s entire life had been washed down the toilet but she was worried that he would be upset about a lost ring. The ring didn’t matter. Nick actually couldn’t even remember what it looked like. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead and smiled at her selflessness. “Don’t worry about it. We can always get another ring.”

The dusty gym bag remained on the floor where Nick had dropped it and he scooped it up as he led her out of the bedroom with his arm around her waist. She could always stay with him at his place except that Nick couldn’t remember where he lived. This memory loss was definitely a major issue that needed to be addressed but Noel had enough to worry about. It was probably best not to bring it up right away as it would just add to the worries plaguing her today. The couple made their way towards the hall and down the stairs, dodging emergency personnel as they buzzed around the building like mosquitoes at a picnic.

If they were going to leave, they needed to find a place to go, and fast. If the rescue effort became organized, it would be tougher to slip away. But leaving would require money, Nick reasoned to himself. He felt his pockets with his free hand only to discover that his wallet was nowhere to be found. All that he had was a torn piece of cloth, some loose change, a receipt for some flowers and Noel’s note. He needed to take charge and find a place where they could regroup but to do that he would need more than 37 cents.

Continuing down to the lobby, an idea came to Nick and he put it into motion. “So...you look exhausted and I am pretty beat too. What do you say we find a hotel and grab a room for the night and then figure stuff out in the morning? We can send out for dinner and just crash early. We can even send our clothes out and have them iron cute little creases into our pants after they clean them.” He suggested playfully. To emphasize his point, Nick gestured to his blood stained shirt and jeans. “If you play your cards right, there might even be a set of painted toe nails in it for you. I’ll even let you choose the color.” He offered. Nick figured painted toenails weren’t a huge selling point but it was the best he could think of to sweeten the deal on the fly. “Of course, there is a catch. I can’t find my wallet so it would need to be your treat.”

Descending the last few steps, they spilled out into the front foyer of the building. It was abuzz with firemen and police escorting the apartment refugees out into the street. It was easy for the couple to blend into the throng of evacuees and slip back out into Brooklyn unnoticed.

“It is either that or spend the next five hours here getting processed and sleeping in a disaster shelter on a lumpy army cot.” Nick concluded as he looked to Noel for her decision. He felt pretty good about the arguments he had made. “What do you think?”

A hotel? That was going to be expensive, but it would be better than staying at a shelter. Her gut said no hotel because Nick might have affianced expectations that she wasn't comfortable with. Noel scratched at her cheek as she weighed their options. This was Nick, though! Even if she did not know him, he knew her. He would know. He was her moral sounding board and mental ledger. She had charged him that first day to try to keep her on a path of justice.

Speaking of justice, the police were setting up a barrier around the scene to ensure that no one else would enter the unsafe are. Noel craned her neck to see that down the street the scene was pretty much the same with another building that had been carred. "We should probably give a statement." She tugged Nick that way and fished out her badge and ID for a nice young faced looking police officer who eyeballed her gun.

Noel did most of the talking. She knew what details that she had been trained to look for and the young man took down some good notes including the direction of the car launching and the fact that she, at least, never got to see the culprit because of the tall buildings. A quick signature from each of them and they would be free to go.

Noel signed her name in legible, all upper case letters and copied down her badge number, for all the good it might do her, on the page. Normally she would have put her cell number down too, but since that was missing… she passed the clipboard to Nick for him to sign while she fished out her map from her ankle pouch. Surely there was a hotel or safe spot marked on there where they could stay and be contacted if the police needed to ask more questions...

The look Nick received from his fiancée was not something he had anticipated. She looked at him as if to say “Really? You think you have a chance today of all days?”

“You just lost your entire world. Am I dumb enough to think that has turned you on somehow?” He thought angrily. He almost opened his mouth and said it but bit back the comment before it was too late. Noel was suffering and he had to be supportive, no matter how difficult it would be.

