It was the dark of the night when all is usually still but in the deep and cold of the dungeon, a dank cell which had a single ray of moonbeam as its only source of light there was no such stillness. Instead there was Jake McKinnon, Lt. Colonel Jake McKinnon who was trying desperately to find a way out. He hit the doors with the paper thin keyhole over and over again, but never did it bend, never did it break. And for poor Jake McKinnon he was becoming ever more increasingly frustrated.

He hit the door with his knee and foot followed by his shoulders and finally his hands. Finally, Jake collapsed to the ground heaving. Slowly, the cell was descending back into silence but it was in that growing silence that Jake thought he heard a sound. Turning sharply he looked into the darkness, past the silver moon beam in a vain attempt to see if anyone or anything was there. When his eyes failed to focus in on anything he called out to the darkness. “Hello?” he asked tentatively. “Is anyone there?”

The only response he got was a low moan, defiantly human in nature but not entirely loud enough for Jake to figure out whether the person was male or female. “Hello?” he called out again. “Who are you?”

There was a cough, defiantly feminine in nature and a very low, quiet, hoarse reply. “I’m here.”

Jake’s heart stopped. He recognized that voice, he would recognize it anywhere. And even though it had been months since he had heard that voice it had haunted his dreams ever since that fateful day. ‘It’s not possible,’ he thought to himself as his heart raced a mile a minute. ‘It can’t be her…’

“Hello?” the woman asked with a slightly stronger voice. “Is anyone there? Or am I dreaming again.”

“E-Emily?” he asked taking a tentative movement forward.

“Is that who I am?” she asked in a very confused voice. “Do you know me?”

“C-come towards the light,” Jake stated with a shaky voice. “Let me see.”

There was the movement of a body crawling and in a matter of moments Jake came face to face with the ghost of the woman that he was beginning to fear that he would never see again. She blinked her eyes as they grew accustomed to the dim light and even though the shadows made her face look gaunt and hallow she was still the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

“Well?” she asked with a hint of her old humour. “Do you like what you see?”

Jake was speechless. Emily—his Emily—well not him Emily for he had never gotten to tell her exactly how he felt about her but the Emily that he had been searching for was there before him. It was like a miracle, if it wasn’t for his execution hanging over his head.

“You said that you knew me…” Emily stated as she held out her hand in an attempt to let Jake. “…do I know you?”

Jake crawled towards the light and soon he and Emily were nearly nose to nose. “You don’t recognize me,” he stated in wonderment as he searched her eyes which were as beautiful as ever except for the fact that seemed almost empty. “Do you Em?”

Emily shook her head. “No. Should I?”

With a gulp, Jake nodded. “Yes. Yes you should.”

Emily looked intensely at Jake as though she was searching for something—something that she could recognize. Slowly, so as not to frighten him off she raised her hand to his face and traced his features. The man before her had a strong nose and square jaw. The plains of his cheeks were rough with an unshaved beard and his eyes were damp with tears. Her fingers found their way to his lips and as she traced over them she felt a memory stirring within her.

It was a faint memory, lost in a haze of drugs and drunkenness but it was there. She remembered kissing the man before her. She remembered kissing him passionately despite the fact that she knew that it was wrong. She was his commanding officer even though they were the same age, she was a rank higher and therefore it had been inappropriate for her and he to have a relationship that wasn’t platonic.

With a sharp intake of breath she pulled back. “Oh god…” she muttered in horror as a part of her memory broke through the haze. “J-Jake...Jacob.”

Jake smiled, relieved in part that she recognized him. “Only you were able to get away with calling me Jacob, Colonel Holloway.”

‘Colonel Holloway…’ she let the name roll around in her brain and it brought back more memories.

“God Jake,” she whispered fearfully as she began to shake. “They—they’ve done something to me…to my mind.”

“Shh…” Jake comforted as he traced the contours of her face as she had done to him. “It’s okay. We’ll get out of here. We’ll figure it out.”

Emily shook her head and pulled back slightly so that her face was more in darkness than in light. “No,” she countered. “No we won’t figure it out. We can’t figure it out. They…”

“What did they do to you Em?” he asked as he reached out to her but she pulled away and was out of his current reach. “What did they do?”

Emily squinted her eyes and placed her hands at her temples. “I don’t know,” she stated with tears in her eyes as she tried in vain to remember. “It had something to do with…to do with….”

