It had been several months since the accident with Eric's therapist and Calleigh was still unsure of what to do. She knew Eric had feelings for her all along, but it made a difference in seeing it on paper. Calleigh was painful aware that she was still with Jake. She'd been trying to find a way to break things off with Jake but didn't want to hurt him. Calleigh didn't like breaking up with people when it would hurt them.

She laughed a little at her thought. A detective who specialized in weapons afraid of hurting a man's feelings? She was Calleigh Duquesne after all. But, she still loved Jake, she just wasn't in love with him anymore. Calleigh also knew the longer she stayed with him, the harder the breakup would be. She wasn't being fair to Jake or herself or even Eric. It wasn't fair to hold Jake back from finding the woman he truly belonged with. It was fair to Eric or herself to deny their true feelings all because she didn't want to be mean.

Calleigh decided that evening she would talk to Jake. She was fresh into the new year and decided that her resolution would be to be true to herself and to those she cared about.

When she got home, she got herself settled and dialed the familiar number. Jake answered on the second ring.

"Hello?" His voice was groggy. Calleigh could tell that she had awaken him. That was another thing that was working against them; their schedules. He went into work at 4:00am and got home at 1:00pm then went to bed around the time she was getting home from work and slept until she was well in the bed.

"Hey," Calleigh said.

"Hey you, what's up?" Jake replied back.

"Well I just got home from work and I knew you didn't have to work tomorrow and I was hoping to go out to dinner. I," Calleigh began to stammer, "I, um, I have some things we need to talk about."

"Mhmm, well dinner sounds good but 'we need to talk' are four words a guy never likes to hear," Jake said. "How about Seracy at eight o'clock?"

"Okay, I'll um, see ya there."

"I love you."

Calleigh quickly disconnected the phone, hoping to make it look like she hadn't heard the last part.

Two hours later, Calleigh walked into he restaurant and seen him sitting at his usual place at the bar. The was yet another thing; Jake drank not just a beer here and a margarita there, he really drank.

"Hey," he said, kissing her cheek as she sat on the stool next to him. They ordered dinner and talked about unimportant stuff neither one really wanting to face the inevitable, ending the night would redoubtably hold.

"Calleigh, we didn't come here to talk about work or weather. We both know there is something else we need to discuss."

Calleigh looked down at her Cosmo and swirled it around. "Jake I-"

"I know Calleigh," Jake said, cutting her off. "I know. Me too."

"Really?" she looked up at him, shocked. "Yeah, I mean, I love you Cal, its just..."

"...Different," Calleigh said, finishing his sentence. "Yeah, I know I love you too but things have changed."

"People change. Don't get me wrong I don't regret any of this. I wouldn't give up the memories for anything."

"Me either Jake," Calleigh said. "But as they say 'all great things must come to an end.' They finished eating and left the dinner as friends instead of the lovers they had come as. They were both happy with how it had ended and were confident that they could remain friends in the future.

A/N I want to thank xXThePostXx for beta-ing this chapter for me thanks to her this chapter is ten times better than it would have been. Let me know what you think!

Ithaca E.K.