And (cherrycokerocks) wrote in longest_sunset, @ 2008-05-26 22:11:00 |
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Current mood: | bouncy |
Fic: Beautiful Lie (A.J Styles/Karen Angle, PG-13, 1/?)
Fic: Beautiful Lie
Author: And
Pairings: A.J Styles/Karen Angle, Karen Angle/Kurt Angle, Kurt Angle/Christy Hemme, Christian Cage/Gail Kim, Chris Jericho/Trish Stratus, Edge/Lita.
Rating: PG-13 for now.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, all belongs to TNA and themselves.
Summary: When Karen loses fives years of her memory she wakes up to find her life has totally changed. She’s got a new job and is involved in a storyline with another man but it’s only a storyline or is it?
Spoilers: Impact 22nd May 2008.
Warnings: None.
Author’s notes: I got the idea for this plot after reading Remember Me? By Sophie Kinsella. Semi AU as Kurt and Karen don’t have any kids in this. Also for the sake of the story, Kurt hasn’t really hurt his neck again, it’s just a TNA storyline. Anything else and I’ll let you know.
Tampa General Hospital, Tampa, Florida, May 16, 2008
Karen’s eyes fluttered opened and then instantly closed again. The pain in her head was the worse she’d ever felt. Surely whatever she’d drunk last night couldn’t have given her this hangover. She tried to recall exactly how many drinks she had but her mind was foggy and the pain was making it impossible to concentrate. The brunette winced when she tried to move her arm, realising it wasn’t just her head, her whole body was sore. What the hell had happened to her? Maybe she had alcohol poisoning or something. Whatever it was, Karen couldn’t shake the feeling something was definitely wrong.
“Kurt,” she called out weakly. It came out barely louder than a whisper. The fog in her mind began to clear slowly as something about last night came back to her. It was the after party of Wrestlemania 19. She’d been tired and wanted to leave early. Kurt had given her money for a cab. It had been raining and she’d been running. And oh god, her heel had broken and she’d fallen down those steps. Karen opened her eyes again slowly, this time she managed to look around the room. It was dimly lit and the drapes were closed but she could tell she was in a hospital bed. “Great going, genius,” she chastised herself. “Kurt is going to kill you.”
Slowly she reached for the nurse call button on the cabinet besides her bed. After pressing the button she waited for a nurse to come.
A minute later, the door opened and a blonde haired nurse walked into the room, “Hi, Karen,” she said, “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been hit by a truck. I’m thirsty too,” Karen replied.
“I’ll just fetch you some water. How’s your head?”
“It really hurts.”
“I’ll get you a pain killer too. I’ll be right back.”
“Thanks.”
The nurse returned a few minutes later, carrying the water and the pills on a tray. She placed the tray down on the cabinet next to the bed, “Here, take this. It should help you to feel better.”
Karen took the glass of water and swallowed the pills quickly. She drank all of the water swiftly.
“You really were thirsty, I’ll get you some more in a minute. Is there anything else that you need?” the nurse asked kindly.
“I don’t think so. Can you tell me what time it is?”
“It’s 9 pm.”
“9 pm?” Karen asked in disbelief. “I’ve been asleep the whole day? I really must have hit my head hard.”
The nurse nodded, “It was quite a bump you took by all accounts. Do you remember the accident?”
“Accident?” Karen repeated. “I fell down five steps and knocked myself silly. Not really much of an accident.”
The nurse frowned, “You were involved in a multi-vehicle pile up on the freeway. You don’t remember that?”
“Freeway? I wasn’t in a car, I was running.”
“Okay, I’m just going to ask you a few questions about yourself.” The blonde woman smiled, “What’s your name?”
“Karen Angle.”
“Good, and your date of birth?”
“October 12, 1972.”
“Excellent. I think that’s enough for today.” She smiled again, “Why don’t you get some rest and I’ll get the doctor to see you in the morning.”
“What about the freeway?”
“Don’t worry about that now. I’m sure it will come back to you soon as I said, you took quite a bump to the head.”
“Can I just ask you one more thing? My husband, Kurt … is he here?”
“No, he was here earlier though. He’s gone back to the hotel.”
“Oh … okay.”
“You really should be resting now. I’ll come back later to check on you again.”
“Thanks,” Karen replied, suddenly feeling tired again. She closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.
The next morning the brunette awoke to find her bed surrounded by several people who seemed to be studying her.
A man in his late forties smiled at her briefly before talking, “Good morning, Karen. I’m Doctor Yelland, how are you feeling?”
“A little better.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Kara tells me that you were talking to her last night, do you remember that?”
“Is she the nurse?” Karen asked, she watched Doctor Yelland nod in reply, “Then yes, I remember talking to her.”
“That’s great news, it shows you’ve come out of post-traumatic amnesia now. You’ve woken up a couple of times before last night but you were babbling more than talking really.”
“Babbling?”
“Don’t be alarmed, perfectly normal for some one in your condition. Kara also mentioned that you didn’t remember being in the car accident. Anything come back to you?”
Karen shook her head, “I keep saying I wasn’t in a car accident and as much as it embarrasses me to admit this … my heel broke and I fell down about five steps and knocked myself out. Trust me, I wish I could forget that.”
