Parts 3 & 4

"How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face..."
-W.B. Yeats

*Part 3

As much as Melissa longed for the comfort of a soft pillow, her body tired from emotional drain, her thoughts kept returning to Hayden.  The majority of the search team had decided to attend the after party, Melissa and Kona among them.  The calculated odds of running into him weren't in her favor, but life with the search team had taught her not to count on the odds. 

The party was a list of Hollywood's who's who and Melissa found a level of pleasure in simply sitting and watching the crowd.  Normally she read about these events in magazines, but this wasn't like any magazine she could have ever imagined.  Sipping a glass of white wine, she happily held other team members dogs while the couples danced.  She hadn't seen Hayden, but she could honestly say that she was glad she had decided to attend anyway.

"Hey!" came a cheery voice from behind her, "you changed your mind!"

Instantly covered in goosebumps at the sound of Haydens voice, Melissa was happy her outfit was long sleeved to hide their appearance.

"Hi!" she smiled.  "I figured it was a once in a lifetime chance, might as well see what it was all about.  So, have you and your brother been doing much dancing?"

Hayden laughed at her sense of humor and melted when she smiled.  "No," he smirked, "I was saving my very limited dance moves in case I ran into you."

"Oh" she could feel herself blushing, "just how limited is limited?"

"Guess you're going to have to dance with me to find out," he said, rendering her helpless with his eyes.

"As soon as Tawnys parents come back," she motioned to the golden retreiver laying at her feet, "I'll take you up on that."

Karen and Bob returned a few dances later to claim Tawny.  Karen, seeing the way Hayden and Melissa appeared to be hitting it off, offered to hold Kona if they wanted to "disappear for while" as she put it.

"That sounds like our cue," Hayden said standing up and offering his hand to Melissa.  "May I have this dance?"

"Certainly," she grinned.  "Sounds like our already limited talents are going to be tested though, this is one of those in-between songs."

Sure enough, 'Wherever You Will Go' by The Calling started playing.  Landing somewhere in the middle of fast and slow, it was a dancing challenge.

"I don't mind tests," he grinned, "Do you?"

"I go looking for them, remember?" she said, causing them both to laugh.

Taking Melissa in his arms and holding her close, he lead her in time with the slow start of the song, never taking his eyes off hers.  As the songs tempo increased, so did his lead, eventually putting them into a type of adapted swing.  His smile warmed her heart and he noticed that she was keeping up with him.  Consumed by the spark in her blue eyes, the words of the song became a blur to Hayden, his thoughts limited to how nice their movements felt. 

The couple never noticed that a large portion of the room was watching them; they were too busy watching each other.  As caught up in the moment as they were, Hayden tuned into the songs lyrics for a brief moment...  'In your heart, in your mind, I'll stay with you for all of time...' That sure sounded good to him, unfortunately it signaled the end of the song.  Spinning her in close just as the song ended, the two smiled and suddenly burst out laughing.

"Where..." they both started to say, Hayden nodding to Melissa to continue.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" she asked breathlessly.

"My mom taught me," he explained.  "She loves to dance, but Dad has two left feet.  How about you?"

"Beth, my best friend, decided we needed to meet more guys, so we signed up for ballroom dance lessons."  She couldn't help but giggle at the thought.  "The only problem was that single guys don't TAKE ballroom dance lessons, so we ended up being each others partners."

"You learned well."

"Yeah, well, you're just lucky I didn't try and lead," she said, both laughing.  Heading back to the table, they found the remainder of the team preparing to leave.

"Thanks for the spin around the floor," she said, giving Hayden's hand a gentle squeeze.  "I haven't had that much fun in a really long time."

"Same here."  He really didn't want her to leave, but didn't couldn't think of anything to say to keep her there.

"I'm not really good at goodbyes," she replied, looking a bit lost for words.

"Then lets not say good bye," he paused for a moment before adding.  "How about we reserve a dance for the next time we're at another party?"

"I like that," she smiled.  "Thank you for everything tonight, you've made it a night I'll never forget."

"Good," he said glancing down at the ground, "then I won't be alone with my memories."  Giving Kona a quick rub, he looked back up, hoping he didn't look as sad as he felt.  He wanted to kiss her, but he'd only just met her, his inner gentleman controlling him.  Reaching out, he gave her a friendly hug instead.  "You take care, you hear?  I'm going to hold you to that dance."

"I hope so," she said, waving as she walked away.  "I'm looking forward to it."

"Keep smiling" he called to her as she left.

The chances of a night like this happening again were near impossible, but sometimes the things you think could never happen, happen just like that.  Underestimating the impossible was something they had both learned not to do.

