Once Upon A Time... discussion

(Awkward Entrance Placed Here!)

Ginny walked through the field, the grass reached above her waist and folded under her feet. It was another one of her favorite places, because you could lay down, and there would be a safe wall all around you-where you wouldn't be found for hours. She smiled at the thought, and continued towards the middle where the grass was even taller.

Hayden walked through the field. He wasn't going anywhere in particular, just wandering aimlessly. He sighed heavily. There was no way Ginny would let him get anywhere near her, no matter how fearless she seemed. His biggest fear though, was hurting her and not being able to repair the damage.

Ginny felt a disturbance in the earth under her, and sensed someone else near. She turned on instinct, and was surprised to see Hayden's distant figure. She watched him for a second, biting her lip-should she go and talk to him?

Hayden stopped walking and sank into the long grass. He laid on his back and looked up at the darkening sky, trying to shut out everything around him. He threw an arm over his face and closed his eyes.

A couple minutes later she was a couple yards away, looking down at him. She smiled, yet again surprised by how attractive he was. Ginny tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips...now seemed like the ideal time of any to do something to him when he wasn't expecting it.

But what?

Hayden was so consumed in his thoughts that he didn't even hear Ginny approaching. He took his arm away from his face and opened his eyes. He sat up and jumped when he saw Ginny standing over him. "What the- What are you doing here?" he asked, frowning.

Ginny grimaced, having lost her chance. "I was walking, saw you-decided to say hi." she said, summarizing. She raised her eyebrows, "Would you like me to leave?"

Hayden took a moment to answer. He was tempted to say yes. "No, no you don't have to leave. I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

She looked away, hiding her hurt expression. It seemed like for a second he was going to tell her to go away or something. "What?" she mumbled, facing the other direction.

"Last night in the forest, you asked if I could take away your memories," Hayden said. "Well, I was talking to Spencer and he thinks I should, well, practice. You're the only person I could think of."

Ginny scowled. Of course. Hayden had wanted to find her, to ask if she would be his science experiment. She was stupid to have thought he'd have wanted her for something else... "Am I supposed to feel flattered?" she asked, tone bitter.

"No, of course not," Hayden said, looking up at her. "That's the thing. I don want to do it. I don't want to risk hurting you." He stood up. "You know what, nevermind, it's a stupid idea."

"I'll do it...I don't consider my memories of any value." she said, glancing over her shoulder at him. Ginny saw the concern on his face, and rolled her eyes. Stop acting like you care. she thought.

Hayden frowned. "Is it really that hard to believe that I like you?" he asked. "Because if you can honestly say that you don't feel anything in return then I'll just stop trying."

Ginny looked away from him instantly, and she cursed him for being so blunt. "Yes." she retorted, turning to face him. "You frequently comment on how irritating I am. Or you obviously aren't getting the fact that I like you, because your all to ready to leave, so my guess is you don't care. Or another theory is i'm another temporary play pal." She was shocked she had said so much, and her eyes widened with her lack of manners.

"Leaving is the last thing I want to do," Hayden said, surprised at her outburst. "You haven't stopped complaining about my attitude and I can understand that, but the second I show even the slightest feeling for you, you shut me out." He took a step closer to her so that they were almost touching. "Just so there is no further confusion, I like you. A lot. And if we're going to do this, you have to trust me."

"I just..I don't..you can't.." she couldn't find the right words, and looked away. Ginny was mostly scared. Not of him...but how he could effect her. She had feelings for him--but what if his were just temporary? Hayden did have a reputation for being with multiple girls-for short periods of time-and usually at the same time. "I want to trust you."

Hayden heard hesitation in her voice. He swallowed. "And why can't you?" he asked quietly.

"I don't want you to hurt me." she breathed, blushing furiously.

"Hurt you?" That was exactly the thing that Hayden had not wanted to hear. "Are you afraid of me?" he asked slowly. "Because you don't have to be."

"Not physically." she answered, smiling slightly. "I'm pretty sure I could take you. I was thinking more along the lines of breaking my heart or something crazy like that."

"Oh," Hayden said. He could understand her reasoning given his track record. "Look, I didn't care about any of those other girls. I know this is probably going to sound incredibly cliche, but you're different."

Ginny snorted, "Your completely right. It does sound Cliche'." She ran a hand through her hair, and let out a frustrated sigh. "Well right now we can do the memory thing...and figure everything else out later. Or maybe I'll forget."

Hayden was reluctant to start practicing, especially when he knew that he didn't have her complete trust, but he didn't want to start another argument. "Okay, so basically what I'm going to try to do is take away a small part of your memory, then give it back. If that works out, then I'll try it with larger portions of your memory." He held out his hands for her to take. "If you have any questions, now would be a good time to ask."

"I don't have any questions...that involve the memory thing anyway." she said carefully, not meeting his eyes. Ginny brushed her hands across her arms, trying to soothe her stuff muscles. She wasn't nervous...was she? Ginny hesitated...there were things in her life that she wouldn't like to forget. Like Hayden. Or that he liked her.

