Forgotten childhood memories

A shower later he got in to some clean clothes. His back was starting to ache a bit, but strangely it wasn't as bad as when his whole body had been in pain. No, this was bearable. He moved over, sitting down by his desk, leaning back a bit with a groan. His breath was whistling slightly, knowing it was about time he had his syringe. However he was not too good at doing it himself. His hand was shaking a little, holding the contraption. He had tried to do it himself before, wanting to spare Jane from having to do it, and he had done it a few times. But being in pain and his breath already whistling, it was just a bit too much. Leaning back once more he sighed, closing his eyes as he tried to gather his strength.

Why he hadn't called? He sighed, reaching over to touch her hand as she held the syringe contraption, looking at her as he was pulled closer. It was so intimate. Not like sexual intimacy, but a genuine caring for one another. Her second question made him lift his hand from hers to her cheek. "I trust you with my life, Zippy," he said softly, smiling at her through the pain. She always wanted him to smile, and he would do it just to make her happy. "I guess I just didn't want to burden you more today," he confessed, his thumb touching her cheekbone in caring strokes. She had been so strong today and so hurt that he couldn't bear to put anything else on her shoulders. He cared for her, wanted what was best for her, and he knew it was going to be his own downfall eventually. "But I seem to need your help," he sighed in defeat. Leaning back, letting her crawl in to his lap if she wanted to, "so please help me again."

She crawled in to his lap and he leaned his head back, holding still for her. The contraption released the syringe, and as she removed it he closed his eyes, gritting his teeth as the serum spread in his system fast. Soon enough his body relaxed, wrapping his arms loosely around her, feeling her kiss his forehead a small smile spreading on his lips. "Of course not," he replied to her whisper. She was so close to him, and it made his body relax faster than if he had been alone. "We need to find a better solution than you having to dig the bombs down yourself," he said, not needing to get distracted from what he had thought about earlier. "We could modify the design of Beep, combine it with yours as it's bigger and stronger," he said, his fingers moving up and down on her back in a calming motion. "That way we won't have to be so close when it goes off, less risk for you to get hurt," kissing her nose gently as he smiled.

As she lifted her hand he took it delicately, placing his lips against her fingers that weren't wrapped. It had been a rash decision, but if he hadn't done it, then they would've been dead now. While she blamed herself, he didn't blame her one bit. No, this was a small mistake, nothing to be mad about. As she mentioned Victor he grit his teeth slightly, being comforted only by her embrace. He stroked her hair, gently and lovingly, wanting only.to soothe her worry. "Maybe ... But he doesn't know how strong I am, nor how powerful we are together," he pointed out, burying his face in the nape of her neck, breathing her in. He was happy that she still let him hold her. It was just enough to make him keep going, because it reminded him of what was important: her. "I made some prototype bombs before I left them ... they might've broken in to the cupboard I stored them in by now," he said before a small smile crept over his face, pulling away to look at her. "If we're lucky he'll try and use them," it was humouring him a bit. But why wouldn't it? His design had flaws on purpose for that reason. "I took inspiration from some of your old builds when we were kids," he said, "you remember turtle and pigeon?" It was two bombs she had made back then, simple designs where she had drawn animals on them, but they had a trivky design to them. Only if they were set to the right place on the timer would they work. Jane had thought they hadn't worked half the time before they figured it out.

She mentioned the boy again. The boy from her memories that she couldn't seem to put a face to. She asked if it was him and he nodded, "yeah, you came to me with them and we figured it out together," he confirmed, moving some of her hair behind her ear. It felt good to be close like this, feel her body relax and not to mention see how happy she was. It gave him some hope. Hope that maybe some day, some how, she would remember him. Although the prospects weren't likely, he was a dreamer in some sense. "I always used to say that there wasn't anything we couldn't do when we were together," he smiled, kissing her forehead gently. Sighing he breathed in her scent as she sat here on him. "Do you want to take the rest of the night off?" He asked. She had been pretty shaken out there, and with her busted hand and his healing shoulder, they perhaps needed some rest before going to town on new tinkering. "We can go up on the roof, look år the view?" He suggested. They could always bring blankets to keep warm and have some food up there.

Her question made him frown, pulling away to look at her with a soft smile, "of course I do; You're brilliant," he assured her. She was truly an original. Never had he met anyone like her, nor did he think he would ever meet anyone in the future.
The mention of his father made him sigh, caressing her back in soft strokes. He knew it was hard for her to feel this confined, even though she didn't talk about it, he knew her better. He could still remember how as kids she would value her own freedom over anything and everything. And frankly he couldn't blame her. She agreed to go up to the roof and he kissed her nose gently, smiling at her to try and cheer her up. "Will you grab the blankets? I'll go get us some food and we'll meet up top?" he said, it was rather fair to split up like that. Besides she was a master at picking the right blankets and setting everything up.
If she agreed, he waited until she was ready to move before getting up, taking his cane with him as he went towards the kitchen area. He grabbed a few things, just some bread and meats with cheese, packing it away in a tea towel he grabbed a few bottles of fresh water before heading up the stairs to meet her.

