Gone

By: XsesenX

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Distribution: Sure, just ask me first

Feedback: Yes, please! Flames will be used to roast marshmallows.

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights', or any of the characters mentioned.

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To say the news came as a shock would be an understatement.

I got a phone call from Javier's mother.

She was distraught.

Saying how the revolution was supposed to protect her family.

How Castro had promised to make it better.

How it seemed the Suarez family was a target for pain.

How sume Cuban familes had suffered, but how they had it worst.

How badly she was hurting.

And how Javier Suarez -

Love of my life.

The one and only man I'd ever slept with.

Father of the child growing in my womb -

Had been killed.

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I hung up the phone, my thoughts very jumbled. My mother asked me what was wrong. I was silent. She then repeated my name. Again. And again.

I turned to her, and simply said, "Javier is gone."

My father and sister looked confused. My mother, too, but I couldn't look at her as I said the words. I couldn't look at anyone. But I saw my father and Susie first.

Then I looked back at my mother. I knew I was in denial. It was too unbelievable. My sister asked first. "What do you mean?"

I looked around the room. From Susie, to my father, to my mother. And addressed them all, "Javier. Castro killed him."

And I walked into my room, and sat down on my bed.

I was to start college last month. We decided I would take the year off. Get accostomed to being a mother.

I had just written Javier, telling him of the news. I realized it was now or never. I couldn't wait any longer. The letter still sat on my dressing table.

My eyes drifted shut. And I drew up a mental image of him. He was smiling. All his features were so vivid. His dimples. His chocolate eyes. The unruly hair, that hung in his eyes, try as he might to tame it. His boyish charm that shined through in his smile and his eyes. And for one moment, he was there. I reached out a hand. I needed to touch him. He couldn't be gone. There's no way. I was just about to stroke his cheek when a knock on my door interrupted my thoughts. In the last seven months, it was the most vivid he's ever been to me. And now he was gone.

"Katey? Honey, can I come in?"

I gave my mother the permission she seeked. And the door opened.

"Oh, Katey. I don't know what to say..."

And so we sat in silence, my mother and I. Her hand on mine, stroking it with her thumb, as she stroked my hair with the other hand.

I admit it was slightly comforting. I just wished I was in Javier's arms instead.

Moments later - I couldn't tell you how long it had been - she looked me in the eyes and said, "You will always have him with you. He's alive in your heart, Katey. So long as you always care for him, and always remember him, he's always going to be with you."

She glanced at my growing belly.

"And soon, you'll have another part of him." My eyes welled with tears, and they silently fell.

Javier was gone.

My mother squeezed my hand, before she got up to leave. When she got to the door, she turned around. "Javier is happier now. He'll always be watching you and your baby. He'll always be with you, in so many ways. I bet he's next to you right now, comforting you in a way I never could. Reach out to him with your heart, Katey, and with your spirit. He'd never leave you. He loves you too much."

Then she left, closing the door behind her.

I looked at my stomach. I was seven months pregnant. I placed my hand just below my navel. And I felt my baby - Javier's baby - kick. It filled me with a sense of joy.

I had taken him with me.

But he had also kept me there.

And I knew, a part of me went with him.

Fin

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That was kinda hard to write. Because I love Javier. I'm just hoping Jeannie wasn't too out-of-character. I'm drawing more from the "Work throught the knots" scene. Where she's combing Katey's hair. I know I have a lot of grammar mistakes (like starting sentances with 'and', etc.), but it's all her thoughts. And she's pretty distraught at the moment.

I have another 'Havana Nights' fic that should be coming soon. Less drama. More fluff-like. This one just kinda came to me.

Please review!