History Main / AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder

* A particularly tragic example occurs in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' when you come across a dying [[TheOrder Grey Warden]] who begs you to return his wedding ring to his wife, only for the player to walk in on her with another man. [[TheUnfairSex She shows no remorse, and you don't get to do anything about it]] [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential despite having potentially killed others for far less]].
* In the [[MultipleEndings NCR ending]] of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', if playing as a male your companion Cass attempts to [[UnresolvedSexualTension resolve the sexual tension between you two]], only to discover that you immediately went back to WalkingTheEarth after victory was declared. Rather than go looking for you, she instead shacks up with a random NCR trooper using your empty room.
* In ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'', the Bloody Baron's wife Anna attempted to run away with another man while he was away on a campaign, [[DomesticAbuse and that was just the start of their relationship issues]].

** ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'': {{Deconstruction}}. According to ''The New Batman Adventures'' episode "Cold Comfort", after Nora Fries was cured of her terminal illness, she waited for her missing and presumed dead husband Victor Fries for some time before she gave up waiting, marrying her doctor Francis D'Anjou and leaving Gotham for good. This was expanded in ''Batman: Gotham Adventures'' #5, ''Batman: Gotham Adventures'' #51, and ''Batman Adventures'' #15. In ''Batman: Gotham Adventures'' #5 Mr. Freeze teams up with Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl to rescue Francis because he cares about her happiness; after Francis is save and Freeze escapes, Francis reveals that Nora still loves him. ''Batman: Gotham Adventures'' #51 shows that Mr. Freeze has been sending letters to Nora asking to see her one more time, but that Francis has been hiding all the letters. The issue ends with Mr. Freeze leaving for the Arctic, accepting that Nora does not want anything to do with him, as Nora arrives at Arkham Asylum asking for him. In ''Batman Adventures'' #15, Francis, jealous of Nora's feelings for Victor, frames him for attacking him by having a robot freeze him, hoping to convince her to see Victor as a monster. Nora refuses to believe that Victor was behind the attack and leaves for the Arctic to find him. Victor confirms that he was not responsible, and that he would never hurt Francis because she loves him. Nora wants to believe him and admits she does not love Francis, and is not sure she ever did, as she embraces him. Batman and Batgirl arrive to apprehend Victor, who chooses to fight back, thinking Batman will arrest him for his other crimes even if he isn't responsible for Francis' attack. During their fight, Batman causes Victor's suit to overload, which leaves his head to fall into the Arctic Ocean, devastating Nora. After learning the truth, Nora leaves Francis in prison. After Nora talks with Victor's former assistant Koonak, Nora returns to the Arctic, hoping to find Victor's head. It's implied that she never found him and spends her whole life looking for him. So because she understandably tried to move on with her life, Nora separated from Victor again, and what makes it worse is Victor did not come to see her because his condition has completely destroyed his body and he believes he can never be with her, when in fact Nora does not care and still loves him.

* This is what Marian fears in ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'', that Robin had simply forgotten about her during their time apart. However, the very next scene subverts it, as Robin is clearly shown thinking about her.

* Reito, protagonist from ''Manga/WorldsEndHarem'', is given quite the trial to resist his base desires; turns out he is one of the Five remaining living men on Earth after waking up from being in cryostasis for 4 years in order to cure his multiple sclerosis, the new regime formed by women now urges the 5 living men to become breeding stallions to give new hope of a new human race, the thing is Reito confessed his love right before being put to cold sleep, his love Erisa shares the same feeling and said she would wait for him, now in the new world it seems Erisa has disappeared while an officer in charge of making Reito do his “mating” looks exactly like Erisa, but with a different personality and bigger breasts, he can’t help but see Erisa on her and the officer won’t stop at anything to make him do the deed, Reito goes through extreme self-control to try find Erisa before anything happens.

* In ''ComicBook/RainbowRowellsRunaways'', Gert is brought back from the dead two years later, and learns that her boyfriend Chase is now about 20 years old, and thus too old to resume their relationship, as she is still about 16. Chase had hoped that she would wait until she was older to resume their relationship, and does not take it well when he catches her making out with Victor instead.

* [[spoiler: R!]]Syaoran thought that he would always love his Sakura in ''FanFic/{{Shatterheart}}'', but after being isolated from the group, dealing with [[spoiler: C!]]Sakura and Fai's coldness towards him [[spoiler: and having no way of knowing R!Sakura is even alive]], he ends up falling for Kurogane [[spoiler: and eventually gets engaged to him]].
* [[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Lina]] was pretty much resigned [[YouCantGoHomeAgain to being stuck]] [[TrappedInAnotherWorld on Earth]] in ''FanFic/BloodThatFlows''. She also ended up falling in love with Shiro who found her unconscious when she first arrived, got married, and had Nanoha. Thus when she learned the TSAB located her home universe, she knew her return was going to be hard for her old friends, especially Gourry, since it was her attempt to save him that started all this. She figured that there was a chance that Gourry and Syphiel got together. However, it gets more awkward when she returns home, as it turns out it's only been a month since that battle with Hellmaster.

