Laurie had had enough of this. Just being around Jon was torture now, every single day. She only felt emptiness. Her heart barely seemed to beat enough to keep her alive, and the young luster in her eyes faded to a harsh ice. He barely even acknowledged her existence. They were just like two ghosts, moving in separate directions. She was positively miserable, but knew of no other life. Right after moving out of her home, she moved in with her lover- she never knew what it was like to be alone. Was she to just go back to her mother in California? No. That would be pathetic. She wasn't a child anymore, however much she wished she could simply fall to pieces and sob like one.

So she stayed, day in and day out, moving as if in slow motion; as if she had no control over her own body. She was only there to keep the precious Dr. Manhattan comfortable and happy, right? None of these people around their "house" cared a wink about her. To them, she was just an object. And Dr. Manhattan, an asset. He got what he wanted. And what about her? She got nothing. Laurie wanted her Jon back. The one she fell in love with. The kind hearted man she could trust and relate to. Not this. Dr. Manhattan was not Jon. He was not human.

He looked at her with cold, blank eyes while telling her these beautiful, well-constructed lies. How could he honestly still say he loved her when he could barely even touch her now? He didn't see her when he looked at her, is how.

He saw everything.

But not Laurie.

So she left.

And here she sat, at the table in Daniel Dreiburg's kitchen sipping dolefully at a mug of coffee while he talked her ear off. That's how he was, wasn't he? Without question, he would let her in. Without even wondering what she was doing out and about so late at night, without calling him ahead to say she was coming over, he would gladly allow her to stay here. Because he was kind. Because he was different. And different was what Laurie wanted, right? He was not Jon, and that was for certain. But Daniel cared about her like he couldn't. Jon couldn't feel the emotions that Dan could. He was human. And that's what she longed for.

Right?

When his arms wrapped around her, laying her bare back down onto the icy floor of Archie as they hovered in midair, those brown eyes staring longingly into her own, she knew for certain. This couldn't be fine. Daniel was human. But he wasn't Jon. And suddenly at her lover's memory, an uncontrollable wave of guilt spread over her. She still loved Jon, so she thought, but she allowed her self to be here in the arms of another man. And she wanted this, didn't she? All of the problems in the world, and she could still bring herself to cheat on the indestructible man. But was it her fault? When she thought of Jon, she did not feel love any more. She could not bring herself to even feel sorrow when it was reported he left Earth. Why was that? She lived with him for twenty years, and she could still feel nothing? But Dan... Innocent, loving, human Dan. She desired him with all of her being. She needed to feel love again.

Is that not alright?