So people with no further delay, this is the last chapter, enjoy)
"You have one message." came out the voice from her cell phone, Sara put the phone close to her ear to listen to the message and was very surprised to hear Lincoln's voice.
"Hey Sara it's Lincoln, listen I err.. I wanted to talk to you about Michael, well he's been um... the thing is he has got an offer to New York and... uhhh... and he's taking it, I can't tell him anything because he wants to forget about... well you know, and this is a good opportunity for him to start over and I can't take that away from him, and I know I can't tell you to be with him but please will you just talk to him?, so err... I guess I'll see you around, take care."
The message ended leaving Sara shocked, the phone still hung to her ear, Michael was going to New York, for how long? Is it forever or is it temporary? Lincoln didn't say, did he? she listened to the message once again to see whether or not Lincoln said how long Michael was going to stay for. She was now pacing around the apartment thinking what to do, should she call Lincoln or should she call Michael?
Her doorbell rang getting her back to reality, she stopped her pacing and walked over to the door, she swung it open to reveal Keith standing in her doorway.
"Hey honey, ready for dinner?"
Her eyes widened from shock,she had completely forgotten about dinner with her father.
"Ehh... come in, I'll get ready quickly" she said before she ran into her room, leaving Keith confused by the door.
She went inside her room, and shut the door behind her, dinner with her father was very important to Keith, how could she just forget that?... Michael. She had made her decision and it was over, there was no going back, she pushed Michael away and now she has to deal with the consequences.
She finished dressing and got out of her room "I'm ready." she announced to Keith when she reached the living room, together they got out of her apartment and down to her car. As she got into her car, she decided she was not going to let Michael be a distraction, and if he wanted to go to New York she was not going to stop him.
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Michael walked into the coffee shop Veronica had asked him to meet her in, he spotted her sitting at a table and walked over, once she saw him she stood up to greet him, "hey, I'm glad you came." she said as she hugged him.
"Of course, but is everything alright?" he said taking a seat across her at the table.
"No everything is fine, I'm just here to talk to you about you leaving for New York." she said reluctantly, and sure enough Michael shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"Listen, I know you're thinking that this is about Sara but it's not, I just need this as an opportunity to move forward in my career)" He stated, this was the second time Veronica had faced him and he didn't want to lie to her anymore, let alone himself.
"We both know that this is about Sara." she stated the obvious "but I am not here to talk about that, I'm here to talk about Lincoln." she continued before he cut in.
"Lincoln?" asked Michael confused, his brother was nothing but supportive, "what about Lincoln? He's totally ok with this."
"Wow. He is so good that he fooled his own brother, I am impressed!" she was getting off the subject so Michael glared in question.
"Right, right. Listen, Lincoln is putting on a mask that you fell for, he doesn't want you to leave, and none of us do! I thought you knew. Michael, we would miss you too much. It's just not right without you!" she said trying to capture his eyes, but he kept looking at the ground, but she could see that he was beginning to feel upset.
"Listen, I need this." he said," this is a good opportunity for me and I am not going to miss it." he said before he stood up.
He was near the door when Veronica yelled, "you can't keep running away from the truth Michael, it doesn't work that way!" Michael looked at her one more time before he left the coffee shop.
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Sara woke up the next morning with a headache, she had drunk a bit too much at dinner last night, but who could blame her, her father and Keith kept talking business and she got bored.
She got out of bed found some aspirin before she took a shower, the hot water cleared her head and she remembered that Michael's flight was today, feeling a little uneasy at the idea, she grabbed some breakfast and headed to work.
Her day was extremely busy but she welcomed the distraction, all those patients coming in had kept her mind off Michael... well, somewhat. She couldn't help but think about him every now and then, his eyes, his smile, his hair -or lack of it- just kept haunting her thoughts. Jill of course didn't make it any easier, she thought Sara had made the wrong choice and she should have picked Michael, she was so convinced that she called Lincoln and asked when Michael was departing so that Sara could catch up with him, she kept nagging her about it the whole day that Sara was now avoiding her.
"There you are! I've been looking for you for over half an hour!" Jill said catching Sara at the doors of the hospital when she thought she had escaped.
Sara turned around with a fake smile and faced Jill "I was going to err... go have lunch with Keith" she lied; she didn't want to go to lunch with Jill because she wouldn't stop talking about Michael, and Sara didn't need that right now.
"Ok, well I haven't seen you most of the morning so I'll drive you." Jill hopefully suggested.
"No, no, it's okay I'll take a cab." Sara quickly said, she wasn't going to meet Keith, in fact he said he couldn't go with her to lunch because he had an important business deal.
"Oh don't be silly, Keith has your car so I'll drive you." Jill said before she took Sara's hand and walked to her car.
Sara got into the car defeated, Keith won't be in his room but maybe she'll take the keys and hang around in his room till the lunch break was over.
