Waking up in a hospital wasn’t a new experience for Cade, but doing so with a man he didn’t know holding his hand definitely was. It had taken a few seconds to realize that that was what was going on. The devastated look in the other man’s eyes when he’d said he didn’t know him, and again when he’d said he wasn’t gay, had sent a wave of guilt through Cade. He didn’t enjoy it in the slightest, especially when he didn’t think he should feel guilty. He didn’t know this guy from Adam, after all.

Finding out that eight years had gone by had instantly made Cade suspicious of the whole setup. Maybe the Gua had come back somehow and had him in another experiment. It was the most likely explanation, but as he was brought through the halls and settled in a private room, that was increasingly difficult to believe. The hallucinations had always been convincing, but this felt a lot more real. The little things were all there, like the nurses talking as they pushed him through the halls, and random people in other rooms and the halls and the elevators. It was just too detailed to be a hallucination.

His head hurt like hell, which didn’t help his thinking processes any. Once the nurses left, Cade let himself doze. Not deep enough that he didn’t hear the door click open, though he gave no indication that he had. He looked through his lashes to find Strachey standing by the door, gazing at him. The man looked beaten down, like he’d lost his best friend and someone had kicked his puppy before running it over.

Maybe he has lost his best friend, Cade thought. He thinks I’m his boyfriend or whatever. Maybe the Gua fucked with his mind to make him think that.

“I know you’re awake. You can stop faking.”

Cade’s eyes opened the rest of the way and he watched as Strachey approached the bed, though he didn’t try and take his hand again. “How’d you know?”

Strachey shrugged. “I always know when you’re faking. Just like you can tell when I am, too. Not a hundred percent of the time like me, but close enough.”

Taking the bed control, Cade raised it so he could feel not so much at a disadvantage. The guy wasn’t tall, but he had a military bearing. “Who do you think I am, Strachey?”

The question made the other man flinch, but he just lifted his hand to show a gold wedding band and then pointed at Cade’s hand. Swallowing against a suddenly dry throat, Cade looked down to find he had a matching ring in place.

“We’ve been married six years now,” Strachey answered. “We have a home together.”

Cade shook his head in denial and protested, “I’m not gay! I’m sorry, but no, there’s no way this is true. I was married, sure, but not to you. To my wife, Hannah.”

“So you do know who you are.”

Cursing silently, Cade debated telling him the truth and finally decided against it. He didn’t know enough about this man to risk it, no matter how invested in him Strachey seemed.

Strachey continued, “Your parents told me about the breakdown in 2001. Do you remember it now?”

Cade frowned at him and said, “I didn’t have any breakdown, not ever. And I don’t have any parents, they’re both dead.”

Blond eyebrows lifted, but Strachey only replied, “Your parents are waiting in the hall to see you now.”

“I don’t have any parents,” Cade snapped. “They’re dead.”

“Okay, Timmy, calm down,” Strachey soothed, holding his hands up.

Cade frowned at him. “Timmy? You call me Timmy?”

Strachey answered defensively, “What’s wrong with that?”

Cade retorted, “Do I call you Donny?”

Arms folding across his chest, Strachey said, “You call me Donald, most of the time. The other times it’s just Don. You’ve never called me Strachey before.”

It was obvious that the other man didn’t like it, either.

Cade shrugged and said, “I think I should just get some sleep. You mind?”

Strachey eyed him a long moment before simply turning and leaving. There were voices outside, one of them a woman’s, and then everything went quiet.

Letting out a long sigh, tension slowly leeching from his body, Cade leaned back against the pillows and closed his eyes again. Just for a moment, though, to regroup a little from a surprisingly tiring visit, even as brief as it had been. Something about the other man made his gut clench, but not in an entirely unpleasant way. He didn’t really want to think about it, so he turned and picked up the phone by the bed. He dialed Eddie’s number only to find that it was disconnected.

The door opened and Cade tensed as a woman backed into the room and then recognition jolted through him. Throwing aside the blankets, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and then had to clutch the edge of the mattress when dizziness assaulted him.