*Part 4

The week following the Golden Globes was painfully average for Melissa.  She and Kona had driven back to the house they shared with Beth and returned to work at a veterinary hospital in town.  Her schedule was a full one between work and search training, but since returning home she found her thoughts often drifting to that one wonderful dance she had shared with Hayden.  Daydreaming wasn't something she normally engaged in, but she just couldn't seem to help herself.

Upon arriving at work later in the week she glanced over at a new picture on the wall of the hospital waiting room.  She had worked there for over two years and anything different immediately caught her eye.  Mounted and framed was a picture of the search team as they arrived at the Golden Globes.  Melissa had to laugh at the caption the office had put underneath on a small, engraved plate:

California Rescue Dogs
January 2003
They clean up good - don't they?

Melissa jumped as the staff yelled "SURPRISE" and Kona started barking.  The picture had run in that weeks People magazine and her friends decided to frame it as a lasting memory.  Much too soon, clients started arriving and the staff headed to work.  Beth worked at the clinic part time, but she had made sure to be there that morning to help surprise her friend.

"There was another picture in that magazine," she said with a grin, "and I want to hear the whole story."

Melissa gasped when Beth produced a picture of she and Hayden dancing, and a smile quickly crossed her face. 

"Tonight," she said, "I promise.  I will fill in all the details tonight." 

Beth handed the picture to Melissa who stared at it until she had a line of clients waiting to take to exam rooms.  The evening would be fun, reliving the magic as she told Beth the story of the galliant stranger who had swept her off her feet.  For now though, it was time to get to work.

*****

Back in Toronto, Hayden found himself with a stack of papers to read through.  Possible roles forwarded by his manager, as well as possible projects for he and his brother to consider for their foundling production company.  He turned on his computer, intent on getting some work done, but his fingers deceived him and instead started typing in searches for California Rescue Dog groups.

He had awoken that morning convinced he could smell Melissas perfume and only then did it dawn on him that he had never gotten her last name. 

"How am I ever going to find her if I don't know her name," he mumbled under his breath as his brother, Tove, came into the room.

"Talking to yourself so early in the morning?" he quipped.  "That's not a good sign."  He was thumbing through a magazine when he added, "Hey, that girl from the Golden Globes is in here."

He had barely finished the sentence, Hayden having already jumped up and grabbed the magazine from his hands.  "Where?" he asked impatiently.

"Calm down little brother..." Tove smiled.  "Right here," coolly turning to the page.

Hayden stared at the picture of the search team and read the caption.  "Bingo!" he mumbled having read the name of their search group.  Certainly he could find her that way.  He took the magazine back to his desk and as he sat it down, annoyed as the page flipped over.  When he reached to turn it back he saw the picture of their dance, his mind wandering back to that night, he didn't even hear his brother teasing him.

"One dance and you've got it bad for her," he was saying.

"She was really nice" Hayden finally said defensivly.  "That's all."

"Right," Tove laughed as he left the room.

Without wasting any time, Haydens newly defined Internet search yielded results.  Waiting for the clubs web page to load, he hoped it would provide a way to get in touch with Melissa.  What he would do if it did was something he hadn't quite decided on.

*****

That night, Melissa returned home from a long day at work to find dinner waiting as well as her eager friend.

"Ok.  Spill," Beth demanded.  "I can't even believe you DANCED with Hayden Christensen and didn't even tell me!  So?  Did he just ask you to dance or what?"

"Slow down."  Melissa laughed slightly and looked down at the ground.  "He kind of came to my rescue at the awards show."

"WHAT?!  Oh, that's it.  We're sitting here all night if that's what it takes to hear this story."  Beth was perched at the end of her chair in anticipation. 

Melissa spent the next hour telling her about the arrival and the pictures, and about how her panic attack had forced her to seek asylum in the lobby.  Her face lit up when she got to Hayden, a sign not overlooked by Beth.  When the story was done, both women sat in silence for a while, not exactly sure what to say.

"Are you going to get in touch with him?" Beth finally asked.

"And say what?" Melissa questioned.  "Hi, I'm that girl you met at the Globes?  I bet he met 200 people that night."

"But he didn't dance with 200 people like THIS" Beth said, pointing to the picture she had given her.

Melissa sighed at her friend.  "I never told him my last name so he won't be able to find me and I'm sure if I wrote him it would be one of thousands that he never gets to look at."

"Anything is possible if you want it badly enough Lissa, you of all people should know that."  Beth went into the kitchen, returning with a box of stationary.  "I have never known you to give up on anything you've ever wanted.  Seems like the question is, how badly do you want this?"

Melissa looked down at the box of paper and at the picture of their dance, taking only a minute to decide, she took out a piece of paper and started writing.