Time Frame: This story takes place during Season Five, obviously, right after the "Kyle Ainge" episode.

Disclaimer: Property of the Nip/Tuck characters and the universe belongs solely to its creator, Ryan Murphy and the FX network. This story is solely for entertainment purposes only. Nothing more, nothing less.

"This is love."

The words still echoed inside Christian's head, still haunted him since the very evening he had screwed Gina Russo, off the roof--the very same roof that he had thought to wander back to this evening--and she had fallen to her death. He'd tried desperately to move on with his life, to get past the shock and remorse of what he'd done to her, and he had even attempted to get his son, Wilbur, to understand that his mommy wasn't coming back. While he could lie to his best friend, Sean, Wilbur, and the rest of the people around him, he couldn't lie to himself. He had killed her.

With both of his large hands placed upon the ledge of the roof, he stared out into the night, the city lights of Los Angeles glistening around him as the stars shined brightly in the clear evening sky. His gaze drifted downward, over the ledge, the vivid image of Gina falling to the pavement flashing through his mind. The corners of his mouth turned down into a deep scowl. He might have been thinking with his dick at the time he had been screwing her, but Goddamn it, she had managed to awaken his greatest weakness. She knew just the right buttons to press. He wasn't surprised in the least bit that he had given in so willingly to her plea for one last screw, but he had never anticipated it would in fact be their last screw. "This is the last time we'll ever see each other." Even his own words haunted him, because they had in fact wound up being true. Despite how clever she had been to try and seduce him into taking her right there and then, he blamed himself.

There had been numerous times in the past when he had wanted to kill her, but this, as he told her in the mortuary when he was staring down at her dead body, was not one of those times. Ever since her funeral the previous day, he had been doing a lot of thinking about that last evening with her on this roof, and about what that man had said about her at her funeral, the man that had once given her HIV. The man that said Gina had actually forgiven him, and why? Because it had forced her to get her life in order. His words had managed to bring tears to Christian's eyes, because he knew very well that he could relate to the man's situation in his own memory of Gina, and what's she'd done for him, and now, here, on this very evening, back at the very same spot he had killed her, he stopped to wonder...would Gina ever forgive him?

"Hey asshole."

His brows furrowed inquisitively. Jesus. Now I'm even hearing the bitch's voice. He sighed wearily, hoping this event wouldn't potentially scar him for the rest of his life. Not being able to get the image of her falling to her death out of his head was one thing, but the possibility of hearing her voice at random moments in his day was only going to drive him to Goddamn insanity.

"What are you? Deaf? I said, 'hey asshole.'"

There it was again, her voice, only this time, it was much louder and much closer, and sounded as if it were not in his head at all. In fact, it sounded as if it were coming from directly behind him. A bewildered expression appeared on his face, as he pulled his hands back from the ledge and turned around. His breath caught in his throat and he blinked back his astonishment, as he saw none other than, Gina, standing before him, in the flesh. "What the hell?"

"What's the matter? Haven't you ever seen a ghost before?"

"I've seen a hell of a lot of things over the years, but seeing the Boogey Man let alone the ghost of Goddamn Medusa isn't one of them." While Christian tended to see things every now and then, he'd never had a hallucination of a deceased person, much less Gina. A part of him was tempted to pinch himself, assuming he might in fact be dreaming, but considering how many times he had encountered seeing things such as this--that almost always proved to be entirely in his head--he had a feeling this might not be a dream at all. He sure as hell remembered walking up there, and he wasn't about to go and hurl himself over the side of the building just to make sure he was in fact dreaming. So okay, maybe he hadn't seen a ghost before, but at least it was actually Gina, and not pale, half-a-face corpse, Gina. He didn't think he would be able to stomach that one. Standing a mere three feet before him, she looked the same as she did that night, just before she had died, clad in the same low-cut black dress and matching heels.

Placing his hands back upon the ledge, he leaned his hip against it, sighing wearily. "Okay, I'll bite. So, to what do I owe this untimely phantom bitch appearance? Hmm? Suddenly realize you got some unfinished business to attend to? Decided to come back to patch things up with all your former lovers?"