Jordan turned and a tight smile lifted her lips as she greeted, “Hey, Foster, you might want to stay put until your skull’s in one piece.”

Relief that he hadn’t gone crazy and that he wasn’t in a Gua experiment flashed through Cade and he grinned broadly. “Jordan! Am I glad to see you. Starting to think I’d lost my mind.”

“Not exactly, no,” Eddie announced, coming into the room behind Jordan. A big grin flashed over his face and he hurried to the bed, hugging Cade tight before stepping back and saying, “Been too long, Cade.”

Cade was confused. “How long has it been?”

The smile faded and Eddie answered, “Eight years.”

Stunned by the response, Cade asked faintly, “It really is 2009?”

“Yeah, man. I’m sorry, but we didn’t have a choice,” Eddie told him.

Anger licked through him and he demanded, “Choice in what?”

Sighing, Eddie sat on the bed and explained, “So there we were. You fought Mabus and won, got the Hammer, stopped the invasion. You remember that?”

The words provoked flashes of the fight with Mabus in his head, setting off an explosion of pain that had him clutching his head. Saying goodbye to Hannah. Flashes of driving with Eddie, Jordan, and Joshua. A mall he didn’t recognize. When he could see straight again, Eddie held him in a sideways embrace, supporting him. Pushing at him, irritated, Cade said, “I’m all right.”

Eddie took his hand away. “Okay, okay.”

“I remember stopping Mabus,” Cade said apologetically. “And something about a mall?”

Nodding, Eddie said, “We were checking out a Quatrain that didn’t fit the others, remember? One I’d always thought was a one-off, maybe Nostrodamus screwing with us. The Twice Blessed Man take two, basically. Figured out that it was here in New York. When we were at the mall, you saw something, but we don’t know what, and went bat shit crazy. Took out most of a jewelry store before the cops showed up. It was like you were possessed, man, we couldn’t get through to you.”

Cade remembered what Strachey had said about a breakdown and guessed, “I landed in a mental ward?”

“Yeah, big time,” Eddie confirmed.

Jordan walked closer and sat on the other side of him, taking his hand. “You weren’t the only one, though. There was this guy, Tim Callahan, who seemed afflicted in the same way. He was in the same mall, but on another floor. The doctors didn’t know what to make of it. You looked like twins, but we told them you didn’t know him. You didn’t right? Tim Callahan ring any bells?”

Shaking his head, Cade said, “Never heard the name before.”

Eddie added, “Neither had we, so I dug around and found out he was the son of a senator and in the seminary. Seemed an ordinary enough guy, no reason for him to be caught up in anything Gua or singled out by Nostradamus.”

Cade’s mouth twisted and he pointed out, “So was I, once upon a time.”

Jordan squeezed his hand. “So were we all.”

Eddie cleared his throat and said, “Turns out the Gua had killed Tim Callahan who knows how long ago and had a replacement for him. We don’t know what went wrong with the husk, but something did and big time. So, well, when we found that out…”

“We killed it and gave you Tim’s identity,” Jordan picked up, voice flat.

Shock froze Cade in place and then he yanked his hand free from Jordan and pushed to his feet. His head swam and throbbed unpleasantly, but he forced himself to go as far as the monitor lead allowed. He was tempted to pull it off, but that would just bring medical interference. Holding his head, Cade bit out, “You made me into someone else?”

“Um, yeah. Technically. I mean, I changed the records and everything, but actually, it wasn’t something we could do,” Eddie said quietly. “It’s all you, Cade. I got in to see you and explained everything, but you were just, you were gone, man. There was no one home.”

Frowning at him, Cade asked, “What do you mean?”

Eddie ran a hand through his hair before answering, “I don’t know how it happened, but when you came out of the trance or whatever it was that had you, you were Tim Callahan. I didn’t do that. You didn’t recognize me, Joshua, or Jordan, even though we came into your room a couple of times. And his parents, the Callahans, they completely believed that you were their son. When you left the hospital, you were.”

Cade exclaimed, “That makes no sense! How could I be? How could I have known anything about Tim Callahan, let alone enough to be convincing?”

