Chapter 6 (Revised Version)

"You think she's okay in there? By herself I mean," Jason said.

Jess glanced over at her son as she scooped up another foot of snow with her shovel and tossed it to the side. Of course the snow blower would choose now to go on the fritz, which was why Jason had half its guts pulled out so he could try to find the problem and fix it.

"I'm sure she's fine. She was channel-surfing when I left." At least I hope she didn't really stop on Wordy's Wild Wumblee Woos.

"Yeah, but what about that fit she had at breakfast? I thought she was gonna have a seizure or something."

"I think they're just headaches, probably leftover from the hypothermia."

"Oh." He worked for a few minutes in silence and then frowned. "But what about how she kept dropping her food? You think maybe she has some kind of nerve damage from being frozen like that?"

Jess frowned, looking as concerned as her son.

"I don't know. I hope not. She seemed to do better after that, so maybe it was only temporary."

"That's true."

Jason brightened, though he continued to frown in concentration as he tweaked various bits.

"Ha! I found it. Stupid screw," he muttered the last as he pulled a stripped screw from the machine's inner workings and replaced it with a new one from his toolbox.

He made short work of putting the parts back together and set the machine upright again. On his second pull, the snow blower roared to life and Jess sighed in relief as she stopped shoveling. He turned it off as she came over.

"Good job," Jess said and gave him a one-armed hug. "Now see if you can clear me some paths to the greenhouses and then do the drive."

"You really think anyone's going out in this?"

"Probably not, but I'd still like us to be able to get down to the road if we have to. Not to mention that dinky little blower isn't going to be able to handle it if the snow gets much higher, so we're going to have to stay on top of it," Jess reminded.

"Why can't we just wait for George to plow us out? He always has before."

"Because that's not part of his job and we shouldn't just expect him to do something like that. If he does it, that's great, but we should at least do some of the work ourselves. Don't you think he'd appreciate it if the job was already half done when he gets here?"

"I guess," Jason said, sounding less than convinced, since he was the one who was going to have to do all the actual work of pushing the blower. "You know, this would all be a heck of a lot easier if you would just let us get our own plow for the truck. They don't cost that much."

Jess laughed, though there was no humor in it.

"They cost plenty and you know it. And we don't have that kind of money to spare. It's bad enough we're gonna miss the winter market this weekend." Jess looked up as the light snow seemed to get thicker again. "And who knows if I'll be able to get to that farmer's expo next week."

"It'll be all right, Mom. You'll see. We've got the whole rest of the year to catch up if this month turns out... not so great. Besides, they probably canceled the market because of the storm, so everyone's in the same boat."

"That's not very reassuring when the boat's sinking."

Jess regretted her words as soon as she said them.

"Wait, is everything okay? I mean you would've said if there was something wrong, wouldn't you? Mom?"

"Everything's fine. We just... We don't have a lot of leeway with the profit margin right now, so every little bit counts."

"But I thought we were doing okay. Is it because of the horses? You said you were only going to use my savings, that it wouldn't affect—"

"No, it's not that. It's... I... I signed the lease."

"You did what? Mom... You said we couldn't afford it right now. Why would you—"

"Barbara told me she was going to put the whole farm up for sale at the end of the month unless I was willing to take it. There's no way we can afford to buy it right now, but the lease buys us some time and the use of the land."

"So we're locked in."

"Yes, but so is Barbara. She can't accept any offers for two years, and if we can get that place going again..."

"Then we might be able to afford it. Or at least convince her to go for another lease until we can. Did you lock in a price?"

Jess smiled.

"She said she was going to list it at four-fifty, but she forgot she told me last month she didn't expect to get more than three hundred for it. Then I reminded her the whole place used to belong to our family anyway and we would take care of it. Who knows what some outsiders would do with it, probably build some recreation park with roller coasters and screaming kids, and she only lives a few miles down the road, so she agreed to two-eighty-five."

Jason whistled and then frowned in concentration as he started to do the math.

"Twenty percent down is fifty-seven thousand dollars. We've got, let's see, twenty-three thousand in CDs, but those aren't earning hardly anything, and then there's another eighteen in that stock portfolio..." Jason continued to mumble to himself, working through the calculations in his head, until finally speaking normally again. "We'll need to save an extra... three-sixty-seven every month for the next two years to make it. But we've also got the lease to pay now and the extra horses, and then we'll have a mortgage to cover and nothing in savings to fall back on—"

Jess put her hand on his shoulder.

"I know it's a lot to consider, but we've got two years to decide if we can make it work. And we're not going to figure it all out right now. We'll just see how it goes. But as of yesterday, that place is ours to use as we see fit."

"Which means we can start putting it to work for us instead of them." Jason's frown turned into a grin. "Mom, you know I've been thinking about how we could set that place up for proper stabling and farming and all kinds of things ever since I first started working there. Old man Winston never listened to me, but I've got everything written out. I could go over there—"

"Hold up. We've got chores to see to here."

"But I should check on the horses anyway. They're mine now and one of them could've been injured in the storm and they're my responsibility, so—"

"No. I'm not risking you and one of our horses here with this storm picking up again. We'll check on them when it clears up a bit more."

