Thank you for your reviews! :-D

Terrestrial: I swear, I chose Kate because it's a favourite name of mine--I never thought about the Kate on '24'. Weird coincidence, though, eh?

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I pace into the living room, padding softly in my bare feet. My glasses are on the floor, from where I dropped them last night when we kissed, and I pick up them up with a quiet click and clatter.

It's windy outside, and snowing. The construction workers are gathered in a circle around the empty booth, chafing their frozen hands and blowing on their stiff, numb fingers, hunched over and huddled in on themselves. One of them flips through the pages on a clipboard; another is unravelling an orange extension cord.

Once the truck parks in place by the curb, and the short, balding overseer starts shouting orders, they'll begin tearing down the phone booth. Look, there comes the tech to dismantle the payphone, carrying his black duffel bag of equipment; and here's the overseer, scratching his head and sniffling with a red, runny nose.

I'm watching from the window, and thinking. There's the dent in the frame Leon made with his bat. Those are the remnants of the glass panel I shattered when I shot Stu in the ear. The receiver still has that hairline crack along its plastic surface...

You never know how much you'll miss something until it's gone.

My head turns towards the bedroom, where Kate is still sleeping. The phone booth gave me an amusement for a while, a routine, and then... this. Without the booth, I'd never have met her, and without her I'd still be lost--looking for something, searching, drifting in vain from place to empty place. Now I have something to hold onto, something to actually care about, something to cherish and treasure.

And for that, I am infinitely grateful. To the phone booth, to fate, to the universe, whatever. I'm just thankful she's here, and living, and lying what feels like a heartbeat away.

I turn about to check the clock as I head back towards bed, and Kate. It's about seven in the morning. I have a thousand and one things to do today, and the first of them is to wake up beside my lover.

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And that is all. :-)

A sequel? If I could be so persuaded, perhaps...