Jordan and Eddie exchanged a look and then Eddie nodded. Jordan walked over to Cade and pulled something out of her pocket. When she held out her hand, a silver ball rested in it; a consciousness container. “We found this in your room once you were gone. Somehow the information the Gua had on Tim Callahan transferred to you.”

“It could have been from when your DNA got rewritten,” Eddie put in hurriedly. “Made you more susceptible to transfers without the actual machinery. What we don’t know is how the ball got to you in the first place. I had your room under 24/7 surveillance and didn’t see a thing. No one other than medical staff, and they were all legit, entered your room.”

Too many questions and not enough answers, Cade thought tiredly. Why is it always like this?

Jordan hesitated and then said, “When you left the hospital, you were Tim Callahan, so we thought it would be safer to leave you as Tim Callahan. Better, too. You weren’t wanted for murder, had a chance at a real life without any of the crap we went through haunting you. We let Cade Foster fade into memory.”

“And the Paranoid Times? The fight with the Gua?” Cade asked.

Eddie shrugged. “Fight’s been over since you defeated Mabus, Foster. No sign that the Gua are back, or even planning to be. Haven’t heard a peep from the ones still here, masquerading as humans, either. The Paranoid Times, well, I’m still working on the whole Oswald conspiracy.”

Cade’s mouth quirked into a brief smile at the memory of how they’d first met, when all Eddie could think about was clones of Lee Harvey Oswald. He’d been on the run for less than a month then, with no purpose or direction except to uncover what had happened to Hannah. He’d found Eddie and then things had really gotten underway. They’d fought together, in their own ways, for three long years, longer than many people in the armed forces. He knew this man almost better than he knew himself and from the worried, but open expression on Eddie’s face, all of what he and Jordan had told him was true.

Sighing, Cade walked back to the bed and sat between them. “So tell me about my life as Tim Callahan. What have I been doing in the last eight years? I assume you’ve been keeping tabs on me all this time.”

Eddie half-grinned and said, “You are the aide to Senator Platt, a democrat with a decent record. I had her checked out as soon as you applied for the job. Your father is a Republican senator who can’t stand the fact that you’re a democrat more than the fact that you’re…um…”

“Gay?” Cade supplied dryly.

Jordan took his hand again and told him, “You’ve been with Donald Strachey for the last six years, met him about a year after you became Tim Callahan. As far as we can tell, Strachey’s as solid as the day is long. He’s a PI who does a moderate business and was in the army before that. Was discharged for having an affair with his CO, who subsequently shot himself the day of their discharge.”

Cade muttered, “Fuck, that’s terrible.”

She nodded and said, “The two of you have been together without any signs of problems all six years. The usual married spats, but nothing serious. No cheating, not even any internet porn, and Eddie’s kept an eye on that especially.”

“Hey!” Eddie protested, turning a beet red. “I keep tabs on all their internet stuff, not just the lack of porn!”

Cade couldn’t help a chuckle at that, but then he said, “I don’t get it. I’m not gay, so how could I be with Strachey? Never had a single thought for any guys I’ve ever met. Not once.”

Clearing his throat, Eddie replied, “All we can figure is that Callahan was gay, like as close to perfectly gay as the Kinsey scale can manage, and you…ah…you’re bisexual. But since you had Hannah, you never had the opportunity or need to explore that part of yourself. Once the two personalities merged, well, Callahan’s orientation took control. I mean, I can kind of see it.”

Cade’s eyebrows lifted skeptically. “Oh you can, huh?”

Jordan’s mouth slid sideways as she pointed out, “You and Joshua got pretty intense there towards the end, Foster. It’s not like the thought never crossed my mind, either, wondering about the two of you.”

“You can’t be serious!” Cade snapped.

She shrugged. “Hey, I make no judgments. It would’ve bothered me because he was Gua, not because he was a guy.”

Cade rolled his eyes and ordered, “Enough with the psychobabble. What do I do now? I can’t pretend I have feelings for Strachey when I don’t. It’s…cruel. And I’m damn sure no Senator’s aide. This life, it’s over for me.”

