Smoke filled the air, except that it wasn't smoke. The giant cloud of debris from the fallen tower chased them up Church Street as they ran for their lives. Kate held tightly onto the stranger's hand and stayed close to him. They ran fast, but they didn't run fast enough. The smoky cloud of debris descended upon them in a matter of seconds and they were quickly losing visibility.

Somehow, through the thick gray haze, they found an open door. The door was slowly closing and was probably left ajar by the last person who ran inside; someone who was too busy running to safety to think of shutting the door behind them. Rick grabbed it just before it shut and pulled Kate through the entry. He closed the door behind them and looked around to see where exactly they were. It looked like the ground floor of a very narrow apartment complex. There wasn't anyone else there so Rick gathered that the last person through the doors before them had gone up the stairs, presumably to an apartment because there was certainly no sign of them now. Dust and debris had preceded them into the small, dark, enclosed space and it was hard to make out the borders of the room.

Rick felt his way along the edge of the wall until he hit a bench that ran the length of the wall under a set of mailboxes. He went to sit down and he pulled Kate after him. Their hands were still linked rather tightly and neither one seemed to want to let go. They were both breathing hard from their hundred-yard dash down Church Street. Neither one spoke as they struggled to catch their breath and digest their surroundings. Rick let go of Kate's hand so that he could put his arm around her. He pulled her tightly to his side and buried his face in her hair. Outside it was so dark that it looked like it was ten o'clock at night instead of ten o'clock in the morning.

Kate felt all the tension leave her body as she relaxed into Rick's side. He felt familiar in a way that no man had ever felt before. Her heartbeat quickened at this realization and she wondered if he could feel her reaction to his embrace. She allowed her body to let go and take comfort in the support that he was offering her. They were both content to sit like this and absorb the eerily quiet moment in silence. Kate pulled the front of her shirt up to cover he mouth and her nose because the air was thick with dust. Rick took his jacket off to expose the non-dusty shirt underneath so that Kate had a relatively clean place to rest her head upon. He then wrapped the jacket around her shoulders. Kate wasn't cold, but she appreciated the gesture and smiled into the side of Rick's chest as she closed her eyes.

They sat this way for what felt like forever but was probably about half an hour. Rick had tried several times, unsuccessfully, to call Alexis' school. His cell phone was not working well and the calls were getting dropped before they could be completed. He told himself not to worry. He knew that she was safe in school and that the school was far enough away from the World Trade Center that she was not in any danger. A few "what ifs" crossed his mind – like what if the entire city was under attack and something closer to her school was bombed – but he quickly dismissed these thoughts. There was nothing he could do right then and it was pointless to worry about something that he had no control over. Alexis was safe, he had to have faith. As soon as the cloud of debris cleared and it was safe to leave, he would go straight to her. But in the meantime, there was someone else to take care of. The mysterious woman glued to his side was also someone that he wanted to protect, keep safe, hold tight to.

Kate's eyes had been closed, but she could tell that Rick was desperately trying to make a phone call. He never actually spoke into the phone so she assumed it was the same call being made over and over again, a call that never went through. She wondered if there was a wife or a girlfriend that he was worried about. But then she knew there wasn't. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew. There was no one like that, but there was someone very important that he needed to reach. When she finally opened her eyes he was trying again to make the call. She pulled away from him only far enough so that she could look into his deep blue eyes.

"My daughter," he said, as if he could read her mind, hearing the question that she was asking with her eyes.

"Do you need to call anyone?" he asked, offering her his phone even though it clearly wasn't working. Kate shook her head and looked away from his intoxicating eyes. It was as if he could see directly into her soul and she did not want him to see how entirely alone she was in this world. She didn't look away fast enough.

"You're not alone," he said as he reached up to softly stroke the side of her face. And Kate began to cry.

Her shoulders shook gently and a tear from each eye slid slowly down her cheeks. Her arms crept around his waist as Rick wiped the fallen tears away.

"What is happening out there?" Kate finally spoke. Rick shook his head. It was still dark beyond the glass door. So very dark.

"I don't know, but it's bad."

"Really bad." Kate agreed. "Your daughter?"

"She's seven and her school is in the village. I know they will keep her safe, I just hope she's not scared." Rick looked into Kate's eyes and this time it was her who could see deep into his soul. He was worried, not just about his daughter's safety, but worried because he knew that she would be worried about his safety as well. There was something else she saw in his eyes. Aside from his daughter, he was also very alone in this world. She knew that whoever this girl's mother was, she was not in the picture.

"Well then, let's get you back to her." Kate stood up, Rick's jacket still around her shoulders, and reached out to take his hand. He took her hand and let her pull him up next to her. He was a little off balance as he stood, which caused him to bump into her chest in a motion that should have been awkward but it wasn't. He started to open his mouth to apologize when he noticed how very close his face was to hers. She noticed too. As his mouth opened to speak his lips changed course and suddenly he was kissing her.

Kate's hand reached up to touch Rick's face as he kissed her; a wonderful, tender kiss that made her feel like she was being kissed for the first time. Her other hand reached behind his head and her fingers ran though his soft brown hair. Rick's hands moved to Kate's waist and slipped underneath his jacket as her lips gently explored his. He pulled back ever so slowly and touched his forehead to hers. She was still running her fingers through his hair and he was gently caressing the small of her back with all eight fingers as his thumbs held her firmly in place. They could both feel the other's warm breath on their faces as they struggled, once again, to catch their breath for an entirely different reason.

Kate was not the kind of girl who went around kissing strangers. Sure there was a night or two in college where she ended up drinking a little too much at a club and might have made out with a random guy on the dance floor. But those were drunken mistakes that she didn't put much thought into the next day when she nursed her hangover. This time she was not drunk, and this was no mistake. It felt… right. In a city that hadn't felt like home to her since her mother died, she suddenly felt like she was home. She was exactly where she was supposed to be. Amongst the wreckage of the city, amongst the wreckage of her heart, she had found something to hold on to. She had found a lifeline.

"Don't let go, OK?" Rick led Kate back to the glass door and held tightly to her hand once more.

She shook her head, "I won't let go."

They both grabbed the tops of their shirts and pulled them up over their noses and mouths as they left the safety of the apartment lobby and reentered the streets of lower Manhattan. It was no longer completely dark outside, but it was still very difficult to see where they were, and more importantly – where they were going. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a crowd of people came running towards them. Because it was so hard to see, these people did not see Rick and Kate standing on the sidewalk. And because it was so hard to see, Rick and Kate did not see them coming until it was too late. Several bodies crashed into them and ripped their hands apart. Kate was swept up in the crowd and was forced to run along with them. She frantically reached out her hand in search of Rick, but it was too late.

He was gone.

Rick was knocked down to the ground by the crowd that carried Kate away. He wanted to call out to her but he didn't know her name. Then he silently cursed himself for not getting her name and phone number before heading outside. He clumsily made his way down the street looking for her, but it was too late.

She was gone.


AN: Thank you so much for your kind reviews and story alerts! I was hoping to get this update out sooner, but Hurricane Sandy had other plans. We live in New Jersey, just across the bridge from Manhattan, and our area has been hit hard. We are safe and very thankful to have gotten our power back on Wednesday evening as I have three kids and the youngest is only three months old. Many of our friends and neighbors are still without power and I worry about them as the temperature drops. We have two families staying with us who are still without power in their homes.