Flight 7691; Now Boarding for Oslo at Gate 22

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       Choking on tears you looked at Pelle and asked,
"Are you ready?"
He looked at you with red eyes and said,
"Yeah."
"Do you have everything?"
"Yes I do."
You walked over to the front door, opened it and walked out onto your deck.  Pelle stood in the doorway and looked around one last time at the place that he's called home for the past two and a half months.  Remembering every little thing that happened in the cabin from the moment he walked through the door back in October.  His eyes swelled up with tears and Toby walked over to him and put his paw on Pelle's knee, he bent down and Toby immediately began to lick Pelle's face, some of the tears that had escaped down his cheek.  He pet Toby, grabbed his head, rustled the top of it and said,
"I know....I'm going to miss you too boy."
Toby continued to lick Pelle's face and he put his finger in front of Toby and said,
"You take good care of her until I come back in April." 
He gave Toby one last pet on the head, locked the door and closed it behind him.  You had waited on the deck for him and when he came out, he put his arm around you and walked down the stairs together and got in the Jeep.  You drove down the driveway to start the trek down the mountain to take the love of your life to the airport that was going to take him all the way across the world back to his home in the north.

You and Pelle held hands all the way down into the Springs and you asked him,
"Are you hungry?"
"Not really, but it's a long flight, so I better eat something."
"Ok, well, we can go to Village Inn and grab some breakfast. There's one right next to the airport, so we can go there."
"That will be perfect."
You pulled into the restaurant parking lot, parked the car and the two of you got and started walking into the restaurant holding hands.
After breakfast, you both got back into the car and you drove to the airport.  Since he got off the plane from Stockholm, where he was visiting his family and friends before coming to America, you have been dreading this day. The two of you had gotten closer than you had ever imagined and fell deeply in love, and now he was leaving.  All you could think about was how much you are going to miss him.  Just as you pulled up to the poll to take a ticket, your car stereo began to play, Before the Dawn by Judas Priest and you just lost it.  Tears began to flow from your face as you heard the lines of the song almost describing exactly how you were feeling at that moment.

       "It's been a lifetime, since I found someone
Since I found someone who would stay
I've waited too long, and now you're leaving
Oh please don't take it all away....."

You felt Pelle squeeze your hand and when you looked over at him he was crying too.  The song continued to play as you drove to the terminal and parked.

                     "Before the dawn
I hear you whisper, in your sleep
Don't let the morning take him..."