"But Mom—"

"No buts. Clear the paths and the drive while I go make the rounds and patch up whatever damage the storm did. And when you're done with that, I want you to chop enough wood to fill that stack up to the third marker."

The muscles in Jason's jaw worked for several moments as he wrestled with himself, but Jess's gaze never faltered and he clenched his teeth in frustration.

"Fine."

Jason turned away as Jess tried to put her hand on his shoulder again, but he shrugged her off and yanked the starter on the snow blower. The noise of the engine drowned out her attempt to call his name, which she knew was his intention, so she let him be, giving him a head start on the paths while she walked the wraparound porch around the house to check for damage. She didn't find any, but she still took her time, waiting until Jason had moved farther away to the next few greenhouse domes before she headed towards the barn. She watched him for another minute as he wrestled with the blower and finally shook her head as she entered the side building attached to the barn. He'd cool off eventually and she had her own chores to see to.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Sir, are you going to try this stuff on?" Harrison asked, gesturing to the cart full of winter weather clothes.

Cross looked up from dialing his cell phone and frowned.

"We don't have time."

"But the guy said to make sure everything fits."

"Harrison, I think I know what size I am. Just buy the crap and pack it up."

Cross dismissed him by turning his back and walking away as he brought the phone to his ear. He stood a little straighter when the Director answered.

"Hello, Sir. I just thought you'd like to know we've made it into town and—"

"So soon?"

Cross smiled.

"Yes, Sir, I knew you'd be pleased. I worked all night and found an independent contractor who was willing to drive us up in several of his company's snowplows. For a nominal fee, of course. It took most of the morning, but now we're prepping to leave for the crash site. I've hired a local trail guide and his dogs. They're certified search and rescue. We'll leave as soon as he gets back from grabbing his gear... Oh, he's here now, Sir."

"Understood. Call me when you've reached the site."

Cross didn't bother answering as the line went dead.

He put the phone away and walked over to where several of his team members and the trail guide, Scott something, were finishing up getting the gear stowed.

"You set?" Scott asked.

"Good to go," Cross said.

They carried the packs out to the sleds, which Scott had hitched to their rented snowmobiles, and lashed everything down. In a roar, they headed up the windy unplowed road that weaved its way up the side of the mountain. It took longer than Cross wanted, but they finally reached the trailhead Scott had said would get them the closest to the coordinates Cross had given him.

They abandoned the snowmobiles on the side of the road, tied the sleds to themselves, and headed up the mountain.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Jason brought the ax up over his head and swung it down in a powerful arc, landing just a little right of center on the log set up in front of him. The blow was close enough and the log split cleanly, each half flying to the side and hitting the walls of the small wood shed he'd taken shelter in. He reached for another log and set it up on the block, automatically reading the cracks in the end as he positioned it for his next carefully aimed strike.

I could've been there by now.

Instead, he'd spent over two hours clearing their long drive when George could've probably gotten it done in less than fifteen minutes with his truck.

He swung the ax and felt it land with a satisfying thunk, but the log didn't split. He lifted the ax, the log still hanging on, and slammed it down on the chopping block. The ax finished its path through the log and sent the two ends hurtling away in opposite directions. Jason grabbed the next log and set it up.

I mean seriously, what was the point of wasting my time on the driveway?

He glanced out the open shed doors at the drive in question and shook his head in disgust. You couldn't even tell he'd cleared it.

That fact made him pause and he frowned as he looked out at the darkened sky.

The snow had been falling at a slow but steady pace since they'd left the house that morning. Gusts of wind had caused huge drifts to form against every building they owned. Even their truck was half-buried and would probably take at least ten minutes of solid shoveling to get it free again. He hadn't been paying attention while he worked, but now that he was looking, he could see the snow was coming fast and heavy and must have been for some time.

If he'd been at the Winston's farm, or even on his way back, he'd have been in real trouble. Judging by his past experience with these kinds of storms, they probably had less than an hour before it turned into a complete white out. Once that happened, you were as good as lost, no matter how well you knew the terrain because you simply couldn't see it anymore. He would've been lucky simply to turn around and find his way back to the Winston's and hole up there until the storm passed.

Jason sighed.

I hate it when she's right.

He looked out and found his mother still doing her rounds of the greenhouses. He checked his watch and saw it was almost noon. They'd been at it since dawn.

Jason hung up his ax and went outside to dig out the newest wood stack, so he could pull back the tarp and add the wood he'd just split to let it season. The stacks were still a little short for his tastes, but if he kept at it steady this winter and worked extra hard this summer, he was sure he'd be able to make up for it. While he was there, he dug out the oldest stack and made several trips to bring in armloads of wood to replace what they'd used the past few days. The access panel connecting the woodshed to the enclosed porch allowed them to bring wood in as they needed it without having to trudge outside.

He closed and latched the double doors of the woodshed and gave his mother one last glance before heading inside.

Lunch would make a good peace offering.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Jess went about her daily routine, though it was a little different from the norm with the storm thrown in.

First up was making sure each of the half-dozen share refrigerators and freezers were packed with snow, just in case they lost power. The last thing she needed was to lose her customers' food shares. Not that she would've had to refund anyone. Her CSA farm was like any other in that respect. No one would hold her responsible if the harvest went bad one year, but if she didn't do everything in her power to keep her members' shares safe, they probably wouldn't sign up for the summer season. Community supported agriculture only worked when the community supported it and she needed the support now more than ever.

