Chapter Forty-One: A Reunion For A Life Time

"Hi My name is Kate Hendricks, I'm here for Dominic Terry, I'm his daughter." Katie says to the nurse attendant that was stationed at the ICU's front desk. The lady, who name tag says Selina looked Katie over from head to toe, a blush spreading on her cheeks. She knew she looked rugged, after being on a plane from almost 10 hours and going straight here from the Airport, not even bothering to tell anyone, she knew she looked wrinkled and disheveled. She tosses her head over in the waiting area and sees Shawn already dozing in one of the chairs, his snores carrying over to her. " Please can I see him." She says turning back to the Nurse, a whine in her voice. She gives Katie one more look over  and types away on her computer, trying to pull up Dom's file.

 

"Katie? Is that you?" An all too familiar voice says from behind her, She freezes, a gasps stuck in her throat. She turns slowly and stares.Han stares at Katie, not believing his eyes. Was she really there? was she really standing there before him? It has been three years since he saw her but she still looked the same, only older and minus a pink strip. " Is that really you?" He whispers as he slowly walks up to her. He watches as her eyes widen, the hunger in them matching his own. She opens her mouth to speak but Selina, the nurse attendant cuts him off.

 

"AH Yes Dominic Terry, He is just getting out of surgery, I'll let the doctor know you guys are here and he'll be right in to give you an update.Oh hello Mr Chan, You here for Dom as well." She says spying Han. He smiles wide at Selina and Nods.

 

"Yeah the rest of the crew is outside parking the car, I came in first to check on him. I see you've meet his daughter, she just rushed over here from Tokyo." He says nodding to Katie who just smiles shyly at the Nurse. She smiles back and excuses herself, going off to find Dom's Doctor. Han turns back to Katie to find her staring at him. He smiles wide and takes a step, his heart constricting when she steps back from him.

 

"KATIE!"  Mia's voice cuts through the air, making Shawn startle awake. Katie turns toward the sliding glass door and barely has time to hold out her arms when her aunt comes barrelinginto her, grabbing her up into a huge hug. " Oh Thank god you are here, He will be so happy when he wakes up." she says. Katie clings to her Aunt, tears part happy and sad spill from her eyes. From the corner of her vision she sees Han walking over to Shawn.

 

Shawn stares like he's seen a ghost as Han walks over to him, A nervous air to him. He opens his mouth to speak but Shawn doesn't give him a chance, he just steps over to him and pulls his closest friend into a hug, not caring how it looked. Han grips his friend tight, relief flooding through him.

 

"S**t I thought I'd never see you again, what are you doing here?" Han says letting go of him. Shawn laughs and plops back down in the hospital chair, Han folding himself into one right across from him. Shawn studies him.

 

" Its been five years and you still look the same, though your hair is longer." was all Shawn says. Han laughs and brushes his traitorous hair out of his eyes, tucking it behind his ear. " I came here cuz I wanted to see you in person, Neela and Twinkie say hi by the way." He says. Han smiles as he thinks of the others he had had to leave behind.

 

"How is Twinkie? Still chasing after the Native women?" Han says laughter in his voice, Shawn just shakes his head, his eyes darting to Katie who is currently being bombarded with hugs from Lisa and Bryan.

 

"Nawh man, I think he is still pining after my sister.". Han flinches, his body going rigid at his words. Shawn gives him a leveled. look. "Relax, they never went out, she's too hung up on you I think to ever give anyone else a chance." He reassures him. Han smiles and looks down. " Han I told you, I don't mind you two being together, Plus she's turning twenty one next month, There's nothing really I can say about it now, now is there?" He says. Han looks back at Katie. She was turning twenty one this year wasn't she? She was no longer the young girl from his memory.

 

Katie hugs Bryan with all her might, The smells of oil and old spice washing over her. Her tears were still streaming down her face and they land softly on the back of his shirt, making dark green splotches that spread. She hadn't realized just how much she missed his hugs until he was hugging her close. She hadn't realized just how much she missed them all until they were all standing around her, their reunion almost as tearful as their farewell had been. Bryan finally lets go of her and smiles down at her.

 

" Look at you, No more pink strip?" He says fingering her hair where the pink highlight use to be. She smiles and laughs, shaking her head.

 

"It was time to grow up some, the Pink wasn't helping." she says, He nods

 

" I like the new look, you look all grown up now. no more rebellious teenager." He teases making her laugh and hug him again. " We missed you Kit." He whispers into her hair.

