His Forever Flame

23. What Do We Do Now?

The first two weeks drug by. Lauren text him all she could, and every night they skyped for hours. She missed him something terrible and decided she couldn't go five weeks without being in his arms. So, she decided to surprise him for Halloween.

On Friday, she left school at lunch because they were just having a basketball game during the afternoon. She'd bought a plane ticket on Thursday, and she headed out for the airport. Shay was the only one who knew she was coming and had agreed to get her from the airport.

She got to Knoxville and checked in; she only had about thirty minutes to wait before boarding. She knew he'd probably worry when she went MIA for an hour and a half, but in the end it would be worth it.

She turned off her phone as she got ready to board, but before she walked on, she just had this weird feeling that something wasn't right. She went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face praying she wasn't sick. She decided that it might just be better for her and the baby if she just drove.

Since it was just for the weekend, she only had her duffle bag so she didn't have to worry about getting her luggage. She heard the last call, but she didn't get on. She headed back to her car. It was still early enough for her to make the nine hour drive and she hoped she'd feel better along the way. She never once thought about turning her phone back on.

In Chicago, Shay was waiting at the airport. She knew Kelly and Jay would be excited to see her, and Shay loved having a part in the surprise. She had just twenty minutes until her flight would be landing. As she waited, her phone started ringing; it was Kelly.

"Hey Kel," she answered happily.

"Hey. You gotta come in, we got called. Apparently a flight crashed right outside the city and it's all hands on deck."

"Shit. Ok I'm on my way." She let out a sigh after hanging up. She sent Lauren a text for when she would get off the plane and let her know what had happened and that she would either have to call Jay or catch a cab. As she glanced at the flight board, she saw her flight was delayed anyways.

Shay headed to the station not thinking anymore about it. They all geared up and headed out. When they got there, PD was also there. Jay came up to them and gave them the update. He also asked them if they'd heard from Lauren lately because his texts had stopped going through.

Kelly said he hadn't, but Shay just grinned. Both of them looked at her expectantly. "Well since it looks like we'll be here all night, I guess I'll tell. She was going to surprise you and come up for the weekend. I was supposed to get her at the airport, but we got called out to here. When I left, her flight had been delayed."

Jay couldn't quit smiling; he was so glad he was going to get to see her because he had really missed her. Truth be told, he'd been thinking about taking a few days and going to visit her because five weeks was just way too long.

After an hour of working the scene, Jay found Shay again and asked if she'd heard from her. Shay pulled her phone out; "Nope, my text never went through either." Jay was beginning to wonder as Mouse walked up with an update.

"So I finally got access to the flight info. It was flight 1620 out of Knoxville. There were 140 including the crew and passengers...." He trailed off before he finished seeing how pale Shay had suddenly become.

"Shay?" Jay asked tentatively.

"That.... That.... She was on that flight. Oh god...." She said taking off for the plane, Jay not far behind her.

Kelly caught her before she got close to the plane. "Whoa... whoa... what are you doing? You know you can't," he said reaching his arm out to stop Jay too. Her tears had started flowing hard as Kelly stopped Jay. "That.... That.... That was her flight Kel," Shay cried into his shoulder. Kelly turned and looked at the plane barely holding them back.