Authors' Note:

This is set 20 years in the future, with some references to Janine's "About A Girl" story which was so beautifully written. But we cannot really call this a sequel - this was started before Janine started writing her own sequel. But that's one great thing about the future: it's like a blank canvass and that makes it really exciting.

This is our very first fanfic attempt, so the formatting and stuff might be a little off. We plead guilty.

Disclaimers:

We don't own any characters although it would be nice to borrow them sometime.

This is not really a science fiction, so the effects of any future technological advances are minimized - for all we know, Katie could have cloned Jessie

Rating: A couple of love scenes, but nothing really smutty

Warning: If you're looking for teenage angst, this is NOT the story for you

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COMING HOME: 20 YEARS LATER

By Kristy and Sandy

PROLOGUE

Jessie and Katie met when they were in high school. They were young and they fell in love - the reserved, intelligent, sad Jessie and the outgoing, outspoken Katie. They couldn't have been more different but life had its plans. Together they brought out the best in each other, and together they made plans. With a love so honest and so pure, no choice was really given to their family and friends but to accept them. When you're in high school, life seems like this endless dream and the world beyond is just that - another world. Like Romeo and Juliet before them (only without the tragedy) Jessie and Katie lived the joy and magic that only First Loves could bring.

But this story is not about the magic of First Loves. It is about its endurance and faith. It is not realistic to think that Jessie and Katie would have ridden towards the sunset. High school romance hardly ever lasts - and if they did, those are the exception to the norm. Life happens. If Romeo and Juliet had survived their families' warfare, they would have had to face the inevitability of change. They would have had to grow up. They would have had to accept the test of time.

And so like the rest of us, life would have eventually happened to Jessie and Katie. And time would work its magic but would also take the magic away from First Loves. This story is about two people who really loved each other and allowed time to take its course. They did not fight what life had to offer. They grew up. But they never forgot each other and they never stopped loving each other. Not even time could take that away from them. But time had also added layers to their hearts - like rings that form around a tree - and it's up to them to find what time had hidden away.

This story is about the struggle of finding their way back to each other. You can fill in the blanks.

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CHAPTER 1: Dr. Jessie Sammler, M.D.

MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL

Boston, MA

Thursday

"Dr. Sammler, your stepsister Zoe just called. She wanted to make sure you can meet her for lunch," the desk clerk at Massachusetts General Pediatric Unit just called out.

"Thanks, Ruth," Jessie replied as she scribbled some notes in Robin Garvin's medical file before she handed it to the desk clerk. She looked at her watch to make sure that she had enough time to do her rounds before she left for the afternoon.

"Who's the attending covering for me?" she asked Ruth. She had to make sure that the Unit was covered before she left. Zoe was getting married and she was going to be one of the bridesmaids.

"Dr. Ribizi," Ruth replied after checking the board.

"Thanks, I'll see you next Wednesday," Jessie answered.

She was the only attending on call for the last five days, and somehow, she still could not figure out why it seemed that half of all the babies in Boston got sick whenever she was around. She smiled; she loved her job.

After finishing high school in Australia, where they moved when her father got a huge contract to build the new Melbourne Symphony Hall, Jessie attended Northwestern University before moving to Boston to go to Harvard Medical. Mass General had been her second home ever since; her father was half a world away and her mother still lived in Sinclair.

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Zoe, who went to Wellesley College, had also settled in the Boston area. She was an analyst for Fidelity Investments, along with Jeff Sanborn, her classmate from Harvard Business School. After going out for 7 years, the couple was finally getting married that weekend in Sinclair.

"Hey, Z", Jessie called to Zoe as she sat by the window of the Prudential Tower overlooking downtown Boston. "Sorry I'm late. Have you been waiting long?"

"It's okay, Jess. I've only been here for 15 minutes and I was on the phone most of the time. The Dow is tanking again and Jack wanted to make sure he had all the numbers before he sold some Ruthers stocks," Zoe said as she continued to check her wireless Palm Pilot. Jack was the funds manager for the Columbus Fund, one of the biggest mutual funds in the world, and Zoe was one of his top analysts.

"So, you're ready for the big day? What time is our flight? When is Jeff leaving?" asked Jessie.