What if I've completely screwed us by signing that lease?

She frowned as she closed the door on the last refrigerator and locked it with the master key. As she left the member shares room attached to the side of the large barn, she checked on Jason's progress along the paths to the greenhouses. He was about halfway through, but the snow was building up again behind him.

What if we can't make up the money we're losing because of this damn storm?

She moved on to the next item on her to-do list and entered the main area of the barn.

Jason had already fed the animals that morning, so all she had to do was confirm their bedding was sufficient, make sure the heaters were working on all the drinking troughs to keep their water from freezing, and generally check in with each of their animals.

She had a series of treats ready for the horses, which they happily snatched from her open palm. She stroked and patted them on their favorite spots in between generally checking them over and they nuzzled her in return.

What if Jason's right and one of the horses has been injured or even killed?

Jess gave the horse under her hands one last rub, trying to shake the image from her mind as she left the last stall and went to the goat corral. The goats were excited to see her, several of the pregnant does in particular rubbing and pushing against her. Jess managed to handle each one, glad to find them all in good health. She entered her notes on the tablet they kept stored in the barn just for that purpose and checked the due dates. The madness wouldn't begin for at least another two months, but then it would be non-stop babies with does kidding every week for the next six weeks. She smiled at the thought. She couldn't wait.

She checked on the rest of their animals, making more notes as she went along, and then returned the tablet to its docking station in the small closet-like office at the back of the barn. She made sure to wirelessly transfer the updated files to the main computer in the house before heading outside again.

Jess walked around the outside of the big barn looking for signs of damage from the ice or downed limbs, but everything appeared fine. As she came back around to the front, she stopped to check on Jason's progress. He'd finally moved on to plowing the driveway. He wasn't jerking the machine around anymore, but he hadn't come over to talk to her, which meant he was still upset, so Jess left him alone.

After sixteen years, Jess had learned it was best not to push him. Then again, the same could be said of her and she couldn't help smiling at the stubbornness so like her own. While it might be irritating coming from her son sometimes, it was a trait Jess prided in herself. That stubbornness had helped her rebuild their family farm from near bankruptcy.

Jess straightened against a gust of icy wind and narrowed her eyes at the pelting snow.

We've had bad storms before and we've always made it through. We'll get through this one, too.

Jess nodded to herself, then trudged over to the nearest greenhouse to check its exterior before moving on to the next.

There were nineteen in all scattered around the barn and the main farmhouse. The greenhouses had been the last big purchase her father had made for the farm before passing away. It had been his attempt to bring the farm into the 21st century.

Each greenhouse consisted of a geodesic dome made of triangular polycarbonate panels and the special design allowed them to grow year-round. The buildings' footprints were such that all she and her father had had to do was carve out small 700-square-foot plots of relatively level ground wherever they could find it among the slopes and ridges on the side of the mountain and then get to building. She was currently supporting 34 families—almost a hundred people—on a third of an acre of land.

Of course, building the things had been the easy part. Maintaining them, tending all the plants, harvesting, and labeling those harvests for each of her families was the real work.

She decided most of the vegetables could wait a few days before being harvested, but anything that looked like it was going to go bad on the vine she'd have to cut. Either she and Jason would use it or it would make good compost for the next season. She also had to keep on top of the few pests that had lucked into finding her warm little paradise before winter. Then there were the odd weeds that always seemed to magically blow in on the wind when she left the vents open in the summer and refused to be eradicated no matter how many she pulled.

Going in and out of the greenhouses was a pain, not just because she still had to dig out each door from the last bit of snow the blower hadn't been able to get to, but also because she had to constantly keep taking off and putting on her heavy coat. But every time she felt the warm, moist air and saw all the green, leafy vegetables, she couldn't help smiling to herself.

Jess loved digging around in the dirt and it seemed to be the most natural thing in the world for her to tell each of the plants what a great job they were doing. She chewed on the occasional lettuce leaf or rinsed carrot, just to check for quality, of course. However, she reminded herself she couldn't afford to spend too much time in any one greenhouse, since she was going to have to do them all by herself today. Normally, she would have had Jason or their part-time farmhand, George, helping her out, but she could hear Jason hacking away to build up their firewood and there was no way George was going to make it there anytime soon.

Finally, on her second to last stop, she noticed the thwack of Jason's ax had gone quiet. She'd heard the switch from snow blower to ax when she'd been about halfway through the greenhouses. That meant he'd either finally calmed down or he'd gotten hungry. Either way, it was time for her to take a break, too. She finished up and did a cursory check of the last greenhouse, deciding there was nothing critical that needed her attention. At least nothing that couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Jess headed back to the house, part of her already missing the greenery as she squinted at all the white. The snow had concealed their drive again and the wind was picking it up and blowing it straight at her face.

She hurried the last few dozen feet until she reached the porch. She shook herself and stamped her feet before opening the side door.

