Jack and Katie stood by Gate 37 at the Denver Airport. Jack had Katie's hand in his and she could feel how cold he was as they stared at the plane out the window. They seemed incapable of noticing anything that was going on around them. All they felt were each other's hands and all they saw was that damned plane. Suddenly Jack was tapped on the shoulder by the ticket taker who asked if he was on this flight. His eyes moved slowly from the woman's face to his hand that was holding his ticket. His eyes came back to her face void of life and he managed a small nod.
"Well I'm sorry sir, but you can't fly to California by just looking at the plane. You need to board soon."
This time Jack's eyes fell to his other hand; the one holding Katie's. She noticed his eyes had gone from being dead to being filled with so much emotion that she wasn't sure what she saw there. Fear? Sadness? Regret? Or maybe he was purely ecstatic and was just trying to hide it for her sake? No, nobody could fake that look he has, Katie thought. He nearly has tears in his eyes. Oh, please don't let him cry. If he cries, I'll cry.
Katie put on her best "everything will be alright and this is for the best" smile and looked up at Jack. Looking at him made her want to wrap her arms around him and never let go. This is going to be harder than I expected, Katie thought as she touched his cheek with her hand. She had always been the stronger one in the relationship. She was the one who got them through rough streaks, comforted him on his bad days, held his hand when he was scared. She had always been able to look on the bright side of things or just somehow knew that they would make it. Now though, she was feeling less confident and wasn't sure if their relationship could handle this strain.
Although Katie had been the more rational of the two, Jack had always seemed to keep them together when things got really tough. He didn't necessarily do this job in the best manner, but at least he did it. He was the one that always knew he loved her, no matter what fight they were in. He could always show her how much he cared if it meant buying a rose for no occasion, telling her he loved her everyday, or breaking down and pleading for her. More often than not he seemed to end up breaking down and begging her to never leave him. This did not just happen during fights. He might have just had a bad day and broke down at the sight of her. Now here he was, getting ready to leave for California for who knows how long and he hadn't broken down yet.
Jack took Katie's hand from his face and held each of her hands in his. He stroked his thumbs over her bitten nails with a touch so light and full of love that it nearly brought a tear to Katie's eye.
