The neon lights and glitz of the Las Vegas strip twinkled below them. After dinner, Mary and Danny had gone out for a drive and ended up at this spot overlooking the strip. Mary didn't know how long they had been sitting there together in silence, but she didn't want to break the reverie. She glanced at Danny, who had his head back against the driver's seat and was looking up at the sky. "Say something," Mary softly pleaded; she placed a warm hand on Danny's thigh. "Please say something,"

Danny placed his hand over Mary's, entwining his fingers with her own, but continued to stare into the vast dark above him. "How long have you known you might be leaving?"

"There was always the possibility there, Danny. I get job offers all the time…but the resort contacted me for the first time almost a year ago. Said they were impressed with the success of the events that I'd organized for the Montecito, that they might be interested in me. So I faxed them a resume, just for the hell of it." Mary explained. "I didn't hear anything else after that, so I sort of wrote it off. I didn't get another call about it until last week."

"Does Ed know?" Danny asked, struggling to take in the weight of her words.

"My contract with the Montecito is up at the end of the month, and I think that Ed knows that this is a step for me, a chance to gain some new experiences. Besides, they only need me for two years…"

"Only two years? Two years is a long time, Mare." Danny let out an exasperated sigh, and then ground the palms of his hands to his eyes. "I still can't believe what I'm hearing," he reached for her hand again, eager for the contact, it was the only thing that was grounding him in reality. "Vegas won't be the same without you, but I'm happy for you,"

Mary smiled tentatively, brought her hand to caress Danny's cheek. "Thanks, Danny, your support means everything to me." Danny put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him, holding her close. He kissed her forehead and tried to focus on the moment, because thinking about a future right now, particularly one where Mary was hundreds of miles away, was enough to make his heart sink into the pit of his stomach.

x-x-x

On the monitor in the surveillance room, Danny watched Mary, Nessa, Sam, and Delinda having lunch at Mystique. They had each gotten Mary a going away present and Danny was in the process of watching Mary open them, when Mike strolled in and interrupted his thoughts. "Hey Danny, how you holding up, man?"

Danny and Mike exchanged their usual handshake by way of a greeting. Then, Danny returned his attention to the red-headed woman on the screen. "I can't believe she's going to be leaving in a few days. Last night, I helped her pack up the last of the stuff at her apartment…it just all felt so…surreal, man." Danny swiveled in his chair. "You know when I left for the Marines she was the one thing that got me through those tough times. I knew that I couldn't leave her like that, that I had to come home, and now she's leaving me."

Mike looked on sympathetically. "Ask her to stay, man…you know you'll be miserable without her,"

"I can't do that, this is a big opportunity for her and…look at her," Danny said pointing to the screen. Mary had put on the matching cashmere scarf and knit hat that Delinda had given her, a bright smile on her face. "She's happy, and she really wants this. She deserves this."

"But, you two belong together,"

"Mike…I already asked the girl to marry me once, and she gave me back the ring because she didn't feel right about why I asked in the first place. That maybe I was just asking her because of what I went through when I shipped out. If I say something now, she'll think that I'm only doing it so she'll stay," Danny reasoned.

"Well, what are you going to do then? She hasn't even left yet and you're already miserable,"

Danny returned his gaze to the girls at Mystique. Nessa had stood up and it looked as if they were getting ready to toast Mary. He watched them clink their glasses together, and then surround Mary for a group hug.

They had been best friends since they were two and since that moment, Danny had never been able to envision his life without Mary being there. She was his first kiss behind the swings in the fourth grade. He remembered they were both out of breath after jumping off the swings and he leaned in to pick some strands of grass from her red hair, and they were standing so close. When he kissed her, her mouth tasted of the cherry lollipop she had just eaten.

"I don't know, Mike. I don't know…"

x-x-x

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