Jess entered the kitchen, only a little surprised to find Jason cooking on the stovetop. He was slowly stirring the contents of a steaming pot, while holding an old paperback book in his other hand. She put her covered basket of veggies on the breakfast table and then set about divesting herself of her winter gear. The last to go were her boots, which she set on the tray by the door to let the snow melt off. She turned around and hesitated, unsure what kind of reception she was going to get from her son after his earlier tantrum, but when he looked up, he smiled, so she smiled back.

"Hey," Jason said, which was Jess's cue to walk over to him and put an arm around his shoulders.

"Smells good."

"Thanks."

Jess looked into the pot and frowned.

"Is that going to be enough?"

Jason looked confused for a moment and then his eyes widened.

"Oh Hades, I totally forgot." He set his book down on the counter and opened the freezer to pull out several more packages of pre-cooked meat, broth, and vegetables. "She's been so quiet, I didn't even think to check on her when I came in."

"Don't worry about it. I'll go look in on her in a minute."

"Okay. There's tea if you want it." Jason motioned to the teapot steeping on the counter and covered in one of his grandmother's hand knit cozies.

"You read my mind," Jess said and helped herself, adding a touch of milk and honey to the British blend she'd grown up on.

She sipped for a few minutes, letting the sweet liquid warm up her insides.

"So, not to bring up a sore subject," Jess began and Jason turned to glance at her before returning his attention to the pot.

"Yeah?"

"I haven't changed my mind about going out to check on the horses in this weather. It's just too dangerous." Jess saw him frown and take a breath to argue, so she held up a hand. "But I would like to take a look at those plans of yours. It's been a while since you showed me those mock ups you created for Mr. Winston, but I seem to remember they had some good ideas in them. You think you could find them and put them in the office for me to look at? Then maybe we can go over them together and see what we can come up with."

Jason's frown had dissolved as she talked and now she could see his excitement building at the prospect of collaborating.

"Yeah, definitely. I've got 'em up in my room. I'll be right back."

Jason took off before Jess could say another word and she laughed. His enthusiasm was contagious. As scary as it was to take the kind of risk she was taking, she was actually getting excited, too. She was looking forward to working with her son to build their future together.

The door swung open behind her and she smiled.

"Well, that was fast," Jess said as she turned around and then stopped.

Her house guest stood in the open doorway with Max draped over one shoulder and Sienna heeling at her knee. The long sleeve T-shirt and sweatpants Jess had let her borrow hung loosely on her small frame, making her appear even smaller than she really was.

"Hello."

Jess's eyes widened at the simple greeting, not expecting it in the slightest.

"Uh, hi." Jess cast around for something to say. "Are you... How are you feeling?"

"Tah sahn—" The woman stopped and frowned. "Temata... Agh," she grunted in exasperation, clearly frustrated. "Sahr-ee... Sorry. I am... good? Yes?"

"Good, yeah." Jess couldn't stop staring at the woman in complete amazement. "So, you... You understand English? Because you didn't before."

The woman waggled her head with a self-deprecating smile.

"Little. I am... Learn. Learning? Yes, I'm learning."

Before Jess could respond, not that she had a clue what to say to that, Jason pushed through the swinging door. He narrowly missed running into the blonde, who sidestepped the imminent collision, though the sudden movement caused Max to jump down from the woman's arms as Sienna skittered out of the way, her claws scrabbling on the tile.

"Whoops. Pardon me, mademoiselle," Jason offered.

"Pas de problème."

Jason did a double-take and Jess noticed the woman seemed a little surprised herself.

"You speak French, too?" Jess asked.

The woman shook her head.

"I... I know it, but know not how I know. I know English like this, but I learning... learned more this day... today. I see German and Russian and others on internet and I know same words in them."

"But you don't know how?" Jess asked.

"Yes, I don't know how."

"Wow. So Uncle Rob was right? You have amnesia?" Jason asked.

"Am nee zha?" the woman repeated uncertainly.

"It means you don't remember who you are," Jess supplied and then frowned. "Do you? I mean do you know your name?"

The woman opened her mouth to speak, but then winced and reached up to her temple. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again, her expression was blank.

"No. I... I..." She sighed. "I don't know words to say... You don't know me?"

"No, we never met you before last night," Jess said.

The woman appeared to be in pain again, though judging by her forlorn expression, it wasn't physical this time. She swallowed several times, obviously fighting back tears, and Jess couldn't help reaching out to squeeze the woman's arm in reassurance.

"It'll be okay. You're safe here."

The woman nodded, offering a watery smile in thanks, and Jess released her arm.

"Yeah, and Uncle Rob said your memories would probably come back as soon as you felt a little better," Jason added.

"That's true," Jess said. "I mean look at what you've already figured out about knowing all those languages."

"But how I know them? And why?"

"I bet you've just learned travel lingo," Jason said. "You know, like, 'Good day,' and 'Thank you.' You're probably like one of those people who backpacks around the world. That would be really cool." He turned to his mother. "I put my notebook on your desk, by the way."

"Thanks. I'll take a look after lunch."

"Oh Hades," Jason said as he dashed to the pot on the stove and quickly stirred the contents. He blew on a spoonful and took a sip. "Yes! Not burned. Yay me." He started pulling bowls from the cupboards. "Hey, Mom? Can we eat downstairs? There's a documentary I want to watch and it expires tonight."

