A/N: I barely had time to edit this, but thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, following, DMing. ;)

They had dinner at his apartment the following night, too. This time around the coffee table in the dining room seemed a more appropriate choice. Mike didn't cook, Paige took care of everything.

She surprised him after a meeting at HQ. He found her sitting at his desk, spinning around in his chair with a breathtaking smile on her lips. A hint of sadness could still be seen beyond her cheery facade.

The pizza box she surprised him was now laying long forgotten on the floor.

"I really loved you."

All of a sudden, out of the blue, Mike felt the urge to share with her what he had never been able to say when they were together.

Their laughter had barely faded when those words slipped out of his mouth, as naturally as they popped up in his mind years ago. He stared at her, devoid of any expression, eyes glazed over.

"I think I loved you more than I was capable of. So much that it consumed me."

He was lying sideways. One arm was bent on the back of the couch to support his head, his other hand steadying his glass of wine. Paige brought a few bottles herself - those good ones Mike never knew how to choose.

Her eyes were warm as they silently settled on him. A bitter smile covered her lips and she stirred the wine around in her own glass. "And me. No one other than you had so much of me in so little time, Mike. You managed to make me so happy and hurt me so much, but I wouldn't swap what we had for the world..."

Mike shuffled on the couch. He reached out to brush her ebony hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

Paige took one more sip. It warmed her in the stomach and clouded her mind a little more: maybe it was the wine talking for both. They had managed to reach a neutral zone, ready to permanently clear away the past. What was the point in bringing up feelings that weren't anymore?

His thumb traced the line of her jaw down to her chin. He slowly dropped his hand back in his lap, not sure of where this was going. He didn't know what made him start this conversation. Something inside of him pushed him to say those words. Perhaps, somewhere deep down, there was something left of the old Mike that once inhabited his body.

"I loved what you were. I didn't fall in love with what's so easy to see in you - anyone would be able to do that, you're so beautiful and you know it. "

Paige leaned her head against the sofa. Her temples were throbbing. Her head was spinning. For a moment there she almost thought it was the effect of his words on her.

"Just not you. You looked over all of that and didn't run away when you saw how flawed I am."

Mike nodded.

"I loved everything about you."

Her hand rest on his chest. His heart didn't speed up under her touch like it used to. A few minutes of silence passed before his hand came up to rest on hers, catching her off guard.

She watched him drink slowly, unaware of her eyes on him.

'I don't care about all the lies that tore us apart. I wish it didn't end like this. I made you believe that I'd erase every moment spent with you. I could never, ever do that, Mike. I gave you the best part of me.'

That was all she wanted to tell him in that moment. She didn't want it to end there. Love was gone, but what about friendship? There was a good chance that couldn't be saved either, but if Mike was willing to try, she would give anything to fix things up. However, she knew that had been swept off the table too.

Yet she still wasn't ready to lose him forever. She'd thought she was but would she ever be ready for something like that?

Paige would have to forget him along with the best of her. Because once she'd catch her flight back to LA the next morning, nothing would ever be the same.

"Is that your girlfriend?"

The question escaped her lips before she could stop herself. Mike followed her gaze to the framed photograph on the bookshelf that caught her attention: he looked happy in the picture, even though his smile was off and his eyes weren't that shiny shade of blue from his rookie days. A hazel eyed brunette was leaning on his chest, smiling into the camera.

Paige's hand slowly slid down his chest and fell back on the couch. Shortly after, the glass came up to her lips again.

"More or less. We went out a couple times. Nothing serious."

"Mhmmm. Is that why you have it framed?" Paige teased him with a small smile. It felt nice that he'd lie about being happy just because she hadn't been for the past three years. It gave her hope that somehow she hadn't destroyed everything about his old self. She shot the photo one last quick look. "She's pretty."

Mike smiled, but kept silent. Fair enough. Silence means consent.

"You deserve to be happy, Mike. You really do. "

"You too."

Paige laughed, finishing her wine. Mike's eyes continued to follow her movements.

He contemplated her face. The sweet line of her nose. Her high cheekbones. Her heart shaped lips. Her doe eyes. The way her long eyelashes curled everytime she blinked. Everything he had loved about her was still there. But the thrill he used to feel when she was around was missing.

A thrill that he hardly believed he'd ever feel again. No other woman would ever be able to make him feel that. Not even the girl he'd been with for about a year and a half now.

It was lost with the memory of them.

"Oh, c'mon. You can have your white picket fence family, a house full of screaming brats and a golden retriever drooling all over your shoes. But me? No way." She brushed him off, tracing the rim of her glass with her finger.

"Why's that?"

Shrugging slightly, she let out a soft chuckle, her eyes low. "Those are things that people like me can't have. I'm just not worth it."

Paige had given that up a long time ago. Starting a family had never been in her plans. But she couldn't deny feeling a certain envy for Charlie and Briggs. They healed their wounds and moved on. She had seen Charlie's eyes during her pregnancy. Those sweet and shiny momma eyes that she would never get to have.

And it was fine. Or at least, it was until Mike's heavy words tore her inside again.

"I used to want all of those things with you."

The bile rose in her throat as her breath became ragged under his stare and she finally admitted to herself what she was afraid to say out loud. What had scared her off two years before.

'I loved you too.'