 

"I'm looking for someone related to Dominic Terry?" A gravely voice says from behind them making them pull apart, the others following suit. Standing in front of the doors to the ICU was a Doctor in scrubs, in his late fifties, holding a clipboard as he lifts his head. " Oh I see, are you all here for Mr, Terry?" The family nods " Right well the surgery went perfectly," He says as the family breaths a sigh of relief, making the doctor smile,  "We were able to stop the internal bleeding, and the swelling in his brain is already decreasing, We want to keep him here for a few days until we are certain that the swelling is has gone down significantly." He informs them. Katie steps away from the family, a small grim frown on her worried face.

 

"Can we see him?" She asks, asking the question that was on everyone mind. The doctor looks at all of them, just as Han and Shawn join them. He nods his head.

 

"Yes you can see him, he is starting to wake up but please Two at a Time. He's in room A4" The doctor says, he excuses himself as his pager goes off, requesting his presence immediately. Katie turns to look at her family, trying hard not to look at Han.

 

" Well who goes first?" Han asks, noticing that Katie wouldn't look at him. Mia, ever the observer notices it immediately and smiles.

 

"Well since it was you too that got into the crash you should go see him first, Take Katie, He will want to know she is here." She says Pushing Han towards Katie much to her displeasure. Han looks at Katie and smiles, nodding.

 

"Sure, lets go." He says heading toward theglass doors. Selina hits a button and the doors swing outwards, permitting their entrance. The enter and the doors swoosh close behind them, stale disinfected air blowing at their backs. They walk along the ICU in silence, Han's hands going sweaty at just how close she was standing next to him. Noticing a door marked supplies he, without thinking, grabs her hand and tugs her toward it, opening the door and pushing them both inside. She yanks her wrist away, rubbing at it and giving him a harsh glare.

 

"What the F**k Han, Have you lost  your mind." She hisses trying to push past him to leave the room.he just blocks her enters making her almost snarl with anger. " Let, Me, Go." She says in a deadly tone. Han just shakes his head.

 

" Not until we talk, Last time we were in this hospital, things between us were dicey. I-" His sentience fades away as he sees her poisonous glare. He swallows. " I just want to know if things are OK between us." He mutters looking down, dropping his arm. She moves like she is going to bolt out of the room but pauses.

 

"I don't know Han I really Don't know, right now my main focus is to see Dom, everything else is a side note." She says and opens the door, pausing before she leaves she looks at him, her Bright green eyes more dazzling then he has ever seen them. " I'm sorry Han." He smiles and nods his head, grabbing the door to follow her out.

 

" I understand, I shouldn't have rushed you like that." He says and follows her to room A4. At the door he sees her still, her hands slightly shaking as she peers in. From the top of her head he could just make out a figure laying in a hospital bed. He hears her take a deep breath and with shaky hands she opens the door. The soft beep beeping of a machine greets their ears as they slip in, Dom laying unnaturally still in the hospital bed, the beeping machine monitoring his heart rate, showing he had a steady beat. Han hears her soft intake of breath as she looks upon her father, rushing toward him, grabbing the chair near his bed and dragging it closer, dropping into it so she could sit by his side.

 

"Dom?" She whispers, grabbing his hand. Han walks over and stands behind her, resting his hands on the back of the chair, leaning on it for support. Dom groans and moves his head slightly, his eyelids fluttering as he slowly opens them, Groggy eyes focusing on her.

 

"Katie? what, what are you doing here?" He slurs, the pain meds in his system making him slightly loopy. Katie smiles, tears forming in her eyes as she squeezes his hand, her smile widening when he returns the pressure.

 

" I rushed back to L/A as soon as Bryan told me what happened. What did you think I would just let you get away with hurting yourself?' She says sternly. Dom gives her a weak, loopy smile and laughs.

 

"No I didn't think you would. Are you here to stay?" He asks, His eyes wandering over to Han and he gives him a small smile. " Hey you OK?" He asks. Han nods

 

"Yeah just a slight concussion, a broken rib, again and a badly sprained wrist." He says. Katie starts and looks up at him, finally noticing the tanish colored brace on his left wrist, and the way he held himself carefully, trying not to shift his left side. She shakes her head.

 

"What is with you and breaking ribs. should we put you in a bubble for protection?" She teases giving him a genuine smile. Her smile takes his breath away and he smiles back at her. " oh and to answer your question, yes I am here to stay, as long as I can still sleep in my room." She says quickly turning back to her father.

