Sweet Sacrifice

Chapter: 14

Pairing: Robert & Holly

Rating: PG-13

JFK International Airport

Robert stood by the window watching as Holly's plane came down the runway. He couldn't remember ever being so nervous in his entire life. The past six weeks without her had given him time to think, to really think, long and hard about the decisions that they both made that put them in their current position. Looking back he could see absolutely everything that went wrong. The red flags, the subtle cries for help, the next morning's regret. But then again hindsight was always twenty, twenty. The only thing he could do was learn from his mistakes and try his best not to make them again.

As the passengers exited the plane, Robert stood waiting his eyes searching the crowd for Holly. And then from across the airport he saw her. His wife. His Holly. She looked so refreshed and so happy and healthy. So incredibly beautiful. His heart began to race and he felt, and dismissed ,what he was sure were butterflies in his stomach. The closer they got to one another, the harder it became for him to breathe. He wanted her in his arms and the sooner the better.

The very moment Holly laid eyes on him the need to get to him became even stronger. She rushed through the crowds of people who were talking and fighting and reuniting in the middle of the airport because the only thing she wanted was to be with him. She had missed him so much. So unbelievably much.

Holly flew into Robert's awaiting arms and held on for dear life. It was exactly where she always wanted to be. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, lifting her up off the ground and spinning her around. It was a cheesy, romance movie exchange but it they didn't care because they were finally together and that was the only thing in the world that mattered.

And then he kissed her. He kissed her like no other woman had ever been kissed in the history of the world. So full of love and passion and romance and desire that Holly felt weak in the knees. It was exactly the way it was suppose to be. It was the way it should have always been before they themselves screwed it up.

"I've missed you so much." she whispered softly when they finally broke apart for air. "I never want to leave you ever, ever again."

Robert wiped away a fallen tear from her face. "I've missed you, too." he whispered back. "The past six weeks have been absolute hell without you. I promise that I'll never push you away ever again. I don't even want to let you out of my site."

He handed her the single long stemmed red rose he had been holding in his hand.

"Thank you." she said. "It's beautiful."

"Not nearly as beautiful as you are." he replied. "And there are eleven more waiting at home."

Well, then." she breathed out. "I guess you should take me home."

When Robert and Holly entered their bedroom there was already a roaring fire lit in the fireplace, it gave the entire room a soft, warm glow. The lightly fallen snow could be seen through the french doors. The eleven remaining roses were in a vase on the dresser and next to it was a bottle of sparkling cider and two champagne flutes. He wanted to make her homecoming perfect, a small step in making up for everything he did wrong in the past.

"You thought of everything." she said with a smile.

"I wanted everything to be perfect." he confessed. "I wanted it to be special."

"It is perfect and special." she replied. "Did you arrange to have it snow too?"

"I did." he smiled. "But I had to debate with mother nature."

Holly laughed softly. It was the first time he had heard her laugh in what seemed like forever. And at that very moment tears sprung forward in his eyes. He realized how very close he came to losing her and her sweet laugh forever. She moved closer to him, catching his salty tears with the tip of her tongue.

"No more crying, darling." she said, softly. "I think we've had more than enough tears."

He brought his hand up to her face, gently caressing her with the back of his knuckles. "Things are going to be different." he promised her. "We're going to do this right. That is if you'll still have me."

"Always." she whispered.

His lips captured hers in the most delicate kiss. "I love you." he said, softly. "After everything that's happened between us I've never stopped loving you and I never will."

"I know." she replied. "And I never stopped loving you either. I couldn't, not even when I thought it would make things easier. You're the only man I've ever truly loved with my whole heart and the only man I ever want to love like that."

"We're going to get it right this time, Holly." he promised. "I'm going to give you the best of me everyday for the rest of our lives and I'm never going to take you or our love for granted ever again. I came so close to losing you, I came so close to losing myself ,that now I know what lost is and its something that I don't ever want to experience again."

"This entire mess has only made us stronger." she pointed out. "We've been to hell and back and its only made me realize just how strong our love really is. That's why I couldn't walk away from you even when things were really bad. I couldn't let go then and I won't let go now. Right here with you is where I belong. It's where I want to be."

He brushed a few stray locks of hair out of her face, his fingertips dancing lightly across her face. "I love you." he whispered. "I wanted to make this evening perfect for you and I thought that a roaring fire and flowers and snowfall would do it, but now I realize that we don't need props, not when we have each other. I just want you to tell me what you need right now, just tell me what you want me to do."

"Hold me." she said, softly. "I just want you to hold me."

Robert wrapped his arms tightly around her, inhaling her sweet scent. "I missed this so much." he told her. "I thought I had lost you forever."

"No chance." she replied. "You're stuck with me."

He leaned down and softly kissed her lips. "Good." he smiled. "There's noone else on earth I'd rather be stuck with."

Holly snuggled closer to him. "You were right all along, darling." she sighed. "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Rehab taught me a lot. It helped me through so many issues and I know now that it was something that I had to do on my own. It had to be my decision to go and my decision to stay just like it has to be my decision to stay clean and sober. I know its not going to be easy, but I know that I can do this."

"I have every bit of faith in you in the entire world." he replied. "You're strong and confident and brace and you're a fighter and if anyone can do this it's you. After you left for Causeway, I was left alone with the very real possibility of you coming back to end our marriage and I knew that if we had a chance in hell at getting things right that I had to do something about my own problem. Celia found me a great, discreet, outpatient facility and the counselors there have really helped."

"I think that's wonderful, Robert." she said as she pulled back to look him in the eye. "I'm glad that you found the help that you needed."

"So am I." he replied. "I have a private therapist now and he suggested that you and I enter marriage counseling so we can work through some of our past issues in a controlled environment. I told him I'd have to talk to you about it first."

"I don't think it would hurt." Holly said. "We went through hell this past year and if there's someone out there that can help us make sense of all this then I think we should. After all we're suppose to learn from our mistakes."

"So you're okay with this?" he asked. "You don't mind?"

"Not at all." she replied. "I was actually going to suggest the same thing. We've both come so far in our recovery to completely give up all help now wouldn't be a very wise decision."

"We did it, Holly." he said. "We survived this entire mess. Now that we understand how we ended up here we have to try our very best not to do it again."

"We did survive." she agreed. "Although I must admit that there were moments when I didn't think we were going to make it, I hoped that we would but I wasn't sure."

"The important thing is that we made it through." he pointed out. "I know that things aren't going to be the way they were in the past because we can't go back, we can't erase everything that happened in the last year, but I still love you more than anything in the entire world and that kind of love never dies."

"Things won't be the same." she agreed. "We're different people, we've been through so much its only natural that we've changed. I think we're a lot stronger now and even though the innocent part of our love is gone I think we've moved on to something more passionate and I don't think that's a bad thing. But I think we should pick this conversation up a little later." she said as her fingers went for the buttons on his shirt. "Because I don't think I can stand being in this bedroom one more second without making love to you."

"I'm not about to stop you." he said with a smile. "Besides you don't think I set all this up for nothing do you?"

"You're such a romantic." she teased.

"Nah." he said, laughing. "I just wanted to get you into bed."

Holly laughed softly. "I love you." she said. "And I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, luv, more than you'll ever know." he replied. "I love you, Holly and I'm going to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much."

"The rest of you're life?" she asked with a smile. "That's some sacrifice."

"A sweet sacrifice."

The End!