Seven years

Seven years meant everything. Seven years ago she was forced out of his life. Seven years he spent telling himself that if he saw her again, he'd break her heart like she broke his. Seven years is how long it took her to get the courage to come back home, to face her fears, her past, to step off that boat and wipe all of those vengeful feelings straight from his mind, heart, and soul. Seven years, and he still loves her like she was never gone.

From the second he looked up and saw her standing nervously by the rail of the boat, he knew he could never hurt her, because to hurt her would hurt him too. The next minute she had stepped foot off the boat, and he was trying desperately to seem calm, cool, and collected, a daunting task since he felt the complete opposite.

He always loved how the banter between them came so easily. He loved the way her eyes lost all of their humor when he had said he got married, and he adored how flustered she got when he admitted that he was joking.

The day he ran into her in front of The Cannery when the wedding party was doing the scavenger hunt, he remembered the confusion he felt when Shane had called him Sir Weeps-A-Lot, and guilt had fell into every one of her features and stayed there, even after he reassured her that he had been fine.

He treasured the day that she went on his delivery route with him, and they finally got to talk about what went on in the seven years she had been in Los Angeles. He treasured the jealousy and curiosity he saw written all over her face when Nikki paged him about his 'girlfriend' Julia. That was the day they were finally offered a chance to reconnect.

And he treasured that night, when she came running to him after a scare with the psychic. He treasured the fact that she went to his house, to him, and not to that bastard Henry, like she usually would have. That night, he felt like she actually wanted to be with him.

He could still remember the day she was supposed to leave his life, once again. The day she had sought him out, and wanted to talk about their past, about what would've happened if she had never left. The day she kissed him even though he was covered in fish, the day they officially got back together after a seven year hiatus.

He could still see the fear in her eyes when he found the wedding party at the Candlewick, half an hour after they were supposed to leave. He could still see the confusion in her eyes when everyone stared accusingly at her, believing her to be Wakefield's child. Everyone but himself, and stupid Henry. He could still see the love in her eyes when he told her that whoever wanted her couldn't have her, a vow he sticks to this very day.

Because this very day, two years after escaping the island, after escaping a week in hell with only traumatizing memories to replay in their nightmares, he has kept her safe. Every step of the way, he's been there for her. When she needed to cry because she just couldn't get the image of Chloe falling off the bridge out of her head, or Trish laying dead, but still beautiful, in the forest in her wedding dress. Or when she could hear nothing but the echo of that murderer Henry's last words, "Abby, I love you."

There were days when she would blame herself, saying that if she had never gone back to the Island, none of this would've happened. Those days, he told her that that killer Henry would have found another way to lure her to the island, another way to kill everyone she loved.

Then there were days where she would blame Henry, but not her Henry, not Henry Dunn, but Henry Wakefield. And his low-life father John Wakefield, she never hesitated to blame him for everything. He turned her Henry into a killer, he killed her mother, her father, Nikki, Shane, Cal, Kelly, Danny, and countless others. It wasn't hard to blame him. It was hard to blame Henry. As much as she hated to admit it, no matter how much she hated Henry, she would always love him. She would always love her old best friend, and she would always feel guilty for killing that son of a bitch.

And he would always, for the rest of his life, want to bring that traitor back from the dead so he could kill him himself, because for the rest of his life he would have to see her hurting because of what Henry and Wakefield did.

And for the rest of his life he would have to live with the fact that no matter how much he hated Henry, he owed him one. Because Henry had chosen not to kill her.