Chapter Text
The phone ringing to wake her up was something that she was rather used to by now; it had been happening every single morning for the past many weeks, and she wasn't sure when it was going to stop. But she had to answer it, because if she didn't, the dynamics of everything, but especially of the relationship she was trying so hard to rebuild, would be ruined. “Hello, you've reached Aradia's bedroom,” she said upon picking the phone up off the receiver, “and you're calling me about five minutes later than normal. Why the change?”
“It took five minutes longer to remember you, I guess,” the voice on the other end replied. Even though it still held its husky and deep qualities, it wasn't the same voice she was accustomed to hearing from this person. “But I think I have my memories straight enough to see you.”
“Are you sure? We don't have to do anything today, if you don't want...” The breathing on the other end of the line was heavy, and just the sound of it was making her smile, even if no words were coming from him. “I guess, if you really want to, we can go do things. I was thinking maybe we'd go to the park and to lunch today.”
The man on the other side of the phone sighed, a long and content sound that made Aradia smile even more. “That sounds lovely. Do you want to come get me, or should I go get you?”
“It's my turn to get you, so I'll just get dressed and then I'll be over there!” Without so much as a goodbye she slammed the phone down on the receiver and jumped out of bed, ready to face the world. Her long red hair was wavy and unruly, and when she was combing it after getting dressed, she noticed that her natural brown roots were starting to show and that she needed to redden those again soon. Overall, though, she was happy with her appearance, and she even winked at her reflection, before dashing out of the room and down the stairs, to the main floor. “Okay, I'm here!” she announced, before barging into the guest bedroom.
The sight that she was greeted with made her open her eyes and whistle. The man that had called her to wake her up was in the middle of getting himself dressed, and he was completely undressed, and she had the best possible view of him. “Oh, you're here already,” he said, as he began to clothe himself. “I would have expected you to take longer. I apologize for this. It's obscene and I am sure you would have much rather not seen it.”
“No, it's quite all right! I'm used to seeing that, actually.” The moment those words left her mouth, she was silently cursing at herself. She wasn't supposed to say things like that around him. “I mean, I dream about you sometimes. You're much more, uh, well-endowed in real life than you are in my dreams.” Untrue, as she knew his exact measurements and held her dreams to the standard that they got them exactly correct. “But it's really okay. A peek or two isn't bad.”
Saying all of that stung, but she knew it was for the best. “Oh, well, if you're certain that seeing me in the nude is okay, then you are more than welcome to come spend the night with me sometime, miss Aradia.” He was wearing only pants at this point, but she was still able to admire his chiseled chest, which she was madly in love with. “Unless that's against the rules. Is it?”
“It took you five minutes to remember who I am this morning. You're still convinced that I live somewhere else, when I'm seriously right upstairs. I think me sleeping here with you would just shock you in the morning when you woke up.” This was something she explained every morning, it seemed, because he could never remember her saying it. “I wish I could come stay with you, though, or, rather, you come stay with me.”
“Why would I come stay with you?” he asked, putting his shirt on and giving a sigh of relief that he was finally dressed. “It is impolite and I would feel much more comfortable if you stayed here.”
She approached him, touching one of his muscular arms. “Because, Equius, you're supposed to be with me. Your mind is telling you I don't exist to you, that you're just a single guy, but you're not. I'm in your life.”
“I would remember you if that's the case. But I don't. You're just the lady that takes me places and tells me stories that you dream up.” He looked down at her and smiled, his dark eyes shining with childish happiness—and she could feel her heart breaking. “You mentioned the park and lunch for today. Is there a special occasion?”
As much that she wanted to tell him that yes, yes there was a special occasion, that it was their third wedding anniversary, but she couldn't. She couldn't tell him that, especially since he didn't know her as anything but an assistant. “I'm just feeling like that's what we should do today. The weather's supposed to be really nice, and I'd like to sit in the park and tell you another one of my fantasies, and take you to lunch after at one of my favorite places.”
“Sounds fantastic.” With that, he lifted her up and tossed her over one shoulder, carrying her out of the room like she was a heavy sack of something. “We shall be going now, right?”
“Grab my purse and shoes on the way out, and then we can go, yeah!” If he had the ability to remember her, he would be reminded that she hated being carried like this, like a misbehaving child, but he didn't know, and she wasn't going to scold him for it. “And make sure you wear shoes yourself! Bare feet aren't allowed anywhere!”