* In ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', Giselle falls in love with Robert while [[DamselInDistress waiting]] for her fiance [[PrinceCharming Prince Edward]] to reunite with her and bring her back to Andalasia. [[spoiler: Luckily for Edward, he falls in love and ends up living HappilyEverAfter with [[PairTheSpares Robert's former girlfriend]] [[{{Shoutout}} Nancy]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Tremaine]] in Andalasia while Giselle stays in New York with Robert]].

* In ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' Shane tells Lori that her husband Rick has died (which was ''very likely'' true as far as he knew, and the only way to convince her and her son to leave for somewhere safer), and ''they'' end up hooking up. That is, until Rick meets up with the group outside of Atlanta. Unfortunately, Shane has fallen in love with Lori in the meantime, ending up bitter and resentful when she goes back to Rick and tries to act like nothing happened between them.
* During the final season of ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'', Chase and Zoey attempt to carry on a long-distance relationship. When it doesn't work, Zoey dates James, the guys' new roommate. Even though James was the nicest guy in the world (literally. They broke up and all James said was "I get it"), he was the most hated character for getting in the way of the long-anticipated Zoey/Chase relationship. In the end, Zoey ends up breaking things off with James for Chase, but many fans boycotted much of season 4 because of the Zoey/James relationship.

* In ''Theatre/FiniansRainbow'', the Main/{{Leprechaun}} Og says as much in his song "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love".

* In ''Theatre/{{Hadestown}}'', [[TenorBoy Orpheus]] decides to work on his music rather than help his girlfriend [[TheIngenue Eurydice]] look for food and shelter during a harsh storm. Starving and neglected, Eurydice accepts a [[DealWithTheDevil proposition from Hades]] to come work for him in the Underworld city of Hadestown in exchange for food and shelter. Orpheus is so preoccupied he doesn't even realize at first that Eurydice has left, and has to be updated about this by [[Main/{{Narrator}} Hermes]]. Once Eurydice is in Hadestown, she cannot return to the above world, and Orpheus and Eurydice are permanently separated from each other.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''WebComic/BittersweetCandyBowl'', Mike is in a LongDistanceRelationship with Sandy. After he rejects a LoveConfession, one of his friends [[InvokedTrope invokes this]] by telling him flat-out he should dump Sandy and get together with the local {{Love Interest|s}}, as "long distance relationships never work out anyway". Mike isn't too pleased at having ''his'' feelings on the matter brushed away and his love for Sandy trivialized, and it only damages his friendship with the others..

* In the finale of ''Series/{{Alias}}'' season 2, Sydney is kidnapped and brainwashed for two years. In her absence, Vaughn marries another woman. Fan outrage against [[FanNickname C.O.W. (Contrived Odious Wife)]] was swift and severe. [[AuthorsSavingThrow The resulting awkwardness was eventually resolved by]] [[spoiler:said woman turning out to be TheMole and eventually being killed by Vaughn himself]].

