Author's Note: I started this literally six months ago, but got stuck. I just wanted to get them back on the right track. I finally did, so consider this a reimagining of the start of their reconciliation.

Second Chances

Laura sighed, rubbing her eyes against the darkness in the room. She had been trying to go to sleep for hours to no avail. Her thoughts were tumbling in her mind, keeping her awake. If she wasn't worrying about Spencer and how he was doing on his first night at boarding school, she was thinking of Nikolas and felt the suffocating grief take over. Then she was thinking of Elizabeth being in the hospital, or how Lulu was coping with the loss of her and Dante's embryo, or if Tracy had gone to look for Luke.

Or if Kevin was thinking about her.

She sighed again.

The trip across the Atlantic had done a lot to lessen the anger she had first felt when she realized Kevin had been writing about her. Being without him this last week had been unexpectedly hard. She missed him. She had almost called or texted him over a dozen times, but she didn't know what to say.

She pulled herself up to a sitting position and grabbed her phone from the nightstand, inwardly groaning as she saw the time on the hotel clock: 3 A.M.

She turned the phone over in her hands as she gathered up the nerve to... what? Call? No, she wasn't ready to hear his voice, and she'd probably say too much. And what time was it in Port Charles? She counted backwards on her fingers, 2, 1, 12, 11, 10, 9. 9PM. He would be up.

She touched the code to unlock the phone screen, clicked on 'Messages,' and clicked on his name. She'd done that so many times in the past week it had almost become a muscle memory. And there was the last text message he'd sent to her before she'd left. "I'm so sorry. Give me another chance." The brightness of the screen against the darkness of the room made the words stand out even more.

She felt her nerves failing again as the blinking text cursor let her know she still hadn't written anything. Her fingers typed out the first thing that came to her.

"I miss you"

She didn't give herself time to delete it. She hit the send button and threw the phone to the foot of the bed, hoping her insomnia-induced impulse was the right one.

Kevin shifted in his chair, trying to ease the dull ache in his back. He was reading over the same section of the case file he had been trying to finish for the last hour. He had a mild headache, his eyes were tired, and he couldn't stop thinking about Laura.

He set his pen down, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples. You are an idiot, he told himself. This was becoming his daily mantra. He was trying to give Laura the space she needed, but the longer he went without any communication between them, the more he missed her and the more the fear grew that she wouldn't give him a chance to make things right.

He needed a break. (Although the few stray notes he'd written in the margins of the pages could hardly be called work.) Closing the folder, he got up and headed to the closet to pick out his clothes for tomorrow. A nice, long shower would… well, just give him more time to think about Laura. But at least he would be clean.

He had barely opened the closet door when he heard the ping from his phone. Who would be texting him at this hour on a weeknight? He walked over to pick up the phone and for a few long seconds he thought he was seeing things. But there it was on the screen, unmistakable. A message from Laura.

The relief, happiness – actual giddiness – that he felt as he read her words were a head rush after days and days of regret and, if he were honest with himself, a bit of self-pity.

She missed him. He took a deep breath as the tension eased out of his muscles and a smile formed on his lips. He stared at the message for a few moments longer, his mind silencing the part of him that was unnerved at how a few simple words from Laura could tilt his world on its axis. Again.

He typed his response quickly; short and sincere.

"I miss you, too"

For Laura, it felt like an eternity waiting to hear the chime of an incoming text message. She practically lunged for her phone as soon as the sound echoed in the quiet room.

The laugh that burst from her lips as she read his message was a happy one, as she fell backwards holding the phone to her chest. She stayed like that for a minute, savoring the words as she repeated them in her mind, blocking out everything else that had been keeping her up.

She took a deep breath, and called Kevin.

Kevin barely moved as he continued sitting on the edge of the chair, phone in hand, staring at the small screen as if to will it to send another message from Laura. The phone had a better idea as it vibrated in his hand.

He could hardly believe his luck as he pressed the button to answer the call. "Laura?"

"Hi, Kevin," the quiet, tentative voice on the other line replied. There was an awkward beat of silence.

"Are you okay?" Kevin asked. "Is Spencer okay?"

That was it. That was the Kevin she knew. Laura immediately relaxed, and answered honestly. "I don't know. I mean, he's Spencer. He's unstoppable. And the school seems as secure as I'd hoped. But I don't know, the thought of leaving him..."

"You're an amazing protector to him, Laura. He knows that you're there for him. You don't have to decide anything right now."

"You always know what to say."

"Not always," Kevin said ruefully.

He was rewarded with a soft laugh from Laura. "Well, nobody's perfect."

At the moment, Kevin would be hard-pressed to find a flaw in her, but instead of voicing that thought, he repeated the words he'd said to her before, "I'm sorry, Laura. I never intended to hurt you."

This time Laura was ready to hear him. "I know," she acknowledged.

Kevin let out a silent breath of relief.

"I still have…" Laura paused as she tried to find the right words, "some questions."

"Of course. Anything you want to ask me, I will answer."

"Can I call you tomorrow after I check in on Spencer?"

"Yes."

"He'll be happy to know that I talked to you. He's been asking about you these past few days."

"Spencer? The young man who told me to take my leave?"

Laura smiled at the memory and the amusement in Kevin's voice. "Actually, he likes you quite a bit."

"Well, please let him know that I said hello."

"I will. I should go to sleep if I'm going to be able to wake up in a few hours. Goodnight, Kevin."

"Goodnight, Laura. Sleep well."

She did. Laura still had a smile on her face as she quickly drifted off to the restful slumber that had eluded her since she'd walked out of Kevin's hotel room and bitterly told him goodbye.

Kevin knew there remained a hanging question mark over his relationship with Laura, but he no longer had the fear pressing on his chest that had kept his own nights without her far from peaceful. Laura would call him tomorrow. That was enough for now.