"Take my hands," Hayden said, holding them out for her. He sincerely hoped that he would be able to do this. He would never forgive himself if he ruined her memories permanently.

Ginny blushed, and slowly brought her hands up into his. She watched him carefully, tilting her head to this side. "Hayden. I trust you." she said, hoping to reassure him. "So has some faith." she added, laughing nervously.

Hayden smiled. "Thanks," he said. The moment his hands met hers, a flood of images rushed through his mind. He closed his eyes and focused. He decided to start with something more recent and managed to concentrate on the previous day, when he, Spencer, Mandy, and Ginny had been talking in the town square. Now that he had a good grip on the memory, he could move on to the difficult part: removing it. "Okay, just relax," Hayden told her, his eyes still closed.

She wondered if he could feel the emotions behind the memories, and that thought alone made her hands jerk away from his. Ginny's eyes were wide, and her lips parted in shock-that she hadn't thought about it before. But asking him would make him wonder what he couldn't know..."Sorry." she muttered, grimacing.

Suddenly, the memories disappeared and Hayden's eyes snapped open. He realized that Ginny's hands were no longer in his. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Ginny averted her gaze to the ground, and bit her lip hesitantly. "I was just uh-curious to the extent of your abilities." she said, timidly looking up at him. It was the first time she had appeared outright embarrassed. "What exactly do you experience?"

Hayden frowned, but answered her question. "It's sort of like one of those old movie reels, where the pictures spin by really fast and look like they're moving. Then when I focus, the picture gets clearer. I see everything from your point of view and I can sense your emotions, but don't feel them myself," he said, hoping that was enough detail for her.

"Oh." she muttered, twisting her hands in front of her in agitation. Ginny's lips parted as if she was going to say something...but she held her hands out to him instead.

Hayden looked at her hands, then back at her. "Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with."

Ginny rolled her eyes. If this would keep him safer, it was worth it. "You taking my memories is not what I'm worried about." she muttered, "I'll just like-try not to die of embarrassment or something."

Hayden smiled and took her hands once more. "Okay, like I said before, you need to relax for this to even have a chance of working," he said, closing his eyes. He relocated the memory and focused all of his energy on it. Slowly, he felt it weakening, almost as if he was absorbing it. The picture faded into nothing and he opened his eyes again, hoping it had worked.

Ginny closed her eyes, and tried to keep her hands from shaking. It didn't even feel like anything was happening in her head, although she was sure he was doing something. She kept her eyes closed, and tried not to think about what he might be seeing.

"You can open your eyes," Hayden told her. He hesitated slightly before speaking again. "Um, I need you to tell me what happened yesterday afternoon."

Ginny's eyes flickered open, her eyelashes fluttering. "Er-what?" she said, sidetracked. She had been concentrating on keeping a clear mind, trying not to call embarrassing memories to herself. "Oh-uhm...I was with...I went...I don't remember." Ginny lifted her hands to her temples, stifling a groan. It hurt to try to recall the memories.

Hayden smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay," he said, not wanting her to strain herself. "You don't remember, that means it worked."

"Okay." she said, confused. "Why are you taking my memories?" she asked, her expression suspicious. Ginny looked down at their intertwined hands, then up to his eyes.

Hayden frowned, she should be able to remember that, they had talked about it only minutes before. "Ginny, what's the last thing you remember?" he asked.

"Sleeping in the garden...you took me there." she said slowly. Ginny looked at him sideways, "Then I left, because you said something.."

Hayden bit his lip, he'd removed too much memory. He kept his face carefully neutral, not revealing that he was freaking out inside. "Um, alright. Ginny, I'm going to try something. Just don't let go of my hands," he said, gripping her hands and shutting his eyes.

"MMkkaay." she said, closing her eyes. Ginny shuffled her feet, and the pounding in her head increased with each second passing by. "Ow." she mumbled, but didn't let go.

Hayden took a deep breath and focused. At first, he didn't fel anything whatsoever, this was going to be much more difficult than he had anticipated. He pushed himself further and winced when he felt a shooting pain in his head. He gasped and shuddered as he felt the memories reforming: first in his head, then in hers. Hayden jerked his hands away from her and sank to his knees, shivering. He prayed that it had worked because he didn't have the strength to try that again.

Ginny knelt to the ground next to him, her eyes wide. The pain in her head had subsided, and she got the hunch it was because it had transferred to Hayden. "Hey, are you okay?" Stupid question. "Oh don't hit me or something, I shouldn't have asked." she added, rolling her eyes. Ginny touched his arm gently, "Hayden, look at me."

Hayden flinched when she touched him. "Please don't," he said. He rubbed his temples, trying to lessen the pain in his head. "I'm fine," he lied, not making eye contact with her. He didn't even attempt to move, knowing he'd just end up on the ground again.

Ginny turned, the look on her face was hurt. "I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable." she mumbled. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and her eyes burnt. "Do you want me to leave?" she whispered, feeling cold.