“As you say, miss Aradia.” Equius did as she said, being very careful to grab the only purse and women's shoes that were near the door (done purposefully by Aradia, because she knew if he had a choice, he would freeze up and not know what to do), and slipped his own shoes on, before opening the front door wide and walking out into the sunshine with the woman on his shoulder. In his opinion, it was definitely going to be a good day, but in hers, it was going to be yet another painful reminder of what she had lost.
They were sitting on one of the benches at the park, just watching the happy couples who were holding hands and whispering sweet things to each other, or waving politely at the occasional one of their friends that would come by. For the most part, Aradia's eyes were focused in one direction and Equius' in the other, both of them only meeting gazes whenever someone they knew or recognized went past. For close to an hour they sat there without speaking a single word to the other, and, in Aradia's honest opinion, she would much rather it be that way.
“May I ask you something?” Equius asked, turning his head to look at her. “You might be able to help me here.”
Her head snapped to see him, with a confused expression and that happiness shining in his eyes, and she wondered what, exactly, he could want. “Yeah, go ahead. What's your question?”
“There's this brown-haired woman running through my mind. I have no idea who she is, but she looks familiar and I think I'm supposed to know her.” Aradia gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. “What, do you know who she is?”
“I don't know, but you having a woman in your mind must mean something. I hope you find your 'dream' girl sometime.” How it bothered her to have to hide the fact that she did know who he was thinking about, and how she was sharing a bench with him right then! But if she said that she was the woman in his thoughts, all the progress they had ever made would be ruined, because he wouldn't trust her any longer. It was bad enough that he would forget her every morning, but if he was beginning to remember her...maybe there was something good going on. “Can you tell me more about this woman?”
He nodded, before tilting his head back to face the sky. “She's absolutely beautiful. She's got long brown hair that curves and waves and looks fantastic. It's kind of like yours, but brown instead of red. And she's small. Tiny, even. Kind of like you are. But she's really nice and she tells me stories about adventures and she swears she's written all the stories she tells, but they sound too good to be true.”
“She sounds like a really amazing woman,” she said after a few moments of admiring how his deepest memories portrayed her. “Is there anything else about her that I should know, just so I can help you find her?”
“Not that I remember, no.” That was where their conversation ended, with him sighing and watching the clouds, and her wondering just how long it would be until he realized that he was describing his dream woman to the woman he was actually dreaming about. Once again the time went by, with the two of them in silence, but after maybe ten minutes, Equius broke it again. “May I ask another question, or was the one I asked earlier enough?”
“Ask as many questions as you want, okay?” Aradia smiled at him. “I'm trying to help you piece your life back together, and I guess that means a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
This time, he came closer to her and wrapped his arm around her. “Do you have a twin? Is she this lady I'm thinking about. You're just like her, but...she's so youthful and you, you're not.” With the hand that wasn't holding onto her, he traced a few of the wrinkles that were on her face, signs of all the stress he had been putting her through. “And she's telling me that she's my wife, but I'm not married, am I?”
Aradia's heart started pounding at just the thought of answering that truthfully. Sure, it would make her feel better to have told him that yes, yes he is, and to her, but she knew that doing that was not the best plan of action. “I don't think you are. What's she telling you?”
“She's saying that we're married, and have been for three years...” This manifestation of herself in his memory was really smart, she noted, but she didn't say anything. “And that she misses me terribly and wants me to be me again. But I am me. I'm just really confused about why this lady I have never seen before is telling me this, when I know it's not true.”
“One time I dreamed that I was married,” she lied, trying to comfort him in his confusion. “It was pretty cool. The guy looked a lot like you, but he was much scarier and was addicted to going to the gym and stuff. It was a good dream, but it ended when the guy disappeared, and I couldn't ind him anywhere.”
“That sounds like a bad dream.” He pulled her a bit closer to her, and twirled a strand of her hair around one of his fingers. “It sounds like a nightmare, actually. How could losing the guy of your dreams be a good thing?”
There she was, about to say something that would probably confuse him more, but, for once, it wouldn't be something that would give away the fact that they were together. “I know I'll find him again someday, just like you'll meet your dream woman. I'm keeping faith that we'll be brought back together, but each day that goes by, that faith fades a bit more, because the memories I have of him seem to be tainted more and more.”