Gina took a step closer to him, her expression remaining somber, in spite of what he'd said. "The only unfinished business I have is with you, Christian."

His brows furrowed considerably and he exhaled sharply. "If you think for one minute that I'd be crazy enough to try and screw a Goddamn ghost--"

"I'm not asking you to screw me. That's not why I came back." She glanced down at his crotch, taking a couple steps closer to him and then raising her gaze up to meet with his, staring deeply into his eyes. "I know you blame yourself for my death, Christian, but the truth is, you don't have to. I mean, hey, if I was going to go out, it might as well have been with a bang, right?"

As amusing as her last words would have been on any other ocassion, and especially if she were still alive, he couldn't see the humor in the situation at the moment. Scowling deeply, he averted his gaze downward, shaking his head and uttering the same words he had uttered at the mortuary. "For all the times I wanted to kill you, Gina, this wasn't one of them."

"I know," she spoke softly, closing the distance between them and bringing one of her hands up to touch his face, her fingers slipping right through his skin. "I know, and I get it."

Feeling the cold sensation along his left cheek, he quickly brought his gaze back up to her face, tears starting to form behind his eyes. He shook his head, the deep scowl remaining upon his face. "I'm so sorry. I swear, I never meant for any of this to happen."

"Please don't blame yourself for my death, Christian, because it wasn't your fault. It was mine. All I ever wanted was one last screw, and I got it. Maybe not the way I planned, but look at it this way, having sex with you was my dying wish."

"I never intended to kill you, to make you go out like that." He exhaled sharply. "I was thinking far too much with my dick and not enough with my brain."

"You were only doing what I asked you to do. I know probably shouldn't have pushed you into it, but I was so afraid of losing you, of letting you walk away from what we had, what I thought we always had. I wanted so desperately to screw you, to feel that connection if only for one night."

"The only connection you felt was through some little slut you hired to ride my dick."

"I know. In fact now that I think about it, I really wish I had taken that little whore's place, and I would have, if I only knew then what I know now. The truth is, I don't blame you for what you did, because it was inevitable, whether you were thinking with your dick or not. You gave me the best years of my life, and I'm thankful for that. I forgive you."

He bit down on his bottom lip, in an attempt to hold back the tears that were already threatening to fall, but one single tear did manage to escape the corner of his eye and roll down his cheek. "You remember when you told me I loved you in my own way?" She nodded her head. "Well, you were right. It might have been in my own way, but regardless of the love/hate relationship we shared, I did love you, Gina. I may have given you the best years of your life, but you gave me something too, and it wasnt just sex...you gave me a son, you gave me Wilbur."

A soft smile crossed Gina's face. "How is he by the way?"

"He's good." A small smile appeared on his face. "He's getting so big."

The smile instantly vanished from her face and a scowl replaced it. "I know you haven't told Sean the truth about what happened, but I heard what you told Wilbur. That mommy just went on a long trip and that I was never coming back."

A deep sigh escaped him, shaking his head. "I didn't know what else to say. I couldn't come right out and tell him daddy was feeling whorey at the time and screwed mommy off the balcony."

Gina rolled her eyes, "well you're a hell of a better liar than I am. I wouldn't know what to say." The scowl returned as she looked intently up at his face, her tone of voice falling to a whisper, "how's he holding up?"

"He still asks about you, every once and a while, but he seems to be doing pretty good. I just bought him a puppy. I told him that anytime he misses his mommy, he could play with her, so he wouldn't have to feel sad anymore. We named her Lipo." Another small smile crossed his face, but it was gone just as fast as it had come.

She smiled tenderly, her blue eyes taking on a sudden glossiness, giving him the indication that she must be on the verge of tears herself. Glancing down at her feet, she sighed softly, her features turning somber once again. "Do you think you do something for me, Christian?"

His brows furrowed inquisitively. "I can't do anything for you now, Gina. The damage to your face was irrepairable. Your funeral..." His voice trailed off.

"No, that's not what I'm asking." She continued, her voice breaking with emotion, "could you just...tell Wilbur mommy still loves him?"

