Simplicity Chapter 3: If You Go, an in a heartbeat fanfic

Simplicity

Whoa, Aricraze, calm down! I am not a sicko, I am eleven and I am not going to (ew) describe it. That's sick. We can all just guess what happened, okay, because I am not getting involved with that. And Val is not having a baby yet. Notice the use of the word yet. Well, technically in this story she doesn't have a baby, but…all right, never mind. I'm spoiling it. Anyway, thankfully I will not describe anything and if anyone thinks this needs to be a higher rating, just tell me. This chapter probably is the highest rating, but there's nothing bad. ANYWAY. See you. Read the fic. Then review!

Simplicity

Chapter 3: "If You Go"

Once again Val rolled over in the morning light that shone through the slightly parted curtains, thinking about Tyler. However, today those thoughts were much more likeable as her hand moved freely about the bed.

"Tyler?" She opened her eyes and sat up. "Tyler?"

Steam issued from the bathroom as the door opened with perfect timing. Tyler's lower body was wrapped in a yellow hotel towel.

"Oh, hey, you're awake." Tyler stated the obvious, walking over and sitting on the bed next to Val; not paying attention to his damp hair that was dripping on the pillow.

"Yeah. I'm awake." Val kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck and letting go of his lips, looking over his shoulder.

"I love you," Tyler informed her. Val let her lips rest on his back as she smiled.

"I love you too." In the silence that followed, Val made an insightful observation: "You have lots of freckles on your back."

"Don't remind me," groaned Tyler jokingly, falling back onto the bed and looking up at her with a grin. "Well, you have freckles, too."

"I never said freckles were a bad thing," Val pointed out, lying down next to him and looking into his eyes. "I like your freckles."

"Yeah, well, I love your freckles," countered Tyler.

"I love you, period," Val said triumphantly, entangling his lips in another kiss.

And yet again someone knocked at the door.

"I'll get it," Val said, wrapping the blanket around her and rising. Tyler sighed in surrender, also rising to get dressed.

"Tyler dude, I know you're in there," Jamie's voice said impatiently as Val swung the door open, making sure the blanket was secure around her slender form.

"Whoa, okay," said Jamie, his eyebrows shooting up somewhere in his scalp, "you're not Tyler."

"He's just getting dressed, if you wanted him," Val replied. "It's okay, you know. He probably has at least his pants on by now, and anyway, you're a guy."

"Um… no, I don't actually think I need to see him. Clothed or unclothed, for that matter. Caitie just wanted to know if he knew where you were and, well, I guess she knows now. Um, have fun. Glad you two got over yourselves and your idea that five years means you have to be friends. Bye."

Val smiled and closed the door. "See you, Jamie."

"Jamie?" Tyler inquired, tugging a red shirt over his head. "What'd he want?"

"Caitie wanted to know where I was," explained Val distractedly, her eyebrows furrowing as she thought about what Jamie had said. '…Five years means you have to be friends…'

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know. I just…sort of…I guess reality is reality," finished Val, picking up her dress from the chair. "I'm going to change…and then I'll go."

"But Val, wait! I mean—" The bathroom door slammed shut.

---

"Yeah," Val said uneasily, emerging from the bathroom in her dress. "I think I'll go."

"Did I do something wrong again?" Tyler questioned her as she picked up her shoes. She gave him a pained look.

"It wasn't you. You're fantastic. I love you. But when two people, even two people who honestly love each other, lead very different lives, it's hard to stay together. We have to face reality." She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder.

"That sounds exactly like what I said when we broke up," Tyler murmured, kissing her cheek. "Are we breaking up again?"

"I don't know…I don't think I know much of anything any more," admitted Val, letting go of him. "I promise I'll keep in touch. I'm still in love with you, but for now I think we have to make do with being friends. Just for a while." She pulled the door open.

"I love you," Tyler managed to choke out, his breath short. What in the world was happening?

"I love you, too."