“Em,” Jake whispered as he inched towards her. “Don’t worry about remembering. It’s not important”

“No!” Em screeched as she came back into the light. “No it is important! It is! It has something to do with you. Why you’re here. What’s going to happen to you, what’s going to happen to me…” she trailed off and looked Jake square in the eyes. Momentarily getting lost in the endless blue that she saw and that brought back a whole host of other memories. “….I remember….”

“Remember what?” asked Jake.

“I remember the first day that we met,” she stated quietly. “We were embarking for the mission, and you told me…”

---

“Hey there princess,” Lt. Colonel Jake McKinnon stated with a smile to the female officer who was standing just a few feet from him. “Do you know when our commanding officer is getting her?”

Colonel Emily Holloway turned around and watched the abject horror on the lieutenant’s face. “I’m Colonel Holloway,” she stated with a smirk. “And I can tell you that your commanding office is right in front of your eyes.”

“Oh…I…uh…”

“Cat caught your tounge?” asked Emily with a raised eyebrow. “Or do you like what’cha see?”

---

Emily laughed, and it was a melodic laugh which made Jake smile too. “You were so cocky, so sure of yourself.”

Jake laughed heartily at the memory. “I wasn’t expecting my commanding officer to be there, let alone a woman.”

Emily smiled. “I know. The way that I wiped that smile off your face, just like…” she trailed off, another memory crashing into her like a ton of bricks; a memory that would help the two of them.

---

“Colonel!” Jake cried out as her raced through the metal interior of the enemy base. “Colonel Holloway!” he was searching for her, frantically. They had snuck in behind enemy lines just as they were orders and they had done a great amount of damage. But their technician Richard said that she had been captured and that they had lost all communications with her. “Emily!” he cried out again searching not for his commanding officer but his friend and the woman that he was secretly—or not so secretly—in love with. “Emily!”

“Here!” came her reply and when Jake followed the sound he found that it came from a door that had partially sealed shut. He could see Emily on the other side but there was no way that she could get through the crack.

He was instantly at the door and used all his muscle to push the door open. But it was no use. The foreign metal was just too much for him. He couldn’t get it open but then her remembered that Richard had a schematic of the base and maybe he could figure out a way for Emily to get out.

“Richard,’ Jake stated frantically. “Richard I’ve found Em, she’s trapped.”

“I know,” came the crackly reply of Richard over the comm. “I’ve got your location. But…oh boy.”

“Oh boy what?” asked Jake as he looked up into Emily’s eyes. They were bright as emerald and there was a veil of confidence behind which was a torrent of fear. “Richard?” he asked again as he tore his eyes away from Emily’s. “Richard what is it?”

“She’s trapped Jay,” Richard replied. “She’s trapped and there’s no way out.”

“No!” Jake shouted as he slammed against the doors. “No there has to be a way.”

“There isn’t,” Richard assured.

“There isn’t,” Emily echoed. “Jake,” she continued catching his attention. “Go.”

“What?” he asked in shock.

“Go.”

Jake shook his head. “We don’t leave people behind.”

“I said go,” she stated as the sounds of the enemy crept ever closer. “So go.”’

“No,” Jake stated. “No I’m not leaving without you.”

Emily looked Jake in the eyes. They were full of so many emotions and Emily was sure that they matched her own but she couldn’t think about the emotion behind his eyes. It was too late for them to pursue any emotion now. All that was left was for Jake and his men to get out of the base. She was lost. She knew that. All she had to do was make Jake know that too. “You won’t get out of here unless you go now,” she stated calmly with her voice as steady as she could make it. “So go.”

“Em—” Jake pleaded as his team caught up to them.

“Lt. Colonel?” asked Ryan on of Jake’s good friends. “What are we doing?”

“You are leaving now,” Emily stated firmly. “That’s an order.”

Ryan and Emily caught eyes and in that brief moment, Ryan understood what Jake could not. She was sacrificing herself for them. She wasn’t going to allow her people to put themselves in danger for her.

“Ma’am,” Ryan stated quietly, understanding what was going on.

“You get him out Ryan,” Emily ordered. “You get them all out.”

“Yes ma’am.” Ryan assured with a nod of his head before turning back to the rest of the men and ordering them to retreat.