"Sure. What's it about?"

Jess motioned for the woman to take her seat as she got up to rinse her cup and grabbed some spoons to add to the tray Jason was fixing.

"Crop circles," Jason said, blatantly ignoring his mother's groan as he continued. "It's supposed to talk about the history of them and their possible meanings and how some of the more massive ones could've been done in a single night."

Jess rolled her eyes.

"I can tell you that. A bunch of people got together and planned them," Jess said.

Jason snorted.

"Yeah, but who? And why? Aren't you the least bit curious?"

"No," Jess said as if it was obvious.

Jason shook his head, though he was smiling.

"Well, I am, so do you mind if I watch it?"

Jess finally grinned.

"Nah, it's fine. At the very least, I'm sure it'll be entertaining."

Jess grabbed sodas and cups, leading the way for their guest as Jason brought up the rear with the tray, and they all headed downstairs. She was overtaken halfway down as Max and Sienna decided to join them and raced ahead to claim their preferred spots on opposite ends of the couch.

Jess set the drinks on the small dining table next to the wall and moved the open laptop to the side so Jason could set the tray down. She glanced at the screen and saw a dozen different sites open, mostly English tutorials, but there were several for German, French, and Russian as well.

"This looks like one of your research sessions," Jess said and showed the screen to Jason, who nodded.

He went over to the couch and found the remote. He brought it back to the table so he could flip through the menus to look for his program.

Jess finished pouring the sodas and looked up at their guest, who was standing uncertainly near the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey, you okay?" Jess asked, keeping her voice gentle.

The woman looked at her and shook her head.

"I... I don't..." She impatiently wiped at her eyes. "I don't know words for this... Ugh!"

The woman made a vague gesture in front of her chest and stomach.

"You mean how you feel?" Jason hazarded a guess as he came to stand next to his mother.

The woman frowned and tilted her head as if listening to something, then nodded.

"Yes. I feel..." She trailed off again as she looked back and forth between them, fresh tears welling up in her eyes, and her gaze finally settled on Jess as she stared at her in silent appeal.

Jess felt her heart lurch at the sight. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to wake up and not know who you were. Before she could think too much about it, Jess walked over to the woman and tentatively reached out to squeeze her shoulders. The woman closed her eyes and Jess felt her immediately relax with a sigh.

"It's okay. I'm guessing you're feeling frustrated, and probably scared and worried, too, and maybe even a little angry."

The woman opened her eyes and nodded vigorously.

"Yes. I feel like what you feel."

"You mean those words describe what you're feeling," Jess clarified.

The woman frowned, but then her face cleared and she blushed.

"Yes. That... Those are right words."

Jess nodded.

"That's completely understandable, but try not to worry too much about it right now. You've just been through a traumatic experience and you need time to recover."

"Yeah, with a little rest and relaxation, and some of my special homemade soup, you'll be fine in no time. Here ya go, beautiful," Jason said as he walked over and handed her one of the bowls.

The woman accepted the bowl with a shy smile and Jason grinned broadly.

Jess refrained from rolling her eyes. Subtlety was not one of her son's strong suits.

Jason gestured for the woman to precede him back to the table and they sat down on the nearer side so they could face the TV. Jess retrieved a bowl for herself and walked around to the other side of the table to sit across from the woman, since Jason had already taken the seat next to her. For some reason, Jess couldn't help frowning, suddenly feeling out of sorts.

"When you finish your lunch, you need to get going on your homework," Jess said as Jason hit play on the remote.

Jason looked over at his mother and put on his best pleading face.

"I was kinda hoping we could play on the TX10?" Before Jess could turn him down flat, Jason continued. "I promise I'll do my homework tomorrow, though you know, school probably won't even be open on Monday." Jess continued to look unconvinced, so Jason added, "But I'll get my homework done anyway, just to be on the safe side. Okay?" Jason asked hopefully.

Jess finally relented and nodded.

"All right. But I don't want to hear any protests about it tomorrow, understood?"

Jason grinned.

"You got it. Thanks, Mom. You're the best."

"Yeah, yeah," Jess mumbled as she shook her head and rolled her eyes.

Jess scooted her chair around so she could see the TV as the documentary played on the large screen. After the first few minutes, Jess lost interest in the sensationalized style of the program and found herself glancing at their guest in between spoonfuls of soup. The woman was already done with her own bowl, having not even touched her soda, and had quietly pulled the laptop back in front of her, obviously not interested in the show either.

Jess quickly looked down at her bowl just as the woman looked up. Jess waited several moments before surreptitiously looking over again and felt her heart stop when she found the woman watching her over the top of the screen. Jess recovered quickly.

"What are you working on?" Jess asked, keeping her voice low as she nodded at the laptop.

"I'm working on learning English," the woman said, also speaking quietly in deference to Jason's program. "I found words you said... Frustrated, worried, scared, angry. I'm also confused, lost, and... apprehensive."

Jess nodded.

"Yeah, I'd probably be all those things, too, if I couldn't remember who I was. But like Jason said, Doc Sheridan seemed pretty confident that you'll get your memories back once you're feeling better, so I think you just need to give it some time."

The woman nodded, clearly still unsure, but not really having a better option.

"Okay. I will work on giving it some time."