 

" You are more then welcome to come home, It hasn't really been the same without you." Dom says groggily. She smiles and getting up she gingerly gives him a hug, yelpping slightly when he wraps his arms around her and crushes her to him.

 

"I'm not some delicate flower Katie you can give me a proper hug." He whispers to her making her giggle and hug him harder.

 

 

**************

 

 

Han turns on the kitchen sink and rinses out his cereal bowl, the sounds of Squealing girls filters down from Katie's room making him shake his head. As soon as the family had gotten back from visiting Dom Melina had come barreling out of her House and ran across the street, tackling Katie to the ground in a happy squealing fit making the others laugh.

 

"So tell me more about this Twinkie Guy you constantly wrote about." Melina says around a handful of buttered popcorn. The two girls were sprawled across her room, Melina on her bed, Katie in the new bean bag chair Melina had bought her. " Did you two ever date?" She asks shoveling another buttery mouthful into her mouth. Katie sticks her tongue out and shakes her head.

 

" He was my best friend down there, I wish he had come up, you two would have loved eachother," She says, her dodging the question does not go unnoticed and Melina raises and eyebrow. "Alright NO we never dated, I couldn't do that to him." She says with a sigh snuggling into the bean bag, Melina's raised eyebrow does not shift as she stares at her best friend, wanting more details.

 

"And why is that? don't make me wrestle it out of you." She says putting down the popcorn. Katie studies her best friend. Gone was the over the top Gothic style that had so defined Melina in high school. Remnants of the look were still there, black lipstick, dark eyeshadow. The most shocking thing about her though was the fact that she radically changed her hair color from dark brown almost black a firery bright red. "Oui chicka you still in there? why you staring at me?" Melina says snapping her fingers in her face waking her from her study session, a blush spreading on her cheeks.

 

"Sorry I was just staring, you look good as a red head." She says absently. " And I couldn't do that to him because Melina I am still in love with Han." She admits. Melina's eyes widen with slight surprise before nodding, anotherhandful of popcorn being shoved into her mouth. " Alright enough popcorn you are going to turn into one." She teases snatching the bowl from her. Melina swallows her handful and grins at her.

 

" I figured you were still in love with him, just by the way you would constantly avoid talking about him." She says. "How are things between you two anyway?" She asks. Katie sighs and closes her eyes, a headache forming. Here she was home for a grand total of 10 hours and already she was stressed and weighted down by old memories.

 

"I don't know how things are between us, we havent talked, I've been avoiding him." She says opening her eyes and looking at her best friend. " What if things are different between us Melina, I mean Things ARE different. I'm older, he's older, I've changed and so hasn't he, I mean the last thing I said to him before I left the very last thing I told him was that I wish I had never met him. What if he hasn't forgiven me." She says tears of anxiety rushing to her eyes. Melina slides off the bed and Katie moves over for her as she wraps her in a sisterly hug, wiping her tears away.

 

"Katie I know for a fact that he still loves you, Did you know that in the three years since you've been gone he hasn't gone on a single date, Unless you count me cuz  I would sometimes drag him out of the house for fresh air. The guy would do nothing but work, home, mope around, more work, sleep. i almost died of boredom just watching him." She says Katie blinks up at her.

 

"Really?" She says her voice so small and timid she barely recognized it Melina nods

 

"yes Really, What I think you should do is go march your little a*s over to his room and talk to him." She says. Katie hugs her best friend hard.

 

"I'm so glad I have you back." She whispers letting her go.

 

"You have ME back, Girl its the other way around. I'm glad I have YOU back. now shoo, go get your man back too" She says pushing Katie off the bean bag. Katie tumbles to the floor with a squeal making Melina Squeal with laughter with her.

 

 

  **************

 

 

Han walks up the stairs, startled when Katie's door opens and she emerges, freezes when her eyes land on him, rooting him to the spot. A bright blush spreads on her cheeks and she looks down, closing her door softly behind her.

 

"Can I talk to you?" She whispers, not looking at him. He nods his head, realizes she wouldn't see and clears his throat.

 

"Um sure, do you want to go down stairs or-"

 

"You're room is fine, more privacy that way." She says in a rush, her blush spreading. Wordlessly Han goes to his room and opens the door, alllowng her to go in first. He closes the door behind him and flicks on the lights, watching as she takes in his room, nothing had changed since the last time she had seen it. "It's funny how nothing in the house has changed but really Everything has." Shesays turning around to look at him. Her bright green eyes hypnotizing him as they always have. He nods his head, he knew exactly what she meant. He goes over and sits in his desk chair, letting her hesitantly sit on his bed.

