AN: I'm back! Had an awesome vacation and I already miss it :( but now I can write again, which is great too :) enjoy!

An Emotion Away

"You mean the long distance thing…" Carey said and Kate nodded. She always was against long distance relationships, since they never really worked. Plus, she decided to go to San Francisco to get away from Carey, from her old life in Seattle and to begin new. "We still have the weekends and holidays where we can see us", he said and Kate sighed. "For how long? I mean…how long can we do this? It's exhausting", Kate answered and turned away from him. "I know it is exhausting, but we can do it somehow…please tell me that we'll try it", Carey said and followed her to the couch. "See, that's exactly why I said no yesterday", Kate murmured and looked at him. "You come here on your free time; I come to Seattle on my free time…for about, let's say, three months and then we get bored of driving and will find excuses why we can't come", she said frustrated. "That sounds like you don't even want to try it", Carey said in the exact same frustrated way. Kate looked at him again and smiled. "Oh no, I do want to try it. But we can't do it for forever…so, either you move to beautiful San Francisco or I move back to beautiful Seattle", she answered. Carey chuckled. "Why did you even move to San Francisco?" he joked and leaned closer to her to kiss her. Kate snuggled closer to him and moaned. "Because", she started and separated from him again. "Because I needed to get away from everything." "You mean, away from me, right?" he asked and she shrugged her shoulders. "This was a reason too, yes", she answered. "So…if I wouldn't have been so stupid you'd still be in Seattle now?" he asked and again she shrugged her shoulders. "Could be", she answered and smiled. "Damn…I'm so stupid", Carey murmured and wiped over his face with his hands. "Ah come on…we'll work it out somehow, right?" Kate said and snuggled closer to him again. "Of course. I have Friday off, so I could come back here on Thursday evening", Carey answered and put a curl behind Kate's ear. "That's great, I only have four hours on Friday", she smiled satisfied. "And I'll come to Seattle next weekend…I'm sure my mother will be happy", she added. "Great, we have a plan", Carey smiled and kissed her shortly. "But please don't tell anybody about us…I wanna tell them by myself, okay?" Kate said and Carey nodded. "So we have a secret romance now?" he asked and she nodded smiling. "Exciting", Carey answered and winked. "When do you have to leave?" Kate then asked, not ready to let him go yet. "Later", he just said and took her hand in his. "Great…have you seen my bedroom yet?" she asked playfully and they got up from the couch.

The next days weren't going by as fast as Kate wanted. Her students weren't motivated for anything and couldn't wait for the big holidays and therefore it was really hard to teach. Even Kate herself couldn't wait for the big holidays. Seeing Mark every day was kinda weird. He didn't talk with her that often anymore, plus she noticed that he tried to avoid her.

On Thursday after school she sat at home, nipped on a cup of coffee and browsed through her cell phone.

Text message from: Carey 3

Received: Monday, 4:24pm

Miss you…can't wait to see you again. C

Answer

Sent: Monday 4:25pm

I dreamt of you. Can't wait either. K

Text message from: Carey 3

Received: Monday, 4:38pm

What did you dream? ^^

Answer

Sent: Monday, 5:09pm

Will show you on Thursday ^^

Text message from: Carey 3

Received: Monday 5:09pm

How mean!

Answer

Sent: Monday 5:11pm

:P

Suddenly her phone rang. "Hey stranger", she smiled and almost melted from desire. "Hey beautiful…I'm on my way", Carey answered and she smiled in relief. "Great...how long will you need?" she asked as suddenly the doorbell rang. "Don't know, quite lot of traffic today", Carey said and then smiled from one ear to the other as Kate opened the door. "You're mean!" she laughed and rushed to him to hug and kiss him like there was nobody else in the world but them. "I missed you", she murmured and let him in the apartment. "I missed you too…thought the days won't get by ever", he smiled and she nodded. "So? Lot of traffic huh?" she chuckled and he nodded. "Forget the traffic, tell me about your dream", Carey chuckled and Kate smiled at him.