She turned and looked about to see the police setting up barricades, as if dismissing Nick’s suggestion entirely. Grabbing Nick’s hand, Noel made her way towards one of the officers, dragging him behind like a dog on a leash. He followed along obediently. “We should probably give a statement” She said.

****

While Noel gave a detailed accounting of events to the officer, Nick surveyed the scene playing out in the street. Some support staff where trying to get information from people before putting them on a bus to ship to a shelter somewhere. A plan formed in Nick’s mind just as Noel thumped the clipboard into his chest and bent down to get her map from the ankle pouch. Glancing at the document, he caught the name on the bottom in large capital letters. NOEL GAGE. Odd, he hadn’t ever considered it before but it felt like he didn’t know her last name until that moment. Another, even more peculiar thought came right after. Nick didn’t know his own last name either. This was getting really bad. Not remembering things from the past was one thing but to forget your own name was something completely different. He needed to get them off of the street so he could get a minute to try and collect himself in peace and figure out what to do next.

Without signing the document or even looking in the cop’s direction, he handed the clipboard over Noel’s back as she was bent low. The policeman reached out and took the statement, not really seeming to care if a second person signed Noel’s personal account of events or not. This was her version of what happened. If Nick agreed or not really didn’t matter.

“Wait here a sec” Nick said and started walking over to the support staff that seemed to be in charge of victim relocation. A few feet away he remembered who he had been with and turned back around to address Noel again with a more serious tone in his voice. “That means don’t move from this spot until I get back.” He waited a moment to let her know he was serious and then quickly turned and hurried off before the young woman could protest or ignore his command. She wouldn’t stand there for long no matter what he said but at least he had a few minutes and that should be all he needed.

There were three people taking down names and giving out information to the families. A line had begun to form but waiting could only hurt the plan’s chances of success. Nick budded to the front and got a nasty look from an older man in a bathrobe because of it. The man was clutching a small black and white terrier in his extremely hairy arms. The dog was unimpressed as well and growled a rattling, high-pitched sound.

“Excuse me miss. I have a bit of a problem.” Nick said. The woman was very overweight and already seemed tired of standing here by the look in her eyes. She had a green sticker on her button down shirt that read “My name is Doris Lebronski, how can I help you today?” but nothing about her demeanour seemed helpful. Nick had one shot to make this work. Doris would probably be a tougher sell than he hoped but to move on to another person now would ruin any hope of success altogether.

“Do you see that woman over there Doris?” Nick asked as he turned and pointed over to Noel. The young woman looked exhausted as she scanned her precious map intently. “That’s my fiancée. She is pretty special to me as I am sure you can imagine.”

“What is the point sir?” Ms. Lebronski squawked and put her hands on her hips. She made no effort to hide her impatience with Nick and began to tap her foot on the ground to emphasise the fact.

“Glad you asked Doris.” Nick continued unphased by the attitude. “You see, my wife is pregnant. We are only a few weeks along but the doctor is concerned and prescribed rest and quiet. We are high risk you see. Is there any way we could get some kind of private accommodations so that the little woman can relax until we work things out with our insurance? We are the Gage’s, Nick and Noel, from 11B.” He treid to give his best puppy dog eyes while he lied through his teeth.

Doris sighed a sigh which heaved her girth in an unflattering manner before starting a small, well rehearsed speech. “We will do our best to provide every level of ....”

“Hey, there is a news truck from channel 17!” he chirped excitedly, cutting the woman off mid sentence. “I hear they give considerations to people willing to give exclusives. They might even offer us a night at some swanky hotel, provided we give them something juicy enough. Maybe they would want to hear about the treatment my wife received during her hour of need? This could be such a PR nightmare for someone...” Nick turned back and stared at Doris. “If not handled delicately.” He waited a couple more seconds for the idea to sink in. “That is Gage spelt G-A-G-E. Apartment 33B. You think there is something that can be done to help us?”

