Here you go love! Sorry it's late!

The Traveler Chapter 10

Much to my dismay, the weeks had crawled on, and sometimes it seemed like the clock was never moving at all. It had been a month and a little extra since I'd last seen my Traveler, and while he wasn't the first thing I thought of when I woke up in the morning, he was still on my mind more often than not.

I wanted to bang my head against the wall to try to get him out of there. But it was no use. It seemed that no matter what I did, he had already unpacked his bags, and made himself at home in my mind. Complete with kicking up his feet and popping a beer.

Alice suggested hiring someone to find him, but I thought she was crazy.

How would I even go about that, I didn't even know his last name…

Fate clearly didn't want me to find him again. If it did, it would've stepped in, like it had all those times in the past. Our time together was over.

I really thought for sure I would've seen him by now, but nothing. Not even a maybe sighting.

It was Sunday afternoon and for the last time, at least with this project, I was making the trip to New York. I had to help Em with the last scene and then that was it. We were finally going to be finished with this bad boy and the book would hit post-production. From then on it was titles, cover design and final edits. He wouldn't need me there in New York for that stuff.

I was relieved, honestly, because it was an awful lot of work to keep traveling from coast to coast on a weekly basis. By now, I was getting used to it. But a few weeks home, just being able to relax and work a normal forty hour week, was looking like heaven on earth.

I packed my bag, careful to grab a party dress as well, since I knew we would be celebrating when we wrapped.

This time though, my traveling clothes were the normal, comfortable ones. It was a six hour plane ride after all and since I was sure I wouldn't be running into Edward, I wanted to at least be able to be relaxed on my trip.

I took a taxi to the airport, foregoing driving through the city. I was exhausted and I didn't need the added stress of crazy traffic.

With my bag in tow I entered the lounge…and my heart sunk. The familiar surroundings pissed me off more than ever. People were still too hoity-toity for their own good, but the worst was that the place still brought back memories I wished I didn't have.

I arrived at the Marriot feeling worse for wear and wondering if I was suddenly coming down with something. The flu maybe? Shit, that was all I needed.

"Is room 202 okay with you, Miss?" Alec, the check-in clerk, asked from behind the gold trimmed desk.

"No, if it's alright I'll take a different room," I whispered, feeling my heart fill up with an ache.

"Was something wrong with that room?" he wondered politely.

I gulped back my ever-present emotions and shook my head quickly. "No, no, there was nothing wrong with it, I, uh, I just want a change of scenery."

He nodded and handed me a key card from room 506 and for that I was grateful. At least I wouldn't feel suffocated by the memories of what happened in that room.

A weight lifted off of my shoulders when I settled my things, and thankfully my stomach had quit turning. I was finally ready for a late dinner and then bed.

My head hit the pillow and I felt my eyes grow heavy almost immediately. I curled into a ball and fell fast to sleep. My body was so tired from the flying, and all that running around was finally catching up to me.

The next morning I awoke to my cell phone blaring on the nightstand. I blindly reached around for it, not wanting to truly open my eyes and look at it. I managed to answer the offensive caller.

"Hello," I choked out groggily.

"Bella, is that you?"

"Yeah Em, it's me. What's up?"

"Well, it's just that it's nine and you're not here yet. I was just checking to make sure you're okay," he said softly.

My eyes flew open at that revelation, and I ripped the phone away from my ear to confirm the time.

Fuck! I'd overslept.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes. I am so sorry," I blurted out before jumping out of bed and running towards the shower.

When I arrived on set I saw Emmett milling around, and guilt crept over me.

"Hey, sorry I'm late."

"Don't worry about it. I was just doing some thinking about Johnny," he told me before shoveling some eggs into his mouth.

"Yes, but it's not usually like me," I whispered, still trying to figure out what happened myself, oversleeping was so beyond who I was. Still confused, I shook my head.

I clearly remembered setting my alarm, right? That was last night, right?

Ah fuck, this traveling needed to stop.

I let it go as my stomach began to turn again. "Did you want some coffee B?"

"Um, I don't think so," I whispered. The sound of coffee made me even more nauseous and that's all I needed at the moment.

"Anything I can get you, before we get cracking?"

"Em, make her some hot chocolate and I'll get some crackers out of the cabinet," I heard Rose chime in from the other room.

