Disclaimer: I don't own a thing you recognize.
A/N: originally written for the litafics community on livejournal. The prompt given is sleepless. No named pairing, but given the community, the female is intended to be Lita but could be anyone that you'd like. One-shot, unrelated to anything else that exists underneath my pen-name.
~*~
Her side of the bed is empty again, the third night in a row and the fifth time in two weeks. There's something bothering her but she won't let on to what it is … and so he's in the dark.
He's unsure if she's keeping something from him to protect him or maybe to protect herself.
He's not exactly afraid to ask her, but he doesn't exactly want to find out yet.
So instead of trying to go back to sleep, he leaves the bed as well, not quite knowing where she is and yet he finds her easily.
Her expression is blank, hazel eyes dull as she stares into the darkness of the night. Her shoulders are bare, arms wrapped tightly around her waist as she stands outside.
He can see her shoulders tense when he approaches, and when she flinches at his touch, he flinches too.
And then when she finally turns to face him, he realizes in an instant that he was right all along.
She's going to leave him soon and very soon, not tonight because she has nowhere else to go, but soon... once the sun starts to rise.
A new day for a new start.
He won't try to stop her, won't try to plead his case or change her mind because he can see the determination in her eyes; he knows that her mind is already made up and that there's nothing he can do to convince her otherwise.
"... I'm sorry," she says finally, strain evident in her voice, "I thought we could make this work but--"
"Don't," he interrupts, he doesn't want her to apologize for his own foolishness. "... just don't."
Her lips press together as she nods just so slightly, and if he wasn't watching her intently he would think that she hadn't heard him. "It just wasn't enough," she says lightly, the barest tint of regret in her tone. "Not this time."
She's right of course and he knows it just as well as she does.
"All I ask is that you don't try to call me and that you don't try to find me."
Well now that she's said that, it really does drive the point home, doesn't it? It's over and there's nothing more that he can do … even if he wanted to and he's not entirely certain if it's worth the effort anymore.
Her continued silence and the arching of an eyebrow make him realize that she wants a verbal reply and a part of him just doesn't want to give her the satisfaction... "Then I guess this is goodbye and not goodnight."
Ironically she smiles, recalling her own words to him when they'd first met... to tell her goodnight and not goodbye unless he intended on walking away from her. "Yes, this is goodbye."
He watches her leave the patio and disappear into the living room, the movement of a blanket seems to be the proverbial final nail in the coffin. He almost can't believe this is happening, that he could have been this blind to the reality of it all.
In the morning, when he wakes up again, Lita will be walking out of his life for the final time.
~ FIN ~