****

“Let’s go hun. I got us a place to stay tonight.” Nick called as he walked back to Noel. He felt the daggers thrown from the service woman’s eyes connect with his spine as he returned to his soon-to-be-wife but didn’t really mind. Very little more had needed to be said before Doris pulled out her cell phone and began chattering away with the hotel concierge at the Best Western plus on Atlantic. A room for two would be prepared and ready for their arrival.

“They’re expecting us.” Nick told her with a smile.

The clipboard got passed back before she could decide where they might stay on her map. Nick seemed upset for some reason she couldn't fathom. Noel was just trying to take care of the both of them in the best way that she knew how. That meant using this map. The places she trusted and knew were all on this map.

> 'Wait here a sec'

She shrugged at him and folded the paper to get a better look at a specifically crowded section nearby. Nick stopped and came back to seize her shoulders and make solid eye contact. The brunette blinked with slightly wider eyes than normal. "I'm not—!" she had started her protest, but he was already whirling away again.

What did she do?

She had to find out. That, of course, meant she needed to wander ever so casually closer to his conversation. She wasn't being bad. He hadn't even given her the opportunity to agree to his demands. Not that she had planned to.

What she heard made her feel sick.

No, really. Something, maybe a smell or… she couldn't even begin to guess what made flavors in her mouth that made her turn green. Noel put a hand up to her lips even though her churning stomach didn't feel like it had much to empty.

But that only seemed to make the woman believe his lies more! Or… were they lies? Noel had questioned why she would agree to marry anyone (no matter how helpful) and come to only one conclusion… "Oh God." Was she actually pregnant? Noel buried her face in the map and stepped back to where she had been told to wait.

Somehow getting away from what Nick was saying helped clear that rancid taste from her mouth. That in turn helped settle her uneasy stomach. He had to be lying. Nick had started out telling the woman they were affianced and by the end of his story they were married. At first in apartment 11b, then in 33b. He had to be lying. Even if the stout woman hadn't noticed, Noel had.

But, geez, that had been awful over there. How did no one else notice it? It had to be a busted sewer line. Noel furiously reasoned things out for herself. No. She wasn't actually pregnant because Nick had been lying that entire time and it was just a sewer line. She asked a passerby for a pen and went back to her map with increased attention, lettering a new notation.

That's why she jumped when Nick called out to her.

The look on his face was triumph and Noel still wasn't sure why. If she really was pregnant that might explain… She shook her head to stop that thought dead in its tracks. "Since when are you a liar?" She hoped her disapproving tone made him feel as sick as she had earlier.

But, because the man was her partner… or… fiancé (could he be both? That didn't sound like a mistake she would let herself make), she tried to soften her snap with a question. "Can you show me where that is on the map? You know how I am with directions." She wasn't mad at him. Not really. And once she had a new star on her map labeled BEST WESTERN and had a note next to her apartment that said RUINED, STAYING AT BEST WESTERN, she felt like he bases were covered. The map went back into its compartment.

She checked and re-checked the few things they had taken out of her apartment as best she could. Really, she would need to make a list of everything when they got into the hotel. It wasn't until they were already on their way there that she thought to ask, "Why aren't we going to your place?"

"Why aren't we going to your place?" Noel asked innocently as the couple sat in the back of the cab.

“Oh crud” Nick cursed to himself inside his head.

It was a fair question, but the obvious answer seemed... somehow... dangerous. Noel had so much trouble with remembering her own life that without the support of someone in the semblance of control to lean on...well he didn’t know what would happen in this situation. Nick didn’t know much of anything anymore and it was beginning to make his head ache. All the young man wanted was a warm shower and a cozy bed to sleep in for the night. Was it too much to ask? It felt like he hadn’t had either in a long, long time.

Why not just tell her the truth? he mused. She was a strong woman and could take it. She might get upset but Noel had a way of rolling with the punches. But if she knew the truth, what would happen next? Would she trust him enough to continue to accept his help? Nick decided these answers would be easier to find after a good night’s sleep. Besides, it was probably safer this way. If “they” knew enough about Noel to throw a limo into her living room, it stood to reason that they had been to Nick’s as well considering their relationship. That sounded like a pretty good reason not to go home now that he considered it and suddenly he was thankful he couldn’t remember where he lived after all.

