Last Flight Home

Rachel typed the article up furiously, her fingers typing quickly. The more she looked at the answers Alex gave, the more she felt her stomach going into knots and the harder it was to decipher what she was feeling.

"Woah, somebody wants to finish early," Lucy said, walking past her and placing a cup of hot coffee onto her desk.

"I know," Rachel replied with a small laugh, "and thanks."

"It's not problem, you look like you need it!" Lucy said, and took a sip of hers. "Ah, the good ground beans, fantastic!" she chuckled. Rachel gave her a smile and looked back at her monitor, the words bouncing back and forth on the page, just like they did in her mind.

"This is so difficult," Rachel whispered and ran a hand through her hair, and sighed.

"What is? It's just re-arranging them so they flow a bit better-"

"No, not that," Rachel laughed and shook her head, shaking the thoughts violently. She wanted to escape, to find out what she really wanted.

"You love him, don't you?" Lucy asked softly, staring at her from across the room.

Rachel looked at her, the thought sounding almost foreign, but then that same familiar feeling appeared in her stomach; The feeling of butterflies and excitement, of someone knowing who she was longing for.

And that's when Rachel Green knew what she had to do.

______________________

"I love him!" Rachel cried out, throwing her back down onto her sister's coffee table. "I completely love him!" she chimed and sang out.

Caren appeared from the kitchen, a confused and quizzical look on her face. "Who? Mark? Has he spoken to you again?"

Rachel shook her head, and laughed at her naive sister. "No silly, Alex!" she shouted and ran into her room, grabbing a suitcase. She threw open her wardrobe doors, them flying and hitting the wall.

"What are you on about?" Caren asked, following her sister into her room.

"The interview made me realise everything. He loves me, he needs me," Rachel blurted out in one big sentence, but she wasn't finished. "And I need him too. I'm a complete state at the moment, and seeing him caused me to go into a state of 'school girl'," she laughed. She knew she was making no sense, but she didn't care. She loved Alex! She honestly felt she did.

"So you're planning on doing what, exactly?" Caren asked her next question, leaning against the white door frame.

"I'm going back to Baltimore, I'm going to have to tell him," Rachel gushed and Caren shook her head.

"You're not," she said and Rachel laughed in her face as she placed clothes into her suitcase.

"I am, and there's nothing anything can do to stop me," she said.

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"Seeing her has made me insane," Alex said, swirling his teaspoon around in the coffee before him. He took it out of the cup and put it into the sink, causing the metal to clash and make a loud sound as it came in contact with the sink.

"We know, you haven't stopped talking about it, and it's been three days," Rian said, flicking through the newspaper. There was no word of their tour this time, no article going on about the riot they caused at the night club or the hotel room they completely trashed.

"You know, she really is the missing part to my jigsaw," Alex sighed and sat down on the sofa beside Rian. Zack looked away from the TV where their new music video was playing, and laughed at the heartbroken Alex.

"You really should write a song about that," Zack started, "you should use that exact line too."

"Call it Jigsaw Puzzle!" Jack shouted, running into the room. Rian raised an eyebrow at the excitable boy and Zack laughed weakly at him. Jack pouted, his wit going unnoticed. "I thought it was original," he said.

"Completely," Rian said, rolling his eyes.

"You don't understand, seeing her has made me surprisingly okay," Alex said, straightening up. "I saw her and feel better, although I'm still heartbroken after the interview, I kind of understand now," he started but Jack shook his head.

"No man, you still love her, and you're going to get her back. We just need a new plan!"

"No, no more of your plans!" Rian and Zack said in unison.

"Oh yes, the Jack Attack is back! And planning a new ... plan!" Jack shouted. Alex laughed and shook his head.

"No, Jack. This time I'm just going to let her go. I think it's too much to ask her to come back, she's better off in Brooklyn anyway, there's nothing here for her."

"There's you!" Jack said, hopefully.

"That's exactly my point," Alex said softly. "There's no place in her life for a broken relationship and an untrustworthy partner."