A/N: Once again, thanks for the comments, reviews and encouragement. It keeps the muse working hard.

Reunion

Chapter 14

"Geez, Cat. Call him, for God's sake." Catherine looked up from her office desk to see Tess leaning against her door frame giving her a disapproving look. "It's been two months and you're a walking zombie."

Catherine averted her eyes back to her desk. "I'm just tired. Working a lot."

"Ya, think!" Tess said. "Like … ten hours a day, seven days a week."

"Lots of people out sick or taking time off. Someone has to cover."

"Yeah, but it doesn't always have to be you," Tess exclaimed.

Catherine heaved a sigh. The last thing she wanted right now was to get into another debate about Vincent. "Not now, Tess. Please."

"Alright. But I'm just saying …" Tess said, the meaning obvious to her unfinished sentence. "I'll see you tomorrow. Get out of here. Go home and get some sleep."

"Promise," Catherine said, reaching up and crossing her heart with her index finger.

Tess gave Catherine an impatient look and shook her head. Then turned and walked away.

Catherine took in a deep breath. She hadn't been sure she'd be able to hold it together before Tess gave up and left. She looked down at her hands as they started to tremble with exhaustion and despair. Clenching her fists together she fought the tears that wanted to spill from her eyes.

I'm not going to cry. I am not going to cry, she repeated the mantra in her mind. She gritted her teeth and forced her attention back on the patient's chart in front of her. She knew she wouldn't be leaving the hospital any time soon.

"How's Catherine doing?" JT asked Vincent who hovered over his laptop computer perched on the breakfast bar.

Vincent whipped his head up so quickly his neck cracked. "What?" He was wound so tight he thought he might snap.

"Sorry," JT said. "I meant, Catherine, our pregnant alpaca."

"Oh." Vincent let out breath. "Alex says she's doing great."

"Okay. Good to know," JT said. He paused and then said, "And speaking of Catherine …"

Vincent fixed JT with a glare. "Don't go there, JT. That's off limits."

"One of the things you hired me to do was to protect you. Right?"

"Yeah," Vincent responded, guardedly.

"Well, you didn't limit who I was to protect you from. And right now, I need to protect you from yourself."

"Oh, please," Vincent drawled out, giving JT an eye roll.

"All you've been doing for two months is working your ass off. You hardly eat. I don't know when you sleep, if at all. You're your own worst enemy right now. I'm sworn to protect you. If you don't quit beating up on yourself I might just have to take you down."

Vincent let out a snort. "You and what army?"

"As far as I remember, when we spar I usually beat you two out of three times. So don't push me, bud," JT said, a half-grin on his face.

Vincent relaxed at his best friend's attempt to lighten the mood. And he did appreciate his effort. "I stand notified of a potential ass-whopping if I don't shape-up."

JT stepped over and leaned against the breakfast bar. "You need to do something. You sent her away. You need to get her back. It's not her responsibility."

"It was for her own good. She's better off without me," Vincent said, averting his eyes back to his laptop.

"Bullshit," JT said. "You're the best thing that ever happened to her. And she's the best thing that ever happened to you."

"Not true. I've pretty much messed her up."

"That's a load of crap. You forget that you and I became friends in The Sand Box before you met her. I saw what happened to you when you two got together. And she was floating as far off the ground as you were. You guys are meant for each other."

"That was a long time ago. Things are different."

"There is only one thing that's changed," JT said, "and that's the fact that seven years have gone by. Don't lose another seven." JT pushed off from the counter and walked to the stairs, climbing up to the second floor, leaving Vincent alone.

Vincent looked around the huge living area. The space was hollow and lonely without Catherine. His heart ached at the thought she'd never share their dream that he'd built. Blowing out a long breath he turned his attention back to his computer.

Catherine laid in her bed, staring up at her bedroom ceiling. The night lights of the city drifted in through her window, shadows dancing off the ceiling and walls. Another restless night of little sleep awaited her and she wasn't looking forward to it. She rolled to her side and settled her head into her pillow.

Reaching over she pulled the soft, silk shirt toward her, bringing it gently to her face. It was the same shirt she'd worn the day Vincent had met her in the coffee shop. The same shirt that had brushed up against him as she slept in the jet with his arm wrapped around her and when he carried her from the jet to the SUV and eventually to her bed. She breathed him in, his scent still lingering on the fabric. She hadn't washed it, trying to preserve that one little bit of Vincent left to her. But time was stealing away even this part of Vincent as his scent grew fainter each day. Time - the unrepentant thief of all things important - was taking its toll on her once again.

Closing her eyes Catherine dared to allow the vision of the snow covered mountains and pastures to visit her. It was a risky indulgence because the glorious beauty always made her sad. But it called to her and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't lessen its pull. Always, Vincent was on the porch, the incredible log home rising up behind him, smoke curling from the chimney. But he stood solitary on the portico, his eyes searching the horizon, the ache of loneliness filling his face. She knew that ache. It was like a dagger piercing her soul, leaving a festering wound that would never heal.

