Fic: Come Away With Me (6/6)

Author: Gardenia1786 (Chloe)

Rating: PG, maybe PG-13

Feedback: As always, yes please! Summery and disclaimers, please read the previous parts.

So all I ask is for you

To come away with me in the night

Come away with me.

Karen listened into the receiver as the phone rang and rang. 'Someone please pick up' she thought to herself.

It had been three days since her fateful encounter with Jessie in the kitchen. Three days since she'd talked to her, and Karen felt awful. She was angry to begin with, angry for awhile, then her pride took over, not wanting to admit that she might have been a bit hard on Jessie. But now... now she was just concerned. She didn't want to loose Jessie, and she was damn well close to it right now. She wanted to stop and make things right before too much time went by.

"Hello?" A voice answered on the other line. Grace. 'Hmm... this could be good.'

"Hello, Grace? It's Karen. Is Jessie there? I really need to talk to her."

Grace closed her eyes. She really didn't want to have to deal with this right now. She checked her watch. It was 8:00. Jessie and Katie's flight would be leaving at 9:00. She had to stall, or at least find out why Karen was calling.

"I don't think so. But I doubt she'd talk to you anyways." Grace was even surprised at what she said. Sure, she was normally blunt... but not quite that blunt.

"I... uh..." Karen stuttered into the other end of the phone.

"Look, why do you need to talk to her anyways?" Once again, Grace was surprised. She was being protective of Jessie. Something she wasn't used to doing. She heard Karen sigh into the phone.

"Grace, I wanted to apologize to Jessie. I was way too hard on her the other night, and I shouldn't have forbade her to see Katie again. I realize now that I made a mistake, and I wanted to tell her I was sorry, and hope for her to be able to forgive me. I know things must be hard for them at school, then for it to be like that at home as well... no one should have to go through that because they love someone. No matter how unconventional it was." Now it was Grace's turn to sigh into the phone.

Crap. This isn't what she wanted Karen to say. Now she felt bad, and the fact that Jessie and Katie were already at the airport... not a good thing. She believed Karen. She believed that she was truly and sincerely apologetic, and that things could be worked out. But it may be too late.

"Listen, Karen, there is something I have to tell you, and it's not going to be easy to explain, and you're definitely not going to like what I have to say."

"Ok."

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Katie asked as she slung her messenger bag over her shoulder. Jessie nodded her head.

"Yes, it is." She stated firmly. Katie stared intently at her for a moment before breathing a deep sigh and nodding her head.

"Ok." Katie reached for Jessie's hand and took it, before walking over to the ticket counter to give the woman their tickets.

"Thank you for flying American Airlines. You may now board." Both Jessie and Katie thanked the woman before getting on board, still holding each other's hand very tightly.

"COME ON! MOVE YOUR DAMN CAR!" Karen screamed at the vehicle in front of her which insisted on going 10 miles under the speed limit. She shook her head in frustration as she checked her mirrors for any possible way for her to pass the snail of a driver in front of her.

She glanced down at the digital clock in her car, silently praying that she'd have enough time to make it to the airport in time. The time was 8:47pm... their flight left in exactly 13 minutes. She looked back up and focused on the SUV ahead of her, and cursed when she saw him put on his brake lights. She maneuvered enough to see that in front of him that the traffic was backed up, and almost at a complete stop.

Karen was approximately 3 miles away from the airport, and any normal day, she would be able to make it, but today the traffic was jammed, and she could barely move.

She just prayed that she could make it there in time.

The girls found their seats on the plane and packed their backpacks in the overhead, Katie only hanging on to her precious messenger bag, which held her cd player, notebook, and pen. They sat, and held hands, both unusually quiet, just staring out the window.

"Are we doing the right thing?" Katie asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. She looked over at Jessie, who's eyes had clouded over. Jessie shook her head.

"It's the only thing we could do, Katie. You've seen how my mom has been over the last week and a half. It's been awful. I can't stand to live like that. I can't stand to live without you." Katie nodded.

"You're right, but..." she started, but Jessie put her fingers over Katie's mouth.

"No 'buts'. We're here, we're on a plane to Colorado, and nobody is going to stop us." She paused for a moment.