“Let’s just hunker down at this place tonight. It will be under the radar since the bill is covered by the city so should be safe enough until morning. We can try to make our way to my place after breakfast.” Nick leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. Before he could drift off, the taxi came to a stop in front of their hotel.

The building was five storeys of simple red and beige brick. It seemed sturdy and was in a pretty nice neighbourhood (for Brooklyn anyway). Nick pulled the taxi chit that Doris had given him out of his pocket and filled in the amount he read on the meter, adding a reasonable tip. He smiled his thanks to the cabby as he handed over the transport token and got out of the cab.

Checking in went quickly. It was like the young man behind the counter had been warned that this couple could be trouble. When Nick asked for room service to send up an assortment of finger foods and canned drinks to be set outside the door, the concierge only smiled pleasantly and answered “Yes Sir” with no further questions. For such a difficult day, things seemed to be ending way too easily.

The couple reached their 4th floor suite and found a cozy little room waiting to serve their needs. The queen sized bed took up most of the center and only left enough space for a small desk, a simple office chair and a wall mounted TV. The window had two curtains, one for light and one for modesty. The sheer white privacy cloth was littered with brown squares that had somehow escaped the seventies. It allowed the couple to see the somewhat disappointing view of the neighbouring building’s roof. The other curtain provided the loudest frame the urban tableau could ask for with its earthy tartan motif. The bed was accented with a garish brown comforter that somehow managed to match the room’s decor, from the gaudy scenic art to the rough grey carpet. Upon the bed, a pile of towels had been stacked and two bathrobes lay spread out on either side.

Nick dropped Noel’s bag into the office chair as he walked in and scooped up a robe and towel. “Here is how it’s going to work.” The young man said as he tossed the fresh linen towards Noel. “You are up first. Any clothes you want washed can be thrown out the bathroom door when you’re ready and I’m sending every piece of clothing out to be cleaned overnight so we can look human in the morning. We look like a pair of hobos right now and we need to do something about that.”

Noel didn’t really look like a hobo. Sure, her hair was tousled and she had a bit of blood on her shirt sleeve but for some strange reason, “hobo” was the word that popped into the young man’s head and he decided to go with it. Even after such a trying day, Nick felt the young woman standing in front of him managed to look good.

For Nick, Hobo almost seemed like a compliment. His jeans and shirt were looking ratty and worn and the many cuts and wounds had bled into the cloth and left dark patches as a reminder of where his injuries had been. The fact he had been bleeding in these clothes and wasn’t injured, somehow escaped his notice.

“If room service knocks on the door when I am taking my turn in the shower, they are just delivering food or picking up the clothes to wash.”

Nick suddenly smirked devilishly at Noel. “Try not to shoot them.” He added teasingly.

Nick figured the time alone and a shower would do Noel good so hoped she would listen to him.

Just then, a foul smell managed to creep up to Nick’s nostrils and he quickly realized it was him. He wrinkled his nose at the new discovery. “Damn.” He thought to himself. ”I should have probably suggested I go first.”

As if she had read his mind, "Actually, why don't you go first." She held up a hand to stop any protests he might have. "Not being macho, I swear. I'd just rather make an inventory list before we send every possession we currently own off to God knows where." That wasn't such an unreasonable request, right? She wasn't sure how well she would trust someone else's handwriting either.

"Here." Noel unsnapped the strap, pulled her gun and checked the safety and the clip before turning it to hand it butt first to her partner. "You know I don't like to go anywhere without this and if you have it I won't go shooting anyone." It was a definite peace offering. "Just please don't get it wet."

With that, she went to go fish out a complimentary pen and notepad from the desk set. The first thing on her list was the gun. She more than likely only had the one clip. She wrote that down too. Next the upended the bag of laundry onto the floor. Noel took exhaustive notes. By the end of Nick's shower she knew that she had exactly three gray tee shirts: one from Cal Tech, one for the Steelers and the last was for something called the Starving Student's Moving Company. Her list was just that detailed.