Pelle put his forehead against yours and began to kiss you.  You put your hand on the side of his face and stroked his cheek with your thumb.  You could both taste each other's tears as the song played on.
"This is so much harder than I ever imagined it would be." Pelle said.
You could feel the heat coming off of his mouth.  "I know...I'm gonna miss you so much." You replied.
"I honestly don't think I can get on that plane."
"You have to Pelle.  You need to go back home and work on your music.  That's so important.  Your music is everything, you have to make sure that always comes first.  I'll be here when you get back here in April."
"You're right, we are stronger than this."
"Yes we are.  It's gonna be rough for a while, but we are going to get through this."
"We have April to look forward to."
You both sat in the car for the duration of the song, softly kissing one another until it was over.  You looked at him and asked,
"Are you ready?"
"No,  but there's no reason to delay the inevitable."  He kissed you once more before grabbing his bag and opening the door to exit the car.  He stood next the the car and took a deep breath in, dreading that in thirty short minutes, he'll be on a plane going back to Oslo.  You walked over to him and he put his arm around you and the two of you walked into the airport, went over to the ticket counter and he received his boarding pass.  You both went through security and walked to his gate and found two seats together and sat in them.  Once seated you immediately put your head on his shoulder and he placed his head on top of yours and grabbed your hand to hold it.  He interlocked his fingers into yours and softly squeezed your hand, raised it to his lips and kissed it.
Finally, the words you both dreaded to hear came over the loudspeaker,
"Flight 7691 to Oslo will be boarding in five minutes."
Your eyes swelled up with tears as you looked at Pelle and he said,
"Remember what you said..we're stronger than this."
You nodded your head trying to stifle the tears that were now flowing from your eyes uncontrollably.  You looked at him and asked,
"Do you have a shirt that you don't wear that often in your bag?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Take it out real quick."
Pelle put his bag on the floor, opened it and reached in and pulled out his Sarcofago shirt.  You reached into your purse and pulled out a bottle of your perfume and took the shirt from him and sprayed it down with it. 
"Whenever you miss me, pull this shirt out and smell it.  It will remind you that I'm only a phone call and a flight away."
He looked at you, sniffed the shirt and leaned over the seat and kissed you softly and sweetly on your lips. 
A break in the silence came when the flight attendant announced over the loudspeaker,
"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Lufthansa flight 7691 with service to Chicago, Munich and Oslo now boarding first class passengers."
Choking on your tears, Pelle stood up, took your hand and walked you over to the line waiting to get on the plane.  You were sobbing at this point and he wasn't far behind, but he was the one who was holding it together for you.  He held you close to him as he waited to board.  Pelle tapped the gentleman ahead of us' shoulder.  He turned around and asked,
"Would you mind taking a picture of us?"
"No, not at all."  He put his bag down and took Pelle's camera from him and stood in front of us saying,
"Smile."
The two of you managed to put on your happy faces as he took the picture.  Once he took that one, he said,
"One more."  He asked you to kiss one another and you did.  You heard the camera click and the gentleman said,
"That last one is going to be a good one." He exclaimed as he handed the camera back to Pelle.
"Thank you." He said reclaiming his camera.
Just as the gentleman turned around to pick up his bag, the line began to move. You both began to walk towards the door to the jetway and as there were three people ahead of Pelle. He put his bag down  and picked you up once more and held you.  Your arms tight around his neck, he pulled away and looked you in the eyes, kissed you passionately on the lips, put his face into your neck and breathed you in one last time, you did the same.  He put you down and you handed him a letter and told him,
"Please don't read this until you get home."
He looked at you and smiled.  Leaned in and kissed you one last time,  his kiss was passionate and deep. You felt his tongue dance around yours as he held the back of your head. You had both of your hands on either side of his face.  It was now his turn to board the plane, he put his bag down and squeezed you once more and kissed you.  With tear swelled eyes, he looked at you and said,
"I love you with all my heart and I promise to call you once I land in Oslo."
"Ok."  You said smiling back at him.
He bent down and kissed you again and then started walking down the jetway.  You stood there and watched as his tall, beautiful frame walked down the makeshift hall.  He kept turning around looking at you until he reached the end and boarded the plane.  Once you couldn't see him anymore you walked over to the window that faced his plane and you stood there and didn't take your eyes off of it until you watched him take off..  You were sobbing uncontrollably, full blown ugly crying.  Your soul mate, your other half was now in the air going back home.  The hardest part was over and now you had to figure out how you were going to get past the next three and a half months of living without him.  You turned around and began walking out of the airport, alone, unlike when you arrived holding his hand.  As you walked to the Jeep, you brought your hand up to your nose to stop the runny mess that was coming out of it and as you did, you caught his scent on your hand, which made you cry even more, but it offered you some sense of happiness because you still had his scent.
You unlocked the door to the Jeep and got in, started the ignition and pulled out of the parking space to go back to the cabin.
As you were driving, you kept glancing over at the empty passenger side seat and imagined him sitting there.  It only brought more tears to your eyes.  He hadn't even been gone a half and hour and you missed him this much. When you pulled into your driveway, you had one thought on your mind and that was to make sure that Pelle had a phone in his house so that he could call you and you could call him, so as soon as you got into your house you went right for the phone and called Jorn. 
"Hallo."
You were happy to hear a familiar voice.
"Jorn, it's Michelle."
"MICHELLE!  How are you?"
"I'm hanging in there.  Pelle just left a little while ago and while I was driving home I thought of something and was hoping I could ask you for a favor."
"Sure anything for you.  What do you need?"
"I need to get a phone put in the house for Pelle.  If I wire you money, could you set that up for me?"
"I think he would really like that!  Pelle used to hate having to leave the house to call you, especially when the weather was bad."
"Yeah. I don't want him to have to do that anymore."
"How are you holding up?"
"I miss him so much already."
"I'm sure he misses you too.  He told me while I was there that he was 100% sure that he found his other half."
Hearing Jorn say this only sent you into a crying fit again.  Yet it was comforting to hear that.
"He did?!?"
"You have him wrapped around your little finger, he really loves you."
You smiled on the other end of the phone and then he continued.
"So, let's talk about getting that phone installed at the house,"
You and Jorn talked about what the two of you I were going to have to do to get the phone installed at the house.  The two of you worked diligently to get through the process of getting it done and lucky for you, Jorn said that the company had a cancellation that day and could send someone out there today for the install,  He called you later and gave you the number and asked,
"What time is Casanova need to picked up from the airport?"
"His flight lands at 5:55, tomorrow night at Gardermoen Airport.  Are you picking him up or is Oystein?"
"Probably me."
"Ok, could you make sure he calls me when he gets home?"
"Absolutely!"  He replied.
"Thanks for everything today Jorn."
"Not a problem.  Talk to you soon."
"Bye."
"Hadet." He said hanging up.
Once you got off the phone with him you took a deep breath in and took a look around and signed,  You looked in the kitchen where Toby was sitting and staring at the door and whimpering because he was waiting for Pelle walk through it.  You called out to him and he didn't budge.  You walked over to him and sat on the kitchen floor next to him and pet his head crying,
"I know boy, I miss him too."
Toby turned his attention to you and began to lick your face, including the tears that were freely flowing from your eyes.  After around ten minutes of Toby giving you love and him receiving love from you, you decided to get up so you could go pee.  You stood in the doorway of your bedroom and just stared at the unmade bed and remembered it was just a few short hours ago that the two of you were making love, dreading his departure.  You walked over to your bed and climbed into it.  As you were laying there, you noticed that on his pillow were a few blonde strands of hair.  You picked them up off of your pillow and wrapped them around your finger and held your hand to your chest.  A glance at the closet proved to be quite the payoff.   You got up and walked to the open closet door and noticed that there was a shirt hanging up and a note pinned to it.  Pelle had left one of his shirts for you and he wrote you a letter which he affixed to it.  You walked over to your bed and sat on the edge of it and stared at the envelope with his handwriting on it.  You pressed it against your lips and then opened it.  It wasn't a very long letter, but you began to swell up with tears as you began reading it.

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