/You never really stop loving someone. You just learn to live without them/ -Anon

They hadn't burned out like they'd thought they were going to. They both had entered the risqué relationship thinking they'd be a slow burn, a slowly dimming light, and eventually they assumed one of them would be moved or killed and their light would flicker a bit and then fade away.

Oh god how Paige wished that was how it had ended.

Their candle had burned brightly for months, their fights never enough to cause the strong flame to flicker, and then, just like that, their candle had exploded into fireworks. Anger and passion combusted together and the flame didn't flicker or dim, it was blown out by Paige's sobs and Mike's tears. Their bright and steady light had disappeared in a flash as Mike had spiraled into darkness and Paige continued to fight him at every turn. Their love, their love, Paige believed, was gone. And just like that she had given up Mike's location. And within a few hours he was flat-lining in a hospital bed, all because of her. Damn, how their candle had burned them to pieces.

Mike woke up. Paige had been praying for him to forgive her, a tiny piece of her still believed in their love and was still rooting for them. Oh how she wished he would welcome her with open arms, and she tried not to think about how much she had missed Mike's firm embrace and musky scent, but the thoughts were intoxicating. Mike knew. He knew she had given him up, so when she had tiptoed into the hospital room in the dark of night he had sat up and stared his icy blue eyes into hers and told her that he would never stop loving her. She had rushed towards him, he had shook his head when she tried to pull him to her,

"No Paige." He had whispered, "I never stopped loving you, but you stopped loving me."

"I never stopped Mike, I swear." She had pleaded,

"I know you gave up my position, you're the reason I'm here right now. I'll never stop loving you Paige but I will never be able to forget what you did." His voice had wavered, and she saw tears in his eyes, she dipped her head towards his and kissed him softly,

"I know, that's why this is the last time you'll ever see me." She whispered into his ear as she broke the kiss, "Good-bye Levi." And she had walked out.

She made it only a few steps outside the door before she broke down, sobs wracking her entire body as she slid down the white wall, burying her face in her hands and letting herself break.

Mike was discharged a week later, she thought maybe he'd come back to Graceland while she was there, and maybe she would be able to see him again, but whenever he had come he had left before she had even known he was there. On her pillow she found a envelope addressed to her in Mike's loopy scrawl, she didn't open it, instead she clutched it in her hands and retired to her room to cry once again.

Mike made it back to DC in a few hours time, his cozy apartment no longer felt like home, without her, without the one woman he would never stop loving. For a second he wondered if he had made the wrong decision by letting her go, but that thought was too painful, and he dismissed it from his thoughts.

Not all love stories have happy endings.

That's what he had told himself as he pushed through his mundane life at the FBI. Thanks to internal injuries, he was on desk duty for the foreseeable future, and eventually, after almost a two years of torture he stopped thinking about her every second of every day. Perhaps that's why he had met Sarah, a kind-hearted talkative brunette who worked as a receptionist at the front desk of the FBI office. Perhaps that's why, when she told him two months later that she was pregnant, he hadn't been upset but instead felt like his life was working out.

That's why when they'd recited their vows he hadn't slipped up and said Paige's name, and when the found out they were having a girl, and Sarah had recommended the name Paige he hadn't gone into hysterics. But god, every night, right before he closed his eyes she would come dancing into his head, their last kiss still replaying in his memory. Sarah had asked about his scars once before, and when he'd told her that he had been attacked undercover because his partner had given his location up, she'd looked horrified. That's why, when Sarah was deep in nesting syndrome, almost eight months along, she had come across a locked wooden box.

The lock had come unhinged quickly and what she saw took her breath away. There were pictures, of a blonde girl, some with her laying next to him, some of her on the beach. Wrinkled, old letters in girly handwriting were shoved beneath the photos, seashells that seemed to have some meaning to her husband were crammed in the box as well. The last thing she saw made her heart drop though, there, in the corner of the wood box, was a diamond ring and a name inscribed in the side of it.

Paige.

