A.N. -Soo sorry this took so long, it has been half written for a week and a half, but life has just exploded in my face and it has been paper, after test, after research project, and on top of that i'm on several committees at my school, one of which is preparing to go to a conference this weekend. Nevermind about my busy life though, you guys are here for a story. This is the LAST OFFICIAL CHAPTER...there will be an epilogue of course, i wouldn't leave you guys hanging like that... Read, Review, and thanks for the views!
The next couple of weeks flew by in a sort of dreamy blur. They followed a routine, for the most part. They got up, one showered while one made breakfast, they both left at different times. Sarah would always make it back to the flat before him and have dinner ready, they would then do whatever until it was time for bed. Some nights they had sex, some nights they didn't, but they always ended up in each other's arms for the remainder of the night. This was the routine and Ross enjoyed it immensely. He liked routine in itself. He liked the predictability of it. What surprised him, however, is that their routine was never really set and he didn't mind. Sure, the basics were the same, but somehow Sarah kept them from monotony.
He was woken up that next Monday by her rather talented mouth. Ross had never woken up so wonderfully. He got a little morning wake up call like that every few days. Some nights, they would have music with their food, and every once in a while, Sarah could convince him to pause his meal and get him to dance with her in the kitchen. On weekends, Ross would accompany Sarah on what she called "photographic excursions," where she would hike around town taking pictures for her book and he would show her all of Vasey's ins and outs. One Sunday, he took her up on the great hill overlooking the town and showed her the remains of the Local Shop.
As mush as a blur the weeks had been, Ross was still able to keep one thing clear in his head, eventually Sarah was going to return to the states. And that "eventually" was getting closer and closer. This thought wasn't constant though, it usually came in the morning just after he woke up an realized that she was in his arms, or it would occur to him just after their semi-nightly lovemaking. He could tell that the bubble was getting ready to burst. With each passing day, Sarah had less and less people to interview. Sure, she still had the book to write and some other preliminary research to do, but Ross was well aware that her editor and publisher weren't too keen on her staying longer than her allotted time. There was only so much money they were going to allow for her overseas expenditures.
Whenever the thought struck him, he quickly banished it, he didn't want a cloud over what precious little time they had. He stayed in her mindset; they would tackle it when the day came. That fateful day turned out to be a Tuesday, about five or so weeks after her initial arrival. They were sitting down to dinner when she brought it up.
"So, I interviewed my last person today." She said simply over her plate. The statement caught him by surprise. He knew it was coming from the moment he walked in the flat, the air was heavier somehow, he knew but he wouldn't admit it to himself.
"What is the plan then?" He replied as nonchalantly as possible.
"Well, I talked to my editor earlier today and he has agreed to give me until the end of the work week to wrangle up any last stragglers and do any last minute on site research, then I will leave on for London on Saturday, I think my flight back to Chicago is that night." She was keeping a calm demeanor, but Ross could tell that she was sadder about the whole situation than she was letting on.
"…Should we talk or anything?" He knew that they were going to have to sit down and talk this, whatever it was, through before she left. He just didn't know how to approach the subject.
"Umm, yeah…we should…" He could tell by her tone that she wasn't ready to talk about their, as yet undefined, relationship, but she knew that it needed to happen.
After they had finished their meals and cleared away the table, the pair sat facing each other on the uncomfortable sofa in Ross's living room.
"Wow, this really went by fast…"Sarah said in disbelief, much to Ross's relief, he was glad he wasn't the only one that felt that way.
"Yes…it sure did, didn't it?"
"Yes…" They spent several minutes in uncomfortable silence, neither knowing what to say. It was Sarah, as usual, who broke the silence first.
"Ross….I…" She struggled to find the right words and meet his eyes. "I want to tell you right off, that I didn't plan for this to happen when I first came here, mainly because I didn't know what I would do if it did happen."
"Would be improper to tell you that I'm glad it did happen." Ross offered with a smile. She seemed to perk up at the statement.
"Yeah, we did have fun didn't we?" She was trying to make light of the situation, but there was something in the way she said "fun" that had the undertones of something deeper.
"So what is going to happen?"
"What is going to happen is that I'm going to go back to America at the end of the week and get my book written." She said with her eyes drifting down to her hands in her lap.
"Sarah. You know what I mean. What is going to happen to us." He could tell she was trying desperately to skirt the problem.
"I don't know!" She said a little louder than she meant. "…I just don't know…I really like you Ross, but I don't know what we are going to do."
"Neither do I, honestly." Ross leant back against the armrest, defeated. He was secretly hoping she would have some magical solution. She always seemed to know what to do, she had the uncanny ability to pull and ace out of her pocket, but not this time.
"Could we part as friends?" She asked, looking up.
"Friends?" He didn't particularly care for the offer, neither did she, he noticed, but it was a solution. "Nothing more?"
"No, I don't think so, not with an ocean between us. I had enough trouble trying to keep a long distance relationship going in college when the guy was just one state over. And friends have an easier time keeping in touch." She offered a weak smile as if trying to convince herself, as well as him, that this was a good solution.
