"So. Who the hell am I?" she asked coldly.
"You are Samantha Blake. Samantha Hannery Blake. You are my wife."
"Bullshit!" she shouted at him. "If I were married to you, I'd know it!"
"Okay, now calm down. Our doctor is coming to check you out. He should be here soon. Maybe he can explain it to you better than I can. Come on, Babe, try to relax. You want to be calm when he gets here. Calm. So we can go home. Okay? Wait a minute! Was there a veiled compliment in there somewhere? I think there was!" He smiled at her shyly, blushing a little. She smiled back. "Aha! I knew it," he teased. "You rather like me, don't you? Come on, admit it! A little bit? Maybe?" She giggled. He brought her a robe and helped her on with it, and held her gently in his arms. "Everything's going to be okay. I promise you." He kissed the top of her head loudly and piloted her to the table and chairs near the window.
“Please try to remember, I’m on your side. I am not the enemy." They sat and drank their coffee looking out at the courtyard in silence for a moment. "I’m here for you, Sam, no matter what. I know this is scary for you, but you’re not alone. You have me. And I love you. I’m in this with you, one hundred percent, no matter what. Okay?
Now, it might be a good idea if we shower, so we can go home as soon as the doctor releases you.” He went into the bathroom and turned the shower on. “Well, come on.”
“Together?”
“Yes, yes. We always shower together. Come on.” She followed him into the bathroom. He adjusted the water temperature.
“Ah, hot, just like you like it!” He helped her into the tub and pulled the shower curtain closed. “Now I really think he’ll release you today. But you have to be calm, or at least pretend to be calm, just until we get out of here. Okay?”
"Okay. What do I call you?"
"Jaks. It's Jakson Blake, but you’ve always called me Jaks. You are, by the way, the only one who calls me Jaks.”
“And what does everyone else call you, Jaks?”
“Everybody else calls me Mr. Blake,” he said haughtily, but with a grin.
"Thank you, Jaks. I'll try to behave myself.”
"Oh, that'll be the day!" He clutched his chest and laughed. "You don’t need to behave yourself for me. I like you just the way you are. All I want is for you to feel better."
"Jaks, how long have we been together?"
"Long or short version?"
"Short, please."
"We will be married one year this February. We were together for six months before that. We’ve been together since the day we met. We just... clicked. Whenever you feel up to it, I’ll give you the long, convoluted version with, oh let me see, parallel worlds, and dimensional doorways, doppelgangers, a nasty vicious king…”
“Stop! I’ve heard enough craziness for one day,” she laughed. “But… is there a love story in there somewhere?”
“Oh, yes, a very good one,” he nodded. She smiled.
They dried off and dressed. She pulled her hair up in a chignon, applied a bit of make up, and put on the earrings she found on the dresser. She thought she looked presentable. And calm.
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