[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter 25
December 24th, 2005

Win sat in the airport, her legs crossed, jouncing nervously as she looked up at the clock again. Her plane was running two hours late and they had just delayed the first boarding for another thirty minutes. She wanted to be in the air before midnight. Wanted to be the air before Christmas hit. She didn’t know why, but she just wanted to be out of there. Out of the proximity of AJ, out of his reach.
She wanted to fall headfirst back into the abyss for morbid reasons. She’d never allowed herself to remember that she’d been abandoned, or raped, or anything taken away from her. She never allowed herself to think about them, her parents, real, fake, surrogate, fantasy or otherwise. She wanted to be that little child again and learn about what her parents were like and what they did and said. The way her mother wore her hair. The books her father read for pleasure and those he considered research. The color of her little brother and sisters’ eyes. Whether they liked animals, had pierced ears, if knew they had an older sister.
She looked up at the clock again, she’d be boarding soon, hopefully. She looked down in her lap at the images of the people she had printed out. These were her parents. She knew that much, but she wanted so much more. At what point would it be enough? She didn’t know, but she wanted to try and find out.

“When did she leave?” Nick asked.
“I don’t know, um, the guy at the desk said she left two hours ago,” AJ said as he ran his hands through his hair for the sixth time since he read the note. He was sitting at the table across from Nick who was looking over the note.
“This is all she left then. I would guess she went to the airport, where else was she gonna go?” Nick asked, setting the paper down on the table.
“I don’t know, I didn’t think she’d really leave,” AJ shook his head and rubbed a hand over his eyes.
“People do things they normally wouldn’t do in the face of shock. She’s not acting herself.” Nick replied softly, not knowing what else to say.
“You think she’s doing this because she wants to, or because she feels she has to?” AJ looked over at Nick.
“I couldn’t tell you that. I think she’s confused, don’t you think you’d be confused?” AJ looked back at the floor again.
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“You could go to bed, get up in the morning, celebrate Christmas and wait for her to call you,” Nick replied.
“Or?” AJ asked, perking up, sitting up in his chair.
“Go to the airport, track her down and bring her back.” AJ smiled and jumped up.
“Come on, you call Howie, I’ll find out all the flights that were leaving tonight for the US,” AJ grabbed his phone again and started making calls.
Before long the entire tour was alerted to Win’s take off. Daemon was especially concerned because he cared about Win as much as the guys and he didn’t want to lose such a great person to work with. Aside from that, she was on contract with Clive Davis and he was brutal when you broke contract. Daemon did not want to see her sued to within an inch of her life.
AJ’s room looked like a veritable 911 center with everyone milling around on phones calling taxis, bus stations, trains and airports to find Win. Howie and Kevin hooked up their lap tops and looked for flight times. AJ paced, too nervous to do anything else.
“Do you think that there is any possibility that she’s still here?” AJ asked Brian who was carrying a sleeping Winnie around in his arms.
“It’s been snowing non stop for like three days, it’s a blizzard out there now, I doubt that anyone is getting out of here tonight.” Brian replied, patting the baby’s back.
“I knew I shouldn’t have left her alone, I knew I shouldn’t have.”
“It’s not your fault AJ, she’s going through a lot, and you were there for her. You couldn’t do much else.”
“Still, I wish I’d been able to do something else.”
“What are you going to do when you find her?”
“I don’t know.”
“I got it! Win booked a flight this afternoon on United Airways, flight 407, Paris to Chicago, leaving at 9:06, gate 35. It’s been delayed and estimated to leave at 11:47 because of the snow.” Howie called over the crowd.
“You found it, really?” AJ perked up.
“It’s the only flight at the closest airport that’s leaving for the US tonight. I also had Nick call up and confirm Win’s ticket, to make sure I had it, and it was right. You better hurry, you only have about thirty minutes to catch her.” Howie replied.
“Then I’m going,” AJ grabbed his coat and was out the door before anyone could tell him any different.