Eddie stood and told him, “It would be a good idea to at least, you know, get back into that life and then leave. If you tell anyone any of this, they’ll just think you’re crazy and lock you up. Play along. Pretend to remember things enough to get sprung.”

Cade protested, “But I don’t know anything.”

“I made you a cheat sheet,” Eddie said, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket. “Memorize it and then “remember” things slowly. Give it a couple of days here in the hospital so you can heal. Let your body recover. That was some pretty major surgery, after all. They won’t be surprised that your brain’s scrambled a little. My cell phone’s on the bottom. Call me whenever.”

Cade sighed and nodded. “All right. I guess there’s nothing else to be done.”

Jordan kissed him on the cheek and said, “Be safe, okay?”

Cade wanted to say something to her, but didn’t know what. They’d grown close and even though the sex hadn’t been about them at the time, it could have become something real.

She smiled faintly, as if knowing what he was thinking, and said softly, “Don’t. Too much water under the bridge, Cade. Just…give Strachey a chance.”

Snorting, Cade replied, “That’s not happening.”

Eddie stepped in for a fast hug and then they were gone.

It wasn’t until after they were gone that he thought to ask where Joshua was. Cade sighed deeply and slowly pulled his legs back onto the bed, pulling the covers back over him. His mind was filled with everything they’d just told him and he was unable to make sense of any of it. How had he become Tim Callahan? What had he really been doing all this time? Had he honestly been playing house with another guy and been happy? How was that possible?

A nurse came in and tsked on finding him still awake. “You should be out like a light, Mr. Callahan.”

“Can’t stop thinking,” he said honestly.

She took his vitals and told him, “You should try.”

He did close his eyes when she left, but Cade knew that sleep would be a long time coming.

* * * *

Don groaned with exhaustion when someone shook him awake. Glaring balefully, he found Kenny standing over his makeshift bed of two chairs pulled together, a cup of coffee in hand. Good stuff from the to-go cup, not hospital stuff. Taking it from him, Don said, “This almost means you’re not fired. Wait, how’d you know I was here?”

“Bailey called,” Kenny answered promptly. “Said you could use the company.”

Frowning, Don sat up and asked, “How’d Bailey know?”

Kenny took the now-empty chair and answered, “Someone on staff called him.”

Don sipped at the hot, perfectly strong coffee and grunted.

“So how’s Tim?” Kenny prompted.

Rubbing his eye, Don said, “Has amnesia. Doesn’t recognize me at all. Says his parents are dead. Also thinks he’s straight.”

Kenny gaped at him, mouth dropped open.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much my reaction in a nutshell,” Don agreed wryly. “Doc is putting him through more tests this morning. Should know something this afternoon when he’s analyzed everything. It is still morning, right? Forgot my watch at home.”

Kenny nodded and said, “I canceled Mr. Gregori’s job, told him there was a family emergency and refunded his fee. Also canceled the new appointments set for this afternoon and tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks, Kenny,” Don sighed.

Kenny said firmly, “Whatever you need, boss.”

I need Timmy back to himself, back to me, Don thought, sighing again. Standing, he said, “Right now I need a shower. Anywhere in this joint I can do that?”

Kenny suggested, “You have time to go home. I’ll stay and call you if there’s any change.”

Don hesitated, but knew that he had to clean up and get at least a couple hours of decent sleep. Glancing at the wall clock showed it was only eight. He could get home, take a shower and get a good four hours sleep before coming back. Knowing Kenny was here to contact him if anything changed was a big help. Nodding, he said, “I’ll let the nurses know you’re my contact. Thanks, Kenny. I owe you.”

Kenny shook his head and stated, “You don’t owe me anything except more hours in the field.”

Don smiled a little. “Oh believe me. After this, I’ll give you all the hours you want.”

Kenny perked up at that and then waved him off with a, “Shoo! Go shower. If I can smell you, then so can everyone else.”

Don nodded and left the hospital, barely seeing where he was going. When he parked in the driveway, he knew he was lucky not to have been in, or caused, a serious accident. Yawning, he went inside and stopped short at the blood on the carpet and coffee table. Tim would be pissed that it had stained the carpet beyond repair. They would have to buy a new one.