"I love you, you know that, right? I know I haven't said it in awhile, and I'm sorry. But I do." Katie touched her cheek.

"I know you do, and I love you too. You're right. Lets just forget about this all and enjoy the flight, shall we?" Jessie smiled at her, and leaned over for a kiss, but was interrupted by the voice of the captain coming over the loud speakers.

"Welcome to American Airlines flight 204 non-stop from Chicago to Denver. It's a beautiful day for flying, so you shouldn't expect much turbulence. We should arrive in Denver in approximately 2 hours. So please sit back, and enjoy your flight." The intercom clicked off, and Katie leaned her head back against the seat as she felt the plane begin to move.

Karen rushed up the escalators and frantically looked for any sign of the two girls. It was 9:01pm by her watch, but she prayed that the flight had been delayed for some reason. Grace said that the flight was at gate 21C, and as she searched for the signs, she saw that she was at 19C. Hope welled up inside of her, hope that there was still time.

She quickly located gate 21and turned the corner to find it almost empty, with a few people standing at the window waving goodbye as the plane backed out of it's gate. She rushed over to the ticket counter and got the attention of the lady working there.

"I need you to stop that flight." The woman looked up at her quizzically.

"I'm sorry, m'am, but we can't do that unless it's an emergency." Karen gripped the side of the counter, doing all she could to keep herself from lunging over and making that woman understand... but she didn't. She kept her cool.

"Yes, I know, but my daughter and her..." She cleared her throat. She had to say it, for the first time, "...girlfriend are on that flight, and... umm... neither of them have the permission of their parents." The woman looked at her with a sad look on her face.

"I'm sorry. We can't do anything to stop the flight unless someone's life is in danger." The woman shrugged regretfully and returned to her task at hand.

Karen couldn't believe it. She was so close, yet so far. She walked over to the window and watched as the plane began to taxi down the runway before taking off. She put her hand on the window.

"Jessie, I'm sorry." She whispered. "I shouldn't have alienated you for the last couple of weeks. I should have been more open." She felt as tears welled up in her eyes. "I shouldn't have been so rejecting, or have refused to let you see Katie." Her hand on the window became a fist as she began to cry.

"But why did you have to leave?" She asked, rather angerly. "Why? Why didn't you try to work things out?" But as soon as she uttered those words, she knew she was wrong in even saying them. She did try to work things out, both she and Katie.

Karen's fist relaxed and she pressed her palm once more on the window.

"I'm sorry, Jessie, so very sorry." She leaned her forehead against the cool glass, and watched as her daughter's plane began it's final run down the runway, and as it pushed off into the air, Karen nodded.

"Goodbye, Jessie. I love you so much, my dear child." With that, she turned around and walked out of the airport.

Jessie gripped Katie tightly as the plane ascended into the air, and their fair city that she had grown up in, shrunk below her. She felt a knot inside of her stomach, for she had also been silently questioning whether or not they were doing the right thing, but altogether decided that they were.

But even if they weren't, it was too late to turn back. She continued to watch as the cars became smaller and smaller, till they were hardly visible... looking like ants crawling below them.

She leaned her head on Katie's shoulder, then a moment later felt her girlfriend lay her head on top of her own.

"Did I ever say thank you?" Jessie asked.

"What for?"

"For everything. For doing all this. For coming away with me. For loving me." Katie moved her head off of Jessie's and looked the other girl in the eye.

"You're welcome. I can't live without you, and if this is the only way to be with you, then so be it. I'm glad I'm with you." She leaned down and kissed her before resting their heads against the other's.

"Besides, I know that we'll be back. Someday. Somehow. We'll come back home."

"You think?" Jessie asked, hoping Katie was right.

"No. I know. And I also know that we are going to be ok." Jessie yawned and placed her head on Katie's shoulder, closing her eyes.

"I know that too." And with that, Jessie drifted off to sleep, knowing that from now on she would wake up to Katie next to her. Knowing that, nothing else really mattered.

Ok, so what did you think? Did they make the right decision a/b leaving? Or do you think they should've stayed? Maybe if I get enough request, I could write an alternate ending over my spring break (which isn't for another couple of weeks), an ending in which they stay. But if you want it, you'll have to send feedback!