"We're not due at the airport until 5 p.m. Oh, and Jeff is not leaving until tomorrow. His mother was waiting for the necklace she ordered from Biddles," Zoe replied. Jeff's mother was a descendant of the Mayflower and belonged to every exclusive country club in Boston, a benefit of being a Brahmin.

"Good, I just want to pass by Newbury Street to get something for Ryan," Jessie sighed. Ryan was her godson, Grace and August's youngest son.

After getting her journalism undergraduate and master's degree from Columbia, Grace worked as an editor at Simon and Shuster. One of their best selling authors was August Dimitri who had won a Pulitzer Prize for his book of poems, "The Song of the Dawn." Grace and August got married 10 years ago and now lived in an apartment overlooking Central Park. Zoe and Jessie visited them whenever they could, but since Jessie became an attending, her schedule had gotten more and more insane. Grace just finished editing her husband's latest book, "The Mistress Revisited: A John Donne Anthology".

"So, you really are not bringing a date to my wedding, huh, Jess? What about Tad? He just got divorced, and of course, he's invited to the wedding," Zoe winked at Jessie.

Jessie just looked at the glass of wine that the waiter had just brought over, and smiled. She had been back to Sinclair several times, and the only person she wanted to see didn't live there anymore.

After high school, Katie went to Kings' College at Oxford University. They called each other and exchanged emails for a while, but the distance between England and Australia just seemed so… big. And then the calls and the emails dwindled… and stopped altogether by the time Jessie was a sophomore at Northwestern. As far as she knew, Katie had stayed in London where she was a tenured professor at the London School of Economics. Pretty good for someone who was only 36 years old.

"You still think about her, don't you?" Zoe asked thoughtfully.

Jessie just looked up sadly. She had never stopped thinking of Katie. She had dated men in college, and a few in medical school. But none of them ever made her heart flutter the same way that Katie did. At 34, Jessie was resigned to taking care of other people's babies. And Katie… she had tried to put the memories at the back of her mind, but at the end of every shift, when every muscle in her body was aching and she was too tired to even fall sleep… she thought of Katie and all the times they shared and somehow, that always calmed her down. She could always fall asleep contentedly when she thought of Katie.

She never stopped thinking about Katie.

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SINCLAIR HILTON

Saturday Afternoon

The wedding reception was just winding down, and Jessie had been talking to her brother Eli, a talent manager based in NYC. Eli managed some of the most successful bands in the country, and he occasionally jammed with "Rivers", a jazz group he formed while he was a student at NYU. Eli was with Sarah, his wife, a classical cellist with the New York Symphony, and their sons Johnny and Billy.

Billie.

Jessie smiled silently as she heard her nephew's name, like something just wrapped itself around her heart, choking and caressing it at the same time - the painful kind of happy.

"You'd never guess who I ran into in Manhattan, Jess," Eli excitedly remembered. "Katie! Your former girlfriend, Katie! Or should I say Dr. Singer?"

"You did?" Jess asked anxiously. She felt her ears burning and her cheeks turning red.

"Yes! She had just moved back to the States and now works for the United Nations. I think she also mentioned teaching at NYU Graduate School."

Jessie shifted, trying to hide her excitement, while waiting for Eli to spew out more.

Eli tried to assess his little sister's face and marveled that after all these years, she still could not hide her feelings very well. Dr. Jessie Sammler, Harvard Medical School graduate, respected doctor, still jumping at the sound of her high school girlfriend's name.

"She asked about you. She's looking good, Jess. No ring on her finger, no babe or anything. She's still as skinny as a pole, though, but has not lost her sense of humor. She mentioned something about a global macroenomic research she submitted to Mad Magazine for publication, " Eli smiled as he examined his sister even more intensely.

Jessie laughed as she remembered Katie's funny and sometimes real nonsensical remarks. Katie always made her laugh. Now, even from afar, Katie could still make her laugh.

"Uhm, and she asked for your number," Eli added, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"She did?!" Jessie asked as her eyes widened. "Did you give it to her?"

Eli paused and smiled. Ah, he could still torture his sister after all these years by just giving her the Eli poker face. He stood up, just smiling at Jessie, while his sister looked at him with disdain, and as he turned to get some more drinks, he looked back and winked at Jessie, and said, "Pager, mobile, hospital, home numbers, and email address."

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