Jess smiled reassuringly and the woman returned it before focusing on the laptop again. Jess felt flutters in her stomach from the woman's soft smile and forced herself to turn away and watch the TV. It made for a good distraction once she started challenging the host's commentary and got Jason to engage in a friendly debate about why aliens would try to communicate through crop circles.

"All right, fine," Jason said in exasperation. "I'll concede that they'd probably use some unknown way to message each other, but that they'd know enough to use radio waves if they really wanted to tell us something. I'll give you that. But what if they aren't trying to talk to us at all?" Jason sat up a little straighter as he became more interested in his own idea. "What if it's just art to them? Like we're some kind of gallery their friends can fly by and see their latest creations? We could be some alien Picasso's art studio."

Jess laughed.

"Oh, even better... What if it's just graffiti and we're like the slums of the galaxy and we've been tagged by the local gangs?"

"No way. Some of those designs are insanely intricate. There's no way it's just some kids messing around."

"You don't know. Maybe alien delinquents are more refined than us savage humans."

Jason rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling.

Jess looked over and saw the credits had started rolling.

"You want to help me with these dishes?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, sure," Jason said amiably and helped his mother pile everything except their unfinished sodas onto the tray.

Jess looked up as the woman joined in, adding her bowl to the stack. She tried to pick up the tray, but Jason beat her to it.

"I got it," Jason said as he flashed a grin at the woman.

"We'll take care of this. Why don't you stay and keep reading," Jess offered, but the woman shook her head.

"I can help."

"Okay," Jess said as she realized the woman might not want to be left alone again.

They followed Jason up the stairs and into the kitchen where he set the tray on the counter, then unloaded the dishes into the sink. He immediately grabbed a sponge and started the water, so Jess grabbed the dish towel to prepare to dry.

Jess looked over her shoulder and frowned when she saw the woman standing aimlessly in the middle of the kitchen, obviously looking around for something to do. There really wasn't room for more than two people at the sink, though. Then Jess saw the woman shiver and she set the dish towel aside as she walked over to the woman.

"Come on," Jess directed and the woman followed her out into the living room. Jess motioned for the woman to sit on the raised stone hearth bench in front of the fireplace. "Why don't you wait here and warm up a little. It won't take us long to get the dishes cleaned up."

"Okay."

Jess watched her turn and face the low fire, holding her hands out to its warmth, and then headed back into the kitchen.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

She stared into the flames as she let the heat from the fire infuse her body. An unsettling feeling kept prodding the back of her mind and she closed her eyes, trying to focus on pushing the feeling away. It was something about the fire and it was starting to make her head hurt.

She redoubled her efforts, imagining a storage box rated level four for the vacuum of space, and forced the memory remnant inside, shutting the lid and locking it down tight.

She was breathing heavily from the effort, but the knot that had been forming in her stomach started to ease as the danger seemed to be contained. A sense of relief washed over her and her breathing slowed as she looked into the fire once again and was able to simply enjoy its warmth.

As she continued to stare at the burning logs, a new sensation of calm filled her and she realized she'd sat by a fire before, the flames enclosed by rough hewn stones mortared and stacked in staggered patterns just like the stones surrounding this one.

"Kayleeya."

Her mother was calling her name and she turned to look up as a hand gently closed on her shoulder.

Instead of the green eyes and short blonde hair she'd expected, she looked up into dazzling light blue eyes surrounded by cascades of long black hair. Her shoulder tingled where the woman's warm hand rested and she had to fight the urge to tilt her head so she could rub her cheek against that soft hand.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just said we're about finished with the dishes and I was wondering if you'd like some tea."

It took a moment for her to process all the words through her haze. Unfortunately, the woman seemed to notice her slowness.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, trying to shake the fuzziness from her mind. Then she remembered and smiled.

"I... My name is Kayleeya."

The woman's eyebrows rose.

"Did you just remember that now?"

She nodded.

"I was sitting by a fire like this one, and then my mother—"

The pain was sharp, stabbing into her temple so suddenly, she saw stars. She grabbed the side of her head and whimpered.

Only now matters. Only now... Only now...

The pain subsided just as quickly and she sat up, blinking away the tears.

"What's wrong? Does your head hurt again?"

"It's fine now. I'm okay."

The woman frowned and rubbed her shoulder.

"Maybe I should get Doc back over here. He could take you into town on his snowmobile and get you checked out properly at the hospital."

"No. It... It doesn't hurt now," she said as she tried to wipe away the last evidence of her tears.

"But something's obviously wrong. And I don't like seeing you in pain."

"I'm not—"

She stopped as the boy suddenly pushed through the swinging door and into the room. She felt the loss when the woman quickly pulled her hand away as she straightened up.

"Dishes are done," he announced, but then paused when he noticed the silent tableau. "Everything okay?"

She glanced at the woman, who was still frowning, and decided to speak before the woman could reveal her weakness.

"Yes. I remembered my name is Kayleeya," she said.

"Really? That's great," he said as he walked over. "That must mean you're feeling better. See? We told you everything would be okay. You just need to take it easy. And I know just the thing. Mom already said I could play my new games, so what do you say? You wanna play? We can go through a couple death matches before we start the main level."