She was Em's on again girlfriend. I was more than certain that their relationship had been the original plot behind the book. See, Rose was Rosalie Hale, of the very distinguished and ultimately rich Hales. Her father, Barnaby Hale was a pioneer in the jewelry world. He also seemed to hold true to his roots, believing that Rose, his only daughter, should marry someone of the same social stature. Rose however, completely disagreed. She loved Emmett and that was it for her. But while the two of them loved very passionately, I could tell just from the minor disagreements I had witnessed over the past few months, that they fought even harder.

But the action portions of the book? Well, I wasn't certain where Emmett was taking those from.

"Not feeling well today Bella?" she asked sweetly, setting out a few crackers on a plate for me.

I just shook my head, feeling a few more waves of queasiness roll over me.

"It's okay, sometimes I get carried away when I fly too," she told me softly, patting my arm.

I nodded, but really I hadn't had any alcohol on the flight ,so I couldn't figure out what could be making me so sick.

For the next hour we both tried to properly convey on paper, the amount of emotion needed to make Courtney bawl like a baby. It worked, and fuck, did it seem real. My heart literally broke for them, probably because of my current situation more than anything.

Em and I were pretty happy with even the small progress that we'd made.

I went back to my room that night feeling lonelier than ever. But apparently, it was translating really well into the book, at least that was what Em kept telling me. He didn't know the real reason for my sour mood though.

The week passed and watching the final chapter come to life like it did was absolutely amazing. It was beautiful to be able to stand back and take it all in.

"Bella, this...this shit is good. I mean, like really good," Em said excitedly on Thursday afternoon.

We sat and took turns reading aloud to one another, making little changes here and there as we went, until it was absolutely the best that it was ever going to be.

I nodded enthusiastically, it really was good. Like, heartbreakingly good. So fucking surreal!

The final draft was in place and I was standing behind Emmett, reading over his shoulder, completely enthralled.

Johnny was so into Courtney and she was madly in love with him, too. Two incredible characters.

The guns came out and the fire fight went on for about a full nine pages before Johnny had to die and Courtney had to fall to her knees and touch his face tenderly before telling him that she was pregnant. Which, for whatever reason, really tugged at my emotions.

I was such a fucking girl sometimes…

I sniffled and swept away a tear before Johnny officially died on the page and Courtney fell in to a heap, sobbing uncontrollably.

Yeah, the ending was so much more, so much better now. Absolutely fucking incredible.

Emmett yelling "Done!" rang through the house and shook me out of my daze. I just blinked for a minute, trying to reel myself back in before he saw me.

I choked back my tears and cleared my face quickly.

"So fucking good," I told him.

"Damn right, B!"

"That's the mother fucking end, people!" he shouted, looking beyond relieved!

We had done really well, given one hundred percent effort, and both of us deserved to know that.

"Shit, it feels good to be finally done with this one," he said longingly into his beer.

We had headed out to a local bar to properly celebrate and all of us proceeded to drink our faces off. Everyone joined us, Em's friends and his girlfriend. They had technically become my friends over the months I'd been here. We were like a big happy family, all gathering around and joking with one another. It was the first great night I'd had in a while.

"Shit, I really thought he would show up," I heard Rose whisper, looking remorseful.

"Who's that?" I wondered.

"Oh, Emmett's brother, he said he'd be here. But something must've come up," she murmured.

"Any word on E?" Em asked, turning to look at Rose.

She just shook her heard.

I felt bad for Emmett; he deserved to have everyone around at a moment like this. It was huge. Family was supposed to be there for the milestones in life.

I had been drinking the better part of the evening, so towards two a.m., I called it a night and decided to head back to my room.

"Thank you guys for making this such a memorable process," I told them, passing out hugs as I squeezed through the people, trying to get to the door.

"And Em, I can't wait to work with you again," I said softly, hugging him a little longer. He'd become a great friend over the months that we'd worked together.

"Me either, B. Real soon, I promise."

I nodded and stepped out on to the street.

The next morning I woke up with a hell of a hangover, complete with a pounding headache thundering through my head. And not to mention a queasy stomach. But I pushed it aside and knew that I needed to pack up and head to the airport. My last flight home was in just a few hours and I needed to be there.

After a large cup of coffee and a banana from the breakfast bar in the lobby, I finished packing.

My clothes were a bit more rumpled than usual this morning, but I couldn't find it in me to care. Simply because I knew I was going to have to sit on a plane for six hours and I wanted comfort over anything else. And the fact that I was tired and hung over, gave me all the more reason to just go with the flow.

I slowly traipsed through the terminal to the lounge, where I plopped down and looked around. People watching was becoming one of my favorite past times. You never knew what you were going to see in an airport lounge, especially this one. Or who.

Yup, you never know...

Oh boy!

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