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

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CHAPTER 4: Katie's Lament

SUTTON PLACE

New York, NY

Thursday Morning

Katie waited for her Electric Ford Explorer while the parking attendant got it from the building garage. It was 6 o'clock in the morning and she did not want to hit the NY traffic.

"Here you go, Miss Katie," the parking attendant said as he handed her the keys.

"Thanks, Jose. I'll see you later," Katie said as she put her luggage in the back of her SUV.

She proceeded to drive up FDR Drive to Triboro Bridge, the strains of Brahms emanating from her car stereo. She remembered that early August morning, 20 years ago, as Jessie and her family prepared for their afternoon flight to Melbourne Australia.

She stayed over, their last night together. Neither of them slept very well. They mostly just held each other's hand and felt each other's face, and stared at each other's eyes. They did not talk much, they just tried to absorb as much as they could of each other, savoring every second and trying to take invisible photographs to take with them no matter where they went. They wanted the night to last forever, but dawn soon came.

Jessie opened her eyes; she must have fallen asleep. The first thing she saw were Katie's blue eyes, filled with tears, staring lovingly at her.

"I was watching you sleep," Katie softly whispered as she planted a quick kiss on Jessie's lips. "You always look so beautiful when you sleep."

Jessie smiled at her, wiped the tears from Katie's eyes, and held her close, real close, as if her very life depended on Katie's arms. They just lied there, silently gazing at each other's eyes, holding each other's hands.

"What time is it?" Jessie finally asked.

"Six o'clock," Katie sadly said. It was their last night together, and now the dawn had robbed them of forever. Katie wondered why the sun had to come up at all, when all she wanted was to lie next to Jessie forever. Her heart was breaking little by little, afraid that one more second would bring them nearer to that dreaded hour before Jessie had to leave. This was so unfair! Sunrise would never hold that much beauty in her eyes anymore, as she blamed it for even coming at all.

"I'll call you as soon as we get there," Jessie tried to reassure her. But soon they were both crying, not knowing when to stop, afraid that if they did, The Hour of Goodbyes would sneak up on them. And in between sobs, Jessie whispered to her, "Next time we spend the night together, we would be happy when the sun comes up. Because it means we have another day together."

"I love you, Billie, I will always love you," Katie said. And then they did not speak anymore, for really, there was nothing left to say.

As she merged into the New England Thruway, Katie realized that tears were streaming down her face. She had tried to forget that painful, sweet, innocent morning, she had buried it deep in the recesses of her heart. The world of goodbyes was just not her cup of tea. She tried to forget that first night after Jessie had left. She dialed the Manning's phone number, blindly expecting someone to pick up the phone. But it just kept on ringing and the emptiness she felt as she listened was unbearable. She cried herself to sleep that night. And although Tad and Russell were very thoughtful of her pain and tried to entertain her as much as they could, they knew that their buddy was hurting more than she wanted them to see. When she finally thought that she could move on, she grabbed the chance and went away, as far away as she could and resolved that she would never ever feel that bad and hurt and broken again.

But over the last 20 years, whenever she saw the sunrise, she always looked up and whispered to the sky, "I love you, Billie, I will always love you."

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MASS. GENERAL, Boston

Later That Afternoon

Jessie was in her office updating charts and reviewing elective cases and catching up on her reading. She was on call and miraculously, her beeper had not gone off the whole afternoon. Once in a while, she would look up and see the bouquet of yellow roses on her desk and she hated the fact that she would catch herself smiling.

She looked at her watch and decided to call her mother; she was probably in her chambers by now, as it was almost 5 o'clock.

"Hi, mom. Are you done with all your cases?" she said.

"Yes honey, I am getting ready to go home. What time are you getting off?" Karen asked on the other line.

"Well, I am off at five, but I am trying to catch up on my charts, plus I want to start writing the Johnson baby case for the New England Journal of Medicine," Jessie said as she continued to survey the stack of charts on her desk.

"Well, don't stay too late, honey."

"I won't mom, I'll probably take some work home. I am not on the graveyard shift until next week, can you believe it?"

"Well, do something fun, honey. Go out to dinner with your friends, go see a movie," Karen worriedly suggested.

"Mom… you know my idea of fun is 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep," Jessie chuckled. "Uhm, Mom, Katie sent me some flowers," Jessie added solemnly.

The other line was silent until Karen said, "Oh, she did? How do you feel about it? Had she tried to call you?"

"I don't know how I feel about it, Mom. I am happy and sad and angry at the same time," Katie said as she sighed, looking at the flowers again.

"After all these years, Katie could still bring out all those emotions in you, couldn't she?"

"Grace said she looked good, a little older like the rest of us, but still the same Katie with her puppy eyes and stupid sense of humor. They had lunch last week."

"Oh," Karen did not know what to say. She thought that if Katie had contacted Grace, Jessie would not be far behind, and she would never ever want to see Jessie hurt again.

"Don't worry mom," Jessie said as she sensed her mother's reservations. "It's been 20 years, so much water has passed under the bridge. I will be cool if I ever see her."

"Take care of your heart, honey," was all Karen could say.

Jessie spent the rest of the afternoon shift finishing charts. There must have been at least 20 on her desk! She did not realize that it was almost 7 o'clock until she felt that pang of hunger. I better go home, she thought. She proceeded to put her things in her backpack and headed for the elevator.

She was still lost in thoughts as she walked through the main lobby of the hospital. And then she looked up and saw that face. She knew that face. She could pick up that face anywhere in a sea of faces. She stood, paralyzed, as she stared in utter disbelief. For God knows how long, she just stood there, unable to put one foot in front of the other.

And then Katie walked towards her, holding a paper flower in her hand.

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