Disclaimer: I don't own any of it; I'm not making money. It's all belongs to J K Rowling and Warner brothers and other such businesses.
Penny and Jules continued staring at one another for what must a have been a good minute before Penny stood, shook Jules' hand, and said as impassively as she could,
"Nice to meet you, Jules." He smiled and she felt her legs tremble.
"Likewise." He replied. Scott decided this would be a good time to intervene before they started having a staring contest.
"Why don't you take a seat Jules?" Scott said, his hand gesturing toward the chair beside Penny. Jules sat down and reverted his attention slowly back to Scott. Penny did the same. "Alright, now that you two have met, we'll go over the schedule for the following months. You know the both of you will be able to live on your own in about six months, but we still have a lot to go over. I just hope we can get enough memories from you two that will enable you to live comfortably out in the world." Jules and Penny both looked excited at the prospect of leaving Meadowvale behind.
"I know that our hypnosis sessions are usually done separately, but I would like to try a few sessions together. You will both be hypnotised at the same time. That way you won't feel uncomfortable and you won't be able to watch the other person being hypnotised. I would like to know how you two feel about this. If you don't want to do it, we won't." Scott sat back in his chair and waited for both of them to think it over. Penny was the first to speak.
"What do you think that this will accomplish? I mean, can Jules and I communicate with each other while we are hypnotised?" Penny questioned. Scott smiled at Penny. He knew she liked the idea. But he also knew she liked to think of everything before anything was done. She was just very thorough.
"Frankly, we don't know what could happen. It's a bit of a risk you could say. But I have a hunch that you will be able to communicate and interact. While you are relaxed you can converse with me while I am hypnotising you, so I would think that two people hypnotised by the same person would be able to communicate. The question is, do both of you trust me enough for this to work? And you both need to trust yourselves and each other."
Jules and Penny both thought for a moment, each knowing they could trust Scott, both wondering could they trust each other. They quickly looked at each other and knew their answers immediately.
"I'll do it," said Jules.
"So will I," Penny agreed. Scott seemed pleased, as if he knew they would both agree and want to go through this experiment.
"Excellent! Ok you'll have some time together to answer each other's questions and get to know one another. Then after lunch, you'll be helping some of the nurses look after the kids when they go to the zoo. You'll have time to talk to one another today. You'll need to have to know each other for this to work," Scott told them. Penny and Jules both nodded in understanding.
"Off you go then. You can eat lunch together downstairs in the cafeteria here." Penny and Jules both stood up to leave and said good-bye to Scott.
Walking down the hall from Scott's office the both of them felt a little awkward. Both having doubtful thoughts.
"How can I trust this person? I don't even know him." Penny thought. Jules was feeling the same as Penny was. Jules decided now is the time when they should be talking, no point in delaying the inevitable.
"So where do you…" Jules and Penny both turned and said to the other.
"Sorry, you go first." Penny said, blushing.
"Oh, okay. Umm… I guess what I was going to say was: do you know where you came from?" Jules said awkwardly. Penny smiled and said,
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Jules felt relieved and waited for her response.
"I was found in northern Scotland, not many people live there and the closest building I was found by was deserted and in ruins. So I'm a bit of a mystery for the doctors. Especially because I don't have a Scottish accent, it's English as you can tell. I'm from England somewhere it seems. How about you?" Jules was startled by her honest response but he didn't let it show. He decided to answer truthfully as well.
"Actually, I have a similar story. I was found near this abandoned factory in Wales. But I also know I'm not from Wales. I have an English accent, not Welsh. Could I be from England? I don't know." Jules finished. Penny seemed shocked and walked without paying much attention to anything. She was going over his words inside her head. She finally spoke very slowly and carefully,
"That's weird - we were both found by ourselves, and without a sign of an accident or struggle? Usually people like us have been in a car accident, or are really old and suffer from Alzheimer's disease. They told me our situations were similar, but I didn't know it was like this." Jules was deep in thought as well. He asked Penny quietly,
"What else do we have in common?"
"I don't know, but probably a lot more than just where we were found. Makes sense for us to be spending all this time together then." Penny said.
"You're right. Let's ask each other as many questions as possible to see how much we can figure out." Jules suggested.
"I think that's exactly what we should do. Let's talk about it over lunch in the cafeteria. I'm starving." Penny said with a slight smile. Jules smiled back at her before responding,
"Me too."
They reached the cafeteria for lunch and the special today was beef stew. They grabbed their trays with their bowls of stew and sat down together at a table. Both were feeling more comfortable in each other's presence already. Penny decided it was a good idea for them to learn and do their sessions together. But first she wanted to know more. So did Jules.
"How much do you remember before the incident?" Jules asked Penny as soon as she had pushed away her empty bowl.
" I don't remember anything. Well that's not true, I know some things but it's nothing from my life. I still know how to talk, walk, and what a car is - but I don't know how to drive one. Scott says that is unusual, because people remember things like that. I don't even know how to ride a bike. And I don't know everything that I should with school. I am very far behind people who are the same age as me. I don't even know how to do variables properly." She stopped talking and seemed thoughtful for a moment before asking Jules tentatively,
"What do you remember from your life?" He was looking a little unnerved and seemed afraid to answer the question. Penny was puzzled for a moment and then understood.
"You don't know how to ride a bike either, do you?" Penny said with quiet shock.
"No, I don't know how. I even barely knew what they were. I saw one a while ago, and it wasn't the first time I'd seen one, but it was definitely not something I saw everyday," Jules said with the same astonishment. They both sat in silence for a moment, trying to process this startling information. "This is too weird. They told me I was a special case. This has never happened to anyone before." He finished in a hushed voice.
"What happened to us?" Penny said after another moment of silence.
"I don't know." Jules said. They looked at each other and it was the first time, but not the last, that they saw each other's expression in the others face. Jules cleared his throat and Penny looked at her watch.
"It's already five to one! We have to meet Anna for the zoo in five minutes." Penny exclaimed. Jules jumped up out of his seat and Penny did the same. The rushed out the front door and ran to the Children's Centre. Anna was waiting outside with the kids trying to get them all onto a yellow school bus. She seemed a little flustered because her only other help was a first year nurse. Anna was in her mid thirties and lived with her husband. She was a kind person but she had a hard face. They say she grew hard after she left her family. Jules and Penny ran up to Anna and she said,
"You two are late! Help me get these kids on the bus."
"Of course," Penny said as she helped a young boy onto the bus. All the kids that were going on the field trip to the zoo had learning disabilities as a result of a birth defect. It takes them longer to learn to something that a baby of five months old can grasp. Simple tasks like touching toes has to be taught to these children.
Once all the children were on the bus and Anna made sure they were all secure and accounted for, they left for the zoo. Jules and Penny sat together up at the front.
"How much fun can going to the zoo be?" Jules wondered aloud. Penny thought he sounded a little moody, and she wasn't impressed.
A/N: That was chapter two, folks! I hope you liked it. Ok, so review and give me some comments and suggestions, anything is appreciated!
-->