Her confusion must have been evident because the woman spoke before she could ask any questions.

"I'm not sure that's what Doc meant by relaxing. You might want to start her out on some easy ones first."

"Yeah, okay. Wait, you're not gonna play with us?" the boy asked in obvious disappointment.

"Oh, you know I want to, but I can't. We've got quarterly taxes coming up and I've been putting off getting those files sorted out for weeks. And since we can't make the market, I figured I'd at least get that stuff off my plate."

"Come on, Mom, please? A little break won't hurt anything. And it's the weekend. And my birthday."

"Your birthday was yesterday and weekend or not, storm or not, I still have to work. But how 'bout when I'm done I'll come play with you for a little while, all right? I should only be a couple hours."

The boy's shoulders slumped and he gave a heavy sigh.

"All right." The woman ruffled his hair with a grin as he tried to move out of her reach. "Hey, cut it out," the boy groused as he quickly worked to settle his hair back into place.

The woman laughed.

"I'll be back in a few hours. You guys have fun." The woman started to head for the hallway, then abruptly stopped and turned around. "Damn, I almost forgot my tea. Did you want some, too, Kayleeya?"

The sound of her name coming from the woman's lips sent shivers up and down her spine. She felt a little flustered as she tried to figure out what she should answer.

"I, uh... Yes?"

"I can get it," the boy piped up and dashed back into the kitchen.

The woman rolled her eyes and shook her head as she walked over to the still swinging door and gestured for Kayleeya to follow her.

Kayleeya sat at the table and watched the two move around the small space much as they had that morning, their movements coordinated as they each went to various compartments and pulled out two cups, a spoon, and several other things she couldn't quite identify. The woman poured steaming amber liquid from a roundish vessel into the cups, then picked up one of the containers she'd set out on the counter. She added it to one cup and was about to pour it in the second, when she stopped and looked up.

"I forgot to ask. How do you take your tea?" Before Kayleeya could answer, the woman winced. "Sorry. That was a stupid question, huh? You probably have no idea. You want to just try it the way I make it and see if you like it?"

Kayleeya nodded and the woman finished preparing the cups. While she was putting some of the items away, the boy picked up one of the cups and brought it over.

"Here ya go, Kaylee. Be careful, the mug's a little hot."

The shortening of her name caught her by surprise, but she sensed the informality was intended to be welcoming and inclusive. She tested the name out in her mind. Kaylee. It didn't bring any pain with it and it didn't seem to have any connections to her past, which meant it was safe. And she liked the sense of belonging that came with it.

Then she tried to remember if anyone had ever done that with her before, since it didn't feel familiar, and immediately regretted it as a dull ache began throbbing at her temple. She did her best to keep her expression neutral, not wanting to show her pain to the boy or more especially the woman.

She distracted herself by taking a tentative sip from the mug. It was warm and mildly sweet, sort of like the drink the boy had brought her last night, and yet completely different. Where the other drink seemed to energize her senses, this one was more soothing. Kaylee took another sip and felt the tension in her body slowly begin to release.

"Is it okay?" The woman asked.

Kaylee looked up and smiled.

"Yes. Thank you, Mom."

The woman choked and started coughing on her own sip of tea as the boy snickered.

"Um, no, Kaylee. You definitely don't want to go around calling her 'Mom.' She's 'Mom' to me because she's my mother, but her name is Jessica, though everyone just calls her Jess. And I'm Jason, by the way, but a lot of people just call me Jase, or JT because our last name is Taylor."

Kaylee blushed as she recognized the social blunder she'd just made. She looked directly at Jess as she spoke.

"I'm sorry, Jess. You are definitely not my mother."

It was Jess's turn to blush at the way Kaylee was looking at her and she quickly waved away the apology.

"It's okay. It was an easy mistake to make. And it's not like we ever got around to introducing ourselves again after all the chaos last night. Which reminds me, I should probably check on your wounds." Jess set her mug down on the counter and came over. "I'm guessing you took the bandages off when you took your shower?"

Kaylee frowned in concentration, annoyed with herself that she had to continually reach out to listen to the woman's thoughts in order to fill in the blanks in her understanding of the language. She caught images of the white cloth patches the healer had taped over her injuries and finally nodded.

"Yes, I took the... bandages... off. I'll get them for you."

She stood up and left through the swinging door.

"Wait, you don't have to..." Jess trailed off.

Kaylee returned a few moments later with the two pieces of cloth she'd carefully set aside on one of the tables in the other room. As soon as she handed them to Jess, she picked up on a sense of disgust and realized she'd made another mistake. The cloth patches clearly weren't meant to be reused. She watched the woman gingerly toss them into the trash container in the lower compartment and tried not to blush again.

"I'm sorry," Kaylee offered, but the woman shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. Just let me get our first aid kit and I can put some new ones on for you."

Jess started to turn away, but Kaylee reached for her arm to stop her.

"Wait. I'm fine. I don't need new bandages."

Jess put her hand on top of Kaylee's and spoke gently.

"We need to keep your wounds covered until you've healed up. Otherwise, they could get infected."

"But I'm already... healed up."

Jess frowned.

"Why don't you let me take a look and then we can decide."

Kaylee hesitated for a moment, but then pulled up the sleeve of her shirt.