She couldn't remember her husband ever talking about a Paige, although she vaguely recalled him saying he'd had a girlfriend in California who was blonde. He hadn't mentioned that he'd bought her a ring, or that he had kept all the love letters and the photos from that period of his life. She placed her hand on her stomach, suddenly realizing that he hadn't told her anything about his past and making her incredibly uneasy. She was crying, partially because she knew she hadn't been his first true love, but mostly because she knew Mike was probably still torn up inside about this girl.

He'd chosen that moment to walk into the room, he saw her leaning over the box, it's contents strewn across the floor. "Don't touch that." He couldn't stop himself from demanding,

"Mike, who is she?" Sarah asked, wide eyed,

"Paige." He swallowed, "the one who gave my location away."

Sarah was flabbergasted, why would he keep memorabilia from a girl that had caused him to have long scars up and down his legs and heart issues that cause him to have trouble sleeping. "There's a ring here." She whispered, scared of his response,

"I loved her Sarah, we were partners at our work and we were together for a few months, seriously together. I left my girlfriend for her, she and I broke countless FBI and DEA rules by being together. But she was my everything. I made some bad decisions in a case and it caused someone she cared about to die, she and I fought for weeks before she gave up my location. I knew it was bad but I didn't think it was that bad." He looked at her as he told of his beautiful lover,

"Why did you keep her stuff, even when you're starting a whole new chapter of your life." Sarah asked, kind of angry he had kept this from her.

"I don't know why I kept her stuff." He lied, she looked at him darkly,

"You kept the stuff because you're still in love with her, you were going to marry her Mike. You don't just forget about someone like that." Sarah said quietly.

Six years, three months, two weeks and three days. That's how long it had been since he had seen her. He'd started his new family, his daughter Grace was 4, his marriage barely hanging on through the years. It was messy, they hadn't really know each other when they got married, and both of them had their share of dark secrets, and a relationship based off nothing often cracked. He loved his daughter though, he knew if they separated he could lose her and that he couldn't bare that thought.

On that sixth year, third month, second week and fourth day is when he'd heard the name he hadn't heard in over four years be spoken in the bullpen.

"Our DEA consultant Paige Arkin is here to assist you on the case Agent Warren." His director had told him. Mike had nervously twisted the wedding ring around his finger before heading toward his office where she was waiting. He thought about the pictures of Grace he had up in his office, knowing Paige she would have inspected the room when she had entered. When he saw her in the doorway his breath stopped. She was still as beautiful as he remembered, her blonde hair was much shorter though, and the years had added some worry lines to her face, she looked older yes, but she was still every bit as beautiful to him. She had a dark blouse on, tucked into dark slacks and her hands were nervously tapping at her side. She saw him then, all of what she had been dreaming about for the past six years. He was still broad and well built, he looked stressed, but he also looked put together (if only she knew how much he was falling apart) and judging by the pictures of the smiling brunette girl on his desk he had moved on.

"Agent Arkin." He nodded at her to sit down, he twirled the case file infront of her and watched as she tensed up at his cold attitude. She saw his ring when he slid her the packet,but something was off, there were no photos of his wife on his desk. She swallowed, and tried to discuss the case with him, but after awhile she couldn't handle it anymore.

"I can't do this." She announced he noticed she had tears pooling up in her eyes,

"Paige…" He said softly, and he quickly realized it was the wrong thing to say, tears came pouring down her face at the sound of his voice saying her name.

"God Mike I can't work with you like nothing ever happened, like we never broke each other's hearts, especially when you've clearly gotten over this while I've spent my last six years crying and drinking myself to sleep." She wiped her face and turned to leave,

"Paige please stay." He bided, forgetting about his crumbling marriage and this jeopardy game he was about to put himself in.

"That's not fair, you can't say that." She snapped, he could see the age in her eyes now, there was no sparkle or playful twinge as there had been years before.

"Please just, how about dinner tonight, to catch up?" He asked and she looked at him,

"What about your family?"