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Dogs avoid this trope, due to their inability to tell time. They are always most excited to see you when you return, as they have no idea if minutes or days have passed.
* On a particular episode of Dr. Phil was about a soldier in Iraq who was counted for dead, and then his wife went on to marry his best friend. Needless to say the fellow turned out to be alive and returned home to an unwelcome surprise. Cue the Dr. Phil theme.
* There's a couple stories floating around about men who went off to fight in wars (most notably, the Mexican-American War) with their girlfriends promising to wait, and when they get back, they find out their girlfriend... didn't. Usually by walking in on their girlfriend and her lover.
** War is not even a necessary prerequisite. At least in Russia the (lack of) commitment of girls waiting for their drafted boyfriends to return from the service (two years until recently and one year now) is a common topic of drama both in fiction and in real life. More often than not it can turn ugly, as the thoughts of their betrothed ones are usually among the few things that keep the conscript's spirit high throughout the army hardships and a sudden hammer slam of a letter saying "[[YouHaveWaitedLongEnough I Have Waited Long Enough]]" can become that last straw that breaks the camel's back and lead to violent or suicidal behavior. Sometimes they desert and venture to "sort the things out." Sometimes they take their guns with them.
** In the American military, this trope is made light of with Jodies, marching songs named for Jody, the hypothetical man back home who is no doubt doing the deed to your woman, so obviously there's no reason for you to worry about leaving the military to get back home anymore. Jokes aside, divorce rates amongst military members is far out of proportion to the civilian population, due to various combinations of the partner back home or the partner deployed abroad (it's not just the civilian who might be prone to wandering) not staying faithful, combined with the repeated strain of long-distance relationships due to military deployments.
* [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100721/eu-poland-escape-from-auschwitz/ There was a young man in World War II]] who freed his Jewish girlfriend from the camps by pretending to be a Nazi soldier. However, they got separated while they were trying to get out of the country. Neither waited for the other, and both got married. When they finally met up again as old folks, her husband had died but his wife had not. In a rare show of honor for this type of story (usually, in fiction at least, the old lovers get back together no matter what), the guy wouldn't leave his wife for his old flame, and [[TheMourningAfter she died never talking to him again]].
* Not uncommon with slavery. Since people could be sold away at any time and for any reason, you could absolutely be separated from your spouse or your children for the rest of your life. Which could lead to tragedies like [[http://www2.uncp.edu/home/berrys/courses/hist310/hist310_docs_slavery_3.html this]] where people gave up and started new families, and could not reunite with each other even after they became free.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Film/{{Marianne}}'', Marianne falls in love with an American serviceman in France at the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, four years after her boyfriend was taken prisoner by the Germans.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Spawn}}: The Animated Series'', the title characters comes back from the dead to find his wife remarried to his best friend. In a subversion, it turns out that [[spoiler: he has partial amnesia, and recovers the memory of specifically asking his friend to "take care of" his wife if anything were to happen to him]]. It's unclear whether he specified the sexual aspect...

* In ''Film/{{Spawn}}'', the title character comes BackFromTheDead, and finds out that his girl married his old partner. He's somewhat perturbed by this. The partner, meanwhile, is scared shitless... but really, wouldn't YOU be? Ex-boyfriends are bad enough when they aren't undead {{antihero}}es with demonic powers. In the end, [[spoiler:he gets over it, and even notes that "they belong together" after seeing how happy they are when they are reunited]].

* Sort of kind of done in ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan''. The story in short: Yorick has a long distance phone call with his girlfriend, Beth, but it gets disconnected before Yorick, who had intended to propose over the phone, can say what he wanted to say. After this, complete {{gendercide}} ensures, and Yorick is left the only living man on Earth! One year and a lot of adventurers later he finally meets up with his dear sweetheart, Beth... only to find out that she had intended to break up with him during that phone call one year ago, because her heart had gone yonder during his absence. Not only that, but she had realized that she was actually in love with Yorick's sister! C'mon, let's say it all together now: AlasPoorYorick.

* At the end of ''Film/BatmanBegins'', Rachel Dawes promises her childhood friend Bruce that [[IWillWaitForYou she will wait for the day he stops being Batman to be with him]]. In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', she comes to decide that Bruce is ''never'' going to stop being Batman and accepts a marriage proposal from Harvey Dent just in time for her death.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' story, ''[[Fanfic/LegacyTotalDrama Legacy]]'', which is set ten years after the events of the show, most of the couples are no longer together because they had come from all over Canada, so most lived too far apart to see each other regularly.

* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', when Lindesfarne Dewclaw and Fenton Fuscus began their relationship, it was when Lindesfarne was living as a porcupine. Being diurnal to his nocturnal, that meant they couldn't be together during the shorter summer nights. Eventually, Fenton took a lover, moth Tammy Tussock. When this was discovered, Lindesfarne's dad, Kevin, told her she was really a hedgehog, which is also nocturnal.[[note]]The handwave given is that her original adoptive mother, Angelique, didn't want to hunt bugs for her. This was "forgotten" after Kevin and Angelique divorced.[[/note]] Lindesfarne initially tried to [[MurderTheHypotenuse hunt Tammy to get her out of the way]]. But being an inexperienced hunter, and per the strip's ArcWords,[[note]]"Never talk to your prey; you may become friends."[[/note]] Lindesfarne and Tammy instead became friends, and got revenge on Fenton before Tammy stepped aside and Lindesfarne took him back.

* ''Webcomic/TerminalLance'' has several strips about the problems the military has with adultery due to personnel being deployed overseas, separating them from their significant others.

* ''Literature/TheWitchesOfKarres'' by Creator/JamesHSchmitz: At the start of the book, Pausert is engaged. When his ship returns after his first encounter with the people of Karres, he finds that not only is he in trouble with the law, his fiancee married someone else almost as soon as he left.