Swallowing against a tight throat, Don forced himself to move passed it and upstairs to the bathroom. The hot shower lulled him deeper towards sleep and he barely had enough energy to make it to the bed, which he flopped into, naked. He set the alarm for twelve-thirty and then pulled Tim’s pillow into his arms, curling around it. Don breathed in the scent of his lover, wishing he had the man himself in his arms.

The alarm blared into Don’s consciousness and he automatically twisted to shut it off. He didn’t even remember falling asleep. He yawned and rubbed at his eyes before forcing himself out of bed and back into the bathroom. Splashing cold water on his face helped wake him up a little, but he knew it would be a very long day and made a plan to stop for coffee on the way to the hospital.

He headed downstairs after getting dressed and then checked his voicemail.

“Strachey, it’s Bailey. Hope Callahan’s doing better. Call if you need anything.”

“Donald, it’s Senator Platt. I received a very upsetting message from Tim’s mother, that he’d been in an accident and was now in the hospital. Please call me as soon as you can with an update.”

“Don, it’s Kelly. I’m on my way, I should be there this afternoon.”

Groaning, Don rubbed his eyes and went for Tim’s cell phone, which should be in his coat pocket. It was and he took it with him out of the house. He called Kelly first, not even sure if she’d pick up because she could be in the air still.

“Don?” Kelly demanded.

Don answered, “Where are you?”

“Just got out of LaGuardia,” she told him. “I should be there in a couple of hours, probably less depending on traffic. How’s Tim?”

Don’s lips twisted sideways as he pulled onto the highway. “Well, as of last time I saw him, he had amnesia, but was otherwise all right.”

“Amnesia!”

Changing the subject, Don prompted, “Did your Mom give you the hospital address?”

“Oh, um, yeah, I’m good. I guess I’ll see you there.”

“Okay. Drive safe.”

“I will.”

He waited until she hung up and then dialed the Senator from Tim’s contacts. All he had for the office was Tim’s number, not a direct line to the Senator. As soon as she picked up, he preempted, “It’s Don Strachey, Senator.”

“How is Tim?”

“Physically fine. Having some cognitive trouble, thought,” Don said, just to change things up. “He was in for more testing this morning. I’m on my way back now.”

“Well, keep me informed. When should I stop by?”

“I think tomorrow would be better than today.”

“Very well. Let me know if there are any changes.”

“I will.”

She hung up without saying goodbye and Don tossed the phone off to the passenger’s seat. He pulled into the hospital not long after and took a steadying breath before leaving the car. There was no way to tell what he would find when he saw Tim again. Would it be the suspicious man or his gentle lover?

Kenny was still in the waiting area, but on the phone. He spotted Don and hung up a few seconds later, though, walking to meet him halfway. “No change. His parents are in with him now, according to the nurses. His testing finished up a couple of hours ago and the doctor should have the analysis done shortly, might already have it.”

Don smiled wanly. “Might have to promote you to associate after all, Kenny.”

Beaming, Kenny said, “Of course you do. I’m going to head out now, unless you need me?”

“No, thanks though,” Don told him. “And thanks, Kenny, for staying.”

Sobering a little, Kenny replied firmly, “Call me if you need anything.”

Don nodded. “I will.”

He watched Kenny leave and then walked over to the elevator. Don left the elevator and hesitated outside Tim’s room. He heard quiet voices inside, Mrs. Callahan and Tim, though not the Senator. Taking another steadying breath, Don entered the room and looked over at the bed. When Tim’s gaze met his, he could have cried at the lack of emotion in them, although there was recognition now. Even when the other man smiled in welcome and greeted him by name, Don knew it was an act.

“Don! Isn’t it wonderful? Tim’s started to remember things now,” Mrs. Callahan exclaimed, smiling. “The doctor believes it was all just temporary. If he keeps this up, he’ll be out of here by tomorrow.”

Forcing a smile, Don nodded and agreed, “That’s great.”

