****

3 Months Later…

--

"How long has she been gone?"

Frank looked up to see Jake standing in the doorway.  He sighed and leaned back in his chair.  "2 weeks and 4 days."

"Good God Frank.  Counting the days too?"

"I'm counting the hours actually.  Any luck on tracking her down?"

"None.  Of course, we haven't had much time to locate her since we've been working."

"I know.  Was there something you wanted Jake?"

"No.  Just to see how you were holding up."  Jake watched Frank for a moment.  He knew that his boss had been pretty torn up since he found out Hope had split without telling him.  All the team knew was that she'd left him a letter with the doorman at their apartment building instead of at his door.  Through their entire relationship, all 2 and a half months of it, anytime she'd needed to leave him notes or letters, she dropped them at his door.  It had to have been a slap in the face to get the letter from the doorman instead of 'in person'.  Frank had yet to share any part of that letter with them.  "Hey…"

"What?"

"Why did she leave Frank?  We know you got a letter from her.  Does it tell you why?"

"Yes, it does.  Thanks Jake."  Frank leaned forward and started to analyze the file in front of him, effectively ending the conversation between he and Jake.  He heard the door close quietly as Jake left, then closed his eyes and sighed heavily.  It'd hurt like hell to get her last letter to him from Gerard instead of at his doorstep.  Frank sat up in his chair and turned around to look out of the window behind him.  The cityscape stretched out far and wide in front of him now.  But, it was cold and lonely without hope.  Or Hope for that matter.

"Someone new moving in Gerard?"  Frank asked lightly as he picked up his mail at the post boxes there in the lobby.

"No sir Mr. Donovan."  Gerard chewed his lower lip for a moment.  "Someone's moving out."

"Oh?"  Frank turned back and saw Gerard's nervous chewing.  "Everything all right?"

"Uh, no Mr. Donovan.  This…" he picked up an envelope and laid it on the semi-circular desk-top.  "This is for you."

Frank's eyebrows knit together in puzzlement.  Something was not sitting well with Gerard and it showed in his face and his hesitation in answering him.  He looked at the envelope for a moment, then back up at Gerard.  "Miss Weathers left this for me?"

"Yes Mr. Donovan.  She left it with me this morning and said to tell you…"

"Yes, Gerard?"

"That she's sorry."

Frank's eyebrows rose clear up to his hairline and he put his mail on the desk as he reached for her letter.  She was sorry… for what?  They hadn't had a fight that he remembered nor did she hurt him.

Gerard watched as Mr. Donovan's fingers ripped open the sealed envelope and unfolded the letter.  Through the thick cream colored stationary, he could see the shadow of handwriting.  As the man read the letter, Gerard saw his eyes widen in shock.

"No.."  Frank pulled the letter down and looked at Gerard.  "When did she leave?!"

"She left this morning Mr. Donovan.  She looked like she was going to work.  The moving people came about thirty minutes ago."

Both Gerard and Frank turned as the elevator chimed and out came two men carrying a sofa.  Frank's jaw dropped slightly when he recognized it as Hope's.  She wasn't bluffing then, she really was leaving.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Donovan."

"Yes… " Frank looked down, then sighed and looked up at Gerard.  "Thank you."

Frank sighed and leaned his head back onto the chair.  Why hadn't she come talk to him before leaving?"

--

New York City, NY

"QUINN!!"

Hope cringed behind her desk and laid down her pen.  She snuck a glance at the person sitting across the desk from her and groaned.  Mellody was cringing too.  "I guess I better go see what the battle axe wants now," she sighed as she stood up.

"Be nice to him Hope.  He's the one who signs your paycheck!" Mell said quietly as Hope started towards their boss' office.

"QUINN GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!" Mackenzie bellowed as he stood in the doorway.

"I'm right here Sir.  There's no need to yell."

"Oh, right.  It's about damned time you got here.  Come in and sit down, I want to talk about this latest piece you call an article."  Mac closed the door behind her and stomped over to his desk.

Hope groaned inwardly and sat down.  In the two weeks since she'd accepted the writing position here in New York, her boss had been nothing but over-bearing, rude, arrogant and completely…. She sighed and shook her head.  He'd been completely right.

"What's going on Quinn?  Why aren't you living up to the recommendations of your previous employers?"

"What do you mean?"

Mac sighed and settled back in his chair.  "Quinn, when I hired you, it was on the basis that every single one of your editors had nothing bit glowing reports to give me about your work.  Look, I've read some of your previous work and it's fantastic.  I hired that writer!  Instead I got you.  What's different?"

"Nothing, Sir.  I just…"

"You've lost something."

Hope looked at him for a moment, then nodded silently.

"I see."  He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. "I also see that you've applied and interviewed for an Associate Editor's position over in Entertainment.  Is this what you really want?"

"Yes Sir.  I can't write anymore.  It's gone.  Whatever it was, it's gone."

Mac watched her for a moment.  She looked like she was defeated.  In the short time she'd been at his newspaper, she'd displayed none of the fire and vibrancy that her previous editor had groused about.  'She is light a bonfire in a pile of dry leaves.  One spark from her and we're all on fire' he'd said.  Where that fire was, Mac couldn't say because he hadn't seen it once.  Well, he had - once.  One of the secretaries had started a conversation about significant others and he'd seen a spark light in Quinn's eyes.  The change had been dramatic.  But, just as quickly as he'd seen the spark, it was gone and back was the quiet Hope that had been there in the shadows.

"Why did you take this job, Quinn?"

"Excuse me?"  Hope looked up, startled.  She hadn't been expecting this question.

"Why did you leave your previous job and come here?"

"I…" she couldn't tell him about running from Frank.  There wasn't one particular reason she'd left really.  She just felt… "I needed a changed Mac.  I needed something different.  I can't explain it and I don't expect you to understand."

Mac chewed his tongue for a moment, then shrugged.  "All right then.  I'll give my recommendation for the editor's position."

Hope breathed a sigh of relief and started to stand up.

"Quinn."

"Yes Sir?"  Hope froze in mid-crouch, hands still on the arms of the chair.

"Whatever this is that's got you in a rat-hole.. get over it.  Do whatever it is you have to do, but get over it."  He looked up at her with compassionate eyes.  "I don't know what it is you ran from in Chicago.  But maybe it's time you went back and took care of matters.  Now get out of my office and back to work."

Hope smiled and dashed out of Mac's office.

"What'd he want?" Mell asked quietly as Hope sat down.

"He's giving me his endorsement for the Associate Editor's position over in Entertainment."

"He is?!  Oh Hope that's great!  Why did he sound so prissy about it though?"

"He's unhappy with my work.  He said that the writer he hired and the writer he got aren't the same."

Mellody blinked.  Across the desk from her sat a woman she'd grown close to over the past two weeks.  She was a kind woman with a heart of gold… but that heart had a chain on it and it was easy to see.  "What else did he say?"

"That maybe it's time I got past what it is I ran from.  Aw Mell… " Hope sighed.  "Come out to lunch with me.  I think it's time I told you a story."

****