Spinelli lay on the floor in the utility closet, smoke filling his lungs, and he felt himself struggling to breath. He wanted to try to get up and be the hero but he knew that he wouldn't be able to. This was going to be his fate. He would die here in a closet, full of wires and he was comfortable here. He should have known he would die with machines and not people. Giving up he lay his head back on the ground and closed his eyes. As he drifted off into unconsciousness a white haze passed over him and it was as if he were in another time and place. Music filled his senses but he didn't know where it was coming from. It was a quiet voice but beautiful. Wild flowing fields, photographs of paper planes, and you love me. He saw her walking towards him and somehow he knew this couldn't be real. She was dressed all in white, her blonde hair pulled back and pinned in place with a white flower. She was the most exquisite vision he had ever seen. And he felt like she was his. Watching the sunrise, pockets filled with forget-me-nots that say you love me. She reached him and held out her hand. She spoke but her voice sounded far away, like it was from another room. "Spinelli. Spinelli, you can't go. I need you." He took the hand she offerered and in an instant he was no longer in his smoky clothes but in a suit identical to the one she had brought to him the day that his clothes had been stolen on the docks. And he was no longer in a smoke filled utility closet but in a grand ballroom. He'd never seen it before but he imagined it was the stuff that fairytales were made of. He stepped closer and closed his eyes as they began to sway to the music. All along, you were here to stay, never noticed, till you said i love you on a paper plane, you said i love you on a paper plane, la la la la la la love, la la la la la la love. "The Jackal is going to miss this Fair Maximista. But you must know that I have cherished our moments together, the good and the bad, more than the languages allow. I could speak to you in sonnets and poems and hope that someday you will truly see the depth of my devotion to you but alas the Jackal has no more time left to speak. But you have had my heart, body and soul for the past year and now you will have it until my dying breathe." Maxie looked at him but didn't speak. Instead she just took a step closer into his arms and laid her head on his shoulder. This had been her safe place for the better part of a year and the idea that it was no longer going to be there was a thought she was unprepared to deal with. But now wasn't about her. It was about Spinelli and she would keep her fears to herself. Cool blowing breeze, lifts up my feet, to show me you love me. The ballroom disappeared and now they were at the park sitting on a swing built for two. The kicked their legs and felt the breeze on their face. The fancy clothes had given way to jeans and t-shirts and bare feet. This was Spinelli's idea of heaven. Sharing a moment of pure bliss with one he loved. He didn't know why he seemed unable to utter those three little words that would give them closure before he left this world for another but he was. Large paper planes, take you so far away, but i know you love me. The swing came to a sudden stop and they stood on the grass looking into her eyes. He could feel that his time was coming soon and a sense of panic came over him. There was so much more that he wanted to say to her, so much more that he wanted to do. But he was feeling the pull from the other side and a sense of urgency took the place of the panic. All along, you were here to stay, never noticed, till you said i love you on a paper plane, you said i love you on a paper la la la la la love, la la la la la la love. "Maximista, I think it's time for me to go now. But I want you to know that I'm always going to be here. I'll be with Georgie watching you. Guiding you. I know that you'll feel hurt and abandoned but please know if I could stay I would. If I could have my way I would stay with you always. But this isn't my choice. You have meant the world to me." She took a step back and looked deep into his eyes. She had stayed quiet until now but it was time for her to speak. To let him know that she would be alright if he felt like he had to go. So for all that you do, i will send my lovin' to you boy, you make me fly again, again, again. "My world went dark when I lost Georgie. And when Coop died too I felt like I had nothing left. Not a friend in the world. No hand to hold onto. And in an instant somehow you were there. It was pure need that drove us together and when all was said and done you were absolutely necessary to my existence. You completed me in a way that I didn't know I could be completed. You took a woman who felt worthless and broken and made me feel beautiful and whole. There has never been a word to describe the way I feel about you. It's beyond friendship, beyond anything else that I could think of. You have helped make me the woman I am and will become." Suddenly Maxie was gone and his arms were empty. The park was gone and he stood in a long dark hallway. At one end of the hallway he could see his body laying lifeless and still on the floor. At the other end of the hallway was an inviting bright light. As he started to head towards the light he took a look back at his body and saw the door to the utility closet open. And there in the doorway was his Maximista. The bright light at the hallway dimmed as Maxie ran towards his body. She knelt at his side and felt for a pulse. And she began speaking. Unlike before her voice was right there as if he were standing right next to her in a silent room."Spinelli. Spinelli, I need you to wake up. You can't do this to me. You can't leave me like this. I can't do this without you. This living. I can't do it if you're not here by my side." She shook his body and laid her hand on his chest praying for a heartbeat. "Spinelli, I have been so blind with you. In my heart I knew you loved me but my mind wouldn't let me believe it. I was so sure that someone as good as you could never love someone like me. But you did. You have. And I have too Spinelli. I have loved you more than you could ever know. With every fiber of my being and ever breathe I have taken. I have loved you. Please Spinelli. I love you." The light disappeared and he felt breathe fill his lungs again. He took a breathe and opened his eyes. All along, you were here to stay, never noticed, till you said I love you on a paper plane, you said i love you on a paper plane, la la la la la la love, la la la la la la love. There was Maxie, weeping over him, and when she saw that he had woken up he saw fire flash in them. He hadn't realized that when he gave up on his life he gave up on hers. They were intertwined now in a way that most people would never understand. She leaned down and kissed him gently but not too passionately so she didn't steal any of his breath. "Jason, Sam. He's in here and he's alive. You've got to come quick. He was unconscious but I don't know for how long." From that moment everything was a blur around him except for Maxie who was a constant by his side. Finally they had found there way to each other. In his hospital room at Mercy after everyone had left she sat by his bedside and took his hand. "Don't you ever scare me like that again Spinelli." He smiled at her and spoke. "I won't. I love you Maxie. I was just waiting until you saw that I was always there. Always waiting for you to realize that I loved you and that you loved me too."
"I know that now. Go to sleep. I'll be here in the morning, and every morning after that for as long as you want me." He smiled as he dozed off to sleep and he dreamt sweet dreams of his future with his Maximista.