“I hope you find him, then. He seems like he's a good guy for you, even if he isn't real.” And right then, the tears started falling for a reason that she couldn't explain. She wasn't about to tell him that he was very much real, that he was playing with her hair right then. She was just going to cry and ask, rather politely, if it would be okay to skip lunch, because all she wanted to do was sit at home and cry. He understood that something, whatever it was, wasn't okay, and took her back to the house, where she locked herself in her bedroom and looked at the memory books she had made for the past several years, just revisiting all the good times they had.
He, meanwhile, looked at the pictures on the walls, asking himself why she was withholding information about her “twin” that he was posing with in all of them.
They went to lunch the next day, after a night of many tears from Aradia, and many unanswered questions from Equius. She picked a local place to dine at, somewhere that they had gone many times together before he lost his memories of her, just to see if it triggered anything. That plan proved unsuccessful, but she did get asked many a time why she was wearing makeup, and if it was to cover the wrinkles that seemed to always be there.
Truthfully, she was wearing it to hide the bruises and puffiness from all her crying and eye-rubbing, but she played along with his questions. “Yes, I'm hiding my age. I mean, an old woman like me shouldn't be going out in public flaunting her flaws, because she needs to keep up the appearance that she's young and beautiful.”
“Your twin doesn't look nearly as old as you. I saw pictures of her in your house yesterday, and I was wondering why you didn't tell me that she's real. Are you doing it to protect me?” Yes, actually, she was, but it wasn't Aradia's intention to tell him that, so she shook her head and simply said that she didn't believe it was her twin, because her twin was unmarried. “Well, I think it's her that's running through my mind, and I want her to stop. She's telling me about the day we met.”
“About the day you met, huh?” She had to be careful not to repeat that as “the day we met.” because, even though it was true in every sense, he didn't know that. “Can you tell me about it, because I'm really curious about it.”
He nodded, putting his elbows down on their table and leaning forward to give her a serious look. “I remember the place exactly. The lobby at the gym. She came out of the changing room when I did, and it was her first day there. She was beautiful in her workout gear, and she asked me if I could help her, because she didn't have a partner and she needed one.” As he spoke, he kept blinking, and Aradia was more focused on the blinks than the story. “Are you listening?”
“Hm? Oh, yes I am.” How lying hurt her, but she didn't want him to stop. She was thinking that maybe, by having Equius tell the story of how they met, he would realize that he was telling it to its other half. “Please continue. I want to know more about this gym goddess of yours.”
“I myself was training alone, as my normal partner--” he froze, trying to remember a name that had escaped him, “--well, she wasn't there. So I took this new lady around and assisted her in all of her routines, and in exchange, she gave me assistance and her phone number. I bet if I thought hard enough, I could still recite it.”
Aradia scrunched her nose in disgust at the idea. “No thanks, Equius. I'd rather not worry you with that task. Is there anything else about her that you can tell me?”
“She has to be your twin. That's it. Her name starts with an A, like yours, and she looks just like you, but...she's not. You aren't her. I would definitely remember you if I was married to you.” Him saying that made her bite down hard on her tongue, because he was denying the truth, even if he honestly didn't know it, and the fact that he couldn't recognize her face as the one in his memories was beginning to tear her heart apart little by little. “Is something wrong, Aradia? Did I upset you with my story?”
He did, but she shook her head and loosened the grip her teeth had on her tongue. “Nothing's wrong. I'm just so upset that you can't find her, and that I'm not able to do much to help remedy this problem!” How wrong she knew she was, because she was doing everything she could to get him to remember her. “Say, Equius, do you remember anything about this place? I know my twin liked to eat here.”
“I think so,” he replied, leaning forward even more and dropping his voice down to a husky whisper. “Unless I'm completely mistaken, this is where I took her to dine before we went to the park for a...carriage ride, I do believe. Horse-drawn carriage, yes. That's where I asked her to marry me. She loved the ride, I loved the horse.”
“I went on a carriage ride once, in my dreams. That was where my dream man proposed to me, actually. He did it because he knew how much I loved those rides, and he always wanted to make me happy. Like you, he was also interested in the horse. It was a white one, I do believe...” Aradia let her voice trail off, catching Equius' raised eyebrow in her direction. “What, are you going to say that you had a white horse pulling your carriage?”
