But the door remained firmly shut.

No Jamie.

With a strangled sob, Juno threw herself face down onto the mattress of the king sized bed and let the check on her emotions finally go. The tears flowed freely from her eyes now, now that she no longer had to restrain herself to appear indifferent to Jamie. Her body wracked with sobs, she curled up in the fetal position and let herself go, turning in on herself in her despair at losing the first man she'd ever… sparked.

It wasn't until that door closed that reality came crashing down on Juno.

She lived more in two days than she had in all the years of her life – all thanks to Jamie.

Now, she was never going to see him again.

No wonder it felt like her heart was breaking.

Burying her face in the pillow Jamie had used only hours before, Juno cried as her heart broke.

**

The minute the door shut, Jamie regretted his decision to just storm out, to not give Juno the proper, respectful goodbye she deserved.

Decidedly, He felt like an ass.

Turning back around to face the hotel room door, his emotions betrayed him again. Maybe he should just go, he thought silently. There was a reason he made the break between them now, rather than dragging things out for hours or days or however long it took Juno to finally get back on her way to America again.

Quick break now, he thought, making up his mind. It'll hurt less. Yes.

Turning back towards the lobby and taking a few steps down the long hallway, he questioned himself again.

Maybe he should go back to her – better to have a few hours more together than to part on such ugly terms. Better to be a man than to just skulk out of a hotel, leaving her behind to deal with everything.

Hell, she was all alone in Scotland, again. What sort of man would leave a woman in the lurch like that?

Jamie turned round and round again, silently arguing with himself.

Make a decision Fulham, Jamie mentally chastised himself, or you'll bore yourself into a hole in the ground with all this spinning around.

As he was once again turning to go, Jamie heard the sound of Juno's sobs coming through the thick door of the hotel room. The crying he heard echoed the feeling in his heart, and made his stomach hurt just to hear it. Knowing that Juno was in that much distress made up his mind for him, without any second guesses.

He had to get to her. He had to be with Juno. He had to make those tears go away.

Throwing down his shoulder bag, Jamie dug around until he found the spare room card. With shaking hands, he grasped the door knob and prepared to unlock their room again.

**

Juno was in mid wail when several things dawned on her at once.

She didn't know Jamie's address, and she still owed him money for all the food and gas and lodging he had graciously provided in the last two days.

Juno Jennings never backed out on a promise – especially one involving money.

She still had the receipt shoved in the pocket of her jeans, and had continued to surreptitiously keep track of all the expenses Jamie had had to undertake in order to keep her fed and sheltered.

She had to find out where to send the money as soon as she got her ATM card back in working order and got home and actually had some money to send. There was no way she could live with the fact he'd shelled out all this money for her and she hadn't repaid him somehow.

Juno took in a shuddering breath as she sat up on the mattress and quickly swiped at the tears on her cheeks. Tugging the enormous sheet around her, she stood up and fashioned an updated toga from the sheet and hurried to the door. She didn't have time to waste putting on her clothes – for all she knew, Jamie was already up and gone, without a backwards glance for her.

But if she hurried, she might just catch him.

She had to.

Grabbing the door knob, Juno wrenched open the door and flung herself through it.

**

"Oof!" Jamie said as a hurricane in a toga burst through the door and crashed into him. His shoulder exploded in a riot of pain, but his focus was on Juno – still wrapped in that enormous bed sheet – who was rubbing her eye and trying not to whimper in pain.

"Ow." She whispered to herself, her hand cupping the area around her eye. "Not graceful, Juno. Not graceful." She berated herself under her breath before standing up straight and attempting to open the other eye.

"Oh!" She said after a moment of focusing her eyes as she looked up and registered that it was Jamie she'd nearly tackled. "You're… not gone."

Jamie rotated his arm a few times to loosen the injured shoulder as he looked down at her. "No. I'm not quite gone."

Juno looked up at him, not daring to believe that he was coming back to her – that he'd never actually left her all alone. "I… um … I'm not chasing you in a sheet so I can throw myself at you or anything." She explained, looking down at her attire.

"Pity." Jamie said with a hint of a smile.

"I just… I realized that I still owe you all this money for the last couple of days, and I have no idea where to send it. So… I guess I need your address so I can square things up when I get home." Juno explained, tightening the sheet around her as an elderly couple emerged from the room next door and looked at her curiously.

Great, Juno thought as she blushed to the roots of her hair. I'm wrapped in a sheet, in a hotel hallway arguing with a man about money – that's really great.

"Juno…" Jamie began, then saw her look of embarrassment and dismay at the way the couple next door was eyeing them as they very slowly closed their hotel room door and even more slowly made their way down the hall, their eyes locked on Juno and Jamie.

"Would you… would you mind if we talked about this inside?" Juno asked softly. "I'm a little, ah… underdressed right now. Not to mention more than a little mortified."

Jamie nodded and followed the voluminous bed sheet back inside the hotel room, his only thought on how much more underdressed he would like Juno to be right now.

1192 / 29942 / 50000

before . after