July 11, 1995

Finally entering the parking lot, Danny Brooks took his car keys out of the ignition. St. Louis summer weather was usually hot, but with the sun just setting this evening and the nice cool breeze that was running through the air, made this evening even more nerve-racking to him. He tilted his head up towards his rear-view mirror, checking to make sure his long, brown locks were still slicked back and that there was no crust in the cracks of his blue eyes or even a single bead of sweat in his brows. He had to look perfect.

Once he was all set, he got out of his car and locked it, placing the keys in his tuxedo pocket. He walked towards the doors of the museum. As he got closer, his vision became clearer and he noticed a familiar face walking towards him.

"I'm so happy your finally here. Mama and Daddy are just jumping out of their seats to meet you." A feminine country accent greeted him, which was none other than his girlfriend of three years, Gwen. They met when Danny first moved to St. Louis and was really his only close friend.

"Gwen, you look amazing," Danny eyed her up and down. Her small, curvy frame was draped in a loose violet glittery ball gown. Knowing her parents, they probably spent a few hundred dollars on it.

She smiled at him, flashing her straight white teeth, "You don't look too bad yourself, hun. Now come on, the exhibition is about to start," Gwen's frail hand left his bulky one, beginning to walk off away from him, before his hand clutched onto her arm.

"Gwen, I need to talk to you about something," he swallowed.

"Danny, can it wait," she looked at him, her gaze mixed with confusion and worry, "My parents are probably freaking out right now."

"Alright, I'll just tell you afterwards." Danny nodded, deciding to take ahold of her hand and walk inside beside her.

The exhibition was slowly beginning to come to a close - most of the artwork that was here had already been auctioned off and some of the attendees had already left. Gwen and her parents were away talking to some other collectors and her siblings had already headed home.

"I guess there's no better time than now," he thought and he got up from his seat at the stranded table, walking towards her parents. He attempted to quietly approach them, but her father had caught him and embrace him in one of those fatherly hugs.

"Carl, Rachel, Richard, I would like you to meet Daniel Brooks," Danny smiled politely, "Daniel, these are the Graysons."

He held is hand out, shaking everyone's hand, "Very nice to meet you all. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves tonight."

Mrs. Grayson grinned, "Such great manners. You never see that in the youth today."

The adults began a discussion about art and Danny listened to it, his hand intertwined with Gwen's for a minute before leaning of and whispering in her ear, "Can we finally have that talk now?"

Gwen gave a nod before speaking up, "Pardon us, we are just going outside for a brief moment. Have a nice night Mr. and Mrs. Grayson." The adults acknowledged them as they walked away and went outside.

It was dark out but there was still warm air blowing in the wind. Louisiana never really got cold.

"Danny, what's wrong," She asked him as soon as the doors shut behind them, "you're not dying, are you?"

He chuckled. Gwen always seemed to jump to conclusions, "No, I'm not dying.."

"Is Ellen okay?" She asked. His smile faltered when she brought her up.

"Yes, Ellen is doing fine as well. Perfect health."

Gwen looked around confused, "Then what the hell is wrong, if no one's dying?"

He stuffed his hand in his pockets as his mind rambled through the right words, "I'm not who I say I am..."

Gwen blinked a few times, attempting to understand, "What do you mean, Danny?"

"My name isn't Danny - it's Neal."

Her arms crossed her chest as she got closer to him, "Excuse me?"

"My name is Neal George Bennett, son of a corrupt police officer charged for murder." His lower lip quivered as he said it, tears forming in the corners of his eyes, but they never fell.

"You pretended to be someone else, why?"

Neal shook his head, "No. I was moved into Witness Protection with Ellen because of my fathers' murder charge and my name was legally changed to Danny Brooks."

"So, you decided to keep this all from me and not tell me?" Gwen's voice rose, her hands clenched into little fists, "I thought you trusted me enough to let me know about this before!"

Neal gathered up some small courage and walked towards her, reaching his hand out to touch her shoulder before she shrugged him off and moving back away from him, "How was I supposed to tell you something I didn't even know myself until now?"

Gwen stayed silent, looking at the ground below her foot, which was tapping at a fast pace. She bit on her lip to prevent herself from breaking down in tears. He sighed, stepping back himself, not wanting to anger her more than she already was.

"I just wanted to let you know that tonight will be my last night here. I'm leaving and I am not coming back here. I don't even know where I'm headed," his hand went into his tuxedo pocket, pulling out a gold locket with a picture of them both inside, "I just wanted to say goodbye to you before I left."

This time as Neal approached her, she didn't back away and he placed the locket around her neck, "It's pretty cliche, I know, but you always told me how you liked the simple stuff," after laying a last gentle kiss on her cheek, he then began to head towards his car.

"Neal.." She croaked out. Her cheeks were flushed a deep red and her eyes formed tears by the second, causing stains down her face. Neal heard her and locked back up.

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to say goodbye like this..." Her mind raced but her feet moved faster, running at him with full speed before stopping, leaving them toe to toe - chest to chest. Her arm snaked around his neck as she kissed him. And he responded just as well by wrapping his arms around her waist. They pulled away a few seconds after and stayed hugging each other tightly. His forehead lying on top of hers.

"I'm going to miss you a lot. Please, be safe," she whispered, "I don't think I could handle something happening to you."

Neal merely nodded before letting go of Gwen's embrace, getting into his car, and driving off into the Louisiana night sky. Once his car was no longer in sight is when the tears plummeted down her cheeks. She just lost the love of her life and Gwen didn't know if she could ever pick the pieces back up again.