When You Were Mine: Joe and Katherine's Love Story (A Joey McIntyre Fanfiction)

20

When they finally stop to take a breath, Katherine looks into his gorgeous blue eyes. "What are you doing here Joe?"

"Kate, you invited me to come spend Thanksgiving with you, remember?"

"Oh my God, I totally forgot. But I'm so glad you didn't. I've needed to see you for so long. I've needed to touch you, to hold you, to kiss you for so long. I've missed you." She begins kissing him again. Her tongue mingles with his and it sends the most amazing feeling running through her body. "Joe take me inside and make love to me, please."

"As you wish my beautiful Kate."

They make love and everything seems perfect between them again. They whispers words of love and need to one another. It's beautiful and so emotional for them both. Joe never wants it to end. He doesn't ever want to be away from her again. She's his everything. She's all he'll ever need and all he'll ever want. "I've missed you so much Kate. I know I've been away from you and missed you before. But the last few months, knowing you're not ever coming home has been a different kind of missing you. You have my heart and my soul with you. I gave those to you years ago and living without them hasn't been easy."

Katherine feels just a little uncomfortable at his confession. She feels like maybe he's trying to make her feel bad for leaving. But she doesn't want to ruin their beautiful moment. "Well you're here now and we have a little time together. So let's just enjoy it, okay Joe."

The next day Katherine has a few things to take care of at the University. Joe asks if he can come with her, he'd really like to see where his precious Kate spends her days now. She's of course happy to show him around.

Katherine hadn't mentioned Joe to anyone at school or work. It wasn't that she was trying to hide the fact she'd been in a very serious relationship before leaving Boston. It was just that she'd hidden their entire relationship, never being allowed to speak of it in public.

A few of the other grad students were at the school today, finishing up a few things in the lab before leaving for a couple of days. Joe couldn't help but notice one student in particular. He was a pretty good looking guy, who couldn't seem to keep his eyes off his Kate.

"Jessica, Caleb this is Joe. Joe, this is Jessica and Caleb. Joe's my....um friend from back home." Joe looks at her, he hated hearing her call him her "friend". They hadn't officially broken up when she left, they'd never actually discussed what they were now. But he never considered her his "friend". He wasn't in love with his "friends". Katherine sees the look on Joe's face.

Jessica of course knows who Joe is. "Oh my God you're Joey McIntyre. It's so nice to meet you. I'm a huge fan. Katherine, you never said you were friends with Joey McIntyre." Jessica shakes his hand, but then doesn't let it go. "It's nice to meet you too Jessica. Yeah Kate and I go way back. Caleb it's nice to meet you too. I hope you guys are taking good care of my friend here. She's a long way from home."

Katherine hears his tone at the use of the word friend, she can tell he's unhappy about how she introduced him.

Caleb is unaware of the tension between them when he speaks. "It's nice to meet you. You have nothing to worry about Joe, we're taking care of Katherine. She's definitely found her place here. We're very lucky to have her."

"I'm going to show Joe around the campus, but we'll see you both tonight right?" Jessica and Caleb both say yes. "Come on Joe I want to show you the aquarium before we leave." He says his goodbyes to her friends and follows her out the door.

Joe enjoys the tour of the aquarium and the campus. It's good to see her in her element for a change. He can see how happy she is here. Working towards her dream. But he can't get that one word out of his head, friend. That one word dominates his thoughts for the rest of the day. He doesn't say anything to her about it until they get back to her condo.

"I hope it's okay that I accepted an invitation to have a "Friendsgiving" with the other students who aren't going home for the holiday."

"Yeah that's fine. Just as long as I'm with you, friend."

She hears his tone, again. "Don't be like that Joe. You know you're way more than a friend to me. How else am I supposed to introduce you? I've only ever been your "friend", in public."

Joe knows what she says is true. But he figured things would be different now that they were managing themselves. "Kate, what am I to you now? More than a friend, but less than a boyfriend? I know my feelings for you have not changed. I'm still madly in love with you. I still want to spend the rest of my life with you. Has all that changed for you?"

"No. Joe I love you as much as I ever have. But I don't know where we fit into each other's lives now. That doesn't mean I don't want us to fit, I'm just so unsure how we can. But I do know that I want to enjoy our time together. We only have a few days, let's make the most of it. Please."

Hearing her plead with him makes him feel bad that she even feels like she has too. He knows her heart and he knows it's connected to him in a way no other ever has been or ever will be again. Their bond will never be broken, time, distance, or status of their relationship cannot break this bond.

"Okay Kate. Let's make the most of it, starting now." He says as he reaches for her.

They make love once now and again in the shower before they go to Thanksgiving dinner with her friends.

Before they get to her professor's house Joe says something that catches Katherine by surprise. "You know that Caleb guy has a major thing for you."

She laughs, "Caleb? No way. We're just friends Joe."

"Kate, come on, you can't tell me you don't see how he looks at you."

Katherine thinks about it, "I don't know what you think you're seeing but Caleb doesn't look at me any differently than Jor...Donnie does. As a friend."

"You almost said Jordan. And you'd be one hundred percent correct. Caleb looks at you exactly the same way Jordan does. Like a man who's looking at someone he wants soooooo bad, but knows he can't have." Joe nods his head when he says this. Katherine shakes hers back at him. "Joe you're just being insecure because there's this new guy in my life and you know nothing about him. But I'm telling you, Caleb doesn't have any kind of thing for me. So please drop it."