Welcome to Gaia! ::

When he'd awoken, Harvard had not recognized where he was, beyond the fogginess of the area. Every muscle in his body hurt and Harvard groaned upright. Not for the first time, he thought it must be nice to younger, just entering college. But he was entirely happy with who he was, and where he'd come and who he met along the way. Even if he bones did ache.

As he walked, the fog thinned, and he ended up exactly where he needed to be. The hospital loomed over him, perhaps more forbidding now that the fog was gone. Something called to him from his memories. Harvard ignored them. He needed... he needed to find her, as promised. She was his now more than ever. He had found her again and again. Harvard was not about to fail now.

With a desolate-sounding creak, he pushed the door open to the hospital. "Caroline?" If she wasn't here, he'd keep going. Back to the casino, that corner booth with the tablecloth that dipped down to the floor. Back to the university and the dark corners of his dorm room.

He saw her and it was all he could do not to scoop her up into his arms. For some reason, it felt as thought they'd escaped death, somehow. Instead he reached out gently and cupped his hands around hers. "I think we both went somewhere far and did not tell other. Wasn't that rude? But I came back to find you." Harvard leaned forward and brushed his nose against hers in a rarely allowed display of affection. And this his lips found hers, but he pulled back shortly.

His thumbs stroked the backs of her hands. "Did you find something, too?"

He looked into her green eyes, searching them. A hand raised to cup her cheek, thumb stroking along her cheekbone. "Only you can remember what's gone, Caroline. But if it was gone and came back, then you surely will remember it. It's okay if it takes time." Harvard pulled her a little closer, both hands stealing around to press into the small of her back. He was careful, though, not to completely disrupt her cupped hands. If it was important to her, it was important to him.

"And you won't lose me, not when you carry a piece of me with you, Caroline Falls." There was a heady sense of satisfaction actually saying it. They'd been parted before, unable to speak the words. He kissed her again, more lingeringly, resisting the urge to make good use of that wall nearby.

His hands tightened around her, startlingly forceful, just for a moment. How could she have forgotten that, of all things? "That's a very peculiar thing to forget," Harvard said softly, something glinting in his eyes. "And I think that maybe, later on, you might need a reminder." In his voice was a promise that sounded almost like a threat. He would make it so she never forgot who she was, not in that manner. Never forgot the pieces of him he'd given her and no one else. But for now, he gentled himself, relaxed his hands against her back. Harvard knew, for later, exactly how to make sure she remembered, too. It was going to be a very long, exacting process. He looked forward to it.

But her question once again forced himself to focus on the now of Caroline in his arms. It was a good now, so he didn't fight it. Instead, he hummed against her hair. "I think this is as right as it can be now. I've found the most important things and if anything else is missing, it will come in due time. There's a gap of time from the us before to the us now, but if it were important, I would know it." He kissed her temple. "But I do not, so it is not." It was so easy for Harvard to discard minor things as long as he held close the more important things. As long as he kept his promises.

"Have you lost something else, Caroline?"