 

"What did you want to talk about?" He asks, nerves pooling in his stomach. He watches as she wages a battle in her mind, wrestling with what to say. She sucks in her bottom lip and bites it, a new nervous habit that makes her look sexy without even trying to be. He mental groans as desire slowly fills his veins, rusty from lack of use in the past three years.

 

" I missed you Han, Like Really missed you. At first It wasn't that bad, I mean It was great to talk about you to The others and hear stories about your life there, But Then-"She stops to pull in a shaky breath, " Then I accidentally kissed Twinkie when I was drunk and don't worry he stopped it and said that he wasn't going to do anything like that when I was drunk,  the next day, I remembered the kiss and instead of thinking of Twinkie all I could think about was every time we kissed. All I could think about was you and it hurt. This crushing feeling crashed into me and it never stopped. The past three years have been hell. And I know I cant expect you to care not after what I last said to you. But Han I-" She stops suddenly, her face flaming a deep red and she stares hard at the floor. Tears she didn't realize she had shed fell silently from her eyes.

 

Han stares at her in stunned shock, Her emotions raw and clear in her broken voice. He slips out of the chair and drops to his knees in front of her, She dares a peak at him and his dark eyes capture her, and she is unable to look away. He lifts his hand and wipes away her tears, resting his hand on her cheek. She sighs and leans into his touch. his broken heart starting to repair.

 

" I love you Katie, That has never Changed, It will never change. Forever remember?" He whispers to her. She opens her bright green eyes and looks deep into his, her love mirroring his. With a sharp tug she draws him to her, her lips crushing his. A growl escapes him as he wraps his arms around her, holding her close, her body wriggling against him as he leans forward. She breaks the kiss and moves back, grabbing the front of his shirt making him stumble and awkwardly climb onto the bed. Pressing down on her, her body intoxicating beneath him as she once again crushes her lips to his. Her lips moves furiously against his, urgent. NO! He knew what she wanted but he once again couldn't. He pulls back. "Katie" was all he had to say for her to stop, her hand halfway to his belt. She huffs angrily before pushing him off, he rolls onto the other side of the bed with no resistance.

 

"Are you f*****g Kidding me!" She whispers, her voice a quiet screech. "Are you rejecting me? After everything I just told you! How I was LOST without you, how I couldn't even be with another guy without thinking of you are you are seriously REJECTING ME!" He voice getting louder toward the end. Han winces.

 

"Katie, after everything we have been through, we can Finally be together, you are no longer that seventeen year old girl, we can actually be together. Do You really want our first memory to be jumping into bed together? Because I know I don't." He says calmly, She gives him a poisonous glare so full of venom he shivers under it.

 

"I'm done," she hisses, " I'm done trying, Everytime I try to be with you Han you push me away. Again and Again you have hurt me. Hell you were hurting me all the way in Tokyo. You didn't so much as Try to call me, you would only call Shawn or even Twink. but NEVER me, you never even wrote. the others did. Do you know how much that killed me? I tried to block you out, I really did, I did everything to try to stop loving you, I tried being with other guys I really did, I hoped maybe they would block your memory out. Hell I never told anyone but I tried with Twinkie, and I actually was starting to like him but Your Memory- Your F*****G memory wouldn't go away. I LOVE YOU HAN. I am so madly IN love with you. And still you reject me." She says, tears of despair running unchecked down her cheeks. Han just stares at her

 

"It's not the right time Katie" Was all he could say. She laughs a long cold humorless laugh.

 

"You know what, I'm done, I'm so f*****g done. Take all the f*****g time you need, because it doesn't matter anymore. I'm done,", His blood freezes in his veins as he looks at her, her green eyes growing cold.

 

"Done with what?" He asks.

 

"With this, with whatever we are or once were. I'm done, I'm moving on." she says and with that she jumps of his bed and flees his room, slamming her door across the hall, but not before he could hear a heart wrenching sob escape her. Han falls back on his bed stunned His newly repaired heart smashing painfully against his broken ribs, shattering to tiny pieces. His breath hisses out in a shaky breath as a cold seeps into his bones that had nothing to do with the temperature.

 

Did he truly just lose the love of his life, Did he make a mistake rejecting her?