“Interesting …” he was about to continue when the lady standing next to him, said something that Karen couldn’t quite make out. “Great suggestion, Michelle.” The doctor turned his attention back to Karen, “I’m just going to ask you some simple questions, Karen. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the answers, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Can you tell me what year you think this is?”
Karen raised an eyebrow, “What year? It’s 2003.”
Doctor Yelland looked at the group of people standing around the bed before his gaze returned to the brunette, “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. It’s 2003.” As soon as the words left Karen’s mouth she regretted saying them. Something was definitely wrong. All five of the people standing near her were now starring at her like she had two heads.
“Un-freaking believable,” the man on the end said.
“Thank you, Colin, do everyone a favour and shut up.”
Colin coughed into his hand, “Sorry.”
“Try to remain calm but it’s actually 2008. May 17 to be exact.”
Karen eyes nearly popped out of her head, “You tell me it’s 2008 and expect me to remain calm. Have I been in a coma for five years?”
Doctor Yelland shook his head, “No you were brought in five days ago.”
“Then what?”
“I believe you’re suffering from a condition called retrograde amnesia. Seems like you’ve lost the last five years of your memory.”
Karen felt like crying, “This can not be happening.”
“I’m afraid it is. Look, I have other patients to see. I’ll come back later and we can talk okay. In the meantime you’re husband is outside waiting, would you like to see him?”
“Kurt’s here?”
“Yes. I’ll just go and fill him in on your condition and I’ll send him in.” Doctor Yelland turned his attention to the rest of the group. “Come on, guys, we’ll leave Karen to get some rest.” The five left the room silently leaving Karen alone.
Rest? Was he kidding? He’d just told her she’s lost five years of her memory and he expected her to rest, not likely. She tried to get out of bed but her body didn’t seem to want to co-operate with her and she gave up without trying too hard. She decided the best thing was to wait until Kurt came in.
She didn’t have to wait too much longer as only a few minutes later, the door opened and Kurt stepped inside. He was wearing a dark grey tee shirt and a pair of jeans. As he walked towards her, Karen studied his face. He looked older than the last time she’d seen him. Of course he was older … five years older.
“Hey Karen,” he said casually, “The doctor just told me about the amnesia, god that sucks.”
Karen couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. She’d been unconscious for nearly five days and that was the first thing Kurt said to her? “Is that all you can say?”
Kurt looked a little confused, “What did you want me to say?”
“Oh I don’t know, how about … oh Karen, thank god you’re awake.”
“That goes without saying. Look you’re obvious stressed out …”
“Ya think?” Karen interrupted him.
“I’m sorry, I’m not handling this very well. I’ll tell you what, I’m gonna go call JB and tell him you’re awake. I promised I’d call him as soon as you woke up. Then I’ll came back and we can talk okay?” He squeezed her hand. “I won’t be long.”
He turned to leave but Karen called out to him, “Wait, who’s JB?”
“Right, you won’t remember him. He’s a co-worker. One of our best friends actually. Not sure how he’s gonna take the fact you don’t remember him. Poor guy.”
“Poor guy?”
Kurt seemed to realise he wasn’t saying the right things to make his wife happy and moved quickly to the open door. “I’ll be back,” he said, disappearing into the hallway.
“That was weird,” Karen muttered to herself, “Very weird.” Deciding she’d worry about it later when Kurt returned, the brunette turned her attention to some get well cards on the cabinet besides her. She sat up slowly and picked up the nearest card. Inside was handwriting she recognised as Jay Reso’s but the card just wasn’t from him. It was signed, all our love, A.J, Jay and JB. JB was the guy Kurt was just talking about but who was A.J?
Before Karen could give it anymore thought, there was a knock on the open door, when she looked up she expected to see Kurt. But it wasn’t Kurt, it was a dark haired man, dressed in stone washed jeans and a white tee shirt.
“Flower delivery for Mrs Angle,” he said in a southern accident.
Karen smiled brightly. Kurt must have arranged these flowers for her. “Come in.”
The man moved into the room slowly, “How are you feeling?”
She found it a little strange that a flower delivery guy would take the trouble to ask how she was feeling but put it down to him being polite or something. “Not too good,” Karen replied honestly. “But oh my gosh, these flowers are beautiful.”
The man flashed her a bright smile, “You like them then?”
“I love them. Is there a card?”
“No, I didn’t think about that … stupid … stupid.”
Karen shot him a confused look, “Didn’t my husband ask for a card when he ordered them?” That was just typical of Kurt.
The man placed the flowers down on the chair next to the bed, “Excuse me?”
“My husband, I think the flowers are from him.”
“No, they’re not,” the man said bluntly.
“Oh …” Karen trailed off unsure of what to say next.
“They’re from me of course. I’m so glad you liked them. I had to pay extra to get them so quickly but you’re totally worth it.”
Karen was trying her best not to freak out. A man she’d never met before in her life was standing in her hospital room with a bunch of flowers for her … from him and she had no idea why. This day was going from bad to worse. Realising she should probably say something she decided that the direct approach would be best. “Thanks, I just have one question?”
“And what’s that?”
“Who are you?”
TBC