Let’s see…so far I have been pepper sprayed, kneed in unpleasent places, hit with a brick, a wrench, and a trash can lid. I’ve been shoved off a dock, punched in the face, thrown over her shoulder, and had my hair pulled. All of these were different encounters. It can never be said that I don’t love this girl.

Today, I’m going for the surprise approach again. She’s on her daily run, going from her work at the local pit shop for gliders and her apartment over the shop, down to the docking bays three point four miles down. I hear the thump, thump of her sneakers against the pavement. The timing has to be just right, otherwise she’s got to much time to wind up that right hook of hers. Remind me to give Jenlin a piece of my mind about teaching her that move. When they all get their memories back of course.

"MAURA!"

I jump out at her, arms thrown open, leaving myself defenseless. My heart fills with hope as her eyes widen in surprise. Does she remember me?

Please…

Seconds tick by, I watch her come to a screaching halt in front of me. And for a split second, I think I see recognition. Could it be? Maybe today…

"Dude, this…is getting really old. Isn’t there a support group you can join or something? Like a stalkers AA maybe?"

Can you hear that?

That’s my heart.

And it’s breaking.

But I don’t let it show. I just hide it with one of my lopsided grins that once made her smile at me. Now she just tilts her head to the side, confusion on her face. She doesn’t understand. She doesn’t remember.

"Perhaps. But I doubt I am in need of their services. I’m no stalker."

She waves off the statement.

"Yea. Yea. Heard the preach before, man. I’m some rouge pilot who fights for the greater good along side my best friends. And you are supposedly my boyfriend."

She fixes me with a frustrated stare.

"Doesn’t that sound a little juvenile to you? Like some kid’s comic or something? For the last time: You’ve got the wrong girl. Go stalk someone else for a change will you?"

She moves around me, a fluid movement that I can tell even surprises her. But she shoves it off, and starts running again. I watch her go, waiting. Just like everyday, she glances, just once, and only for a second, over her shoulder at me. And everyday it’s the same look. Sadness and longing. She feels it, I know she does. The GP memory wash that was inflicted on her didn’t destory her memories. I’ve done my research. The chemicals used dismantle the connections in the memory cells of the brain. So the result is foggy, fragmented memories that she can’t place, can’t firgure out. They don’t seem to be connected and thus she writes them off as dreams, or just wanderings of her mind. Little pieces of herself floating around, all the bridges she built between them…burned. Now endless ravines lie between her and being complete again.

I read that it will take a huge mental shock in order to force her brain to rebuild those connections. Which is why I put myself through this personal hell everyday. Trying to get the girl I love to remember me.

I know I can do it.

Why?

She told me I could.

flashback

Jade twirled a piece of his hair around her finger gently. She closely eximined the color, intensely concentrating on it. There was no other way to describe it, it was blue. Tenchi chuckled softly at her stares.

"Got it from my dad. He came from a water planet."

He grinned lopsidedly up at her from his spot in her lap. She smiled back at him, she loved his smile.

"Hard to believe you’re half fish."

She said releasing his lock of hair and pulling on his cheek in a teasing fashion.

"Not as hard as you being afraid of spiders."

He teased back, refering to the little "incident" that occurred a few hours before. Jade turned a bright shade of red.

"Damn. You’re never going to forget that are you?"

"Nope. It’s dirt. Now I can blackmail you into submission. Whahahaha!"

She glared at him as he did his best manical laughter. She rolled her eyes and pinched his nose, making the laughter sound suddenly very nasal and comical. He stopped and pulled her had away from his nose. He opened her fingers in front of his face and looked at her palm. It was calloused from all her work on her ship and all her flying. There were scars, ones that he knew the stories behind, and some that he didn’t. Once satisfied with his eximanition he looked back up at Jade. Only to find her staring at him, but with her gaze lost in thought.

"Maura?"

He questioned softely. He blinked rapidly, coming back to the present.

"What were you just thinking about?"

He asked her, very curious. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Come on…"

"It’d ruin the moment."

She said simply. He laughed, reached up and poked her cheek.

"Tell me!"

She sighed and rolled her eyes again.

"Fine, you bug baby. I was thinking of school."

Tenchi was thrown.

"Okay, you were right. Romantic moment has disappated."

She stuck out her tounge at him.

"Told you."

"Why were you thinking of school?"

She shrugged her shouders again. He sat up, and turned so he faced her.

"Spill. You were really thinking hard about this. I could tell."

She laughed a little.

"You know me so well! Okay, I give. I was thinking about school from when I was little and learning the language of my desert clan from the clan elder. I was thinking of what your name meant in my native tounge."

Tenchi made the ‘oh’ sound.

"I thought your clan spoke the universal lauguage."

"It does. But every clan has their own secret language. Used for trasporting secret messages between clan members. Very handy. They are so obscure and based on no other languages so there’s no translation relations. Hyper and Jenlin know a few of the words, like ‘help’ or ‘safe’ or ‘food’."

Tenchi decided to ignore the ‘food’ comment for now. He could tell there was story behind that one. Nope, he was more intrested in what his name meant.

"So what does my name mean?"

She looked away. Out the high window and up at the silver moon.

"Angel. Tenchi means angel."

Silence.

"As in the mythical beings from the religious stories out of Earth? The ones with wings?"

Jade grinned.

"Yea. Those are the ones."

Tenchi ran a had through his hair.

"Wow. Way off. I’m certianly no angel."

He was thinking of his profession being an arms dealer and a thief by nature. Jade turned to him, put her hand on his cheek making him look at her.

"Don’t know about that. I’ve seen your wings."

She said softly. Tenchi tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

She sighed, and explained.

"There have been moments, Tenchi Nozuma. When I can swear you have wings. I mean you kinda just dropped into my life didn’t you?"

Tenchi thought back to their first meeting.

"More like exploded into existance."

Jade laughed.

"So…can I fly with these wings of mine?

He asked jokingly. She chuckled, but then said in complete seriousness.

"Absolutly. You can fly across spaces with no bridges. For instance…the one between the world…and my heart."

Tenchi didn’t know what to say to that. They stared at each other for a long moment. Deciding it was the best move he could make in his speechlessness, Tenchi leaned forward and kissed her.

end flashback

So that was it. In her own words, she told me that I was the only one that could do it. So I will. Even if I have to break my heart every day from now until then, I will fly across the space between her memories and make her remember. I know I can do it. Because the space can’t be bigger then the one I conquered to get to her heart.

I have never seen these wings of mine. Ever. But she saw them. She told me that I could fly with them.

And I believe her, with all my heart.

I turn around. She is almost out of sight. I stick my hands in my pockets and start back. Walking back to my apartment is always the hardest. It leaves me with nothing but my sadness. But I’ll be here again tomorrow. And the next day, and the next day. Until she remembers. Until I can suceed in my jump, my flight.

I love you.

The creep stalker guy is watching when I look over my shouder the first time. So I glace back forward, my face burning.

Why did I do that?

I wait a few more seconds and then look back again, unable to stop myself. He’s walking away now, his back to me. The sun light comes in from the angle to his left and casts a long shadow. But that isn’t what I notice. For a moment, a heart beat, I could swear he had wings.

There it is again, the random thought, the random flash. I can see him, just beyond my reach, reaching back to me.

My heart is breaking.

And I don’t know why.

I don’t understand it!

I don’t know who he is, or where he comes from, or even how he thinks he knows me!

But from the first moment he jumped from an alley to sweep me up into a desperate embrace, to each day that he scares the living daylights out of me…

I look over my shoulder one more time. He’s turning a corner, and vanishing from sight.

…I love you.