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softquietsteadylove · 6 months

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So I just watched the vow and obviously I can’t stop thinking about Thenamesh in that context so here is my prompt for you — Thena somehow loses her memories and with it goes the memory of her marriage to Gil, but he helps her slowly and patiently remember their love 🥺

"Hey."

Thena jumped, whirling around to look at the doorway. Once again, guilt rose up in her throat as Gil held up his hand and made that terribly sad expression he had on most of the time.

"S-Sorry, sorry, I, uh-" he gulped in the middle of his sentence, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He kept doing that, perhaps to make himself seem less...broad. "I promised I would stop doing that, too."

No, it was unfair to him to make him knock on every door within his own home. She was the one who was jumpy and easily startled. The doctors said they didn't know how quickly it would or wouldn't fade. There wasn't much her doctors could promise her--them.

She had been in the hospital after the 'episode' for some time, anyway. As they explained it, it was a bleed in her brain, a stroke in not so many words. She had forgotten years of her life in a flash, lashed out in fear and confusion, even hurt Gil in the process.

He still had the scar on his arm from her attacking him. And yet he'd been the perfect husband through all of this, utterly and completely. If only she could remember him.

She thought maybe she would at least remember meeting him, knowing him in some way. But no, it was a stranger sitting beside her bed, cradling her hand between his, crying for her to be okay again. And she had done nothing but hurt him since.

Gil said that wasn't true.

He had been nothing but supportive from the moment she awoke. The doctors told them that her memories were fragile, and might never return in their entirety. He was a stranger to his own wife. Surely anyone would need to go through their own grieving process for their life in that way.

But Gil had looked at her far kinder than any stranger. He had given her the space she needed, understood that she didn't like people at the best of times, let alone when she was vulnerable. He did things like bring her changes of clothes, food that wasn't abhorrent, sit in her room with her while she tried to relax enough to sleep.

She did feel safe with him.

Safe enough to finally leave the hospital. They had done the physical therapy, the rehabilitative therapy, just about everything else. There was no more reason to keep her there, with exception to the gap in her memories.

"I left you some stuff I thought you might," he paused, gesturing from afar to the dresser by the guest bed, "like. I-I know you don't remember it, I just...I dunno."

"No, it-" she also choked on her words, nervous about what to say to him, "it's sweet, Gil. Thank you."

He smiled, just a little; he did every time she called him Gil.

She clutched at the shirt she was unpacking. He had brought her pajamas to sleep in while she was in the hospital, but they hadn't seemed right. And she had eventually deduced that they were indeed purchased brand new. What she had decided to sleep in more comfortably was an old shirt of his that had been shoved into a bag brought to her. "Come in."

He did so, shuffling into the guest room in their shared home awkwardly.

Her brows furrowed, even though it made her head throb. "You shouldn't have to be invited into a room in your own home."

He looked at her, his brown eyes so rich and soulful. But he smiled, "our home. And you need a space that's yours. Time to get used to...things."

Get used to him, he meant. And she hated that he was completely correct. She felt safe around him, but she didn't know this man (this sweet, kind, beautiful man).

"You decorated this room, anyway," he chuckled, looking around at the cream coloured walls and generic frames hung around the space. He clung to the walls, giving her a wide berth. "I wanted to turn it into an office or a place for a pool table or something."

Thena looked at the bed and then at him. "Wouldn't fit much else with that in here."

His smile lightened faintly. "You said that then, too."

She smiled as well, setting down her trusty shirt.

"And you were right, as always," he added, chuckling again. He arrived at the dresser, poking at some of the little things he had apparently brought and left out for her. "Kari crashes here sometimes."

Thena's eyes sparked at the mention of her. Gil looked both elated and wounded; they both wished she could have that level of recognition for anything that had to do with him.

Silence fell over them, and Gil looked down at his feet again. He was going to leave her to settle in, but she stepped closer to him, eager for more time with his company. She looked down at the dresser. "I remember this."

He smiled, picking up the little wooden cheetah and handing it to her with heartbreaking delicacy. "You love this thing."

"From when Kari went to Kenya for three whole months," Thena tilted her head at the little carving. She truly did value it. For all her insistence that Makkari was the trinket lover, not herself, apparently this little cat had called to her so clearly that she just had to bring it back to Thena.

Gil reached for something else, "what about this?"

She looked at the lovely little shell, but she didn't remember it. She stared and stared at it though, hoping she would. She just didn't want to admit to Gil that it didn't strike a single chord within her.

"It's okay," he whispered, forgiving her for something neither of them could control.

"Tell me about it?" she practically begged before he could take it back from her. Her palm tightened around the tiny little shell. It was so small and precious, she already felt protective over it.

He was obviously surprised, but she held his eyes. His face really betrayed everything he was feeling. She watched his expression melt as he whispered, "okay."

