Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, the quotes are not mine, but the musings are mine... and this is in response to Lifeline which aired a long time ago I know, but it needed to be written. It is just a little drabble after all...

Love Is Letting Go

I let her go.

Yes, yes, splendid-you...what? How could you do that?

I had to.

Yes but, but...but why?

Because...I love her.

-Beauty and the Beast. .

They say letting go is the hardest thing to do, and as John stood on the balcony watching the ripples of the reflection of the two moons on the water of their new home he had to wonder how she had let him go...

Elizabeth wait...

You can't.

I have to and you know it...

John...Go.

That had been the easy part. He hadn't thought about what he was doing, he just reacted and in the end everything had turned out alright. And as he stood on the balcony he mused that her reasoning had been the same.

Elizabeth...

Get to the jumper.

You're coming with us.

I can't keep them frozen much longer.

We're NOT leaving you behind.

If you don't leave right now, NONE of us will get out of here so go! That's an order!

Come on...

Elizabeth!

Go!

That was the hard part. Letting her go...Ronan had to drag him away. But just like she had known way back then, he knew at the time. There was no other way, and he had to let her go. But those endless seconds haunted him, and he wondered if during the siege of Atlantis that those endless seconds had haunted her too.

'I guess I'll never know now.' John though desolately to himself as he heard the doors whoosh open, 'But I guess what they say is true- at least for me. Love is letting go.'

And in his heart, John knew that it was the same for Elizabeth as well- wherever she was.