Jess held her arm and then turned it over when she couldn't find the scrape. She really wanted to check Kaylee's other arm, but she was sure it was this one. Then Kaylee bent over and grabbed the loose cuff of the sweatpants, pulling it up until her thigh was exposed almost to her crotch.

Jess felt her heart rate pick up its pace and did her best to ignore it, but it wasn't easy with the way her body was responding to the sight of the woman's perfectly toned calf and flexing thigh muscles. If her son hadn't been standing right there, she wasn't sure she could've resisted reaching out to caress the soft looking skin.

Jess shook her head to clear it and refocused on her confusion. There wasn't even a pink spot to indicate where the deep gash had been on Kaylee's thigh.

"That's impossible," Jess muttered even though she was staring right at the pristine skin.

"Maybe the scratches weren't as bad as they looked last night," Jason suggested as he kept looking away, then glancing back at all the flesh on display.

"Maybe," Jess allowed, though her tone made it clear she disagreed.

Kaylee let her pants leg fall back down and pulled her sleeve back into place as she tried to come up with an explanation. It was obvious they weren't used to people healing overnight from the type of injuries she'd had.

"What was the... the healing... the man used... Maybe it helped?" Kaylee tried.

"That's true," Jason said as he turned to his mother. "Uncle Rob did put some medicine on her. And you know, you heal really fast, too. Maybe she's like you. You always said it was because of how Grampa—"

"Never mind," Jess said abruptly, then softened her voice as she turned to her son. "I'm sorry. You're right. It doesn't really matter. It's not like it's a bad thing." She turned back to Kaylee and smiled reassuringly. "I'm glad you're feeling better. You must have really good genes."

Kaylee nodded in return, unsure what to say. She briefly picked up on the woman's hastily pushed away thoughts of pain and fear, but they were nothing but shadows cast aside from long practice.

Jess turned away and picked up her mug of tea. She spent a few moments refilling it and then faced them again.

"Well, I really need to get to work." She turned to Jason and smiled. "Remember, go easy on her."

Then she took her mug and pushed through the swinging door to head to her office.

Kaylee wanted to go after her, but she could tell even without reading the woman's thoughts that Jess wanted to be alone. She sat back down at the table and swallowed another mouthful of her drink, hoping it would soothe her senses again.

Jason grabbed a soda from the fridge and then offered one to Kaylee.

"For when you're done with your tea," Jason explained.

Kaylee shook her head. She'd tried to take a sip from the glass Jess had poured for her earlier, but the gases had burned her nose when she'd gotten close and she'd decided it wasn't worth the risk.

"Suit yourself," Jason said as he put the can back. He closed the fridge, then held the swinging door open for Kaylee. "Come on. Just because she's a workaholic doesn't mean we have to be. Let's go have some fun."

Kaylee followed Jason back down the stairs, careful not to let her tea spill. She sat on the couch and absently pet the animals sleeping there as she sipped her cooling drink while Jason picked through several colorful bags in the corner of the room.

"I brought all my stuff in last night. I just have to find which bag... Ha, there you are!" Jason exclaimed as he pulled out the disk case. Then he looked at Kaylee and frowned. "Oh, but she said to start with something easy. Okay, how 'bout bowling?"

Kaylee offered a tentative smile and a nod, uncertain how else she should respond.

Jason went back over to the TV and grabbed two controllers as he hit the button to activate the system. He switched out the disk that was in there and flipped through the case on the lower shelf of the entertainment center until he found the right disk. Once it was loading, Jason came back to Kaylee and handed her one of the controllers.

He used his own controller to select one of the items from the list and a new screen came up.

"Oh, I forgot to create your avatar. Here, I'll do it," he said, and held out his hand for the controller he'd given Kaylee a moment ago.

He used the onscreen keyboard to enter her name and then created a cartoon avatar that could pass as a good imitation of her. Then he handed her back the controller.

"Okay, we're all set. So, it's pretty much like bowling in real life, except without the heavy ball. Mostly, you just have to keep the thing straight. Like this." He swung from his shoulder, keeping his wrist in line with his arm. "And you hold this button to start and then when you want to let go, you just release."

Jason took his turn and Kaylee watched him. His onscreen ball hit the middle of the stack of pins, leaving one on the left still standing. He went again, but his ball only grazed the pin, leaving it intact.

"Okay, now it's your turn."

Kaylee downed the last of her tea and then stood up as she looked at the screen dubiously. The goal appeared to be to get all the pins to knock over. She swung her arm a couple times to get the feel of the movement, and then finally hit the button to take her turn. Her ball careened down the lane, slipping into the gutter halfway to the pins, so that it simply rolled past them without touching a single one.

"That's okay. You should've seen me the first time. You'll get the hang of it."

They played until they'd completed the required rounds. Kaylee had barely hit a couple dozen pins total, while Jason had rarely left more than one on the board.

"Wanna play something else?"

Kaylee nodded, though she was more than ready to quit. She should be spending her time learning, not fooling around. The masters would...

Kaylee shied away from the thought. There didn't appear to be any masters here and she just needed to leave it at that.

Jason queued up the next option on the list, something with water apparently, so Kaylee focused on the here and now.