I think I've already lost you
I think you're already gone
I think I'm finally scared now
You think I'm weak - but I think you're wrong
I think you're already leaving
Feels like your hand is on the door
I thought this place was an empire
But now I'm relaxed - I can't be sure

"So Jamie told me you were in Tyler's room. In a blanket," added Caitie as she handed Val a grape. Sitting down at the table to eat breakfast after a long, relaxing shower, the blonde smiled weakly and took the fruit.

"Yeah. We got over ourselves. Then I broke up with him." Suddenly the tasty grape felt like glue in her mouth. Val swallowed it hastily before the feeling could infect her entire body.

"Whoa, slow down. Excuse me, I think I need to get a Q-tip and clean out my ears, because I thought I just heard you say that you broke up with him?" Caitie rubbed her ear and stared at Val.

"I did."

"And why might you have done that?" Jeez, her best friend was a lot stupider than Caitie thought.

"Because I—well, since we—to—" Val trailed off. She couldn't really think of an excuse. "I have no idea." Her head went into her hands as someone knocked on the door again.

"Go away, Jamie, we're having a moment," Caitie yelled. No response. That was weird—Jamie usually was very insistent when it came to talking when he wanted to.

"I'll get it," Val said, rising. "I don't really care if he interrupts our moment."

Except it most definitely was not Jamie, because Jamie didn't have blond hair or blue eyes and Jamie certainly didn't slump dejectedly in front of the door. Well, okay, he slumped sometimes, but not dejectedly.

"Tyler? Okay, what are you doing?"

"I, um, didn't really want to say goodbye," Tyler said sheepishly. "Particularly not before I had a chance to tell you that, um, I don't really want to be just friends and I was sort of wondering why we were breaking up because I really honestly care about you." He sounded like he was back in eighth grade, trying to ask out a girl.

"Well, because we—I mean…since we—to—" Val tried to say the same words she had said with Caitie, but she still couldn't get them out, couldn't think of a sensible reason. "Do you want to come in?" she asked, pulling the dark green kimono tighter around her frame.

"Sure. Is Caitie here?"

"Not anymore," the brunette said, ducking his arm and exiting the door. Tyler looked at her in surprise, and then turned back to Val, closing the door behind Caitie.

"Look, Tyler, I don't know why we have to break up, but…" Val trailed off, unable to finish her sentence because of the tears filling her throat so that she couldn't breathe.

"I think you're scared of me," Tyler told her. "I thought about it, and you're scared of me because you think if you let me get close to you then I'll fly away."

"I do not," Val protested. "I'm not scared of you."

"Yes, you are." Tyler seemed very amused at her denial. "And I'm deathly afraid of you, but we can't just go on living like nothing ever happened. Last night—and I'm talking about the evening, here, at the reunion—you ran. Because you were scared."

"Because I was mad at you," Val said stubbornly.

"Why were you mad, then?" Jeez. Tyler must have taken psychology courses from Melissa.

"Because…I—well, I—oh, fine. I'm scared of you." Val looked like someone had taken away her lollipop and left her with Brussels sprouts. "But you're equally scared of me."

"There's nothing to fear but fear itself," Tyler told her. "Let your fears go."

"I fear heartbreak," Val said softly. "That's the scariest thing in the world."

"I won't go and you don't have to be scared of heartbreak. We learned our lesson." Tyler smoothed her hair back. "I'm not going to go."

"That's not the issue," she told him. "The issue is if you go."

"I can't stop an if, can I?" inquired Tyler, his heart dropping. Val didn't want him anyway. She might love him, but she wasn't prepared to sacrifice her heart for that.

"No. But…we can try, okay?"

"Well, of course I'll try."

I think you're so mean - I think we should try
I think I could need - this in my life
I think I'm just scared - I think too much
I know this is wrong it's a problem I'm dealing

"I just have my suitcases back in my room," said Tyler, jerking his thumb. "I'm going now. Plane leaves at 11:00. So, yeah. I love you." He kissed her cheek and turned away, exiting the room.

"Love you too," Val called weakly as hot tears flooded her eyes. She had no idea what she was doing, but something didn't feel right for some reason.

