Title: Finding Katie
Author: Bridget
Rating: PG.
Author's Note: Imagine, for a moment, that after Simon left Katie on that plane, she returned home, but there was no Bruno. Imagine also that he re-joined Lily, there was a completely uneventful rescue, and everyone hopped a plane back to the states. That's where this story picks up, and all events that occurred after that day on the plane should be disregarded.
Part 1
Simon glanced across the aisle at Lily and Holden, both clinging tightly to Luc's hands, who was seated between them. Simon smiled, glad to know that things were as they should be.
He settled into his seat, as the airplane prepared to leave the ground, then surprised himself by realizing that he wished Katie was in the empty seat next to him. "That's just because you're lonely and bored," his inner voice immediately rationalized. The familiar sense of resignation set in—he did not miss her, he did not want her, he was not falling for her—when he suddenly wondered why.
Why was it that he had to constantly remind himself that this marriage wasn't real, that he didn't love her? Why was it that he constantly reminded her? It wasn't as if she didn't know, he knew she did, all too well. Yet every time a vaguely romantic situation arose, there it came spilling out of his mouth again. "Katie, I don't love you." "Katie, this isn't forever." But why couldn't it be? Why was he fighting himself so much?
He sighed, as the wheels of the airplane leapt into the air, carrying him, his thoughts, and the rest of the families and couples and broken-hearted singles on board back to their lives at home. Wherever home was.
The rest of the flight was spent alternating between staring blankly out the window, attempting to avoid the whirlwind of thoughts circling his brain, and a restless sleep, with dreams that reflected those thoughts. After they disembarked, he'd said his goodbyes to the Snyders at the airport and headed back to the Lakeview.
He slid the keycard into the door and turned the handle. "Katie?" he called, walking in and dumping his bag on the bed. "Katie?"
"She's not here," came Craig's muffled voice from his half of the suite.
"Oh," Simon replied, again surprising himself at his disappointment.
"Don't you want to know where she's gone?" Craig appeared at the door, smirking, in such a way that Simon realized he probably really didn't.
"Not another island, I hope," he replied humorlessly.
"I wouldn't know, she didn't leaven an address. The only thing she said, as she headed out the door, was that she was leaving you."
"She what?"
"She said that she was leaving you." He turned to walk away, then seemed to remember something. "Oh, there was one other thing." He headed back to his room for a moment, then returned bearing a note. "She said to give you this."
"Thanks…" Simon said, bewildered, watching Craig saunter out of the room. He opened the note. It read, simply,
Simon,
If you want me, you have to find me.
---Katie
Part 2
Katie walked into the sterile room, setting the carrier on the floor as she nudged the door closed with her toe. She shrugged her bag onto the bed, surveying the room carefully. It had been nearly impossible to find a hotel that took pets, and while this wouldn't have been her first choice, that rabbit was her last link to normalcy, and she wasn't about to be without him. "Well, here I am," she addressed the near-empty room, "let's see if he finds me."
He had to find her? What did that mean? Simon read the note again, puzzled. He thought for a moment, then grabbed a tablet and pen from the bedside table. He groaned as he glanced at the top sheet—notes from his phone call to Avondale hangar a few months back, the last time Katie ran off. He tore off the sheet and tossed it, crumpled, onto the bed, and ruefully surveyed the blank page in front of him. For a brief moment he wondered why, why he was doing this—again—why he was look for her, chasing her down when she ran off. It began as a frustrated why—why was she running off and putting him to so much trouble?—but soon turned to a more thoughtful question. Why was she running? And why was he chasing her?
He sighed, not wanting to admit the answer to either. He'd gone so long from one loveless marriage to another, from scam to scam… it was like he had told Katie. There was this pattern, it was so predictable… and she didn't fit it at all. While his other wives had been ice queens at first, Katie wasn't. Where they were sophisticated, she was naive. To them, a marriage—even one begun in all seriousness—was expendable, with no more meaning than a one-night stand. For Katie, even a fake marriage was to be honored.
Ironic, wasn't it? The one whom he hadn't set out to marry, the one who was just supposed to be a quick fling, who was just supposed to be a one-night stand… she was the one who he'd be with. For always.
If he could find her.
There, he'd admitted it. He was chasing her because he wanted to be with her. And she was running because… "because you haven't given her any reason not to," a second inner voice chided the first. Great. He'd been around Katie so long that now he was becoming insane, too. Of course, the second of the dueling voices was right, but that certainly didn't come as a shock. It had really hit him in Malta how much it hurt her, seeing him put everyone before her. But yet… Lily needed him. Lily, whom he thought for so long was the love of his life… but now he knew better. He was always telling her how brave and strong she was… but in his heart of hearts, he knew she wasn't. She was fragile… on her own, she was helpless. Holden was her strength, he was the only one who could b ring peace to her world. On the island, well, Holden wasn't there… and Simon was, ready for the taking. He wondered for a brief moment if that was the way it had been with all of her other love interests; if they had come into the picture when Holden wasn't there, if they too were just placeholders.
Then he shook his head, trying to clear it, knowing that the answer wasn't really significant and certainly wouldn't help him find Katie. Point is, he was helping Lily so that she could find Holden and be whole again, without withering in the process. He'd told Katie as much, he'd thought she'd understood… she was so strong, she had so much fire, she didn't need him to be there like Lily did. And it was nice to be needed.
But apparently somewhere along the line, he'd miscalculated or something… she'd told him, right before he left for Malta, that she could wait. Yet she hadn't. Why was that? What had made her decide that this was the last straw—not back when Lily tagged along on the honeymoon, not when he spent months moping about her, not even when he left for Malta, but his putting Katie on a plane, to ensure her safety? Why was that the breaking point?
He begun to replay that last conversation in Malta in his head, when he was interrupted by the ringing of the phone.
Sighing, he answered, "Hello?"
"Oh, hi Simon, it's Margo. Is Katie there?"
"No, actually she's not," he replied, dreading what he knew would come next.
"Can you have her give me a call when she gets back? Do you know when that will be?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Margo. I… I don't know how to tell you this, but Katie's run off again."
To Be Continued
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