“Yes, actually, I am. It was a beautiful steed, with a finely groomed mane and coat. I was rather pleased that they took such great care of it.” He laughed and smiled, not noticing even a little bit that Aradia's face held an expression of shock, from him being able to remember such details as the horse's color but not remember her.
She sat there in this shocked state for most of the meal, not speaking when he addressed her, because of the fear that if she tried to talk, she'd blurt out things she'd been keeping inside of herself for the past two months, since she had first seen him look at her with dazed eyes and ask who, exactly, she was. At first it had been cute, having to constantly remind him who she was, that she was Aradia, the woman that had devoted her life to him, but as he grew more stubborn in rejecting the idea that she was anything more than a friend, she grew silent on the topic. And when faced with a situation as such, she chose to keep her mouth firmly closed rather than accidentally say something that would confuse him.
Sometimes, it hurt more to be silent than to lie to his face.
“Why are you treating me to ice cream, Aradia? I thought that you said you didn't want to take me anywhere today.” Equius, like usual, was confused about the situation he was in, and he was voicing his problems. “I was ready for a day to sit back and think more about what's been going on in my head...”
Since he was sitting down in the chair already, she handed him his paper bowl and grinned, before taking the seat right next to him. “Well, it's only polite to buy something when you're going to be sitting somewhere. A friend of mine is going to meet us here, and I figured that, while we wait for her, we could be eating ice cream.” That proved to be a good idea, for just as they were finishing up, a couple bringing with them two young girls sat in the other chairs at their table. “Equius, do you recognize these people?”
“Yes, in fact, I do,” he said, after looking between them for a few moments. “That man there is Dave and the woman is Terezi, correct?”
“Still doesn't have his memory, huh?” the woman, Terezi, asked with a bit of a cackle-like laugh. “This is going to be interesting.”
“If by interesting you mean 'a very challenging time for me,' then yes, you're right.” Aradia shook her head and nudged Equius, who was staring rather intently at the older of the girls, in the arm. “Hey, stop that. Boots there doesn't need you giving her dirty looks.”
His head turned and she noticed that he was now shooting her a cross-eyes look. “I wouldn't consider this dirty.” His eyes went back to a natural position and he looked back at the little girl, who clapped and reached for him. “Her name is Boots? That is such a strange name for such a beautiful child.”
“Strange? Do you not know what the show 'Dora the Explorer' is? Because, aside from teaching you basic Spanish to yell at the idiots working basically anywhere, it's got morals.” Dave, bouncing the other child on the table, gave Equius a rather stern look. “And Terezi said that show made her laugh no matter what, so Boots and Dora it ended up being.”
“That is just ridiculous, though. If you're half as wise as I remember you being, you would not pander to something as strange as that!” The muscular man got up from his chair then, and his physically intimidating stature had both of the little girls hiding their eyes and Aradia jumping to stop him from doing something stupid. “However, you're obviously not the man I remember you being, so maybe I'm giving you credit you don't deserve.” It was then that he walked off, causing Aradia to scream at him to come back, but he ignored her orders as he crossed the street and entered the parking lot for the gym.
Under her breath, Aradia muttered, “Fucking great. He's gone. Now I have to actually go in there and deal with all the people and I'd rather not...” Meanwhile, Dave was passing the child that he held off to Terezi, so he could get up and partake in the chase.
“If I don't come back in twenty minutes, I want you guys to come over and get us,” he said before leaving the two women and the two children at the table. They tried to re-establish some normalcy, but with the older child asking where her dad went, and the younger one crying, Aradia covered her ears and put her head down on the table, just wishing that everything and everyone would just disappear.
Things like that didn't happen in reality, though. “Funny how it's the two of them over there and the four of us here,” Terezi said once both of the children calmed down. “The last time we were like this was the night of the accident...”
“Yeah, believe me, I know.” And with that, all that came into Aradia's mind was the details of that night: of the wonderful conversation her and Terezi had been holding before the first wail of a siren filled their ears, of the panic that set in when she saw the fire truck pull into that parking lot, and the even more intense worry that brought her nearly to her knees when she saw the ambulance that pulled in. In vivid color she could remember the headlights of the cars they crossed in front of to get to the gym, to see what was wrong, and she could remember when they found Dave and all hugged him, happy to know that it wasn't him that was in need. But then she remembered the absolute horror that filled her when she saw her Equius on the floor, all the people surrounding him. She remembered that dazed look in his eyes, his inability to remember anything about her. “I know all too well.”