"Well," he started, moving them to both sit on the end of the bed. "You and I met...on the beach."

"The beach?" she balked before telling herself not to interrupt his very important story.

"I know," he chuckled, though. "You hate the beach."

He did know everything about her.

"But you were there painting, or collecting seashells, or looking for clay or something," he shrugged, the memory faded but precious for him. "I saw you at the end of the beach, kind of away from everyone. You obviously weren't looking for company but...I just wanted to exchange even one word with you."

"I jogged over, asked you if I could help you find something. You didn't talk to me at first, but I asked, and asked, and eventually you told me you were looking for a shell. And I mean it was probably just to shut me up," he added, making them both laugh. "But I said I'd help you look. Boy, the look you gave me--I'd still be dead and buried under that sand."

She offered a sheepish smile, but that was as much a lovingly remembered detail as the rest, for him.

"I found this," he tapped the shell in her hand. "I handed it to you and said, 'hey, you match!'. You gave me that look again, but I could tell you thought I was kinda cute."

She pursed her lips at that, but she had to admit that this man called her husband was undeniably charming. She could see herself very reluctantly admitting that he might not have been so bad.

"I saw you again a few times," he recounted, a different, dreamier, distant smile on his face. "Eventually you were out there with an easel, and I got to see you painting. You let me see it in progress and everything."

Perhaps she was already quite infatuated with him then, because she would rather fight to the death than allow something in progress to be viewed while she was working on it.

"I looked at your easel," he grinned at her, "and you had this shell sitting on the corner, like a good luck charm or something."

Thena felt herself blush faintly. It was a different her in the story, but she felt for that Thena's embarrassing secret being discovered.

"I asked you if you wanted to join me for dinner," Gil whispered, closing her hand around the little shell for safe keeping. "You said you didn't want to dine with me while I was all sweaty and in my jogging stuff."

Thena laughed. That certainly sounded like her (uncharming, unfunny her).

"I said okay, meet me here at sunset," he made a challenging face at her, and she could imagine how handsome it might seem in the right light. "You did and, well...history, right?"

History she wanted to remember.

Thena looked at Gil, sitting close to her, so warm and so solid. He was comfortable, she knew that much. She was no expert on physical closeness, but the times she had been in Gil's proximity via sharing an umbrella or letting him help her out of bed were nice. He had a gentle, calming presence.

He swallowed, his eyes flicking all over her face. She didn't even realise she had been leaning in until he moved his head quickly, stretching up so he could press his lips to her forehead. "You should rest, sweetheart. It's been a big day."

She felt both relieved and disappointed. The shell was still in her hand as he stood slowly, leaving her seated on the end of the bed.

He paused at the doorway again, lit softly by the lamp beside the bed. "You're welcome to anything, 'course--I mean everything, absolutely. But if you - I dunno - need help finding something or whatever...just wake me, okay?"

She already felt lonely at the thought of being in this room all by herself. And that was after weeks of being in the hospital, desperately wishing to be left alone. She nodded.

"'Kay," he smiled again, but it was back to being sad. He patted the wall, "night, Thena. I'll leave breakfast for you before I go to work."

He left gently, closing the door behind him, nothing if not a gentleman. To his own wife, in his own home. Thena flopped backwards on the bed, still holding onto her beloved little shell. She had been so desperate to have some time to herself in the hospital--really think about who she was and what her life was like.

But there was something undeniably lonely about the times when she was without him. Every time he came home for clothes or to shower or had to go to work, she had to admit, she was terribly bored without him.

Would it be terribly inappropriate to ask to sneak into bed with her own husband?

#Thenamesh AU #thank you for the ask!!!#I've changed a few little details I hope you don't mind #but I really like how this came out!#a little bit angsty #but listen #Gil is not the average romcom man okay?#yes he wants his wife back and for her to remember their life #but he hears that Thena doesn't know him #and it hurts him deeply #but he KNOWS his wife #if she doesn't know him she doesn't trust him #she's scared and alone in a hospital with a stranger all the time #so he puts a little distance between them #he brings her things from home #pulls the curtain around her bed and says he'll stand guard while she changes #he hovers while the doctors are checking her because she doesn't like to be touched #she's still Thena #his Thena #meanwhile Thena is like I do no know this man]#but he seems...nice #he's charming and sweet and he's so kind and g e n t l e #he got the guest room all set up for her #ever since she picked his shirt to sleep in he's started spraying his shirts with his cologne for her so they'll smell like him #he swaps out their pillows so she can smell his aftershave and he can smell her shampoo #pining but when you're already married #also Thena asks him if he'll take off his wedding ring secretly hoping he won't #he's visibly appalled by the question #that night Thena greets him after he comes home from work with a terribly awkward hug #she cringes at herself but he's practically crying from happiness

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