The end is where we start from.
"I love you." It was the three words that Faith had been waiting for for a long time. The three words that, if he had said before, if he had even muttered them in his sleep, would have changed everything. But, unfortunately, the fact that she was hearing it now, with her light grey shirt stained a dark red and her skin turning a frighteningly pale shade of white, was too late.
She looked up at the man crouched over her, the man who was holding her in his arms and trying to usher her into life, tears tracking down his beautifully tragic face. Tragic. It was a good word to describe their relationship. Full of unfulfilled opportunities and missed signals. It was now, while she was bleeding out on the floor that he decided to tell her that he loved her.
She smiled a little, though the gesture was weak, Angel made a mental note to remember it forever. The last smile he'd ever see form this amazing woman, the woman he had been astounded by time and time again. She was stronger than anyone else he'd ever known and now she was dying and there was nothing he could do about it. Her body felt ice cold in his hands, colder than even he was and he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. Her red lipstick was painfully dark against her skin, matching the blood on her shirt. He should have saved her. Should have been here in time. Should have done something. Anything. To stop this, but he hadn't. He'd failed her and now, now he was going to lose her. He watched as her lips as she spoke, her voice weak and so unlike the usual, low tone he was used to, the voice that was now-
"I lo-."
Gone.