"So you do want to keep in touch?" Ross met her gaze.
"Yes I do, there is phone, email, Skype. And as friends, we definitely don't need to see each other as urgently."
"This is for the best right?" He wasn't being sarcastic. He wanted affirmation that they were on the same page, even though they both didn't want to be there.
"Yes….Yes it is for the best. If we establish that we are friends, then it will be easier for both of us to leave and stay in contact…"
"Which we will stay in contact…right?"
"Of course…that is what friends do."
"So, if I understand this right, we are leaving as friends?"
"Yes…" She responded, a little confused, she was sure that the point was clear enough.
"But, before you leave…what are we? Still friends?" Ross raised an eyebrow.
"hmmm… I would consider us friends with benefits…"She gave an almost saucy smile, in spite of the lie.
"Nothing more?" he probed a little further.
"No, it would be easier that way, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, no of course, you're right." And she was, she was always right. He knew that she didn't feel that way, but he also knew that he leaving would be easier if they viewed themselves in this light. If they established themselves as friends this early in their relationship, the distance should be easier to bear, and move forward from.
They shook hands and cuddled close together to catch a film on TV to finish off the night.
The remainder of the week was spent how they normally spent their weeks, even though there was steadily growing cloud hanging over them. Sarah did a few more treks around Vasey to get in some last minute pictures and locations while Ross was at work.
Friday night, after a wonderful and Pauline free, dinner at Luigi's, Ross and Sarah burned the midnight oil in each other's arms in his enormous bed.
'God!' he thought, 'why does her hair have to smell to wonderful?' He loved spooning with her and that lovely green scent filling his nostrils.
Most of the conversation they had that night consisted mainly of small talk, consisting of the steps Sarah had left in completing her book and getting it published, then sold. But for a solid hour now, they had been content to lie in silence and each other's company.
"Ross, could I ask you a favor?" She broke the silence, with a small, tired voice.
"What is it?"
"I want you to promise me, that you won't turn Pauline in to the authorities."
"What? You are bringing this up now?" He was taken aback, Pauline was the last person he wanted to be thinking about on Sarah's last night with him.
"Yes. I want you to let her off the hook and go to the wedding."
"Why?"
"Because, she is happy, and even though you may not agree, you shouldn't rob her of that. Unlike what you've told me about her at work, this is real, what her and Mickey have. It would be unfair of you to rob them of that."
"Unfair?! She is doesn't deserve fairness!"
"Ross, everyone deserves happiness, you should understand that. I'm not asking you to walk her down the aisle and hold her hand while she is cutting the cake. I'm just asking you to be the bigger man." She turned in the bed to look at him, an he would be damned to say no to those round, blue eyes with the street light from outside dancing in them.
"Deal…" He said after a minute of contemplating why he didn't just turn Pauline in and be done with it.
"Good." She smiled and turned back around in the bed to press herself against his small but fit frame.
"Did you forget anything?" Ross braced himself against the chill in the air at the train station.
"Ross, we walked through your apartment twice!" she held up two fingers. "it is physically impossible for me to have forgotten anything."
They had been having last minute conversations and exchanging of information while they waited for her train. At long last, the train to London, was announced and they turned to face each other with only minutes left.
"Listen.. Ross I…"He held up a hand to stop her, this was hard enough as it by itself without any clichéd confessions of love before they were to be separated forever. Instead, he held out his hand to be taken in friendship. She looked at it for a second before encompassing it in her own and shaking it.
"I have a sort of 'goodbye' present for you…" She pulled a flat, rectangular object out of her backpack wrapped in gift tissue paper.
"Don't open it until I leave okay?" She smiled sadly as he took it from her hand and examined it.
"Okay…." He was going to say something else, but he was cut off by Sarah flinging her arms around him and planting a sweet and passionate kiss on his ear. He eagerly returned the hug before the last call was made for her train. She slowly pulled away and started to make he way towards the door.
"No matter what time it is when you land, call me. I want to make sure you made it back alright." He shouted as the boarded the train.
"Okay Dad." She smirked as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and stole one last look at him before the doors closed behind her.
Ross stood there at the platform, gift secured under his arm as he watched the train depart from the station, carrying the American writer along with it.
Ross waited until he got back to his flat to open the small, paper-clad present. A few quick tears revealed a framed picture with a note covering the image:
"Pictures are moments we want to remember, you need more of these around your place. – Ever yours, S."
He pulled away the note to reveal the picture, it was their first date at Luigi's that the street photographer had taken. And Ross was right, the picture was messed up after all. Sarah was in the middle of a laugh, bent forward slightly with a hand on his chest to steady herself. Ross, on the other hand, was looking at her with an amused smile, with one arm across her shoulder to keep her upright and the other pointing towards to camera to get her to look at it before he snapped the shot.
Sarah was right, it was a good picture. Ross smiled to himself as he placed the photo in the middle of his counter and went to order Chinese for lunch.