Author's Note: I finally updated this story. Many thanks to every one for the patience that you have shown me. The good news is that I have finished writing the entire thing – and just in time for the holidays.

That means no waiting 3 or 4 months for the conclusion – I promise. However, I will continue to post the stories in parts so that no one is overwhelmed by the volume. I will aim for a release every 3 days until I've posted everything.

Although this is a story about John and Kem, it's also a story about Africa and their life there. To try to make the situation more real, I did a lot of research about the Congo.

Many, many thanks are owed to Search Engines like Google and Yahoo, news agencies like the BBC, and several individuals from organizations like the U.N. and Red Cross who were kind enough to share their experiences on the Internet.

Hopefully, you'll enjoy the outcome.

One last thing. Although, the show confirmed that Kem has her Masters degree, it did not state where she studied. Since Kem was raised partly in the U.K., I based Kem's education on the actress who portrayed her. Thandie Newton graduated with Honors from Cambridge University.

Background: This story picks up from Part II of Complications. John proposed to Kem, but instead of saying yes, she presented him with a letter.

Chapter 10: Doubts And Questions

Dear John,

As she read this part aloud, John scoffed and began to bite his lower lip in earnest as he thought, so she has written me a Dear John letter.

Kem decided to remain silent as he laughed. She waited for him to become quiet again, and then returned her full concentration to reading the letter.

Dear John, she began again,

When I first met you, I truly never thought that I would ever meet you again.

Although, you seemed nice enough, you also seemed to be typically First World in your viewpoints and interests. Certainly, you did not seem to be my type.

Now that I have spent more time with you, I remember the expression that reminds one that first impressions are important."

Everyone at the table became even more uncomfortable and they began to shift nervously in their chairs, as they anticipated Kem's next statement. Kem sensed the uneasiness and stopped reading as she lost her nerve to continue.

Angelique gave John a desperate and sad look. She wanted to flee that table and find a more positive atmosphere, but she couldn't bring herself to abandon him while his heart was being broken.

Kem took a deep breath and resumed reading her letter aloud in a slow but determined voice.

The second time that I met you, you tried to get me to enroll Seline in the HIV study without any consideration for what could be involved in your proposition.

I thought, "Well here is another outsider who is trying to barge his way into the system without understanding the complexities and shortcomings of the country in which he is living."

In short, I was not very happy or impressed.

But as the days passed, I found that that displeasure had turned into curiosity. Here was a man, who obviously came from a different background and a more affluent culture, yet he was taking the time to try to help save a stranger's life even though he had no personal connection to her.

I wondered if you were doing it in order to alleviate some 'I-believe-I'm-Overprivileged' guilt on your part or if you were just trying to push her off on someone else?

Even deeper down in my thoughts, I wondered if you were just trying to be nice? In the end, I decided that I couldn't tell what type of person you were, and since I didn't think that I would ever meet you again, I decided that I would probably never know."

Kem paused for a second and then read,

First impressions may be important, but they are not always the most accurate.

When I met you the third time, we talked long into the night and even into the early hours of the morning. I found that you were funny, and mischievous, and kind-hearted."

She stopped reading again and gave him a nervous look.

"See," she said. "This is the part that I wanted to work on some more", and the next words rushed out of her mouth in a confusing jumble. "I wanted to say more, but then it sounded like I was being redundant. But then I thought no I should tell you everything, but then I thought you might find it silly so I changed it again," and she in leaned towards him so that he could see the writing in the letter. The paragraph that she was reading contained several scratched out words followed by scribbling and even some erasure marks.

"See," and she pointed to some of the crossed out sections, "I wanted to tell you how looking at you makes me feel. How your smile makes me smile, and…" but as she said that last part she looked up and was treated to a look of unabashed puzzlement on John's face.

She pulled back from him and said shyly, "So I thought that I should work on it some more." She took a quick sip of her soda and then resumed reading the letter – determined to get to the end without any further interruptions.

Ultimately, what I want to say is that I feel at ease with you. I feel like we have the ability to share ourselves with each other. Whether we're talking or silent, I feel like we're one. When you are with me, I feel good about myself and I feel good about the world.

