Finding Her

Reunited at last

Haley's pov.

" Chrissss, where are you?" I grumble. God, She was taking forever to answer the door. She was probably dealing with some five year old trying to sell her girl scout cookies. And jeez, those kids could get aggressive.

I smile at the thought of food, and suddenly my head is filled with the smell of Mac and cheese, which wafts from the downstairs kitchen. " Mmm. Ohmygod." my stomach grumbles, and I hop off the bed, realizing how long it's been since I've eaten.

I open Chris's door, and head downstairs. Surely Matt wouldn't feed all that food to Rosie, maybe I could get some too, if I'm lucky. I turn a corner, and smack head first into someone.

"Ow." I state dully, as I rub my forehead. I look up with a lopsided grin, ready to apologize. But then my blood runs cold, and my heart stops.

I had just run into...Caitlyn... Literally.

My breath comes out in short gasps, and I can feel my heart beating through my chest. "Caitlyn." I whisper. Her long, beautiful hair has been cut off, and the strands fall just above her ears. I gulp when She says my name.

"Haley?"

Oh man. How many times have I tried to remember how my name sounded on her lips? I forgot how beautiful she made it sound.

"What-what are you doing here? Where's Chr..."

" Who?"

I don't even know what I was going to ask her. All I could think of was how full her lips looked right now. And how her scar was practically invisible now, even though her eyepatch remained.

" Haley, can you take me outside, I... I want to talk to you, somewhere private."

Suddenly Rosie laughs behind the closed door that leads to the kitchen, I remember Matt, and I grab Caitlyn's hand, noting the tingles that ran down my spine as I did so.

"Yea, let's go."

I guide her out the door, and lead her around back. When I stop walking, I look at Caitlyn, and her hands immediately move up to my face. Her fingers run along my cheeks, and over my eyes. I remember the countless times she did this back when we lived in New York.

" You still feel so beautiful." She says, a tear falling from her scarred eyes. " I missed you so much."

I can't breathe right. There's something wrong inside me. I struggle to say something logical, but the only words I can manage are " I'm sorry."

Caitlyn wraps her arms around me, and I bury my head in her neck, desperately trying not to cry. " I looked everywhere, I went to all the places we talked about running away to. I couldn't believe it when we found you. It felt like a giant cloud opened up above my head."

I'm too full of emotion to even wonder who helped her, who her 'we' was. All I could honestly care about was her.

" I thought maybe you were dead, or maybe you would hate me. I didn't know what to think, Caitlyn."

She unwraps her arms from around me, and places them on both sides of my head, bringing my face close to hers. Our foreheads touch, and I'm drunk with the smell of her. It was like Artificial pineapples, and something...sweet. God, how I missed this smell.

I closed my eyes, and then Caitlyn whispered " I've never stopped loving you, Haley."

My eyes widened as I felt her lips on mine. Years of sadness, and broken hearts, were inside this kiss, and I felt a tugging sensation, like the something that had been missing all my life had just come back.

Suddenly, a voice popped into my head. " Haley, you'll never lose me. I'll always come back for you."

Chris.

...Chris.

"Fuck."