~

'Why am I still standing here?!' Molly thought to herself. She had planned what to say:

Spike, I never meant to hurt you. We seemed to...fade. I may have seemed distant to you, but only because you felt distant to me. I'm sorry. I love you.

She shook her head, 'Just go back to your room, Molls.'

As she headed off, a door behind her opened.

"Molly?" He said, unable to believe she was there.

She froze and, with her back still turned away, said, "Hi, Spike." She heard him shut his hotel room door and closed her eyes, waiting to see if he'd be the one to come to her. Soon enough, she felt his hands on her shoulders.

He whispered, "Why are you here, Molly?"

She sighed and faced him, making him release her, "I needed to talk to you but…well, you remember how shy I was. Well, I still am! Oh, well. Maybe next time. Gotta go!" She began to walk away.

"Molly."

"I know. I know. I just…I can't let it go."

"Let what go? Even though it happened over a year ago, I think about it all the time too," he blurted, hoping to ease her nervousness.

"You do?"

"I don't forget a day like that. I lost my girlfriend to some other guy. The feeling is…"

"Bad?"

"Pretty awful, yeah. But then again, I didn't expect it to feel good!" He chuckled.

Molly smirked, "Yeah, I think anyone who thinks it feels good didn't love that person too much."

Spike's smile faded and his tone turned serious, "Did it feel good to you? Did you want to leave me?"

She thought for a moment. The sounds of crashing tables filled her mind. She shut her eyes tight, tight, to try and avoid the horrible memories and images. None of it felt good at all. And, to think of it, neither did her leaving the one man she loved and actually had.

"No."

She heard Spike sigh, as if in relief. "Molly, was it something I did that made you leave?"

"…I think I love you," he'd said that night. The night that seemed to shatter their future and their love. To her, at least. And reminding herself of what Spike had dared to say, 3 days before she left him, made her angry again.

"Yeah. There's something you said. I couldn't believe it came from you. And to think, I loved you," she whispered, her voice breaking.

"What was it? What did I say?" Spike asked, unfamiliar with the event she was talking about.

"Forget it," she replied and began to walk off.

"Molly! Tell me!"

She walked away as she thought back to that day in September of 2001 and what he said that fueled her leave. She replayed his last words as she let her last tears for Spike Dudley fall.

"To be honest, Molly, I wish I were ready to marry you. After my brothers attacked us, I was kind of happy. Recovering gave me time to think. I'm not ready for marriage. And I don't think you are either."

Her last tears.

~