EDITED 6/18

Chapter Three: The Number You Have Dialed Has Been Disconnected

Lance tilted his head back and raised the slice of pizza above his open mouth. The hot cheese slowly slid onto his tongue. Before it could completely leave the pizza, he shoved the dough triangle into his mouth and bit off a huge section. As he pulled the remaining piece away, strings of cheese and tomato sauce attached themselves to his chin.

Kitty screwed up her face at the mess he was making. "That is so attractive."

"What?" He asked with his mouth full. Pizza was one of Lance's favorite foods of all time, and every Friday he'd drag her to Harry's Hideaway so that he could devour an entire one by himself.

"Nothing," she said, passing him a napkin. He accepted and wiped off the remnants. "So like I was saying, my flight leaves at eight next Saturday."

"In the morning?"

"Yeah."

"That's so early." He frowned. "I'll have to be up at six to get you to the airport in time."

"Aw, you don't have to drive me there. Logan can probably take me in the X-Van."

"Hey, what's the point of having a car if you can't drive your girlfriend to the airport at the crack of dawn."

"You sure?"

"'Course. I'm not gonna see you for three whole weeks after that."

"You know, I was thinking about that. Why don't you fly to Northbrook? You could spend some of the holidays with me and my parents."

He laughed. "No thanks. The last time I saw your parents, I tried to drop a building on their heads."

"So you didn't make the best first impression—"

"I think that could be called the worst first impression in the history of all time."

"They'll understand. They know that people can change."

"Somehow, I don't think so. Unless they get amnesia or something." He took a sip of his soda. "I just don't think it's such a good idea right now."

Kitty sat back in the booth and defensively folded her arms. "Fine." He knew she was upset, but she'd get over it.

A subject change was in order to ease the tension, he decided, and he knew just the thing. "There's something I have to tell you."

She still wasn't looking at him. "What?"

Instead of responding, he pulled a folded piece of paper out and slid it across the booth to her. "Go ahead, open it."

Curiosity getting the better of her, she picked it up and unfolded it. Her eyes went wide. "Is this…?"

"Yup."

"You said you threw it away."

He shrugged. "Didn't. Couldn't. Maybe it's my way of torturing myself."

"Does this mean you're going to call them now?"

"Already did."

"What?"

He nodded in confirmation.

"Well, what happened? What did they say?"

"Nothing. The number was disconnected." He leaned back in the booth and scratched the back of his head. "I should have figured. It's been years since I got that information."

"Lance, I'm sorry."

"I'm not. I was just being stupid. It's probably better this way."

"Umm-hmm," She agreed absently, biting her lip and staring hard at the paper.

"Look, why don't we get out of here? I've gotta' go get some new strings for my guitar." He stood up and pulled a wadded twenty out of his pocket, throwing it down on the table.

She slid out of the booth and handed the piece of paper back to him. He looked at it for a second, then crumpled it up and shoved it into the flapped garbage can. "You ready?"

"Yeah, let me run to the bathroom real quick. I'll meet you out front."

"Sure." He walked to the glass entrance of Harry's and pushed open the doors.

Once he was out of her sight, Kitty phased her hand through the enclosed garbage, grimacing as she tried to locate what she was looking for. Feeling the crumpled ball, she extracted it and her hand from the can. "The things I do for you Lance Alvers," she muttered before going to catch up with him outside.

"Are you going for three weeks or three years?" Lance asked as he unloaded her third and final piece of luggage from the back of his Jeep.

"Very funny," she said, grabbing the handle of one of the large suitcases and dragging it to the parking garage elevator. He pulled the other two, and they took the elevator to the first floor entrance of the airport. After checking in the bags and getting her boarding pass, he walked her to the security station.

She engulfed him in a fierce hug. "I'll call you when I get there."

He nodded, putting his arms around her and hugging back.

She pulled away and stepped back, blinking rapidly.

"Aww Kitty, don't cry." He hated when she did. "Look, it's not that long. You'll be back before you know it."

"I know," she said, rubbing at her eyes. "Gosh, sometimes I can be such a girl."

"Hey," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "I wouldn't like you if you weren't one."

That got a smile out of her as she pulled her hands from her now dry eyes. Slinging her bag in front of her, she reached into the outer zipper and pulled out a white envelope. It had his name written on it in black marker. "I actually have one more gift to give you."

"Another one?" They'd already exchanged gifts earlier, and she'd gotten him a variety of guitar-related paraphernalia, from picks to sheet music. He suddenly wished he'd gotten her more than the stuffed purple dragon.

"Well, maybe gift isn't the right word. Or at least, I don't know if you'll see it as a gift…or even want it. But I still thought it was important—something you should definitely know about, you know?" She stopped, realizing that she was rambling, and just held out the envelope. "Here."

He accepted it. "Do you want me to open it now?"

"Umm…yeah, I guess so, yes."

He shook the end and then tore off the short side. Compressing it so it pocketed out, he pulled out a white paper. Reading what it said, he looked back at her in shock.

"You'll be surprised what you can find on the internet if you search long enough. That was their last known address. It's an apartment complex. You could probably contact the landlord and see if they still live there. Or ask him where they moved. If you want to, that is. You can even throw that away after I'm gone if you'd like."

"Kitty, I-I don't know what to say."

She smiled. "Happy Holidays, Lance." Getting up on her tip toes, she kissed him, and then hurried off to the security area. After being cleared, she waved to him from the other side of the barrier before walking off in the direction of her gate.

Lance, still speechless, tucked the newly acquired information into his pocket. He thought he didn't care, but the wild beating of his heart suggested otherwise. He'd made a decision about what he was going to do the minute he'd realized what she'd given him. He broke into a jog to get back to his Jeep. When he got home, he had a phone call to make.

To Be Continued...