Caitie came in about eight minutes after Tyler left.

"So, did you two make up?" she asked Val, who was still by the door.

"No."

"You didn't?"

"We broke up. Again." Pain—lots of pain and agony. Val closed her eyes.

"Whoa, wait. Let me grasp this. A cute multimillionaire whom you've been in love with for what, six, seven years, comes back to beg you to take him back, basically, and you say no? Jeez, I must be really be, like, way out of the loop because I thought you wanted to get together with him again?"

"I do. But I'm scared," admitted Val, toying with the fabric of the satin kimono.

"Val, I think you need to give up being scared and finding excuses because that way you're never going to get with him again." Caitie was appalled at Val. Even medical students who were geniuses in their classes could be stupid once in a while, she supposed, but this was going over the limit.

"You think I was stupid?"

"I personally think you were a daft idiot, but that's just my opinion," said Caitie. "And if I were you, I'd go run after him." Val looked at her, and then ran out the door, not caring that she was clad in a silky kimono that was essentially a bathrobe and flip-flops.

The elevator door slid shut before she reached it. Stairs. Stairs were good, even seven flights. Val threw the door open and raced down them. She was never going to make it—Tyler had left already, had boarded his plane and she was never going to catch him.

She was on the lobby floor already? That was odd, she had only started a minute ago.

"Excuse me, did Tyler Connell leave?" she gasped to the desk clerk. He looked taken aback at a 23-year-old in a bathrobe asking for Tyler Connell, but he nodded and pointed to the door.

"Yes, just a minute ago. We had a very lengthy discussion about how he was—" But Val had gone—she certainly didn't want a lengthy discussion.

Red car, red car, red car…No red car—or at least no Tyler's red car. Val looked around the parking lot in vain. She had moved too slowly, and she had lost him. Val wanted to cry. This was so stereotypical, so tried, so true, and used in so many movies, but she had never really experienced it before.

She trudged inside.

"He's not there?" the clerk asked. "Strange. I thought I would have seen a green car leave—green is much more unusual than red or white around here, and—" Val had run out the door again. She hadn't seen Tyler himself, but there had been a green car, hadn't there?

Yes. A dark green car glinted in the sun near the doorway. Val went over to it and looked inside. Yeah, that was Tyler's suitcase, all right. But no Tyler. Val leaned against the blazingly warm metal and closed her eyes. God, Tyler, I don't know where you are, but I'll wait. And I won't break up with you because what we have is too valuable. Too special. Too fragile…

"The car matches your kimono," a voice noted. Val opened her eyes to perhaps the most wonderful sight ever.

"God, Tyler, I am so sorry," she said, putting her arms around him and letting the tears roll into his shirt.

"It's okay." He kissed her forehead. "It's perfectly fine."

"I don't want to break up with you," Val sniffled from somewhere in his T-shirt. "I love you. And I was going to break up with you because I loved you, not because I didn't. I thought it would be easier to refrain from breaking either of our hearts if I just broke up with you already and didn't drag it out. But I was wrong and I'm scared but I don't care because I love you." She kissed him, driving force into it and making absolutely sure he knew how much she loved him.

"Val…I'm not going to leave you," Tyler told her once again.

"Well, you are," Val said, "but that's okay."

"I'll come back eventually," Tyler promised, opening the door to the driver's seat. "Right now it's time to go."

"I'll call…and all those letters you sent? I didn't burn them. It was too hard to burn them. I gave them to Melissa and she promised not to read them. I'll read them all." Val kissed him again. "Don't miss your plane because of me."

"I wouldn't mind if it was because of you."

"I know," Val said with a sad smile—he was leaving. But she wasn't losing him at least, and that was the reason for the smile.

"I love you," he told her again.

"I love you, too."

He kissed her forehead and swung himself into the car, closing the door as she stepped away. The key turned in the ignition and he backed out of the parking space, smiling at her.

"Go home, Tyler," Val whispered. "Go home and come back. And come back soon because I don't know how much longer I can last without you."

"Hi, Caitie. Hey, Jamie."

