A/N: I do not own Humans

This worm of a story happens some time after the events in series 1. It'll probably conflict with series 2 but, well, I have to get it out anyway. Don't know when it'll be finished. Heck, I don't' even know where it's going, exactly. Mostly I just wanted an excuse for some Leo H/C and some Mattie love. So here it is:

The Time that Leo Elster Forgot

Leo looked around for a third time.

He was in a narrow brightly lit hallway. Lots of doors on either side of the hall. The walls were sort of…cream colored. Words like 'housing' and 'flats' rose to the surface of his mind.

Music was playing from behind one of the doors. Muted.

It smelled like too many people.

There was a door directly in front of him. Door number 3-0-3.

He pushed his hands into his pants pockets and hunched his shoulders up as he looked at the door.

It opened.

Mattie Hawkins opened it. "Hey."

"…hey," he said back to her.

She retreated into the room beyond the door. "Want tea? I've just put the water on to boil," she said over her shoulder.

He stepped into the room because it was the thing to do. It was a tiny little room. The study desk was as big as the bed that was crammed into the corner. To his left was an even smaller bathroom. It made him feel…large.

"So I was wondering if I could put a piece of you or Mia's code online," she started to say as she got two mugs ready with tea bags. "I've got an idea but I need some other opinions from other head-crackers. It'll be totally safe, I swear. Your name or location won't be tied to it at all. But if this works, it'll be the main piece to my final project and it'll blow Dr. Tripple away. Honestly, she'll think I'm a genius…"

He blinked at her.

"Leo?" Mattie turned to look at him, a quizzical expression on her face.

He only stared.

She stared back.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"…you…You can't, um…." He trailed off, working really hard to connect what she said to reality and finding himself stalling out.

"I know, I know," she said quickly. "But I swear, Leo, this will be…it. It'll solve a lot of problems and maybe even find a way to access your memo—"

Leo squinted at her, mouth hanging open a little.

She made a face. "It's not that dangerous!"

Leo jerked backwards a step, spinning in a tight half circle. His lips flopped up into a disbelieving smile.

"I don't, um," he started, "I don't…understand." His voice was strained. Too high.

He looked around the room again. The smile drooped into nothing. It was getting hard to breathe.

"Leo—"

His eyes snapped to her, wide and paranoid.

She shrunk back.

"Look, forget it," Mattie said, holding up her hands. "I'll figure out something else."

"…figure out…what?" he asked, slowly.

She frowned. "The project. The one you've not been helping me with like you promised?"

He opened his mouth to say something and the kettle snapped off.

Mattie poured the boiling water into a mug and offered it to him.

"I'm sorry," she said with an obligatory half smile. "I shouldn't have asked."

Leo took the mug and looked down at the dark amber swirls hemorrhaging from the teabag. He felt very cold.

"Oh my god! Leo!" Mattie suddenly yelped.

He started, scalding heat sloshing over the edge of the cup. "What?"

"You're bleeding!"

His hand flitted down to his side automatically, feeling for the usual rip in his abdomen. But his shirt was dry. Mattie sided closer and touched his shoulder. Leo flinched away from her, horror spilling out across his face.

"Easy," she said lightly. "You've got blood coming down your neck. Did you hit your head or something?"

Leo shuffled to the mirror and looked, frowning. Sure enough, there was blood down the back of his neck. A thick sticky ribbon of it, nearly dry and going well past the collar of his jacket. He started to pull off his hat and came to a jarring stop as the wool lifted off his hair. Pain spiked across his scalp as bloodied hair separated from the fibers of his hat. Grimacing, Leo pulled the hat away completely. It fell to the floor with a wet squash.

"Oh shit," Mattie breathed. Her eyes were as big as saucers.

It was the correct sentiment. Oh shit.

It was difficult to distinguish blood from grease but it wasn't hard to see the clean crescent shaped wound at the base of his skull – almost like a horseshoe. Oozy and crusty, there was hair and dirt matted in around the two inch slice.

His legs felt funny.

"Oh shit!" Mattie yelped again, darting forward to catching him as his knees buckled.