“Emily…” Jake whispered as he put himself right up against the door so that he could touch Emily’s fingers with his own. There was so much that he wanted to say, but he couldn’t say it—and neither could she.

“Go,” she whispered tears in her eyes as she backed away from the door. “GO!”

---

“Oh!” Emily cried out in shock of the memory. Sobs overcame her body and she found herself shivering in Jake’s arms. “Oh…oh…oh…I remember,” she stated through her tears. “I remember ordering you to go. That…was the hardest…most heart-wrenching thing that I have e-ever...ever had to do…”

“I came back for you,” Jake stated as he held Emily close. “I came back for you with sixty men. But the base was empty. There was no sign of you. For months I’ve been searching—but there’s been no word….”

Emily shook her head. “There wouldn’t have been. We traveled only under the cover of darkness. I only ever saw the light when they…when they….” She trailed off as she remembered one of her captors and what they had said.

That Lieutenant Colonel that you cry out for in your sleep, he’ll come for you soon. But you won’t be who he remembers. The drugs that we have been giving you are destroying your mind and by the time he finds us it will be in time to see you without your memory. That will torture him more than anything we can do. And once he sees that the woman he has been searching for is forever lost we will execute you before his eyes and then finally we’ll put him out of his misery

Emily stilled and looked up into Jake’s eyes frantically. “It’s all been a trick!”

“Trick?” he asked holding her closer. “What do you mean?”

And so Emily explained to him what she had remembered. “I can feel it working,” Emily continued. “I can feel the poison working and…and…”she trailed off collapsing into sobs once more and while a part of her was embarrassed at her display, the other part of her—the human part of her was thankful for the release of emotion.

Jake for his part just held her knowing that once the dark of the night passed both their lives would end. He didn’t want it to end and he would have given anything for them both to get out of the cell alive, but there was nothing that he could do. And so, when morning came they were dragged from their cell and brought to the execution block where the high judge read out their order.

“Jake,” she whispered as she held his hand not caring if any of the witnesses whispered about her apparent lack of memory loss. “Jake I’m scared.”

Jake turned to his commanding officer, his friend and the woman he loved. “Don’t be scared. Richard and Ryan and the boys should be here any minute now. We’re not going to die Em, so don’t worry about it.”

Emily gave him a small smile. “That’s not what I’m afraid of.”

“Then what?” asked Jake only to be interrupted by the judge.

“Do not talk in my court!” the judge, a crotchety old man ordered causing Jake and Emily to fall silence. “Now,” he continued with scorn. “Let them be killed.”

Jake and Emily were led out of the court to the execution block. When they could see it in the distance, at the end of the long corridor, Emily turned to Jake. “I’m afraid that I’m never going to be able to tell you—how much I love you Jake…” she paused and watched the emotions as they floated across his face. “I love you, and it’s only now when our fate is so uncertain that I can tell you…I’m so sorry for not telling you before.”

Jake took Emily’s hand and squeezed it. “I knew,” he assured as they reached the end of the tunnel. “I always knew for I felt the same way.”

Emily’s face lit up and she and Jake leaned in for a kiss. Their lips had just barely touched when the guard forced them apart. “Alright little missy,” he stated in a deep unrefined voice. “Up onto the block…”

With tears in her eyes, Emily was pulled away from Jake and was forced to look into his face as a noose was around her neck. The guard was counting down and Jake was struggling to save her. He had just reached one when suddenly the cavalry appeared. Fighting broke out on all sides and Jake had to fight his way to Emily who had fallen from the noose to the ground. Ryan was their guard for Jake was not in any real condition to fight. And when the battle was over, they escaped the foreign base. And on their way home, Emily regained consciousness.

“Jake?” she whispered reaching out her hand. “Jacob?”

“I’m here,” Jake assured as he took her hand not caring if his men and hers saw. She had been deemed MIA by the military. Some had even thought that she had been killed in action and thus technically they weren’t under the same chain of command any more. “I’ll always be here.”

Emily looked up at Jake and smiled. “I know,” she sated as she held his hand tighter. “I know.” And so, as the dark of another night descended Emily and Jake returned home together, where they would remain as a couple for the rest of their days.

Author's Note: This was based on a dream I had...most of the stories from here on out will be based on dreams or day dreams in some way or another. Please review for I'll return the favour.