For now.

Becky was too shocked to reply for a moment. Finally, her mouth worked. "How did you do that?"

"Oh, thank God..." he said. "I can't tell you how many times I lost you during one of these little demonstrations."

"So if we stop talking or I stop paying attention to you, I'll just... forget about you?"

He shrugged. "That's the long and short of it. Thirty seconds after I walk out of this place, if you ask anyone here if someone matching my description came in they'll say no. No one remembers me at all."

She reached across the table and put her hand over his. "Oh God, that must be so lonely..."

He flushed at the contact. "It really is. God, it's been hard. You don't know how much I've missed you. I need you, Becky. I need your help."

"How?" she asked. "How could I possibly help you?"

"I've had a lot of time to think about that," Sam replied. "I've got a few ideas. First, can you think of any way I can get your trust a little more quickly? This method takes like twenty minutes at a minimum and is very error-prone. The other day I had just gotten you to accept that I was your fiancee when you were distracted by a car crash. Of course, as soon as you turned back to me you'd forgotten it all."

"How many times have we had this conversation?" Becky asked incredulously.

"Hundreds," he replied immediately. "I mean, I've approached you hundreds of times. We've only gotten this far a couple dozen."

She stared at him in amazement. Had this guy really tried to talk to her hundreds of times? Becky scrounged her memory for any sign of him, but it really felt like they had only met earlier.

"To be honest," he added, "This is our fourth time today. Second in this coffeeshop."

"So you want me to help you help me remember?" she asked.

"Yep. And before you say it, I know about how you let your cat play in the street in 2nd grade, I know about your crush on Jimmy Nichols, I even know about your slight curiosity about bisexuality." Becky blushed hearing her secrets spoken aloud by a total stranger. "So do you have something we can use? All of that stuff just creeps you out when I mention it."

"Well, yeah," she said. "Imagine if that barista walked over to you and told you about your teen crushes. I'm trying to think of what a stranger could say to make me trust them immediately."

"Don't think too long," he cautioned. "We're one loud noise or bathroom trip away from square one. I had another idea, too. You remember Memento?"

She nodded and he continued. "You remember how there was a difference in procedural and episodic memory? They tested that by having him pick up random objects, one of which had a live current. See, the real amnesiac would stop picking that one up, although he wouldn't know why. It's sort of like muscle memory - the body remembers the shock even if the mind doesn't."

Becky was intrigued. "So if we could somehow take advantage of my procedural memory... but how? Are you going to hit me with a taser every time I forget you?"

He cast his eyes downward for a second before answering. "It, uh, applies to all physical sensations. Both painful and pleasurable."

"Sam, are you saying you want to fuck me?" she asked playfully.

"It wouldn't be the first time. Shit, that sounded creepier out loud than it did in my head."

She laughed at that. "Well, you've pretty much convinced me of your story and I'm currently single. Plus, you're not a bad-looking guy. Actually, here's a little tidbit that could help with both ideas - I'm a little turned on by the idea."

"Of fucking me?"

"You're hot, but no. I like the idea of forgetting who I'm with partway through the sex. Imagine waking up in the middle of a round of hot, steamy sex and not even knowing the person inside you!" She was a little flushed already at the thought. "But how do we do the conditioning thing like in the movie?"

"Well, the idea is that my voice or image will be a positive cue. Hopefully if we can get you feeling good enough while looking at my face, you'll start to feel good just by looking at me. If it gets strong enough, that will save a lot of time when I try to convince you that I am who I say I am."

She leaned forward. "Ok, I think I've got a plan. Why don't you lie to me? I mean it, just pick me up like a normal date. I can tell you that I'm lonely and haven't gotten laid in forever and you're charming and hot. Why not just get me into bed to do the conditioning under false pretenses?"

"But what about when you walk out of the room and come back to a total stranger?" he asked.

Becky put her hand on his forearm and smiled mischievously. "I guess you'll just have to keep me occupied."