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As he looked over at his brother driving he couldn't help but think that maybe Veronica was right, maybe Lincoln wasn't ok with him leaving, maybe he was just pretending.
"What?" Lincoln caught him looking at him. "is there something on my face?" he asked.
"What?!! No there isn't, I was just wondering if you really are ok with me leaving?" Michael finally voiced his thoughts.
Lincoln sighed and kept his eyes on the road, he took his time before answering, "you're my little brother and I will always be there for you, I just don't understand why you're doing this, I mean, I am going to support you with whatever you do, but.. Is this all worth it?"
So Veronica was right, Lincoln was upset with Michael leaving, he just didn't say anything, "I was thinking of leaving for a long time now, and when I met Sara I thought that maybe I won't have to, maybe she would be the reason for me to stay, but now she is gone and frankly, I don't think that there's any hope." Michael stopped speaking as he looked into his brother's eyes but then turned his head to the road and continued, "now, I've been given a second chance, the chance to start over, to see other places, to explore, and on top of that, I get to move ahead in my career, now wouldn't you take that chance?" at the last sentence he turned to look at Lincoln, he watched his brother's expression change to understanding and relief.
"I didn't know you were planning on leaving, and yes I would take that chance" he said, now truly convinced with his brother's departing they reached the airport. Michael got his bags and he and Lincoln walked into the airport, it was packed with people. They looked at one of the screens "looks like we're early than being early." said Michael.
"You want me to wait with you?" Lincoln suggested.
"No, it's just half an hour, it won't be long."
"Okay, so I guess this is goodbye."
"Temporary goodbye." Michael smiled.
Lincoln chuckled before he hugged his brother, they pulled apart and Lincoln just walked towards the exit, Michael watched him till he got out.
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"You know you still have time." Jill suddenly spoke cutting the silence. Sara didn't need telling of what Jill was talking about.
"Jill, it's over, Face it!" Sara said in a sharp voice, she had had enough of Jill's babbling.
"I am just saying, I know you were thinking about him, you had that look on your face."
"What look? I don't have any looks." her 'look' gave her away, yes she was thinking about Michael but she didn't need Jill knowing about it.
"You have one when you look or think of him, trust me honey I know." Jill smirked, Sara was blushing which only proved her point more.
They drove in silence until they reached Keith's hotel and Sara got out. "You know you're making the wrong choice." Jill yelled from the car as Sara walked away.
She got into the hotel and walked to the reception desk "hey Nancy!" she said once she reached it.
"Sara! What a pleasant surprise." Nancy said, looking at Sara.
"Can I have the key to Keith's room?" she asked pleasantly.
"Yeah sure, here's the spare." the receptionist replied, handing Sara the card.
The spare? Sara thought, Keith wasn't supposed to be here.
She thanked Nancy and walked towards the elevators.
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The time had come, he would be flying to New York in no time. He got up from his chair and started walking to the passports window.
"Looks like everyone thinks we should be together." her voice came from behind shocking him.
He forced movement to his stiff body and turned around. She was standing a few feet away from him panting as if she has been running.
The sight of her made him speechless and he just looked at her not knowing what to expect or say.
At his silence she continued, "I walked into Keith's hotel room today not sure if I made the right choice," she took a step forward and waited for a response, but none came, so she continued, "I used the spare key, I thought maybe I could spend my lunch break there as Keith won't be there, maybe even sleep, it's not like he would mind." she took another step, and now Michael had a frown on his face, where was she going with this, she continued talking keeping a steady voice, "I found out a lot of things in that room, I found that Keith was cheating on me with women, and that is in plural, I found out that I didn't care about it because my heart belonged to someone else, that was my most important discovery," she took another step that she was now standing right in front of him, they continued to stare at each other as the meaning of the words sunk in.
Slowly she put her arms around his neck and leaned in "my heart belongs to you Michael.", a smile came to his lips at this but quickly vanished as he leaned in and captured her lips in his, his arms snaked around her back, while her arms clung more to his neck bringing them closer, when the need for breath couldn't be ignored any longer, they pulled away, arms still around each other, he leaned his forehead on hers.
"I didn't think you were coming." he whispered.
"I guess you were wrong." she answered, a smile at her lips, he smiled back and leaned in to kiss her again.
(So that's it people, the final chapter, how was it?!! Good ending? Or wasn't it good enough, OMG I am so nervous, so this story was really fun to write, and I'd like to thank all the people who read this story and reviewed specially Jess 4 lot of guyz and hotbritt 5000 for sticking with it since the beginning, I'd also like to thank Zen for her really awesome help, btw I am not planning on writing a sequel to this story, so sorry, but I promise when I have another idea for a story you'll be the first to know, oh yeah and not because this is the last chapter you don't review, plz review, so see ya soon, I hope)