They didn't leave the bed except for taking a shower together. Kate had to work the next day, but the four hours went by really quickly She felt like a newborn. The next day Kate showed Careyaround in the city. Carey was really excited to drive with the cable car and Kate only thought that therewas still a little boy inside of him. She noticed how good she felt with him by her side. He made her happy and she was miserable when he had to leave again. They shared a long, passionate kiss and then Kate rested her forehead on his. "Friday", Carey said and she nodded. "Friday", she whispered and watched as Carey went downstairs. She knew that this would get harder from time to time.

New email from: Carey Lawrence

To: Kate Ross

Wednesday, 10:48am

Subject: I'm only an emotion away…

Hey Beautiful,

How are you? Two days until we see us again. I really can't wait. At least there are only three months left until the school holidays. We could travel around a bit, if you like. Well, we have time to talk about this.

Kate, I wanted to tell you how happy I am with you. I've been in love with you for a very long time and I think I just didn't realize it at first. You are…I don't know what you're doing with me. I feel miserable without you and I wish I could have you by my side every day. I know I screwed up in the past but I'm really trying hard to make up for it. You can't believe how happy I am that you gave me another chance. I don't want to hurt you ever again.

Can't wait for Friday.

Many kisses,

Carey

New email from: Kate Ross

Answer to: Carey Lawrence

Wednesday, 16:59pm

AW: I'm only an emotion away…

Thanks for ruining my make-up, Mr. Lawrence.

PS: Same.

PPS: Stop making up for it. Everything's good. I'm happy too 3

"I'm really sorry to interrupt but…in the kitchen? Really?"

Doug and Carol separated again to find Tess and Travis standing there. Tess made a face but Travis was all smiling. "Oh…hey you two", Carol blushed and got up from her seat. "Oh, if you only knew, honey…" Doug smiled and Carol punched his arm. Shaking her head she turned to her daughter again. "What brings you here?" she asked and smiled. "Well…I just thought you'd want some company since all your children fly out…but we can go again of course", Tess giggled and Carol rolled her eyes. "No need to go. We just opened a bottle of wine. And that's a nice thought of yours", Carol smiled and Doug got another two glasses. He was right, Carol thought. They'd never be really alone…

Kate arrived at her old home and got out of the car. She inhaled the fresh Seattle air and closed her eyes. Home.

"Hello? Where is everybody?" she called when she opened the door and heard some laughter. "Kate? Is that you?" she heard her mother and only a moment later Carol rushed out to the hall. "Yeah, it's me", Kate smiled and hugged her mother. "Aw…it's so good to see you! What are you doing here?" Carol asked and Kate smiled again. "I have news to tell", she said and followed her mother into the kitchen.

"Aw…hey everybody!" she yelled and hugged her dad, Tess and Travis. "Sis…now that's a surprise!" Tess said as Kate took a seat beside her. "Yeah, I know how much you love surprises! How are you Travis?" she answered and looked at Tess' boyfriend. "Can't complain…you look great, by the way", Travis answered. "Yeah…you look so happy, what happened?" Doug said smiling at his daughter.

Kate leaned back and took a deep breath. "I'm in love", she answered as she thought about Carey, who waited for her in his apartment. "Oh my God…it is Carey, isn't it", Tess immediately recognized as she saw the glowing in Kate's eyes. Kate nodded and Tess shook her head. "Carey Lawrence?" Carol asked. "Yes, mom", Kate answered. "And again I was right", Doug said and Kate looked at him with questioning eyes. "Always said that one of them is your future husband", he chuckled as he pointed between Tess and Kate and everybody laughed. "You look happy. I'm happy for you", Carol said and smiled at her daughter. "Yeah and now tell us how that happened…two weeks ago you told me that he's history", Tess said. Kate chuckled. "Yeah, I thought so…but things changed", she said and told them everything that happened since Independence Day last year; every little detail and the more she thought about everything, the happier she got. "Also, I'm really thinking about coming back to Seattle", she said at the end of her story and everybody made big looked at Doug and smiled, hoping that her daughter didn't make this decision too early…