“Do you think we should maybe go over there too? I mean, would it make things easier?”
Although she would have rather never set foot in that gym again, she agreed to the idea and within moments they were entering through the big glass front doors of the gym, where all the sweaty men in muscle shirts and women who were there for the classes offered stared at them. “I don't see either of them, Terezi. In fact, I don't see anyone I know...” No sooner had Aradia said that than a familiar face entered her line of vision. “Actually, yes I do.” Making sure that Terezi and the children were sitting down on a bench near the entrance, she made her way over to where the tall blonde woman was standing. “Excuse me, um, Vriska?”
The blonde looked at Aradia and grinned, waving a hand that was wrapped in bandages. “Hey there, Aradia! How's everything going with you and Equius? I saw him just a few minutes ago, and he seemed to remember me just fine, but then when I asked about you, he was wondering why I was asking about a friend at that time.”
“He still doesn't remember me at all. I'm nothing to him, really, but he does remember that he's married, and he remembers everything about me, except me myself. It's really weird.” She shook her head and sighed, before gesturing at the bandages. “What happened there?”
“Broke my hand about a week after he got hit in the head with one of the weights. I was planning on coming back after it healed and retaking my position here, but plans changed and I'm quitting, I guess.” Her voice sounded dejected, and Aradia assumed that these particular plans that had changed weren't exactly pleasant. “I'll come back here someday, but not anytime soon. Not until my hand is good and strong again, among other things.”
When Aradia went to say something to Vriska, she was interrupted by a male voice coming from behind her: “It was really good to see you again, okay? I'm glad that you were still here today.” It was Equius and she knew it. On her toes she spun to face him, and him and Dave both stood there, looking like the majestic men they were. “Oh, you're here too, Aradia. How nice. Can we just go home now? My head kind of hurts...”
Without so much as a goodbye to anyone around, she grabbed his hand and took him away, because there were some things she was okay with, and what had just happened was not one of them. It was very clear to her that she needed to do something to remedy this issue, and, catching a glimpse of herself in one of the glass doors upon exit, she knew exactly what that something was going to have to be.
In addition to being a really good friend of theirs, Dave was also useful in getting people help that they deserved. In this case, Aradia needed someone to help her strip her hair of the red color and she needed someone to talk to who didn't know the situation. She told Dave this and he told her to go to his sister, who was pretty good with hair and even better at analyzing people's problems, which sounded pretty amazing to her.
Leaving Equius to himself at home was the one problem—she didn't want to bring him along, but she didn't want to burden anyone else with him. He swore that he would be fine, and after making him promise that under any circumstances he wouldn't enter her bedroom (she made sure to say “her” and not “our” when she spoke to him), she believed him and went to pay a visit to Dave's sister.
This sister, this blonde woman with an all-knowing glint in her eyes and a serene smile on her lips, introduced herself as Rose, and knew before Aradia even opened her mouth who she was and why she was there. “I'm not charging a thing for this, because Dave said you needed it, but I'm curious. Why come to me for these things, instead of going to someone professional? Wouldn't it make more sense to do that?”
“More sense, sure, but professionals pry and I don't want prying. I just want to talk and be heard and have friendly conversation.” Aradia lifted a bag that she had brought along, that was filled of several containers of color stripper. “Oh, and I couldn't find anywhere that would do this for me for cheap.”
“You came to the right place then.” Rose took the bag from Aradia's hand and looked inside of it. “Why don't you like the red color? I think it looks really nice on you. Makes your skin stand out more, not to mention your eyes. You look fantastic with the red.”
“I think so too, actually, but...”
Rose guided Aradia to a place where she could sit while work began. “But what? Did something happen that caused you to dye it, and now you want it natural again?”
“Not quite.” Mentally thanking Dave for not telling Rose anything more about the situation than necessary, she prepared to break into the story. “I've been dyeing it for probably a year now, but two months ago, there was an accident and someone very dear to me lost all their memories of me...but lately he's been remembering me as I was before I dyed my hair red. I think if I can go back to my natural brown, he'll see me as who I really am and he'll remember me.”
“It's worth a shot, honestly. There's no harm in trying, because if he can remember you as brunette, then it might just be the hair that's throwing him off.” Rose began to mess with Aradia's hair, but still spoke. “By any chance, is he the one that had the gym accident? The one with the weight being dropped on him? Or is that a different one of Dave's friends?”