Now, I don't pretend to be a psychic or to have some form of ESP, so I don't know how you really feel. I know that you say you love me, but I don't know why you love me.

I don't know if that love is based on you loving me for who I am or whether you love me because of what I represent; a wife to go along with your visions of a home, a family, and all of the other comforts that people associate with a well-rounded maybe even perfect life.

However, I don't want to be something that you cross off on a checklist of things that you want to do during your lifetime. I want you to love me because you feel the same deep emotional connection to me that I feel to you.

However, if you don't feel this way, then please do not feel guilty.

I'm happy just to have spent these last few months with you, and I don't regret a single second. Simply smile, hand me the letter, and know that you can always count me as friend.

However, if you do decide to read on, then I want you to understand that we will face many difficulties. My parents tried to bridge worlds and they found that, in the end, they couldn't. But, despite their problems, I am willing to attempt to do what they could not, because I truly believe that we are special.

I want to say to you, "for better or worse" I am by your side. "In good times and bad", I am by your side. And I want to swear to those oaths in front of our dearest family and friends.

So what I am asking is, "If you love me like I love you, then Doctor John Carter, will you marry me?" I have no ring to give you. I only have this letter and its promises, but I hope that it's enough.

Even though she had come to the end of the letter, she continued looking down at it for a long second. Then she leaned over and handed the pages gently to John.

"It's not much, and it's not the way that I wanted this to go," she said apologetically. "In fact, I wanted you to read this alone so that you wouldn't feel under pressure as to how you should answer. Just know that it's okay to say no."

To her ears, her voice sounded like it had been shaking as she spoke, but she hoped that the little tremor she thought she had heard had not been audible to the others. She didn't want John's reply to be based on pity or on some sense of old-fashioned chivalry and duty not to break her heart because of their child, Joshua. She wanted it…needed it to be an honest of expression of how he truly felt.

John's expression was inscrutable, as he took the pages from Kem. Her letter had stunned him. He hadn't thought about their love…his love in those terms, but he knew that she was right about the importance of those things to him, and he knew that he owed it to her to consider her questions seriously.

He stood up, walked to edge of the open air patio, and sat down with his back to the table as he read the pages for himself.

Kem and the group continued their silence. Kem decided to keep her gaze fixed on her hands, hands that were still slightly closed as if she were still holding the letter, while the others exchanged worried glances.

Charles, Abe, Uwe, Angelique, and Debbie knew that this was a courtship ritual that only John and Kem could complete, and that their best course of action as friends was to let things play out with out any interference from them.

John read the letter slowly and he focused on the passages that questioned the source of his love for her. After what seemed like hours to Kem, he rose, and walked back to the table. Kem looked up at him, and for the first time since he had proposed to her earlier that evening, he let his gaze meet her eyes.

He wasn't smiling.

There was an earnest plea in his eyes and Kem knew that whatever he wanted to say to her, he preferred to say it to her in private. Kem started to rise from the table, but suddenly John seemed to change his mind and he unexpectedly motioned for her to remain seated.

He looked around the table at the friends that he had asked to gather there, and he exhaled deeply, before he returned his attention to Kem. He knew what he had to do and he was willing to do it in front of the others.

"It's true that I want the happy family, the wife, the house – the whole 9-yards," he said firmly. "My parents didn't really have those things, so I missed them in my life as I grew up, and it's important for me to have them now in my life as an adult."

He paused as his voice began to break. "But my love for you doesn't come from wanting those things. My love for you comes from how you make me feel when we're together, and how empty I feel when we're apart. And I don't want those things with just anyone. I want them with you. And I don't care that we live in a world where some will try to tear us apart. Yes, those people got the better of your parents, but we are going to make it."

He knelt down to Kem's level and took her chin gently into his hand. "You see, I believe that we are special," he said as he echoed the words the she had used in her letter, "and my answer to you is, 'yes' ".

As they kissed, they barely registered the sound of applause and congratulations from their friends. They were absorbed in each other's embrace and they knew that from that moment on they were united for better or for worse.