"I would've stayed," she says one evening, completely out of the blue. "If you had ever asked me, I mean."
Neal squints at her. "What are you talking about?"
Standing up to leave, Alex averts his gaze. "You asked Kate to stay. Sara too."
He nods in understanding, knowing exactly what she's talking about. "I never had to ask them to stay, Alex. They weren't too fond of running off to different countries under fake names. Well...Sara wasn't anyway."
"But still. You never asked." Alex stands at the door now, jacket on, hand on the door knob. She's mastered the art of illusion; she's standing right in front of him, so close he could reach out and touch her, but she's so far away that he'll never be able to catch up to her, not fully.
"I'm asking now," he says, moving in her direction. "Stay."
She shakes her head, giving him a hollow smile. "It's different now. You're not asking because you want to. You're asking because you know I want to stay."
"So stay," he tries again firmly, though he knows it's useless.
"Ask me next time."
She slips out the door and disappears into the night, and Neal watches her leave, letting her go because he knows that one day she'll be back.