So we all know how glad we were that Brennan didn't sail away with Sully. But what did Sully see from his boat as he sailed away? One-shot that was ticking my brain. Thanks to Jewelbe11 for the kick in the butt. All mistakes are mine, it's 2:30 in the morning.
I asked her to go.
He told her to go.
She decided to stay.
I shouldn't have turned around.
Until I turned around I could keep hoping that maybe she'd change her mind. Maybe I would call in a week or two and she'd say that she'd been wrong; that she wanted to meet me in Barbados or Turks and Caicos. Maybe I'd dock somewhere and she'd be standing on the beach, shoes dangling from her fingers, toes in the sand, waiting for me. I'd been willing to give it some time, but the possibility that we weren't finished made sailing away a little more bearable.
I should have known better than to believe my own delusions. I should have trusted my gut; that gnawing feeling that Booth, despite what she claimed, was the reason she said no to my offer.
I shouldn't have looked back for that one last wave goodbye.
But I did.
And there he was, standing behind her.
Of course.
I watched her posture change. I've been watching this woman for a while, enough to know her body language. She knew, or at the very least suspected, that he was there.
I lowered my hand down from the wave I had been about to give and I watched.
She turned around, tilted her head in what was probably annoyance, and he gave a fake wave. I'm sure he was trying to pretend he was there to see me off.
I don't think he fooled any one of us.
She took a few steps in his direction and he met her half way, got to her side, then did this funny circle back behind her to her other side, allowing his arm to drape around her. I could see they were talking to each other as they walked slowly up the dock. I saw her look at him, and while I couldn't see their faces, I imagined he was explaining something to her, as he usually was. She looked forward again and he turned his head to look at her, his arm still firmly around her. I'd like to pretend I didn't care what he was saying, but I did. Was he telling her she'd made the right choice?
And then, well, then what should have been painfully obvious all along became crystal clear to me.
She turned her head to look at him while he looked at her, their faces so close that their noses almost touched. I couldn't see their expressions clearly, but it seemed obvious they were smiling at one another. He gave her shoulders a small squeeze with his arm and they picked up their pace as they walked away from the water.
Away from me.
He never dropped his arm.
She never looked back. Not once.
They were too wrapped up in each other to remember to wave one last time.
I'd lost.
She'd stayed for him. Maybe she didn't know it. He probably didn't know it.
But I did.
No matter what they said, they were not just partners.
I'd never stood a chance.
There would be no meeting in the Caribbean. She wouldn't be waiting for me on any beach.
She would be in DC with Booth.
She made her choice.
Her choice wasn't me.
I'd loved and lost. I'd never had her heart. She'd given it to him long before I'd met her, whether she realized it or not.
And so I sailed away and gave up on one dream as I embarked on another.
She would never be mine.
She never had been.
~End~
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