We waited for hours, there in the tiny room, and through the window, I could see the sun beginning to set. I was tired, so amazingly tired, and I leaned against Gerard's shoulder, and began to drift off. Before long, however, another officer appeared, and we were shepherded out onto the flight deck again. A private jet had arrived, and we would be flown, with a stop over in LA to refuel, to New York, where our families, who had been informed, would meet us. Gerard, who's hand had not left mine, led me onto the plane, and into a large, leather seat, next to the window. As I sat, I immediately began to tremble with fear. Gerard pulled a blanket down, and covered me with it, as I tightly fastened my seat belt. He sat beside me, and pulled my upper body into his arms.

"Sleep, Angel, we'll be home soon," he whispered. He began to stroke my hair, and though I could feel his hand shake as well, I felt safer, and I did indeed drift off to sleep.

I awoke in a panic as the plane jolted, and screamed, immediately thinking of the first crash, and felt Gerard's arms wrap around me again.

"Shh, Angel, it's ok. We landed, that's all. We're in New York!" he whispered excitedly.

"What?" I asked, my eyes still round with fright. "I slept the whole way?" He chuckled, and kissed the top of my head.

"You did. I slept some too, but you never woke up once," he told me. I started to stand, but Gerard stopped me. "They said to wait, they'll come get us. They're gonna take us into a private room, so the press don't eat us alive." I nodded, and gripped his hand, staring out the window at the New York skyline. I had never loved a city in my life as much as I loved New York at that moment. I could see the baggage handlers carefully opening the bottom of the plane, and then I gasped. One by one, coffins were being lowered onto the tarmac. Then I understood why we had waited so long on the aircraft carrier, they had dug up their graves. In one of those coffins, Zara was going home too. Gerard watched over my shoulder, and squeezed my hand even tighter.

As soon as the coffins had been removed from view, the door to the plane opened, and uniformed police entered the cabin. As instructed, we removed our belongings, and were hustled off of the plane into a bus, which took us to a very official looking terminal. We got off, and Gerard led me into the room. There was a shriek, and a tall, black haired figure threw herself into Mikey's arms. I could only assume that this was Alicia. Gerard and I exchanged a look, both smiling. The next thing I knew, my mother had flown at me, wrapping me in her arms, sobbing, followed by my father, and even my brother. As they pulled on me, and Gerard was embraced by someone I could only assume was his mother, our hands finally disconnected, and he disappeared from sight. I cried in my mothers arms for quite a while.

"Angel!" I heard Gerard's panicked voice calling. "Angel!" I disentangled myself from my mother, just in time to see him being pushed from the room by burly men who could only be the band's security guards. The glass doors were closing, slamming just as I reached them. I pushed them, and shook them, but they wouldn't open, and I watched, helpless, as his figure disappeared from view, struggling against his security the whole time.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but you can't go through there," a police officer told me, gently removing me from the door. I immediately buried my head in my hands, and sank to the floor, crying. I didn't have his phone number, and he didn't have mine. Mundane things like phone numbers and addresses hadn't been mentioned on the island. Two pairs of arms wrapped around me, and I looked up to see Charlotte and Tori, both of their faces tear stained as well. It had ended the way I had thought it would, I knew it right then, and my heart broke.

"It's ok, Koko, it's ok," Charlotte sobbed, and I tightened my grip around both of them. I could see my parents and Mike, my brother, behind them, staring at me with confused expressions, my mother still in tears. Eventually, we broke apart, all three of us sniffing. Then and there, we whipped out our phones, immediately exchanging numbers, before allowing ourselves to be led apart by our families. Soon, I was in the back seat of my parent's Volvo, Mike behind the wheel, headed back to Maine.

As soon as I got home to Kennebunkport, I shut myself up in my old room. I sat there on the edge of my bed for a very long time, staring down at the light blue sun dress that belonged to someone else. Then I curled up into the fetal position on my bed, and cried. For, as my mother explained during the six hour drive, my apartment was indeed gone, my job had been given to someone else, and my cat was living with Ann Marie. Just as I'd predicted, I was homeless, unemployed, and heartbroken.