It was the summer after their college graduation. Lori had secured a job as a pre-school teacher at a small school in the county, while Rick was preparing to go to the police academy.

He borrowed Shane's black jeep, and played The Eagles' Hotel California as they travel down the highway. The midnight moon and warm weather made for a memorable evening.

There she stood in the doorway. I heard the mission bell

Lori chuckled as the wind whipped through her hair. The sound of her laughing always made him smile. Rick turned into the rugged road that led up to the aptly named "Eagles' Nest" quarry, and parked in their usual spot, which gave them a picture-perfect view of the moon reflecting off the water.

How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat. Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

Rick left the jeep's headlights on as he placed a blanket on the ground. Armed with two bottles of beer rather than a fancy bottle of champagne, they spent the next hour making love under the sky before lying together under the lights of a billion stars.

Mirrors on the ceiling, The pink champagne on ice

His fingers were shaking with nerves and he almost dropped the ring before sitting up and getting on one knee.

She gasped when she realized what was about to happen.

"Lori, baby. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. We have our whole lives in front of us, and I can't see spending a day without you by my side. Will you marry me?"

She practically shouted "yes" in excitement, and after the ring adorned her finger for the first time, they melted together and became one again.

You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave


Rick laid in his bed as the cold darkness of the room suffocated him. He wanted to think that he could fall asleep again, but he couldn't - he saw the imprints of images behind his eyelids and he just couldn't get it out of his head. The look on Lori's face when she walked in on him with Andrea, how he treated her when he thought she killed T. He knew her better than anyone else. She would step on the brakes when a squirrel ran across the road. She'd never take the life of another human.

He could feel his heart thunder in his chest. He stared at the ceiling, wondering if there was a way for him to forget the past couple years of his life, wants to wipe it clean and scrub it away until it is nothing but a raw but fading memory. He wished he could wake up in the morning and be back in the hospital bed, ready to start all over again.

It was a week since he was caught with Andrea. One week since the final knife was thrust into what was left of his marriage. He knew he was still not used to it. He could never get used to it. He didn't want to get used to it.

The truth was; Rick was lost, with the grey sky and icy winter surrounding them, he felt only sadness as he realized what he did. The feeling was suffocating him, he had never felt so alone.

Rick was acutely aware that the space next to him in bed was empty. There was no echoing warmth, so crevice where Lori should have been. There was nothing. He curled onto his side and felt the space next to him, hands reaching out.

There was an ache and weariness in his bones that couldn't be appeased. He simply didn't want to do anything.

He remembered how tightly she held him the day Jeff took his own life. He remembered how she, without being asked, stayed up with him all night long as he did everything he could to try to erase the image of his mother, wrists slit to the bone, lying in a tub of blood red water.

He remembered how many nights his father would stumble through the front door, his slurred voice booming throughout the small house. His mother would start crying, followed by the sound of glass being broken. The following morning always found his mother with a new bruise on her face or fresh splotches of blood on the kitchen floor.

Lori was the one who spent years helping him fight through his demons, only to be surrounded by new ones, living and dead.

He thought back to when they first met in high school. His home life was so broken that when he met Lori, she was a breath of fresh air. After navigating the dating world while in high school, he found comfort and peace with her. He remembered the night at the quarry, and the word she said… "soulmates."

When he was a child, he thought there was an ethereal beauty to soulmates. Someone unwilling to judge but accepting of your flaws, someone that the universe created just for you. They would be your best friend, your lover, your partner in crime. They were the reason the Earth spun on its axis.

Maybe his expectations as he headed into a marriage at the age of twenty-three, but in his eyes Lori was perfection. He loved everything about her, from her silky hair that was so soft to touch, her ever present honey and vanilla scent that would always leave him intoxicated and nervous at the same time. He loved how she would gently reach out and caress his arm for no other reason than he was within reach.

Lori was the woman around whom Rick built his dreams. Wanting to distance himself from his father as much as possible, Rick's life revolved around his family, and his wife and son became his candle in the window on a cold, dark winter's night. He truly thought that a life without her was not worth living.

His emotions had finally caught up to him and he found himself unable to function normally, even though he tried everything to distract herself from the pain in his heart that seemed to be suffocating him. He missed being able to see the adoration in her eyes whenever he looked at her.

He never hated himself as much as he did right then. It's painful; just thinking about everything she has done for him, how she stood by him, only to be repaid by an emotionally distant and now cheating husband.

At some point, between the deep breathing to steady himself and the pure exhaustion in his bones, he fell asleep.


Something akin to a whisper brushed across Rick's consciousness as the audible tick-tick-tick of his watch nestled its way into his thoughts. In the soft haze of early morning, he felt a warm body occupying the other half of his bed. An arm was wrapped around his midsection and hair tickled the back of his neck while hot breath rested on his skin. His first thought was to grab onto Lori's arm and immediately start to make love to her. The only woman who accepted him for who he was.

"Morning," says a raspy female voice.

"What the hell, Andrea?" Rick asked, as he pushed her arm away and jumped out of bed.

"Morning, lover. I thought you'd miss me."

Rick jumped out of her grasp and grabbed his jeans, quickly putting them on while standing in the corner, out of sight from the blonde.

"You're mine, Rick, why do you fight it?" her voice rumbled, her chest vibrating as she spoke.

"You don't own me, Andrea." He spat bitterly as pulled the zipper. "You never have and you never will."

"Oh, Sweetie, you don't really believe that." She glared at him, raising her chin defiantly.

"I told you, you were a mistake. I wasn't thinking clearly, I don't love you, I love my wife. I don't want anything to do with you."

"Aww. you're so sweet when you're desperate. Come back to bed, lover. I'll make you forget all about Snow White."

"Cut the shit." He snapped, his voice echoing throughout the room. "Just cut it!" He pulled on a brown tee-shirt before pointing his finger at the blonde. "I don't know what you're up to, but I'm telling you it's gonna stop right now."

"No, it's not gonna stop, Rick. It's gonna go on and on until you realize that I'm not going away. You need to face up to your responsibilities."

"What responsibilities?"

"I'm pregnant. I'm going to have our child. We're gonna have a life together. You got rid of Snow White, she saw us, I made sure of that. Only a damn fool would take back someone who did what you did."

With a sickening drop of his stomach, Rick pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. He's not sure why, but suddenly he felt as though the entire room was on fire. All he could see was red with anger. Just standing there in his shirtless glory made things more awkward.

"This isn't happening."

"Oh, yes, it is. I'm not going to be ignored, Rick."

He turned away from her but she jumped out of bed and ran over, grabbing his arm, "Please don't do this, I want you. Let me show you how good it can be. I'm better than Lori is. She's the one who killed T. I'm better."

"Get away from me, Andrea."

She dropped to her knees and went right for his belt, "No, please let me show you how good I can be."

He jerked away from her but she held on, reaching for his jeans and begging for him to stay.

"You're so pathetic, you know that, Andrea? So pathetic. I pity you."

"Why? Because you love me more than you've ever loved Lori?"

"That's bullshit. You're nothing but a mistake I can't get rid of."

"See, Rick, Lori sat back and took the abuse. Probably a lot of it, just based on just what I've seen over the past year. I'm not like that. She's weak. But me, I'm a force to be reckoned with. And I want a little respect. I'm going to be the mother of your child."