Memory and the People Who Stay

The rain had started sometime before dawn, a slow, steady rhythm that softened the sharp edges of the city. Jessica sat in the corner of the café, fingers curled around a cup of black coffee, watching the water slide down the windowpane.

Leanna was late.

She had texted when she landed—WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, JESUS CHRIST, MEXICO CITY?—but that had been nearly an hour ago.

Jessica wasn’t worried. Leanna never hurried. She moved at her own pace, made people wait. Made them sweat, sometimes. It was a tactic. A reminder that she played by her own rules. But Jessica also knew Leanna hated not knowing. And she had deliberately given her no details, just a plane ticket, an address, and one sentence.

“I need you here.”

That had been enough.

* * *

Leanna finally stepped inside, shaking the rain from her jacket. She spotted Jessica immediately and crossed the café with long, confident strides, sliding into the seat across from her.

She didn’t bother with pleasantries. “You look like hell,” she said, flagging down a waiter.

Jessica smirked faintly. “Good to see you too.”

Leanna ordered a cortado, then leaned back in her chair, studying Jessica with sharp eyes. “Alright, I’m here. Talk.”

Jessica exhaled slowly. “This is going to sound insane.”

Leanna arched a brow. “Jess, I’ve seen you go up against private militaries, infiltrate black sites, and walk away from an explosion without blinking. If you say it’s insane, it’s already worse than I’m prepared for.”

Jessica rolled her shoulders, rubbing the back of her neck. “I’ve been remembering things,” she said.

Leanna’s expression didn’t change, but her eyes sharpened.

Jessica continued, voice low. “Not memories from my past. Memories that don’t belong to me.”

Leanna took a slow sip of her coffee. “Like déjà vu?”

Jessica stared into her cup, and watched the swirl of black coffee. The words felt too heavy to say, too fragile to leave unsaid. She shook her head. “No. More than that. It’s… clear. Like I’ve lived these moments before, except they aren’t mine.”

Leanna didn’t dismiss her immediately. That was one of the things Jessica had always appreciated about her. Leanna never believed things at face value, but she also never ignored evidence.

She set her cup down carefully. “Tell me.”

Jessica inhaled. And then she told her everything. By the time she was done, Leanna had gone still, her hands folded over each other.

Jessica leaned back, exhaling. “Say something.”

Leanna folded her arms, her jaw twitching the way it always did when something didn’t add up. Her voice was even, too even.

“You’re saying that the Templars didn’t just hide information, they stored it inside people.”

Jessica nodded.

“And you’re one of those people.”

Jessica’s throat felt tight. “That’s what it looks like.”

Leanna tilted her head. “And these memories inside you… they’re connected to the Second Coming?”

Jessica hesitated. “I don’t know yet.”

Leanna tapped her fingers lightly against the table, processing. Then, finally:

“Do you believe it?”

Jessica’s jaw clenched. “I don’t know what to believe.”

Leanna watched her for a long moment. Then, in a softer voice: “Are you okay?”

Jessica exhaled. She didn’t have an answer for that. Her grip on reality had always been firm. She dealt in facts, in tangible evidence. But now? Now she was being told she wasn’t just a person. She was a vessel. That she wasn’t just experiencing her own life, she was carrying pieces of someone else’s.

She thought back to her conversation with Sam. “Do you want to remember?” She still didn’t know.

Leanna let out a slow breath, rubbing her temple. “Alright. What do we do?”

Jessica looked at her. “You’re not telling me I need to walk away?”

Leanna scoffed. “Jessica, I know you. If I told you to walk away, you’d chase this even harder just to prove me wrong.”

Jessica smirked faintly.

Leanna’s voice softened. “But I’m not letting you go to Avignon alone.”

Jessica swallowed the tightness in her throat. She hadn’t realized how much she needed to hear that.

The front door opened again, and Olivia strode in, shaking water from her coat. She spotted them, made a beeline for their table, and dropped into the seat like she had been running intelligence ops with them for years.

“I assume you’ve told her?” Olivia asked, signaling the waiter for more coffee.

Leanna sighed. “Yeah.”

Olivia leaned back. “So. We’re going to Avignon.”

Jessica arched a brow. “That fast?”

Olivia shot her a look. “You think I wasn’t already booking tickets while you two had your little existential moment?”

Jessica exhaled, shaking her head with a half-smirk. “I hate how efficient you are.”

Olivia smirked. “That’s why you keep me around.”

Leanna took a slow sip of coffee. “So, are we breaking into a monastery or just pissing off the Vatican again?”

Jessica rolled her shoulders. “Honestly, both seem likely.”

Leanna sighed. “Great. Fantastic.”

She turned to Olivia. “Tell me we’re at least flying business class.”

Olivia sipped her coffee, unbothered. “Absolutely not.”

Leanna groaned. Jessica, despite everything, laughed. For the first time in days, she felt like herself. She was still standing at the edge of something enormous, something impossible. But now, at least, she wasn’t standing there alone.