Eugene soon enough came up on the roof, seeing her laying there he chuckled softly as he joined her. Although instead of just sitting down beside her, he sat down on her slightly, placing his hands against her back. "You're tensing too much," he muttered, giving her back a few presses at spots that looked a bit bumpy. That was it, she was going to get a small massage. "Close your eyes and just think of something that makes you happy," he said as his hands moved carefully down along her spine, massaging her in small circles, attacking those pesky tensions she had. It was no wonder her back was like this when she always contorted her spine and sat in odd positions.
He would of course stop if she didn't like it, but he sorta knew that she needed this. "You know ... It's alright if you never remember," he said, his voice calming and warm. Moving a bit of her hair out of the way as he moved on to her shoulders and neck. "We can make our own new memories," he said, leaning down to put a little extra pressure on a specific spot on her shoulder that seemed very tense.

He knew it was hurting a bit, but she was clever enough to know this was necessary. As she whimpered he stopped, letting her have a break, leaning down to kiss where it had hurt. He knew it wouldn't help, but she also liked it when he kissed her so called boo-boos when she had hurt herself on a gadget. Her question made him sigh, thinking about it for a bit as his hands went back to the tough knot. "I guess I wouldn't even know what to do with myself if I couldn't remember you," he confessed in a hushed whisper, his hands more gentle, slowly easing in to the knot. "But if it was anything like how you seem to experience this memory loss ... Then my body would still remember you," he said, giving the spot a little break, running his hands down her sides. He felt like he could pick her out in the dark without hesitation. "And if you're anything then it's stubborn, hell, I think you might've succeeded in bringing back my memory within a week," she was clever, he couldn't deny that, and sometimes he wished he could do something that would trigger her memory. But it seemed that the things he remembered to be valuable weren't the same for her. Or at least it didn't trigger anything other than her being sad at not remembering him.
His hands moved back to the knot, as it was slowly softening up under his firm hands. "They say that ignorance is bliss, but the truth is, without you my life would have very little meaning." He felt so connected to her, like he couldn't see himself with anyone else, neither romantic nor as a best friend. Even if she would grow to love someone else it wouldn't make him love her less. It was strange. She was sort of his soul mate, if you believed in any of that. "There we go, good girl," he muttered as her back finally gave in and the knot was absolved.

She turned around and he remained seated on her, moving some of her hair out of her eyes as she asked a rather strange question. He sighed, leaning down over her his hands on either side of her head as he looked at her. "You are asking me if I want you from the past or you in the present," he said, looking in to her grey eyes that always had such a beautiful shine to them. "Truth is I do wish you could remember, but not for my sake, for your own," he confessed, breathing out through his nose before kissing her forehead, "but to me there isn't two Janes; There's only you and I love you." Maybe he was being stupid, maybe it was best not to say anything, but he never lied to her. She knew that by now at least. He reached down, guiding her hand up to his heart, letting her feel how it was beating away so happy to be close to her. "You are not less you the way you are now," he said, smiling at her. "Besides, I didn't fall in love with memories, I fell in love with the person, and that person is you - I made that promise to you, to always be there for you and to love you even when you couldn't love yourself."

She moved and he sat up with her, a bit surprised as she wrapped her arms around him. He couldn't really hear what she mumbled, but maybe it wasn't meant to be something he had to hear. He just wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close like she liked it. "We should really get something to eat," he said, kissing the top of her head a few times, just holding her until she let go. That was how it worked. If you hugged first, you decided when you needed the hug to end. "I stole one of the cookies," he said, hoping it would make her cheer up a bit. They didn't usually get much beside basic nutrient rich food, but every once in a while the kitchen had something sweet or a snack for them. "But we gotta eat real food first," he reminded her.
When she was ready he moved over, sitting beside her as he unfolded the tea towel, revealing the bread, meat and cheese along with the bottles of water and the small neatly packed cookie. "Dig in," he chuckled, ripping off a piece of bread that he added some meat and cheese to, taking a bite as he looked out at the city. It was strange seeing it from up here. "One day I think I want to travel the world," he said in a light ponder.

He chuckled at her words, but he could understand her. Shucks was a fun way to put it, but he guessed it was one of those things that he just liked about her. They started to eat and at her words he smiled, humming at her question. "Well," he said, leaning over to place her hand on hers, "I've been to America before, but I want to go there again ... And it just so happens that they have a so much scrap that they make big yards that are full of it." He could imagine Jane going crazy over all the stuff you could find in a junkyard. He hadn't ever been to one himself, but he had seen them when they had driven by some. "We could go there ... And then maybe go down to Mexico, it's a country really close to America, and they have warm weather and beaches and all kinds of stuff," he wasn't sure if she was even interested in the second part, but he also knew that she wanted to go wherever he went.
"And after that? Who knows! We could travel the world, invent things as we go, sell stuff to have money, move on," he thought out loud, smiling to himself. Now that he could actually walk he felt like the world was open to him. A boost of hope he hadn't felt before. "As long as you're with me, I wouldn't really care where we went - All I need is you, food and scrap," he chuckled.

"Well if you want to add anything to the list I'm open for suggestions," he smiled, really happy that she was so open about it. As they finished up eating he was taking a sip of water as she complained, scooting closer as she held him hostage. "Alright, but it will cost you," he said in a fair warning leaning in to let her kiss his cheek before he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close. "Wow, you are really cold," he muttered, pulling the blanket up around them.
He just sat there, holding her close, looking out at the city lights in the distance. Being with her made him happy, and all this talk about traveling made him feel almost giddy. "Maybe we should live some place warmer in the future," he thought out loud before humming and shaking his head, "no, then you wouldn't want to sit like this with me, that would be bad." Smiling a little he just looked out at the city, his hand covering hers, being mindful of the one that had been wrapped.