"You didn't break up with him again, did you? Did you find him?" Caitie asked, seeing the sad look in Val's eyes.

"Yes, I found him, no, I didn't break up with him again. But he did leave." Val sat down on the chair. "Anyway, so what are you two star-crossed lovers doing except sitting here staring at each other?"

That comment earned her two equally annoyed glares.

"Excuse me, there is such a thing as a boy and a girl being good friends," Caitie informed her. Jamie nodded along with her. Val coughed.

"Uh huh. Yup. Well, I have to go call the Guinness Book of World Records."

"Why?" Jamie questioned, interested. "Did you and Tyler set a record for longest kiss?"

"No. I just want to check if you guys have broken the record yet." Val stood up and walked over to the phone.

"Record for what?" Caitie asked. Whatever it was, it had to have something to do with her and Jamie and their nonexistent romance. Well, sort of one-sidedly nonexistent, because Caitie sort of liked Jamie. Okay, a little more than sort of. All right, so a little more than a little more than sort of. Well…you get the point.

"The longest time for denial and the most times saying 'we're just friends', of course," said Val like they should have known.

"Shut up," said Caitie, turning red. Jamie's face was an equally embarrassed shade.

"Well, jeez, calm down. I was only stating the facts."

"You want to get her?" Jamie asked Caitie. She nodded.

"Definitely."

"Hey, Melissa!"

Val's roommate came running out of her room like a cat. "Okay, Val, spill."

"Spill what?" Val asked innocently.

"What happened? You and Tyler?" Melissa was usually calm and controlled, but by now she was desperate to know if it had been worth it getting Val to go.

"We got back together," Val said happily. "And he loves me. And I love him."

"And…?"

"And…?" Val echoed, confused. Melissa rolled her eyes and wondered how Val could be so innocent.

"Did you sleep with him?" she clarified. Val looked at her indignantly.

"Excuse me? I am not answering that! You have a sick mind!" She marched off into her bedroom.

"So you did, then."

"I'm not answering." Val unzipped her suitcase. "That's too personal a question. It's not your business."

"So you did," repeated Melissa, sitting on Val's bed. Val smiled a small smile, shaking her head at Melissa's curiosity.

"Yeah. I did." She sat down on the wheeled chair.

"Tell me all about it," Melissa prompted. Val looked at her, aghast.

"A sicker mind than I thought! You want me to ask what you and Hank do? I thought you had at least some sense of privacy!" Val shook her head and started taking out her clothes.

"Well, I do, but this is interesting. Anyway, forget I asked that. I'll bug out and let you unpack because you're going to stick me with taking your dress to the dry cleaners if you don't."

"Please?" begged Val, holding up the dress. Melissa made a face at her, and then took the dress.

"Oh, fine. But only to get you off of my back," reprimanded the light brunette with a smile. Val smiled.

"Thanks."

The letters were touching. Sweet. Sensitive. Caring. A thousand adjectives that all boiled down to him still loving her.

"I know you hate me, Val, and I know we've started two different lives but I'll give mine up for you if you want…"

"I miss you…I miss you a thousand times every second…"

"Look, I'm famous and I'm rich but I'm damn well miserable too, you know. I'm probably scaring you with that after all these years, but that sentence will only end up in the ashes eventually because I have no wish to kill you with fright…"

And the best part was that all the eloquence was directly from Tyler's hand. Val wasn't sure how she knew, but she was positive he had written every letter of it. Tyler wouldn't hire someone to write it for him, not for her. He was like that.

The sheets of paper were soon blotched with tears.

Why couldn't she have read them earlier? Why couldn't she have just taken the box out from under Melissa's bed and not put all the emails from Tyler in a folder that she never opened? Why couldn't she have picked up the phone and heard his wonderful voice? Why on earth did she have to have pride?

Val looked around the room as the last of the letters fell from her hand. A week since she had last seen Tyler, and already the whole of her life was slightly depressed. She missed him so much. The room was somehow darker without him there, her professors were asking what had happened during her extra Friday away from classes that had made her so disappointed in life. Well, okay, that was her psychology teacher who always felt that everyone was disappointed in life—probably because he was always way too hyperactive—but it counted for something, didn't it?