She had opened and counted her rainy day fund and those numbers were on a different page. Noel had a bank account somewhere, but she tried to deal with it as little as possible. She did almost all of her dealings in cash. Nobody can repossess your couch for not paying when you handed the full price of it in cash up front. That sum together along with what was already organized in her wallet made Noel nervous that they didn't have a safe in the room.

It would be enough to live on while they both got back on their feet so long as they didn't go buying fur coats and champagne.

Someone knocked at the door and Noel shut the metal money box with a slam. She checked through the peep hole and her stomach started growling before she even got the door open.

"You have diet coke? I could kiss you!" She was jonesing for a soda in the worst way. The cart was wheeled in (Noel checked it for hidden ninja first) and then the guy sort of lingered by the door.

"Scram." She slammed the door on him without realizing that he had been waiting for a tip. Then there was some definite happy squealing and bouncing on the bed and then opening of soda. None of which went very well together.

"Excuse me!" Noel tried the door to the bathroom when the effervescent drink kept fountaining out of the small opening. It was on her shirt and just kept spewing on her hands no matter how hard she tried to catch the liquid, it was getting everywhere. What else was she supposed to do?

Nick accepted Noel’s offer. Armed with a robe and two towels (one of which was wrapped around a pistol to protect it from getting wet), the man made his way to the bathroom. He turned at the door to ask her to stay in the room only to see the young woman had already grabbed a pen and pad and had started to take inventory of her possessions. She was so focused on her task that she didn’t even notice Nick watching her from across the room.

Upending the gym bag, Noel dumped her possessions onto the bed like a 4 year old would dump her candy after a hard night of trick or treating. She was an enigma. A fierce, independent woman but still child like somehow. He had never met anyone like her. Or at least as well as he could remember.

The end of the pen made its way to Noel’s mouth, where she unconsciously nibbled the tip while surveying the remains of her kingdom. The accounting of the clothes was necessary. It was her routine and without it, she would not be the woman that Nick wanted to marry. The man could not ignore the fact that he found the woman sharing the hotel room with him beautiful, but it was something more. There were a billion women in the world to choose from. Though physical beauty was always a nice perk, it was that inner glow that mattered. Noel’s flawed mind helped define her, and make her who she was. He realized it was that flaw that had drawn him to her the most as he turned around and shut the door behind him.

Instinctively, Nick reached back to lock the door but stopped short. The only person that would come in had probably seen enough of him not to care, so why did he? With fractured memories of his own to contend with, Nick was constantly second guessing himself. It was giving him a better understanding of what his fiancée dealt with every day and also gave him a deeper respect for her. Something positive had come of it at least. Deciding to trust in the past he had pieced together, he left the door alone.

Nick placed the robe on the hook behind the door and the towels on the closed toilet seat before starting the water running in the tub. The clear, warm liquid burst from the tap and Nick gave up his worries and thoughts in anticipation of his shower. Quickly stripping down, he chucked his rags into a corner and stepped in, pulling the curtain behind him. Reaching down, he pulled the little nib on top of the faucet and the water sprung out above and cascaded down upon his back. Nick stood up and the only word he could use to describe the sensation was “bliss”. The magical jets of water from the hotel shower washed away equal parts grime, blood and stress as the young man stood before it. This was heaven and he wished the moment would go on forever.

"Excuse me!" Noel lamented sheepishly from the opposite side of the door. A slight hint of stress could be heard in her voice

“And there goes the moment” Nick signed to himself and shook his head. A slight sense of shyness struck suddenly but he dismissed the foolish notion almot as quickly. The young man was in excellent shape and it wasn’t anything Noel hadn’t seen before. Besides, he had the shower curtain.“Come on in Hun, it’s not locked!” he called back and peeked his head around the side of the curtain to see what was wrong.