Chapter Text
She couldn't remember her life. She had a few facts, mostly given to her by her doctor. Apparently, her name was Madelyn Pryor, and she was a pilot. She had been operating a small aircraft, and it had crashed. She didn't know why, but she hoped that it hadn't been something that she had done, or not done. She couldn't remember her life, but she hoped that she was a responsible person.
She had a few dreams that she remembered, glimpses into a childhood with loving parents, a younger sister with slightly lighter red hair, and a dog. There were other fragments, walking on a beach with a man, their hands linked, and murmuring sweet nothings under the stars. So, she'd had a happy childhood, a dog, and once upon a time, she'd been in love with a man, a slender man with calloused hands. She couldn't remember his name, or even a face. She only knew her own name because Dr. Essex had told her who she was.
Everything that she knew about herself could fit on a few pages of paper, and most of that was physical information. She had red hair and green eyes, stood five foot seven, and weighed a hundred and fifty pounds. She liked grape jelly on her toast in the mornings, and coffee. She was an early riser and liked to listen to birds sing. She liked jazz music, and was easily bored by Bach or Mozart. But she couldn't remember high school, or when she'd learned to fly. Couldn't remember her first kiss or her first crush.
She needed to get back to living. If she couldn't remember the life she'd had before, perhaps it was time to make a new one a new life, a new start, a clean start. Somewhere far enough away that nobody would recognize her, that she wouldn't be expected to deal with anything from her forgotten past. Dr. Essex hadn't argued with this idea, and had found her some information of assorted airfields that she could apply to.
She had accepted a job with a small airfield in Alaska. It was far enough that she wouldn't bump into anyone that she had forgotten, and English was still the official language.
After she had arrived in Alaska, and got herself a small place of her very own, she got a haircut. She couldn't remember if there had been a reason why her hair had fallen nearly to her waist, but it seemed to only get in the way now. She visited a salon, and got it cut shorter, so that it fell just past her shoulders. She felt pleased by the new look, it was simpler, less work to maintain. The different style also made her hair look slightly darker, and she felt oddly better about that. A new life, a new hairstyle, she wasn't the same person now.
She'd been carefully studying the maps of the local areas, wanting to know where everything was. If she needed to fly to a town or airfield, she had to be able to find it. She had also been reviewing the information on all of the aircraft that this airfield had, wanting to be absolutely certain that she knew how to properly pilot and check every craft. This determination was helping her to do well at her new job, and the manager had recently agreed to let her pilot alone for some of the shorter trips.
Today, she had a job, piloting what had been described as the 'Summers Clan' on a family excursion. She'd asked a few questions, and learned what plane she would be flying, and where she would be taking them. She'd looked up where they were going and what sort of conditions she would need to consider for piloting the trip. They would be going to a small lake for the day, and apparently they had planed to do some fishing.
She was waiting by the plane, hoping that the Summers group would arrive reasonably close together. Things would be easier if there wasn't an awkward delay waiting for a late arrival. So, here she was, standing by the plane in her parka, in the cold breeze, hoping that they were on time. She could feel the wind teasing at her hair, trying to play with it, causing the frosty cloud of her breath to flow away like dragon-smoke. There was the sound of a vehicle approaching, the growl of the engine and the whine of tires on snow.
After it had parked, the doors opened, and out stepped three men. They were all, fairly lean, even though the heavy coats added a bit of bulk to their appearance. One had blond hair, another had a hat on, obscuring her view, and the third had brown hair, and wore red sunglasses. He looked wonderful, lean, and handsome, in excellent shape... she felt the oddest pull towards him. So, with a small smile, she spoke. "I take it you're the Summers clan?"
Sunglasses looked at her, and his mouth gaping open, as if he were seeing a ghost. He just stood there for a few moments, looking at her, trying to think about whatever it was that made him stare at her. The man in the hat smiled at her, his face showing that he was a number of years older than the other two, possibly their father or a favored uncle.
"Yeah, we're the Summers family. You're the pilot that's going to take me and my boys to White Paw Lake?" The older man spoke, his words confirming her guess that this was her party.
She smiled back at them, one hand brushing her hair back from the reach of the wind. "Yes, I'm Madelyne Pryor, and I'll be your pilot today. Are we waiting for anyone else?"
The older man smiled back, and easy, cheerful expression. "No, this is everyone. I'm Chris, and these are my boys, Scott" He gestured to the one wearing the sunglasses. "And this is Alex. Is everything ready for us to load the fishing gear?"
She smiled at him, and nodded. He started to pull boxes from the vehicle, and the blonde, Alex began helping to put it into the plane. Scott stood there, staring at her for a while longer before helping his father and presumably his brother load the gear. He kept watching her, as if she reminded him of something, or as if he didn't trust her.
For some reason, that bothered her a great deal.
They had a pleasant day fishing, even though Madelyne discovered that she was a terrible fisherman. They had laughed, and smiled, and eaten freshly caught fish grilled over a fire before flying back to the airfield that evening. She'd caught Scott watching her, and occasionally smiling, and had found herself watching him as well. He just seemed so handsome, so interesting. Something about the sound of his voice soothed her.
"So, umm Madelyne? Would you ahh would you maybe like to go out for dinner sometime?" Scott's voice was hesitant as they were unloading the plane, and unexpected.
"Dinner? Are you asking me out? On a date?" Something deep inside of her was jumping with excitement, and she felt almost giddy, a sense of joy filling her.
"Trying to at least. Umm if it's a problem, you don't have to or anything, I just..." Scott looked a bit nervous, uneasy as he spoke to her.
Smiling, she caught his gloved hand in hers. "I'd love to go to dinner with you. Who knows, this could be the start of something promising, maybe happiness. So, how does Thursday at seven sound? At the lodge?"
They both smiled, and Madelyne felt something like hope stir inside of her. She had a date with Scott. There was a whole world of potential opening up for her, the possibility of love, and a relationship, of marriage and a family and a future with someone... She decided to try not to get ahead of herself, despite the ease with which she could picture Scott in so many other ways, relaxing on a couch, swimming at a pool, playing baseball under a bright golden sun...
end Awkward Beginning.