Don reached the bed and, just as a test, took Tim’s hand in his. The other man didn’t pull away, but there was no automatic grip, no squeeze; it just rested in his hand, the fingers lax.

Tim met his gaze and then looked away, to his mother. “Would you give us a few minutes?”

“Of course, dear,” Mrs. Callahan said, standing. She kissed his forehead and smiled at him before leaving.

As soon as she’d gone, Tim pulled his hand free and gave him an annoyed look. He almost sounded accusing when he said, “You know.”

Don snorted. “You’re a terrible liar, Tim.”

“Neither of them could tell,” Tim retorted.

Shrugging, Don reminded, “Neither of your parents knows you well. I’ve lived with you for six years. Loved you for six years. You’re my favorite subject to study. You can’t lie to me. Why don’t you just tell me who you think you are and we can start to work on things for real?”

Tim folded his arms over his chest and studied him for a long moment. He finally replied, “If I tell you the truth, you’ll think I’m crazy and have the doctors lock me up.”

Don sighed and told him, “Maybe. But I’m not going to lie for you and tell them you’ve miraculously remembered things, either. Give me a chance. Tell me who you are.”

When their eyes met, Don could see the struggle going on in Tim and waited it out. It was a few minutes later that Tim said, “My name is Cade Foster. I grew up in Chicago and was a very good thief before meeting my wife, Hannah. I went legit for her and became a security consultant. We had a good life, a great life together, and I loved her with all my heart. And then she was murdered and I was framed for it.

“It was all part of an experiment by aliens called the Gua. They were here to invade, to take over the planet and enslave us. For three years I fought them, along with a man named Eddie. He runs a website called The Paranoid Times. Perfect fit, right? We uncovered all we could, fought them with help from a book written by Nostradamus, and eventually met up with a woman named Jordan, leader of an underground movement called the Raven Nation. And there was also Joshua who was Gua, but didn’t believe in what his people were doing.

“We fought together and apart, brought that invasion to an end. Finished it when I killed the Gua leader, Mabus. That was in 2001. We thought we were home free. Eddie had more quatrains, though, and one brought us here, to New York. I don’t remember anything after that, but he said that I went crazy at a local mall and was brought to a mental ward same time as a man named Timothy Callahan. Only it wasn’t Timothy Callahan. Jordan and Eddie found out that he was Gua and killed him, then gave me his ID. They, they said they wanted me to have a life, to be safe and happy for a change. Said they don’t know how I got all his memories, but somehow they transferred from the Gua consciousness container to me. And the rest you know better than I do, because I don’t know you at all.”

It was insane. It was truly and completely insane. Words that meant his lover had absolutely lost his marbles and been taken over by some paranoid conspiracy theory. Except…the words didn’t match the tone or body language. Tim wasn’t trying to convince him, he was simply stating facts that had already happened. He was very matter-of-fact, if tired, and the ‘conspiracy’ had already been completed. The battle, as it were, already won. From what little he knew of psychology, Don was pretty sure that the paranoia never went away, that the fight always continued.

“So? What do you think?”

Tim’s words brought Don’s wander attention back. He looked over at the other man and sighed. “I don’t know what to think.”

A surprised expression chased across Tim’s face and he asked, “You don’t think I’m crazy?”

Scrubbing fingers through his hair, Don admitted, “It sounds crazy, but I know you. You aren’t lying. And you don’t…react to me the way you always do. Physically. You react like a straight guy uncomfortable with the contact, but determined not to show it. You aren’t…you. You aren’t Tim, not right now.”

“What now?” Tim asked, wary.

Don offered a wry twist of the lips before saying, “Now I do what I do and check out Cade Foster. It’s not like you’re going anywhere and it’ll only take a couple of hours.”

“And when you find that I’m real? Then what?”

It twisted inside him, the thought that his Timmy didn’t exist anymore, that he never truly had. More than the crazy shit about aliens and invasion. More than the possibility he’d been harboring a killer. The man he loved and trusted, the only one on the planet, might have been a figment of this man’s unwitting imagination all these years.

Clearing his throat, keeping his voice steady, Don replied with another shrug, “Then you leave me, just like everyone else.”