She buried her head further into the shirt, knowing that morning was a long, torturous way off.

The night was a canvas of infinite stars. Even the silhouettes of the mountains were visible, the starlight was so intense. Vincent's slow, steady breath turned into steam and drifted upward in the frigid air.

He stepped down from the porch and walked away from the house to get a better view, craning his neck to take in the vastness of the universe. Other than a few stray lights glimmering through the trees from houses miles away, the night was dark, but lit brilliantly. Like always in the middle of winter the night was deathly quiet, only the crunch of the snow under his boots meeting his ears. Every so often the low hoot of an owl or the yapping of a coyote far in the distance could be heard, both searching for a meal in order to survive in the dead of winter. The Central Oregon nights, more than anything, had convinced him to spend his life here.

Making the best of another sleepless night Vincent leaned against a fence post and gazed across the moonless sky. He turned east and his thoughts sailed across the mountains and plateaus, the plains and farmland, all the way to Lake Michigan and the Windy City gracing its shore - to Catherine. He wondered if she ever looked up into the night sky and how many of the same stars she could see. He hadn't even had a chance to share this miracle with her - to let her see a universe of stars in all their glory.

But even an infinite universe of stars wasn't enough to fill the empty chasm in his chest.

Catherine blew out a frustrated breath that pushed the long curl of hair away from her face as she stared in the mirror.

"You … look … hot," Tess said, standing behind her.

Sheathed in a spaghetti-strap, form fitting, black cocktail dress with matching three inch heels Catherine had to admit she looked pretty darn good.

The winter holidays had come and gone and she had managed to avoid all of the parties and gatherings traditional to the season. When one worked all the time one didn't have time to party.

But Tess hadn't given in when it came to New Year's Eve. She'd dragged Catherine through the gauntlet of spa, hair, manicure, pedicure, waxing and everything imaginable in her effort to bolster Catherine's spirits and guilt-trip her into coming to the hospital's New Year's Eve party. Sure, she looked good, even great, but to what end? Still, Tess had made the effort, so she would go and do her best to have a good time.

Maybe this was what she needed after all. She was tired of the emptiness and depression that had dogged her over the past months. Maybe this was the beginning of a change. She nodded to herself in the mirror. Yes. It was a new year and she could resolve to make it exactly that - a new year. Let the past year be done and over with. Catherine forced a smile and turned to Tess.

"Let's go knock 'em dead," she said.

Tess grinned. "That's my girl."

Vincent loosened the burgundy tie around the collar of his crisp, white shirt and unbuttoned the jacket of his Armani suit. JT sat across from him in the Learjet, Joe assuming piloting duties.

"Whew," Vincent said. "That was some negotiation."

"Yeah, but you kicked butt!" JT said. "Congratulations. That's got to be one of the biggest contracts you've ever won. And Manhattan isn't that far from Corporate. It'll be easy to service that account for a long time."

"Nice to land a big one every now and then," Vincent said, unenthusiastically. He was exhausted and what normally would have been an exhilarating experience - the design of a complex proposal and the negotiation of a lucrative contract - seemed like another mundane day.

"You know what tonight is, don't you?" JT asked.

Vincent gave him a puzzled look.

"Oh, come on! You can't be that out-of-it."

"Sorry. Don't have a clue."

"Dude, it's New Year's Eve. The time of renewal. Time to start fresh."

"Maybe," Vincent said. "I suppose it's not a good start to spend it alone in a jet flying from New York to Oregon - no offense to present company."

JT chuckled. "None taken." He raised an impish eyebrow. "I took the liberty of stashing a bottle of champaign in the fridge. You can toast in the new year. And since we're flying west, you can toast midnight as we cross each time zone. Hell, by the time we hit Oregon you'll be sloshed."

Vincent let out a full-throated laugh and saw JT smile at his response. JT was the best and he was grateful to have him as a friend.

Time for renewal. Time to start fresh. Maybe for most people. Maybe even for him.

Vincent scrubbed his hand through his hair. He was so tired of feeling empty, lifeless, of just going through the motions. He'd thought those feelings would have eventually evaporated with time. But who was he fooling. He'd spent seven years waiting for time to erase his feelings for Catherine and even when he thought she was dead time didn't take care of that problem for him. And time wouldn't take care of this problem, either.

He had to be the one to deal with these feelings of emptiness and despair. He had to do something - to act. He couldn't sit around any longer. That plan just wasn't working.

New Year's Eve. Time for a change, he thought.

Vincent snapped his head up to JT. "Where are we?"

"Probably passing over Western Pennsylvania about now," JT responded.

Vincent pulled out his phone and busied himself, his fingers flying across the screen. After a minute he looked up at JT. "Call Corporate. Have them change our flight plan. We're making a detour."