She half dropped, half guided him onto the bed where he sat like a stone, spilled tea going down the front of his shirt.

"I'm calling my mum," she announced.

He nodded dumbly as he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the stickiness there.

It felt like there was a heavy wet blanket around his chest that made breathing uncomfortable. Like the time Karen showed up. Like the time they found Max alongside the river. Like the time his father died. Like a wave of insurmountable dread was getting ready to crash down on top of him.

The pain in his head grew with each lungful of air as if the sensation was suddenly delighted that he knew of its existence and was determined to make the most of that awareness. And he became aware of other bits of things as well. He was freezing. He was starving. His legs felt like jelly. His eyes burned. His ribs ached. His jaw popped when he opened his mouth. His fingers were tingling. His beard was too long.

It was getting increasingly harder to keep himself upright.

"Leo?"

Mattie was kneeling in front of him.

"What?" he asked stupidly.

"What happened?"

…

He opened his mouth. Shut it. Squinted.

…

Looked around the room.

…

Took a breath.

…

"Leo…" she said again.

It hit him then, like a cricket ball to the face.

"I…I don't know," he finally said. His voice was small and far away.

Mattie's eyebrows scrunched down. "What do you mean? Like, you were knocked out or something? A gang come after you? Hobb? You didn't see them?"

"I-I don't…I don't know," he repeated.

"That's impos—"

"I don't know how I got here," Leo mumbled. "I don't know when I got here. I don't know what day it is. I don't know why…"

His stomach rolled into knots. A fierce pressure built up behind his eyes. And suddenly he was hyperventilating.

Mattie sat back onto her heels. "Oh shit."

He closed his eyes and reached back into his memories. There was an image of a street. He'd walked down that street. Mia and Max had been with him. They'd been laughing. It was dark outside and raining but they were laughing.

But there was sunshine coming through Mattie's window. It was afternoon sun. It wasn't raining.

After the memory of the walk…

…he wanted to puke. Physically, actually, vomit. Because there was nothing after that besides standing in front of Mattie's door five minutes ago. There was a black hole of nothing.

"Leo!" Mattie snapped. She looked like she'd been saying his name for a while.

His eyes focused on her with some difficulty as he gasped for air.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok," she said. "Do you have your cell phone on you?"

Wordlessly, he patted down his pockets. They were empty and he shook his head. He drew in a deep breath and held it, trying very hard to stop gasping.

"Do you know where Mia is? Or Max?" Mattie asked next.

"No," he said on an exhale. He balled his hands into fists. "I need to find them."

He jumped up. And immediately the world tilted sideways and he fell into Mattie. She heaved him back onto the bed and he snapped his eyes shut against the vertigo.

"You need to not do anything stupid," she countered. "Look, Mum's on her way. We're gonna take you back to the house and get you sorted."

Leo didn't reply. He kept his eyes closed and tried again to access the memories. His fingers twitched – slowly at first. Then faster.

-The street was Saint Thomas Street in Bristol. Mia had been wearing dark wash jeans, a green blouse, brown contacts. Maxie was wearing a big khaki colored jacket and his favorite hat and gray trousers. Leo had been drinking coffee. They were looking for a place to stay for the night. They'd been sharing good memories, laughing about the time Fred had learned how to play a prank. Niska had been the intended victim but she had learned before he did and the joke was on him. Leo had been laughing. Feeling good. It was the 3rd of March, a Wednesday, 9:15 PM.

Wednesday.

March.

Sai-Saint ThomassSSs…

MarchMarchMarch 0915555.

"LEEo! R-ru—"

Stree—T 3-0-3. S-mells like—too many people. Muted music playing. The door opened.

"Hey…"-

"Arrhhhaaahh!" Leo shrieked. A searing pain sparked through his head. He grabbed it with both hands and gasped.

Mattie yelled something. But her voice was far away.

The pain – something like an electrical battering ram – flared and light strobed behind his eyelids and there was a sound like water rushing rushing RUSHING...

...

..

.

A/N: To Be Continued (Eventually).