Chapter 112

**Blue**


Artemis's words echo in my head. He looked at me like he didn’t recognize me.

“…this could all be temporary. It’s very rare for someone to complete lose all their memories.” I hear the doctor say to Rhea.

“There isn’t anything we can do?” She asks bit I stop listening just as the doctor answers her.

My eyes are fixed on Artemis through the window to his room. If he does t remember me will he remember Lilly? I jump when someone rest their hand on my shoulder and I turn to see Rhea behind me.

“The doctor suggested something we can try to help Artemis remember.”

“What?” I'll do anything.”

“He wants to set up an ultrasound machine and show Artemis the babies.”

I consider it and know I’ll do anything no matter how strange to help my husband remember me.

“Lets do it.” I say confidently.

It doesn’t take long for the nurses to get everything set up. Artemis’s room has a recliner seat for guests to sit in so I lay down on that and they lean me back as far as the chair will go. The doctor squeezes the warmed gel onto my belly and turns the screen to us. I’m sitting to the right of Artemis and the urge to reach out and hold his hand is so strong.

“Wow.” I hear Artemis say.

I turn my head ro look at him. “Those are our babies.”
His eyes meet mine with clear shock in them.

“Thise are mine?” He asks almost sounding happy.

I nod.

His eyes move to look at my big belly and I watch his hand twitch. “Can I feel then?”

“Yeah.” The doctor cleans off my belly and Artemis reaches over to set his hand on my belly.

The babies sense him immediately and start to kick against this hand making him laugh. “That’s incredible.”

His eyes lift to mine again and I see his eyes searching gorgeous something on my face. I rest mybhand over his on my belly and he let’s out a shaky breath.

“And you’re my wife?” He asks.

I nod. “Yes.”

He seems confused bit accepting of this information.

“I can’t believe I’m married with kids on the way.” He scoffs in disbelief.

“Actually, we also have a little girl we adopted named Lilly.” I remind him. “Would you like to meet her?”

Lilly has been sitting in the waiting room for a couple of hours now and has been a trooper through all of this.

“Sure.” His voice cracks and is just above a whisper.

That one word is filled with so much emotion.

I ask Rhea to bring Lilly and I sit on Artemis’s bed next to him. He’s asked a few questions and I’ve tired to stay strong through it all. I can’t live without him but if he doesn’t remember me then I might have to let him go. If that’s what he wants….

Rhea escorts Lilli into the room and brings her to Artemis’s other side. Our sweet girl smiles at him.

“Hi dad.” She says and my husband breaks down crying.

My tears follow soon after and I want so badly to hold him but I don’t know if he would want me to. Lilly moves herself closer so that she can hold Artemis’s hand.

“Don’t cry. Please.” She sounds close to tears too.

Artemis moves so quickly that I don’t have a chance to tell him not to strain himself. He throws the blankets away and climbs off the bed to stand in front of Lilly. A second later he drops to his knees and wraps our daughter in a big hug.

“Lilly.” He says as he cries.

He remembers her! She hugs him back and my heart is close to brushing seeing them together. Lilly almost lost another parent but Artemis fought to see her again. I stand and move to the door and try to give them a moment without me hovering. He kisses her on the top of her head and continues hugging her. Eventually his eyes meet mine and I give him the best smile I can muster.

When he let’s Lilly go and stumbles back into bed I resist running over to help him. He would hate that…well the old version did. To my surprise he holds a hand out for me and I cautiously step toward him and accept his hand. His eyes focus on my belly again. He tugs me closer and rests his hands on either side of my belly and leans over to rest his head on it. I bite back a sob and cover my mouth with my hand to keep the sounds of hurt.

He lifts his head and looks at me before he smirks. The all too famialr smirk appearing on his face.
“Artemis?” Is this him coming back to me or simply muscle memory?

“Blue.” He says my name and I gasp before wrapping my arms around his neck and holding on for dear life.

“Please don’t tell me this was all some kind of prank.” I whisper into his ear.

He tugs me so that I’m sitting next to him on the bed again. “I wish it had been. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you when you are so important to me. You’re the love of my life and suddenly you were a stranger.”

“I cant believe you’re here. The wreck looked so bad. How did you make it out?” I ask.

He let’s me go so I can sit up but he keeps one my hand in his. “I don’t know. It’s a blur but I remember walking and everything looking the same. There was this nagging voice saying I needed to make it home for her, but I couldn’t put together who ‘her’ was. Now I think I meant you. “

I rest my other hand over his and give it a squeeze. “Well you made it back home and I’m here.” I look over at Lilly. “We’re here.”

After a couple of days Artemis is stable to be sent home. I made sure that he would have everything he needed so when we brought him home he would be as comfortable as possible.

Now that he’s home safe my stress has gone down more making me feel less emotionally heavy which helped when it came to the scare I had with the babies. I’m still getting Braxton Hix contractions but they are milk and don’t last long. According to my doctor though, these babies could come soon. Artemis has a hard time sitting in bed all day , he’s like a thrashing animal that you don’t want to get too closely or they'll bite you. He’s smart enough not to snap at me but everyone else are not safe.

It takes two weeks before he is healed enough to walk around and as soon as he’s on his feet again he hits the ground running. There is a lot needing to be done, so he starts working harder than ever. My due date is soon so I try to make sure everything is ready. I have the hospital bag ready to go and the cars eats are set up in the car. Artemis has also been preparing things at the group home for my absence. Artemis’s sister will look after Lilly, and even have their own to go bags in the closet by the front door. I’ve followed the doctor orders and rested for most of my time when all I wanted was to go back to work.

Then it happens. I’m sitting on my bed when I feel a gush of fluid and I scramble back to see the mess and gasp.

“Oh my gosh. Okay stay calm. You know what you need to do.”

Artemis is in his office now and my plan was to calmly walk to his office but an intense contraction basically knocks me back on the bed. I clench my teeth and ride it out but it’s a lot more painful than what I had before.

I don’t think I am going to make it all the way to the office so I grab my phone and call him.

“Hi baby. Are you okay?”

“Artemis my water just broke.”

He curses and ends the call. Another contraction hits and I shut my eyes to ride it through but a second later Artemis appears in the door way and rushes over to me.

“How often?” He asks.

“About three minutes apart.” I say and he nods while he grabs our bags.

He also helps me into a fresh pair on underwear and a new pair of pants. Since my giant belly gets in the way I need help slipping my shoes on too. Another contraction hits and I moan in pain. I don’t want to scare Lilly so I try to stay quiet. Once the contraction passes Artemis helps me to my feet and I hobble alongside him.

Here we go.