He pressed his lips together, the sound of her voice only making it harder to supress his own emotions and keep himself from shedding anymore tears. "Of course," he spoke softly as another tear trickled down his cheek.

"Thank you."

"No, thank you. Not just for Wilbur, but...for everything. I know it might not seem like much to you, but over the course of the last four years, you've given me so much more than a son and a friendship. You've given me my life back. You made me realize my addiction, you saw me for the promiscuous scum bag I was. You've always given it to me straight without any bullshit. It wasn't until I realized you were pregnant with Wilbur, that you finally forced me to get my life back in order. You made me care about something other than myself for once, something other than sex. You made me a father." He sighed deeply, pushing down the huge lump that had formed in his throat and glancing down at the ground. "I know I've made a hell of a lot of mistakes over the years, we both have, but after that HIV scare, you really made me turn my life around. You made me realize that the promiscious asshole I once was...just wasn't the man I wanted to be anymore. You made me a better man."

By this point, the tears were already streaming down Gina's cheeks. "Did I?"

Christian gave a gentle nod of his head. "You did."

"Wow. I never would have guessed I had such an effect on you, Christian."

"Why not? Did you think you were nothing more to me than just a random piece of ass?"

"I would have gone with cheap whore. I mean, let's face it, that's all I ever was to the rest of South Beach. The way I look at it, sex was the only thing I was ever good at. The only reason any of those people showed up to my funeral was to pay respects to what a great screw I was. "

"Not all of them. Liz and I didn't show up to honor your talents as a lover, and certainly not the guy that gave you HIV." He sighed softly. "Look, I know we've had our differences over the years, but that's all in the past now, all right? You weren't just some random piece of ass and you weren't a cheap whore. We had something together, and it wasn't just sex. We had a friendship. You were my friend," the tears stung his eyes, threatening to fall at any moment, "and I loved you."

"Really?"

"Really." His voice shook with emotion, "I'm really going to miss you, Gina."

"I'm really going to miss you too, Christian," she stared blankly at him, a few more tears rolling down her cheeks, "I wish we could have been more than that." She turned on her heels to start walking off in the opposite direction, then, after about five feet, stopped and turned back to him. "One more thing, I just want to apologize for what happened with Julia. No matter what happens between you two, I hope you find someone that you can truly be happy with. At the very least, you deserve that much."

"Thank you." He sniffled softly, as another tear slipped from the corner of his eye and trickled down his cheek. "And I forgive you. I hope that, wherever it is you go, you find peace."

Gina closed the distance between them in three long strides until she was standing a mere few inches before him. Bringing her hand up to his cheek, she leaned in, pressing her lips to his, regardless of whether he could feel it or not.

His eyes fell shut at the kiss, a big part of him wishing he could actually feel that hand and those lips upon his, but to him, it felt like nothing more than a cold breeze, a cold breeze brushing against his cheek and pressing against his lips.

"You were always a better parent than I was." She mumured against his lips, gently and slowly pulling away from him. "Give Wilbur my love."

"I will, I promise." He murmured.

Suddenly, he was startled by the sound of his ringing cell phone. Sighing softly, he averted his attention away from Gina for the moment. Pushing himself away from the ledge, he turned and reached under his black suit jacket, pulling out his cell, flipping it open and holding it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Did you even bother house breaking this new puppy of Wilbur's before you brought it home?" Sean's incredulous voice sounded on the other end.

He sighed wearily. "Honestly? The thought never really entered my mind." His brows furrowed inquisitively. "Why?"

"Because it's been shitting all over the apartment."

"It's a she, Sean, and her name is Lipo."

"Well I've been cleaning up Lipo's shit all night! On the couch, in the kitchen, on my bed!"

Christian exhaled sharply with a roll of his eyes. "Christ." He brought one of his hands up to scratch his head. "I'll be right there."

"And what do you want me to do with it in meantime?"

"Shit, I don't know. Take it out onto the Goddamn balcony for all I care."

"That's what I did, but I can't keep it out here all night."

"I'm on way, all right? I'll be there as soon as I can, just try and keep her the hell outta my bed." Without so much as waiting for another response from his best friend, he flipped the celluar closed, but when he turned back around...Gina was gone.