I bet you're hard to get over
I bet the room just won't shine
I bet my hands I can stay here
I bet you need - more than you mind

"Hey, Val?" Melissa knocked on Val's door. "Delivery."

"It's ten in the morning on a Saturday and I didn't get to sleep until two last night...or three…or four…" yawned Val, rolling in her bed. "Couldn't you just have pretended you were me and signed?"

"Well, this is a very special delivery and I didn't think you would want me to," Melissa explained. Val yawned again and kicked her legs over the side, standing up and walking into the room.

Val's sleep deprivation miraculously disappeared as soon as she saw the delivery.

"Tyler!" She threw her arms around his neck and he staggered slightly with surprise, grinning. "What are you doing here?"

"I had a meeting and I convinced them to hold it here," he explained, kissing her. Val nodded to show she got it without having to break from his kiss.

"That was nice of you," she said, slowly separating.

"No," Tyler corrected, "it was selfish of me."

"I read the letters," Val told him. He looked at her inquiringly, almost nervously, smoothing a strand of hair back into the clip that held the rest twisted to her head.

"Did you like them?" he asked. "I mean…"

"They were gorgeous," she assured him, landing a kiss on his cheek, and then on his lips. "I loved them. You wrote them yourself, right?"

"Of course." He seemed shocked that she hadn't known. "Every word."

"I know." Val laid her head on his shoulder. "I know."

"I need to talk to you later."

"I assume you mean without the Notting Hill obsessee," Val grinned, leaning on his shoulder.

"Preferably."

"Dinner tonight?" she asked.

"Most definitely."

I think you're so mean - I think we should try
I think I could need - this in my life
I think I'm just scared - that I know too much
I can't relate and that's a problem
I'm feeling

Tyler played with his fingers, eyes looking away from Val. The blonde raised an eyebrow at his nervousness before tapping his arm. He jumped.

"Why are you so jumpy?" she asked of the anxious Tyler, her blue eyes boring into his as they met.

"I was thinking…" He paused. Val raised an eyebrow in a gesture for him to continue. "That, maybe…I mean, maybe…do you think the business is good in Los Angeles?"

Val was startled at that question. "Sure, I guess. It's excellent. We're right next to Beverly Hills, there are famous people everywhere, rich people everywhere…business is great here."

"Do you think cell phone business is good here? Like, do you think my cell phone business would do well here?" he clarified, waiting for her reaction. Val's eyes widened considerably for a minute.

"You mean—like—you'd stay here." She didn't want to misread his words.

"I mean, like, I'd come here and move my business here and work here and see you all the time."

"And we could live together, maybe? Possibly?" Her voice was a quiet whisper.

"Exactly." Tyler watched her reaction carefully.

"There's a very good cell phone industry in Los Angeles," she informed him.

"I was hoping you'd feel that way."

"You thought I'd feel another way?" Val asked with a smile.

"I wasn't sure…and if you leave, I'm going to be scared," he admitted, "and I am afraid of fear in the highest possible way."

"If I go," Val echoed. She grinned. "I won't go and you won't go and we can live happily ever after."

"Fairy tales do come true," concluded Tyler. "Fairy tales do come true."

If you're gone - maybe it's time to go home
There's an awful lot of breathing room
But I can hardly move
If you're gone - baby you need to come home
'Cause there's a little bit of something me
In everything in you

I think you're so mean - I think we should try
I think I could need - this in my life
I think I'm just scared - do I talk too much
I know it's wrong it's a problem I'm dealing

THANKIES to Aricraze for reading it for me…that was nice of you! And I know I told you the whole plot, but ah well, because NO ONE has ANY idea what happens next chap…not that it's surprising or anything. Anyways. Thanks for reading and PLEASE REVIEW NOW! Calm. Calm, calm, calm. :-) Bye!

---O.I. Ivy Leaves (Officially Insane)