The mental thanking ended, and Aradia took a deep breath before explaining. “Yes, that's him. From what I've gathered from people, he was trying something new, and the person who was helping him had a lapse of judgment, and before they could do anything, the weight he was messing with dropped on him and he hit the ground. That's where I found him, out of his mind, laying on the floor, and he looked at me and couldn't remember who I was at all. Since then, I've been trying to remind him about me, but it's not working.”
“I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm intruding on things, but what have you tried?”
“I've taken him everywhere around here that holds memories for us. Our favorite restaurants. The park with the carriage rides. Fuck, I've even taken him back to that gym! But nothing works! He's gained back memories, but he doesn't remember me. I haven't shared a bed with him in two months, and it's killing me to wake up every morning and be alone!” She grumbled a little, before continuing. “I'm not going to give up on him, though. I love him too damn much to let something this stupid destroy what we had!”
Rose clicked her tongue in thought. “This is going to sound strange, since we don't know each other and it is virtually one stranger telling another to do something reckless, but maybe you should do a little something for him tonight? Don't let him see you until he's in bed, and then come in with your hair back to normal and the intent to ride him.”
“That is the strangest thing I have ever been told to do, but I like the idea. It would be pretty fun, honestly, just to see if he would even remember me in the morning...”
Some hours and many stories later, and Rose was washing the mixture out of Aradia's hair, before drying it and showing her her new reflection. There were very slight remnants of the red, but, for the most part, it was almost back to normal. “I really hope this does it for you. I hope you can call me sometime in the very near future and tell me he's remembering you again. Your story is really touching, and I'd be honored if I knew I had helped give it a happy ending.”
“I'll let you know what happens, for sure!” She fingered bits of her hair, smiling at how great it looked. “I'm just excited to see if this is what does it for me or not! He better appreciate my new hair, and he better be able to look me in the eyes and remember that this is me!”
“What will you do if it doesn't work?” Rose moved the mirror so Aradia couldn't see herself in it anymore. “Will you try something else?”
“Of course! I'm not going to lose him, and if it means I spend every day for the rest of my life trying to get him to realize that the woman of his dreams is the one taking care of him, then so be it!”
Her words that she had said to Rose never left her head. So be it? Of course so be it. She was in love with Equius more than she was in love with anything else, and she was not going to lose him without a serious fight. And, like Rose had suggested, she stayed out until after dark, coming back at the time she knew he would be laying in bed, reading or something. She had one shot to do this, and she was not going to mess it up.
Tripping up the stairs was not part of the plan, but when he didn't jump up to see if she was okay, she knew that he must have been in the middle of a particularly thrilling novel or something. When she entered her bedroom, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and she looked very much like the her in the pictures all over the house. The darkness of her hair even seemed to detract from the wrinkles a bit, which made her happy. Maybe this would be what triggered his memory. As she stared at her reflection, Rose's voice echoed in her mind, specifically the part about having the intent to ride Equius. And boy, did she have the intent.
Her reflection changed as she got the courage to slowly undress, sighing the entire time but knowing that she was doing this for both of them. Things soon went downhill, because the very second that she unhooked her bra and declared herself completely nude she heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and her door, at the very top of the staircase, was wide open and she was standing in front of it. Standing completely still in horror, she watched out of the corner of her eye as Equius came into view, holding his book over his face as he read.
“Excuse me, Aradia, but I have a question. Tomorrow, do you think we can...” His question was cut short as he moved the book and saw her standing there. “Oh. Hello there. I didn't mean to intrude on you, but you're, uh, much more well-endowed in real life than you are in my dreams.” The grin that came onto his face after saying that was half playful, half seductive. “I don't remember who it was who said that to me, but I feel stealing their words to tell you that is worth it.”
She felt her cheeks warming up into a blush as he pulled his pants off. “Okay, since I think you're about to take me right here, can I ask you a question? Who am I to you?”
“Who are you? What kind of absurd question is that? You're Aradia, my very beautiful wife! Why would you even ask me that?” He didn't seem to realize even a tiny bit that he had completely forgotten that fact even as recent as that morning. “But it doesn't matter right now. You can explain later. Right now, I want you in that bed and I want to be in it with you.”
Never before did those words sound so sweet to Aradia's ears. At least for the moment, her nightmare was over.